Chapter 77 First Meeting: He Asked About the Sword - Lu Chaoge
"Ah Jing, don't you want me anymore?" At this age, Lu Xiaojun looked even thinner than when he left the city. He clung to Ah Jing's shoulder and buried his head in the dimple of his neck.
“How could it be that I don’t want you?” A-Jing stroked his cool spine. “You’re not on the wanted posters. If you stay here, you won’t have to run anymore. Your sister must think so too.”
"I'm not afraid to follow you." Lu Xiaojun burst into tears again. "You said you would protect me!"
Ah Jing's eyes darkened. "If I can't protect your sister, and if I can't protect you either, Miss, you will never forgive me in this life or the next. The couple who saved you are good people. Listen to Ah Jing, stay here and grow up slowly. I promise you, once I find a place, I will definitely, definitely send you a message. One day, one day, we will meet again."
"Ah Jing, where are you going?"
Yes, where can I go... Ah Jing touched his face. This face had been pasted on the city gates of various cities. Perhaps he would be captured soon after stepping out of the fishing village. The world was vast, but he had no place to belong. Tianhu Workshop, the world-renowned number one weapons workshop, was thus scorned by future generations with a stigma. Everyone there was either dead or about to die.
He is A-Jing, a troublemaker whom no one dares to mess with. A-Jing is determined to pave the way for Tianhufang and is unwilling to continue down the road to his death.
"Go..." Ah Jing thought of a certain place, "Once I've settled down, I'll send you a message."
Touching his dry face, even after many years, Cui Jin could still clearly feel the pain of the ink piercing. He had thought he was just an empty shell, like a walking corpse, and would no longer feel pain. The needle pierced his flesh, and hot tears slid down the ink-stained needle hole, causing him unbearable pain.
Wan Qixi stared at the tattoos on Cui Jin's face. "I've never asked you before, what do the runes on your face mean?"
Cui Jin lowered his fingertips and raised his wide sleeves. "The runes are also the Dao, and also a long-cherished wish. They are what we cannot obtain, what we cannot let go of. Do you think I would tattoo revenge on my face?"
“The tattoos on your face…” Wan Qixi’s pupils trembled. “It’s for my sister… I should have known.” Wan Qixi lowered her eyebrows sadly. “Later, you wrote to me saying that you went to Cangshan to become a Taoist priest. At that time, I knew that you would not come to take me away.”
“You must really want to know that the piece of plank brought back was your sister.” Seeing Cui Jin’s silence, Wan Qixi chuckled. “It doesn’t matter what it’s for. You’re doing it for your sister, and I’m doing it for Tianhu Workshop. Your sister and Tianhu Workshop are the same.”
"The reason you came back to me was because... I had news about my sister..."
Cui Jin's remaining eye was blurry. He wished he could see the young lady's bright, sunny smile. In the darkness, he saw Lu Xiaojun's face clearly. Years had passed, and the young master had grown into an adult. There was a hint of Lu Chaoge's shadow in his eyes. If he remembered correctly, Lu Xiaojun was nearly thirty years old this year. The child had become a strong and upright adult. The sword that he used to struggle to lift with both hands could now be easily held. His moves were majestic. No, he was no longer Lu Xiaojun. His name was Wan Qixi.
Cui Jin, who had just entered Tianhu Fang, was delighted to have a new name and could accompany the young lady to start a new life. The young master Lu Xiaojun also had a new name, and his turbulent second half of life began because of this new name.
Cui Jin was heartbroken. Twenty years had passed, and they still could not appear in the world under their real names. The Blood Crossbow Case remained unresolved, and everyone in Tianhufang was considered guilty of colluding with the rebels. More than a hundred people had perished at Caishikou, and the corpses of everyone in the ward were thrown into the mass grave outside the city, with no one daring to collect their bodies and prepare them for burial.
The Lu family of Tianhufang, along with their blacksmiths and sword slaves, totaled 137 people. Some curious villagers counted the heads that were chopped off that day, counting them over and over again until they reached 134, leaving only three people behind.
The Three Departments posted a notice: Tianhufang was guilty of treason and his entire family would be executed. Three people were missing, who must have leaked the news before the city was sealed off and escaped in advance. Anyone who could provide clues would be rewarded with a thousand coins.
The onlookers immediately recognized the three people on the notice. The one with a full beard was Guan Xiaotian, the most capable blacksmith of the Lu family. The one with a distant and sharp look in his eyes was his family's swordsman, named A Jing. The other was a woman with a beautiful face. Some people recognized her as Guan Xiaotian's wife, whom he had married not long ago. The couple had fled together, and she was the top blacksmith of Tianhu Workshop. Some people whispered among themselves that Guan Xiaotian probably had something planned. More than a hundred people couldn't escape, so why did he disappear without a trace?
"Didn't another swordsman also disappear?" A local resident who knew Guan Xiaotian couldn't help but chime in, "We can't say that Guan the blacksmith is the only one who's guilty."
An onlooker chimed in: "I heard that swordsman named A-Jing is incredibly skilled. His martial arts are superb, so escaping shouldn't be difficult for him. Guan Xiaotian only knows blacksmithing; if the crossbow malfunctioned, wasn't it his doing? His wife is pregnant; without a plan, she definitely wouldn't have made it out of the city!"
Everyone thought it made sense, and they pointed at the notice and cursed, probably because Guan Xiaotian had caused trouble and harmed the family.
"Grand Preceptor Cui, what are you thinking about?" Lu Xiaojun drew her sword. "Speaking of which, how well do I wield this sword?"
The call of "National Preceptor Cui" pulled Cui Jin back from her memories. Today's Rongdu no longer has Lu Xiaoyun and A Jing, only Cui Jin and Wan Qixi.
"It is a good thing that this knife is in the hands of the young master." Cui Jin looked at the knife. "Back then, you had to use all your strength to lift the horizontal blade, but now it moves like a dragon in your hand. Your swordsmanship is superb. I just tried it, and it is already no less than mine."
"Until the Blood Crossbow Case is cleared up, my father, sister, and everyone in Tianhu Workshop will die with their eyes wide open in disbelief. I have been practicing my swordsmanship so that one day I can personally kill my enemies and avenge everyone." Wan Qixi brandished his sword and roared, "The Blood Crossbow Case was not committed by them. The loyalty of Tianhu Workshop is as clear as the sun and moon. More than 130 lives have been lost, and I will never let this go!"
"It's a pity..." Wan Qixi looked up at the sky and sighed, "I've wasted nearly twenty years, and I still can't clear everyone's name. Time flies, how many more twenty years does one have in a lifetime? Grand Preceptor Cui, will we ever see that day before we die?"
"I also saw... Guan Xiaotian's daughter." Wan Qixi stopped his sword strike.
"It really was her." Cui Jin recalled the girl in the martial arts outfit on Canglang Island. She stared at him without fear. Although he didn't recognize her, she had the air of someone he knew. "She doesn't look like Guan Xiaotian, but her demeanor and bearing are exactly like her father's. Guan Ye, what a Guan Xiaotian! He managed to hide for so many years with his wife and daughter, and now only Guan Ye is left. Guan Xiaotian and his wife must be..."
“They’re all dead.” Wan Qixi’s eyes darkened. “What was Guan Xiaotian’s status in the brothel back then? He was responsible for purchasing and manufacturing the three thousand crossbows and the iron-tipped ones. He was also the one who handled the shipments to the Ministry of War. If there was a problem with the crossbows, others might not know, but Guan Xiaotian couldn’t possibly be unaware! When Rongdu was under lockdown, my sister received advance notice with the help of others. How could Guan Xiaotian have escaped with his entire family? I don’t believe there’s no trickery involved.”
“To say that he was the only one who did this is to overestimate Guan Xiaotian,” Cui Jin said. “Guan Xiaotian is certainly involved in the Blood Crossbow Case, but it was definitely not something he could have accomplished alone.”
Wan Qixi's eyes flashed with murderous intent. "But Guan Xiaotian is dead, and no one can ask about the inside story of that year."
"The daughter must pay for the father's debts." Cui Jin's black robe fluttered, pressing down on everything around him. "Since you recognize his daughter, you can kill her to pay for Tianhufang's life."
Wan Qixi smiled contemptuously, "Kill her? It's as easy as turning my hand. I don't want her to die. She's a repeat offender who dared to go back to Rongdu with Xingguofang. If she's going to die, it'll be a whole bunch of her. I want to see how she protects herself and how she protects so many people in Xingguofang."
Cui Jin pondered Wan Qixi's words, "Speaking of which, that horizontal sword belongs to Guan Xiaotian."
Wan Qixi paused slightly in his hand holding the knife. The knife was thick and solid, wider and heavier than an ordinary horizontal sword, and indeed more suited to Guan Xiaotian's physique.
“The young lady said that there are swordsmen in Tianhu Workshop. If I flee with a sword, it will be easier for people to see through my disguise.” Cui Jin recalled, “I left in a hurry that night and didn’t have time to go to the storeroom to choose a weapon. So I just took the horizontal sword that Guan Xiaotian left at the foundry. It’s really good, as expected of the sword he made for himself.”
Wan Qixi turned the hilt of his knife, then remembered the small short sword in Guan Ye's hand. His pupils turned cold and dark, and he frowned and scoffed.
“The fish is in the net, it should be quick.” Cui Jin pressed Wan Qixi’s shoulder. “I sent a message to have you come to the capital for this very reason.”
"You said in your letter that Xingguo Ward will soon return to Rongdu, and you told me to return to the capital immediately." Wanqi Xi pondered for a moment. "At the time of the Blood Crossbow Incident, Xingguo Ward was still far away on Canglang Island. What could they have done about the Blood Crossbow Injustice?"
"Have you ever seen a swordsman named Ajiu when you come and go from Xingguo Ward?"
A-Jiu? Wan Qixi recalled several young faces, her fingertip touching her brow bone, "Is it the one with the scar above his eyebrow?"
Cui Jin nodded, "You've been doing very well in the Ghost Market. Even Crown Prince Mu Chenbi has patronized your business. Don't you remember?"
The Crown Prince, Mu Chenbi? Wan Qixi never imagined that she had done business with the Crown Prince. Hearing Cui Jin's words, which were full of meaning, she looked at him with a knowing look in her eyes. Ajiu, Mu Chenbi?
"Wanqixi, it's been a long time."
"Don't pretend, didn't we just meet a few days ago?"
Recalling the strangeness from before, Wan Qixi suddenly realized, "No wonder, no wonder!" Wan Qixi was stunned for a moment before shaking his head and laughing, "Ajiu? Mu Chenbi, these two... actually look so alike! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it."
Wanqi Xi closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then suddenly opened them. "Ajiu returned to Rongdu with Xingguo Ward... In the case of the Blood Crossbow, with a face that resembles Mu Chenbi, what could he possibly do?"
“What could he do?” Cui Jin’s single eye darkened as he stared intently at Wan Qixi’s young yet weathered face. “Although the young master was young back then, he was not ignorant. The young lady would take you with her wherever she went. That person… young master, don’t tell me you haven’t seen him before.”
Cui Jin's words were chilling. When he mentioned that person, his face suddenly turned into a ghostly one, and he fluttered like a butterfly in the dark night. Wan Qixi glanced at him and felt a chill run down his spine. He turned away with his sword in his arms and did not reply.
Lu Xiaojun certainly remembered that person.
He was a stranger who had come to Tianhu Workshop to ask Lu Chaoge for his sword skills. Many years later, Lu Xiaojun still vaguely remembered his appearance, simply because he was so radiant that he was unforgettable at first sight.
The newcomer wore a long, straight-collared robe in peacock feather blue, a white belt with auspicious cloud patterns around his waist, and a gilded crown inlaid with pigeon bloodstone. His imposing figure stood proudly between heaven and earth, exuding an innate nobility. When Lu Chaoge approached, carrying her younger brother, he was standing with his back to the light, his profile a play of light and shadow. Hearing the voice, he turned, his eyes crinkling into a smile, like a gentle spring breeze.
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