CH 50

Chapter 50 Reconciliation  

“If one day I commit a crime and run away, and the emperor orders you to chase me back, what will you do?”

“Zhongming, what’s wrong?” Bai Shiyan suddenly felt a chill, staring at him blankly: “You said you didn’t have any nightmare, what happened now? Is it related to Little Brother Qu? Don’t lie to me!”

“It’s just a dream, and I had it just once, it has nothing to do with him,” Liu Zhongming told the truth, and continued to ask: “Answer my question— If the Liu family is convicted and I run away alone, and the emperor orders you to arrest me, what will you do?” 

“Never, Zhongming,” Bai Shiyan persuaded him sternly, as if to wake him from a nightmare: “Don’t be this pessimistic, the Bai Liu family has been loyal to Dayu (referring to the country) for many years, it’ll never happen.” 

“What if?” Liu Zhongming did not listen to these comforting words, and went on: “Will you pretend to be defeated, choose to die by my hands, and at the same time protect me and the Bai family?” 

“Zhongming, don’t talk nonsense,” Bai Shiyan touched his forehead: “Did he talk nonsense to you again!? I’ll go find him!” 

Liu Zhongming smiled reluctantly. 

Although Shi Yan didn’t answer, he was afraid that if there was a day when Shi Yan was in a dilemma, he would really sacrifice himself. 

It’s just that he forgot to ask Qu Chenzhou about what happened to the Bai family after the Liu family. 

He patted Bai Shiyan on the shoulder: “He didn’t talk any nonsense. If you are worried, you can go and chat with him. I happen to have something to do, and I want to entrust him to you for a while.” 

In a fright, Bai Shiyan  looked at him suspiciously, and it took him a long time to ask, “What’s the matter?” 

“When I entertain Ning Wang and Huai Wang later, it would not be convenient to take him with me. You take him to a suitable place and wait while they are there. When you go in and out, don’t let anyone find you. I know you’re busy, but I don’t feel relieved to entrust it to someone else.” 

“Alright,” Bai Shiyan responded with a sigh, “I’ll deal with him.”

Liu Zhongming smiled bitterly, in fact he didn’t want to see Shi Yan’s guarded appearance, but Qu Chenzhou didn’t mind, saying that Shi Yan was a good person and he would take care of the rest.

“He and Huai Wang seem to be incompatible. Be careful of… Be careful, for he might lose control of his emotions.”

***

“Where’s the stuff?” The person behind the screen asked in a low voice.

Dan Lang was a little unhappy. It’s fine if he was neglected and wronged in the mansion, but after he came out, he was directly led here and no one paid any attention to his situation and only cared about asking for the item.

“I haven’t gotten it yet,” he didn’t dare to speak fiercely, so he could only explain patiently: “I can’t even get close to the study, let alone the bedroom. There are always people coming and going in the courtyard, so how can I get it? I will have to let Lord Changshi wait longer.”

The man behind the screen seemed to have a good idea of ​​his situation, so he just urged him as soon as possible, and then asked, “What about that man, how does the Shizi treat him?”

Dan Lang felt even more sullen when he mentioned this, no matter how he looked at it. It can be seen that the Shizi is more interested in that clown, but if he says it now, it would make it harder for him to keep his face.

“Shizi is busy going in and out every day.” He endured his anger and said against his will, “I haven’t seen how much he values ​​him. Except that he can live in the sarong, everything else is the same as me.”

The man was silent . After a long time, he asked, “Really?”

“Really!”

After receiving his decisive answer, the man was silent for a while, no longer entangled, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Only then did Dan Lang snort angrily, but he didn’t dare to make any noise, he could only turn out of the cubicle lightly. When he saw the guards waiting outside, his expression had completely eased back.

The guard was indifferent to his sweet smile, and only asked, “Have you bought the things yet?”

He saw that Qu Chenzhou often went out, although he didn’t even know how to paint his face, but he smelled of fragrance all day long. Naturally, he refused to be defeated, so he selected bright perfume. 

Fortunately, although the Shizi lost his initial enthusiasm for him and seldom came to him at night, he was willing to let him choose whatever he wanted in his own shop.

The place where he agreed to meet was naturally not under Liu Zhongming’s name, so he couldn’t buy anything. He forced a smile and bowed his head out the door.

When he crossed the threshold, it happened that someone was entering the door in a hurry. He knew his identity and did not dare to collide with him, so he hurriedly stepped back a few steps.

The man had already entered the door, and suddenly turned to look at him: “I was thinking who it was that was so familiar, so it’s Dan Lang!”

Dan Lang listened to this voice, unable to hide the surprise on his face. His eyes were slightly red, and he knelt on the ground. “Wang Ye.”

***

When Qu Chenzhou was going out, he met Dan Lang who was entering the door under the hanging lotus column. He stood there and asked with concern, “Gongzi cried?”

“No.” Dan Lang raised his sleeves and wiped his red cheeks: “It’s just sweat in my eyes because the weather is so hot. Where is Little Chenzhou going?”

“Going out for a walk,” Qu Chenzhou made way for him: “If the weather is hot, Gongzi should ask someone to fetch some ice. Take a block to the house and have a good rest.” 

The two greeted each other, and then walked away.

Qu Chenzhou went around to the side door, and a carriage was parked there. After he entered, he walked slowly.

This was the first time the two have been alone together since he revealed his identity.

Although Bai Shiyan repeatedly patted his chest and stated Liu Zhongming could send the person for him to watch, when he really was with the person in such a narrow space, thinking about this person’s strange origin, it was really chilling.

Especially when he found out that Qu Chenzhou was watching him quietly.

The officialdom and the battlefield have been in a mess these past years, and now, being stared at silently by this pair of unique pupils, Bai Shiyan felt a creepy feeling for the first time.

“Are you giving me a divination?” He didn’t like this passive situation, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, “What’s the result?”

Qu Chenzhou didn’t feel uncomfortable being asked this and after simply answering “no”, he asked, “General Bai, I heard from the Shizi that there was serious flooding in Jinnan Prefecture. Is that true?”

Bai Shiyan cursed in his heart, when did Zhongming’s mouth turn into a colander?

Before waiting for his answer, Qu Chenzhou continued to talk to himself slowly: “The emperor will definitely not let the Bai family send troops alone. If you want to suppress the bandits, you should be accompanied by people from Qi Wang.”

Bai Shiyan’s expression condensed. It is true that his younger brother did not lead the troops himself, but he did not even tell Liu Zhongming about this.

“What about Qi Wang’s people?”

He couldn’t help asking, but the other party suddenly turned his head: “Who is Jinan’s provincial governor?”

“It’s Ren Rui.” As soon as the words came out, he realized that he was thinking about his younger brother and was led into the other person’s rhythm of things unknowingly. Not only did he answer all his questions but he didn’t even need to explain who Ren Rui was.

Faced with such calmness, he subconsciously believed that the other party must know.

“Ren Rui,” Qu Chenzhou sneered: “The rogues in Jinnan being prevalent, I’m afraid he has a lot to do with it. But there are people behind him. If he manages to hide his crime this time, he will be transferred to the capital in the future, which will be a serious problem for the army.”

“With his history of mistakes, can he still be transferred to the Capital’s Army?”

Qu Chenzhou lowered his eyes and said nothing. If he continued speaking, he would be too involved.

This Ren Rui was not only transferred to the army, but because of his violent and bloodthirsty temperament, he was at the forefront of the palace abdication and made great contributions.

When Liu Zhongming was trapped in Yingshan City by the enemy on both sides, the emperor asked him for a divination – who can capture Yingshan? Who can take Liu Zhongming’s life?

He replied – Ren Rui can capture Yingshan.

For the second question, he only answered the emperor – if he could bring Liu Zhongming to him and let him take a look, he would know who could take Liu Zhongming’s life.

This was a dead end, and the emperor could do nothing.

After that, Yingshan city was captured. Ren Rui died on the way while continuing the pursuit, and Liu Zhongming was able to escape.

Maybe from that time, maybe earlier, the emperor became suspicious of him.

“Ren Rui is Huai Wang’s person. If it’s just a trivial matter, it’s not impossible to save him. General Bai just needs to know this and not make a sound.”

He looked at Bai Shiyan: “It’s just that General Bai is young and flamboyant, temperament upright. Going to Jinnan Prefecture, I’m afraid it is inevitable to look over the ins and outs and no matter what you find out, it will definitely have something to do with Ren Rui.”

Although Bai Shiyan grew up in the army since he was a child, even if he was not good at these intricate relationships within the court, he could hear that it was something bad: “You mean that the more clearly Shi Lei investigates, the more he will offend Huai Wang?” 

“Checking doesn’t matter, it should be done, otherwise, when it comes to dereliction of duty, General Bai will not be able to explain it. But it shouldn’t be the Bai family who should fight with Huai Wang.” Qu Chenzhou smiled: “Isn’t there someone who is with General Bai?” 

Bai Shiyan lost his smile. After getting on the carriage, he found out that this person’s tricks were sometimes very similar to Zhongming and he was a little bit disgusted by it. 

“Okay, I will send someone to quietly send a letter to Shilei today, asking him not to be greedy for credit and give this great credit to Qi Wang.” 

Qu Chenzhou raised his finger and touched his lips, making a “shush” gesture, then blinked. 

“Young age also has the advantage of being young. If others complain, the emperor will inevitably think more. If the outspoken General Bai speaks a few words of the person, this matter will be dug deeper.” 

Bai Shiyan didn’t want to laugh too much. He could only cover his eyes with his hands, and after a while, he replied, “I understand.” 

With this episode, the atmosphere in the carriage became less tense. 

Only then did Ba Shiyan realize what Liu Zhongming said before. Qu Chenzhou’s reminders were all right and he even thought for the sake of them.

He had a straight temper and was not so on guard after. He blurted out the words that had been stored in his stomach for a long time: “Do you have a grudge against Huai Wang? What kind of grudge is it?”

Qu Chenzhou put his hands in his sleeves and said helplessly: “How do I answer this question? It has a very unpleasant answer, so let me have some secrets of my own.”

“You really refused to my face.” Bai Shiyan couldn’t help laughing: “No wonder Zhongming said that he was always receiving tactful rejections. You are really frustrating him.”

“I don’t dare,” Qu Chenzhou replied humbly: “I dare not say everything to the Shizi, but I have tried my best. It’s just that the Shizi is always curious about my past, this makes me very uncomfortable.”

Unlike Liu Zhongming, Bai Shiyan was full of curiosity and doubt. Wanting to ask, he asked more directly: “Are you really someone who came back from the dead?”

“Seriously.”

“Then you…” He asked halfway, then seeing Qu Chenzhou’s refusal clearly written on his face, he didn’t bother to ask anymore: “Okay, I won’t ask.”

Qu Chenzhou glanced at him and turned his head slightly, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

It is understandable how much Bai Shiyan cares about Zhongming and how wary he was.

But he had been friends with the Bai brothers for several years in his last life, and these two brothers were both straightforward people, how could he not know how to handle them?