Chapter 413: A Marriage Alliance (Part 3)
In the deep of night, the stars are vast and numerous.
As the night watchman's drum faded into the distance at the alley entrance, Lin Feng remained wide awake. According to military orders, she was to depart the next day with the army, accompanying her lord to escort the "princess" she had never met to Shiwu for a marriage alliance. How long would the round trip take? What was the terrain like in Shiwu? How many fierce battles would they encounter along the way? These thoughts swirled in her mind, preventing her from falling asleep.
Yu Zi, who shared a room with him, was fast asleep.
In the darkness, one could hear the latter's faint snoring.
Lin Feng tossed and turned, finally cautiously crawling out of bed. Relying on his literary aura for protection, he casually draped a windproof cloak over himself, lit a small lamp, and took a stroll in the courtyard to clear his mind. Seeing that the lamp in his teacher's courtyard was still on in the distance, he paused and gently knocked on the door: "Teacher, are you asleep? I am restless and have some questions to ask you."
"Not yet, come in."
Lin Feng entered and saw his teacher, with his long, slightly damp, gray hair loose, sitting by the window studying chess scores. The candlelight made his features appear gentle and kind, a stark contrast to his usual serious demeanor during class. Lin Feng sat down opposite him.
"Teacher, are you still awake at this hour?"
Chu Yao placed a chess piece, the sound of it striking the board crisp and decisive, making the night seem even quieter. He said, "I slept for a while, but was awakened by a nightmare..."
Upon hearing this, Lin Feng lit the stove and waited for the water to boil. He then took a jar from a shelf and moved about without being affected by the dim candlelight in the room. Before long, he served a pot of tea with a slight floral fragrance.
Chu Yao also shifted his attention away from the chessboard.
He chuckled, "As you get older, you tend to lose energy, and once you wake up, it's hard to fall back asleep..."
Lin Feng didn't believe him and said coquettishly, "This is a student's filial piety, please do me the honor of trying it, teacher..."
Chu Yao could only take a few small sips.
But the smile on her lips never truly spread.
Lin Feng: "Is something on your mind, teacher?"
She rarely saw a teacher like this, as if an unyielding emotion was gathered in the corners of his eyes and brows, and even a stranger could tell at a glance that he was burdened with something on his mind. Chu Yao did not make up any excuses to brush it off: "There is indeed something on my mind."
"Because of the students? Or because of the lord?" He thoughtfully refrained from asking if it was because of those two old friends from Yonggu Pass.
Chu Yao simply smiled and said, "You're not old, but you're old enough to travel and broaden your horizons on your own. Why should I worry about you? As for the lord, needless to say, the fact that she didn't cause trouble for anyone else is a testament to the ancestral protection of that person. I'm worried about the path of scholars..."
"Is there something wrong with the teacher's scholarly ways?"
As his studies deepened, Lin Feng became increasingly aware of the importance of the way of the scholar to the literary mind and the scholar.
Chu Yao's situation is rather special.
There's no guarantee that something might go wrong.
Chu Yao took a sip of tea, exhaled a breath of stale air, and softly confided his thoughts: "No, it's just that... it's become too cumbersome. 'A Glimmer of Hope' is out of control and can only be used in dire situations... what use is it on a regular basis?"
Lin Feng said, "But..."
She couldn't understand why her teacher was suddenly worried about such a thing. Hadn't he told her before that the perfection of the scholar's path depended heavily on luck, and that it was better to go with the flow than to force it? Chu Yao shook his head to stop Lin Feng from expressing his doubts, and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
"We need to figure out how to make it perfect." These were still unfamiliar areas for Lin Feng, so she could only listen. She heard her teacher mutter softly, "Sigh... Even though the conditions for perfection are harsh, I dislike internal affairs the most..."
Lin Feng: "...???"
What does the perfection of the scholar's way have to do with whether the teacher likes internal affairs or not? At this moment, her gaze fell on the chessboard, where the black and white pieces were locked in a stalemate. Compared to the white pieces' conservative approach, the black pieces' offensive was swift and bold.
she……
I could vaguely understand the teacher's feelings.
In the words of his lord, the teacher is facing a career crisis and is eager to improve his job competitiveness... Such thoughts swirled in Lin Feng's mind. But he only dared to think these words in his heart and dared not say them out loud, so he could only hint at them indirectly.
"Then... should the teacher mention it to the lord?"
Chu Yao said, "That won't do."
Lin Feng: "..."
Chu Yao said, "One should not become arrogant because of favor."
Lin Feng: "..."
Is this word used like this?
Before Lin Feng could finish his rant, his teacher's instructions came through: "By the way, if you encounter a decent-looking and eloquent young man from Shiwu, Lingde, kill him and bring his head back."
Lin Feng didn't press the matter further.
but--
"What is this person's name?"
"I don't know."
Where does this person live?
"I don't know either."
"Who is this person?"
How could one's own teacher give repeated instructions in private?
“He’s not an important figure.” Chu Yao said casually, but his words sent a chill down Lin Feng’s spine. “If nothing unexpected happens, he should be the only son of the Queen of the Ten Crows Royal Court, and the next king of the Ten Crows. However, the Ten Crows Royal Court has a special custom: before coming of age, they must travel incognito for a period of time and pass a test to be eligible to inherit the tribe. Take this opportunity to kill him.”
Lin Feng hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
"How...how did the teacher know about him?"
Chu Yao said, "Because I dreamed about it."
Lin Feng was startled: "Did you dream about it?"
"Just now, the Way of the Scholars was activated once again."
This was the real reason for Chu Yao's nightmares, which troubled him for a long time, and even studying chess scores could not relieve his frustration.
"This dream had two parts. In the first part, this boy appeared in the dream, ordering people to throw several buckets of foul-smelling corpse water into the river, while downstream was our lord leading his troops... In the second part, he was on the verge of death when you saved him... Immediately afterward, many of his troops developed strange red rashes..."
Lin Feng's face scrunched up: "So, this person is using me to get close to our lord? What do you think, lord?"
"He's sick and looks a bit weak."
Lin Feng guessed, "Is there a problem with the food and water?"
This is what you fear most when leading troops in the field.
There are countless historical examples of people suffering from acclimatization problems due to food and water, which have affected their combat effectiveness or even cost them their lives.
Could it be that this kid used me to poison the food?
Lin Feng then asked, "What happened to our lord afterward?"
"I don't know."
He couldn't even see what the boy looked like clearly, only a blurry outline, but his intuition told him that this was far from being a "dead end," and that his lord was probably safe and sound. He just didn't know why the way of the literati had suddenly given him a warning.
But since a warning had been issued and the boy had appeared in his dream, he decided to kill him to prevent future troubles.
With the loss of her son, the Queen of the Ten Crows Royal Court will no longer be as loyal to the Royal Court as before. In fact, the uneven distribution of benefits may even lead to irreconcilable conflicts between her and the Royal Court. Their unrest would also be beneficial to the peace of the border.
Lin Feng solemnly assured him.
"Teacher, please rest assured, the student will personally cut off this child's head, bring it back, and deliver it to you."
(End of this chapter)
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