Chapter 447 – Half a Life

Xu Qi’an greeted him helplessly, and without waiting to approach, his aunt took the initiative to lean in and grabbed his arm, eagerly saying:

“How can Erlang go to war, he hasn’t even killed a chicken. He’s just a scholar with no hands, the emperor let him go to war, this, this is not killing him.”

Said, wailing and crying.

Xu Ling Yue was also in the hall at this time, standing to the side, her clear and elegant face, making a gesture of frowning willow eyebrows, worrying about Er Lang’s well-being.

“Mother, I’m a seventh-ranked benevolent person. Father is only seventh grade as well.” Xu Ruilu was old and unconvinced.

“What’s the use? Your father told me a long time ago that a scholar of the seventh rank is just as unarmed, and a martial artist of the ninth rank can’t even beat him.” The aunt gasped.

Xu Erlang was speechless.

Xu Qi’an patted the back of his aunt’s hand as a sign of comfort, and then said, “It’s not like there’s no way to solve the problem, the big deal is resigning.”

“Resignation!” The aunt wiped her tears.

The war was a catastrophe of the sky falling in the eyes of a womanizer like her aunt, and as a mother, she would rather her son give up his future than go to war.

“No way!”

Xu New Year interrupted forcefully, as a scholar of the academy, how could he retreat because he was afraid of going to war.

The aunt sat on a chair and said with tears in her eyes, “You came out of my belly, how much do I know about you? If you have half the ability of your big brother, I don’t care about you. But you are a useless scholar, you are good at making articles, take a knife and fight with others, where did you get this ability?

“You’re the only heir in the second house, if something happens to you, I, I won’t live ………”

Xu Ling Yue comforted her mother with a sad face.

“Mother, I cultivate the art of war, and the battlefield was originally my home ground, the place where I practiced. And now it’s so hard to have this opportunity.” His tone turned soft in defense.

“Are you stupid?”

The aunt screamed, “That dog emperor wants you dead, he has a grudge against Ning Yan, he can’t wait for our whole family to die. You’re still stupid enough to send yourself up?”

She was in tears, and in her excitement, she was rarely a little grim-faced.

Xu Qi An, who saw this scene, suddenly froze, the aunt was actually very clear in her heart about the situation of the Xu House, knowing that her nephew had offended the emperor, and that the whole family was being watched, in a crisis of precariousness.

But she has never expressed her concern in this regard, let alone complained about her “meddling” nephew, not because she is stupid, but because she treats her nephew as a family member, as a son.

Some people don’t take you seriously with their mouths, but they actually love you in their hearts.

Xu Qi’an silently exited the inner hall, had his subordinates bring in the small mare, and galloped towards the night watchman’s court.

…………

Haoqi Building, seventh floor.

In the tea room, Xu Qi’an frowned and said, “Duke Wei, Emperor Yuan Jing’s son of a bitch really didn’t give up persecuting me, he saw that my reputation was skyrocketing, and that I had Dean Zhao Shou, you, and the Supervisor backing me up, so he was unwilling to move me for the time being, and then he put his mind on resigning the old.”

Why didn’t Xu Qi’an leave the capital, but instead dared to privately investigate Emperor Yuan Jing? It was because there were these three bigwigs behind him.

Plus, he had kept a fairly low profile and didn’t make a fool of himself in front of Emperor Yuan Jing.

But he knew that sooner or later, Emperor Yuan Jing would settle the score with him, this emperor was good at power tactics, and he had plenty of patience to wait, like this time.

Xu Qi’an himself is not afraid of Emperor Yuan Jing, but for his second uncle and Er Lang, he is quite worried in his heart, Emperor Yuan Jing wants to “frame” them, it is too simple.

Wei Yuan laughed, “What do you have in mind.”

Xu Qi’an tried, “Can Lord Wei block back?”

Wei Yuan shook his head, “His Majesty’s handpicked, it’s not good to refuse.”

Xu Qi’an sighed heavily, ”I originally wanted to join the army with Erlang and protect him secretly, but felt that my family would be in real danger if I left the capital as well, so I had to come and beg Duke Wei.

“Duke Wei is the commander in chief of this expedition, so help me take care of Erlang.”

Supervisor Zheng and Zhao Shou would protect him, but would the two bigwigs act as bodyguards for him and protect his family?

Xu Qi’an didn’t have this confidence, only here in Wei Yuan, he had confidence.

Supervisor Zheng and Zhao Shou treated him as a pawn, so they only recognized him and not his family. Wei Yuan treated him as a beloved and important person, so Wei Yuan would take his family into consideration.

Wei Yuan sipped his tea and laughed, “I will arrange for Xu New Year to go to the north, Jiang Ruzhong and Yang Yan have the best relationship with you. Also, Chu Yuanzhan will go to the north.”

Xu Qi’an was violently surprised, “So you’ve already made all the arrangements? You let Chu Yuanzhuan enlist in the army just to protect Erlang?”

Dad!

Wei Yuan snorted: ”That’s just incidental, Chu Yuanjian’s talent is unrivaled, it’s too bad to be a jianghu disperser. He is still a scholar with a heart for the world, he is only dissatisfied with His Majesty’s cultivation before he resigned from his post and went into seclusion.

“As long as there’s still a heart, you won’t turn me down, and it’s a good idea to use such a good talent.”

Chu Yuanzhen is also an old tool man …….. Xu Qi An Xin said.

Wei Yuan whirled around and asked, “Is there anything else you want to say to me?”

He seemed to be looking forward to it somewhat.

Xu Qi’an hemmed and hawed twice, rose, and saluted respectfully, “I wish Lord Wei a triumphant victory.”

Wei Yuan smiled noncommittally, seemingly a little disappointed.

“Xu Qi’an!”

But as he excused himself and left, Wei Yuan’s voice suddenly came from behind him, “The world of the nine states is more complicated than you think. Go on, walk your path.”

Xu Qi’an waited for a moment, not waiting for Wei Yuan’s explanation, and glanced back at him, “Good!”

Leaving the Haoqi Building, Xu Qi’an pulled out a fragment of the Earth Book and sent a private chat request to Chu Yuanjian.

[3: Brother Chu, word just came from the Ministry of War that I, like you, will have to accompany the army on the expedition.]

[4: Wei Yuan is looking for you too? Then is your cousin going too?]

Chu Yuanjian was shocked and worried about Hengyuan. Without Xu Qi’an in the capital, can Hengyuan be successfully rescued by the three “1,2,5” people alone?

[3: Unlike you, I was handpicked by Emperor Yuan Jing.]

Xu Qi’an didn’t curse Emperor Yuan Jing’s viciousness, because Chu Yuanjian could surely understand, he was such a smart person.

[IV: No harm done, I’ll take care of you.]

Waiting for these words from you! Xu Qi’an immediately sent a message, [I’ll give the Earth Book Fragment to Big Brother for now, well, that’s it, I still have things to take care of].

Without giving Chu Yuanzhan a chance to ask, he quickly ended the private chat.

Alas, to be honest ah, less bragging on the Internet, accidentally be racked down ………. Xu Qi’an lamented from the bottom of his heart.

………..

On the other hand, the Xu Mansion.

Xu Pingzhi immediately rushed back home after receiving the news from the house, and now, with a dark face, sat in his chair without saying a word.

“Master you talk about this sinful son, and hasten to make him resign.” The aunt cried.

“His Majesty is using a yang strategy.” Xu Pingzhi sighed.

Either get the hell out of the Hanlin Academy or go to war; the former’s future is ruined, the latter’s nine lives.

Xu Pingzhi had experienced the Battle of Shanhaiguan and knew that he had come back alive in the first place purely by luck. The war in the north was definitely not as vicious and intense as the Battle of Shanhaiguan.

But Xu Erlang wasn’t a martial artist either, and lacked the means to save his life on the battlefield.

Xu New Year sat on the sidelines, silent and not speaking, he had already been beaten by his elder brother, there was no need to be beaten by his father again.

The family is sad.

Auntie huffed and puffed continuously, and Xu Lingyue softly comforted her.

“I see that big brother just went out, he must have thought of a method, mother, don’t be anxious, wait for big brother to come back.” Xu Ling Yue softly said.

“And we’ll just have to wait to hear from Oro.”

Auntie wiped her tearstains and looked out of the hall frequently, saying in a troubled voice, “But what can Da Lang do? He is no longer an official and has offended the Emperor.”

Xu Pingzhi’s face was grim and he didn’t speak.

At that moment, they heard Xu Lingyin’s clear and tender voice from outside: “Cauldron~”

The family turned their heads in a frenzy and looked out of the hall, and they saw Xu Qi’an return in large strides, kicking away the sister who had greeted them.

Xu Lingyin smoothly flew into Lina’s arms on the side, and she laughed happily and delicately, indicating that the feeling of riding on clouds was fun.

Xu Qi’an used dexterity, and in the past, the siblings had always played this way.

“Oro!”

“Big brother!”

The family of four in the hall rose at the same time and looked at Xu Qi’an.

Auntie said eagerly, “Da Lang, have you thought of a way to keep Er Lang from going to war?”

Xu Qi’an shook his head slightly, “How can one refuse His Majesty’s orders.”

Seeing his aunt’s beautiful face unable to hide her disappointment, and seeing Uncle Xu’s face instantly dim, he said without hesitation:

“However, Duke Wei promised that I would look after Erlang. Moreover, Chu Yuanzhuan, a registered disciple of the Human Sect, will also accompany the army, and he has an excellent relationship with me, and with Erlang, promising that I will protect Erlang well.”

“Master?”

The aunt cast a questioning glance toward her husband.

Second Uncle Xu revealed a smile, ”With Duke Wei looking after him, Erlang is safe and secure. Moreover, Chu Yuanzhen is comparable to a fourth grade expert and can fly with a sword. Even if he encounters danger, he can still protect Erlang well.”

When the aunt heard that even her husband had said so, she was quite relieved.

Huffing, she said, “Thanks to Oro.”

…………

Whenever there is a war, in addition to the necessary matters such as mobilizing troops, requisitioning provisions, etc., the corresponding ceremonies are also indispensable.

The court would let the Heavenly Commissioner choose an auspicious day, and then offer sacrifices to Heaven, Earth and ancestors, which were the three sacrifices.

The three sacrifices were held on different auspicious days by the emperor with civil and military officials.

Soldiers and generals who are going to accompany the army will also pay homage to their ancestors on this day.

It is essential to pay homage to your ancestors when your children and grandchildren go to war.

The Xu family’s ancestral tomb was located in a feng shui site outside of the capital, and a magician from the Heavenly Superintendent had been hired to help with the feng shui. Of course, all large families in the capital would basically hire a magician to read the feng shui.

Everyone’s Ancestral Grave is Feng Shui ………

The two brothers, Xu Xinnian and Xu Qi’an, were now the golden phoenixes of the Xu Clan, the core figures.

It was such a big deal that Erlang Xu of the Hanlin Academy was going to go on a journey, almost the entire clan came, including two gray-haired clan elders.

A clan elder is still hard-bodied, thin and tall, just that his gray hair is a bit sparse.

The other was no longer quite lucid, his eyes a little dull, but his gray hair was very lush.

After presiding over the ancestor worship ceremony, the gray-haired clan elder lamented:

“Back then, no one actually believed in the words of the Sutenkai Warlock, the capital is so big, where there are so many feng shui treasures. But it is just for good luck. Now it seems that this is indeed a piece of feng shui land. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have produced two human dragons and phoenixes one after another.”

The surrounding clansmen laughed.

At that moment, the old and dim-witted one, the clan elder, trembling, searched through the crowd, muttering, “Where is Da Lang, where is Da Lang? Where is our Xu Clan’s Wencui Star?”

Xu Pingzhi pulled Xu Erlang to lean over and laughed, “Old Uncle, the literary star of our Xu family is Erlang, and the martial star is only Dalang.”

The clan elder’s cloudy eyes stared at Erlang for a long time and kept shaking his head, “No, it’s not you, you’re not Da Lang.”

“Of course he’s not Da Lang, it’s been said that he’s Er Lang, our Xu family’s Wen Qu Xing.” On the side, the clan members loudly explained.

The clan elder ignored it and searched the crowd on his own, “Oro, where is Oro?”

Xu Qi’an had to walk over and smile, “Grandpa, I’m Da Lang.”

The clan elder narrowed his eyes and scrutinized him carefully, also revealing a smile, “It’s Da Lang, it’s Da Lang, the Wencui star of our Xu family.”

This clan elder’s son, awkwardly explaining from the sidelines, “He used to always talk to father about Da Lang’s deeds, and he heard so much that he only remembers Da Lang.”

………..

The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Garden.

Wei Yuan sat in the gazebo, twirling the black pieces around his fingertips as he accompanied Emperor Yuan Jing to play chess.

After killing the old emperor for a few plates, Wei Yuan faintly said, “I heard that the Empress came in physically ill?”

Emperor Yuan Jing glanced at him and said with an expressionless face, “It’s the beginning of the fall, maybe I caught a cold. I was busy with political affairs and momentarily left the Empress out in the cold, Wei Qing went to visit the Empress for me.”

Wei Yuan got up and retired with a bow.

He had walked the road of Fengqi Palace countless times, but this time he walked extraordinarily slowly, obviously there were people he cared most about at the end of the road, but he was afraid of walking too fast, afraid of not paying attention, and then he finished the road.

In Fengqi Palace, the magnificent Empress stood in the hall, gathering her sleeves with one hand and burning incense with the other.

“What brings you here?”

She was quite surprised to see Wei Yuan enter the hall.

“I’m about to leave for the army, so I came over to see you.” Wei Yuan smiled gently.

The Empress guided him to a seat and ordered the palace maid to serve tea and pastries, the two of them sat in the room and time passed quietly, there were not many words between them, but there was an indescribable harmony.

After a tea, Wei Yuan lamented, “The palace has been stocked with the pastries you made?”

The Empress pursed her lips and smiled gently, “I don’t know when you will come, but I know that you like to eat the pastries I make the most. So every afternoon, I personally cook some.”

Wei Yuan nodded, “Have a heart.”

The Empress glanced at her plate, the pastries had only been eaten twice, she said softly:

“In the past, Ah Ming always snatched the pastries I made from you, and you never refused to let him. In the Shangguan family, you are more like the first son than him, the first son, because you are my father’s most valued student and the son of the man who saved his life ……..”

“No more!”

Wei Yuan calmly interrupted and said in a low voice, “My grudge with the Shangguan family was cleared after Shangguan Ming’s death. Coming over, just want to talk to you ………”

He looked at the Empress’ absolutely beautiful face, stunning as it was back then, and said, “I’ve guarded you for half a lifetime, and now, I’m going to do what I want to do.”

After Wei Yuan finished speaking, he got up and bowed, walking towards the outside of the hall.

“You’ve guarded me for half my life and you never knew what I wanted.”

Behind him, came the Queen’s shout.

Wei Yuan’s footsteps paused slightly and he left resolutely.

A wind from nowhere blew through the palace walls, lifting the green robe and blowing his graying temples.

Outside the Fengqi Palace was a long road with tall red walls erected on both sides, and he walked forward in silence, finally finishing the road and half of his life.

This year, the cape is at the end of the world. The sideburns of Xiao Xiao are growing.

…………

Lin An, who was wearing a red dress that looked like fire, took two personal palace maids, as well as the guards of Shaoyin Palace, and walked towards Wen Yuan Pavilion.

“Huh, why did Wei Yuan come into the palace.”

Lin An muttered curiously as he saw a green dress coming out from the direction of the harem from afar.

She had always disliked Wei Yuan because Da Qing Yi was a hardcore supporter of the Fourth Prince, who was the greatest threat to the Crown Prince.

It wasn’t until she met Xu Qi’an that she developed so much of a crush on Wei Yuan, purely out of love.

Seeing Wei Yuan’s figure leave, Lin An didn’t delay himself and continued traveling to Wen Yuan Pavilion.

Wen Yuan Ge, a total of seven attics, is the royal family’s library, in which there is a rich collection of books, a sea of books, all-encompassing.

Lin An accurately entered the third attic, summoned the official in charge of managing the Wen Yuan Pavilion, and said, “This palace wants to read books related to the capital’s dragon veins, go and find them.”

As a princess, she doesn’t have to search for books herself, she has her own “local” librarian to help her.

After obtaining the book that recorded the dragon vein, Lin An diverted to the sixth attic, similarly summoning the administrator and instructing, “This palace wants to consult the information on the first generation of Ping Yuan Bo.”

The administrator quickly sought out the appropriate volumes for the first generation of Ping Yuan Bo.

This time Lin An did not borrow the books and unfolded them to have a look, the first generation of Ping Yuan Bo was a character from one hundred and seventy years ago, originally a northern general, who was later knighted due to his repeated successes in battle.

“The Ping Yuan Bo residence is an imperial gift ……..” Lin An muttered in his heart.

…………

Late Night.

Inner city, a certain area near the Imperial City.

The Pingyuan Burial Mansion is quiet, the door of the mansion is labeled with a seal, since the Pingyuan Burial Mansion was exterminated by Heng Hui, this mansion has been taken back by the court.

In fact, at that time, Ping Yuan Bo had two commoner sons who were out having a good time and were not in the residence, so they escaped. Just the concubine son has no right to inherit the title, naturally also has no right to inherit this imperial residence.

A black shadow calmly avoided the watchman on the roof lookout, avoided the imperial sword guards on patrol, and took advantage of the watchman ending his lookout to quickly sneak over the wall into the Ping Yuan Bo residence.

The dark figure wore tight night clothes that were easy to move in, outlining the voluptuous curves of her front and back.

Men can’t have such flashy pecs or such slim waists, so it’s a female flyer without a doubt.

The Pingyuan Burial Mansion was dead silent.

The dark shadow looked around for a moment and sprinted against the wall, and in the process, she fished out a hand-drawn map of the dragon’s vein from her bosom, as well as an eight trigrams feng shui disk from the Sithian Supervisor.

Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze was like a knife, and then in the dim moonlight, she observed the dragon vein walkway while scrutinizing the feng shui disk in her hand.

A little bit of cross-referencing, analyzing, and finally, she arrived at her destination – the backyard garden.

Pingyuan Burial House of the backyard garden pattern is unique, erected a sizeable rockery, because no one take care of the reason, overgrown weeds, look very desolate.

The dark figure took a gentle leap and stepped on a piece of wigwam, which she overlooked for nearly a quarter of an hour, and drifted soundlessly to the ground, groping for a while near the few pieces of wigwam she had locked onto.

By the time we reached the last target, we finally got something, this ten-foot-high wigwam was hollow, and a gentle tap made a hollow echo.

She walked around the wigwam, looking for clues, and suddenly, reached out and pressed her hand somewhere.

With a clicking sound, the side of the wigwam automatically slid open, revealing a dark, slanting downward hole.

………..

PS: Yesterday, I fell asleep while writing, woke up and continued to code, thinking that anyway, it’s so late, there’s no rush, so I wrote a little more, this chapter of more than 5,000 words.

I’m getting older, I used to stay up late and code without having to doze off.