C135

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of footsteps could be heard from outside. Following which, a tall and thin figure walked in and said with a smile that was not a smile, "Sir Wei, we have finally met."

Wei Wenbin's hands trembled as he put down the blue and white porcelain cup that had half of the tea spilled. He stared at Wei Wenbin and asked, "You're the ones that took my dart?"

"That's right." The man walked to the table and sat down, poured himself a cup of tea and said coldly, "Sir Wei has only been an official for a few years, yet he has already saved ten boxes of gold and silver. This is truly admirable; he actually sent someone to assassinate us brothers.

Wei Wenbin clenched his teeth and said in a low voice, "As long as you don't speak carelessly and tell me who ordered you, I can give you the gold and silver and treat you as a friend."

That person gave a fake smile and said, "Senior Wei's status is honorable, how could we dare to climb higher."

Wei Wenbin hit a nail that was neither soft nor hard. He held his anger in but did not dare to flare up. He could only say, "Just what do you want?"

"I heard that Sir Wei was highly valued by the empress dowager and His Majesty. Now that you've been transferred back to the capital, it's clear that you're interested in taking over the position as the head of the Board of Justice, right?"

Wei Wenbin wasn't sure of his intentions and said cautiously, "If you have something to say, just say it!"

"Satisfying!" That person smiled and said coldly, "My Sect of Fire Worship worships the Fire God, cleansing the world of evil is its responsibility. However, it is considered by the imperial government to be a cult, and we have even sent people to surround and suppress it. We have captured a few of our brothers, yet it is still unknown whether we are still alive or dead in the Jing Zhao yamen."

Wei Wenbin seemed to have realized something and said, "You want me to save them?"

"Your excellency is indeed smart, it was only a little bit." He backhanded the teacup and said to Yan, "As long as we save them, we will keep our master's secret strictly a secret and won't divulge it to anyone. We can also tell our lord who is plotting against you."

His words moved Wei Wenbin's heart. However, it was difficult for him to answer, "The Jing Zhao yamen is not under my control. If I want to save him, I'm afraid it'll be very difficult."

That person said coldly, "I've already laid out the conditions. Whether you agree or not will depend on the lord."

Wei Wenbin cursed in his heart as his eyes rolled around. After a while, he slammed the table and said, "Alright, I promise you!"

His words caused a smile to appear on his long and thin face. "As long as they return safely, I will definitely keep my promise. I will also write off what happened last night. Your excellency can be at ease."

Wei Wenbin nodded and said, "We have to carefully plan how to save him, so at this time …"

That person was quite straightforward. He immediately said, "I understand. How is five days?"

Wei Wenbin nodded happily. "Alright, within five days, I will definitely think of a way to save your people." As long as he was able to delay tonight, once the gunpowder exploded, all the problems would be easily solved. The only pity was that he could not get the person to tell them who ordered them to do it, but that did not matter, as the people to the left and right must be those few people, so he would naturally think of ways to deal with them.

That person didn't know what Wei Wenbin was really planning and thought that he truly wanted to help him. He happily said, "It's a deal. I'll wait for Sir Wei's good news in the west wing of the city."

After that person left, Wei Wenbin also left the private room. He didn't know that his words had landed exactly in the ears of the two guests in the private room next door.

"How preposterous! How preposterous!" A middle-aged man with a rigid face tightly clenched his wine cup. Anger and annoyance surged between his brows.

One of the servants standing by the side whispered a few words to the servant. After the servant left the private room, he advised, "Brother Liu, calm down, be careful or you might lose your temper."

"Brother Yang, you've heard. Wei Wenbin was a government official and was greedy for ten boxes of gold and silver. Every year, the Ministry of Public Administration would assess him and say that he is a clean and honest official. It's laughable that he doesn't covet the wealth of the common people!"

Yang He sighed, "It's not like Brother Liu doesn't know whose nephew Wei Wenbin is. Not to mention ten chests of gold and silver, even if he was greedy for a hundred chests, the Ministry of Government would not write a single word of his disagreement on the assessment."

The middle-aged man slapped the table and blurted, "I know that he is the empress dowager's nephew, but the Son of Heaven has committed the same crime as his concubine. How can we allow him to do as he pleases?" After pausing for a moment, he continued, "If such a person were to become the head of the Board of Justice, he would definitely repeat what happened to Zheng Quan all those years ago, and perhaps even worse."

"Sigh, there's nothing I can do about it." Yang He patted his shoulder, "Just pretend Brother Liu didn't hear what you said just now."

"No way!" The middle-aged man shouted, "Since you want to let me know, I can't sit idly by. I will now write the imperial report and present it to His Majesty!"

"Brother Liu!" Yang He pulled the middle-aged man, who was about to leave, and said bitterly, "His Majesty wouldn't pursue Wei Wenbin just because of a few reports. On the other hand, you might bring a disaster to yourself, so you absolutely must not use this imperial report." Then, he said with regret, "It's all my fault. It's hard to find anywhere else, and I just had to come here to drink. I just got myself into trouble. Alright, that's all. Don't think about it anymore."

"As the Deputy General of the Left, I am charged with the impeachment of a hundred officials, the vindication of injustice, and the appointment of a governor of all Daos. How can I ignore someone as despicable as him? Furthermore, they are planning to go to the capital city to kidnap all those criminals. " His name was Liu Mingdao, and like his name, he had been practicing the path of light all his life, meddling in matters of injustice, never selling his debts to anyone. It was precisely because of this bad temper that he was only a third rank official in the Clear Water Yamen for thirty years, not even close to Yang He, who was a senior scholar.

"But …" Without waiting for Yang He to finish, Liu Mingdao said with a resolute expression, "Brother Yang, you don't need to say anymore. I'm in charge of this matter."

Yang He shook his head, "You, ah, you've been like this for so many years. Why can't you change your bad temper?"

Liu Mingdao shook his head disapprovingly and said, "I'm going back to write the imperial reports. Brother Yang, we'll meet up another day." What he did not expect was that Yang He actually stopped him once again, and immediately frowned in displeasure, "Brother Yang has been friends with me for many years, you should know that I will do as I say."

"I know, so I didn't pull you back to stop you."

"That's …" Under Liu Mingdao's puzzled gaze, Yang He replied, "You have no proof, so even if you were to hand over the impeachment memorial, His Majesty wouldn't pay any attention to it."

Liu Mingdao coldly said, "I personally heard of this matter, so how could there be no proof?"

Yang He shook his head, "Brother Liu, don't you know that 'hearing is seeing; seeing is believing'? It's impossible for His Majesty to judge Wei Wenbin's crimes just because of what you've said. If he wants to impeach him, then he must have evidence. "

When Liu Mingdao heard this, he asked, "Then in your opinion, what should we do?"