Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 297: By order of the Emperor, please ask Mr. Kong Ming to rush to Yecheng

Following the path pointed out by the Tea Doctor, Liu Qi walked forward and soon saw a thatched cottage located among a sparse forest.

"This is it!"

Seeing this thatched cottage, Liu Qi's eyes couldn't help but flash a hint of joy. He ordered the servants around him to wait there, and then he went alone to knock on the door.

"May I ask if Mr. Kong Ming is here?"

After knocking on the door, Liu Qi straightened his clothes and stood there waiting.

After a while the door opened.

Liu Qi was about to speak when he saw that the person who opened the door was a boy of about seventeen or eight years old, who was looking at him with curiosity.

"Who are you and what do you want to see my husband about?"

When Liu Qi heard the words "my master", he knew he had found the right place. He smiled warmly at the boy and said, "I am Liu Qi, the son of the governor of Jingzhou. I have come to visit Mr. Kong Ming on the orders of my father."

"Son of the governor of Jingzhou?"

Hearing Liu Qi's self-introduction, the boy was a little surprised, and then said: "My master is taking a nap right now, please wait a moment, I will go and inform him."

“No, no need!”

Liu Qi hurriedly stopped him upon hearing this and said, "Since Mr. Kong Ming is taking a nap, I can just wait here. How can I disturb him?"

Although the people had a bad opinion of Zhuge Liang, he did not look down on him because of this.

How can the evaluation of mediocre people compare with the comments of famous scholars like Pang Degong? What's more, Zhuge Liang was a disciple of Sima Hui, which was even more remarkable.

A famous scholar would not easily accept disciples.

Therefore, before coming here, Liu Qi had already prepared to humble himself and show respect to the wise and humble. Now was the perfect time to show his attitude of seeking talents.

"Ok."

The boy scratched his head and agreed.

So Liu Qi stood in front of the door waiting.

In the woods not far away, three pairs of eyes were watching Liu Qi's every move, and they could hear clearly the conversation between him and the boy.

These three people were the three traveling merchants from before.

However, traveling merchants were just their superficial identity, and their real identity was the embroidered-robed envoys sent by Jia Xu.

The embroidered robe envoys were divided into four categories.

The lowest rank was the Embroidered Uniform Envoy, the second rank was the Embroidered Uniform Commandant, the third rank was the Embroidered Uniform Lieutenant General, and the fourth rank was the Embroidered Uniform General.

The middle-aged man in the lead is the only General of the Central Army among the Embroidered Uniform Envoys, codenamed Qingzhu; the other two are Embroidered Uniform Commandants, codenamed Wutong and Yinzhen respectively.

The purpose of their trip was to find Zhuge Liang.

"I didn't expect that he was actually Liu Biao's son."

After hearing Liu Qi's introduction, Yinzhen was inevitably surprised and couldn't help asking Qingzhu, "General, he is not here to ask Mr. Kong Ming to go back like us, right?"

"Shouldn't we do something now? What if he gets there first and invites Mr. Kong Ming away? What should we do then?"

Qingzhu glanced at him and said calmly, "Do you want to kill him right away, or do you want to jump out and reveal your identity now and compete with him for Mr. Kong Ming?"

Yinzhen's expression froze for a moment, and he was speechless.

It is not difficult to get rid of Liu Qi, but if Liu Qi dies, Liu Biao will definitely be furious, and then it will be extremely difficult for them to bring Zhuge Liang back.

After all, they are now in Jingzhou.

As for revealing their identities, it was even worse. Their mission this time was to quietly bring Zhuge Liang back. If that attracted attention, how could it be called quietly?
So Yinzhen had to be patient and continue waiting.

Just like this an hour passed, Liu Qi stood at the door of the thatched cottage under the scorching sun, and did not rest even though his legs were sore and his forehead was sweating profusely.

During this period, the servants came to persuade him several times, and even the boy brought him a small stool and wanted him to sit on it, but he refused every time.

Soon another hour passed.

Liu Qi just felt dizzy and his body was swaying. Finally, his eyes went black and he fell straight to the ground.

"Son!"

The servants were horrified and rushed over to help.

He pinched Liu Qi's philtrum hard.

After some rescue efforts, Liu Qi slowly woke up. He looked extremely pale and weak, but still struggled to get up.

"Help me up. I want to continue waiting for Mr. Kong Ming to wake up..."

The servant's face was filled with distress, and he couldn't help but angrily said to the boy who came over with the bowl of water: "Your master is so rude. How can he take a two-hour nap?"

"My son is the son of a governor of a state, and he is worth a lot of money. If anything goes wrong with him, can Zhuge Kongming be responsible for it?"

"Why don't you go and call him to serve the guests!"

As the son of a provincial governor, he was always surrounded by people and respected by everyone wherever he went. However, when he came to the house of this unknown Zhuge Liang, he was sleeping soundly in the house, leaving the young master waiting outside.

"Don't be rude!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Qi immediately reprimanded the servant, then glanced at the thatched cottage with a complicated expression, and then said to the boy: "I am sorry for bothering you today. I am weak and it is really difficult for me to stand. I will visit you again tomorrow."

"Please tell Mr. Kong Ming."

After waiting for so long, he vaguely understood that Mr. Kong Ming probably didn't want to see him, or was deliberately testing him.

Otherwise, with the loud noise made by his servant just now, the other party would not be able to continue sleeping peacefully.

Waiting until he fell into a coma today was enough to show his sincerity, and now it was getting late, so he could only come and visit tomorrow.

After saying this, Liu Qi bowed deeply to the thatched cottage.

Only then did he leave with the help of his servants.

After watching Liu Qi and others go away, the boy shook his head helplessly, turned around and walked into the thatched cottage.

In the thatched cottage, on several tables.

A young man, eight feet tall, with a face as handsome as jade, wearing a silk scarf on his head and a crane cloak, looking like a god, was sleeping soundly on his side.

However, after the boy entered the thatched cottage, he opened his eyes, stood up, stretched, yawned and chanted:

"Whoever wakes up from a big dream first will know it in my life."

"I sleep late in the thatched cottage in spring, and the sun is late outside the window."

He let out a long breath, looked at the boy, and asked with a leisurely smile: "Has Young Master Liu left?"

"gone……"

The boy answered subconsciously, then suddenly realized something, widened his eyes and asked: "Sir, you woke up a long time ago?"

He had always thought that Zhuge Liang was really sleeping, but after hearing what Zhuge Liang had just said, he realized that his teacher had actually woken up a long time ago.

Otherwise it would be impossible to know that Liu Qi was outside.

Zhuge Liang picked up the feather fan placed beside him and said with a smile: "I woke up as soon as he came, but I just didn't want to see him, so I just made an excuse to sleep."

"I will be visiting friends tomorrow and will probably be away from home for a few days. If Mr. Liu comes again, I will use this to thank you."

Hearing this, the boy asked in confusion: "Sir, Master Liu is the son of the governor of the state, and he is of noble status. Why don't you want to see him? The governor of Jingzhou and your uncle are old friends."

Liu Qi's servant was right. How could one take a two-hour nap? He also made the son of a governor of a state stand outside and wait. Of course, the most important point was that Zhuge Liang's uncle Zhuge Xuan and Liu Biao were old friends. It was not reasonable for him to not even see the son of another person.

Zhuge Liang said, "Mr. Shuijing wrote to me a few days ago, saying that Mr. Pang recommended me to the governor of Jingzhou in order to raise my reputation."

"Mr. Liu came here today to invite me to work under the governor of Jingzhou."

The boy was even more puzzled when he heard this: "Wouldn't it be great to serve under the governor of Jingzhou? With your talent, you will definitely be put to good use."

As a governor of a province, it is not a disgrace for him to serve under such a high-ranking official, especially since he has shown such sincerity.

"You do not understand."

Zhuge Liang smiled faintly, patted the boy's head gently with his feather fan, and looked out the window at the setting sun hanging over the mountain.

"The situation in Jingzhou is complicated, with the major families fighting each other endlessly, and the governor of Jingzhou has no power at all. He invited me to come over to cultivate new forces and check and balance the officials under his command."

"I'm not interested in such petty things."

A mere state is not enough to satisfy his ambitions, not to mention the internal power struggle, which is even more boring.

The world is in turmoil now, and what he really wants to devote himself to is the emperor who has unified the north and has great talent and strategy.

Because this world is the stage for him to realize his ambitions.

"It's a pity that I have no reputation now. I am just a country bumpkin. The emperor has so many talented people under his command. I'm afraid I won't be able to be used even if I go and surrender."

"You still have to take good care of your hope."

"Or maybe I could do what Shi Yuan did and work for Liu Xuande first, and then enter the imperial court. The situation in Yizhou is unstable, so maybe I can be of some use."

Zhuge Liang thought in his heart.

Just as he was thinking this, a respectful voice came from outside the house: "Excuse me, is Mr. Kong Ming here? Are you awake?"

Liu Qi is back again?

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said to the boy: "Just say I'm still sleeping."

The boy nodded, turned and walked out of the hut.

However, after he opened the gate, he found that the people standing outside the yard were not Liu Qi, but three strangers dressed as traveling merchants.

"who are you?"

The boy asked with some caution. For some reason, he always felt that these three people gave him a very dangerous feeling.

Of course, these three people are Qingzhu and his friends.

Qingzhu smiled and said, "We are the embroidered robe envoys, and we are here on the orders of the emperor to invite Mr. Kong Ming to come out of the mountain. Please tell him what I want to say."

The boy was shocked after hearing this.

He didn't know who the embroidered-robed envoy was, but he understood the words "by the order of the Son of Heaven". These three people in front of him were actually sent by the Emperor?

How can this be?

The boy didn't believe Qingzhu's words at all. He just felt that these three people were weird. He said directly: "My master is still sleeping. You guys stand here and wait."

"No."

Qingzhu rejected the boy's proposal without even thinking about it, and said with a smile: "Please go and wake up the master, we can't wait too long."

"you……"

The boy was a little annoyed. Why was this man so rude? He was completely different from the previous Liu Qi. He was not even willing to wait.

So his attitude also turned cold, and he said stiffly: "Please go back, my husband is still sleeping, I'm afraid he won't wake up today."

After saying that, he slammed the door shut.

After being rejected, Yinzhen and Wutong turned their eyes to Qingzhu, waiting for his next instructions.

Without saying anything, Qingzhu took out a fire starter from his bosom, threw it to Wutong, and said, "You, go and burn the house down to wake up Mr. Kongming."

"Ah? Burning the house?"

Wutong was stunned by Qingzhu's words. Holding the fire stick, he said with embarrassment, "This is not good. Jia Gong has warned us not to be rude."

"And what if it burns Mr. Kong Ming?"

Qingzhu looked at him and said coldly: "If we follow the etiquette, we won't be able to see Mr. Kong Ming even if we stand here for ten days."

"Either we set fire to it, or we kill ourselves here. It's better than going back and facing Jia Gong's methods."

"Choose for yourselves."

Wutong and Yinzhen both shuddered and ran to the backyard to set fire without hesitation.

Inside the thatched cottage.

The boy angrily said to Zhuge Liang: "Sir, those three guys outside don't look like good people. They claim to be embroidered robe envoys and are here to invite you out of seclusion on the orders of the emperor."

"They are such boasters."

Although this is a bit of an insult to Zhuge Liang, to be honest, why would the emperor, who is the supreme ruler of the country, send someone to specially invite a small figure to come out of retirement?

"The envoy in embroidered robes? The emperor?"

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang's expression changed slightly. He had only seen the position of Embroidered Uniform Envoy in some written records, but it had not been established since the reign of Emperor Wu.

Now it has reappeared in the world.

The most important thing is, how did the emperor know of his existence and even send an envoy in embroidered clothes to find him?

Even though Zhuge Liang was an extremely quick-witted person, he still felt incredible and full of doubts when faced with this sudden situation.

Could it be that Liu Qi sent someone to test him?

At this moment, the boy's face suddenly changed. He pulled Zhuge Liang's sleeve, pointed out the window and shouted: "Fire, fire! There's a fire outside!"

Zhuge Liang was startled and looked in the direction he pointed.

He saw that there was thick smoke and flames in the backyard at some point, which looked very scary, and seemed to be burning towards the house where he was.

"Get out now!"

When Zhuge Liang saw this, his expression suddenly changed. Without time to think about it, he simply grabbed the boy and ran out of the cottage.

Qingzhu was waiting outside the house at this time.

At this time, Yinzhen and Wutong just came back. Both of them had smoke marks on their faces from the fireworks, and they were holding fire starters in their hands.

The boy understood everything immediately after seeing this, and immediately shouted angrily: "How dare you set fire to the house? Do you want to kill people?"

Zhuge Liang also frowned deeply, protecting the boy behind him, and looked at Qingzhu and the other two warily and said, "Who are you, Excellency? Why do you insist on seeing me, even at the cost of setting fire?"

He didn't even know these three people.

But from the way they walked and their sharp eyes, it could be seen that these three people were obviously highly skilled in martial arts.

"I'm rude."

Qingzhu clasped his fists towards Zhuge Liang, then unbuttoned his outer garment, revealing the magnificent embroidered garment underneath, and said solemnly, "General Qingzhu of the Embroidered Garment, greetings to Mr. Kong Ming."

"By order of the Emperor, please rush to Yecheng!"

(End of this chapter)