Free Web NovelChapter 186: Chapter 137: Chase and Escape (2)
Chu Susu had made her intentions perfectly clear.
Zheng Xiu understood.
Chu Susu couldn’t understand why Zheng Xiu was so insistent on heading north.
The north was Ye Weiyang’s main stronghold. Continuing north was tantamount to making an enemy of the entire organization. freeweɓnøvel.com
Her suggestion was to abandon the northward journey, turn west, and head for the Great Desert instead.
Chu Susu felt she had shown more than enough sincerity.
She had even revealed the location of the Incompleteness Tower without her master’s permission.
"I hope Brother Zheng will consider my proposal. If Mystic Feng Bei falls into Ye Weiyang’s hands, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Zheng Xiu asked, "Do you truly not know why Ye Weiyang is after Feng Bei?"
Hearing this, Chu Susu fell silent for a moment before saying, "I only know that Mystic Feng Bei is inextricably linked to Ye Weiyang’s lifelong ambition."
"What ambition?"
Chu Susu shook her head forcefully and gave a bitter smile. "Does Brother Zheng think I’m holding something back? How could a minor figure like me possibly be privy to such a monumental secret?"
"Heh, you’re not so minor." Zheng Xiu said, looking at Chu Susu meaningfully. At his words, he saw her first freeze, then blush and spit softly on the ground. Realizing his words had been ambiguous, he added, "What I meant was, as one of the Ten Greats of the Incompleteness Tower, even you don’t know the inside story. I’m quite curious what reason you all have to be enemies with Ye Weiyang."
Chu Susu lowered her head, her gaze downcast, trying to hide the deep-seated hatred in her eyes. She let out a soft, mirthless laugh. "Brother Zheng, you don’t want to know what Ye Weiyang did to us back then. Even if you beat me to death, I would be unwilling to recall those years that felt like living in Hell."
"It’s getting late. Let’s get back on the road."
Their rest was about over. Zheng Xiu shook the Playful Monk, Ruchen, awake.
The monk groggily rubbed his eyes. "Is it morning already?"
"Time to go."
"Alright, this Little Monk understands."
Ruchen quickly got up and packed his things.
After extinguishing and burying the campfire, the three of them mounted their horses again and continued along the mountain path under the cover of night.
They reached a fork in the road.
Chu Susu stopped her horse and asked pointedly, "Brother Zheng, should we continue north, or... take another path?"
Ruchen watched the two of them curiously, an eyebrow twitching.
Though he didn’t understand the affairs of men and women, Ruchen had a vague feeling that there was... a story between this Mighty Man and the beautiful woman.
’When did that happen?’ freewebnovel.cσ๓
Ruchen scratched his bald head, puzzled. He couldn’t figure it out for the life of him.
Zheng Xiu took a deep breath, then laughed heartily. "We continue north."
Hearing this, Chu Susu nodded lightly.
But she couldn’t hide the disappointment in her expression.
...
「The first day of the second month.」
「Imperial City.」
Even though a chill still lingered in the February air of the Imperial City, the sky above was clear. On the bare tree branches, buds were faintly swelling, as if spring was hiding just beneath the depths of winter, filling people with anticipation for its arrival.
It was spring, after all—the season when all living things get frisky.
「For the past ten days.」
Many citizens had been remarking on something strange.
Ravens circling over the Imperial City were a unique feature of the Daqian Capital City.
However, starting about ten days ago, the number of Ravens within the Imperial City had inexplicably dropped by ninety percent, leaving the populace clicking their tongues in puzzlement.
In the streets and alleys, rumors spread by word of mouth.
"You all don’t know! The third day of the third month is the Wei Royal Family’s ancestral worship ceremony. Heaven couldn’t stand the sight of those black crows in the city and drove them away!"
"No way! It must be that the Great Emperor’s Destiny is so prosperous that the crows no longer dare to touch Daqian. They were all scared away!"
The common people only thought the Ravens nested and lived in the city; they had no idea of "Ye Weiyang’s" existence.
Although speculation was rampant among the people about the "crow migration," most were more concerned with food, clothing, and shelter. Whether the crows came or went was just something to talk about. It couldn’t fill their stomachs or turn into silver. After ten days, the talk of the "crow migration" was replaced by other, more interesting rumors, becoming the new topic of idle chatter.
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Ever since the Great Scholar Ximen Bei received the Zheng Family’s patronage, his creativity had been flowing, his inspiration erupting. He was as prolific as a mother pig, writing day and night, and had already churned out several popular books in a row.
He had even accumulated a following of socialites, noble ladies, princesses, and officials’ wives. Every day, someone would send him gold, silver, and jewels, using excuses like "Sir, your masterful and elegant brushwork is so magnificent it deserves this reward," while also hinting that Ximen Bei should write faster.
’It’s so hard!’
In an elegant little pavilion in the eastern part of the city, a middle-aged scholar with thinning hair, a handlebar mustache, and a navy-blue fur-collared robe sat in his courtyard. He had warmed a pot of wine and now held his brush in hand, lost in thought, having not yet written a single stroke.
The aroma of wine filled the courtyard as the middle-aged scholar sat motionless.
This was the very Mister Ximen Bei, now famous throughout the north, whom some privately called the "Ximen Literary Saint."
Ximen Bei had recently heard a rumor.
It concerned a tragic and beautiful story about the Zheng Family’s Richest Person, Zheng Xiu, the Marquis Zheng, and his chance encounter with a woman from Jiangnan named Xia Yuhe ten years ago.
’A fine, misty rain... an elegant pavilion by a mirror-like lake.’
’A girl in the bloom of youth... a green lotus paper umbrella.’
’So poetic, so picturesque! Everything conveyed without a word!’
Ximen Bei closed his eyes, shaking his head from side to side, imagining the moment the two protagonists met—the loving glances they exchanged, her soft gasps, his racing heart.
Scene after scene formed vividly in Ximen Bei’s mind.
They were stories worthy of song and tears, filled with endless regret.
He was a Scholar, and he wrote stories.
Just as Ximen Bei was about to put brush to paper and start drafting his manuscript, a knock came from the door.
Ximen Bei froze. He had clearly hung a sign on his door: "No Visitors Today."
As the saying goes, fame brings trouble. He hadn’t felt it before he was famous, but now that he was, he could finally appreciate the frustrations that came with it, a feeling he both loved and hated.
