Without justice or power
The two men stood among twelve corpses.
Wu Qi threw down the sword in his hand, as a feeling of discomfort from the fever and a sense of weakness washed over him.
She sighed.
Wu Qi once read in a storybook that someone would take pleasure in killing, torturing people to death and then laughing heartily. Only when the blood splattered did the killer seem to truly live.
But that's not the case.
Killing is not pleasurable.
At least she didn't derive any pleasure from killing.
Yi Shen probably wouldn't either.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. Wu Qi put on a smile, her eyes beaming as she looked at Yi Shen. No one who saw her smile at that moment would guess that she had just put down the sword that had been used to kill.
She asked a series of questions with a smile—"Young Master Yi's swordsmanship is amazing! Who is your teacher? When did you learn it? Why didn't you call me to join you?"
"Don't worry," Yi Shen said. "I'm fine."
"Really?"
According to Wu Qi, Yi Shen is not suited to be stained with blood. He is like the first frost and snow that descended upon the world, untouched by dust and without any intention of descending, as if he were just passing through the world.
But at this moment, he was holding a sword, and drops of blood dripped down the blade to the ground, his usually clean clothes now stained with mud and blood.
The blood-stained frost and snow possess a strange and beautiful quality.
After all, this was Yi Shen's first time killing someone. Wu Qi looked at Yi Shen with concern, worried that the pure and innocent young master Yi would have nightmares after killing someone today. She tiptoed and touched Yi Shen's shoulder, muttering, "Puff puff puff, don't be scared."
Yi Shen sighed, "I'm not afraid."
"As expected of our Third Young Master Yi, you are incredibly audacious. Congratulations!" Wu Qi smiled as he picked up the dagger from the ground. "But you should still refrain from killing in the future. I always feel that revenge only leads to more revenge, and it will never end."
"good."
The horse had already been frightened and run away, and the two had intended to ride down the mountain, but now that was hopeless.
Ahead lay a patch of weeds and bushes. Suddenly, his feet became entangled in the weeds and bushes, and Wu Qi nearly fell. Just as he was about to draw his dagger to cut the weeds, a sword flashed past, and the weeds were cleanly cut down.
Wu Qi looked up at Yi Shen, who was holding a silver sword, and then his expression changed slightly. He stepped forward, put his arm around Yi Shen's waist, and thrust the dagger in his hand straight at Yi Shen's neck without hesitation.
The dagger grazed past Yi Shen's ear, taking not a single hair from his head, and severed a silver-ringed snake that was poised to fire behind him.
The banded krait is a highly venomous snake.
Wu Qi tiptoed and patted Yi Shen's shoulder, saying, "Young Master Yi, I saved your life. Would you like to repay this life-saving grace by answering me a question?"
"Can."
"Who is Young Master Yi's swordsmanship master?"
"Uncle Su."
"Hmm?" Wu Qi asked, "Who?"
Uncle Su?
Yi Shen's coachman?
Each of the three young masters of the Yi family had a coachman. Wu Qi and Yi Shen often rode in the same carriage, so they had naturally seen his coachman.
Su Xiting was tall and strong, but he was mute. He was very kind to Wu Qi and would go to buy her a piece of rice cake whenever he saw her.
Does Su Xiting know swordsmanship?
Yi Shen said, "Hold on tight, we're going down the mountain."
"Oh, oh." Wu Qi put his arm around his neck, thinking about their swordsmanship just now, and still felt that something was not quite right. "Yi Shen, don't you think our swordsmanship is a little too complementary?"
The fact that the two of them were able to kill so many people was not just due to their tacit understanding, but more like the complementarity of their swordsmanship. With one of them facing away, the other could cut off the enemy's arm in time to protect that person.
Upon hearing this, Yi Shen glanced at her and asked, "Who taught you your swordsmanship?"
Wu Qi replied, "It's Aunt Hehua, who has always made dresses for me."
Yi Shen said calmly, "They are husband and wife."
What?
They're a married couple!?
a bolt from the blue!
Wu Qi remained in a daze for a long time, nestled in Yi Shen's arms, wondering if he was delirious from the fever and that Uncle Su and Aunt He Hua were actually husband and wife!
She had assumed they were close friends, but it turned out they were actually husband and wife!
No wonder I sometimes see Uncle Su at the witch's mansion late at night!
"Ah!" Wu Qi shouted, poking Yi Shen's chest and looking up at him, questioning, "I didn't know anything! You didn't tell me!"
"I met him by chance."
Wu Qi didn't react for a moment and asked in confusion, "What did you see?"
Yi Shen sighed again, "Uncle Su is kissing Aunt He Hua."
A bolt from the blue!
Wu Qi was so shocked that he couldn't speak.
Yi Shen said, "Do you want to continue asking?"
"Um, haha, no, no, hurry up, there's a small courtyard not far away, let's pray we meet a kind person who will take us in for the night!"
The two landed outside the courtyard so suddenly that the old man, who was sitting in a rattan chair in the courtyard enjoying the cool air, almost fell over.
Wu Qi smiled sweetly and said, "Hello, Grandpa, I'm sorry to bother you!"
After settling into his rattan chair, the old man snorted coldly and said, "Last night, a group of masked men in black knocked on my door and ransacked my house, saying they were looking for someone. I think they were looking for you!"
“Yes,” Wu Qi admitted.
The old man was sixty years old, with gray hair. He stroked his beard and stared at the two of them. Their clothes were covered in mud and they looked disheveled. Just the bloodstains on their bodies alone made them look like bad people.
He took a step back and sneered, "Speak, what did you do to provoke those people to chase you?"
"Heaven and earth bear witness, Grandpa!" Wu Qi said, "They are bad people, we are good people, our role models, upholding justice!"
Some word seemed to have struck a chord with the old man, who burst into laughter, a glint of light appearing in his cloudy eyes, as if he had heard something extraordinary.
He squinted and asked, "You say you uphold justice, but let me ask you, if all the high-ranking officials and the emperor are wrong, what will you do? And how will you uphold your justice?"
“This matter is simple.” Wu Qi had a fever, but his mind was unusually clear. “Justice is justice. Whether it is a high-ranking official or the emperor, they cannot represent justice. As for how I should uphold justice, don’t overestimate me. After all, I still have a fever and can’t think clearly. But I will never do anything unjust. This is how I uphold justice.”
"Good, good, good!" The old man laughed heartily, looking at Yi Shen behind Wu Qi and said, "You have married a good wife."
Yi Shen nodded.
Wu Qi hurriedly explained, "No, no, we're not married yet. It's inappropriate for Grandpa to say that. It tarnishes our young master's reputation."
"So what if we get married? So what if we don't?" The old man didn't care. He even thought the two young people standing in front of him were a bit old-fashioned, perhaps because they were young and hadn't experienced any hardship.
He said, "The world is always unpredictable. Today a person is still alive and well, but tomorrow that person may be dead."
Wu Qi saw the tombstone standing in the courtyard, which was inscribed with the words "beloved wife".
"That's enough," the old man said. "Go inside and change your clothes, and get some rest. I'll go and brew some medicine for you."
Yi Shen wore the old man's old clothes, while Wu Qi wore the clothes that the old man's wife had worn when she was alive.
The old man brewed medicine for Wu Qi again.
After all that trouble, Wu Qi finally felt exhausted after taking the medicine. She lay down on the bed, covered with half a blanket and hugging the other half, and fell fast asleep.
My breathing feels a little stuffy.
Yi Shen pulled the blanket up to reveal her chin, and only got up to close the door after seeing that she was sleeping peacefully.
The distant green mountains remain unchanged.
An old man sat swaying in a rattan chair in the courtyard. When he saw Yi Shen come out, he took a sip of tea and said, "Young Master Yi, you recognized me?"
"Yes, you went to see Uncle Su."
"He is my own brother." As if recalling something, the old man said sarcastically, "Our whole family was being hunted down by the young prince. Ironically, we were being hunted down because we sold Luanhua-colored cloth."
General Wei's son, whose courtesy name was Luanhua, was extremely fond of the color Luanhua. He once said in the street that he was the only one in the world who could wear this color Luanhua. At first, people did not think much of it. There are so many colors, why do you insist on having only one?
Until someone wearing Luan Hua's clothes was seen by Wei Luan Hua, Wei Luan Hua killed him in public, causing an uproar. From then on, no one in the capital wore Luan Hua's clothes. Even Wen Ru burned the Luan Hua clothes of her three sons, cursing Wei Luan Hua for abusing his power.
Therefore, Yi Shen knew a little about this matter.
The incident caused a great stir in the capital but ultimately fizzled out. No one dared to send Wei Luanhua, who had killed someone in the street, to the Dali Temple, as if Wei Luanhua could be killed without consequence.
Upon hearing this, Wenru cursed Wei Luanhua at home, saying he was worse than a pig or a dog.
This wasn't the end of it. Wei Luanhua led a group of people into the cloth shop, and upon seeing Luanhua-colored cloth inside, he wanted to smash the shop. In the following days, he smashed at least a dozen shops. Everyone dared to be angry but dared not speak out. However, one shop resisted and was then chased and killed by him.
Yi Shen looked at the old man and asked, "Are you from the Zhang family of the capital?"
Back then, only Zhang's cloth shop resisted.
"It wasn't exactly resistance. His henchmen were incompetent and started groping my wife. She was pregnant at the time, and my brother couldn't stand it, so he said a few words, and then a fight broke out."
How could they dare to defy General Wei's son? General Wei was a general who had won every battle.
The old man casually stretched out his left hand, which only had four fingers.
“I had one finger cut off. My brother was given something by them and became mute. They couldn’t cure him. Only my sister-in-law was not in the shop at the time and was spared. We escaped and fled to this mountain. My wife had a difficult childbirth and both she and her unborn child died.”
The family was about to suffer this calamity simply because they sold the Luanhua-colored cloth and because they resisted slightly.
Some died, some were injured.
It's both pathetic and laughable.
"My brother and sister-in-law were furious and wanted to go to the capital to demand an explanation from the high officials. Does the son of a general who has won every battle have the right to arbitrarily hunt down and kill ordinary people?" the old man sighed. "In the end, nothing came of it."
"So, Young Master Yi, tell me, what is righteousness? What is power?"
Where is justice, and where is power?
Who is above whom?
Isn't it obvious at a glance?
Yi Shendao said, "Without justice, there is no power."
The old man found this strange and pressed for an explanation.
“There is no pure power in the world. There is power above power, and the highest power is supported by the people. There is also no pure justice in the world, because people are people.” Yi Shen said, “As long as you are a person, there is no pure justice. You are more or less mixed with selfishness.”
"What about that girl from the Wu family?" the old man asked.
“She had the least personal motive,” Yi Shen replied.
Wu Qi is one of the few people in the world who is closest to "righteousness". However, as a child of a noble family, she is bound by too many shackles. Just the set of family etiquette alone has already restrained her too much.
The old man then asked, "Then let me ask you, what would you do if that girl wanted to take a path that no ordinary person has ever taken?"
"I won't let her be alone."
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