Chapter 110 A sudden storm is brewing.
After leaving Cui Yao's place, Ji Chengnin hurriedly returned to his residence, riding his horse at breakneck speed all the way. Upon arriving back, he did not announce his arrival but went straight to Ji Lin's study.
"Your Highness?" The guard quickly stopped him. "The Second Master is inside reading official documents. Let me inform him first."
Ji Chengnin raised his lips, but there was no smile in his eyes. "After you report, Second Uncle will be even busier with official duties."
The emphasis was added very deliberately.
In the study, Ji Lin paused in turning the scrolls.
"Swish."
The pages turned, the sound reaching my ears, sending shivers down my spine.
The guests present dared not look at Ji Lin's expression.
Ji Chengning strode up the steps and said loudly, "In ancient times, there was the story of Cheng Men standing in the snow. Today, I am waiting for my second uncle. Unfortunately, the weather is not cooperating. It will not snow heavily in autumn. However, the sky is overcast, and there may be a heavy rain. That's good too, so that my second uncle can see my sincerity."
As he spoke, he stood outside the door with his head tilted back, beginning to ponder, word by word, what was so good about the abstinence hanging on the wall of his second uncle's study.
The sound was barely audible, but it crept in in a faint, fragmented manner.
"My lord," someone said tremblingly.
Ji Lin looked up.
His gaze was cool and sharp.
The man shivered and hurriedly said, "Second Master, I see it's about to rain outside. The young marquis has just returned, and he's still injured. What if he gets caught in the rain? If he falls ill because of it, Second Master will surely be heartbroken. Please invite the young marquis in."
Ji Lin hadn't spoken yet.
Standing by the window, Ji Chengnin peeked out with a grin, "What are you saying, Mr. Shen? Even if I were kneeling outside in the rain, my second uncle wouldn't care. If he really cared, why would he avoid me after I survived so many deaths?"
The bamboo curtain hangs down.
Half of the young man's face was blurred in the light and shadow, but his eyes shone brightly.
"Nonsense," Ji Lin said coldly. "How much longer are you going to embarrass yourself in public?"
Seeing that Ji Lin had agreed, the guests hurriedly took their leave.
After all, Ji Lin and Ji Chengning are uncle and nephew. Everyone has seen how much Ji Lin spoils and pampers Ji Chengning. How could she really be angry with her nephew? But outsiders can't say for sure. It's best not to let the fire at the city gate affect the fish in the moat.
People filed out in an instant.
Ji Chengnin strode inside and closed the door behind him.
"Second Uncle." Ji Chengnin strode in, lifted his robe, knelt on one knee in front of Ji Lin, his peach blossom eyes crinkling with laughter, "Are you avoiding me?"
The young general was kneeling, and was even taller than him.
The dense shadows fell, landing squarely in Ji Lin's eyes.
Ji Lin was momentarily stunned, as if she was surprised to realize that Ji Chengnin was actually so tall.
The young man stood up straight, exuding an imposing aura. Even without deliberately showing off, he appeared aggressive.
Ji Lin looked at him quietly.
Ji Chengning let Ji Lin look at him, then suddenly grabbed Ji Lin's hand, seemingly lost in thought.
Ji Lin's breath hitched. "What are you doing?" He tried to remove his hand, but Ji Chengning held it tightly.
Instead of letting go, he gripped her hand tighter and tighter, forcing her palm to press against his forehead.
"A-Tu, are you crazy?" She tried to break free, but stopped abruptly when she touched Ji Chengning's skin.
The veins on the back of his fair hand bulged, and the owner was clearly using all his strength to restrain himself. He was so strong that even his bones creaked.
These hands were extremely tense, but they gradually relaxed as Ji Chengning guided them down the slope.
He could feel Ji Chengnin's eyelashes brushing against his palm.
Immediately, the warm breath unique to the living person gently pierced the skin.
Ji Lin closed her eyes tightly.
It seemed unbearable to watch.
Ji Chengnin whispered, "Second Uncle, do my mother and I look a lot alike?"
Ji Lin was startled and shuddered, then abruptly opened her eyes to look at Ji Chengnin.
The thing he feared most, and also hoped for most, finally happened. Two completely contradictory thoughts collided in his mind: he wanted Ji Chengnin to avenge his mother, and he also wanted Ji Chengnin to live out the rest of his life in peace. This drove Ji Lin almost crazy.
Cheng Ning is looking at him.
Alang is looking at him.
Her emotions surged in her chest, and the pain made Ji Lin's breathing tremble.
Trembling fingers gently brushed the stray hairs on Ji Chengning's cheek. "So alike," Ji Lin heard her own voice low and hoarse. "You two look almost exactly alike."
His eyes trembled.
A little dampness glistened.
Ji Chengning had never seen his usually calm and collected second uncle like this before.
My heart trembled.
"But you all said I resembled the Marquis of Yongning. If my mother is my second uncle's biological sister, if my mother is the Marquis of Yongning, then who is the Imperial Concubine in the palace? Is she the emperor who forcibly took another man's wife, or... or is she Ji Chen?"
Ji Lin's face was deathly pale.
A heavy rain was about to fall, and the whole room was filled with a cold, damp atmosphere.
Ji Lin moved her hand away, gesturing for Ji Chengning to follow her into the inner room.
Ji Chengnin's eyes widened.
He knew that there was a statue there that did not resemble a god or Buddha, but rather a mortal.
Ji Chengning followed closely behind Ji Lin.
Ji Lin slowly walked into the inner room.
He lit three incense sticks, but gave one to Ji Chengning.
Ji Chengnin raised the incense stick above his head, bowed, and kowtowed deeply with a "thud."
Another one.
My forehead touched the cold ground.
"Bang."
Then he got up and solemnly placed the incense sticks in the burner.
The statue of the deity stood high above, its features becoming increasingly blurred in the ethereal mist.
Ji Chengning suddenly realized that the statue looked very familiar, no, it looked extremely familiar.
He suddenly turned around and looked at Ji Lin.
Ji Lin looked up, seemingly oblivious to Ji Chengnin's gaze, and slowly spoke.
It arrived quietly under the indifferent gaze of the statue.
In fact, the story of Ji Chen and Ji Lang is not much different from what Xiao Dingguan told.
Ji Lang and Ji Chen look very alike.
No, it should be said that they are exactly the same.
The Ji siblings were strikingly beautiful, with bright, sparkling eyes, dark black hair like raven feathers, flawless complexions, elegant and straight noses, and sharp, angular eyebrows. Their strong bone structure made them appear less alluring than conventionally charming.
Everyone who sees Ji Lang and Ji Chen has to praise their good looks.
When the twins reached the age of fifteen, their beauty was as stunning as a pair of peonies growing side by side. As a result, Madam Ji was troubled for a long time, worried that Ji Lang was too heroic and Ji Chen was too delicate.
But Madam Ji soon stopped worrying, because as the two of them grew older, their similar appearances became their least noticeable flaw.
Although they are siblings, Ji Lang and Ji Chen have a penchant for dressing the same way. They usually wear long skirts, cloud-shaped shoulder capes, and palace-style skirts, with belts hanging from their waists, pearls dangling from their ear tips, their heads adorned with pearls and jade, their lips painted red, and their eyebrows dyed green.
The maid of the Ji family woke up in the morning and saw Ji Lang gracefully walk out. She didn't say anything and slowly walked towards the garden. Her slender and tall shadow turned around in the corridor and disappeared without a trace.
The maid was already used to her mistress's strange behavior and carried the basin of water into the inner room.
Just as she was about to wring out her handkerchief to wipe the dressing table, she looked up and saw a woman in light summer clothes kneeling in front of the dressing table, which was shrouded in a light gauze. She was leaning lazily against a soft chair, applying rouge to her lips.
The bronze mirror was clear as water, reflecting the woman's incomparably beautiful face, her lips crimson, like a fox spirit that had just devoured a human heart.
Miss?
The maid felt a chill run down her spine and down her neck, and the basin of water in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.
"Clang!"
But more often than not, Ji Lang and Ji Chen found women's clothing too complicated, and even if they dressed quickly, it would take one or two hours, so they both wore men's clothing.
Wearing a narrow-sleeved short jacket, a qilin belt, and black boots, without any makeup, and with his hair neatly tied up, he insisted on wearing earrings, one on the left and one on the right, the pearls jingling and indistinguishable.
After countless attempts to break the ruler, Ji Chen and Ji Lang still refused to change their absurd preferences. Finally, the old master and his wife sighed and gave up. In any case, the two of them would grow up eventually, and when they became adults, the androgyny of childhood would be gone, and they might not dress like this anymore.
However, the parents were clearly too optimistic.
Not long after, the two did something earth-shattering, at least in retrospect, they saved the Third Prince Zhou Yun from assassination.
"So, who exactly saved the Third Prince back then?"
This was a question that Ji Chen and Ji Lang asked each other countless times later on.
The brother and sister looked at each other, speechless.
According to Zhou Yun's later recollection, the young man who saved him was dressed in light fur and a silver crown, with a face as beautiful as a jade tree. However, when he turned around, his long sword was as fast as lightning, and he pierced the throat of the thief in one strike.
Hot blood splattered all over Zhou Yun's face.
He didn't bother wiping himself, he just stared at the man.
They stared at each other intently.
The man tossed down a handkerchief from his high vantage point, then rode away. Zhou Yun even forgot to ask the man's name. Later, when he saw Ji Chen at the palace banquet, he felt as if he had met a celestial being.
Both Ji Chen and Ji Lang denied doing it.
Ji Chen said she never carries a handkerchief with her, while Ji Lang said that if she had saved Zhou Yun, she should remember Zhou Yun's beauty and charm when she was young.
They had saved many lives. Young and spirited, they couldn't stand the injustices of the world, so they took up swords and roamed the land, determined to be the most chivalrous people of all time.
And indeed, he later achieved great merit and was recorded in history, and was granted the title of a marquis.
Then, the story took a sharp turn. Ji Lang was tricked by the barbarians outside Changyang Pass and died without a complete corpse. Ji Chen was also threatened by the emperor to return to the capital. As a bargaining chip to threaten Ji Chen, in addition to the more than one hundred people in the Ji family, there was also a child who was less than two years old.
Ji Chengning.
What Xiao Dingguan said was actually true; it was all true.
Ji Chengning felt dizzy and overwhelmed by a surge of emotions: anger, shock, disappointment, and hatred. These mixed emotions, fueled by hatred, burned fiercely within him.
Despite being saved by a life-saving grace, sharing similar temperaments, and later making outstanding contributions to the country, they were still defeated by an enemy more than a hundred miles away. Ji Chen and Ji Lang had done everything they could as friends and subjects, yet they still couldn't escape the fate of being discarded after their usefulness was over!
The stench of blood surged wildly from my throat.
Ji Chengnin grabbed Ji Lin's hand, "Second Uncle, Uncle... Second Uncle, all these years, why didn't you tell me? If I didn't ask, how long did you intend to keep it from me?!"
He choked up as he finished speaking.
Ji Lin stared at him intently. "Keep it a secret for as long as you can, until I die, until no one knows about it anymore."
Ji Chengnin abruptly stopped speaking. He suppressed the urge to close his eyes, afraid that if he did, tears would stream down his face.
"Second Uncle, yes..."
Before she could finish saying "I don't want to," Ji Lin waved her hand and then gently pressed Ji Chengnin's shoulder, saying, "You've grown up, Atu. If your mother knew, she would be very happy for you."
Just like I'm happy for you.
Ji Chengnin abruptly turned his head away.
Ji Lin could see a tear slide down his eye socket, which he then wiped away fiercely.
A moment later, Ji Lin heard Ji Chengnin's voice, low and hoarse, "Second Uncle, the Emperor wants me to get married."
Ji Lin wasn't surprised. "How did you answer?"
"I said, I have someone I love. Please, Your Majesty, rescind your decree. If Your Majesty insists on granting a marriage, why not grant a marriage between me and my beloved?" Ji Chengnin's voice was still choked with emotion.
Ji Lin asked, "Cui Yao?"
Ji Chengnin looked up in surprise.
Although she didn't ask, all her emotions were written in her eyes.
“When Cui Yao first arrived at the Ji residence, you personally went to deliver things to him that very night. I thought you had fallen in love with him at first sight,” Ji Lin explained calmly.
Ji Chengnin didn't know how to describe that bizarre and supernatural dream, so he remained silent.
Seeing that Ji Chengnin still looked dejected, Ji Lin did not intend to tell him in detail how she knew the truth.
Less than a month after Cui Yao arrived at the mansion, Ji Lin had already sent people to thoroughly investigate Cui Yao's identity. In fact, there were no obvious suspicious points. However, as someone who had experienced the bloody palace coup that led to the current emperor's ascension to the throne, Ji Lin couldn't help but think of someone, someone who should have perished in the fire long ago.
However, for some personal reasons, Ji Lin did not reveal the truth.
Such a person should not get too close to Ji Chengning.
But to Ji Lin's surprise, Cui Yao actually came on her own initiative, and Cui Yao answered all of Ji Lin's questions very naturally.
Ji Lin looked coldly at the person in front of her, "Aren't you afraid that I'll hand you over to the authorities and charge you with using someone else's identity document?"
Cui Yao bowed respectfully, "It is all my fault. If my second uncle wants to punish me, I will submit to the law."
Who is your second uncle?
Ji Lin thought coldly.
He sneered, "What you want to do is none of the Ji family's business. If nothing happens, fine, but if something does, I won't protect you. You'd better watch yourself."
Ji Lin's words sounded cold and ruthless, but in reality, they were a concession.
If something happens, it will naturally have nothing to do with the Ji family. But if nothing happens, Cui Yao can still live in the Ji family legitimately.
Whatever he wants to do.
"There's only one thing: I only have one nephew, A-Tu. He is pure-hearted, kind, and loyal. You must not get close to him. Otherwise, don't blame me for disregarding our uncle-nephew relationship, my sworn niece." Ji Lin smiled slightly, but her eyes were icy cold.
"Thank you for your teachings, Second Uncle," Cui Yao said, bowing her head. "I will keep them in mind."
Cui Yao clearly failed, Ji Lin thought expressionlessly, wondering if her nephew had been misled, or... the other way around?
"What did the emperor say after hearing this?" Ji Lin asked slowly.
"His Majesty reprimanded me for my absurdity, but did not mention the matter of bestowing a marriage upon me again." Ji Chengnin paused, "He also said that I said in the battle report that Cui Yao had made contributions, whether it was due to Cui Yao's contributions or for my sake," Ji Chengnin said, feeling disgusted and absurd, "He might promote and give important positions to Cui Yao."
Ji Lin gave a cold laugh.
Ji Chengnin suddenly understood. "The emperor wants another bargaining chip to control me. Whether it's my wife or something else, it doesn't matter to the emperor." He asked seriously, "Second Uncle, what happened again?"
“The various barbarian tribes outside Changyang Pass have always been eyeing us covetously. Back then, the crown prince of the Tilan tribe was killed, and now the barbarian king they have jointly elected is the crown prince’s own younger brother.” Ji Lin said succinctly.
On one hand, there was the hatred of having the alliance unilaterally torn up back then, and on the other hand, there was the covetousness for the fertile Central Plains. How could they not keep an eye on Changyang Pass at all times?
Ji Lin continued, “During the reign of Emperor Wanli, the dynasty was heavily involved in criminal punishments, and more than a hundred military generals were executed. Although there were indeed disloyal ones among them, most of them were loyal and capable generals. When the current emperor ascended the throne, our dynasty still retained the bloody atmosphere of the killing of military generals at the end of Emperor Wanli’s reign. Even if there are external troubles, firstly, no one dares to step forward, and secondly, there is indeed no one available.”
Therefore, Ji Chen and Ji Lang, who were the emperor's saviors and close friends, were naturally given important positions.
The emperor did not make a mistake in choosing the right people.
However, he still killed the Marquis of Yongning, whom he had personally promoted.
Currently, the veteran generals are dwindling, and the rising star is just a young general. The only one who has actually been on the battlefield is Ji Chengning. This is a clear sign of a generational gap.
If we want to defend against foreign enemies, we must have capable and fierce generals.
It goes without saying who this person is.
Ji Chengnin remained silent.
The incense in the inner room was too strong, so he lifted the beaded curtain and went out.
But the open window was being blown around and rattled loudly.
A strong wind was blowing.
A sudden rainstorm is brewing.
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