Who wants to be a hero?
"You're going to Juecheng too!?"
Tang Qi, who had just sneaked into Cheng Junshi's house like a thief, exclaimed in surprise.
The person opposite him responded with a leisurely "hmm," which silenced Tang Qi.
As soon as he received Sheng Xiaoxin's message, he came to find Cheng Junshi, but he didn't say a single word of the basketful of pretentious words he had painstakingly prepared.
"You're not a military general, why would His Majesty send you to Juecheng for no reason?" Tang Qi sat down on the table casually, grabbed his arm, and expertly flipped his hand over, rubbing his fingertips against Cheng Junshi's palm: "Your hands are so delicate, they don't look like they've been holding a knife for long. If the Emperor is willing to send you to Juecheng, I'm not."
Cheng Junshi withdrew his hand, looked at the person opposite him's clumsy acting, and couldn't help but give him a push and chuckled, "Don't try that."
"So what exactly was the emperor thinking? Why did he send you to Juecheng as well?" Tang Qi was pushed to the side by him, and he put away his glib tongue and asked him seriously.
"Ye Qian is in Juecheng, and Li Guangjun is also there," Cheng Junshi said meaningfully.
Tang Qi murmured with a knowing look, "No wonder."
"It seems you and Ye Qian are quite good actors; the emperor has indeed placed you in a position to check and balance each other."
He and Ye Qian pretended to be at odds in the court, a plan they had devised years ago.
"I used to be in that position," Tang Qi suddenly laughed. "Truly, fortunes change, and now Ye Qian is the one who's in my shoes."
"I just find it strange that Ye An is clearly the young marshal of Li Guangjun, so why does His Majesty fear Ye Qian even more?"
Tang Qi deliberately kept everyone in suspense: "You don't know this, do you? Don't be fooled by his gentle and mild-mannered demeanor. If you really go against him, it will be the beginning of a nightmare."
"He's smart and meticulous. He can block every trick you can think of before you can play it. If he targets you on the battlefield, you'll be lucky to escape with your life. If you were to compare Li Guangjun to a person, Ye Qian would definitely be the brains of the group." Tang Qi curled his lips and shook his head as he recounted Ye Qian's great achievements.
"Looks like you've got a lot of experience being skinned alive and having your tendons pulled out," Cheng Junshi couldn't help but chuckle.
"Don't even mention it. When I first became the commander of the Southern Camp, I believed in conquering the world with force and thought that all schemes would be defeated by fists. My father scolded me for a long time, but I was not convinced. Later, he and Uncle Ye joined forces with Lang Ce and Li Guang to conduct a small-scale exercise." As if recalling something terrifying, Tang Qi shuddered and continued, "I led the army on Lang Ce's side, a hundred-man squad, and it was wiped out by Li Guang in less than half a day."
"Was it Ye Qian who led the entire enemy force to wipe them out at that time?"
Tang Qi shook his head, looking distressed, and said, "It was Ye An. That brat Ye Qian didn't even leave his tent before he pinned me to the ground and beat me up."
Cheng Junshi finally couldn't help but sneer: "You have such a glorious moment?"
"Looking back now, I'm so glad I did it back then. Otherwise, if I had really become a muscle-bound but brainless idiot, I don't know what kind of mess I would have made of the Wolf Strategy Southern Camp." He suddenly became melancholy as he said this.
After a long silence, Cheng Junshi finally looked at him and asked, "How is the Wolf Strategy Army doing now?"
Tang Qi shook his head: "After my father died, the Wolf Strategy changed commanders. The main generals of the four major camps were basically replaced by the emperor. Only the Northern Camp remained. Now, apart from the Northern Camp, the Wolf Strategy is almost entirely controlled by Sheng Ye."
"The Northern Camp? The ones stationed on the northern frontier?"
“Yes, the commander of the Northern Camp is my elder sister, Tang Jing.” Tang Qi looked at Cheng Junshi and continued, “Fortunately, with His Highness guarding the northern border, the court’s influence cannot reach there for the time being.”
He composed himself and said, "I was able to follow His Highness smoothly thanks to my elder sister."
"Did you tell her your identity?" Cheng Junshi asked in surprise.
Tang Qi gave him a look: "How could that be?"
“My elder sister and the Crown Prince are old friends. I was able to get to know the Crown Prince through my elder sister’s introduction. Before I joined the army, my elder sister and the Crown Prince were already guarding the northern frontier together. This time, I went north by pretending to be a remnant of the Wolf Strategy Army to enter the northern camp. Later, my elder sister introduced me to the Crown Prince. And guess who I met in the northern frontier?”
Cheng Junshi gave him a look and then heard the person opposite him say, "Ye Jin".
"Ye Jin?" This surprised him for a moment.
Tang Qi nodded and continued, "She also returned to Beijing from the northern frontier. She will definitely be there when we go to Juecheng."
"We haven't heard from her since that day. The general has gone to the northern frontier," Cheng Junshi said thoughtfully.
"Ye Jin has a knot in her heart," Tang Qi said calmly. "She's overthinking things and is blaming herself for what happened with Lang Ce."
"I am going to Juecheng in the hope that I can completely resolve the knot in her heart."
Cheng Junshi nodded, then casually asked, "You've been in the northern frontier for so long... how did you find it?"
Tang Qi opened his arms wide with a "whoosh," showing them off generously to Cheng Junshi. Compared to before, he now exuded a lot of vitality: "You're doing very well."
“The scenery in the Northern Frontier isn’t as beautiful as in Jingzhou, but life there is more comfortable.” He withdrew his hand and looked at Cheng Junshi, continuing, “I used to not understand why Your Highness stayed in the Northern Frontier so often. It’s such a harsh place; your hands and feet would get sores. But after actually going there, I realized that compared to Jingzhou, living in the Northern Frontier is truly a blessing.”
"The wind and snow won't freeze me to death," Tang Qi said.
But the human heart can.
“Then why don’t you just stay in the northern frontier?” Cheng Junshi looked at him and said, “Becoming a Taqing wouldn’t be bad, would it?”
“But you’re in Jingzhou,” Tang Qi continued with a smile, “so I have a reason to come back.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang Qi frowned again, crossed his arms, and said recklessly, "Once I've sorted out all these messy things in Jingzhou, I don't want to care about any of this or that anymore. I'll take it one day at a time and make up for all the carefree days I missed before."
Only then will he be truly free.
“I’ll still kidnap you then.” Tang Qi blinked again: “You won’t be able to resist.”
“I didn’t say I was going to resist. I was just worried that the rope wasn’t tight enough.”
"Bolder and thicker, specially made for Lord Cheng~" Tang Qi chuckled mischievously.
"Stop joking around, let's get serious. You're going to Jue City with the Crown Prince, aren't you afraid your identity will be questioned? And also—"
Cheng Junshi paused for a moment before asking, "You chose to stay by His Highness's side because..."
Tang Qi nodded without hesitation: "You have seen what His Majesty has done in these three years. He has ceded cities and territories, and even retreated without a fight. Junshi, this is not something a good emperor should do."
"A king dies for his country, and an emperor guards the nation's gates. Ceding cities and territories will only bring shame upon the people at the hands of the enemy." Tang Qi's eyes were sharp: "Rather than letting the Great Shuo perish in his hands, it is better to establish a new ruler and fight for the Shuo Dynasty to regain its vitality. For the past three years, I have been by His Highness's side, and it can be said that he is the most ideal ruler."
“But he is a prince. Are you going to instigate a prince to rebel?” Cheng Junshi lowered his voice and said to him, “Tang Qi, don’t be so delusional. If this matter goes wrong, you will be doomed.”
“I’m not stupid.” Tang Qi looked back at him: “The one who wants to rebel is me.”
Cheng Junshi was stunned.
“I will be the one to sweep everything away.” He said seriously, “When Emperor Ming dies, even if Your Highness doesn’t want to succeed to the throne, he will have no choice but to take that position for the sake of the entire Great Shuo.”
"And what about you?" Cheng Junshi continued to stare at him: "As a traitor, have you thought about how to survive?"
Tang Qi fell silent.
“You don’t.” Cheng Junshi’s eyes were calm.
After a long while, the other person finally spoke: "Junshi, in this world, not everyone can choose to live."
“I was never meant to exist,” he said, looking at Cheng Junshi, his tone as if he were coaxing a child. “If my life can give more people the chance to live, it’s worth it, Junshi, it’s worth it.”
"But that's not fair."
“Yes, this is not fair to you.” Tang Qi’s expression also became reluctant: “I never thought I would fall in love with anyone. You are an unexpected variable in my plans. But Junshi, I can’t find a way to have the best of both worlds.”
“It’s unfair to you.” Cheng Junshi looked at him as well, his tone suddenly becoming harsh: “Why should all of this fall on you? Why should you bear the blame for their mistakes? Why… why can’t you even have the choice to live?”
“Wouldn’t that be great? That way,” Tang Qi laughed deliberately, trying to break the somber atmosphere, “I could become a hero.”
“I don’t want you to be a hero,” Cheng Junshi said, his voice still trembling. “Heroes all die.”
"I just want you to live."
Tang Qi finally couldn't hold back his emotions any longer, so he swallowed hard, quickly turned his face away, and continued to laugh, "Live, of course I'll live. I'll definitely try my best to live on. I'm still waiting to go and enjoy myself."
Cheng Junshi was speechless. In fact, there was no need to say anything; he and Tang Qi were both perfectly aware of the situation.
This will definitely be a path with a slim chance of survival. But they will not choose to run away, nor will they retreat.
They were still feeling down when someone suddenly burst in through the door.
Lu Juezhen scratched his nose and chuckled awkwardly.
The two people opposite him clearly didn't have the energy to confront him about eavesdropping outside the door.
"Actually... Brother Zhengye, I came to ask you, um, were you going to Juecheng all by yourself?"
Tang Qi answered frankly, "No, there were many other people with us."
"What I mean is, you know, shouldn't there be someone else with you?"
Cheng Junshi frowned upon hearing this, while Tang Qi realized who the kid was talking about, and teased, "How come I didn't know you guys got so close?"
“Everything has been fine, okay!” Lu Juezhen said indignantly, muttering to himself, “I thought he went to the Northern Frontier with you, which is why we haven’t been in contact for the past three years.”
Tang Qi had sharp ears and picked up on the dissatisfaction in his words. So he leaped off the table, grabbed him by the neck, and said, "From what you're saying, you're complaining about me, aren't you?"
He gritted his teeth and continued angrily, "You heartless little devil, your brother Zhengye came all the way back from the northern frontier, and I didn't hear you showing any concern, but you're very attentive to that brat Ahu."
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Lu Juezhen slapped himself several times before finally escaping from Tang Qi's clutches.
"Don't you have my master to take care of you? I'm very perceptive." He said, raising his eyebrows at Tang Qi a few times, which naturally resulted in a side kick.
"You've really got some skills, daring to even tease your master now." Tang Qi chuckled as he pulled his foot back, then became a little more serious before continuing, "I've already informed Ah Hu, he'll be here soon."
Lu Juezhen nodded, then pouted and said unhappily, "Brother Zhengye, if Ahu didn't go to the Northern Frontier with you, why hasn't he come to see us in the past three years? I thought he was with you."
Tang Qi suddenly smiled mysteriously: "That's because he has more important things to do."
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