Aoyama

Chapter 484: Different Ways, Don’t Conspire with Each Other
Chen Ji sat at the octagonal table in the main room, shirtless, letting the young monk help him remove the layers of gray cloth strips from his body.

A basin of boiling water sat on the table. The doors and windows were closed, but the afternoon sun shone through the white paper windows, illuminating the rising steam.

When the young monk lifted the cloth strip, he saw the wound covered underneath, and his fingers trembled slightly: "Doesn't it hurt, benefactor?"

Chen Ji did not answer.

The young monk threw the gray cloth on the ground, wrung out a towel from the basin of hot water, and cleaned Chen Ji's wound: "Benefactor, what is the feeling of being moved?"

Chen Ji calmly countered, "You can see into people's hearts, yet you don't know what it means to be moved?"

The little monk said helplessly, "Because I can't see myself."

Chen Ji chuckled and teased, "It's a kind of irony of fate that someone who can see all the secrets of the world can't understand their own."

The young monk quickly replied, "It's not that I don't understand at all, it's just that it's not as certain as what I see with my supernatural powers."

Chen Ji slowly began to speak: "You and Xiao..."

The little monk's movements as he cleaned Chen Ji's wounds suddenly became heavy, causing Chen Ji to gasp in pain and interrupt his words.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," the little monk quickly apologized.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Didn't your master teach you that?"

The young monk recalled, "Master only said that fate is predetermined, and those who come are all debts. Once they are repaid, they will leave. I asked him how to know who my tribulation is, and he said that I would know when I met them."

Chen Ji sighed, "Do all the monks in Yunzhou speak in such a cryptic way? No wonder you couldn't overcome your tribulations in three lifetimes."

The young monk cleaned Chen Ji's wound and wrapped it with a clean white cloth. "No, Master said that these things can't be explained clearly. Once you explain them clearly, you'll have a utilitarian mindset. It's like shooting an arrow at a target. If you only have eyes for that target, you won't see the vast world."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Your master is a wise man."

The young monk finished wrapping the white cloth around his head and scratched his stubble-covered head: "Right, I think so too... But you, benefactor, only have the target in your eyes now. Why don't you look at the world outside the target?"

Chen Ji was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "Next time Wuzhai comes out of the mountains to debate scriptures, I will send you to debate with him."

The young monk hurriedly said, "I can't do it. I've been timid since I was a child, and my body trembles when I debate with people. If anyone in the Jokhang Temple wants to debate with me, my master will beat them up directly."

Chen Ji got up and put on his clothes, which were old clothes that Zhang Xia had just bought from someone inside the pass, and they fit him fairly well.

He slowly fastened his belt and walked out the door: "Oh? Don't you Buddhists like to debate scriptures? It is said that the more you debate, the clearer the meaning of the scriptures becomes."

The young monk followed him out the door: "Master said that only mortals need to debate scriptures, not Buddhas."

Chen Ji threw the blood-stained gray cloth under the stove. The firelight reflected on his cheeks, and he only felt relieved after watching the cloth burn to ashes.

……

……

Just then, shouts came from outside the house.

The courtyard gate opened, and Zhang Xia squeezed in from outside.

She stood outside the kitchen, looking at the remains beside the stove, and said, "Ah Sheng and the others are back, bringing with them the corpses of the Night Scouts and the Imperial Guards..."

Chen Ji asked softly, "How many Imperial Guards soldiers died in battle?"

Zhang Xia glanced at Chen Ji with concern: "I inquired and found out that the Imperial Guards suffered 67 casualties this time. Zhou Chong and Zhou Li are gone; they stayed behind to hold off the Mo Dao Battalion while covering the army's retreat. Qi Zhenzhuo was seriously injured and almost lost his right hand..."

Zhang Xia glanced at Chen Ji and said nothing more.

Chen Ji smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes: "Let's go, let's set off back to the capital today."

Zhang Xia advised, "Your injuries are extremely serious. You should rest in the pass for a few days and wait for the twelve zodiac officers of the Secret Service to return to the pass before returning to the capital together... The Imperial Guards came by imperial decree, and their decision to leave the pass was their own; it has nothing to do with you."

Chen Ji shook his head and said something harshly realistic: "It's too hot to keep the body in a mortuary. The parents need to see it one last time before the burial. If it's delayed too long, it will be unrecognizable."

Before leaving, Zhang Xia hesitated for a moment: "There's a lot of slander going on inside Chongli Pass these days, don't listen to it."

Chen Ji paused, realizing that Zhang Xia was worried about this matter.

He then stepped outside again, saying, "Don't worry."

Xiaoman muttered, "The border troops at Chongli Pass are not as straightforward as those at Guyuan. The border troops at Chongli Pass are ungrateful. Even though the young master was seriously injured while saving people, they still spoke so rudely."

Chen Ji calmly said, "There is no right or wrong in this matter; they simply don't know the inside story."

Xiaoman lowered her head: "But it was clearly an imperial decree to bring the envoy back to the capital, what does it have to do with you, young master? That Hong Zu'er is like a madman, unreasonable, insisting on clinging to you." Chen Ji sighed softly: "They are not unreasonable, they know that the grudge of Yuancheng should not be attributed to Princess Liyang... but they hate too much in their hearts, what else can they do but curse, they can't just suffocate themselves. If it were me, the Jing Dynasty envoy would definitely not have survived to Chongli Pass."

Princess Liyang smiled and said, "Of course, Lord Chen is much more capable than them."

Xiaoman rolled her eyes at Princess Liyang.

As the group walked along the blue brick road of Chongli Pass, the soldiers passing by gave them cold looks, and even the blacksmiths along the street stared intently at them while they were forging iron.

As they were walking, Aunt Li, who had styled Zhang Xia's hair and cut her face earlier, came towards them, carrying her mother-of-pearl inlaid box.

Chen Ji greeted her with a smile: "Aunt Li..."

But Aunt Li didn't say a word, pretending not to know them, and brushed past them.

Chen Ji stopped talking and headed towards Ping An Gate on his own.

Silence reigned before Ping An Gate. More than twenty carts were parked below the gate tower, with hundreds of corpses piled on them without dignity, their faces ashen.

The soldiers stood solemnly, layer upon layer, surrounding the cart.

Hong Zu'er stood beside the cart, speaking casually as if chatting about everyday matters: "Don't all stand around here. Some of your relatives live inside the pass. Call them over. The people from Xuanqian Prefecture, go and fetch the coffin and straw mats; the people from Xuanyou Prefecture, go and fetch the charcoal and ashes; the people from Xuanzuo Prefecture, go and dig the pit. Everyone else, lend a hand and pull the cart to the south gate of the city. We need to bury the people quickly, otherwise, if the plague spreads inside the pass, many more people will die."

"Bai Zi, go to the military market and tell them that if anyone still owes us money at exorbitant interest rates, I, Hong Zu'er, will try to find something to make it up to them in the next few days. If I find out who has embezzled the pensions given by the court this time, they can forget about doing business in Chongli Pass in the future."

"The bows and arrows and the long-handled swords brought back this time, the bows and arrows are handed over to the general for disposal, and the long-handled swords are all taken to the military market to be sold. Ah Sheng keeps the accounts, and all the night spies who leave the pass will be divided equally. Those who want to buy military merits from the heads should come to me at night, but don't let the court's merit-making officials see them. There's no use in military merits for dead people. Giving them to the court will only result in them having a few memorial arches erected. What's the use of those things? It's better to sell them and send the money back to their families..."

Hong Zu'er's indifferent tone was not like that of someone handling funeral arrangements, but more like that of a businessman who had just finished a business deal and was settling accounts, calculating each item clearly.

The crowd dispersed as instructed, and only then did he notice Chen Ji standing outside the crowd.

He glanced at Chen Ji only once, then silently pushed the cart southward with his colleagues. Halfway there, relatives of the night watchmen arrived, wailing and following beside the cart, crying all the way.

But Hong Zuer didn't stop the car; he just pushed it straight towards the south of the city.

After exiting the south gate of Chongli Pass, the military market was quiet. Hong Zuer beckoned to a merchant: "Bring two jars of wine."

The merchant hurriedly brought over two jars of wine. Hong Zuer handed the cart to someone else and walked in front, sprinkling the wine on the rammed earth road, as if paving a path for those behind him.

He muttered to himself, "I don't care where I'm reincarnated in my next life, just don't come to Chongli Pass again."

Upon arriving outside the military market, Hong Zu'er stopped and looked back.

Soldiers from Xuanqian Prefecture rushed over, carrying dozens of thin coffins.

At this moment, the Imperial Guards also rode up from within the pass, all of them wounded. When Duo Bao saw Zhou Chong and the others on the cart, he immediately dismounted, staggered over to them, and threw himself on his comrade, weeping uncontrollably.

Qi Zhenzhuo rode up to Chen Ji and choked out, "Master..."

Hong Zuer turned to Chen Ji and said, “Officials and nobles need ice for their coffins when they return to their ancestral home, but we don’t have that in Chongli Pass. We can only use a makeshift method. We’ll put two inches of charcoal under the coffin, then put the person in, and sprinkle ashes on top. If you hurry, we should be able to carry it to the capital.”

Having said that, he left the cart carrying the corpses of the Imperial Guards behind, and pulled the remaining carts, hunching his back, towards the West Hill Cemetery: "Lord Chen, as you said, those who walk different paths cannot make plans together. Chongli Pass is not a place you should come to. We will pretend we have never met you, and you should not come again. Go forth and pursue your future."

Hong Zuer returned to Chen Ji what Chen Ji had said that morning.

Chen Ji did not answer, nor did he seem to need to.

Not everything in this world needs to be figured out, nor can everything be figured out.

The Buddha said that in one's lifetime, one must cross the sea of ​​people 88,000 times.

Not everyone in this vast world can understand you.

You don't need to understand it.

Chen Ji silently helped the Imperial Guards lay down charcoal at the bottom of the coffins and placed the corpses into them one by one.

Li Xuan led over a warhorse: "Are you alright?"

Chen Ji wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head silently.

Li Xuan said in a low voice, "Don't think too much about it. Our duty is to welcome the envoys..."

Chen Ji's back wound throbbed with pain. He took the reins, glanced back at the majestic Chongli Pass, and then mounted his horse: "Let's go."

(End of this chapter)