Aoyama

Chapter 193: Carving a Boat to Seek a Sword
Guangji Temple outside Luocheng.

Late at midnight, there was a noise coming from the "Jiexu Hall" in the temple. A piece of wooden floor was pushed open. She Dengke was the first to stick his head out of the tunnel and was startled.

Candles were lit in the Jiexu Hall, and two monks who were guarding the temple were meditating in front of Sakyamuni Buddha.

Hearing the noise, the two monks opened their eyes and looked, then closed their eyes again, as if everything was empty and they didn't take She Dengke seriously at all.

She Dengke was a little frightened when he saw the two monks. After they closed their eyes, he hurriedly said to the people in the tunnel, "Come up quickly."

The prince, Liang Maoer carried Liang Gouer on his back, and She Dengke pulled Chunhua, and they came out of the tunnel together.

She Dengke fixed the floor again, turned around and led a few people past the temple guarding monks in a hurry. The monks didn't even look at them again.

The prince followed at the end and suddenly asked in a depressed mood: "How do we leave Ning Dynasty?"

She Dengke explained: "By sea."

The prince sighed softly: "Oh, the sea..."

She Dengke asked curiously, "Prince, what's wrong?"

The prince lowered his head and said, "We talked about this before in the clinic, that we would go see the sea together."

She Dengke and Liang Maoer were both stunned. That day, Old Man Yao had mocked them, saying that they could go to the sea together as long as they were exiled. Although their current situation was not exile, it was not much better than exile.

Old man Yao’s words came true.

There were only two people missing from the crowd: Chen Ji and Bai Li.

They seemed to be left on this land forever, spring and summer, autumn and winter.

The prince asked in a low voice: "How can we save Bai Li? She is still in the hands of the eunuch party."

She Dengke said in embarrassment: "Sir, I'm afraid we can't save him. Look at Brother Gou'er, he's already like this..."

The prince thought for a moment and said, "I still have a few friends."

She Dengke shook his head: "Chen Ji said that your friends all hid as soon as the incident happened in the palace."

The prince hummed: "Then how do we go to sea?"

As they walked, She Dengke said, "Miss Zhang Er told me that there is a small dock outside Guangji Temple, and there is a small boat docked there. We will go to Jinling first, and then change boats to Zhenjiang, Jingjiang, Nantong, and sail out from Qidong. We will take the sea route to Jingchao in the north and disembark in Lushun."

The prince was in a low mood and asked casually, "Is this road feasible?"

She Dengke explained, "Miss Zhang Er said that the Xu family has always used this sea route to trade with the Jing Dynasty. You will definitely be able to make it. When you arrive at the Qidong dock, the Zhang family's soldiers will pick you up."

In front of the Guangji Temple, the prince suddenly stopped, with heavy snow falling on him: "We? You...you're not going?"

She Dengke hesitated for a long time before he finally mustered up the courage: "My Lord, I'm sorry, it's too dangerous to follow you. I have never even left Luocheng since I was a child. Now let me go to Jing Dynasty, I am worried that after I go there..."

The prince asked softly, "What if the eunuch party hunts you down?"

She Dengke lowered his head and looked at his toes: "The eunuchs probably don't know that I participated in the prison break. At most, they arrested Chunhua, but she is not an important person. She goes to the farm every day without makeup, and the eunuchs can't recognize her. I have discussed with my family and I will go to my fourth uncle in Mianchi tonight and work in the fields with him."

As he spoke, She Dengke took Chunhua's hand and said, "When the storm is over, I will use the money from the cement dividend to buy a few acres of paddy fields, and live a peaceful life with Chunhua."

The prince hummed: "Very good, but I don't know how to repay you."

She Dengke added: "Prince, you don't need to thank me, I went to save Chunhua... I am just the son of a Libang family, unlike you, I can't withstand the storm."

Everyone fell silent.

The prince forced a smile and said, "Since you have discussed it with your family, then go quickly."

She Dengke stepped back out the door: "Then we're leaving. Prince, Brother Cat, Brother Dog, take care."

After saying that, he took Chunhua's hand and walked out of Guangji Temple.

As soon as he stepped out of the door, the prince suddenly raised his hand and shouted, "She Dengke."

However, She Dengke was holding Chunhua's hand. When he heard the prince's voice, he paused and continued walking forward without looking back.

The prince slowly lowered his hand: "...Thank you."

The next moment, he raised the back of his hand to wipe the corners of his eyes, looked up at the night sky and sniffed.

Liang Maoer looked at the prince: "Prince, let's go too."

"it is good."

……

……

The remaining three walked towards the dock.

After leaving the temple, you can see a black-sailed boat docked at the river pier from a distance.

However, there was another person beside the black-sailed boat. Tianma was dressed in white and stood in the snow, like a banished immortal. But this immortal-like person was the one with the most murderous intentions in the Secret Service.

The prince turned around subconsciously, he wanted to go back to Guangji Temple for help. When he turned around, he saw that the door of Guangji Temple was suddenly closed, blocking the three people from entering.

The prince saw Tianma making some sign language from a distance, but no one could understand it.

Looking at each other from a distance.

The prince suddenly said, "Brother Cat, Brother Dog, please go. The person they want to kill is me, and it has nothing to do with you."

Liang Gou'er was amused: "It's already this late, why are you still running? Just die, it just so happens that you won't be alone on the road to the underworld. Among the people in the palace and the clinic, you are the only one who can drink a little. Cat, be obedient, put me down and you can go."

Liang Maoer said stubbornly: "I won't leave."

However, at this moment, a sneer came from the heavy snow behind them: "It's so touching. If there is no segment like yours in the future, I won't watch it."

The prince turned around suddenly and saw Old Man Yao walking slowly past them in the heavy snow with his hands behind his back and his back hunched.

"Imperial Physician Yao!" The prince was stunned.

Old Man Yao ignored him and just waved to Tianma as he walked away: "Go back, there is nothing for you to do here."

Tianma hesitated for a moment and made a few more gestures.

Old man Yao responded cheerfully, "He plays tricks and tells lies every day, and he can't control me. No one can touch these people, as entrusted by an old friend. Let's go back to the capital. If the Minister asks, just say that I took these people away."

Tianma nodded, clasped his hands together in a salute, then turned and strode away.

The prince was stunned.

Old man Yao walked to the side of the boat and looked back: "Why don't you get on board?"

"Here we go," the two princes hurriedly boarded the boat. Liang Maoer helped Liang Gouer sit down in the black boat, while he rowed the boat.

The sound of splashing water could be heard, and the small black-sailed boat slowly sailed away into the distance.

Old Man Yao stood at the side of the ship and said to the prince behind him without turning his head: "Prince, you haven't forgotten what the prince said to you in the clinic on the day he fell ill, right?"

The prince shook his head: "I haven't forgotten."

Old Man Yao said calmly, "The prince used his life to exchange for our entry into the Jing Dynasty. This journey will be difficult. Have you thought about it? I am old and a little soft-hearted. If you really want to regret it, it is not too late to leave now."

The prince shook his head: "I don't regret it, but what about Baili?"

Old Man Yao said casually: "It depends on their luck."

The prince asked hopefully, "Can you tell me my fortune?"

Old man Yao chuckled, "My disciple doesn't believe in fate. Fortune telling is useless. Heaven will not accept him. Prince, the journey is long and he may not be able to come back. Say goodbye to the prince."

After saying this, the old man turned around and lowered his head to get into the black boat, leaving the prince alone standing on the side of the boat looking at the river.

The prince suddenly burst into tears, knelt on the side of the boat, and kowtowed three times to the north, bidding farewell to his biological father and his homeland. The heavy snow fell on the water, making a rustling sound. It turned out that when the world was silent, the falling snow also had a sound, desolate and deep.

The prince suddenly picked up the paddle and wrote in the water:

The time of youth is long, and we would drink wine in the red alley.

Power is the brick wall and profit is the tile, and friends and guests fill the tent.

When I wake up, I regret the day is so short, after having a long dream of twenty turns.

Suddenly I realize that most of the people I walk with are the same as mine, but only two or three are sincere to me.

Alas, I sit alone in a boat listening to the snow and gazing at the distant sky and earth.

The prince wrote the first and last poem of his life. No one saw the poem, and it was hidden in the dark river, flowing eastward with the Yangtze River.

He stood up and walked to the middle of the boat, kneeling down to Liang Gou'er and saying, "Please teach me the Liang family swordsmanship, sir!"

The Prince of Jing, who had lived a wealthy and prosperous first half of his life, was full of sword intent.

Liang Gou'er leaned against the black tent and remained silent for a long time. He asked dryly, "Why do you want to learn my Liang family swordsmanship?"

The prince whispered, "Follow my father's wishes and kill the immortals."

"Maybe it's hard?"

"can?"

"Do you dare to kill someone?"

"dare!"

Liang Gou'er laughed out loud: "Okay, okay, I will pass on the Liang family swordsmanship to you. But my Du meridian is severed, so I am afraid I will not see the day when you can kill an immortal. If you can really kill an immortal one day, please tell the immortal for me, 'You are just a chicken or a dog, not as good as my master's little finger.'"

The prince said seriously: "Okay."

Liang Gou'er said with emotion: "Call me Master."

The prince knelt down on the boat and kowtowed nine times. When he looked up again, he said, "Master, it's a pity that there is no wine or tea."

Liang Gou'er smiled, picked up a ladle beside him and threw it to the prince: "The children of the rivers and lakes are wandering around, and flowing water is still wine."

The prince turned around and scooped a bucket of water from the river and handed it to him. Liang Gou'er drank a mouthful of the mountain river water and shouted, "It feels so good! You feel much better than that kid Chen Ji!"

Old Man Yao glanced at him and said, "Don't seek death."

Liang Gou'er pursed his lips and said nothing. He didn't know what level Old Man Yao was at, but he must be very capable to let Tianma go with just a wave of his sleeves.

Old man Yao pulled out a small wooden box from his arms and took out a white blood-stained pill from it: "Swallow it, my prince. This Life-Falling Pill can help you practice."

The prince was startled: "Shengyu Dan? Why don't you keep it for yourself? Your life span..."

Old Man Yao smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. It would be a good honor to have a good disciple before I die."

"Chen Ji, he..."

"His path is more difficult than yours."

……

……

Mao Shi.

The snow has stopped and the sky is going to clear up.

Chen Ji rode his horse back to Anxi Street. The Prince Jing's Mansion had been sealed with a white seal. There were messy white papers flying in front of the door, and the wind blew them away, making them flutter.

Arriving at the door of Taiping Medical Clinic, he pushed open the door and said, "Master, I'm back!"

However, the clinic was already empty.

Chen Ji walked in: "Master?"

"Master, where are you?"

"Master..."

Chen Ji stood in the yard and looked around blankly. The small Taiping Medical Clinic was deserted and there was no one around anymore... everyone had left.

He came to the apricot tree and picked off the red cloth strips on the tree one by one.

The princess first wrote: peace, joy, success, and no worries.

Chen Ji then unfolded the words "Master, may you live a long and healthy life" written by Liu Quxing, and then the words "Master, may you live a long and healthy life" written by She Dengke. In his ears, the sounds of laughter and playing under the moon that day seemed to ring again.

In a trance, he seemed to see She Dengke and Liu Quxing chasing each other around the apricot tree again.

But in the blink of an eye, all the old people were gone.

Memories are like this, they only punish those who are nostalgic.

Chen Ji turned around, carried the remaining liquor from the clinic out the door, jumped on his horse, and galloped towards the Drum Tower.

While galloping, he drank and turned his head to look at the sky in the distance.

When they arrived at the Drum Tower, Chen Ji stuffed a silver peanut into the guard soldier's hand and climbed up the wooden steps step by step.

He sat on the railing holding a jar of wine, swaying in the cold wind, as if he would fall down at any time.

Chen Ji looked around drunkenly: "Liu Quxing, what do you want to do in the future?"

Someone in the wind said, "I want to inherit my master's legacy and become an imperial physician!"

Chen Ji laughed: "Okay, from now on you will be the imperial physician of Prince Jing's Mansion!"

He asked loudly again: "Liang Maoer, what do you want to do in the future?"

Someone else in the wind answered, "I want to buy a few acres of land."

"Okay, I'll send you tomorrow!"

Chen Ji asked again: "Sir, what do you want to do in the future?"

"I want to be a great knight! I just realized that reading those scriptures is useless. From now on, read whichever page the wind blows. Tear off the hardest page to read! Beat the drum!"

Someone in the wind said angrily: "Brother, think carefully, if you hit it with the hammer, the soldier guarding the drum tower downstairs will be exiled!"

"Then I won't knock."

The sun is coming out.

Chen Ji looked up and saw a red sun slowly rising at the end of the world. There was no cloud in the sky and the orange-red light gradually shone on him, who was alone.

Like flowers in the mirror, the moon in the water, and dreams in the world.

In the morning sun, the dark cloud moved lightly along the wooden railing. It crawled into Chen Ji's arms and raised its head. Chen Ji touched its furry head and looked towards the distant horizon.

Wuyun meowed and asked, "Chen Ji, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for the sword on a boat."

……

……

Volume 3, Carving a Boat to Look for the Sword, ends.

(End of this chapter)