Aoyama

Chapter 203: Asking for forgiveness
Liu Quxing cried for a long time on the long street in the dark night.

It was not until his crying attracted his father that he hurriedly wiped his tears and pulled his mother away.

Chen Ji stood in the darkness of a nearby alley and watched silently until the long street was empty, then he walked out of the shadows with dark clouds in his arms.

He looked at the direction where Liu Quxing left and said with emotion, "Liu Quxing studied medicine very hard. Master once said that he would be able to see patients in a while. Taiping Clinic is left to him, and the medical books in the clinic are also left to him. It is not a waste."

Wuyun: "Why don't you tell Liu Quxing the truth? You've done so much, yet you're still misunderstood."

Chen Ji: “I can’t say.”

Wuyun was puzzled: "Why can't I tell you?"

Chen Ji: "Things are accomplished through secrecy, and ruined through disclosure."

Wuyun was stunned: "Fish defeated by crabs?"

Chen Ji explained, "If we want to save the princess, we have to take risks. We will inevitably do something illegal in the future. If others know that we want to save the princess, many things we do secretly will be linked to us. That's why Bai Long told me to be cunning. Liu Quxing is not good at keeping secrets. If he knows too much, it will bring him disaster."

Wuyun meowed: "But it's really sad to be misunderstood by friends."

Chen Ji walked along the long street in the dark night, holding Wuyun in his arms, and exhaled a breath of white mist: "It's okay. We don't need anyone to understand what we are going to do."

"Oh……"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "We are going to the capital soon, so be happy. I heard that the Lantern Festival in the capital is the most prosperous. The whole city is decorated with fireworks and golden splendor for six days and six nights, all night long, with bright lights. We will celebrate the New Year and the Lantern Festival in the capital, and I will take you to see it then."

"Okay." Wuyun was still a little unhappy.

The master, the prince, Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er went to Jingchao; She Dengke went to the countryside of Mianchi; Liu Quxing left home; and the princess was taken to the capital.

The people in Taiping Medical Clinic eventually dispersed, and no one was left.

……

……

When Chen Ji returned to Mingquan Garden, it was already midnight.

He stood outside the yard, looking at the open gate and the lights on in the house, thinking: "I remember turning off the lights when I came out. Who would come here in the middle of the night?"

Wuyun responded: "It's Chen Wenzong's smell."

Chen Ji walked into the house, but saw that the charcoal brazier had been lit and the window was open for ventilation.

Chen Wenzong fell asleep beside the mother-of-pearl tea table, as quiet as a weak scholar in a storybook. According to the storyteller's story, a fox demon with a pure white body would crawl into the window crack, and a love-hate relationship would begin. Then a knight named Yan Chixia would take Chen Wenzong to kill the tree demon grandma...

Chen Ji walked forward and patted the other person's shoulder gently: "Brother?"

Chen Wenzong woke up with a start and sat up straight: "You're back. Where did you go just now? Why aren't you in the house?"

Chen Ji evaded the question: "Why did my brother come to visit so late at night?"

Chen Wenzong was reminded and said quickly, "I thought that you haven't lit the charcoal fire in your room yet, so I ordered someone to bring you the silver charcoal from the Xishan kiln in my room. This thing is smokeless and odorless, and can be burned warm for three hours. It is perfect for heating overnight."

Chen Ji glanced at the brass charcoal basin and said, "Brother, you are thoughtful."

Chen Wenzong reached into his arms to take something out, but he had beaten Chen Wenxiao with a stick 20 times and Wang Gui with a stick 20 times during the day, and now his arms were so sore and swollen that he could hardly lift them.

He took out a bracelet from his bosom with great effort and trembling, "Chen Ji, I have counted the crimes in Wen Xiao's confession today. He has borrowed 1,700 taels of silver from various gambling houses in your name over the years. As your brother, I cannot let you suffer such injustice. He has wronged you, so I will withdraw the money from the Chen Mansion and give it to you as compensation."

Chen Ji looked at the string of Buddhist coins with an ambiguous expression.

Is he short of money?
He lacks.

Now the icy flow from Prince Jing was lingering in his dantian like a violent storm.

He needed silver, a lot of silver, to dissolve the ice flows one by one.

There are 110 fires burning in Chen Ji's body. Perhaps only by igniting the remaining 490 or so fires can he enter the realm of seeking the Tao and become a true great official.

Just when I was worried, Chen Wenzong came with a timely help.

Chen Wenzong said softly, "I was worried about you before, but now the prince, the princess and the others... didn't want to mention it to you, but I always felt that if you kept it to yourself, it would cause problems."

When he said this, he hesitated for a moment and asked: "Are you okay?" Chen Ji was slightly stunned. After so many days, apart from the dark clouds, Chen Wenzong was the first person to ask if he was okay.

He accepted the Buddhist Tongbao and said with a smile: "Thank you for your concern, brother. It's getting late, brother, you should go back and rest early."

Chen Wenzong shook his head: "I still have something to ask you."

"what's up?"

Chen Wenzong suddenly asked, "The Master said, 'Governing with virtue is like the North Star, which stays in its place and all the other stars revolve around it... What do you mean by this sentence?'"

Chen Ji was stunned: "What is that?"

Chen Wenzong sighed, "It seems that you have fallen behind in the classics during the past two years in the clinic. But it doesn't matter. I will start to help you review tomorrow. Since you want to take the imperial examination, you can't slack off anymore."

Chen Ji's expression changed, and the candlelight in the room flickered: "Brother, this is not good, I just came back."

Chen Wenzong frowned, "Time flies by, day and night. You will take part in the provincial examination in three years, how much time do you have left to delay? Don't resist, or else don't mind me being ruthless. I can punish you for your filial piety, and I can also punish you."

Chen Ji: “Ah?”

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Chen Wenzong walked out: "Rest early."

Chen Ji looked at Chen Wenzong's back and said in a daze, "Wuyun, do you think my brother is addicted to beating others with a stick?"

Wuyun was shocked: "Very fierce!"

Chen Ji sighed: "After all, there are still good people in this Chen Mansion. Now, it seems that we only need to worry about Liang and Wang Gui."

……

……

At the same time, the lights in the Buddhist hall of Chen Mansion were still on.

A faint green smoke wafted out of the hollow copper furnace in the house, and the aroma of agarwood spread along with the green smoke. Twelve candles were lit next to the Buddha shrine.
Liang took off her luxurious headgear and knelt respectfully on the cushion in front of the Bodhisattva, fiddling with the Buddhist beads in her hand and silently reciting Buddhist scriptures with her lips.

"Madam, please save me!"

Liang heard someone calling her from outside the door and got up to open it.

In the darkness of the night, Wang Gui knelt on the cold bluestone slab and begged, "Madam, save me."

Liang said calmly, "You are not dead, so why should we talk about whether to save you or not? You were just punished by the sect leader during the day. Why are you looking for me instead of taking a good rest?"

Wang Gui kowtowed on the ground: "The master just came to tell me that I should stay in Luocheng to take care of the property and not return to Beijing. Madam, please sympathize with my old mother and help me to speak for her. I have to return to Beijing to take care of her."

Liang looked down at Wang Gui and said, "Why did you come to me to ask for mercy? I am just like you, reflecting on my mistakes."

Wang Gui hurriedly said, "I know that you saved me today because Chen Ji and I are mortal enemies, so it is useful for you to save my life."

Liang's two thin willow-shaped eyebrows slightly raised: "That's the third son of my Chen family. Why would I keep someone who has a grudge against him? You're just being too smart."

Wang Gui did not change his words after being reprimanded. He lowered his head and said, "Madam, it is not a coincidence that the two zodiac signs of Yunyang and Jiaotu came to the Chen Mansion. It is also not a coincidence that Zhang Zhuo and Zhang Xia came to the Chen Mansion."

Liang said nothing.

Wang Gui continued, "Don't worry about the Zhang family. When we get to the capital and move into the Chen family mansion, they can't come to the Chen Mansion every day. Besides, as for these two zodiac signs, I have some close friends in the capital and Luocheng, and my mother also has some connections in the palace. She will definitely help you find out the whole story. If Chen Ji is involved with the eunuch party... the master hates the eunuch party the most in his life, and he will not be tolerated."

Liang was silent for a moment: "Wang Gui, you asked the wrong person for help. You provoked Chen Ji. As long as he is angry, the master will be angry too. If you are smart enough, you will know what to do; if you are not smart enough, you can stay and take care of the property."

Wang Gui thought for a moment, then struggled to get up: "I understand."

He dragged his injured body to the dim woodshed.

Amid the rustling sound, he took off his shirt, revealing the wound on his back. Then, he gritted his teeth and tied thin pieces of firewood to his bloody back, enduring the biting cold wind and walked towards Mingquan Garden.

Arriving at Mingquan Garden, Wang Gui knocked on the gate and knelt outside.

But he was so cold that his lips turned purple, and he was shaking all over as he shouted, "Third Young Master, I have committed many offenses in the past, but today I have been taught by the master and the eldest young master, and I have repented. I know that I have committed serious sins, so please punish me. Even if you kill me today, I will not complain."

(End of this chapter)