Chapter 1268: One Battle to Secure the Southwest (Part 5) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Cui Zhi also wanted to know who this scholar was.
His concern for his mother-in-law in the coffin far surpassed that for Cui Hui. He knew Cui Hui, but their relationship was tense. There weren't many men who fit both criteria, and Cui Zhi's previous absurd guess was clearly wrong. But now was obviously not the time to explore this.
The overwhelming grief and loss of control in the writing indicated a potential impact on the heart and blood vessels.
If left uncontrolled and thoughts are not calmed, the least serious injury will be severe, and at worst, another coffin will be placed in the funeral hall.
Cui Zhi, observant and perceptive, caught a glimpse of Cui Hui's struggle—a struggle to step forward and support him, yet a fierce restraint. He closed his eyes, making a ruthless decision to take advantage of the situation. While the scholar was distracted, he used his spiritual power to subdue him, sealing his dantian and severing the connection between his dantian and his meridians' spiritual energy. As long as his spiritual energy couldn't be mobilized, no matter how agitated the scholar became, he wouldn't be able to kill himself anytime soon.
That's not safe enough.
Cui Zhi was about to cast a calming spell on the scholar, forcibly administering a sedative, but before he could act, the scholar grabbed his wrist, his lifeline in his hand. Just as Cui Zhi thought he was about to turn on him and cause a scene at the funeral hall, the scholar, enduring the excruciating pain in his heart where veins bulged on his forehead, forced himself to vomit another mouthful of blood and said in a hoarse voice, "No need."
The scholar wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, and with the other hand he braced himself on the offering table, slowly and laboriously tensing his back. He looked much calmer, his aura completely different from when he came up the mountain, as if most of his vitality had been drained away. Cui Zhi stared blankly at his profile, and from this angle, he made a new discovery—this man's profile was strikingly similar to his brother-in-law before he gained weight.
Upon closer inspection, his facial features bear a striking resemblance to Ke Wu's.
When we were at the foot of the mountain, the other person introduced himself as surnamed Cui.
If he remembered correctly, Cui Zhi had heard his wife briefly mention before their marriage that her father was a son-in-law who married into the family, and that all of her children took their mother's surname. Looking back at the scholar's unusual reaction when he went up the mountain, it's hard to say that it wasn't a mysterious connection between bloodlines.
so--
Is this also the brother-in-law of which rank?
The scholar couldn't hold on for long. When he saw the coffin so close, tears streamed down his face. He brushed away Cui Zhi's hand that tried to support him, and swayed as he leaned against the offering table, his once straight back gradually bending as if someone were removing his spine vertebrae one by one. Cui Zhi was horrified to see drops of blood spill from the scholar's tightly closed lips, splashing onto the offering table and mingling with his tears.
"Sister—"
Heavy footsteps echoed outside the mourning hall.
A deep, gruff male voice broke the suffocating atmosphere of the mourning hall, allowing the air to circulate again: "The new medicine is ready. This prescription is better than the last one. The two patients with persistent high fevers from yesterday are out of danger. We've dealt with those people down the mountain..."
A shadow, like a wall of flesh, covered half of the gate.
With the arrival of the middle-aged man, the already dimly lit mourning hall became even more gloomy and eerie, the air itself seeming chilly. The middle-aged man was taken aback by the presence; he hadn't expected a third person to be there. Because of Cui Hui's position, the middle-aged man's view was blocked, preventing him from clearly seeing the third person's face. He simply assumed the man was also a guest who had come to pay his respects to his mother. He tactfully stopped talking, and Cui Hui said, "Go and fetch the mourning clothes."
The middle-aged man was bewildered.
The three people on the mountain who were required to wear mourning attire had already donned the most dignified and severe robes—Cui Zhi, nominally the former son-in-law, was not required to, and even though they were not yet divorced, he only needed to wear the lowest mourning robes. However, his brother-in-law disagreed: "In folk tradition, a son-in-law is considered half a son, and it's only natural for a son to observe mourning for his mother. Since we're family, let's not be so particular about these things."
Who should we get another one for?
We can't just give it to the guests who come to pay their respects, can we?
"Take the hemp seed?"
“Take the Qi Sui”.
The middle-aged man felt a chill run down his spine.
He guessed who the middle-aged man was, took two steps forward past Cui Hui, and then saw the man clearly—someone he hadn't seen in over twenty years. Despite the long separation, he recognized him at first glance, but when he opened his mouth, the name he wanted to address stuck in his throat, swirling on his tongue, and he couldn't utter it. The middle-aged man swallowed hard, remembering that he was standing right in front of his mother's mourning hall.
Finally, she steeled herself and said, "Father."
Cui Zhi: "..."
He suddenly cast an incredulous look at his brother-in-law.
The brother-in-law's father?
My mother-in-law's husband?
That's mine...
Father-in-law?
Cui Zhi felt like his brain almost stopped working.
If he remembered correctly, his father-in-law was no longer alive, was he? It was said that he passed away around the same time as Ke Wu's senior brother.
How did they get entangled with the Cult of Immortality?
Cui Zhi was filled with doubts.
But I also know that now is not the time to get to the bottom of things.
"I'll go get it. You three have a good chat." Judging from Ke Wu and his brother-in-law's attitude towards their father-in-law, their father-daughter/father-son relationship wasn't very friendly. Considering his mother-in-law's long-standing Buddhist practice, the situation was probably more complicated than he had imagined. Cui Zhi looked at the three of them, sensibly taking on the task of fetching the mourning clothes. After hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but put a tight rein on them: "After all, this is before Mother's spirit, and the seven-day mourning period hasn't passed yet. Even if you have many conflicts, you should put them aside for now."
Never argue or fight at this time.
The brother-in-law shrugged, and Ke Wu gave him a warning look to mind his own business. The old father-in-law, coughing weakly, straightened up after a long while and glanced at him sideways: "And who are you?"
An unfriendly aura wafted over me.
Having just experienced the extreme emotions of near despair, Cui Xiao's limbs were weak and he had no strength left. His mind was also hazy, and everything seemed to be seen through a fog. He briefly lost the ability to think, unable to remember who he was, why he was there, or what the people in front of him were doing. He only knew that he was in excruciating pain in his chest, that there were many figures in front of him, and that an overwhelming sense of dizziness and nausea was affecting his nerves.
Cui Zhi said, "Your son-in-law, Cui Zhi."
Cui Xiao gave a faint "Oh".
He was panting heavily, seemingly unable to hold on any longer, and slid down one leg of the offering table to collapse to the ground, his eyes blank, tears streaming down his face. Cui Zhi sighed and turned to go to the back hall to fetch mourning clothes.
The nunnery accepts women of varying ages, from infants abandoned in their swaddling clothes to elderly women with white hair and no one to care for them. To ensure that the elderly can pass away with dignity, the nunnery has two or three spare coffins and complete mourning clothes in its vacant courtyard.
When he returned, the father and his two daughters were talking.
"Today is the seventh day after Mother's death. You've come too late." Cui Hui couldn't quite describe her feelings. If Cui Xiao hadn't shown up, things would have been fine. Once everything calmed down, she would have told him about her mother's passing and perhaps even offered him some words of comfort. But Cui Xiao appeared on the seventh day of her mother's death, and even gathered a crowd to surround the mountain demanding medicinal herbs. What did this mean? It meant that he had been active in the southwest region during this time, and perhaps he was not far from Qingshui Nunnery when her mother suffered her misfortune.
This speculation completely threw her into turmoil.
Resentment welled up uncontrollably in my mind.
Even though reason tells her that this emotion is untenable.
"Why didn't you come sooner?" Her father-in-law showed no reaction. Cui Hui's body and mind had reached their breaking point; she was utterly exhausted, repeatedly questioning him about why he hadn't arrived sooner. Her supposedly dried tear ducts overflowed with tears again, and she blurted out her resentment, even calling him by his name in a defiant manner, "Cui Shanxiao, why didn't you come sooner! If you had come sooner, Mother wouldn't have died such a tragic death! Even if you couldn't save her, at least she could have seen you!"
Every copy of the Buddhist scriptures I copied, every chant of the Buddha's name I uttered.
While atoning for his sins, it was also for Cui Xiao's sake!
Throughout Cui Hui's childhood, she pieced together her parents' life stories from the stories told by her grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other relatives in the village, including their childhood, adolescence, youth, and even middle age. Her father, a ruthless bandit who had spent most of his life on the edge of a knife, showed all his kindness to his only daughter, even raising her husband from childhood. He felt more at ease having raised his son-in-law from a young age.
Uncles, aunts, and uncles all laugh when they think about it.
Your father was a crybaby and clingy when he was little.
[Exactly, he starts crying as soon as he can't see her for a moment, and he's always following his wife around like a tail.]
[She keeps calling me "older sister" all day long.]
[Wasn't she called a fairy at first?]
[I've never seen a fairy who could chop off heads with an axe like it's nothing. Only Xiao Cui, who grew up with her, sees everything as a celestial being. Sigh, but a child husband is definitely less of a hassle. I'll talk to Xiao Cui later and see if he can find one for Ah Hui too.]
[Didn't Cui Yongyuan have so many apprentices?]
As a private tutor, Cui has students all over the county.
Cui Xiao remained silent, covering his face with his hands, wishing he could curl up into a ball. Cui Zhi, outside the door, felt completely numb. If he hadn't misheard, Ke Wu had just called his father-in-law "Cui Shanxiao"? Coincidentally, he was very familiar with that name.
Over the years, the southwestern states have been engaging in numerous underhanded and overt activities, digging traps for people to fall into, including but not limited to bribing officials in counties and prefectures bordering the southwest to allow corruption and inaction to start from the grassroots level, and buying off and winning over local gentry to oppose the government.
It had some effect at first.
But the news will soon reach the Censorate.
The efficiency was so high that it once led some to suspect that the Censorate was using this as a pretext to undermine the regime. Cui Zhi, as the head of the Southwest branch of the Censorate, was involved in creating obstacles for Kangguo, and he was also involved as the head of the Cui family.
The rapid development of people's livelihoods within Kangguo has led to everyone wanting a piece of the action, including pearl farming, which has encroached on the Cui family's profits. Kangguo is also relentlessly constructing land routes and opening waterways, making the future impact almost predictable. The Cui family, of course, cannot sit idly by; Cui Zhi has thoroughly investigated this matter.
Following the clues, the investigation led back to Cui Xiao, the supervising censor.
Cui Xiao was an obscure figure who had served under Wu Xian and had a good relationship with Qin Li and Zhao Feng. However, he had not made any significant contributions over the years and was never given a position by Wu Xian. After leaving Wu Xian, he joined Shen Tang. Although not a veteran or high-ranking official, it was still much better than being idle under Wu Xian. As a censor, he was constantly on the move and had little reputation outside the capital. Unless one deliberately investigated, no one would know who he was.
These are all pieces of information that are easily accessible to the public.
Cui Zhi made other discoveries in the Pantheon channel.
It now seems that the Alliance of Gods isn't a foolproof channel; otherwise, Cui Zhi wouldn't have only just learned that this person was not only the Censor of Kang State but also his nominal father-in-law. Judging from Ke Wu's reaction, the last time the father and daughter met certainly wasn't more than twenty years ago! Cui Hui had known all along that her biological father served in Kang State.
Realizing this, and considering Cui Hui's return home after many years of divorce, his purpose was likely deeper than he had imagined. However, he didn't want to delve into the truth at the moment, at least not in front of his mother-in-law's spirit. Cui Zhi composed himself and handed the mourning garment to his father-in-law, whose spirits had improved somewhat: "He is gone; please accept my deepest condolences, Father-in-law."
After saying that, he was stunned for a moment.
The two were on a mountain path when he was told what he had said to himself, and it was exactly what he had said back to him. What a poignant scene that was.
Cui Xiao looked at his soaked palms without saying a word.
Cui Zhi could only put the mourning clothes aside.
Tell me in detail what happened to your mother.
We didn't explain things clearly on the mountain path earlier, and many details were left out. Now that we're family, there's nothing to hide.
As Cui Hui finished recounting the whole story with a sigh, Cui Zhi saw his father-in-law, whom he had suddenly appeared with, make a wheezing sound that was neither crying nor laughing. His eyes welled up with tears, but the corners of his lips curled into a stiff and strange arc. He covered his eyes with one hand, and his posture changed from slumped against the offering table to kneeling forward with his head bowed, his forehead pressed against the rough bricks.
Thump thump thump—
If you bump into something, start over.
His reaction even alerted his two children to something was wrong.
A quarter of an hour later, Cui Xiaocai was persuaded to stop by his son, his face growing increasingly ashen. Cui Zhi noticed that a large patch of white hair had appeared at the other's temples. Cui Xiaocai pushed away his son's support, staggered a few steps towards the coffin, and slowly pushed open the lid, revealing a pale, aged face. The abbot inside the coffin was in his early sixties, his skin no longer the fair and firm skin of his youth, his face etched with the marks of time. Only his eyebrows and eyes vaguely resembled the features Cui Xiao had once known: "So, this is what you look like when you're old."
"It's different from what I imagined."
Cui Xiao also thought that the shrew would still be a shrew when she got old.
In my memory, my wife was like a son raised by my father-in-law. She could ride horses across the mountains and fields as if they were flat ground. My father-in-law regretted until his death that she was a woman. If she were a man, she would have suffered much less.
Who would have thought she would be so kind and gentle?
Cui Xiao ran his fingers over her eyebrows and eyes.
What comes to mind are every loving scene from the past.
“I should have come to find you, even though my sister wouldn’t see me.”
Time flies like water, never to return. Life is but a fleeting few decades, and I have wasted so many precious days.
He was too weak to support the coffin, his breath barely audible.
Suddenly, he let out another untimely sneer.
"Heh, I thought... what was the perfect ceremony... It was you, it was actually you, why was it you?"
The few words he vaguely heard sent a chill down Cui Zhi's spine.
Cui Xiao pressed his forehead against the coffin lid, his voice weary and exhausted.
“I remember the Lord once comforted several orphaned children, telling them that death is never the end of life, but the forgetting of the living is… Even you will forget me, so all these years, you have been the one who cares about me the most, is that right?”
He should have realized it sooner rather than later.
Is the way of the scholar not a tormenting curse?
"The person who cared about me the most is gone." He hadn't been able to find a breakthrough, yet he achieved it on this day—how ridiculous! Cui Xiao rested his head on his crossed arms, as if watching him in his youth. He sighed deeply, "You may be an unknown figure before the King of Hell, but who knows when I won't become an unknown ghost in this mortal world..."
Perfect match, a perfect fit.
(灬)
The more you cling to something, the easier it is to lose it.
Cui Xiao believed that what he was obsessed with was high-ranking official positions and generous salaries, the bestowal of titles and honors upon his wife, and the glory that his father-in-law expected of his family. Therefore, he secretly meddled in things he shouldn't have.
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