Chapter 507: The Setting Sun is Like Blood |
Changping County.
The Secret Spy Division departed; only a mess remained in Anfu Ward.
The originally bustling and flourishing marketplace was now filled with feathered arrows stuck in the ground. The blood flowing out from the shot-dead warhorses seeped into the cracks between the bricks, permeating a pungent smell of blood. Pedestrians avoided it in time, leaving a scene of desolation.
The Trouble-Resolving Guard also intended to leave, but Chen Ji called out to Lin Chaoqing: "Lord Lin, since you have come, tidy up this Anfu Ward properly before leaving. With so many assassins' corpses, calling a coroner to examine them and collecting the bodies should also presumably be a matter within the Trouble-Resolving Guard's duties."
Lin Chaoqing turned his horse back around, looking at Chen Ji with a faint smile that wasn't quite a smile: "After the Baron of Wuxiang County came to Capital City, you are actually vastly different from when you were in Luo City. Your speaking tone has also become much more forceful. Very well, our Trouble-Resolving Guard will stay behind to deal with the aftermath. The Baron of Wuxiang County may return to the capital on your own."
As if he hadn't heard the ridicule in his words, Chen Ji actually glanced at the Crown Prince slumped on the ground beside them, and then said to Lin Chaoqing: "There is also His Highness the Crown Prince. I will entrust him together with the Trouble-Resolving Guard as well. Our Feather Forest Army still has an important matter to do, and cannot escort His Highness back to the capital."
The mocking look in Lin Chaoqing's eyes grew even stronger: "The Baron of Wuxiang County truly does not conceal things in the slightest anymore. What important matter could the Feather Forest Army possibly have at this time?"
Chen Ji said calmly: "Naturally, a very important matter."
Lin Chaoqing waved his hand: "No matter. The Baron of Wuxiang County may do as he pleases."
Quietly, the Crown Prince's form of address for Emperor Ning had already changed from 'Imperial Father' to 'His Majesty'.
Chen Ji didn't follow up on those words, but saw the Crown Prince leaning against the base of the wall, sighing with emotion: "We sometimes quite envy you. It's as if wherever you go, there is someone to help you. Guyuan, Capital City, Fragrant Hills, Changping... Every time, there are noble patrons to help you turn danger into safety. Yet We always manage to encounter people who drop stones on someone who has fallen into a well."
Qi Zhenzhuo frowned: "Your Highness's words are misguided. Every time, my Master has a Narrow Escape. Heaven helps those who help themselves."
The Crown Prince smiled: "That also makes sense. However, We likely won't have the opportunity to see everyone in the future. On the verge of parting, We shall give Lord Chen a piece of loyal advice."
Chen Ji said calmly: "Please speak, Your Highness."
The Crown Prince said softly: "Lord Chen, becoming His Majesty's person is also by no means a fortunate matter. He and We are actually the same kind of person. Equally ruthless, equally selfish. It's just that he was luckier than Us. His father died early, while Our father is dying late."
The expressions of everyone present changed vastly. No one expected the Crown Prince to actually speak such rebellious and treasonous words in public.
If this matter reached His Majesty's ears, absolutely everyone present would be unable to escape unquestioned.
Chen Ji remained impassive: "Your Highness is also Seeking Death?"
The Crown Prince grimaced with a mocking smile: "If We don't seek it, does that mean We won't have to die? This time he clearly knew you were bait, yet still wanted Us to head out together, making Us help you bear some infamy. Of course, if We could die outside, it would also save him from encountering further obstruction when abolishing the heir apparent; killing two birds with one stone."
Chen Ji looked down at the Crown Prince on the ground. He was no longer gentle and refined like jade. His complexion was pale, and his eyes seemed to be covered in a layer of dust.
The Crown Prince looked at Chen Ji: "Lord Chen, the me of today might just be the you of tomorrow."
Chen Ji casually said: "Many thanks for Your Highness's reminder."
The Crown Prince waved his hand: "Go. We will not meet again."
This heir apparent seemingly had already guessed his ending of being under house arrest until death. He sat powerlessly on the ground; even the pain in his leg didn't count for anything anymore.
Chen Ji spoke no further, leading the Feather Forest Army to leave this place of rights and wrongs as quickly as possible.
Lin Chaoqing quietly watched the Feather Forest Army depart. Only when he could no longer see the Feather Forest Army's receding figures did he instruct his subordinate Trouble-Resolving Guards: "Hold my Waist Plaque and go to the Trouble-Resolving Guard's main encampment to transfer a battalion of troops and horses over."
"Yes." A Trouble-Resolving Guard spurred his horse to leave.
Lin Chaoqing then ordered the remaining Trouble-Resolving Guards: "Gather the assassins' corpses and wait for the coroner to come and examine them."
The Trouble-Resolving Guards vaulted off their horses, barging into the wine shops beside the street.
Only at this point did Lin Chaoqing come before the Crown Prince and squat down, inspecting the arrow wound on his leg: "Your Highness, the arrow shattered your femur. Forgive this lowly official for his incompetence, but I can only treat Your Highness's external injuries first. There is no way to let Your Highness recover completely as before... With an injury like this, even if you possessed the Daoist Court's Alchemical Pills, you would likely still be left with a disability."
The Crown Prince was disheartened and discouraged: "No matter."
Lin Chaoqing gently gripped the arrow, using a dagger to cut off the arrowhead that had pierced through his leg: "The arrow must be taken out early. Otherwise, if the flesh and arrow shaft adhere together, it will be hard to pull it out, to the point you'd have to saw off the leg."
The Crown Prince gave a self-mocking smile: "If it truly cannot be pulled out, just leave it stuck in my leg."
However, right at this time, Lin Chaoqing suddenly said: "Your Highness need not lose heart. Things might not necessarily lack a turning point. We will lend Your Highness a helping hand..."
The Crown Prince abruptly looked up: "You... hiss!"
In the instant the Crown Prince was distracted, Lin Chaoqing violently pulled out the arrow shaft from his leg. Afterwards, he cut off a hem of clothing and tied it tightly around the Crown Prince's leg to prevent excessive blood loss.
Paying no heed to the pain, the Crown Prince stared fixedly at Lin Chaoqing: "Are Commander Lin's words just now true?"
Lin Chaoqing's gaze was hidden beneath the shadows of his Bamboo Hat: "True."
...
The group of men and horses of the Feather Forest Army moved with the speed of wind and lightning. It seemed they truly had an extremely important matter. Sweat seeped through the fine hair of the warhorses they rode.
Within the ranks, Qi Zhenzhuo tilted his head and yelled into the wind: "Master, are we really not returning to the capital? His Majesty and the ministers are probably still waiting for us to return at Renshou Palace!"
Chen Ji said in a deep voice: "We are not returning. Let them wait."
"Okay!"
The Feather Forest Army hurried on their journey continuously from noon until evening.
It wasn't until they saw from afar a funeral procession transporting sixty-seven Coffins, advancing toward the Imperial Guards Public Cemetery ten miles north of Anding Gate.
At the front of the funeral procession, someone scattered spirit money to 'buy the road'.
Afterwards came men wearing mourning clothes of coarse hemp, holding aloft 'Mingjing' [soul banners] written with the deceased's official titles and names. Only then came the road-clearing gongs and the suona troupe, sequentially playing the tunes 'Crying to Imperial Heaven', 'General's Command', and 'Mountain Slope Sheep'.
Within the procession, relatives and friends held elegiac couplet scrolls. Eight people carried each Coffin, slowly advancing in mourning.
Chen Ji halted his horse and stood, silently watching the relatives and friends of the fallen Feather Forest Army officers and soldiers hold the funeral. The wind of the capital suburbs rolled up the white spirit money to fly into the sky, like drops of tears swaying with the wind.
Him telling Lin Chaoqing he had a very important matter was not a pretext, but truly a very important matter, far more important than a nation's heir apparent.
"Dismount." The Feather Forest Army all dismounted together. Leading them, Chen Ji cupped his hands, bowed his body, and made a deep bow to the end: "Our acquaintance was very short; how I regret it could not be long-lasting. May you all have an easy journey."
Behind him, the Feather Forest Army also followed suit, making a deep bow to the end. The instant their heads lowered, Qi Zhenzhuo, Duo Bao, and the others couldn't hold back from sobbing aloud.
Chen Ji straightened his body, then made another deep bow to the end.
The funeral procession halted, quietly waiting for the over one hundred Feather Forest Army officers and soldiers to see their comrades off. Zhou Chong's mother leaned against her own husband's embrace with red-rimmed eyes, sobbing uncontrollably.
It wasn't until after the Feather Forest Army's nine bows that Chen Ji raised his voice: "Mount your horses! Clear the road!"
With that, the Feather Forest Army all vaulted onto their horses again. The blood on their silver armors and white cloaks hadn't yet had time to be washed away, and the white Pheasant Tail Feathers atop their heads swayed with the wind.
Zhou Chong's father walked forward, reminding them: "Baron of Wuxiang County, you must not. The Feather Forest Army is the Emperor's personal honor guard. You cannot hold a funeral for them; you will be dismissed from office."
Chen Ji said earnestly: "Uncle, please rest assured. These days, there are eighty if not a hundred Memorials to the Throne impeaching this lowly one anyway. It will just be merits and demerits canceling each other out, that's all."
Zhou Chong's father looked hesitantly at Li Xuan: "Commander-in-Chief Li, how can this do?"
Li Xuan said gravely: "Uncle need not worry. At worst, I just won't be this Feather Forest Army Commander-in-Chief anymore, that's all. This morning, we killed some scoundrels; this is precisely the time when our Yang energy is brave and fierce. With us clearing the way, I presume no lonely souls or wild ghosts on the road to the Yellow Springs would dare to make things difficult for them; even the King of Hell would have to give some face. Set out!"
Chen Ji spurred his horse to join the funeral procession. Taking over the Mingjing written with the names of the deceased, he held it high aloft, slowly walking at the very front of the procession. Sixty-seven Mingjing fluttered in the wind.
They finally managed to arrive at the Public Cemetery before sunset. Graves had already been dug out early on here, and the domestic servants of each family lowered the Coffins for burial.
Chen Ji stood before the graves and gazed into the distance over the Public Cemetery, only seeing row upon row of tombstones stretching continuously, connecting mountains to the sky.
The setting sun was like blood, illuminating the bodies of the Feather Forest Army with a few points of added baleful aura.
(End of this chapter)