Chapter 107 The Long Night (4) Yu Longzi: Yu Sheng was clearly arranged...
Changsun Qingjing hesitated for a moment, then grasped Duan Zhixuan's wrist and straightened his arm. "I used so much strength to save you, so please do me a favor and live on, and spread the word throughout the world about the miraculous healing skills of the divine physician Gao from Luoyang."
"Xiaojing, if I die tomorrow morning, tell Li Shimin and Cao Yuhan to hide," Duan Zhixuan calmly instructed.
"Okay." Changsun Qingjing didn't know how else he could help him besides agreeing to his request.
“Tell my father that I died fighting the soldiers while distributing grain from the government granary to the refugees, and don’t mention what happened tonight.”
"Okay." Changsun Qingjing wiped his eyes.
“Tell my fiancée, Madam Zhang, that I can no longer steal the Jade Dragon for her… You are a scholar, could you describe my death to her in a more heroic way…”
"Definitely. I'll tell her you're Black Ball, and that you died protecting us useless White Balls," Changsun Qingjing said firmly. "Although I'm a White Ball who joined temporarily, I'm still doing great things with you... She'll believe me."
"ah?"
"Okay." Changsun Qingjing's eyes were slightly red.
“If I die tomorrow morning, bury me on the spot, don’t drag everyone down with you. When you’re cleaning me, give all my valuables to Madam Li as an apology; Cao Yuhan will definitely bring money tomorrow in case something happens on his way back to Xin’an, if I die, have him give all the money he brought to Madam Li as well…” Even though this young man was arrogant, he still held a grudge about disrupting the marriage of an innocent girl. “Madam Li, please forgive me since I’m about to die.”
Li Fanniang's makeup was now smeared with tears and sweat. She stepped forward and said, "I stopped blaming you a long time ago. I don't want your belongings or your friend's money. Hang in there! Zhang Liang is waiting for you to meet him in Jinyang."
"Xiaojing, if my family can't find my remains in the future, please preside over the soul-summoning ceremony for me!"
"Alright, I'll use your favorite red robe to summon your spirit. Don't mistake it for someone else when you get home..."
"Xiaojing, you took that one of my..."
“Gao Xiaojing, don’t be so sentimental with him, talking about life and death like that, it’s so unmanly. I just praised him for being a general…” Mr. Wei felt that if this continued, Duan Zhixuan might lose all will to live, so he cut off those incoherent and sad last words, “Talk to him about something else, preferably something he likes and can’t bear to part with, don’t talk about these things about life and death anymore.”
Changsun Qingjing wiped away her tears, then, a sudden idea struck her. "Zhixuan, you must love fine horses, right? Shimin's stables have many famous horses. When he returns..."
Duan Zhixuan smiled and said, "Jinyang has no shortage of fine horses from Turkic merchants, but I prefer eagles and falcons."
“It’s even more convenient if you like birds,” Changsun Qingjing said. “Once you’re better, I’ll take you to Daxing to keep my brother-in-law company. All the birds along the Lishui River know him; the old folks have given him the nickname ‘Bird Thief’…”
"Good!" A hint of joy appeared on Duan Zhixuan's face.
Changsun Qingjing noticed that Mr. Wei was listening intently to snippets of conversation about the "bird thief," and his expression was strange.
Mr. Wei's tense posture suddenly relaxed.
Mr. Wei couldn't help but chuckle, then said seriously, "Young Master Gao, please don't mind, continue."
"Although Yang Guang does nothing about disaster relief, he would definitely do something as earth-shattering as praying for rain. At this time, Yu Longzi has probably been moved to the Dajue Fazang Pavilion on the west side again..." Changsun Qingjing reasonably speculated on the behavior of this hypocritical and theatrical emperor based on his brief encounter with Yang Guang during the Lantern Festival.
"You brat, why do you always choose the worst possible time to cause trouble?" Mr. Wei asked. "If you wanted a safer time, you should have done it when Yang Guang was away from Jinyang and the palace was less guarded. If you were so eager for fame, you should have openly robbed him during the rain-praying ceremony. You did it at the banquet; aren't you afraid the Xiaoguo will tear you to pieces?"
“Old sir, you don’t understand.” Duan Zhixuan turned his face to the side, trying to put on a serious expression, and said, “When Yang Guang was not in Jinyang, I went to steal the Jade Dragon. Maybe the eunuchs of Jinyang Palace would temporarily cover up this big incident, and then everyone would pretend that it never happened. How would I become famous in the world then?”
Changsun Qingjing and Mr. Wei clapped their hands and laughed together.
“The rain-praying ceremony is a major event, even more solemn than the court assembly. If you want to become famous, why don’t you steal during the rain-praying ceremony?” Seeing Duan Zhixuan’s brows furrow slightly, Mr. Wei applied some aconite ointment to his wound to relieve the pain.
“If the harvest is bad and the emperor doesn’t open the granaries, what crime have the people committed? If I steal the Jade Dragon while praying for rain, wouldn’t I be punished by heaven?” Duan Zhixuan was so excited that he forgot his pain. “After thinking it over, I wanted to become famous, but I couldn’t implicate innocent people, so I could only take advantage of Yang Guang’s banquet at Jinyang Palace to go and make a trip.”
"Mr. Wei!" Li Fanniang scolded playfully, "Why do you keep mentioning Zhang Liang in every other sentence?"
"Haha, I had a great time chatting with my friends tonight. For their sake, I'll reluctantly accept Zhang Liang as my son-in-law. I really want to go with you guys and cause some trouble for the tyrant." Mr. Wei's mood suddenly improved. Changsun Qingjing felt that Mr. Wei's current high spirits were his true nature.
"Xiaojing, come with me to move the medicinal herbs. We'll use them tomorrow morning. Fanniang, you stay with your son and godfather. If he wakes up in pain, apply the aconite ointment to him." Li Fanniang was somewhat unaccustomed to Mr. Wei's drastic change in attitude towards Zhang Liang, whom he treated like a daughter. However, she could only ignore his ramblings, acquiesce to his arrangements, move the lamp further away, and agree, "Yes."
Before they even left the house, Mr. Wei leaned close to Changsun Qingjing and said, "Take the iron shovel and come with me!"
Meanwhile, Duan Zhixuan inside the house started rambling on again: "Madam Li, may you come closer and speak? I have something to ask of you."
“Noisy,” Mr. Wei said with a shake of his head and a smile.
Mr. Wei and his eldest grandson Qingjing carried torches to the locust tree where the commotion had just occurred. A person lay there, perfectly still.
"Waiting for someone!" Changsun Qingjing exclaimed.
“I found a wax-coated letter on him.” Mr. Wei kicked the corpse but didn’t mention its contents. “It was aimed at me. Things are lively tonight, aren’t they?”
She was genuinely terrified. The idea of burying corpses, something she'd only seen in military dramas, was both unfamiliar and frightening, and she felt disgusted. She wanted to refuse, but she also felt it was too pretentious.
Changsun Qingjing only complained a few times, but his hands and feet did not dare to stop for a moment.
Changsun Qingjing paused and laughed, "Just as you boasted to Duan Zhixuan, you are a great thief favored by Han Zitong, the Grand General of the State, and even Fan Zigai and Yuwen Shu couldn't catch you. May I ask..."
"There are some things that you'd better not figure out too clearly, Young Master Gao. For your own sake, don't try to trick me into saying anything..." Mr. Wei squatted down and began searching the dead man's belongings. He untied the knife and bow and threw them aside. He poured out a gold ingot from his pouch, kept it for himself, and threw a few clipped coins into the pit. "What a miser! He even kept the privately minted coins. Did that old dog Yuwen Shu put all the money that was supposed to be paid for the servants into his own coffers?"
He then began to untie the dead man's bindings: "Damn it, so heavy! I wonder what he's carrying? Hey, Gao Xiaojing, don't just stand there, come and help."
Author's Note: In the novel, he tells her his final wishes; historically, he carried her coffin and attended her funeral. [Pity]
That night, three groups of people gathered in Luoxing Valley: Yuwen Shu's spies, the military clerks who were conscripting men, and the criminal clerks who were arresting thieves.
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