Chapter 98 Cui Jian's Confession
Cui Jian: "No."
"That's good." Zhu Mingyue appeared calm on the surface, but she was actually quite frightened. Fortunately, she had made an agreement with Cui Jian before leaving home this morning that if Cui Jian had not returned home by the end of the 9-11 PM or the beginning of the 11 AM, something must have happened outside.
Zhu Mingyue cleared away the pastries on the table, poured out the cold tea, and brewed a new pot to replace it.
There were still some scattered incense ash on the ground. Cui Jian said apologetically, "I'm sorry for messing up your room."
Zhu Mingyue gave him a thumbs up: "I was worried they wouldn't be able to find you, but they could smell the blood in my house. Brother Cui, you're so smart."
The large amount of incense completely masked the smell of blood. Making the room a mess would not only distract others but also prevent the officials from suspecting that there was a lot of incense ash in the room.
Not cleaning up incense ash is indeed suspicious, but if you put this on someone who is slovenly in private, it seems to be understandable.
“But these officials don’t seem to intend to capture you alive. When I went to buy medicine today, I found that anyone who bought wound medicine or other hemostatic medicine was questioned and searched by the officials. I guess they want to cut off your path to survival.”
Cui Jian smiled, the meaning of which was self-evident.
“Brother Cui, I think…” A hint of hesitation flashed across Zhu Mingyue’s face. She pursed her lips, but ultimately didn’t say anything.
Cui Jian saw through his thoughts and sighed softly: "My recuperation here has already brought trouble upon you. There is nothing between us that we cannot be honest about. If you have any doubts, please ask, and I, Cui, will answer them without reservation."
Zhu Mingyue hesitated for a moment before nodding: "Brother Cui, I want to know why those officials wanted to arrest you. Did you really kill someone in the capital, as they said?"
Cui Jian nodded: "He was indeed killed."
"Huh?" Zhu Mingyue thought he would deny it outright, but she didn't expect Brother Cui to admit it so calmly.
"Are you afraid?" Cui Jian comforted him gently, "Don't be afraid. I did kill someone, but I wasn't a good person. I was just a corrupt official blinded by greed."
“I’m not afraid.” Just a little surprised, Zhu Mingyue gripped the teacup in her hand. “Actually, I’ve killed people before. A gang of bandits on the road to Jizhou. They deserved to die.”
The images flashed through her mind, and Zhu Mingyue felt nauseous. She quickly turned her head away and whispered, "Let's not talk about this anymore."
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Cui Jian coughed twice: "The reason they are willing to go to any lengths to kill me is not because I killed anyone."
Zhu Mingyue: "I know that if you had only killed someone, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths. So you must have done something terrible, right?"
Cui Jian scoffed: "The fact that I am still alive is indeed a great thing for him. I'm afraid he will not be able to eat or sleep in peace as long as I live."
Zhu Mingyue's heart pounded with fear. For some reason, he seemed to have a vague idea of who the "he" Cui Jian was referring to was. He had already met that official twice, and he felt that the official was extremely shrewd and intimidating, unlike an ordinary official from the capital.
Cui Jian: "You've dealt with him before?"
Zhu Mingyue nodded quickly: "He makes me feel very uncomfortable."
“A centurion under the Northern Garrison Command,” Cui Jian patiently explained to him, “Wang Shangxin is good at managing his subordinates. Although he is ruthless in his actions at the Imperial Prison, he still has principles. As long as you don’t give him any leverage, he won’t do anything to you.”
Zhu Mingyue took a sip of tea. "I can see that now. Today, they only dared to send people to search my place secretly because they couldn't find any fault with me and didn't even have a reason to arrest me."
It's kind of funny when you think about it. A few grown men secretly followed him for most of the day, only to find nothing and be mistaken for thieves. They had to climb over the wall and run away in a panic. If it happened to someone else, it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but the fact that they were from the Imperial Prison makes it all the more comical.
Indeed, no matter what dynasty you live in, makeshift teams exist in every industry.
Seeing him smile, Cui Jian also smiled: "But we must not be careless. They are ordered to come to Ganzhou to hunt me down. If we do not do it well, we will not be able to deliver on our mission."
“I understand,” Zhu Mingyue nodded. In short, even if there are a few incompetent people, the performance targets still need to be met, otherwise they will be criticized.
Cui Jian lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, then said, "Mingyue, I know you are curious about my identity, but it is not convenient for me to say it now. When the time is right, I will tell you in person."
Zhu Mingyue nodded, her expression somewhat bewildered.
He was indeed curious about Cui Jian's identity. Who exactly was Cui Jian, that the person above was so wary of him yet dared not publicize it, and could only use the pretext of arresting a criminal to mobilize the imperial prison, and even chase him all the way to Ganzhou?
The former crown prince? No, the current emperor is an old man. The former crown prince is said to be missing and probably dead. Even if he is still alive, he is an old man. Brother Cui is still young, probably only in his early twenties.
A powerful minister whose achievements overshadowed the emperor? That's not quite right either. I've never seen a powerful minister end up like Brother Cui, being chased and killed all the way.
Or perhaps the Emperor's half-brother? No, no...
It doesn't feel right.
Zhu Mingyue rested her chin on her hands, lost in thought, her eyebrows unconsciously furrowing into a knot.
Cui Jian had witnessed Zhu Mingyue's intense curiosity firsthand. If he didn't say anything, the little guy probably wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
"Never mind, there's no point in telling you." Everyone already knows his true identity, and Zhu Mingyue has already brought trouble upon herself by saving him, so there's no point in keeping him in the dark.
"Do you know about the deposed crown prince?"
"Hmm, I know a little." He suddenly widened his eyes, his hand trembling as he pointed at Cui Jian, "You...you can't really be..."
Cui Jian's forehead creased with annoyance: ...
“I am not, he is my father.”
Zhu Mingyue's fingers relaxed: "I told you, you're not that old."
Cui Jian was both amused and exasperated: "My father was even older than the current king, so how could you possibly connect that to me?"
Zhu Mingyue chuckled awkwardly, "It's my fault, it's my fault for not thinking outside the box."
Cui Jiandao said, "When my father was the crown prince, he was framed for forming cliques and engaging in corruption. He was deposed as crown prince and made the Prince of Liang. Now that he has ascended the throne, he has demoted our whole family to Ningjiang, and my father has become the Prince of Ningjiang."
"He did indeed consider killing my father, but his position in the court was unstable, and he feared being ridiculed for harming his own brother, so he had to give up the idea. However, he did not want my father to live under his nose, so he exiled our entire family to Ningjiang, saying it was a fiefdom, but it was really a hot potato. Ningjiang is a barren land with poor people, and it cannot grow much grain. Moreover, it is on the border with the Southern Barbarians and is frequently invaded by them."
Zhu Mingyue couldn't help but feel some sympathy. The contrast between being a glorious crown prince and being a king in a barren land was too great. "When we first met, it was true that you said you were fleeing from Ningjiang."
“It’s true,” Cui Jian nodded, “but I also lied to you about something. My real name isn’t Cui Jian.”
After all, given his special status, it was perfectly normal for him to use a false name while fleeing. Zhu Mingyue expressed her understanding: "Then how should I address you from now on?"
Cui Jian smiled gently: "You can call me Zishu, or if you wish, you can always call me Brother Cui."
"Zishu?" Zhu Mingyue called softly.
Cui Jian: "Hmm."
"Hehe, that sounds nice."
"By the way, when the Southern Barbarians breached Ningjiang, why were only you and your aunt able to escape? What about your father and mother? Why didn't they escape with you?"
Cui Jian's smile vanished, and his expression turned serious: "They're all dead."
“When the southern barbarians invaded, my father wanted to join forces with the governor to resist them. However, that very night, the Ningjiang Prince’s mansion caught fire, and I managed to escape because I had to leave the mansion temporarily.”
"Died in a fire?" Zhu Mingyue frowned with regret, his intuition telling him that there must be something fishy about this.
Cui Jian: "They did not die in the fire. There is a path in the back garden of the Ningjiang Prince's Mansion that leads out of the mansion. Outsiders do not know about it, but my father is very familiar with it. If the mansion were to be flooded, they would definitely be able to leave through this path. However, they were burned to death in various rooms."
Zhu Mingyue affirmed, "Then it must have been murder. Someone must have killed them and then staged the fire."
Zhu Mingyue felt that the detective novels she read as a child hadn't been in vain, as she could at least understand some of them: "The most likely reason for the murder of your father and mother is the same person who is now hunting you down, because only the murderer knows who is still alive back then."
“Mingyue is right,” Cui Jian said with his eyes closed. “At that time, they searched the entire Ningjiang. It just so happened that my mother’s nanny had gone back to her hometown to worship her ancestors. At that time, Ningjiang was about to be captured by the Southern Barbarians, so my nanny and I disguised ourselves as refugees and sneaked out of the city.”
Now that things have come to this, what could Zhu Mingyue say? Feeling a pang of sadness, she softly comforted him, "Fortunately, you're still alive. Your father and mother, in heaven, would be very happy. If only you hadn't been discovered." At least you wouldn't be being hunted down.
Cui Jian suddenly opened his eyes, a faint hint of hatred flashing in them: "I will appear before him sooner or later. I am not living to eke out a living in this world."
Zhu Mingyue: "But you are weak and alone now, and there's nothing you can do. It's more important to save your life."
Cui Jian tucked a stray hair from Cui Jian's forehead behind his ear. "I'm not going to the capital for revenge; I have something more important to do."
"Xie Pei, it's you,"
Before he could finish speaking, Zhu Mingyue interrupted him, her eyes lighting up: "Xie Pei is my brother-in-law, do you know him?"
Cui Jian: ...
After a long while, he slowly nodded, his expression revealing a complex emotion.
Does Xie Pei make him so happy? Even his expression has a radiance he doesn't usually show.
He had privately sent someone to investigate Zhu Mingyue's recent situation. Since leaving Ganzhou, he had had a rather difficult life. Fortunately, he was told that he was living well with his brother-in-law. While he was relieved, he felt a strange pang of sadness.
The next time Zhu Mingyue was in Jizhou, it is said that he had traveled a long distance to visit Xie Pei in Jizhou, and Xie Pei had already become a cavalry captain.
Because of his inconvenient status, he could only keep a close eye on things. He learned that Xie Pei had taken him to the peach orchard to admire the flowers and to ride horses in the wilderness. Although Zhu Mingyue seemed to be having a lot of fun, for some reason, those scenes were particularly jarring.
He was still somewhat unwilling to give up: "Is Xie Pei good to you?"
Zhu Mingyue nodded vigorously: "Great! Xie Pei is very good to me. It's a pity that he's currently fighting against the Southern Barbarians in Jizhou, and I don't know when he'll be able to return. I even promised him that if I were to marry again in the future, I would definitely wait for him to come back! I've already thought it through. He was conscripted to Jizhou because of me, and if he doesn't come back, I will never have any romantic relationships with anyone. I've been back from Jizhou for a while now, and I don't know how he's doing."
Cui Jian: ? ? ?
Suddenly I felt no longer having a heart attack, and my body and mind felt much better.
He knew that Zhu Mingyue was incredibly naive. She always acted like an adult, but she hadn't really grown up. She didn't understand love at all, let alone Xie Pei...
Cui Jian's eyes darkened, and he didn't think any further.
Getting back to the main point: "He's fine, but the Jizhou camp is out of food."
Zhu Mingyue's face fell quickly: "Why is there no food? How can we fight a war without food? Does the imperial court not care?"
Zhu Mingyue grew increasingly angry as he spoke. He had been dissatisfied with the current emperor for a long time. Just because the emperor did nothing after losing two cities and instead conscripted civilians to serve as human shields on the front lines, he knew that this man was definitely not a wise ruler.
But what could he do even if he was angry? He was more worried about what would happen if the frontline workers couldn't get enough to eat.
Cui Jian: "General Guan has already submitted a memorial to the court, but the court is in an uproar over this matter, and in the end, only twenty carts of grain and fodder were allocated on the grounds that the national treasury is in short supply."
Ten cartloads of food would be far from enough for the Jizhou camp; this move was a blatant disregard for Guan Shao's reputation.
Zhu Mingyue had traded with Wang Zongxiu before, so she naturally had a concept of what ten cartloads of grain meant. To put it bluntly, Wang Zongxiu's caravans transported more valuable goods than that.
They say the national treasury is tight? Is it so tight that it's even emptier than the pockets of a commoner like Wang Zongxiu?
What's the difference between these ten cartloads of grain and giving money to a beggar?
He just couldn't understand how this guy could lie on the dragon throne and do nothing while so many people in Jizhou were protecting his territory.
With his hand covered by a warm palm, Cui Jian smiled and said, "Don't worry, ten carts of grain are not much, but they can last for a few days. I have a batch of grain that is currently in Ganzhou. Once I contact my men, I will find a way to transport the grain out by cargo ship."
"Wasn't the Jizhou River supposed to have stopped operating merchant ships?" Zhu Mingyue wondered. He remembered that Wang Zongxiu had complained about this to him not long ago. Could it be that it has been reopened?
Cui Jian smiled and said, "Who said I need to travel by merchant ship?"
"Since I dared to risk transporting the grain to Ganzhou, I could naturally use official ships. Unfortunately, my whereabouts were leaked, and all my plans were ruined."
Zhu Mingyue realized that Cui Jian was probably not the innocent, yellow cabbage in the field that he had imagined. After his family was almost wiped out, he dared to go to the capital alone and stay under the emperor's nose. He was able to gather grain and travel by official boat. The power behind him was undeniably strong.
The reason his trail was discovered was probably because Brother Cui acted too recklessly and accidentally went too far.
After silently criticizing him, Zhu Mingyue bit her lip and asked in confusion, "Those people are keeping a close eye on things in Shangyang County, so how did you manage to contact them?"
“We can’t even buy wound medicine in the county right now. We can’t just sit here and wait to die. Let me think of a way to get you out of Shangyang County.”
The next day, around noon, Wang Zongxiu and Guan Jing arrived at the shop in town.
"Young Master Zhu, it's been a long time! How have you been?" Wang Zongxiu was dressed like a peacock, fanning himself with a folding fan, displaying the demeanor of a young master.
Seeing how carefree he was, it would be a lie to say that Zhu Mingyue wasn't envious. He gritted his teeth and said, "Brother Wang, stop joking. I have something I want to discuss with you today."
Wang Zongxiu's face turned serious for the first time, and his smile disappeared: "These days I spend my days tending to flowers and birds, and I really have no intention of going to Jizhou to do business. It's no use begging me."
Zhu Mingyue: ...
"I'm not going to Jizhou."
Wang Zongxiu was finally relieved and smiled again: "That's all easy to discuss."
Zhu Mingyue tilted her head: "Really?"
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