Chapter 502: Twenty Years of Grudges |
The smokescreen from the burning shop signs enclosed the long street. Inside the wine shop, cries of slaughter shook the heavens.
The Bamboo Hat on Official Gui's head had flown off to who knew where, revealing his weather-beaten face, staring intently at the swaying carriage curtain.
The two people inside and outside the carriage were old acquaintances of twenty years, but there was no joy of old friends reuniting between them.
'Princess Liyang' pulled back the carriage curtain and slowly alighted from the carriage. Calm and Composed, she said: "It has been a long time."
Official Gui looked at the woman before him. The other party's face was that of Princess Liyang, but those eyes were so familiar. Forever like a pool of secluded black lake water, with fire flowing beneath the surface. Moreover, one's Official Path Gateway could not deceive people.
Official Gui was certain: the woman before him was Lu Ye, a name that didn't sound like a woman's name.
At this time, the Eight Trigrams around the edges of Madam Lu's palms faintly flickered. The eight hexagrams—Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Zhen, Gen, Xun, and Dui—arose and extinguished one by one.
Official Gui's chest ached faintly. He recalled: "Kan, Li, Zhen, Gen, Xun, and Dui—these six hexagrams strike the six Po. The Qian and Kun hexagrams strike the two Hun... Big Sister, am I saying this right?"
Madam Lu said indifferently: "Did Lu Jin teach you?"
Madam Lu walked toward him step by step. Official Gui suddenly said: "Big Sister, after you faked your death, we looked for you for over a decade. The Lord is still looking for you today; he has never given up."
Madam Lu stood still: "Back then, my faked death was Seamless. Why did you feel that I was still alive?"
Official Gui said calmly: "Because when you were about to die, you didn't pass the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon to Chen Ji."
Madam Lu grew thoughtful: "No wonder. So the flaw was here."
Official Gui continued: "The Lord said the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon is the Qing family's inherited Official Path Gateway of Qing Wentao, completely unique in the world. You are a person who values affection and Righteousness; you would absolutely not allow it to be buried in the world. These past years, I stayed by Chen Ji's side and probed many times. I determined that only after he entered the Taiping Medical Clinic did he obtain an Official Path Gateway. Since you didn't pass the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon to him, it meant you didn't die... We have been looking for you the whole time."
Madam Lu remained silent.
Official Gui sighed with emotion: "I guarded Chen Ji for so many years. I always thought you would definitely come to visit him. I didn't expect you to be so cruel-hearted as to actually never appear even once. I watched him get bullied, humiliated, and slandered by Madam Liang; watched him sleep in a room with broken windows without even a fire pan in the winter; watched him be exiled to the Taiping Medical Clinic as a minor apprentice. Big Sister, how could you bear it? However, I've finally found you. Last time when you used the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon in Changping, I knew it had to be you."
Madam Lu nodded: "So it was also you guys who kept looking for Xiaoman to buy intelligence, wanting to know who Chen Ji had met, to see if I had secretly gone to visit him. That time in Luo City, the person Xiaoman drove the Taotie to devour was also your person."
Official Gui frankly admitted: "Correct."
Madam Lu slightly narrowed her eyes: "To what extent has Chen Ji sunk into the Military Intelligence Division, and how many things has he done for you?"
Official Gui was somewhat rueful: "He is very like you. Just like back then when we all thought you were omnipotent—whenever we were despairing, in the end we could only rely on you to complete the mission. Nowadays, Chen Ji can also constantly give me surprises. Whenever I feel a matter cannot be achieved, he can always snatch life from the jaws of death. If not for you, he would have originally been groomed as a Department Head... If he could be adopted into the Chen Family's first branch, and then succeed the post of Department Head, why would our Jing Dynasty have to worry about our grand enterprise failing?"
Madam Lu asked gravely once again: "How many other people know his identity?"
Official Gui said with a smile: "Rest assured, Big Sister, only Lord Lu and I. Lord Lu only wants to find you; he doesn't want to make things difficult for his nephew. After all, Chen Ji is also one of his very few relatives."
Madam Lu sneered: "Lu Jin is so afraid of me that he must absolutely find me and pull me up by the roots?"
"Not afraid, he misses you. You are the relative the Lord cares about most in this world. There isn't a single day where he doesn't long to reunite with you," Official Gui said earnestly: "The Lord has said that he no longer blames you."
Madam Lu looked like she had heard a joke: "He... no longer blames me?"
Official Gui did not follow up on those words, but instead spoke earnestly: "Big Sister, back when we first came to the Ning Dynasty, it was you who took us in. I still remember that year when our assassination of the Military Strategy Commissioner Jiang Xu failed, and Lord Lu secretly sent us to the Ning Dynasty. After disembarking at Tanggu, the first mouthful of hot food we had in this Ning Dynasty was made by you."
Madam Lu also reminisced: "I remember you guys were very wretched back then. Like twenty-seven homeless wild dogs—you'd eat whatever was given to you with great relish, and after eating your fill, you could sleep very well. I made a large pot of sizzling noodles for you, and you didn't leave a single bit. At that time, the Military Intelligence Division was merely in its embryonic form, and Lu Jin hadn't yet become the Military Strategy Commissioner. You didn't even have military pay, yet twenty-seven mouths were added waiting to eat. Later, there were more and more people waiting to open their mouths to eat, so I could only economize on food and clothing."
The Lu brother and sister duo, Lu Jin and Lu Ye, had fallen from a once-prosperous household. Lu Jin knelt before the door of Vice Privy Councilor Yuan Zhong for three days and three nights to beg for a post as an Official in the Privy Council, obtaining the opportunity to head south and establish his career and reputation.
At that time, the Privy Council hadn't agreed to let Lu Jin construct the Military Intelligence Division. Lu Jin acted secretly, with only these twenty-seven stray dogs under him.
But it was also precisely these twenty-seven stray dogs who propped up the Military Intelligence Division.
Madam Lu rushed about between Capital City and Guyuan, while Lu Jin rushed about between the Jing Dynasty and the Ning Dynasty. It wasn't until a year later that the Military Intelligence Division somewhat resembled a proper organization and gained fresh blood.
Official Gui suddenly said: "Big Sister, you shouldn't have abandoned the Military Intelligence Division to follow Qing Wentao to Guyuan. You should've been the Department Head of the Military Intelligence Division."
Madam Lu looked at the smokescreen in the sky: "So, I should have continued staying in Yujing Courtyard to perform and earn silver to feed the Military Intelligence Division? Ah Gui, I also had things I wanted to do for myself. During those days in Yujing Courtyard, everyday I had to see many, many people, sing many, many songs, play many, many tunes. Later, I bought back Yujing Courtyard, yet I have never gone to see it even once."
The people of the world all believed that Lu Jin came south alone to prop up the Military Intelligence Division, yet they didn't know that the Military Intelligence Division initially relied on a woman to support it—simply because this matter was not honorable.
Official Gui took a deep breath: "Return to the Jing Dynasty with me. Admit your mistakes to Lord Lu. You are brother and sister; as long as you're willing to admit your mistakes, there is still a chance."
Madam Lu started to smile: "You tell me: on what grounds should I admit my mistakes to him?"
Official Gui stated impassively: "A person of the Jing Dynasty did things that forsook her own home country, all for the sake of a Ning Dynasty general. Being able to admit your mistakes and be spared the death penalty is already an act of grace."
Madam Lu asked in return: "Then did he ever tell you guys how he returned to the Jing Dynasty, and how he stole someone else's credit to Make a Name and Establish Oneself? Did he ever tell you guys how he went back on his word and forsook Righteousness, leaving a scar on my face?"
Official Gui interrupted: "Big Sister, the Lord is not that kind of person."
Madam Lu casually said: "No matter. Explaining to you is completely meaningless. Sooner or later, I will go to the Jing Dynasty to seek him out. I'll just ask you one sentence: is Official Ding one of the twenty-seven of you from back then? Who is Official Ding?"
Official Gui shook his head: "No."
Madam Lu walked toward Official Gui step by step: "Lu Jin set up a scheme to kill Qing Wentao. I must definitely avenge this grudge. All these years he's looked for me, it's merely because he fears I will proclaim his ugly deeds to the world, fears I will seek him out for revenge; that is all. As for Official Ding, I will ferret him out."
Official Gui slowly said: "Since Big Sister is unwilling to return with me, I suppose I will just have to leave you in the Ning Dynasty forever."
The next moment, Madam Lu lunged forward. Official Gui thrust forward with a Short Blade, but failed to guard against Madam Lu, whose body was like a swimming dragon, nimbly turning behind Official Gui.
As Madam Lu's footsteps twisted and turned, the Eight Trigrams around the edges of her palms were seen rotating violently, finally locking onto the Li hexagram.
Li is Fire. Fire-Mountain Traveler. Heaven-Fire Fellowship with Men.
This palm howled as it went to imprint onto Official Gui's back heart. However, Official Gui seemed to have grown eyes on his back. His bodily bones crackled and popped, and the great spine on his back twisted like a snake, narrowly dodging this palm strike.
Official Gui flew backwards in retreat, but just as his body passed by the carriage, he heard Madam Lu utter in a deep voice: "Shisan!"
In an instant, the carriage burst apart, and the arrows previously nailed into the carriage sprayed across in all directions alongside it.
The 'Yuan Cheng' inside the carriage had long since removed his black hood, crashing out from the carriage. This person was impressively that Shisan who, together with Third Master Hu, had rescued Chen Ji and Madam Lu back in Changping.
The palm-sized crescent hook in his hands was seen slicing toward Official Gui. Official Gui was already dodging Madam Lu. Unable to evade in time now, his right eye was actually slashed by this blade strike; for a time, blood flowed like a fountain.
Official Gui slashed out a backhanded blade strike, and Shisan nimbly dodged like a monkey.
But Official Gui's blade was too fast, and Shisan was merely at the Connate Realm. He could only twist his body to take the blade strike forcefully on his ribs, flying backward into the carriage.
Shisan cried out in pain: "I'm going to die! Boss, save me!"
(End of this chapter)