Before Qin Jian could speak, Lu Baichuan continued, "You can focus on working for His Highness. I'll take Lou Chong with me."
Lou Chong is his subordinate, who has been serving him all these years. He is also quite skilled and won't cause any trouble.
He had already made all the arrangements, so what more could Qin Jian say?
With a sigh, I realized that was all I could do.
No wonder Lu Baichuan was unwilling to tell him before; it turns out that even if he had, he wouldn't have been able to help much.
"Alright, Your Highness has Cheng Meng by your side. I should go to Jingzhou, which is Your Highness's fiefdom. It will be more convenient for you to handle matters there. If you need anything, just write to me in Jingzhou."
"Um."
Lu Baichuan nodded, thinking that there shouldn't be anything important that would come up to him, unless he finished his business and went to Jingzhou to meet him.
"Sigh, speaking of which, when I go to Jingzhou I have to visit the family who saved my life before. They also settled in Jingzhou. I wonder how they are doing now. After all, they saved my life, so I still have to go and see them. If they are having a hard time, I will help them if I can."
"Yes, that's right."
Lu Baichuan knew that Qin Jian had encountered trouble on the road and was rescued. He didn't think much of it since he was helping someone who saved his life.
What he didn't know was that if he had been a busybody and talked to Qin Jian a little more, he would have found out that the person who saved Qin Jian was his wife.
Unfortunately, he was never interested in such things, and all he could think about was finding his family; he couldn't care less about anything else.
After the New Year, the two went to Prince Chen's residence, where they naturally received rewards for their contributions.
First, Qin Jian was rewarded with gold, silver, jewels, fertile fields, and mansions. He was promoted to first-class imperial guard, a third-rank official, with an annual salary of fifty taels of silver, a stipend of two hundred and eighty shi of grain, and seven hundred mu of official land.
Lu Baichuan received far more than Qin Jian. His wealth, gold and silver, as well as fertile land and mansions, all doubled. He had one property in the capital and two more in Jingzhou, all with servants watching over them year-round, and he could move in at any time.
He was promoted to First-Class Imperial Guard, a rank of the third grade official, and received an annual salary of sixty taels of silver, a stipend of three hundred and seventy shi of grain, and nine hundred mu of official land.
Prince Chen said, "I originally wanted to give you the position of general, but since you are not going to the army for the time being, and given my current power, it is not convenient to give you a very high position. I will postpone it for now."
Given Lu Baichuan's achievements—killing two members of the Southern Tai royal family and securing nearly ten years of peace for Northern Yan, thus averting war between the two countries—he should have been appointed a high-ranking general of the second rank, commanding hundreds of thousands of troops. However, only the emperor had the authority to appoint officials of such high rank, and since there was no war at the moment and no one was needed to lead troops, he could only postpone it for now.
Speaking of this, Prince Chen couldn't help but laugh out loud. This Sun Qi was truly remarkable; he made meritorious contributions even faster than he was being granted official titles.
Such people should be kept close and given important responsibilities.
Currently, the position of First-Class Imperial Guard seems to be the most suitable for him.
In contrast, Lu Baichuan had no objection and cupped his hands, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness. I will follow Your Highness's arrangements."
Prince Chen nodded in satisfaction and then asked, "Besides this, do you have any other wishes? Tell me, and I will grant them as long as it is within my power."
As he spoke, he looked at Lu Baichuan's masked face and felt a pang of regret. Such a handsome face had become like this; he wondered if it could ever be restored.
If he recovers well, I can find him a good marriage, since he's not getting any younger.
"I would like to request a leave of absence for a while, and I hope Your Highness will grant it."
Given his injuries, Prince Chen instinctively assumed he wanted to recuperate. Without asking any questions, he simply said, "You're injured, so rest is necessary. I'll give you three months' leave to recuperate properly."
He knew that Prince Chen had misunderstood, but he did not explain. This misunderstanding was for the best.
"What about Qin Jian? He's been away for many years. Does he have any plans to settle down and start a family?"
For some reason, Prince Chen suddenly had the idea of acting as a matchmaker.
Qin Jian was startled and shook his head repeatedly: "Your Highness is joking. I have no intention of getting married yet."
He thought to himself, "What a joke! I can't even make a living myself, how can I ruin someone else's life?"
"Oh? Do you intend to remain a bachelor for life? How about I send you a few beautiful maids to amuse you?"
"No, no, no, thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I only wish to serve Your Highness and am unworthy of such treatment! Besides, Sun Qi is naked too, isn't he? Now that he's in this state, how can a brother like me hurt him?"
At the critical moment, Qin Jian pulled Lu Baichuan out to take the blame.
Lu Baichuan glanced at him indifferently, wondering whether he should tell him that he had gotten married three years ago.
Thinking of his taciturn wife, Lu Baichuan sighed inwardly. He had left her on the second day of their marriage and wondered how she was doing now.
I feel guilty every time I think about it. I have failed to be a good son or a good husband.
Upon hearing this, Prince Chen thought to himself that this was indeed the case. He couldn't let Sun Qi be alone, so he decided to wait until Sun Qi recovered and then make arrangements together.
As expected, Qin Jian was indeed assigned to Jingzhou, which was Prince Chen's base of operations, making many things much easier to handle.
Lu Baichuan was so eager to find the person that he didn't have time to waste. The day after he met Prince Chen, he took Lou Chong to Anzhou.
He calculated the days; the Lu family left relatively early. Logically, as long as they had a breath left, they should have arrived in Anzhou before it was full. He needed to investigate carefully.
If he couldn't find the names of any members of the Lu family, he could look for the names of the women in the family, but that would be less likely.
He was very worried when he was in Nantai, always concerned that something might happen to his family, but after returning, he was not so nervous anymore.
He never dreamed of his family members from beginning to end. It is said that people dream after they die, and he never dreamed of them, so it must be a good thing.
Not only that, he felt much more at ease than before, knowing that his family was all doing well.
"Master, you're not fully recovered yet, are you sure you don't need to bring a doctor with you?"
Lou Chong looked at the wrinkles on his exposed neck and felt a pang of sadness. After so long of treatment, there was no improvement. Could he be like this for the rest of his life?
It's one thing if the skin can't recover, but the main concern is the bones. What if they don't heal properly?
"No need, let's go."
The two rode away. He only had three months of vacation, and after deducting the time spent on the journey, he had very little time to look for people. He couldn't bear to waste a single moment.
Seeing him whip his horse and leave, Lou Chong secretly regretted his lack of medical knowledge, exhaled a breath of stale air, and chased after him.
He had only been gone a short while when Cheng Meng entered Prince Chen's study to report: "Your Highness, Sun Qi has left Jinzhou and is heading towards Anzhou."
"Let him go. Call back the people from before. There's no need for them to follow anymore."
Prince Chen waved his hand, seemingly unconcerned.
Cheng Meng was somewhat anxious: "Master, Sun Qi's rush back can't be without reason. Aren't you afraid of him..."
"If you employ someone, you trust them; if you don't trust them, you don't employ them. No matter what his purpose is in returning, as long as he is not opposed to me, there is no need to interfere. In my eyes, he is a meritorious official."
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