Infiltrate
When Jingwan and Lu Chang left Dancheng, Cui Dongchi saw them off with his new wife from the Cui family.
The bride was beautiful and of noble birth. Standing beside Cui Dongchi, she was a perfect match for him. She smiled gently at her husband, their eyes revealing a deep understanding between them.
Jingwan looked her over, feeling both worried for Chunlai and annoyed by her incompetence.
Cui Dongchi was truly reluctant to see Lu Chang leave and wanted to keep him for a few more days, but considering the critical situation, he could only regretfully see him off. Before leaving, he said, "Just remember, the Cui family will help you in everything!"
Only Lu Chang understood what he meant. He rarely showed coldness towards Cui Dongchi, and he was like that now. He didn't say anything, just nodded slightly, and helped Jingwan into the carriage.
That was all.
After the carriage left, Xu Yingying smiled and said, "My husband's friend was a bit cold."
Cui Dongchi chuckled. Although his father hadn't said anything to Lu Changming, his words had more or less hinted at the path the Cui family was going to take. With such an ambitious person lurking by his side, how could Lu Chang not be indifferent?
He didn't care at all: "Never mind, he'll figure it out and become warm towards me."
Because Xu Yingying was walking beside him, Cui Dongchi deliberately slowed down and walked alongside her. After a few steps, a hand came over to support his arm. He glanced at it casually and saw that the woman's nails were painted with bright red nail polish, which made her jade-like fingers look even whiter. He did not refuse and let her support him.
When Cui Dongchi saw them off, Jingwan noticed Lu Chang's displeasure. On the day of the Cui family's son's wedding, after leaving the Cui family, he was preoccupied. Sometimes when he woke up in the middle of the night, he could be seen with his hand on his forehead, deep in thought.
He felt better after getting into the carriage, and let Jingwan lean against him, gently asking her if she wanted to take a nap.
Jingwan yawned and leaned lazily against Lu Chang's chest. Before long, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she saw Lu Chang's face, deep in thought.
She stroked Lu Chang's face, her voice still heavy with sleep: "Where are we, cousin?"
Lu Chang deliberately lowered his head, letting her touch his face. He even gently wiped her small hand with his face. The car was silent, yet filled with warmth.
She was sleeping in his arms, and that was good enough.
The roads in Jianchuan were easier to travel than those in Lingnan. Jingwan liked to lift the curtains and peer out the window to see the scenery on both sides. When they reached flat ground, she saw a majestic mountain range in the distance. Curious, she took Lu Chang's hand and asked him what that mountain was.
Lu Chang put down his book and looked in the direction she pointed.
He looked for a long time without saying a word. Jingwan thought he didn't know either and didn't intend to ask again, but then she heard someone beside her say, "That's Fengming Mountain."
Fengming Mountain is a majestic mountain in Jianchuan County. According to local records, the mountain was transformed from a phoenix. Some people have heard the phoenix cry in the mountain, and it is regarded as a sacred mountain by the locals.
Lu Chang watched Jing Wan curiously gazing at the distant mountain, then sat back down. He glanced at her again; she was still engrossed in the view, so he reached out and lowered the curtain, then pulled her back into his arms.
"Jingwan, would you like to hear what I didn't finish saying at Huaguang Temple?"
Jingwan couldn't remember anything, and her bewildered expression made Lu Chang unable to resist ruffling her head.
He saw Fengming Mountain, thought of the three years he spent in Jianchuan, and thought of today.
“When I left you that year, I went to Jianchuan because Yi Gong was in Fengming Mountain. He was my father’s deputy general. When my father was killed, he was patrolling the border and escaped. However, the late emperor kept sending people to secretly hunt him down. It wasn’t until the new emperor ascended the throne that the pursuit of him was relaxed. Perhaps no one will hunt him down anymore. No one in the world remembers that my father had such a general by his side.”
"When the late emperor secretly arrested him, he fled south to Fengming Mountain with only a few soldiers from the Lu family army, hoping to make a comeback and fight against the court."
"When I arrived in Jianchuan that year, Fengming Mountain had already recruited several thousand refugees, perhaps more than a thousand, possibly even tens of thousands. They had already become quite a force to be reckoned with in the mountains. Yuan Qifeng, the military governor of Jianchuan, had always wanted to wipe them out, but because the mountain was so large and Lord Yi had the advantage, he never let Yuan Qifeng succeed."
"So you stayed there and fought for them all this time?" Jingwan looked at Lu Chang with concern, only then realizing where all the large and small scars on Lu Chang's body came from.
Lu Chang nodded: "Later, when the situation stabilized, I wanted to leave the mountains. In addition, the imperial court issued an edict, so I left Jianchuan."
"Several years ago, when I went to Lingnan, Yi Gong learned of this and came to Lingnan to find me, wanting me to go to Fengming Mountain. He was willing to give me the entire mountain and then let me take Jianchuan, using it as a base to resist the imperial court. After I refused, he left Lingnan and wrote to me several more times, which I also refused. It wasn't until the last year or two that he..."
No letters came, and I never corresponded with him again.
In the end, Jingwan could hear the regret in his words, but she didn't know what he was regretting. She only asked Lu Chang if he had ever thought about staying in Jianchuan back then.
“You are his master. If he were willing to truly acknowledge you as his master, with your talent, you might not have had to suffer so much in Lingnan. Now Jianchuan is in your hands.”
Did you ever think about staying in Jianchuan, staying in Fengming Mountain? Lu Chang thought he probably did, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed there for three years.
Three years, though neither long nor short, was enough for him to see the situation clearly and wake up from the abyss of revenge.
"Yi Gong claims that everyone in the mountains is a member of Lu Family Army, but I know that Fengming Mountain has nothing to do with my father or the Northwest. He wants to use my father's name to gain power, but the people gathered in the mountains are mostly local bandits and refugees. He has an adopted son, who is narrow-minded and at odds with me. Yi Gong values him highly, and the soldiers and civilians in the mountains also trust him. Even though Yi Gong calls me his master, in the eyes of the people in the mountains, I am just a guest."
“My father said that Yi Gong had the talent of a general, but not the talent of a commander. When fighting, he charged bravely and was never afraid of the enemy. But when he became the master of a mountain, he did not discipline his subordinates strictly. His men even dared to go down the mountain to cause trouble and plunder the people. This matter could not be stopped even though it was stopped.”
He was unwilling to live in the mountains, partly because he didn't want people to recognize his identity, but he also disliked the soldiers in the mountains who were too bandit-like and caused frequent chaos.
At this point, Lu Chang stopped talking. Jingwan understood that no golden phoenix could fly out of Fengming Mountain. Her cousin had long known that Fengming Mountain was not the place for him to rise again, so he chose to leave. Even when he first arrived in Lingnan and life was very difficult, he never thought of leaving, because Lingnan was where his heart truly belonged.
He succeeded in the end. When his footprints are left on millions of kilometers of land, and the people of those lands respect and love him, what does Fengming Mountain matter?
"Do you remember when I came back from Jianchuan, you stitched up my wounds? At that time, Yi Gong was captured and taken to Pingdu. I was injured while saving him."
Jingwan certainly remembered that she harbored resentment towards Lu Chang at that time, but seeing that he was injured, she still took him to Uncle Gong's house.
Gong Shu... that kind old man, she hadn't seen him for many years, and wondered how he was doing.
However, with Qin Ziyou by his side, he shouldn't be too bad off...
Lu Chang was unaware that Jing Wan was lost in thought, and continued to tell her the story. When he got to the letter, Jing Wan asked curiously, "Since you concealed your whereabouts, the people of Fengming Mountain wouldn't know that you returned to Pingdu, and naturally they wouldn't send you the news that Yi Gong had been arrested."
Besides, they didn't trust their cousin. Their master had been captured; their job wasn't to deliver a message, but to chase after him and rescue him! But if the message wasn't from Fengming Mountain, then who could it be? Who still knew their cousin's identity?
These questions also troubled Lu Chang for a long time. He knew he was being watched, but he didn't know who was behind it. When he rescued Yi Gong, a masked man also came to his aid.
Those people had unusual martial arts styles, and after rescuing him, they left, as if they had only come to help him.
"When I came to the Cui family the other day, I met the Duke of Dingguo and learned that it was the Cui family that had been helping us all along. That letter and those masked men were all arranged by Cui Dongchi."
Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Of all the people in Jianchuan, only Cui Dongchi knew his background and identity, and that he was going to return to Pingdu.
I did have my suspicions about him back then, but I never really thought about it deeply. How could such a leisurely young man know what he was doing in Jianchuan?
Only now do we realize that Cui Dongchi's identity as a businessman is like the veil on his face, never revealing his true identity to the public.
I thought he was too leisurely to concern himself with politics, but now I realize he is ambitious and has been eyeing the hot pot of meat that is the Great Wei like a tiger or wolf.
No wonder they need to earn so much money. If they want to change the world, how can they do it without a lot of money?
He originally thought that telling Jingwan about Cui Dongchi's true intentions would scare her, but when he looked down, he saw that the person in his arms was not very surprised.
Jingwan wasn't too surprised: "I've never met a businessman as generous and enthusiastic as Cui Dongchi. Now it makes sense. He had ulterior motives! No wonder he contributed both money and effort to the construction of the Lingnan navigation dike and port. It turns out he had his eye on my cousin all along."
Lu Chang smiled and asked her, "Why did you start targeting your cousin?"
Considering Lu Chang's strange behavior these past few days, Jingwan guessed, "He helped his cousin establish himself in Lingnan because he wanted to unite with his cousin to fight against the imperial court?"
Lu Chang was surprised that she could think of this. She was an extremely clever person. If she had been born as a man, she might have been rebellious and like Cui Dongchi, determined to change the world.
He held Jingwan in his arms and sighed, "The road ahead is uncertain, and I am also worried. Little Jingwan, are you afraid?"
My cousin always seemed so confident and composed. As the saying goes in the book, he was a master strategist who could plan and strategize from afar. How could such a man, whom she trusted so much, be afraid of the future?
Jingwan traced his handsome features and said to him, "Cousin, it seems you've had too much of a good life."
Lu Chang immediately understood what she meant. His previous sadness vanished instantly, and he only wanted to tease the little girl in his arms, tickling her armpits: "Oh! You mean I'm so happy I don't want to leave, right!"
She tickled like an eel, hiding in Lu Chang's arms, laughing through her tears. Only then did Lu Chang stop and hug her tightly.
“If it were just me, success or failure wouldn’t matter, but you’re here…” He didn’t say anything more, only whispering sweet nothings to Jingwan.
Jingwan originally wanted to tease him, but seeing his expression, she simply hugged him tighter and whispered in his ear, "Cousin, let's take a gamble with fate!"
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