Chapter 46: The Yellow Bird Behind
The person hidden in the darkness did not say a word, nor did he respond. He just glanced at him lightly and turned away.
Xue Xiyang threw off the reins and chased after him, asking quickly, "Why you? Aren't you worried that the county lady will find out?"
"It's me," he finally spoke, his voice low yet clear before the crack of dawn. "It doesn't matter whether she finds out or not, but I will always insist on doing what I believe is right and what's good for her. As for the final result, that doesn't matter either. In this world, right and wrong, success and failure are not marked by what we ultimately gain. We all have to choose the wisest path."
Xue Xiyang blurted out, "I don't believe it! She's always trusted you so much. I don't understand why you're trying to get in her way... Is it possible for her to still choose you?"
"You really don't understand. If she's with someone else, she'll just be a dependent. How can she have the best life?" His voice was steady and gentle. "My expectations for her and my support for her will be higher than anyone else in this world. No matter what she ultimately chooses or where she ends up, I will help her shine brightly, leave her name in history, and make her a legend like her grandfather and great-great-grandmother. No one else can give her these things except me."
"But what makes you think I would want what you give me?"
A clear voice with a hint of coldness came from the darkness behind him.
Then, a fire suddenly appeared behind him, and countless torches lit up in the darkness. In the shadows, countless figures were armed with weapons, and they were the Kucha soldiers who were chasing them stealthily.
No wonder they had such a smooth journey. It seems that the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
The few death warriors who rescued Xue Xiyang and the small group of Western Fan troops who came to support them could not resist for long and were captured by them in a few moves.
Xue Xiyang and the man in black were trapped. The torches illuminated them and also illuminated the figure walking out of the dark night - slim but not weak, walking towards them step by step slowly and firmly.
The bright lights illuminated her ethereal and beautiful face, as well as the scar across her brow, adding a hint of flaw to her originally bright face, yet making it appear particularly vivid because of this slight flaw.
"County Lady..."
Xue Xiyang murmured subconsciously and turned to look at the person next to him.
Under the bright light, he knew that he could no longer hide, but he subconsciously turned sideways, unwilling to face her directly.
Obviously, he was not as sure as he said.
Qiandeng looked at them quietly, raised his hand and signaled the soldiers to escort the others to retreat first.
The old soldiers were a little worried: "County Master, this man has committed many crimes. What if..."
"It's okay, I'll accompany the county lady." Li Yingshang took a torch from the back and walked behind Qiandeng.
When everyone saw him, they no longer felt uneasy and immediately took the bystanders and left.
"Mr. Xue, why are you going to a foreign country without saying a word in such a dark night?" Qian Deng said, and his eyes slowly turned to the person next to him.
"And what about Cui Shaoqing? You were so kind, sending your friend off so far away at night, but why didn't you tell us anything?"
The dark shadow hidden in the dark night was Cui Fufeng.
"It's late at night, the dew is heavy, and we're out in the wilderness. Why did the county lady come here in person?"
Now that things had come to this, there was no need for him to hide any more. He slowly removed his cloak and looked at her, the firelight reflected in his eyes as dim as the stars in the distance.
"Actually, just leave everything to me. No matter what happens, I will make arrangements for the county lady. Don't you trust me?"
"Indeed, with Master Cui's ability to plan and strategize, if I can follow your arrangements, I will naturally have the best future. After all—"
Qian Deng stared at him and slowly uttered a calm yet earth-shattering conclusion: "I, Xue Xiyang, the Kucha rebels, the Western Fan army—even the Crown Prince and the Tang Dynasty—are merely pawns in your hands, manipulated without a sound, towards the outcome you desire."
He didn't avoid her gaze, but asked her frankly: "What do you think, County Lady, is the result I want?"
"Of course, they hope that I will control Kucha and suppress the situation in the northwest for the Tang Dynasty. The premise of all this is that the Kucha royal family has been completely annihilated, and they can only find people to support from the side branches, such as me." Qian Deng revealed the secret and said mercilessly, "Shaoqing Cui, although on the surface, it was Xue Xiyang and the rebels who stole the national sacred artifact and massacred the Kucha royal family, the person who truly set up everything behind the scenes and pushed the situation to this point is you!"
Although he had vaguely guessed something, Xue Xiyang still looked at Cui Fufeng with a look of surprise.
He was not panicked, but smiled faintly at Qiandeng: "Oh? I wonder where the county lady got this guess from? Fufeng would like to hear the details."
"Actually, I started to suspect Cui Shaoqing when I discovered the theft of the three sacred artifacts protecting the nation." Qian Deng's tone was calm and detailed, just like the countless times they had discussed the case together in the past. "When exposing Xue Xiyang's modus operandi, I mentioned that the second sacred artifact, the golden glazed wheel, was too heavy, so the rebels chose to hide it in a sea tank lamp and conceal it in scented oil. So, who had the opportunity to take action that night?
As she spoke, she turned her gaze to Xue Xiyang. "A logical guess would be that it was Master Xue who stole the Glazed Blue Lotus? No, I don't think so. After Master Xue stole the glazed glass, the golden cage remained intact, radiant and resplendent, in its original place. Furthermore, due to its intricate weaving, it's easy to overlook the contents without a close inspection. But the Dharma Wheel and the Vajra were clearly visible on the altar. Even if Master Xue could have taken them away or hidden them, Daimao and I stayed in the Spirit Hall all night. We would have noticed they were missing if we had only walked around briefly. How could it be that we only discovered the three sacred vessels were missing the next day, after the Northern King was murdered, when we returned to investigate?"
Xue Xiyang immediately said, "Yes, I certainly won't do something so risky and easily exposed."
Cui Fufeng just looked at her quietly, breathed a sigh of relief, and said nothing.
"So I conclude that, aside from the Glazed Blue Lotus, the other two items disappeared during the time I left the Spirit Hall and returned—that is, the time you, Cui Shaoqing, were alone inside copying the scriptures. That was plenty of time for you to sink the Dharma Wheel into the Sea Tank Lamp. And the Vajra, because of its small size, only two palms' length, fit perfectly within the core of the scroll you were copying, completely enveloping it. You even unfolded the scroll for the Imperial Master to examine. In reality, the Vajra's weight was completely misaligned with the original scroll core. He would have sensed something unusual if he had unfolded it even a little further, or even handled it. But you acted so naturally that the Imperial Master, in his haste, naturally didn't think to investigate. So, you managed to conceal the truth and help the rebels make all three sacred artifacts disappear."
Listening to her analysis, Cui Fufeng smiled with relief. "Actually, when I was making this move, I was also thinking that I might not be able to deceive the County Master. But I still wanted to take a gamble, betting on your trust in me, betting that you would never point the finger of suspicion at me... Unfortunately, I overestimated myself and underestimated the County Master."
Li Yingshang listened to his words and turned the torch in his hand with a smile, wondering if he was remembering the moment when he was whipped and expelled by Qiandeng.
"No, you don't overestimate yourself. In fact, before I asked Master Xue about the blue belt, I was unwilling and afraid to doubt you." Qian Deng looked him straight in the eye and slowly shook his head. "But that belt confirmed my suspicions. You were the one who designated the belt as a symbol for us, and by then Master Xue and the assassins had already decided on which belt to use."
Xue Xiyang took a deep breath and suddenly realized: "So that... wasn't a coincidence!"
"Yes, you think it was the Jin family's fault that caused the two sides to collide by chance. That's because, like a normal person, you don't believe that someone would deliberately choose the same mark as the assassin. But if you look at it from another perspective, Cui Shaoqing, it wasn't a coincidence. Didn't you arrange it deliberately after knowing the other party's mark?"
Cui Fufeng didn't say anything, but just covered his deep eyes with his long eyelashes and pursed his lips slightly.
"Even the rumor that day that the royal family wanted to kill me was probably fabricated by you, right? The truth is, you had already reached a cooperation with the rebels using the sacred national treasure. You knew that the royal family would be attacked in the Ling Temple that day, marked with a green belt. So you forged traces under the window, creating the illusion that I was stealing through the window, inciting a conflict between the people and the upper echelons of Kucha, and thus making Ji Linyou and the veterans believe that the upper echelons of Kucha would harm me, and set the plan at that moment. When Ji Linyou took me away, it would coincide with the massacre in the Ling Temple, confirming my crime of killing the royal family - the purpose, of course, was to force me into a desperate situation, forcing me to accept your proposal, and ultimately achieve your goal of controlling Kucha and Anxi!"
"No, the county lady is wrong about this."
Cui Fufeng raised his eyes to look at her, his lips even curling slightly. "My Bo Ling Cui family is the most powerful of the Tang clans, a family of great prestige. Why would we need to interfere in the northwest? In fact, to maintain our reputation as a noble family, the Cui family should have kept a clear distinction between ourselves and other races, and would not attempt to control them."
He was so close to her that in the reflection of the firelight, Qiandeng seemed to be able to see her face reflected in his deep eyes, clearly and vividly.
She heard his tone slow and cautious: "I said that I would conspire with you, walk with you, and return with you. But now that you have come to this point, there is no place for you in the Tang Dynasty. I have been wondering which path you want to take is the best choice.
"I've thoroughly researched all of your potential fiancées. After all that's happened, I'm even more familiar with Xue Xiyang's past. So, after arriving in Kucha, and especially after seeing the painting in the shrine, I understood his identity much earlier than you, the County Lady. After he stole the Glazed Blue Lotus, I targeted him and secretly discovered his plans with the rebels. I also learned about the letter they sent you. Considering the letter that disappeared before your mother's death, I guessed Xue Xiyang and the rebels' intentions, and found the best way out for you, the County Lady."
He remained calm, quickly formulated his plan, and stole the other two holy artifacts the next day.
Posing as a former subordinate of the Prince of Changhua, who had received favors from the Sunari family, he contacted the rebels with a red glazed vajra, stating that the veterans also wanted to support the county lord's ascension. The rebels' reaction confirmed his suspicions, and the two sides immediately hit it off. Taking advantage of the unrest caused by the Western Fan army's movements and the turmoil in Kucha, he fanned the flames and manipulated the situation. With a few simple moves, he shifted the blame onto Qiandeng, intending to sever ties between her and the Kucha royal family.
"County Lady, this is the path I have chosen for you. If you want to restore the glory of the Changhua Palace, you must replace the weak and wavering Kucha royal family that forced your father and grandfather to flee their homeland. Become the queen who revitalized Kucha, just as your great-great-grandmother did. Replace the current royal family and return power to your Changhua lineage."
Qian Deng stared at him intently. What he said was so tempting that it was enough to move many people's hearts.
Reclaim everything her ancestors lost, restore the glory of the Bai family, and become a queen of great importance in the Western Regions...
Everything she had been striving for in her life was now within her reach thanks to his arrangements.
But is realizing her dream in this way really the path she wants to take?
"Mr. Cui..." Looking at this noble young man with outstanding grace and elegance, whom thousands of ladies in Chang'an both admired and feared, Qiandeng felt a lump in her throat.
After a long pause, she murmured, "I've heard rumors about you before. People in Chang'an say that all the ladies who have a crush on you have a bad ending, because what you ultimately plot is often the annihilation of their entire family."
And now it is her turn to have her entire family wiped out.
But this time, he killed all her relatives, the Kucha royal family, her only blood relative in the world.
He once again used a knife to kill someone else and pushed her to the forefront, ostensibly to create the best future for her.
"But Mr. Cui, no matter what your motives are, whether you're merely fanning the flames or the mastermind behind this, the path you've chosen for me and the future you're planning to share with me are absolutely not what I want. Three generations of our Bai family have always been loyal to the Tang Dynasty and committed to protecting Kucha. We will never walk down such a path with you!"
The determination in her eyes was like a line of coldness, piercing straight into Cui Fufeng's heart.
The burning flame in his heart was extinguished in an instant. The future with her that he had long planned and eagerly anticipated turned into nothing at this moment.
Overwhelmed by this profound disappointment, he finally lost the cool and elegant demeanor of his century-old family and roared out desperately, "County Lady, those who achieve great things don't need to worry about such things. Your obsession with the expectations of your ancestors, the public's reputation, and your concerns about border unrest are all nonsense! You should be thinking about your own life and the path you want to take! Kucha's geographical location has always made it a battlefield. Even if you compromise and strive to maintain stability for a few short years, what's the point?"
"Even if we can avoid war for a year, a month, or a day, as long as the people of Kucha can avoid turmoil and enjoy a peaceful life, it will be meaningful!"
Qian Deng interrupted him harshly, the scar on her brow making her expression even more stern and resolute.
"If Kucha's fate is to be a land of a hundred battles, then I am willing to stand with the people of Kucha, just like my father and grandfather, forever defending the peace of the Northwest and the Tang Dynasty, and never abandon them!"
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