I long for your arrival in the bright and beautiful spring.
Tang Qi returned to Luoyang in late spring. The long street was exactly as he had left it. He didn't go to the Marquis of Jianbei's residence, but instead turned a few corners and stopped in front of the Lin family's house.
The door was half open, and he peeked inside through a crack. He saw a woman squatting in the garden, hoeing the ground.
He swallowed hard and pushed the door open with a creak. The woman looked up at the sound and met Tang Qi's gaze.
He instinctively wanted to look away, but all the courage he had mustered vanished the moment he pushed open the door.
The woman seemed surprised to see him. She paused for a moment, staring at him, before smiling and saying, "Come in, come in quickly."
This wasn't his first time visiting the Lin family, but he had never felt so restless before.
His original plan was to confess to her as soon as he entered the door, but looking into the woman's eyes, Tang Qi couldn't utter a single word.
He took a sip of the tea in front of him, and for a moment he wished it were wine, because when you're drunk you'll dare to say anything.
However, before he could speak, Tang Qi heard Chang Qingxue slowly say, "You are...Young Marquis, right?"
Tang Qi stiffened. Chang Qingxue refilled his cup with tea, and the rising steam blinded Tang Qi. He didn't dare to move.
Chang Qingxue patted Tang Qi's head, which was hanging down, like a loving elder.
Tang Qi had actually prepared a lot of things to say, but she didn't ask anything. She just patted his head and said, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
Tang Qi cleared his throat and said, "...I'm sorry."
Chang Qingxue smiled and asked him, "What did you do wrong, young master?"
Tang Qi still looked like a child who had done something wrong, her eyes slightly red, and said to Chang Qingxue, "Aunt Chang, I... I couldn't bring them back. I thought I could at least protect Zheng Ye, but... he, I killed him."
Chang Qingxue shook her head and looked at him, saying, "It was their own choice. When Xiao Ye started clamoring to join the army, I knew I couldn't keep these two boys."
She seemed to be offering words of comfort, or perhaps just trying to console herself: "Were those two boys happy before they died?"
"Do you think you've become a great hero?"
She seemed to see Lin Jiacuo and Lin Zhengye before their departure for the expedition, and then she laughed to herself and continued, "Especially Xiao Ye, who always clamors to become a great general and a great hero, but a hero..." Chang Qingxue's eyes dimmed, "is not so easy to become."
She looked at Tang Qi and continued, "Child, I knew this day would come." Chang Qingxue touched the mask Lin Zhengye was wearing on Tang Qi's face. "You are the one they chose, and the one they believed in."
"How...how did you discover that I'm different from Zhengye?"
Tang Qi looked up, waiting for Chang Qingxue's reply.
Chang Qingxue just stared into his eyes for a long time before smiling and saying, "Xiao Ye's eyes can look silly, but yours don't. And..."
She spoke softly, but Tang Qi was genuinely saddened. "What mother wouldn't recognize her own child? The moment I saw you, I knew my Xiao Ye was gone forever."
Chang Qingxue stared at his face again, as if trying to see through Tang Qi. She said, "Young Marquis is just like our Xiao Ye. It's his good fortune that he was able to save you."
Chang Qingxue got up and went inside, bringing out a box and placing it in front of Tang Qi. She opened the box, revealing its contents.
Among the clay sculptures, Tang Qi's face was placed in the center. Caught off guard, he suddenly found himself face to face with Tang Qi's, and his scalp tingled for a moment. Chang Qingxue continued, "This item is not suitable to be kept. I should have taken it to my grave, but since the young marquis has come here, it proves that Xiao Ye's choice was correct. With the young marquis in his hands, this item will not fall into the trap of disloyalty and injustice."
She looked at Tang Qi with deep emotions in her eyes that Tang Qi could not understand: "When I received the news that you had all died in battle, I did not believe it. Such a hasty story could not compare to the lives of my sons."
Chang Qingxue chuckled and then said to Tang Qi, "Now that I've seen the young marquis, I know I guessed right."
She pushed the box closer to Tang Qi: "This is a clay model; the mask on your face was made from this."
Tang Qi opened his mouth to speak, but Chang Qingxue quickly said, "Whether it's because of the spies that were later revealed or some other reason, since the young marquis has come here, it means he has unfinished business. You will find it useful; it can help the young marquis find the answer he wants."
Chang Qingxue paused, seemingly choked up, then slowly continued, "You don't need to tell me your plans. Nor do you need to tell me...their fate."
Chang Qingxue still smiled, "I still just think they went sightseeing."
make a sightseeing tour……
If we cannot meet again in this life, I will only think of you as someone who travels to enjoy the mountains and rivers, far from the suffering of the world, living in peace and happiness forever.
This is truly the most beautiful imagination.
Tang Qi paused for a few seconds as if thinking, and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, as if someone had drilled a hole in her heart, and all the sunshine and happiness finally rushed in.
Yes, let's just say they went sightseeing.
He left all the pain, despair, and the forces behind the harm that had befallen them to him.
Tang Qi smiled brightly, his eyes lighting up again. Since he wasn't dead, they couldn't stop.
After leaving the Lin family, he first went to Changlin Street. After being away for several months, the thing he needed to figure out most was what had happened.
Tang Qi picked up a few stones as usual, stacked them up, and waited quietly for someone to come. Soon after, a little boy who looked like a beggar wearing a tattered hat stopped a few steps away from him and looked at him from afar.
Tang Qi stared at the mouse for two seconds, but it didn't seem inclined to approach. So Tang Qi stood up and took a step toward it, but the mouse turned and walked away as soon as he took the step.
Tang Qi paused for a moment, glanced around a few times, then put his hands behind his back and pretended to casually follow Haozi's steps. Haozi walked very fast, but every few steps he would turn around and look back, as if to make sure that Tang Qi had followed.
The mouse turned left and right, leading Tang Qi into an empty alleyway. He still kept a few steps away from Tang Qi and looked at him.
"Who are you?" Mouse asked, his eyes full of wariness. "How do you know my... my secret code with Qi?"
"Tang Qi told me himself." He didn't intend to reveal his identity, and Tang Qi didn't want to involve Haozi either.
"Did Brother Qi tell you?" Haozi continued, "Then he must trust you a lot."
Tang Qi nodded and was about to move closer when Haozi suddenly took a step back and shouted at him, "Don't move!"
Rat's eyes were cold, still wary and hostile towards him: "It's Brother Qi who believes you, but I don't."
"You might be like that Li Wuyuan, someone Qi Ge trusted wrongly."
Tang Qi had no choice but to stop and look at him, saying, "Didn't your brother Qi teach you that a person's eyes are the least likely to lie?"
He crouched down to be at eye level with the mouse and said, "Want to try and see if I'm lying?"
The mouse's heart stirred, and seeing his skeptical expression, it took a few more steps toward him. Tang Qi watched him with a smile until the mouse got close enough.
The rat's hand suddenly stabbed at him, then stopped abruptly in front of him; Tang Qi didn't move throughout the entire process.
"You passed."
He withdrew his hand, turned around, and asked, "What did you come to me to find out?"
Tang Qi stood up and suddenly laughed: "That's it? I thought you were going to interrogate me first." Haozi turned to look at him and said: "That's enough. If you had any evil intentions at that distance, you could have restrained and killed me when I made my move."
“But you didn’t move, and I’m still alive. That at least proves you trust me and have no ill intentions towards me. These two points are enough for you to get the information you want from me. And…” Rat continued to look at him, but his eyes flickered: “I think I know why Brother Qi trusts you.”
Tang Qi was stunned for a moment, then heard Haozi speak again: "What do you want to ask?"
Living under a different identity, Tang Qi always felt both familiar and strange when those people who had once crossed paths with her appeared before her, as if she were participating in her life from the perspective of an observer.
After a long silence, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice: "I want to ask... Li Wuyuan, how much do you know about him? If possible, I want to know everything about this person, the more detailed the better."
"Why are you asking him?" Mouse looked displeased, as if he despised hearing the name.
"He's a traitor," Mouse said bitterly. "It's all because of him that Brother Qi and the others all died in the desert."
Tang Qi didn't speak, listening to Haozi continue, "On the day Brother Qi was taken out of his coffin, someone collapsed in front of the Marquis's mansion."
He swallowed hard, and seeing that Tang Qi didn't speak, Haozi looked at him with a hint of suspicion: "You don't know about this, do you?"
“I wasn’t in Los Angeles for those months.”
The mouse gave an "oh," its suspicion not diminishing, but it continued, "He was the only survivor who escaped."
Hu Xingche. This was the first person that popped into Tang Qi's mind after hearing what Haozi said. He didn't say it aloud and continued listening to Haozi.
"He lost an arm and I heard he almost died, but Sister Tang Yan saved his life. When he woke up, he had a letter written in blood. The letter said that the spies were in cahoots with the thieves and that they were going to annihilate the Wolf Strategy Army."
Tang Qi's heart pounded. A spy? Someone was using a smokescreen. Tang Qi immediately realized this, but who was this supposed sole survivor?
"Where is he now?" Tang Qi asked.
“The man is dead.” Mouse’s eyes dimmed. “After handing the blood letter to Sister Tang Yan, that man committed suicide.”
The man is dead? With no one to corroborate the story, Tang Qi became even more suspicious and asked, "Why did he commit suicide?"
Mouse shook his head and said, "I don't know. I think he won't survive. He's the only one left in the Wolf Army. After bringing the news back, he probably won't have the will to live anymore."
Tang Qi paused, as if his heart had been touched, and after a long while, he spoke in a deep voice: "If that's the case, then he shouldn't have died even more. When he committed suicide, the truth about how the entire Wolf Army trapped and killed Kaqiu should not have been found out yet. If he was really a survivor, why would he willingly commit suicide before the truth was clear?"
"You're really strange. You're not him, so how do you know what he's thinking?" Mouse glanced at him and retorted.
"Because of him and me,"
—They are the same kind of people.
"We're all adults." Tang Qi didn't say what was on his mind, but just smiled and said to Haozi with his arms crossed.
The mouse snorted angrily and said in a low voice, "Don't look down on us kids. You're not much older than me, and besides—"
His expression suddenly changed, and he looked at Tang Qi in confusion, saying, "When did I say that person was a soldier that Brother Qi took to the desert?"
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