Crane Trapped in a Fence Amidst Rippling Waters (Part 1)
"We meet again."
Cui Yu smiled as she looked at the young man in front of her.
The young man had just arrived, and his vision was still somewhat unfocused, but it cleared instantly when he looked at Cui Yu. He immediately reached out to grab Cui Yu, wanting to question him, but Cui Yu dodged his movement.
"Where is Zhou Ziqiu? Where is Zhou Ziqiu?!"
Wen Su's eyes were sharp. Seeing that Cui Yu only smiled and remained silent, he turned his gaze to the Bridge of Helplessness. When he saw the white figure on the bridge, he thought it was Zhou Ziqiu. He hurriedly tried to rush over, but was stopped by an invisible barrier once again.
"Zhou Ziqiu! Zhou Ziqiu!"
That's not him.
Cui Yu's voice rang out beside Wen Su.
"What about the others? What about the others?"
Wen Su asked anxiously, but he actually knew the answer in his heart; all exorcists knew the answer.
"He went where he was supposed to go."
Cui Yu replied with a smile, which sounded like she had expressed Wen Su's answer in another form.
"Then I'll go with him."
Wen Su's eyes hardened, and he raised his hand to attack Cui Yu. Attacking the underworld's ghost messengers was a serious crime, and those who committed serious crimes would have their souls scattered. This was exactly what Wen Su wanted.
But Cui Yu's words made Wen Su's fingertips fix on what was in front of him—"But he is trapped on the road to resurrection."
What do you mean by that?
Wen Su didn't understand Cui Yu's words. Could Zhou Ziqiu be resurrected?
Cui Yu reached out and moved Wen Su's hand away from his eyes, then flipped through the Book of Life and Death in his hand: "What I mean is, Zhou Qinghe's lifespan has not ended, and according to the rules of the underworld, he should be able to be reborn."
Wen Su's expression suddenly turned to surprise. Yes, Cui Yu was right. Zhou Qinghe was killed by his brother. He was not meant to die; he was meant to be resurrected.
"So what do you mean by 'being stuck on the road'?"
Cui Yu's smile remained unchanged: "Then it has to do with the rest of his lifespan."
"In fact, if nothing unexpected had happened, he should have died at the age of seventeen."
Wen Su took a step back, looking at Cui Yu warily: "Then why did you say he still has lifespan?"
“Because although Zhou Qinghe was supposed to die at the age of seventeen, his brother was not.” Cui Yu lowered his eyes and flipped through the Book of Life and Death. “Zhou Gushan was supposed to die peacefully at the age of eighty-seven, but he died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-seven, leaving him with sixty years of life.”
"He requested that his sixty years of life be transferred to Zhou Qinghe, but how could such a good thing happen?" Cui Yu smiled, perhaps laughing at the naivety and delusion of mortals. "He committed such a heinous crime that even being deprived of his next life and thrown into the eighteen hells would not be enough."
Wen Su remained silent, listening quietly to Cui Yu speak.
But Cui Yu, seemingly lost in thought, sighed: "But the Grand Preceptor of Zhou is a man of great merit, exchanging his next life for this wish of Zhou Gushan."
The great merit mentioned in the underworld refers to those who have been virtuous for several lifetimes, whose souls carry golden divine light, and who can ascend to heaven after reincarnating a sufficient number of times. This is the only way for mortals to ascend to heaven.
“But where would such a cheap deal come from? It doesn’t exist in the human world, nor in the underworld.” Cui Yu’s face regained its smile. “If Zhou Qinghe hadn’t done good deeds after his death, never committed evil, and even ended his own life, I wouldn’t have agreed to this deal.”
“The deal is possible, but there has to be a discount.” Cui Yu sighed insincerely. “Bringing the dead back to life was quite a risk for me.”
“Just tell me what I should do.” Wen Su interrupted Cui Yu’s pretentious act. He disliked dealing with people like Cui Yu who wore a smiling face but did wicked things.
“No problem.” Cui Yu’s smile grew even brighter. “All you need to do is help Zhou Qinghe… or Zhou Ziqiu, find their own bodies.”
Just as Wen Su was about to ask what he meant, the scene around him changed rapidly. The noisy voices and melodious music entered his ears. He stared blankly down at the black robes he was wearing, not understanding how things had suddenly changed like this.
But the voice in his ear told him it wasn't an illusion: "Little General, keep it up!"
Wen Su gritted his teeth: "I am not a young general."
The person next to him was raising a glass to drink when he suddenly heard Wen Su's words and burst out laughing. His voice and Cui Yu's voice rang in Wen Su's ears at the same time.
"Wenlang, what are you talking about? Why aren't you the young general?"
"How do you know that the young general you're talking about is the same person I'm referring to?"
As soon as Cui Yu finished speaking, memories that didn't belong to him flooded into Wen Su's mind, playing out rapidly in his mind like a movie. Wen Su was stunned for a moment before he realized what had happened—he had become a young general.
This doesn't mean he took Xie Xingzhou's place; rather, he became the child of the Wen family, another military family besides the Xie family. This place felt like an illusion to him, as if none of the past had ever happened, not even Dayuan had ever attacked... all because of the prestige of the Wen and Xie families.
"I've told you everything I need to know. Now it's all up to you."
After saying this, Cui Yu fell silent. Wen Su turned to look at the person beside him, but his eyes were stung by the bright red light that caught his eye.
"...Your outfit is really ugly."
He still thought Xie Xingzhou looked ugly in red.
Xie Xingzhou stared wide-eyed in disbelief, stood up from the stool, and looked at himself in circles: "Impossible! So many girls were looking at me, even Ahe said my red dress looked good."
When Wen Su heard the second half of the sentence, his lips twitched, as if he couldn't believe that Zhou Ziqiu... no, Zhou Qinghe's taste was like this.
Xie Xingzhou pulled over a waiter from the restaurant and asked, "Tell me, do I look good in this?"
The servant boy blinked and smiled, "Young Master Xie has the bearing of a jade beauty; this outfit suits you perfectly!"
After letting the servant go, Xie Xingzhou sat back down next to Wen Su and said angrily, "It's been so long since I've been back to the capital, and you've become so sharp-tongued. You're punished by having to drink three cups!"
Everyone here knows that the young general of the Wen family dislikes the extravagance and frivolity of the capital. He was only ten years old when he was stationed on the frontier with his father and grandfather. He was sent back to the capital by his family because he was old enough to find a wife. Many daughters of officials secretly admire this handsome young general, but perhaps because he had been in the army for too long, he was completely oblivious to their feelings and never went anywhere except for the family's training ground and restaurant.
Wen Su clicked his tongue, picked up his glass, and drank three glasses. But to him, who was used to strong liquor in bars, the drink tasted bland and watery, like an alcoholic beverage. He drank without changing his expression.
"No wonder you served in the military, you have a good capacity for alcohol!" Xie Xingzhou laughed, completely forgetting that he had also served in the military for several years.
"I have something to ask you."
Wen Su didn't want to delve into the topic of drinking with his "former rival," so he quickly changed the subject: "Tell me, what about the Crown Prince? And what about the Second Prince?"
Although Wen Su held an official position, it was not a high one. He could have easily obtained one through his merits, but he had been unwilling to do so in the past. Now that he was asked this question, Xie Xingzhou thought that his dull friend had finally come to his senses and asked for a better official position, so he began to talk eloquently with his limited knowledge.
Listening to Xie Xingzhou describe the situation within the court, Wen Su formed a general assessment in his mind.
To his surprise, when he returned to the Wen residence, he saw a beautiful woman sitting in the hall. When she saw him return, she raised her eyebrows and slammed her teacup on the table. Whether it was a conditioned reflex of Wen Su's body or his own, he immediately stopped his foot from sneaking back to the backyard.
"...Mother."
Wen Su never expected to see his mother alive and well again, and he was filled with emotion.
"Hmph." The beautiful woman snorted coldly first, her gaze sharp. "So you still know how to come back."
“This is home, so naturally our son should come back.”
Wen Su took the dessert plate from the maid beside him, smiled and sat down next to the beautiful woman, offering her the desserts in a flattering manner.
The beautiful woman was angry at Wen Su's behavior. He was of marriageable age but still so clueless, just like the Xie family boy: "So, are you sure you're not going to accompany your mother to the palace banquet?"
The New Year is just around the corner, and the King has specially arranged a palace banquet for the court officials. Most of the Wen family's sons are on the frontier and cannot return. In the past, she could only go with her second wife, but this year her son has returned from the frontier. She wanted to take Wen Su to the banquet and take the opportunity to find a suitable daughter of an official. However, when she asked Wen Su before, he refused every time. She was so angry that she felt no matter how she looked at Wen Su, this sullen boy was not born from her womb.
A palace banquet?
Does that mean Zhou Ziqiu is coming back too?
Wen Su tentatively asked, "Mother, who from the royal family will be attending?"
The beautiful woman thought for a moment: "Usually it's the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince, but I heard that the young prince, who has always been weak, is much better this year, so he should also be attending."
This suited Wen Su perfectly, and he readily agreed, "That's fine."
The beautiful woman looked Wen Su up and down suspiciously, wondering why this little rascal had agreed again. But it was good that he agreed, saving her the trouble of saying, "Then remember to tidy yourself up properly, don't embarrass me."
Wen Su inherited all of his father's bad habits, except for his face, which looks just like hers. If she doesn't use that face to win the hearts of the girls at the palace banquet, she'll definitely make Wen Su pay.
These were indeed the words his mother would say. In a daze, Wen Su felt as if he had returned to the past, and laughed, "Don't worry, Mother."
But there was something even more important to do before the palace banquet.
The next morning, Wen Su went to court to pay his respects.
Every move he made represented the Wen family. If he returned from the frontier a thousand miles away without paying homage, he would inevitably be accused of disloyalty. To avoid unwarranted disaster, and also for another purpose, Wen Su dressed neatly and entered the court.
Wen Su was born in modern times, at the juncture of ancient and modern times. Therefore, while he embraced the culture of the new era, he also had some understanding of the culture of the old era. He also knew a little about the classical Chinese that the ancients liked. So, it wasn't too difficult for him to understand the memorial being read by the eunuch.
"Summon Wen Su, son of the Divine Might General and Vanguard General, to come forward and pay homage!"
Wen Su narrowed his eyes and, following his memory, slowly knelt down in front of the steps.
…Consider it kneeling before your father-in-law.
18:58:46
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