Chapter 121: Times can change, but people’s hearts are hard to change.
"A discarded pawn." Young Master Jin Sheng stood up and threw the bone whistle into the river.
"Then we..." Qing Guiyu frowned. He was so confused that he didn't know where to start.
"I need to return to the Cao Gang and explain this matter clearly to Old Leader Long." She gathered her thoughts and looked at the two of them. "Although Lihua Bay is destroyed, the matter of the poisoned grain remains unresolved. The Northern Dynasty Empress Dowager is dead, but with the various kings vying for power, there's no guarantee someone won't take advantage of this opportunity to stir up trouble near and far."
"No need." Shen Yansheng laughed.
He walked up to Qing Guiyu and extended his hand.
"Master Huo and the others must have cleaned up the mess by now. If you go back, you'll just be giving yourself one more mouth to explain and adding to the hassle."
Qing Guiyu was hesitant, but when he heard the engraving, he smiled.
"Miss Qing," the young man said with a smile, "the affairs of the martial arts world are the affairs of the martial arts world. But once it involves warships, food supplies, or even a war between two countries, it becomes a matter of the imperial court. The martial arts world gathers together without the imperial court's orders, and this matter can be serious or minor. On the minor side, it's the loyalty and bravery of the martial arts world, which is commendable; on the major side, it's the local government raising its own troops and provoking border conflicts. Which explanation do you think the officials in the imperial court will use?"
Qing Guiyu's heart trembled.
"That's right," she said, frowning. "I should go back and discuss countermeasures with them. Tens of thousands of lives are at stake for the Cao Gang..."
"That's why you can't go back." Shen Yansheng interrupted her, took her hand, and walked out of the canyon, "You have to come with me."
He turned his head to the side, as if he was afraid that she would refuse and afraid that she would worry.
"Don't be afraid, Miss Qing, don't be afraid."
The young man in black stroked her hand and said, "It would be most appropriate for Tianji Pavilion to handle this matter."
"Miss Qing, come with me to listen to the bamboo pavilion."
Chen Juansheng continued with a smile, "I will write a letter and submit the whole story, including the matter of Madam Wei, to the capital. The fire in Liaohua Bay burned dozens of warships of the Northern Dynasty. This is a huge achievement..."
"Someone will come to take him away." He glanced across the mist on the river. "Perhaps it's a passing general, or perhaps a high-ranking official who's careful about his reputation. The transmission of information, the judgment of proportion, and the balance of interests all require secret mediation. Those men of the Cao Gang, who can only wield swords and guns, can't do this. I'll send Fuxi. He's from an aristocratic family and holds an official position, so he's the best at it. The Cao Gang just needs to clear themselves clean, and that'll be the end of it."
Lu Guiyan listened from the side, and although he didn't say anything, his face was a little solemn. He knew that the politics of the Southern Dynasty was not clear, and he obviously agreed with this statement.
Qing Guiyu couldn't refute it. He just felt that when talking to this man, he was always blocked by him.
"Then Junior Brother..." She was a little embarrassed.
"Brother Lu has suffered some internal energy loss, but he's not seriously injured. You can return to the main hall with the Cao Gang to recuperate." Shen Juansheng immediately continued, looking away. "I'm sure Brother Lu wouldn't bother to set foot in the Tianji Pavilion's mansion."
Qing Guiyu subconsciously looked back at Lu Guiyan, who just nodded slightly to her, reassuring her.
So the three of them did not delay any longer, found the small boat they had taken before, and returned downstream to Yuzhou.
The journey had been filled with murderous intent and devastation, but the return journey was eerily silent. Lu Guiyan closed her eyes at the bow, regulating her breathing, while Chen Jiansheng sat quietly beside her, eyes half-closed, seemingly exhausted from overwork, and naturally slumped over her shoulder.
Qing Guiyu had no choice but to let him go. The boat was swaying, and there was nothing in the middle of the river. He felt a little relieved.
*
It was already early morning the next day when we returned to Tingzhu Waterside Pavilion.
The upstream of Yuzhou City was ablaze with color and a little gray and foggy. Qing Guiyu followed the sound of heavy carving and got ashore from the boat. Before he took a few steps to the entrance of the waterside pavilion, the black lacquered door with gold painting opened from the inside, and a young girl came out quickly to greet him.
Li Chengjin had obviously been waiting with his men. He was still dressed in finery, with jingling jewelry, but his face was no longer as arrogant as before. Instead, there was a bit of scrutiny on his face.
Her eyes swept over Shen Juansheng, moved to his hand holding Qing Guiyu, and finally settled on Qing Guiyu. She didn't ask anything, and even didn't care whether she lived or died, her eyes were still very cunning.
"Sir, sister." She bowed politely, "The food and hot water are ready. Sister, you have worked hard on the journey, please go and rest first."
Qing Guiyu walked into the side room, and Shen Juansheng followed her.
…
Qing Guiyu. She told herself. Then she took a deep breath, turned around, and asked him, "Are you hungry?"
She had been running around and fighting these days, and she felt hungry, let alone him, who hadn't eaten properly for more than ten days.
Shen Juansheng was stunned, as if he didn't expect her to ask this, and shook his head blankly.
Qing Guiyu looked at his face, which had become much thinner, sighed, and pulled him over.
What a troublesome venomous snake.
She has fished out this poisonous snake more than once. Once you fish it out and stroke it, it will put away all its sharpness, look at you with its beautiful eyes, and wait for you to continue to please it.
If you don't move, he won't make a fuss. He will just coil quietly and spit out his tongue, as if he can die again at any time to show you, just to make you feel a little sorry.
Qing Guiyu ignored him and walked straight to the door, opened it, and said to the outside, "Please prepare some light porridge and vegetables."
Li Chengjin seemed to have been prepared. He waved his hand, and soon, steaming hot food was brought in. A bowl of glutinous rice porridge, a few side dishes, and a cup of warm soup.
"Eat." Qing Guiyu hugged his arms and spoke in the tone of a doctor diagnosing a disease.
The young man hesitantly picked up the spoon, but just stirred it slowly in the bowl without taking a bite.
The familiar nameless anger suddenly rose up again.
"Shen Yansheng," she turned her head and gritted her teeth, "Do you really have to me..."
"You have to feed me, don't you?" These words rolled around on her lips, but she swallowed them back. It sounded too much like flirting, and she couldn't say it out loud.
"Don't even think about it," she simply said.
After hearing her half-sentence, the young man in black actually blushed a little and even his eyelashes trembled. Then he quickly lowered his head, scooped up a spoonful of porridge and put it into his mouth.
He ate slowly, one bite at a time, but his eyes were still on her.
Qing Guiyu felt strange when he looked at her, and her face was burning.
Never mind. She held her forehead.
Eating is always a good thing.
It's just a venomous snake, just a sound. If it's well fed, it's probably not that dangerous anymore.
*
It was late at night and the only sound in the pavilion was the rustling of bamboos in the wind.
After washing up and changing into clean clothes, Qing Guiyu felt no sleepiness at all. She walked to the window and opened it. Moonlight streamed in like mercury, illuminating the bamboo forest in the courtyard.
Just as I was lost in thought, a burst of intermittent flute sounds, mixed in with the sound of the wind, came faintly.
The flute's sound wasn't particularly sublime, and the tune was simple, just an ordinary Jiangnan song. But the flute player seemed incredibly patient. If he missed a note, he'd stop and play it again until it was smooth, and only then would he continue.
Qing Guiyu's heart moved, and he followed the sound of the flute, walked through the corridor, and came to a water pavilion overlooking the river in the backyard of the waterside pavilion.
Under the moonlight, the young man in black clothes was sitting alone on the railing of the water pavilion, accompanied by the sound of water waves, holding a purple bamboo flute horizontally in his hand, and playing it seriously with his head down.
The night dew is gentle and the breeze is pleasant.
The slender bamboo tubes are endless, and the sound of the river is endless.
The river breeze blew up his long hair, and together with the golden thread that tied his hair, it fluttered and swirled in the moonlight, with a desolate and beautiful look that was somewhat unlike that of the human world.
She can't even play the flute herself.
The flute sound stopped.
"Miss Qing," Shen Juansheng didn't turn around, but called her softly, "Did I disturb you?"
"You can also play the flute?" she couldn't help asking.
"Yeah." Shen Juansheng nodded and put the flute down. His brows and eyes looked shy under the moonlight and dust, just like a young boy. "Years ago, in Medicine King Valley, I saw you always carrying a flute. When I came back, I thought you might like it very much. So... I learned it myself."
He lowered his head again, and said in a gentle and clear voice, "It's just that I didn't learn it well. I'm sorry to make Miss Qing laugh."
Hearing him say this, it seemed as if she was an elegant person who was proficient in music.
Just because she brought a flute, he learned to play it. If this mastermind of scheming didn't use his mind for those treacherous plots, but only for these trivial matters of love, his thoughts would be so meticulous that they would be shocking.
She didn't know what to say for a moment, she just felt the river breeze blowing on her face, making it a little hot.
The water pavilion fell into silence for a moment, with only the sound of the river lapping against the shore and the sound of a few clepsydras coming from afar.
"Miss Qing," Shen Juansheng finally asked softly, as if testing, "Why... are you willing to come back?"
He asked directly, but with great panic.
It seemed as if he was afraid that she wouldn't come back, and even more afraid that the reason for her return had nothing to do with him.
This question finally came up.
Qing Guiyu could only remain silent. She looked at the delicate and mellow bamboo flute, then at him, and recalled the way he had pushed the imperial order to Doctor Meng in the clinic.
Why did she come back?
Because Yuzhou is in danger? Because my senior brother is in danger?
Both, but not entirely.
She hesitated for a long time, her eyes moving from the young man's pale face back to the purple bamboo flute he was still holding nervously.
"You..." She cleared her throat and spoke as brightly as she could, "You're willing to take this risk in Yuzhou. After all... you're not hopeless."
"You may be a bastard," Qing Guiyu lowered her head and looked him straight in the eyes, "but I saved you."
Afraid that he didn't understand, I added,
"I can't just leave the patient I cured alone and let him harm others again."
If something is wrong, you need to find a way to fix it.
Of all things in the world, life and death are the most difficult. How can anything else be so difficult to deal with?
After Shen Juansheng heard this, he was stunned at first, and then his eyes suddenly lit up.
It's like the spring ice just melting into water,
It seems like spring water is flowing.
The young man laughed softly. The laughter was suppressed at first, but then it grew louder and louder, more and more hearty. In the end, he bent over with laughter, and even his shoulders were shaking.
Qing Guiyu was confused by his incoherent laughter. Just as she was about to ask him what he meant, the smile on his face suddenly disappeared.
Chen Jiansheng stood up and walked towards her step by step. The moonlight stretched his figure tall and slender, casting a dark shadow.
"Miss Qing," he looked at her and said softly, "Three generations of war are not a waste of time. Conspiracies are endless and will inevitably end in disaster. People like Chen Juansheng will not have a good end and will definitely die."
"So I'm not afraid of death," he said with a smile.
"But when I was playing the flute just now, I was thinking, if I didn't have this flute, if someone like you really died..."
He paused for a moment, lowered his eyelashes,
"I really don't know what I will do."
The voice is shallow, like a lover's whisper, tender and lingering.
"Perhaps they will burn Yuzhou City and all those ships together to bury you. Or perhaps... they will find everyone who spread the news of your death and make them swallow those words one by one."
"Kill Lu Guiyan again and send him to the underworld, where he'll continue to be your idiotic senior brother. Find all the people you know and care about, including Doctor Meng, Rong Niang, and Blacksmith Zhang... one by one, and have them buried neatly with you."
He calmly told her the most vicious words in the world, one by one.
"I'll probably go find my father and find a way to master the Ice Wall technique. Then, perhaps I can truly be brought back to life. I'll guard your remains and wait for twenty, thirty years... until you finally open your eyes."
No madness, just calmness.
Chen Jiansheng stopped talking and looked at her expression, as if he couldn't bear to say anything more. He just stretched out his hand and gently handed the purple bamboo flute back to her.
"After that," he stared at her, his voice soft and gentle, just like the gentle moon and breeze.
"Miss Qing, please keep me under control."
Qing Guiyu was speechless for a moment, and only felt that the purple bamboo flute in his hand had become hot.
She looked at him, at his eyes that were becoming clearer after washing, the sickly blush on his face that had not yet faded, and the happy look in his eyes.
She wanted to say something to him, but when the words reached her lips, she suppressed them.
"I'll go... wash up." She patted his hair that was hanging down under his shoulder, which was a little messy.
*
She had just finished washing up, and it would be too weird and awkward to wash again, so she used the excuse of a medicinal bath. The hot water was misty, and the white steam quickly filled the entire bathroom, blurring the bronze mirror and window frames.
Qing Guiyu immersed himself completely in the warm medicinal soup, with only his chin exposed. The fragrance of the soothing herbs filled his nose, but the restlessness in his heart seemed to be steaming, becoming more and more turbulent.
She stared at the swirling mist in front of her, and couldn't help thinking about what Shen Juansheng had just said.
It wasn't a threat, nor was it a temptation.
It is a kind of entrustment.
He wrapped up his heart, which had long been rotten in hatred and calculation, along with the madness that was enough to burn everything, and nervously handed it to her.
"Miss Qing, please keep me under control."
Qing Guiyu impatiently scratched the surface of the water with his hands, causing ripples and disturbing the medicinal bath mist in front of him.
What a jerk.
Can……
She thought of Chen Yan again.
The old man who collapsed overnight in a secret room while guarding the rotting corpse of his deceased wife.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through her mind and she paused.
And she remembered what Chen Juansheng had said to her before.
It is difficult to plan for the current situation, but it is much easier to plan for people's hearts.
Times change, but people’s hearts are hard to change.
What if… What if…
Suddenly, he discovered that Shen Juansheng was completely unaware of this, and that this was a miscalculation by the Master of Heavenly Secrets.
——The mutilated female corpse.
Twenty years of planning, twenty years of waiting, all vanished as the icy coffin melted. His lifelong obsession had been to return to life. When this obsession was completely shattered, what would remain?
A man whose lifelong pursuit has turned into nothing, a tyrant who regards human life as worthless, when he loses his only obsession, what else does he want?
He doesn't want anything anymore.
A madman who wanted nothing, yet possessed unparalleled planning, perhaps caring nothing about the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which side gained the upper hand, or which dynasty would unify. Perhaps his only desire was... to drag the entire world down with him to the grave of his shattered dream.
Qing Guiyu suddenly stopped moving.
The steaming water vapor in front of her was white and had a moist warmth, but it reminded her of another cloud of smoke for no reason.
That was at the Cao Gang headquarters, where the heroes were discussing matters.
With a deep sound, he flicked those golden poisonous corn grains into the teacup.
With a light "hiss" sound, the tea instantly turned black and a puff of... green smoke rose.
That smoke...
She suddenly sat up from the water, splashing water everywhere.
A detail that she had ignored for a long time suddenly popped into her mind.
What does that smoke smell like?
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