The river breeze blew gently, and when the morning sun rose, the fog had become as thin as gauze.
Fu Xiaoguan and his party boarded a ship docked at the pier heading to Linjiang. In the room on the third floor, Fu Xiaoguan met Bai Yulian again.
In addition to Su Mo and Chunxiu, Fu Xiaoguan was also accompanied by Su Mo's senior brother Su Jue and third senior sister Su Rou.
Su Jue was about forty years old, wearing a crown and a green Taoist robe, and carrying an unsheathed wooden sword on his back. He had a square face with two straight eyebrows and straight eyes, and even the short tuft of beard on his chin was trimmed very neatly.
When Fu Xiaoguan first met Su Jue, the impression that came to him was just two words: upright!
The short time they spent together afterwards made him understand the true meaning of the word "upright".
His hat was perfectly placed, his sitting posture impeccable. Even when he was walking or eating, his every move was extremely proper. But Su Jue said this wasn't proper at all, but rather - rules! Rules are established with sincerity, and they cannot be violated! This made Fu Xiaoguan look at him with new eyes.
Fu Xiaoguan, who has lived two lives, has never seen such a well-behaved person.
Su Rou was about thirty years old and had a very ordinary appearance. If she had to describe one characteristic, it would be that her eyes were very narrow, and she always looked like she was squinting in her sleep - but she was not really sleeping. She would occasionally read a book, but more often she would quietly embroider.
Su Rou's personality seems to be just like her name, she looks very gentle and quiet, but Su Mo told Fu Xiaoguan that this third senior sister is not what she seems.
Embroidery was a task assigned to the Third Senior Sister by the Master. It was said that she had been embroidering for twenty years. The reason surprised Fu Xiaoguan greatly—Su Mo said that if the Master hadn't forced her to embroider since she was a child, she would have demolished the Dongshan Taoist Temple!
Fu Xiaoguan thought of a word: ADHD. Perhaps Su Rou was one of them, but he had never seen how hyperactive she was.
Bai Yulian had already stood up. He bowed to Su Jue politely, and Su Jue returned the bow properly.
Bai Yulian bowed to Su Rou again, but Su Rou just slightly widened her eyes and looked at Bai Yulian, "Oh, little Lianlian has grown so big?"
Bai Yulian was suddenly embarrassed and smiled awkwardly, "Sister Rou's embroidery of mandarin ducks is getting more and more beautiful."
"Of course, if you have a girl you like, I'll embroider a pair for you."
Su Jue sat upright and said to Su Rou, "Third Junior Sister, please be careful with your words."
Su Rou pursed her lips, raised her eyebrows, and indeed, said nothing more as she continued to embroider her mandarin ducks.
Fu Xiaoguan was increasingly surprised by this Taoist temple. What kind of people did this Taoist temple accept?
Su Mo chews each bite of food thirty-three times, and Su Jue always follows this rule. However, Su Rou seems to have no rules at all. So what about Su Mo's other fellow disciples?
Of course, at this moment, Fu Xiaoguan did not ask Su Mo this question, but asked Bai Yulian: "Where on earth did you go?"
Bai Yulian took a sip of her wine-sweetened naan and said with a smile, "I went east. When I left, many of my brothers wanted to follow me, but I hadn't found a place to stay myself at the time, so I left them with the Eastern Frontier Army. It wasn't until I met you at the West Mountain Villa that I decided I could bring them here. Is that okay with you?"
"That's great, but... are they completing all the necessary formalities to leave the border troops?"
"They were all soldiers under General Qin Tong back then. Ever since General Qin died, these people, myself included, have lost all hope in the Eastern Border Army. I left back then, and they became old veterans. The new general didn't like them in the first place, so I went to find them and submitted a joint application for retirement, which the new general immediately agreed to. The new general's name seems to be Fei Wu, and he's said to be from the Fei family in Shangjing. He's a complete idiot and doesn't know how to fight. Fortunately, the East has been stable these years, otherwise the entire Eastern Border Army would be vulnerable!"
Fu Xiaoguan recalled what Dong Xiu De had talked about with him when they went to the capital. The current commander of the Eastern Border Army was Yan Haochu, the third son of Yan Beixi. At that time, Dong Xiu De chuckled and said that this fucking civil servant became the Grand Marshal of the Eastern Border Army, and his tone was quite disdainful. Now, hearing Bai Yulian say this, he thought that there was indeed a problem with the Eastern Border Army.
However, this is the business of the emperor and the Ministry of War, and Fu Xiaoguan does not care about it.
"Even if you run over there, it shouldn't take that long, right?"
"Some of my comrades have retired. I thought they would be living well, or at least having a decent life..."
Bai Yulian took another sip of wine and sighed deeply. "I didn't expect they weren't doing well. They were the main force of the Eastern Frontier Light Cavalry Corps back then. Back then, we fought our way out of the encirclement of over ten thousand Red Feather Legionaries from Yi State at Xima Plains, killing three thousand of them and escaping. But that night, while we were resting at the border of Yu State, General Qin was killed by a stray arrow—a Red Feather Legion arrow. We thought General Qin had died at the hands of the enemy, but now I know he was murdered by his own people."
"When they were discharged, the Battle of Ximayuan was deemed a major defeat, so they didn't receive the land and silver they were supposed to receive upon retirement. After a lifetime of service, they were ultimately reduced to doing hard labor to barely survive. So... I followed the original roster and searched for them one by one, which took up a lot of time."
Fu Xiaoguan frowned. This was different from what Dong Xiude said, but it was obvious that what Bai Yulian said was accurate. After all, what Dong Xiude heard was the version circulated among the people.
"Who killed Qin Tong?"
"Wu Chao, look north to the river!"
This time, not only Fu Xiaoguan was shocked, but Su Mo and Su Jue were also stunned for a moment, and Su Rou even stopped the embroidery needle in her hand.
Bei Wangchuan, one of the six martial arts saints in the martial arts world, ran to the border of the eastern frontier army and shot and killed a captain Qin Tong with an arrow. This sounds unreliable. After all, there is a huge difference in their identities. And what reason does Bei Wangchuan have to kill him?
"For a bow, Bei Wangchuan can't refuse this bow!"
"Could it be the Sun-Breaking Bow made by the master craftsman of the previous dynasty?" Su Mo asked.
Bai Yulian nodded. "Bei Wangchuan attained sainthood through his unrivaled archery skills, but he was once defeated by the sword of Jianlin Sect Leader. According to Master, Jianlin Sect Leader Lu Xiaofeng finally severed Bei Wangchuan's bow with the Azure Sky Sword, leading to Bei Wangchuan's defeat. The former dynasty's master craftsman Zhu Xi crafted seven weapons in his lifetime, the Azure Sky Sword being one of them. If Bei Wangchuan had the Sun-Breaking Bow in his hands, the outcome of that battle would have been a foregone conclusion."
"So, who used this bow to move Bei Wangchuan?"
"The Fei family in the capital, Old Master Fei."
"Is there any evidence?"
Bai Yulian shook her head.
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