Chapter 67 A Shura Field on the Mountain Path
“Giddy up!”
The sound of the whip cracked sharply.
The driver drove the carriage towards Luoyang. They traveled all night. Leaving the imperial city and traveling several miles into Chang’an, the scenery wildly receded on both sides.
The first light of dawn broke.
Wei Wanlan woke up, his deer-like eyes blinking. He opened the window and poked his head out, filled with the excitement of a trip:
It was a wilderness. Just after the New Year.
The weather had warmed; Wei Wanlan leaned on the window frame, his eyes shining brightly:
“Mr. Xiao, look, there are winter jasmine blossoms by the roadside, and those willow branches, covered with small buds, they’ll grow leaves soon.”
Wei Wanlan’s tone showed his simple joy at the arrival of spring.
Xiao Ji also woke up at this time and saw Wei Wanlan’s youthful demeanor. This made him feel that taking Wei Wanlan temporarily to the East Capital to investigate the case and stay away from Su Yan for a while might be the right thing to do.
Xiao Ji’s hand had a scholar’s folding fan:
“Before reaching the East Capital Luoyang, we’ll encounter many good places. Yongzhou has sheep blood heluo (a noodle dish), incredibly fresh and fragrant; Puzhou has steamed dumplings, with various wrapping techniques and various colored skins. Luozhou’s water banquet is even more delicious…”
Wei Wanlan’s mouth watered. He quickly nodded and smiled slightly: “Then please, Mr. Xiao, take me to try them.”
“Sweet talk.”
He seemed to hear a low voice, but Wei Wanlan didn’t hear it clearly.
Xiao Ji’s brows moved slightly, also hearing it, and feeling something strange.
Wei Wanlan opened the door, facing the driver’s upright back, forgetting about the incident of having his hand held yesterday, greeted him in a friendly manner: “Hello, driver!”
“Mm.”
Such a cool driver.
Wei Wanlan twitched his ears, thinking of the strange voice just now, and tilted his head to probe: “Did you just speak?”
Hearing that he had spoken to defend Xiao Ji, the Regent didn’t respond.
Wei Wanlan saw that the driver didn’t speak, and although he felt he was a little impolite and slightly unhappy, he didn’t want to say more.
Wei Wanlan retracted his head and grumbled inside the carriage:
“Mr. Xiao, tell me about some more delicious food. Or something else.”
“Okay. Young Master, do you want to hear stories? I’ll recite some poems for you, echoing the beautiful spring scenery along the way.”
“Wonderful!”
Wei Wanlan’s cheerful voice came from the carriage.
Xiao Ji was well-versed in literature and history; he could easily bring up anecdotes and stories. Once the chatterbox inside the carriage was opened, it certainly couldn’t be closed.
The Regent outside the carriage gritted his teeth; the veins on the back of his hand holding the reins bulged.
He immensely regretted losing his advantage because he was jealous of Xiao Ji.
He had imagined countless times throwing Xiao Ji to the frontier to eat sand; the pretty boy would also be beaten up.
Su Jingzhi’s stomach felt like a wet cloth being wrung out.
The stories had already started inside the carriage:
“Young Master, magnolia blossoms in spring, but do you know that magnolias change color after being picked?”
“Oh, they change color?”
“Yes, about an incense stick’s worth of time, the magnolia petals will no longer be white; the veins will turn brownish.”
“I really don’t know that; I like magnolias very much.”
Xiao Ji said: “There are two lines of poetry about magnolias, ‘New makeup, jade-like brilliance, a thousand teams of moon maidens, surrounded by snow.’ If we see magnolias on the road, we can pick a branch and insert it into the carriage wall, accompanying us to Luoyang.”
Su Jingzhi frowned tightly, hoping that there were no magnolias on the entire mountain. No magnolias in the world. Magnolias extinct.
He heard the chirping of birds; there were many birds in the morning, making dense sounds.
His thoughts flashed, Su Jingzhi decided to fight back and deliberately raised his voice:
“There are many long-tailed magpies outside.”
“Really! Where?!”
The carriage door clicked open.
The head popped out obediently, looking left and right.
Although he had his back to Wei Wanlan, Su Jingzhi quietly raised the corners of his lips. Little Wan liked birds; did Xiao Ji know?
—The long-tailed magpies were indeed obliging.
Su Jingzhi wasn’t really interested in birds; since childhood, he had hunted many of their kind.
Who knew that the birds on this mountain path today were all friendly; as he drove the carriage slowly, magpies landed on the carriage roof, and three or two flew down to interact with Wei Wanlan.
So Wei Wanlan raised his dragon claw.
A magpie perched on Wei Wanlan’s finger, curling its claws. The magpie tilted its head; Wei Wanlan tilted his head too.
Seeing the interaction between the boy and the bird, Su Jingzhi found it cute; the anger he had suppressed over his private escape was temporarily suppressed. He glanced back at Xiao Ji in the carriage with the corner of his eye, as if looking at a banana peel or sugarcane peel—superfluous.
“Brother driver, I really like birds. I have many in my home.”
I didn’t touch a single one of your sparrows; they’re still hanging on the trees; waiting for you to come back.
Su Jingzhi glanced at the magpie: “Its beak is very sharp.”
The magpie pecked.
Su Jingzhi frowned.
The magpie was also frightened, Wei Wanlan’s dragon claw trembled. Several magpies flew up. The magpie interaction game in the forest paused.
Because he bore a great responsibility for bringing the emperor out, Xiao Ji didn’t want the emperor to have too much contact with outsiders; he immediately shifted the focus back into the carriage:
“Young Master, if you’ve heard enough poems and stories, I’ll speak a foreign language.”
A foreign language.
Previously, when Wei Wanlan was hiding in Guanfeng Pavilion, he had heard the Honglu Temple Qing speak a foreign language; he found it novel and interesting.
So Wei Wanlan retracted his hand that had been holding the bird; he looked back:
“Then let’s hear it~”
“To be…”
“Giddy up!”
Su Jingzhi’s eyes were cold; he treated Xiao Ji as an outsider, thinking that he dared to use barbaric language to sweet-talk.
This is an upgraded level of sweet-talking. Unbearable.
The carriage suddenly sped up in the wilderness.
Wei Wanlan swayed; he heard the driver shout: “Hold on tight; there’s a mountain road!”
As soon as the words fell, a sudden change occurred.
The carriage wheels suddenly sped up on the mountain path; the contents of the carriage shook, making a rustling sound.
The driver took the mountain path; Wei Wanlan was on the right side, and he didn’t feel much change in the carriage.
But Xiao Ji, sitting on the outer side, was already bouncing up and down like a bean in a bamboo tube, his eyes full of stars; he was so dizzy that his head ached.
“Ugh—”
Xiao Ji made a dry heaving sound; then he grabbed the window frame and vomited outside.
Wei Wanlan went to support him.
But how could Xiao Ji dare? This wasn’t appropriate; he was afraid of getting the emperor’s clothes dirty; he just waved his hand, signaling the emperor to keep a distance from him, and didn’t dare to retract his head from the window frame:
“Ugh!” He vomited again.
Where was the demeanor of a noble family’s son now?
The whole person was like a deflated balloon, spilling things out.
“Good foreign language! Good foreign language!”
Xiao Ji lay outside the carriage, raised his voice and said, “You—” but in fact, because of his physical condition, he couldn’t even say half a word at this moment.
Wei Wanlan opened the door and repeatedly pleaded:
“Driver, let’s climb the mountain path more slowly; my friend will be sick if he vomits any more; please…”
But the other side snorted.
His tone became even colder; hearing Wei Wanlan’s plea, he drove the carriage even faster:
“—This mountain path must be climbed quickly to save the horse’s strength; he’s useless; he vomits as soon as he rides the carriage up a mountain path!”
It seemed that the driver was right.
The carriage was climbing a mountain; if the horse climbed slowly, the horse would be more burdened; although the driver seemed to be deliberately picking a fight, the evidence was inconclusive; Xiao Ji felt that he was being victimized but still couldn’t be sure.
The victim, Xiao Ji, was vomiting weakly and couldn’t afford to retaliate.
Wei Wanlan kindly laid Xiao Ji on the bed in the carriage: “Okay, sleep; lying down should be fine; it won’t make you carsick.”
Still taking care of him!
What’s so lovable about this pretty boy?
Even if eloping, choose someone capable; will you go out drinking the wind in the future?
Love really blinds people.
The Great Wei Regent no longer thought that civil servants could handle government affairs and secure the country. Now, from the perspective of mate selection, the brave lion would not allow such a weak pheasant into his territory.
In the carriage, Xiao Ji struggled to regain his strength; stars were still flashing before his eyes; he could only half-open his eyes.
Wei Wanlan couldn’t bear to see his friend so uncomfortable, so he sat by his friend’s bed, quietly guarding him.
The carriage was too harmonious.
The driver outside the carriage wanted to embarrass his rival but unexpectedly created a chance for his beloved and his rival to be alone. He became an outsider.
Chang’an and Luoyang were about seven hundred miles apart.
It wasn’t particularly far; the carriage was fast and had reached the edge of Luoyang’s prefecture. Passing Luozhou, it was Luoyang.
If he were playing the driver, his journey would end in Luoyang.
Su Jingzhi wanted to find out their destination; he hadn’t heard that the Xiao family had any property in the East Capital. If he wanted to find them after getting off the carriage, he had to know where Little Wan’s new home was.
—Even if…
Little Wan might not want him to know.
Su Jingzhi suddenly, through the carriage board, raised his voice again:
“Young Master, where are you going in Luoyang? Where will you be dropped off?”
Unexpectedly, Wei Wanlan’s answer completely shattered Su Jingzhi’s state of mind:
“We don’t know. We don’t have a place to stay. Let’s enter the city first…” Wei Wanlan replied.
Because of this sentence, the carriage shook violently.
With a thud.
Wei Wanlan’s ears suddenly twitched; he thought the wheel had hit a stone and quickly opened the door to check: “What’s wrong, what’s wrong?”
Wei Wanlan saw the driver staring blankly at him.
For some reason, he stepped back, wanting to hide in the carriage.
But the driver’s gaze locked onto him, as if he was deeply trapped in the driver’s profound eyes, inexplicably feeling as if he was about to be captured by his emotions.
“No house, still going to Luoyang?”
Su Jingzhi was a pragmatist.
He felt that even giving Little Wan the whole world wasn’t enough to propose to him.
But that person couldn’t even give him a roof…
Does Little Wan really like this kind of scholar?
Eloping.
Then what was he now? Chasing after him personally to witness the unwavering love between his beloved and another man?
The Regent’s mood plummeted, his lips tightened in the cold wind. The whole person seemed to have solidified into an immobile statue.
Wei Wanlan inexplicably felt that the driver was strange.
Sometimes, he would feel that the driver was cold and seemed to be angry with him. He sensed a deep crisis.
And sometimes, he inexplicably felt that this person knew him very well. Wei Wanlan’s intuition was always accurate.
Now that he saw the driver seemed to be in a bad mood, the little dove also felt a little sad; he liked to take care of others’ emotions, so he tried to comfort the driver:
“Brother driver, you really don’t have to worry; although we don’t have a house, we will definitely not shortchange you; we’ll give you extra. Thank you for showing me so many magpies.”
The Regent took a deep breath. The air seemed to be filled with thin blades.
The knife was in Wei Wanlan’s hands: “I took the initiative to ask him to bring me to Luoyang. I think you don’t like him very much, but he is really smart. He is my good friend.”
“Good friend.”
“Yes! We are the best friends! The warrior followed me out to work! I’m not afraid to tell you, we are here to save Luoyang City; I am here to do great things…”
—Work.
No words were ever as pleasant to hear.
As if removing a boulder from his heart, everywhere was bright.
Su Jingzhi, under the guise of the driver, was about to ask a few more detailed questions. He knew that Luoyang Prefect Yuan Xi Zai might have problems, but due to certain reasons that he couldn’t disclose, he temporarily suppressed the issue of Yuan Xi Zai.
Could it be that Little Wan wanted to investigate Yuan Xi Zai?
Little Wan has grown up and wants to do things himself?
Su Jingzhi quickly clarified his thinking on matters of principle:
In short, it’s not eloping with Xiao Ji. If Little Wan doesn’t mean it, then Xiao Ji is just being lovesick.
At this time, he raised his eyebrows and suddenly saw a messenger pigeon specially trained in the Regent’s mansion circling above their carriage.
Su Jingzhi saw the pigeon and knew that there was information about Wei Wanlan from Chang’an, delivered to him.
However, he had already found Wei Wanlan; the letter wasn’t urgent. He would first fool the little fool back and then make long-term plans for this trip.
After Wei Wanlan returned to the carriage, the pigeon was held in the Regent’s palm, and he grabbed its claws and took the letter:
The letter was a sketch with four pictures.
According to the sender, this is the masterpiece left by the Great Wei Emperor outside Xing’an Gate. Wei Wanlan knew that the Regent would definitely discover it eventually; the painting was likely sent to the Regent.
The picture was—
Four eye exercises charts.
Little Wan never intended to torture himself…