Chapter 117 All He Wanted Back Then
The three-courtyard residence was brightly lit, with soldiers carrying torches patrolling and searching each room, making quite a commotion. The once most central area had become unusually quiet.
Tonight there is a moon, a bright moon hanging high, its gentle light falling on the rooftops, the trees, and on people.
The two walking side by side cast long and short shadows in the moonlight, and Qin Shaozong looked down at the ground.
The shadows on the ground are real and cannot be faked.
She was beside him, within arm's reach.
However, the scenes she depicted were things he could neither understand nor imagine.
Dai Li glanced at him sideways, not surprised by Qin Shaozong's silence at this moment.
Anyone who hears about something extraordinary that can completely overturn their beliefs will not remain calm; that is, he is no longer an impulsive young man who can suppress all his surprise and opposition.
He didn't speak, and neither did Dai Li, giving him time to process it.
After a long while, Dai Li saw the man beside her shake his head, "Madam, I can't understand."
Dai Li calmly said, "Qin Changgeng, power is earned. When female soldiers don their armor and go into battle, aren't they also fighting for a voice? Only by rewriting national policies and laws can everything that follows be possible. But here, from the very beginning, no opportunities were given to the young women—no opportunity to study, no opportunity to become officials, no opportunity to join the army, not one of them."
Qin Shaozong's eyebrows twitched slightly, as if he were deep in thought.
Dai Li continued, “You can’t understand the things in Peach Blossom Spring, and I can’t get used to it here either. This is normal, because the environment is different. As Mozi said: ‘If it is dyed blue, it will be blue; if it is dyed yellow, it will be yellow. What it is dyed changes, and its color will also change.’”
Just as Qin Shaozong was about to say something, he suddenly heard someone shout from not far away, "There's a secret passage here!"
Both of them sharpened their eyes and immediately followed the sound.
It was Wei Qing who discovered the secret passage.
Perhaps because he was often suppressed openly and secretly by the Wei family's legitimate sons when he was young, Wei Qing learned to hide from a young age. He hid himself so that others could not find him, thus avoiding being bullied as much as possible.
Having hidden so many things, one cannot say that one lacks experience.
Among the four commanders of the Xuanxiao Cavalry, Wei Qing was particularly outstanding in the area of "treasure hunting".
When Qin Shaozong took over Bingzhou and moved into the governor's mansion, he originally just routinely searched the governor's warehouse. However, after Wei Qing walked around the mansion several times, he actually discovered a hidden warehouse.
The treasures in this hidden vault are worth more than ten times the value of those on the open.
...
In the back garden.
When the soldiers carrying torches saw Qin Shaozong and Dai Li approaching, they automatically parted to make way for them.
Wei Qing reported, "My lord, this artificial mountain complex is quite exquisite. It consists of four artificial mountains connected together to form a small maze. The light inside is dim, and the 'Z' shapes intertwine. If one does not examine it carefully, it is easy to miss the secrets."
Qin Qinian rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Father, that white elephant must be hiding inside. Can I lead some men down there and capture it?"
Qin Shaozong agreed.
Qin Qinian, holding a knife in one hand and a torch in the other, entered the secret passage. Wei Qing, fearing something might go wrong, followed closely behind.
The firelight seemed to transform into a ferocious gluttonous beast, which, once inside, devoured the surrounding darkness with its gaping maw.
"Huh?"
Dai Li vaguely heard a questioning voice float up.
Without needing anyone to speak to him, Qin Qinian said directly, "Father, this place is really big!"
Dai Li suddenly remembered something and hurried over to the entrance of the passage, but before she could go in, her arm was suddenly grabbed by a large, dark hand.
The other person didn't use much force; they just stopped her from moving forward.
Unable to enter, Dai Li simply stood outside and said, "Qinian, be careful of dust explosions. If you see any flour, evacuate immediately."
"Alright!" came the reply from below.
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the clanging of swords clashing came from the ground, along with Qin Qinian's stern shout: "White Elephant, you all must not be so arrogant!"
The fighting grew increasingly intense, and Qin Qinian could be heard attacking as he fought, cursing for as long as the clanging sounds continued.
His voice was loud and clear, full of energy, and he didn't seem to be taking a break.
Dai Li: "..."
After listening for a while, Dai Li couldn't help but turn around and whisper to the man behind her, "Your son's way of dealing with the enemy is quite novel."
The soldier holding the torch stood behind Qin Shaozong. The man's face was shrouded in darkness, his brown eyes were unfathomable, and his expression was not very clear.
"Madam." He uttered those two heavy words.
He didn't say much, but Dai Li knew what he meant. This man especially disliked hearing such clear-cut terms like "your son."
Dai Li stopped talking.
*
Inside the passage below.
The passageway led to a small room, where Qin Qinian, who had just arrived, was attacked.
There were five people in total. Four of them were dressed in ordinary clothes and were obviously older than the other one who was dressed in rich clothes.
The guards and the four men were locked in combat, with Qin Qinian focusing his attack on the leader. The young man, wielding a knife in one hand and a torch in the other, attacked the black-clad youth with both hands.
Wei Qing did not engage the enemy; instead, he stood outside the battle circle, observing the fight with readiness to support Qin Qinian at any moment.
The more he looked, the more surprised he became.
This young man in black looked young, but his skills were by no means weak, and his martial arts style... seemed very familiar.
Wei Qing stared for a moment, his pupils narrowing slightly.
He remembered; it did look familiar because it resembled Qin Xiaolangjun so strikingly!
Qin Qinian's attack failed, and he was forcefully pushed back. The boy used the momentum of his retreat to dissipate most of the force, then suddenly stepped forward, turned around, raised his knee, and flipped his hip, delivering a powerful kick like a rabbit kicking an eagle. "You brat, take this!"
This series of movements was extremely fast, with each step back and forward moving as swift as lightning.
The black-clad youth wielding the knife in his right hand was equally astonishingly fast, even somewhat anticipating Qin Qinian's movements. As the heavy kick came hurtling towards him, he crossed his arms, using them as a single point of contact to absorb the force of Qin Qinian's powerful strike.
His lower body was extremely stable; after receiving the attack, he only swayed slightly and didn't even retreat a single step.
"Well, you do have some skill, but unfortunately, those who aid and abet evil deserve a bad end!" Qin Qinian's fighting spirit surged, and he changed his posture mid-air, swinging the torch in his hand fiercely. "You brat, take another blow from me!"
The torch streaked across the sky, its edges scattering countless sparks.
The flames were scorching hot. As the young man in black dodged to the side, he suddenly swung his knife forward, precisely slicing off the torch's head. Little did he know that Qin Qinian was using a diversionary tactic; while distracting him with the torch, he secretly drew his knife.
The strike was swift and clean. Even though the latter quickly realized something was wrong and twisted his waist to avoid a fatal blow, it was ultimately too late.
The knife pierced flesh and blood.
Qin Qinian grinned, "You were careless because I'm young, hahaha."
...
Dai Li listened to the clanging sounds below and Qin Qinian's uninterrupted output, and became engrossed in it without realizing it. When she came back to her senses, she suddenly felt an itch on the back of her hand.
Dai Li scratched herself unconsciously.
One after another, something felt off. She looked down and saw a mosquito bite on the back of her hand.
The eldest one, bright red.
Dai Li drew a cross on the mosquito bite, but it only worked for a moment before the itching started again. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, and she scratched it again in frustration.
Before Dai Li could scratch a second time, her hand was grabbed.
Qin Shaozong was tall with long arms and legs, and his hands were unusually large. At this moment, he spread his five fingers and wrapped them around Dai Li's fair hand from below, pressing his thumb on the swollen mosquito bite and slowly massaging it for her.
His hands had thick calluses and were quite rough.
Dai Li used to despise him, always feeling that this person's hands were no different from sandpaper, and that he could make her feel like she was dying when he deliberately teased her.
But at this moment, she also felt that those thick calluses were not entirely useless.
At least rubbing a mosquito bite feels very comfortable.
"Qin San, speed things up," Qin Shaozong said to his men.
The name called was Qin Qinian, but Wei Qing, who entered with the boy, immediately understood the unspoken meaning behind the superior's words.
We can't delay any longer.
He changed from being a bystander to immediately joining the battle.
About fifteen minutes later, Dai Li heard footsteps approaching from above. Soon, Qin Qinian dragged a young man in black, who was bound hand and foot with hemp rope, back to the ground.
The other person was dressed in black, so it was impossible to tell how badly he was injured, but there were thick bloodstains along the way he was dragged up.
"White Elephant, behave yourself!" Seeing that the man was still struggling, Qin Qinian kicked him.
Wei Qing and the others came up behind them, each carrying one person in each hand. Of the four people, three were dead, leaving only two survivors including the one Qin Qinian was holding.
"After a whole night of searching, we finally caught him. Bai Xiang, you're quite cunning, hiding underground, you almost escaped!" Qin Qinian got angrier and angrier as he spoke, and couldn't help but kick him again.
If it weren't for learning about "Lai Mo Bookstore" and "osmanthus petals on the wheels" from Fan Xiaoniangzi; if it weren't for the curfew and the fact that her father had specially set up guards to survey every street and alley; if it weren't for the right time, place, and people, there would have been a real risk of missing it.
"The victor is king, the loser is villain. I have nothing to say now that I'm in your hands. Do with me as you please." The man spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Kill me or torture me? Ha, don't expect a quick death until you truthfully reveal all the secrets of the Green Lotus Sect." Qin Qinian hurriedly pulled out a piece of burlap, crumpled it into a ball, and stuffed it into the other man's mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue and committing suicide.
“Take all the others over there except for the ones Qin San has,” Qin Shaozong suddenly said.
Qin Qinian was stunned, subconsciously looking at what was in front of him, and then at what Wei Qing and the others were holding.
Is there any difference?
It's just the difference between being alive and dead. Oh, at worst, you'll have a hand cut off.
Wei Qing, with her keen observation, noticed that Dai Li had been keeping her head down ever since they came up. She only looked at the patch of ground beneath her feet, not even glancing in their direction.
He understood immediately, picked up the dead body in his hand, and quickly moved to the side, retreating to a place far enough away.
The lingering smell of blood faded somewhat, and Dai Li suppressed her discomfort, looking up at the person at Qin Qinian's feet.
The other person was dressed in black, with his hands and feet intact. At first glance, all that could be seen was the bright red blood showing through the tear in his black clothes; nothing more could be seen. Dai Li focused her gaze solely on his face.
Two soldiers holding torches stood to either side, the firelight illuminating the face of the man in black very clearly. His mouth was stuffed with a large wad of burlap, the cloth stretching his cheeks out of shape.
Dai Li let out a questioning snort at first glance. She then looked at him more closely, from his forehead to his eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, and the overall contours of his face.
"Qinian, tear off that piece of burlap first," Dai Li said.
The boy didn't understand, but he did as instructed anyway.
After the burlap was removed, the young man's swollen cheeks returned to normal. He suddenly looked up and met Dai Li's gaze. "What are you looking at?"
The more Dai Li looked, the more solemn her expression became. "There was no disguise on his face, but his features did not resemble Di Ting at all. It's not him, he is not the White Elephant."
The young man's pupils narrowed for a moment.
"He's not White Elephant?" Qin Qinian exclaimed in surprise.
He wasn't the only one who was shocked; Qin Shaozong, Wei Qing, and the others were also taken aback.
They had never seen the white elephant, nor had they seen Di Ting, who was his twin brother. They did not know what the two looked like before, only that the maid had said they were very young.
And the young man in front of me certainly fits the description of being young.
"Tell me quickly, where is the real white elephant?" Qin Qinian held a knife to the other man's neck.
The young man laughed, revealing a mouthful of bloody teeth, "The master left long ago, how could he sit and wait to die?"
Qin Qinian was furious and was about to teach him a lesson when he suddenly heard a gentle female voice say, "No, I think the white elephant should still be here. They are just a smokescreen."
Dai Li said confidently, "From getting the clue from Miss Fan to closing the net, less than a day has passed. There's a curfew tonight, and there are sentries and patrols on the streets. Even if they know we're here to arrest them, they have nowhere to escape. White Elephant must still be here!"
Qin Shaozong turned the jade ring on his thumb. "Wei Qing, go and search the area below carefully. Don't miss any place."
After these words, the young man who was tied up visibly struggled a bit.
Qin Qinian noticed this and was both surprised and angry. "He really is here. Fortunately, Madam Dai has sharp eyes, otherwise you would have been fooled."
About fifteen minutes after Wei Qing went down, the sounds of fighting came from below.
Qin Qinian hurriedly went down with his knife, and soon heard him roar: "Good, there really is a fish that escaped the net! I advise you to surrender quickly, otherwise you will suffer a lot later."
Dai Li looked at the dimly lit entrance to the passage and said, "I'll go down and take a look too."
"Madam," Qin Shaozong said, his tone somewhat disapproving.
Dai Li, however, felt perfectly safe. "They've gone to great lengths to create an illusion, reducing their fighting strength by more than 90%, and just now Qinian said that he was the only one there."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a figure ran out of the passage.
Who else could it be but Qin Qinian?
"As the fight went on, he suddenly vomited black blood and became unable to fight. I suspect he had taken poison earlier. Father, this man is very valuable. Should we ask Mr. Ding to come and save him?" the boy said.
Qin Shaozong said, "Since he was determined to die, how could he have taken ordinary poison? It's probably too late to inform Ding Congjian now."
It seems the other party is well aware of the severity of interrogations in the North, and would rather suffer physical pain now than endure a quick death.
Qin Qinian muttered something.
While the father and son were talking, Dai Li suddenly entered the passage.
Upon seeing this, Qin Shaozong immediately followed closely behind.
After walking through the initial section, Dai Li arrived at a small platform.
The place was a mess, with a torch lying on the ground, still burning brightly. The space wasn't large, shaped like an oval, with some tables and chairs. In one corner was an open hidden door, suggesting someone had just hidden there.
A few steps away, Wei Qing and Hu Bao cornered a figure on either side.
The young man leaned against the wall, his longsword sheathed, now resting on the ground as if for support. He was dressed in black, with fair skin, and black blood at the corner of his mouth. Dark red bloodstains were also visible on his neck, which was not covered by his clothes, likely from when he coughed up blood earlier.
When Dai Li first saw him, she thought she had seen Di Ting.
The ground here isn't far from the surface; what those above say can be heard even below. The white elephant heard everything Dai Li said up there.
The moment Dai Li saw him, Bai Xiang also saw her.
Two pairs of eyes met in mid-air.
He looked at Dai Li's delicate features and suddenly smiled, "She really does resemble me. It's just that I'm not as skilled as you, and I lost by a single move. There's nothing to say about losing to you this time."
With that laugh, he spat out another mouthful of black blood.
Dai Li clenched her fists, trying not to look away. "Did they find him ten years ago, or after the Great Famine?"
It's not that her son didn't tell her about the past, but she later realized that those ten years had been embellished far too much.
Those ten years were both the past and an insurmountable obstacle for her.
White Elephant smiled and shook his head. “Madam Dai, I know what else you want to ask… cough, but I can only tell you that my uncle once truly regarded him as his own nephew, not only because Mingdeng had great potential, but also because he was a natural believer. He once said that he wanted to go to a place where everyone is equal, and he was only ten years old when he said that.”
Dai Li's pupils trembled slightly, and her eyes instantly reddened.
No, that's not it.
At that moment, all she wanted to do was go home.
A large, dark hand rose and covered Dai Li's eyes. Almost immediately, she heard a deafening cough that sounded like someone was coughing up their lungs.
The smell of blood suddenly became much stronger.
Author's Note: This part about the Northern Green Lotus Sect is temporarily finished. The next chapter will move on to other parts. Please give me some nutrient solution! [Hands clasped in prayer]
Are there any kids who didn't get into the European/Chinese competition twice in a row? [glasses emoji]
Okay, there should be some, so let's have a third draw!
The system will randomly select 100 lucky winners (regardless of the order of their comments) to participate. [Dog head holding a rose]
Participation requirements: Subscription rate of 70% or higher
Lottery draw time: Results will be sent out after tomorrow's update.
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