Chapter 10: Sincerity
On the second day, Cui Yulan booked Ju'an Pavilion early and arranged his own people everywhere, even the chefs in the kitchen were his secret guards.
So when Wen Youqing walked in alone, Cui Yulan was still a little surprised.
They had met before at a banquet. Miss Wen pushed Miss Zhuge, who had stolen someone else's fiancé, into the water. Although she was not discovered, she did it just to give justice to a woman from a small family.
I heard that this time it was all for a maid, which is so righteous and ridiculous.
She would appear directly... Well, that was to be expected. So Cui Yulan said: "Second Miss, your courage is now as great as your beauty."
"Third Young Master, how are you?" Wen Youqing sat down leisurely, right under the scimitar of Cui Yulan's guard. She looked up and smiled at the guard, "You're still very handsome without your mask."
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere became tense.
Cui Yulan waved her folding fan, "Second Miss should know that even if you pass those things under the emperor's nose, it will be of no use."
"Yeah, I know. I just think you guys have made this place a mess. You're some kind of cannibalistic cult, and people are disappearing every day. There has to be a price to pay, right?" Wen Youqing drank the tea he had brewed earlier, refusing to give in.
Cui Yulan suddenly chuckled, her chin lifted by her folding fan. "Second Miss, at least you have some decent evidence, right?" He suddenly approached, the cool breath of ambergris mingling with her ear. "You've dealt with so many aristocratic families, how can you still be so naive?"
The moment they looked at each other, Wen Youqing suddenly raised his foot and kicked over the bronze incense burner.
Cui Yulan quickly dodged, the scorching incense ash hurling into the eyes of the guard on the right. The man screamed and retreated, shattering the glazed window on the east wall, not forgetting to swing his knife in Wen Youqing's direction.
The knife flashed with a cold light, took away a few strands of her hair, and smashed a big hole in the window. The hot wind blew in the rain and blew away the jade hairpin that tied her hair.
"Have you ever heard of 'darkness under the lamp', Third Young Master?'" She spun around and dodged the two scimitars, her black hair sweeping across Cui Yulan's astonished face.
"Stop! Who allowed you to take action!" Cui Yulan finally reacted and shouted to stop the others who were about to take action. He stood in front of Wen Youqing, but he turned around and stared at Wen Youqing with eyes like a poisonous snake.
Suddenly, Wen Youqing spat out a mouthful of black blood. She leaned against Cui Yulan's chest and tightly grasped the Xiangyun pattern on his lapel to avoid falling.
"You think... everyone will be happy if you poison me to death? Cui Yulan, your people... aren't your people anymore. No matter how powerful you are, it's useless... cough cough cough... The Wang family was kicked out by the aristocratic families, and you were treated like a dog by the Cui family." Only the two of them could hear the last sentence.
Wen Youqing actually found out something he didn't even know!
Did they really find out? Or were they just trying to trick him? Cui Yulan didn't dare to act rashly. She immediately embraced Wen Youqing and stuffed an antidote into her mouth. "Shut up and take the antidote."
Wen Youqing swallowed it obediently, but her hands and feet were paralyzed by the poison and she could only lean on Cui Yulan and whispered, "As long as I die, those evidences will appear in the hands of the Wang family. Guess what will happen?
"You, Cui family, don't even think about living in peace."
Cui Yulan, who was usually calm in the face of emergencies, suddenly stopped breathing. There was clearly no evidence, but this sentence inexplicably hit the most embarrassing part of him.
Wen Youqing felt that moment, and this was the effect she had been waiting for, so before she fainted, she ordered: "Send me back." The chicken blood hidden in her sleeve happened to be crushed, and blood flowed all over the ground, and the servants who were confused were stunned.
Cui Yulan suddenly picked up Wen Youqing and said through gritted teeth, "Go tell Governor Shen that Madam Shen has been found."
—
"Are you going to finish it only after you have wiped them all out?" Shen Zijie sighed that night.
"I'm really scared, but if the emperor can't do it, I can't do it either." Besides, it's normal for people to die here, and she really doesn't have any feelings for this place. Wen Youqing complained in her heart.
So when faced with Cui Yulan who wanted to silence her, Wen Youqing, who had just woken up after being unconscious for four hours, said, "Third Master, I want a piece of the pie."
Cui Yulan was like a sword piercing her chest. She didn't react and hesitated for a moment, "How do we divide it?"
"I am the wife of the governor. Many of the things you do must have been seen by me. Thousands of governors and their wives have come forward to make up for it. It is better to bribe me to prevent future troubles." It seemed as if the days of waiting were fake, and as if the person who said he wanted the truth was also fake.
But she did only say that she wanted the truth, not that she wanted the bad guys to be brought to justice.
"Hahahaha," Cui Yulan paused his fanning hand for a moment, then chuckled. The laughter became louder and louder, gradually taking on a crazy tone. It was ridiculous that he almost... became the same despicable person as them in this corrupt world.
After laughing enough, Cui Yulan lowered her eyes and stared at the still weak Wen Youqing. She felt like she had encountered a sharp piece of rock, but ended up swallowing a piece of cold ointment.
It's really disappointing.
"What does the Third Young Master mean?" Wen Youqing was not frightened by his crazy look and looked at him calmly.
"I actually thought...it's ridiculous." I thought you were a true gentleman, I thought you were chivalrous and courageous.
Wen Youqing didn't care what he meant and just provoked him: "You don't have the right to decide?"
"Indeed, such a big thing must be consulted with the head of the family." Cui Yulan had laughed enough and stopped making a fuss, laughing at himself for the nervousness he had when waiting for her to wake up. He put away the fan and tucked it into his waist, "Madam Shen, wait for the news."
After everyone left, Wen Youqing sighed heavily and said, “Negotiations are so difficult. He better not really ask. I don’t know if Shen Zijiemeng’s information is correct.”
After a moment of daze, Wen Youqing got out of bed and stretched his muscles. "Let's go. The worst that can happen is death. When I die, I can go back."
Looking at the sword tip piercing her chest, blood dripped down the cloud-thunder patterned hilt, creating a cluster of red plum blossoms on the blue bricks. Cui Yulan used up her last bit of strength to turn around and look back.
Shen Zijie's gray clothes were spotless in the moonlight. The way he lowered his head to wipe the blade of the sword was just like his usual gentle appearance, mediocre and inconspicuous.
The sword uttered a clear dragon's cry as it was sheathed. Shen Zijie dodged Cui Yulan's outstretched hand and said softly, "I'm sorry. Whether the Cui family agrees or not, my wife will be in danger. She is simple-minded and I can't let her take risks."
As he spoke, he took a few steps back. The refugees who had appeared out of nowhere rushed forward and began to eat the body that was still alive.
The chewing sounds mixed with roaring were creepy in the silent night. Shen Zijie sighed. These were not refugees at all. They were clearly people who had followed the wrong people and had been fed hallucinogenic drugs.
Who would want to stay on the border if they have some ability? Did the gentry before the Guo family really stand on the wrong side politically?
Most of them are rich and powerful and want to escape inside.
On the border, soldiers are soldiers, and civilians are soldiers too. Deserters are killed to scare the monkeys.
Those who wanted to escape were fed "magic pills" and became the most loyal supporters of this land.
Those who appear on stage pretend to support it, but they just don't want to become the crazy person who eats the "magic pill".
"Brother Shen?" Wang Rong's voice brought Shen Zijie back to his senses. He put away his knife and looked at the "full" refugees who were crawling on all fours like dogs and squatting obediently behind Wang Rong.
"I haven't met my sister-in-law yet, and this makes me even more curious. I should go and pay her a visit soon," Wang Rong said, whip in hand, turning over the gnawed skeleton with his foot, "You're so lucky to have her so precious."
"Don't you feel uncomfortable raising this?" Shen Zijie looked at the refugees' unsatisfied eyes, as if they would devour Wang Rong in the next second. He reminded them, "The Wang family doesn't know what's going on here, right? If someone from the Cui family dies, they'll come looking for us. How do you plan to deal with it?"
"I'm afraid they won't look for it. There's such fat meat in Northern Xinjiang, but they didn't tell my Wang family. I want to see if the other families are really so loyal or just teaching for the sake of profit." Wang Rong waved his whip and rolled the bones into the mud ditch beside the dirt road. His eyes were defiant and his tone was extremely arrogant.
Shen Zijie patted Wang Rong's shoulder and said, "Be careful. If there is anything you don't want to tell your family, remember to speak up."
"I understand." Wang Rong jumped onto the horse. He blew the bone whistle lightly, and the refugees suddenly dispersed and disappeared in the yellow sand at night.
"Remember to say hello to my sister-in-law for me."
Shen Zijie shook his head helplessly and turned to walk into the city.
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