Chapter 285 - Speak One Way and Think Another
Chapter 285: Speak One Way and Think Another
Master Yuanjing stared at the swimming fish in the pond in their yard and said to Han Yu with a mild expression, “As long as you are back.”
Han Yu was not injured, but he was a bit down. “It’s all my fault that I got you involved in this mess. It nearly ruined your whole life’s reputation.”
Master Yuajing couldn’t stop laughing as he watched Han Yu bend his body to the ground. “Get up. I have never seen you this well-behaved.”
Anxiety was eating Han Yu up. He had no idea what his Master exchanged for him to get him back from the barbarians in the Northern Borderline.
It wouldn’t look good if someone intentionally made up a rumor that Master Yuanjing secretly snuck information to the Northern Borderline.
“Don’t worry. The letter I wrote won’t be used against me in the future. Why are you acting up so much?”
Han Ye felt a sense of relief after he heard that from his Master.
Master Yuanjing waved at him and said, “Come closer to me.”
Han Yu followed his instruction and approached him. Master Yuanjing used his right hand to pinch Han Yu’s cheek, which hurt his face.
After a while, Master Yuanjing gave him a complicated face, which could be taken as either happy or concerned. Han Yu was confused.
“Okay, you can go. Make sure to ask Zixiao to come to see me.” Master Yuanjing stopped pinching him and turned around to feed the fish in the pond without giving Han Yu a second look.
Han Ye had never see his master act in such a way. Even though he felt uneasy about it, he still went to notify Wei Ci that Master Yuanjing wanted to see him.
“There is indeed something different,” Wei Ci said to him the moment they met.
“What’s different?” Han Ye was uncomfortable with Wei Ci staring at him.
“Nothing…” Wei Ci schooled his face and said, “Since master summoned me, I’d better not keep him waiting.”
Wei Ci left Han Yu, who was still in a daze where he was standing. He couldn’t help but sigh, but he truly felt better.
Han Yu was still pondering. What happened to them that they all acting so strange?
“There is nothing too odd in this world. The same person’s face could change a lot in just a few days. It feels like my whole life is just a joke.” Master Yuanjing sensed Wei Ci coming near and said to him, “Zixiao, do you think this incident is a blessing or a disaster?”
Wei Ci responded, “It is definitely a disaster for Dongqing instead of blessing. But it is the other way round for Han Yu.”
Wei Ci found the death of the royal highness of Zhen Bei Marquis unexpected. He could imagine how serious the situation in the Dongqing Dynasty was going to be in the next couple of years after it was triggered. The chaotic world was coming a bit earlier than what he had expected.
Blessings always came with disasters. Dongqing Dynasty would be doomed, but Han Ye was in a good spot.
Wei Ci had left the Dongqing Dynasty early in his last life, but he kept contact with his classmates, which kept him in the loop.
Han Yu was born with the fate that his whole family would be eliminated. Judging from his face, he was not a guy with a good amount of blessings. He was a potential threat to his internal family. He was destined to be doomed by a woman and he would die young.
The fact was just like what his face was saying. When Han Yu was at his mid age, his wife’s family started a rebellion, but they were suppressed. He wrote a confession when it was exposed and he committed suicide by swallowing a chunk of gold.
Wei Ci had some achievement at reading a person’s face since he had become Master Yuanjing’s apprentice. Naturally he sensed the differences on Han Yu’s face.
Master Yuanjing grinned and said, “So it is true that Liu Xi is the one.”
Wei Ci muttered confidently, “She is.”
Master Yuanjing was delighted, but he had a complicated look on his face. “She is just like a fine jade that hasn’t been polished. Even though she has the Liu County Chief there guiding her to the right path, the effect doesn’t seem remarkable. She is still rather malicious and brutal. She won’t become a bright emperor who leaves her name in history if she doesn’t make a change.”
Wei Ci kept quiet, but he wanted to tell Master Yuanjing that she hadn’t been behaving as well as what he had seen.
She was not a bright emperor who would leave her name in history, and she never would be.
The historians gave her both positive and negative comments. Someone said that she was open-minded, but the rest smeared dirt on her and said she was a vicious emperor. It was debatable for those who said she was open-minded, but it was certainly true that she was never gentle.
Master Yuanjing leaned his head towards Wei Ci after what he had said and he was in deep thought. It was a bit inappropriate for a forty-year-old man and it would make people believe that he was playing cute. But it didn’t seem weird on a guy who had a young heart and plenty of energy.
Wei Ci spoke to him in a gentle voice, “She is a piece of fine jade instead of a hard rock. No matter how hard you work on a rock, it will still just be a rock. It doesn’t work the same way with fine jade, though.”
He had no idea what had changed, but he had noticed the changes with Jiang Pengji.
Master Yuanjing gave him an amiable smile and he knocked Wei Ci on the head. “You speak one way and think another.”
Wei Ci lowered his head and couldn’t help but blush.
The news that Han Yu was out of danger quietly spread to the whole city, and every single person who was following up on the news received the message.
“I wonder what Master Yuanjing wrote in that letter that made the Northern Borderline surrender.”
The injured Feng Jin had several pleasant days. He was a bit depressed about missing the evaluation, but he made some adjustments to his own mood.
When everyone was busy writing and reading books all night, he sipped on his fine drinks and played chess with Jiang Pengji.
Jiang Pengji twitched her lips and said, “Those people from the Northern Borderline have no brain in their heads. It must have been something important enough to make them back off. Master Yuanjing basically slapped their faces hard but they couldn’t complain.”
Jiang Pengji basically never made a wrong judgment.
Feng Jin was curious and asked, “Then you take a guess about what he wrote.”
“My guess? There are three possibilities. First, it was a scheme for conquering their cities and killing their troops and it was going to cut right at their Achilles heel. But no matter how brilliant the idea is, it has to have enough force to put it into operation. But Master Yuanjing could give them the idea of the scheme as a threat. He was just passing a message to them that said, ‘I could slaughter you all with one idea. If Dongqing was not accountable, I could go for some other countries who were against you with this scheme.'”
Feng Jin found Jiang Pengji’s impersonation of Master Yuanjing amusing. She mimicked him so accurately and he laughed so much that he almost forgot to breathe.
Jiang Pengji continued, “The second possibility is that it might be some confidential secret of the royal family of the Northern Borderline.”
Feng Jing tried so hard to keep back his smile. He asked, “And the third one?”
He was well aware that Jiang Pengji was just talking nonsense, but she was saying it with a serious face, which made it funny.
“Well, about the third one… I have read a piece of history that says the three minorities in the Northern Borderline are the descendants of Qiangwu people in the former country and they were well known for their bravery and excellent combat skills. They were a bunch of valiant and ferocious people and they robbed, killed, and raped women during the Period of Sixteen Kingdoms. They ate women as food and caged the young girls for breeding and their population increased from less than 200,000 to more than 300,000,000.”
Feng Jing paid extra attention to that. He had learned about that piece of history, but it seemed to be relevant to their topic.
Jiang Pengji took a sip of her tea to moisturize her lips and kept going, “The Qiangwu people had a large quantity of extraordinary, elite cavalry with rattan armor. Their rattan armor was made with a special process by the Qiangwu people themselves. It were more convenient than the regular armor and it was hard to break with any kind of weapon. This force with their rattan armor was a pain to deal with and it became the sharp weapon for the Qiangwu people to dominate the north. They even attempted to take the advantage of their rattan armor force to start a war with the mainland and rule the world. And during that time, they killed everything in their vision and no one was able to stop them.”
Feng Jing thought it through and said, “I have heard about the rattan armor force before but I learned that the 500,000 rattan armor soldiers were all buried in Qichuan Plain.” He might have been exaggerating it for the numbers, but it was for sure a big number.
It was the history of the end of The Period of Sixteen Kingdoms. 500,000 of the rattan armor soldiers went through half of the mainland, but they were burned to ashes. There were no survivors after a big fire was set by the first prime minister of Xi Dynasty.
Jiang Pengji flashed a smile at him. “If I was Master Yuanjing, I would only use one sentence in the letter: “Do you guys still remember the big fire on Qichuan Plain that buried your hope of mastering the mainland?”
Feng Jin froze after he heard this. Finally, he said, “Is it possible that the three minorities in the Northern Borderline rebuilt their rattan armor troop?”
Remembering the frightening scenes that were recorded by the historians made Feng Jin freak out a little.
The Northern Borderline was not some fancy place, but they had a great number of excellent quality horses and it wouldn’t be hard for them to reform a special troop.
Dongqing Dynasty was mostly flat. If the rattan armor troop broke through the borderline and came into the middle of Dongqing Dynasty’s territory, they would be formidable.
Jiang Pengji shook her head and tried to recall the soldiers from the Northern Borderline that she had seen. She found something different about their armor, but she couldn’t find anything wrong with it. After that, she went through the book collection that Cheng Cheng had and she read that part of their history.
Jiang Pengji said, “The weakness of the rattan armor is too obvious, which basically ruined the Qiangwu People. And I don’t believe that the three minorities of the Northern Borderline would be that stupid.”
As a matter of fact, according to Jiang Pengji’s observations, the new rattan armor that the Northern Borderline had invented seemed to be fireproof.
“If Master Yuanjing did that, he was just giving them a fair warning. It was like he was saying that they were still too young to play an IQ game with him.”
Feng Jin spilled his tea all over. He really didn’t mean that.