41 Chapter 41

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"Yunzhi, Uncle He sincerely invites everyone to come to the capital to attack Lu Wei. Now you will go to the capital to capture the bandits on my behalf. You are allowed to bring two thousand soldiers and horses. In the future, you can follow my orders. But you have to pass through Qingzhou, so you have to figure it out on your own." King Wei looked at his nephew Li Cheng and said.

Li Cheng clasped his fists and said, "I obey your orders."

The King of Wei talked about a lot of official business, and then his expression changed from serious to gentle: "You, you, I can leave this matter to Xie Jiuyi, but you insisted on accompanying your wife back to her parents' home. The second brother of the King of Wu only has you as a son. The current situation is unstable, and I am really worried."

His worries were not unreasonable, but Li Cheng also had his own ideas. Why did he make great achievements? Wasn't it just to ennoble his wife and children? Now that he had a family, his wife was someone he cared about, so how could he not meet her demands? Moreover, he was often under the King of Wei, so it was difficult for him to show his achievements.

Just like the last time he occupied Qingzhou, he thought that if it were him, he would definitely be better than Xie Jiuyi.

But he could not say these words, because saying them would be questioning the King of Wei. He could not even show that a large area of ​​King Wu's fiefdom was occupied by the King of Wei.

As people get older, they tend to tear apart some of their once beautiful memories, and their thoughts change accordingly.

When he came to his senses, Huiyin had already asked people to pack up. Jing'er in his arms was looking at him with big black eyes. Li Cheng smiled and hugged his son, "My dear son, look at you, you eat and sleep all day long. You are just like your mother said, a little pig."

"Don't talk about Jing'er like that." Huiyin was ironing clothes. When she heard him say that, she immediately scolded him.

Li Cheng was unhappy: "Didn't you say that yourself? How come you can say it but I can't?"

Huiyin laughed and said, "Because he wasn't angry when I said that. If you say that to him, be careful. He likes to nagged people now. Last time he nagged me, I slapped him and he never dared to nagged me again."

"Hehe, why are you competing with such a young child?" Li Cheng thought his son was adorable no matter how he looked at him.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jing'er came towards his face with a claw. Fortunately, Li Cheng dodged it quickly, "You kid really..."

Huiyin laughed so hard she fell backwards: "What did I say? Your son is not even one year old yet and he is very strong. We two have to help him get rid of this bad habit."

Li Cheng held his son's hand and said to Huiyin, "Such a young child can't even understand what people say. How do you want him to change? He will be fine after a few days."

"That won't work. Just like when he tried to grab me, I slapped his hands and he didn't dare to continue. Don't look at the child as he can't understand what we say now, but he can still see what adults do." Huiyin is not used to children.

Li Cheng was extremely tolerant of his son: "No, our Jing'er will change himself in the future."

"Just get used to him." Huiyin was speechless.

For lunch, Huiyin specially asked someone to prepare a lot of dishes that Li Cheng liked. The couple had been married for almost two years, and she almost understood his taste. His taste was completely like that of a child, and he liked to eat squirrel mandarin fish and marinated spareribs, which were either sweet and sour or strong in flavor, but he would not admit that he liked them after eating them.

She also noticed that Li Cheng's chopsticks had picked up two more pieces of the squirrel mandarin fish, and she couldn't help laughing.

"Why do you only eat mushroom hearts?" In fact, Li Cheng was also paying attention to Huiyin.

Huiyin said, "You don't know that I've been to too many banquets and parties in the past few days. Even though I've tried my best to restrain myself, I've gained a lot of weight, so I have to try to control myself as well."

Women in the south are generally graceful and slender, but Huiyin is tall and often stands out among them. Even when she stands next to Li Cheng, she cannot look so cuddly.

Now my face is even rounder, and I feel like I can kill a tiger.

Li Cheng looked his wife up and down and saw that she was very charming and beautiful, even like a peach that was about to burst. He blushed for some reason and said, "I think this is not bad."

It was originally just a very plain sentence, but when Huiyin saw his eyes, she quickly turned her head away.

The meal was very quiet. After the meal, they heard that Xie Jiuyi was coming. Li Cheng hurriedly got up and went to the front hall. Huiyin also changed her clothes to meet Yin Liyi.

"You are pregnant, why do you have to come here in person?" Huiyin said with a smile.

Yin Liyi stroked her belly and said, "Now that the baby is stable, I can't wait to go out for a walk. My mother-in-law won't let me go out. She always asks me to recuperate. I'm really bored."

Huiyin pointed at her and said, "This really shows how much you love each other. Wherever General Xie goes, you are there. We are all so jealous of you."

It was the first time that Yin Liyi heard Huiyin tease her like this. She felt a little embarrassed: "Stop making fun of me. What love are you talking about? I just feel uneasy looking at him."

"It was fortunate that you went to pick someone up last time. If it were me, I would definitely not dare to do that." Huiyin flattered her a few words. Anyway, she was going to Jizhou now, so she was in a good mood.

Yin Liyi felt that husband and wife should be loyal to each other, and a political marriage like that between the young prince and Zheng Shi should be a marriage in which each of them acted independently.

But she felt that whatever she wanted to say was inappropriate, so she only asked about the child's safety: "What will Jing'er do after this long journey?"

"Take Jing'er back to let her grandparents see her. We can only do our best to take care of her." The main reason was that Huiyin was worried about leaving the child to Concubine Wu.

Huiyin has been in good health recently. The only time she felt uncomfortable was because she ate too late and had too much greasy food, so she had diarrhea. Otherwise, she was in good health. Moreover, she was fully prepared and was not very afraid.

It was unknown what Xie Jiuyi and Li Cheng talked about, but Huiyin thought it was just some important military matters. After all, the couple were going to Xuzhou via Qingzhou, and Xie Jiuyi was very familiar with the terrain of Qingzhou.

She also asked Mrs. Gao, the wife of Mr. Lu, to help her look after the harvest of the tea garden. As for Zhang Laosan Ramen Restaurant, she also silently provided financial support.

The couple bid farewell to Concubine Wu. Although Concubine Wu disagreed, her opinion was no longer important because neither Li Cheng nor Huiyin would listen to her.

When Li Cheng and Huiyin passed through Qingzhou, they certainly could not pass through as themselves, but disguised themselves as merchants and brought goods from Jiangnan to Beijing to sell.

In this day and age, only merchants can travel north and south. After all, merchants are all after profits. Whether they are big or small military leaders, they need food and grass to recruit soldiers and buy horses. This is why Huo Qi is willing to marry Jiang Bibo and why Huiyin will help. Including the Cui family girl that her brother may get engaged to in the future, that is also a local big family, and she also wants to gain support.

Of the two thousand soldiers that followed, one thousand went towards the small road, and the other one thousand pretended to be friends.

Li Cheng changed his surname to Cui, a businessman, and returned to Ning with his wife, and went to the capital to do some business. The two of them naturally could not wear the same clothes as before. Huiyin changed into ordinary Hangzhou clothes, removed all the palace jewelry on her head, and only combed her hair into a Yuanbao bun, inserted two three-strand gold hairpins, and wore a gold and jade ring on her hand, and then nodded.

"You are dressed too simply." Li Cheng felt that his wife must dress better before she went to her parents' home, but now she looked a little shabby.

Huiyin smiled and said, "You are already wearing a square hat, and you are still talking about this, Mr. Cui, let's go. By the way, tell the soldiers not to drink raw water. If they really want to drink it, put alum in it. I have prepared the alum, you can ask the guards to give it to them."

Li Cheng said to her, "As expected, a girl from a military family is different. I don't even remember these."

"Of course you don't remember. One year my father led his troops to fight, and many men drank water from a small river ditch. As a result, they either got malaria or had diarrhea and were unable to fight. That was when I realized the importance of alum." Huiyin would of course take the opportunity to show off.

Li Cheng arranged the rest very well. It was the first time Huiyin met such a meticulous man. He told her every detail. Jiangnan cloth was good, so this time they pretended to be cloth merchants. He loaded the carriages of the people in front and behind with expensive and fashionable cloth, and he even learned about the origin of the cloth himself.

He even personally made tea for Huiyin in the carriage, and said with a smile: "I modified this carriage myself. It doesn't need to be fancy, but it is very comfortable. You can take a nap here, and you can pour water directly from this pipe. These are all small paths, and the most important thing is that the carriage is very stable. You can take a nap here later. You sleep for a while, and then I will sleep."

"Okay." Now the carriage has entered Qingzhou. The people stationed here are all Lu Weihe's uncle's men. These people are not easy to deal with.

Huiyin took a sip of tea, her mouth full of fragrance. She tilted her head and looked at him: "How come you can do everything? I feel inferior to you."

Li Cheng simply said, "I admit that I have some intelligence and talent, but the most important thing is that I am the prince of Wu. My father invited the great sage to teach me since I was a child. This is something that no one else can compare to."

"No, no, you lost your father at a young age. Yet you were able to command the troops of an entire state. Although you were the one who defected to the King of Wei, you also became his right-hand man. Whether it's military affairs or your daily household chores, you really can do everything, and you always do it better than others. I'm really proud of you." Huiyin said seriously.

Li Cheng said happily: "Thank you Huiyin for the compliment."

Huiyin knew that he was actually confident, but in front of her, he might seem a little unpredictable, so he didn't dare to brag. But she really thought he was actually very remarkable, at least he had always lived with integrity and had no regrets.

The two looked at each other, and Li Cheng suddenly hugged her and put his head on her shoulder: "You didn't let me touch you those days, and now I feel so uncomfortable."

As a couple, Huiyin didn't shy away from these things. She just whispered, "Just wait until we check into the inn."

As they were now businessmen, they naturally could not stay in the government inn. Although the inns were a mixed crowd, they could still book all of them as they could stay in the best ones.

Li Cheng's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Okay, okay."

After the group entered the city, in order to avoid being seen, Li Cheng asked half of the group to stay in another inn, and he took Huiyin and Jing'er to stay in a Yuelai inn west of Qingzhou. However, this inn was not fully booked because several people had already moved in. After Li Cheng arranged everyone, the couple took a bath and naturally had some sex, but because they were too tired, they fell asleep directly.

The next day, Li Cheng wrote out a list and asked people to prepare dry food, but he didn't expect that before they came back, the place was surrounded.

Huiyin was getting dressed and couldn't help frowning: "Could it be that they found us and came to cause trouble for us? That's impossible. So many merchants came into the city together yesterday. We came in together and were all dressed the same."

"Don't panic. Get up first. Jing'er stays by your side. I'll go out and take a look. Don't worry, I will protect you." Li Cheng was not afraid.

Unexpectedly, there was no other reason, but a murder happened here, killing a man and a woman.

Li Cheng said to Huiyin: "Although this place is now occupied by Lu Wei's people, the county magistrate here is diligent and loves the people. He is very loved by the local people. This Dayan City was guarded by him, so he is very good to the people under his rule. It doesn't matter. It has nothing to do with us anyway."

"Yeah." Huiyin nodded secretly.

Unfortunately, the county lieutenant came in person to investigate the case and asked everyone living here to be interrogated one by one. Huiyin was always calmer when faced with big things. She comforted a few wet nurses and servants and confirmed her identity with them again.

The deceased man was a merchant from the Western Regions, and the deceased woman was a Taoist nun. Their rooms were next to each other, but their origins were completely unrelated. The Taoist nun was preparing to go to Qingfeng Temple in Jiangnan, while the Western Region merchant bought raw silk tea from Jiangnan and was preparing to return to the Western Regions.

He happened to find Li Cheng and Huiyin, and his eyes lit up. Such a person actually appeared here. The man looked like a man of only 18 years old, but he looked very dignified and noble. His gestures were even more radiant. Although his wife was a merchant, she was stunningly beautiful. She was not coquettish, but rather had a distinguished demeanor.

"To reply to the county commander, I am a silk merchant from Jiangnan. I was delivering goods to the capital and happened to be accompanying my wife back to Ning. I passed by this precious land and unexpectedly encountered this incident. County Commander Feng, we still have to go to the capital, so please be flexible." Li Cheng bowed.

After Li Cheng finished speaking, he looked at Huiyin, who sighed slightly: "We really didn't expect something like this to happen. Husband, when we get to the White Pagoda Temple in the capital, let's go and burn incense."

County Magistrate Feng shook his head and said, "No, your appearance and behavior don't seem like merchants. Although your pass and other things are very similar, your demeanor is definitely not that of merchants."

Li Cheng wanted to explain something, but Huiyin responded faster than him: "It's good that you can see it. My husband and I have been engaged since we were young. We are both from noble families, but his family went bankrupt and became a businessman. My parents wanted to cancel the engagement, but I thought a gentleman should keep his promise. How could my family reject him just because his family is poor? So, in order to marry him, my parents cut off all ties with me. Fortunately, my husband has made some money now and revived the family, so we want to return home in glory."

"So that's how it is. If they were children of aristocratic families, it would make sense." County Magistrate Feng felt that the two of them were more than that, but he had read countless people, and when he saw the woman in front of him with tears in her eyes and a tone of sweetness after suffering when she looked at her husband, he had already believed it in his heart, and he sympathized with and admired her character.

But the correct questions to ask are: "When did you enter the store? When did you turn off the lights?"

"We entered the shop at 3 p.m., and because there were so many of us, we wanted to rent the shop for ourselves. Later, when the sun set, we had lunch at 4 p.m. and rested at 10 p.m. We asked the waiter to fetch us some water. Later, because we were too tired from the long journey, we fell asleep. We lived in the No. 1 room on the east side. We didn't know anything about the No. 2 room. My servants and shopkeepers can testify to that. All of them can testify to that." Huiyin said calmly.

County Captain Feng called the shopkeeper over to ask, and the shopkeeper nodded quickly: "These few people are big customers. Because they are afraid of noise, they have moved all the rooms that were previously staying in the hotel to the first-class rooms."

Li Cheng found that Huiyin's greatest advantage was that she had a clear mind, was very sharp, and reacted quickly. In fact, some people were very friendly, like Yin Liyi, who was silly, but except for himself, everyone was easily infected by her. There were also people like the Princess of Wei who were very stable, as calm as a mountain in the face of wind and rain, or Yin Lifang, who was calm as water in all matters and could achieve great results with little effort.

But Huiyin has always been very patient with him and never resisted or forced himself. He has never been able to see through her, but now he feels that her ability to react is too strong.

County Captain Feng might have noticed something unusual, but her eyes were so tearful, no one could remain unmoved by her, so their group passed smoothly and became the first city in Qingzhou.

After they came out, Li Cheng couldn't help but ask, "How did you suddenly come up with that story? It sounds so convincing."

"Of course it was from a storybook. Don't scholars like young ladies who give up everything for them the most? I saw that the county lieutenant was a military officer in charge of catching thieves, but he spoke in a flowery manner, so I made up the story on purpose." Huiyin giggled.

Li Cheng also smiled: "I have to thank you very much, my lady."

Huiyin held his hand and said, "Actually, I think it's because we both look richer, and the man is handsome and the woman is beautiful. Since ancient times, murders are either for passion or for money, and we don't seem to have such a motive anyway."

"You little devil." Somehow, Li Cheng liked listening to her talk more and more.

Huiyin looked at him and said, "Just now I saw you talking happily with that county magistrate Feng, and I thought you wanted to stay and help him."

Li Cheng laughed: "I'm not the kind of person who likes to meddle in other people's business. County Magistrate Feng is managing the matter well, why should I go there and interfere?"

"It's hard to imagine that you now are the same person as Yin Liyi who told me that a sparrow or a pheasant could never turn into a phoenix. She also said that the way you looked at people before revealed that you were all clumsy. Now you are so open-minded, so calm, and so considerate of others." Huiyin touched his face.

Li Cheng chuckled, "Because after we got married, you worked so hard to write so many gift lists, and I found fault with every item, but you didn't complain at all. Instead, you were very grateful for me solving the problem for you. I felt that if I was being criticized by you, I would definitely be unhappy at first. But you made me realize my own narrow-mindedness. In fact, capable people should accept other people's opinions. It was also you who taught me how to express myself. You told me everything, encouraged me and praised me, and even praised me often. I felt very comfortable expressing myself to you."

They have been married for such a long time, and yet they are still talking to each other from the bottom of their hearts. Although he looks cold on the outside, he is actually very considerate.

Huiyin leaned into his arms and said, "We encountered a murder case on the first day we entered Qingzhou. Fortunately, this county lieutenant is a sensible man, but after that, I always felt that it would not be so smooth sailing."

"Are you backing out?" Li Cheng looked at her and said.

Huiyin shook her head: "No, the bigger the event, the less likely we are to fail. We can grow from setbacks. Otherwise, we will be like Ma Kui, who thought that everything would be fine as long as he owned Qingzhou. He didn't know that he would worry about the present, and his Qingzhou was taken away. Only through struggle can people really know what their shortcomings are. So, don't worry, even my son and I will be with you."

The situation is unclear, and the war is imminent. If they don't die today, they will die tomorrow. Even if they shrink back and build their business in the past few years, won't there be a disaster that will destroy them in the future? Instead of doing this, it is better for the couple to spend more time together and give Li Cheng more confidence.

Li Cheng looked at his wife and laughed, "Don't worry, even if Lu Wei and He Guojiu's men really catch me, they won't do anything to me. He Guojiu is still waiting for everyone to attack Lu Wei together. Lu Wei may not be unaware of this, so of course we have to capture him."

But the wife was fearless, and she did prove with her actions that she was absolutely not a drag, but rather clever and intelligent. It was a waste for such a woman to stay in the inner house. She should go out of the house and use her intelligence and talents to make decisions.