Chapter Eleven: Contest of Wits Two

  PS: I said this morning that I would update two chapters, so as promised, here is the update for "The Jazz"!

  Early in the morning, after discussing some major military and national affairs, Qin Wang coldly said, "Feng Jie, has Li Si confessed yet?" Feng Jie hastily stepped forward and replied, "Your Majesty, during yesterday's interrogation, Li Si claimed that he was suddenly taken into custody and his mind was unclear, requesting me to postpone the trial until today. I considered it possible, so I agreed to retry him today!"

  The King of Qin furrowed his brow and said, "We must act quickly and keep the news tightly sealed, otherwise it will spread and become a laughingstock for the six nations!" Feng Ji bowed respectfully and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

  Upon hearing this, Fusu had serious doubts about whether the honest and simple Feng Jie could deal with the cunning Li Si and his party. In order to overthrow Li Si as soon as possible, Fusu suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, I have something to say!" The Qin Emperor was somewhat surprised and said: "Fusu, speak!"

  Fu Su nodded and said: "I know that Feng Tingwei and Li Si have been at odds for a long time, so I'm worried that during the interrogation, Feng Tingwei will take revenge and use torture! To ensure a fair trial, I would like to ask Your Majesty's permission to attend and supervise!" When Feng Jie heard Fu Su's words, he immediately became flustered and his face turned bright red: "Your Majesty, although Li Si and I have old grievances, that is a personal matter and will not affect the interrogation! I have been an official for many years, and my character is well known to Your Majesty, please make a wise decision!"

  Fu Su listened and secretly shook his head: "Feng Jie, Feng Jie, I'm openly helping Li Si, but secretly preparing to join forces with you to deal with him! You're really a straightforward person!" The officials and military officers who heard Fu Su's conversation with Feng Jie also discussed it among themselves. Li Si and Zhao Gao's faction naturally expressed their approval, while the neutral and opposing factions felt that having Fu Su, who had always been neutral, preside over the trial was not inappropriate, so most of them tended to agree.

  The King of Qin thought for a moment and said: "I naturally trust the character of Chancellor Feng, but Li Si is after all a high-ranking official. To avoid any miscarriage of justice, it's better to have someone supervise from the side. Fusu, you can go if you want!" "Yes, Your Majesty!"

  The court dispersed, and Feng Jie left the palace with a displeased face. Fu Su followed closely behind him. When they reached a secluded area, Fu Su suddenly called out: "Feng Tingwei, slow down!" Feng Jie turned his head to look back, and it was indeed Prince Fu Su. Although he didn't like it in his heart, he had no choice but to bow his head and say: "What are your orders, Your Highness?" Fu Su gave a signal with his eyes to Fu, who understood and immediately retreated several steps, keeping a distance.

  Fu Su smiled and said, "Lord Feng must still be displeased with what I said in the palace just now!" Although Feng Jie's mouth was saying "dare not", his face, which had turned bright red from suppressed anger, completely betrayed his inner thoughts!

  Fu Su let out a bitter laugh: This is also an honest minister who will not be an official, otherwise he would not have been executed by Qin Er Shi's family in history. He lowered his voice and said: "Don't worry, Lord Feng, Fu Su has always opposed the party of Zhao Gao and Li Si, this time Li Si was imprisoned because of my plan!"

  Feng Jie was shocked by the words, his face changed greatly, apparently he had thought that Li Si's plan to reveal the strange defeat and sudden imprisonment was somewhat suspicious, but he only thought it was the will of heaven, but did not expect it to be Fu Su's plan, for a moment he was stunned: "What does the young master mean by what he said today?" Feng Jie was straightforward but not foolish, and came to probe Fu Su's intentions!

  Fu Su knew that Feng Jie was a virtuous minister who could be won over, so he laid it out and said: "Li Si is a cunning person, how can he suddenly become mentally unclear?! Yesterday's words were clearly an excuse to delay time, his true intention was to wait for the rescue of Zhao Gao and others, and temporarily avoid physical suffering. Can't the Lord Chancellor see that?! Fu Su came to ask the king today in order to help Feng Tingwei quickly clarify this case, and catch all the culprits at once, so as not to let Li Si escape! There is no dissatisfaction with Feng Tingwei, don't be suspicious!"

  Feng Jie's face changed slightly, but his heart was extremely surprised: "Prince Fu Su is so young, yet he has such a plan. If given time, he will surely become another outstanding master of our Great Qin!" He couldn't help but change his expression and said with great respect: "It was all Feng Jie's misunderstanding of the prince. Since the prince had already made plans, please instruct me on what to do next!"

  Fu Su thought for a moment and said, "Let's not make any conclusions about the specifics for now. Let's go see Li Si first!" Feng Ji nodded and said, "Then please go to the Imperial Prison first, sir! I'll follow right after!" Fu Su nodded, called out to his attendants, and got into his carriage, heading straight for the Imperial Prison.

  Fu Su had just entered the large prison, and the warden, who had rushed to welcome him, was very obsequious. However, as soon as Fu Su entered the cell, he was hit by a pungent and foul smell that made him stumble and almost vomit. He leaned against the wall and dry-retched for half a day, until Fu An helped him pat his chest and calm down. Only then could Fu Su barely adapt to the environment. In his heart, Fu Su secretly exclaimed: "My mother! This prison is not a place for humans to stay, it's even more smelly than the most foul-smelling outhouse! If I were to be imprisoned here, I would be killed by this smell in three days!"

  At this time, the prison guard who had been running back and forth to welcome him saw that Fu Su was having trouble adapting to the harsh environment of the dark dungeon. He turned around and left for a moment. Before long, he returned with a sachet in his hand, which emitted a refreshing fragrance that immediately lifted Fu Su's spirits and made him feel much better.

  Fu Su's face showed a hint of approval, and he smiled: "Good job, you'll naturally have your day to flourish!" Jian Yu hastily nodded: "Yes, yes, young master, rest assured, I will definitely do my best!" Suddenly, Fu Su lowered his voice: "How did the matter I entrusted to you yesterday go?" Jian Yu also lowered his tone: "After returning yesterday, I've been guarding the special cell door, and except for the person who brought food, no one else has come in!" Fu Su didn't suspect anything, and nodded in satisfaction.

  At this time, Feng Jie also followed in, and Fu Su went to the special prison cell with Feng Jie. The jailer was still leading the way with a flattering expression!

  As he walked past a row of prison cells, Fu Su suddenly heard a clear and melodious voice reciting: "His life is diligent, his death is thin, his way is great...". The voice was rhythmic and clear, with a pleasant tone that was quite refreshing! Fu Su couldn't help but pause, feeling as if he had vaguely heard these words before. Suddenly, he remembered: "Isn't this a passage from 'Zhuangzi: Tianxia'?! How can this prisoner, who has fallen to such a state, have such a good mood?" He stopped in his tracks and began to examine the prison cell in front of him.

  The cell was empty and desolate, with only weeds covering the ground; a dim yellow lantern struggled to shine in the air, barely illuminating half of the cell. The entire cell emitted a pungent musty smell and a foul odor that had turned the walls slightly black. Meanwhile, on a pile of hay in the northeast corner of the cell, a prisoner wearing white prison clothes, with disheveled hair and a dirty face, was singing contentedly, without even glancing at anyone else.

  Fu Su suddenly laughed and became very interested in this happy prisoner, turning to the jailer beside him: "What kind of person is this, so full of enthusiasm?" The jailer hastily replied: "Young master, this is a madman, don't mind him!" Fu Su glared at the jailer and said: "Madman!? Madmen can recite poetry! Tell me his story!"

  "Yes, yes," the prison guard hastily replied: "It was like this. About two years ago, when our army attacked Wolf Meng County of Zhao State, we encountered extremely strong resistance from the Zhao army. After a month of siege, our army finally broke into the city, but at the cost of four to five thousand casualties. General Yang Duanhe was furious and ordered the slaughter of the entire city. However, during the massacre, one person with extraordinary martial arts skills killed dozens of Qin generals! General Yang Duanhe was enraged and personally led the troops to surround and capture him. But during the interrogation, this person refused to speak, not even revealing his name. General Yang Duanhe knew that he must be a person of noble birth and was deeply fond of his talent, so he couldn't bear to kill him. He was sent to Xianyang for the Tribunal to interrogate! However, who would have thought that this person was extremely cunning? Even after several rounds of interrogation by the former Tribunal official Li Si, using both kindness and torture, he still refused to speak. Moreover, there were no rumors about any important figures being captured in the war with Zhao State, so they temporarily imprisoned him, waiting for another opportunity to interrogate him."

  "Ah! So that's how it is! But I see this person is quite sane, why would you say he's a madman?" Fu Su asked in surprise. Jian Yu let out a bitter laugh and said: "This person was fine when he first came in, but who knew that after more than a month, he'd go crazy like a lunatic, attacking anyone he saw, and the other prisoners in the same cell were all beaten to a pulp by him. You know his martial arts skills are high, and it's extremely difficult to subdue him, so to prevent him from killing someone, we had to lock him up alone. Since locking him up alone, this person has been acting strangely, every day he'd go crazy for a while, then wake up for a while, when he's crazy he'd shout wildly and jump around like thunder, but when he wakes up he'd be calm and natural, reciting some crooked poetry! Originally, Lord Li Si thought he was already mad, estimated that there wouldn't be any results from interrogating him, planned to execute him this autumn, but after Lord Li Si entered the prison, things got delayed again!"

  "Oh, I see. What an interesting person!" Fu Su thought that this martial arts expert was just a madman and didn't take it to heart, shook his head and went with Feng Jie and others to interrogate Li Si.

  "Li Si, today the great king has ordered that Fu Su Gongzi personally come to supervise and interrogate. It is clear that the king's benevolence is vast and he attaches great importance to you. Yesterday, he let you rest for a day, so today you will truthfully confess the process of plotting against Mr. Han Fei!" Feng Ji said with a stern face, coldly.

  Li Si gave Feng Jie a cold smile and glanced at him, ignoring him. He bowed to Fu Su with great respect and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty! I am grateful for your kindness and willing to confess sincerely!" Feng Jie saw that Li Si didn't take him seriously, although he was furious, but since Li Si was willing to confess, he couldn't do anything to him. He could only shout: "Someone, come and record this!"

  Li Si then puffed out his chest and began to confess in a very heavy tone. At first, Fu Su was still very happy, thinking that he could overthrow Zhao Gao and others at once. However, the more Fu Su listened, the heavier his heart became, and the colder his face turned. Li Si actually took all the blame on himself and even confessed some minor unrelated problems, without mentioning any of his past merits! Fu Su couldn't help but secretly suspect: "What is Li Si's intention? Does he want to die by only admitting guilt and not showing any merit?"

  Suddenly, Fu Su was taken aback: "It's over! The king has always been self-satisfied and hates it when his subordinates are arrogant and ask for rewards. Li Si's quick admission of guilt will not only exempt Zhao Gao and Yao Jia from the crime of conspiracy, but also cater to the king's desire to dominate the world. I'm afraid that when he sees this confession, he will think of Li Si's past merits and pardon him! After all, a man like Han Fei, who has made no contributions, is still not as important as Li Si in the king's eyes. The reason for his extreme anger these days is just because he was furious that Li Si dared to deceive him, but now that he sees Li Si's sincere confession, I'm afraid his self-satisfied and arrogant illness will flare up and he will spare Li Si's life!" Fu Su's heart was racing with anxiety!

  Suddenly, Fu Su remembered the words of the prison governor and suddenly woke up: "The person who delivered food last night must have been a ghost! Damn it, Zhao Gao and others took the lead again!" Fu Su couldn't help but regret, thinking to himself: "After all, I'm still young and inexperienced. It seems that this time Li Si can only leave one life behind. However, I'm afraid that this time Father will be lenient again, and being dismissed from office is also unavoidable. Fortunately, it wasn't a waste of effort!" Looking at Feng Ji, who had a happy expression on his face, Fu Su couldn't help but scold him in his heart: "This guy is really stupid!"

  Indeed, after Qin Wang Zheng saw Li Si's confession, he thought of Li Si's past merits and couldn't help but be moved. Furthermore, with Zhao Gao and others pleading for leniency on Li Si's behalf, Qin Wang Zheng softened his heart and pardoned Li Si, but stripped him of his title as Governor of a Thousand Households and his position as Imperial Secretary, relegating him to the post of Director of the Intelligence Agency 'Qin Feng'.

  Upon hearing this news, Fu Su couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "The success of a plot depends on the heavens! It seems that I and Zhao Gao, Li Si will still have to engage in a fierce struggle for power!"

  Note: Finally, I'll throw a question at everyone. This article has already laid the groundwork for the next volume's content. See which book friend can guess it out! Hehe!