Chapter 51: The ups and downs of life

“The original beautiful flowers and reds bloom all over, like this are paid with broken wells and decrepit walls ……”

The Peony Pavilion is being performed, is a well-known Kunqiang class in the capital, the field of male Dan singing sweet and crisp mellow, body curvaceous and graceful, is a rosy spring Duliniang. He flicked a flower in his hand and glanced at the gazebo with charming eyes.

The weather is a little hot, the back garden pavilion hanging three sides of the lake silk curtains as thin as smoke, the center of an extremely wide Luohan couch. King Yu wore a large lapel collar black satin ground silver dragon dark pattern straightjacket, rib belt half-unraveled, did not wear a crown and hat, only a silver hairpin with a beast head fixed bun, lazily leaning on the soft pillows to listen to the opera.

Pavilion maids playing fan fan, pinch the legs of the pinch legs, pouring wine pouring crane goblet aged wine in the glazed cup, feed ice surging grapes carefully peeled and seeded, all the stars, will be served as if he is a monastic loose immortal.

This kind of playboy style, if the speech officials see, eighty percent again to impeach him for extravagance.

King Yu held an ebony folding fan, with the silk and bamboo melody, lightly beat the beat on his legs, his eyes slightly closed, his eyes bet on the waist of the male dancer who sang the kun opera, and as if penetrating through the layer of angry colorful fresh clothes, casting a piece of disorientation in the middle of the illusory.

Male Dan sang a soap robe, he used the folding fan a pat on the thigh, called “good”. The male Dan was in the posture of a young girl in the girl’s chamber, Ying Ying gave him a Wan Fu: “Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward.”

King Yu beckoned the other to come forward and asked in a casual tone, “What’s your name and how old are you?”

The boy boy replied crisply, “My name is Xiyan, and I am seventeen this year.”

His Beijing dialect was mixed with some Wu Nong accent, and he said “Xi” as if it were “Su”. King Yu frowned slightly, “Are you also called Su Yan?”

Xiyan is very good at reading people’s words and colors, and heard the unpleasantness in the word “also”, and immediately explained: “Back to the king, it is the western part of the west, the swallow of the swallow.”

King Yu slowed down, smilingly beckoned him to take a few more steps closer, sat up, and used his fan to pick up his jaw, examining the corners of his brow that had been rendered by rouge.

“The eyebrows are like a five or six points, the temperament is not half similar …… interesting.” King Yu said carelessly, “Stay you in the king’s residence for a few days, sing songs to the king, are you willing?”

Xiyan was overjoyed, busy curling up and saluting, “I am willing! If I can sing for His Majesty to relieve his boredom, I am willing to do so.”

The fan in King Yu’s hand slid from his jaw to his collar, and just as he was about to say something, a personal soldier guarding the gate came to the front of the pavilion and reported, “Your Highness, Mr. Yingxu is here.”

With a “pop” sound, King Yu threw the folding fan onto the jade woven mat covered couch surface, got up and straightened his lapel, leaving Xiyan behind, and walked towards the outside of the garden.

Xiyan see Yu Wang a moment ago still smiling and laughing, the next moment but he will be abandoned as if it were my shoes, even more than a glance, the bottom of the heart aggrieved and sour, face but do not dare to show half a point, salute to send off, can not help but raise the volume of voice, warbling and swallow nibbling like to say: “Your Majesty slowly go. I burn incense day and night to wait, waiting for the king to summon.”

King Yu’s stride was robust and broad, and without waiting for him to finish, he had long since gone out of sight.

–

Chen Shiyu just entered the front yard of the Royal Mansion, he saw the King of Yu dressed in civilian clothes to personally welcome, mouth said aloud: “Yuk Weng long time not come, today suddenly visit, really make this king was overjoyed.” He arched his hand and smiled to respond: “It has been a long time since I have seen you, Your Fourth Highness is as healthy as a sunset.”

King Yu walked with him on his arm and came under an old pine tree in the garden.

Under the tree stone tables and benches of ancient shape, the table is set with a game of Go and two chess trousseau, across a babbling brook, opposite the bamboo forest faintly heard the sound of the guqin, a quiet and tranquil atmosphere.

The two men sat opposite each other at the table, each picking out a chess trousseau with great familiarity, and making a gesture of inviting the game to begin.

King Yu placed the first black stone in the upper right star position as a sign of respect. “Yuk Weng has many patients and came to see this king in his busy schedule, it wouldn’t be just for a game of chess, would it?” He asked with a smile.

Chen Shiyu returned a son in the lower left corner and stroked his hand through his long beard, “I am an old man who does not have anything to do, and I am looking for Your Highness because I want to ask for a big help.”

“Since you and I are old friends, why do we need to use the word ‘beg’. If it wasn’t for Yuk Weng’s skillful hands, this king would have been killed by a sword through his heart. The favor of saving my life has yet to be repaid, what is the difficulty, but say no harm, as long as this king is able to help, will certainly help.”

“Your Highness knows that there is a strange medicine in this world that can cure all external ulcers and internal carbuncles, the medicine is as effective as God, it can be said to be the life and death of flesh and bone, named ‘penicillin’……” Chen Shiyu unhurriedly told the story of Shen Qi’s return from the dead. Chen Shiyu will not hesitate to tell Shen Qi’s story.

Hearing him mention Su Yan’s name, King Yu was stunned and asked, “Which Su Qinghe is Yuk Weng talking about?”

“‘The Su Qinghe who ‘beat the drums at the Royal Gate and snowed his master’s injustice, punishing evil and removing the twelve Chen’, is there a second person under the sky?” Chen Shiyu sighed with emotion, “Only the old man never expected, Su young adults, not only Confucianism, virtue and talent, but also a pharmaceutical master. If this medicine can be produced, it is a great good to help the people, but it is difficult to realize due to the lack of conditions. I don’t know if Your Fourth Highness can join hands with Lord Su and preside over the development of penicillin?”

King Yu mused, “Since Yuk Weng opened his mouth, no matter if he wants money or people, this king will never excuse himself. But according to Qinghe’s words, to establish the entire development system, first of all, we must organize the Geji Academy, recruiting talents from all over the world. This alone is not something that can be solved by mere financial and human resources. And cluster school, there will be suspicion of party affiliation, civil scholar to run a school, but also reasonable, if the king to come forward, there will be courtiers will be my buyers, intent to misbehave, the emperor is afraid that will not agree.”

“Why doesn’t your highness petition the saint, state the pros and cons, and then have the saint decree that the matter be handed over to your highness to handle?” Chen Shiyu suggested.

King Yu was silent.

Chen Shiyu see his face stagnant, slightly sigh: “I know where your highness heart knot. Your Highness would rather bear the name of a playful and lustful, self-indulgent self-flagellation, but also do not want to let the emperor know that your hand halberd has not been broken, the blood in your chest still exists, there is still a want to shoot the north of the sky wolf’s ambition!”

The black disc between King Yu’s fingers shattered and rustled into pieces, spilling onto the chessboard and being whisked away by a gust of pine wind.

He stared intently at the chessboard in front of him, black and white warring, killing aura, and the sound of jingo and iron horses treading through the icy river vaguely resounded in his ears.

“Ten years.” He said dreamily, “For ten whole years, I’ve been trapped in this prosperous capital, like a bird in a golden cage, full of glitter, unable to lift my wings and fly.”

“Fourth Highness ah ……” Chen Shiyu long sigh.

“Everyone says that Imperial Brother treats me extraordinarily kindly, far better than the other Prince and County Kings. How can this not be true? He used the royal grace, brotherly love weave a net, painted a prison, will be my captive in which, every move are placed in the eyes. From now on, the world no longer have the king of the town border tin soil generation, there is, only the ridiculous and wandering Yu Wang.”

“‘Yu’ means happiness and ease. Doesn’t imperial brother know that happiness and contentment is a poison to my mind?” King Yu revealed an almost tragic smile, “He knows! This medicine was concocted by his own hands …… He is the true pharmaceutical master!”

Chen Shiyu slowly said: “I have wasted more than seventy years of my life before I realized one truth – life has its ups and downs, and until the next moment comes, we do not know what kind of situation we will face in the next moment. Only by saving for a rainy day and being constantly prepared can we comfortably cope with the ups and downs, twists and turns of the next moment of our lives. Your Highness is so discouraged, you simply don’t look like the Jingbei Army God of War that I know.”

“The so-called God of War, created by the times, is also bound to disappear by the times. The past has long disappeared for ten years, why should Yuk Weng mention it again!”

“If His Highness can forget his own achievements and the blood that boiled when he killed the enemy on the battlefield, can he also forget the brothers and sisters who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield? If there had been penicillin, perhaps General Wei would not have died of a golden ulcer on his leg, and General Ping would not have died of an arrow soaked in dirt. Those soldiers who died of ulcers because of a cut from a sword, with penicillin, the chances of survival would have been greatly increased, and the situation on our side and the border would have been drastically changed.

“To take a step back, even if Your Highness can no longer lead the army in battle, in the smoke on the border, my sons and daiming are still suffering from injuries and illnesses, are their lives no better than the lives of the Jingbei Army warriors? Even if Your Highness believes that your loyalty is in doubt and your trust is being violated, is this country no longer the one you swore to protect?”

Chen Shiyu got up. The wind blew the long beard of this old man, who had served as a military doctor, like a clump of flying puffs, and his voice, though old and strong, was also carried to King Yu’s ears along with this gust of strong wind: “This heart will not be changed, and this will will not be taken away, and in the face of the wind is a tiger, and riding the clouds turns into a dragon – a great man should be like this!”

King Yu looked at his back as he rose to leave, and did not move for a long time.

–

Marquis Feng’an Mansion.

Wei Jun wrapped his arm around his newly favored concubine of a house and flirted as he entered the bedroom.

The downfall of Feng de-wicked didn’t seem to affect him much, and he remained a high and mighty royal relative.

His niece, Wei Guifei, has just added a son to the emperor’s thin heir. The empress dowager was so happy because of her niece’s belly that she discussed with him, her brother in law, two days ago, to personally ask the emperor for a reward, so that Noble Consort Wei could be promoted to another position.

Further up the promotion, it can be the Imperial Noble Consort – or directly established as the successor, is not impossible ah!

Although he and the Empress Dowager were related by marriage, the Empress Dowager was not surnamed Wei after all. Only let Wei Guifei become the rightful mother of a country, the birth of a son of the emperor to become the future son of heaven, at that time, their Wei family is really the fire cooking oil, flowers in the brocade, the position of power is unshakeable.

Compared to it, the district Feng went to the evil what, an unfortunate bite the wrong person, was backhanded slaughter of the evil dog only. Surprisingly planted in the hands of a new official brat, really in the gutter! Wei Joon contemptuous thought, after all, Jin Yi Wei is only the emperor’s servant, and eunuchs, and no real foundation, life and death in the emperor’s mind.

After the death of a Feng Daoyou, he could still find another Chen Daoyou and Chu Daoyou, borrowing these swords to remove all the obstacles that hindered Wei’s revitalization.

Wei Joon proudly pushed his concubine onto the bed, and the hanging tent was soon filled with the lewd sounds of men and women as they acted.

The bed boards creaked incessantly, and one could hear it extraordinarily distinctly if one lay under the bed.

For example, Wu Ming at this moment.

Like a cold-blooded animal on the prowl, he hid under the bed, the live show on top of a bedpan more insignificant to him than the dust on the bottom of a shoe. The woman’s delicate moans couldn’t even make his eyelashes blink.

In order to kill someone, he could remain motionless for several hours, waiting for the exquisite and extreme timing to come, striking in an instant and killing with a single blow.

The hearty battle on the bed slipped decadently at its peak, and he knew the time had come, and his slender nameless sword snapped out, piercing through the bedpan and into the body of his prey.

The feel of the blade in his flesh told him – this sword, got it!

He tumbled out from under the bed amidst the woman’s terrified cries, cut off his enemy’s head with a single stroke of his sword, swept out of the window with his hair in a bun, leapt up to the roof, and sped away under the cover of night.

It wasn’t until he left the high walls of the Marquis’ compound that the clamor of the guards and the earth-shattering sound of a gong signaling a warning came from behind him.

Wu Ming made a furious dash to the back of the hill of Yanfu Temple in the northeast corner of the outer city, stopping in front of a not-so-long-newly-built grave and laying his head on the stone platform for offerings.

He inserted the blood dripping long sword into the soil and kowtowed three times towards the grave, his eyes with tears in them were red, his shoulders couldn t help but tremble, and he gritted his teeth and said, “Sister, I have avenged you! Look, this is the head of the old dog thief …… I know you don t want to see it, this pickled thing is disgusting alive and dead, but I want him to thank you with his blood life, and then take this head to feed the wild dogs.”

Wu Ming picked up the head and knocked it hard three times on the stone platform ground, smashing the jaw of the head and revealing the bloody jawbone and teeth.

He let out a mouthful of turbid air, grabbed the head, and while looking at the two rows of molars in the lower jaw, he was suddenly stunned. He forcefully peeled open the head’s mutilated mouth to check the two rows of molars in the upper jaw, and found that, like the lower jaw, they were quite worn down, only half the height of normal teeth, with blackened and pitted faces.

These are not teeth raised on refined rice and flour. Only a prolonged diet of chaff, or bean cakes laced with grit that even mules and horses wouldn’t eat, could wear down teeth like this.

…… This is not the head of Bongan Hou either!

It must be Wei Jun’s well-prepared double, not only does he look cool, but even his demeanor, gait, and voice tone have been tempered, and he even went so far as to defile a few concubines to cuckold himself, and to make it believable.

A hundred mistakes were made, causing him to once again fail to accomplish anything! Wu Ming was filled with hatred and anger, and threw his head into the dark forest.

Inside the Feng An Marquis’ mansion, Wei Jun looked at the headless body between the pools of blood on the bed, his hands and feet were cold, and he was shocked and scared.

–Fortunately, a few months ago in the Empress Dowager’s Palace, he met a monk with the name of Jiyao, under the guidance of the other party, began to store a double. Today and received the other side of the warning, said to the secret divination, learned that he will have a disaster of blood in recent days, so the heart of the defense, themselves hidden in the secret room, so that the double in the house free movement. Had it not been for this, he would have been the one who was separated from his body and head and lost his life tonight!

Wei Jun is almost certain that the assassin who came to assassinate tonight is the black-clothed masked man who stabbed him more than two months ago, and the Jinyiwei searched all over the city and failed to catch it, and then let this leaky fish drill back to make waves.

Feng to evil this waste thing, hurry up early death! And this ghost of the assassin, he must personally catch, the ten tortures in turn, so that this guy worse than death!

Wei Joon grimaced and shouted angrily, “Where are the dogs that this marquis raised? Release them all for me! Sniff out the blood along the way, make sure you find the assassin and cut him into pieces!”

A team of people, there are marquis guards, there are also the elite soldiers of the five cities military division, home armor, following a dozen aggressive dogs, sniffing the blood out of the inner city gate, running to the northeast corner of the outer city.

Dogs in the back of Yanfu Temple in front of a grave coiled barking wildly, the blood trail also terminated here, but no sign of the assassin, soldiers will be the entire hill search, even a root of the assassin’s hair are not found, but in the forest to find the head of the double, by the beasts gnawed to pieces.

Wei Jun was so angry that he shouted, “Take the head to worship, inside must be the assassin’s relatives and friends. Dig up this new grave and drag out the bones and flog them to vent my hatred!”

The soldiers were about to dig the grave, but they saw a hole open behind the mound, and the tombstone was gone. When they dug it up, it was really empty, and there was no trace of a body in the coffin, with only a round altar mark remaining on the bottom plate.

“That assassin expected a pursuer and preempted the opening of the coffin to take the urn and the tombstone. Marquis, what should we do next?” The Commander of the Military Horse Division asked.

Wei Joon growled, “What should we do? Arrest someone! What are you Five Cities Military Commanders for? Close the inner and outer city gates, search the entire city, and find him even if you have to rake the ground!”