Aoyama

Chapter 502 Twenty Years of Feud

The smoke from burning wine banners enveloped the long street, and shouts of killing echoed from the taverns.

The straw hat on Si Cao Gui's head had flown off somewhere, revealing his weathered face as he stared intently at the swaying carriage curtain.

The two people inside and outside the car were old acquaintances of twenty years, but neither of them felt the joy of reuniting with an old friend.

Princess Liyang lifted the carriage curtain and slowly stepped down, saying calmly, "It's been a long time."

Si Cao Gui looked at the woman before him. Her face was that of Princess Li Yang, yet her eyes were so familiar. Forever like a still, black lake, beneath which flowed a fire. And besides, the ways of officialdom don't lie.

Si Cao Gui was certain that the woman before him was Lu Ye, a name that didn't sound like a woman's.

At this moment, the eight trigrams on the edges of Lu's palms appeared and disappeared, with the eight trigrams of Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Zhen, Gen, Xun, and Dui appearing and disappearing one by one.

Si Cao Gui felt a dull pain in his chest. He recalled, "The six trigrams Kan, Li, Zhen, Gen, Xun, and Dui strike the six souls, while the two trigrams Qian and Kun strike the two spirits... Sister, am I right?"

Madam Lu said calmly, "Did Lu Jin teach you that?"

Si Cao Gui pondered, “The Zhen hexagram represents thunder, followed by the hexagrams Lei Shui Jie and Ze Feng Da Guo. Just now, with that palm strike, one of my Corpse Dog’s souls was knocked out of my body. No wonder I couldn’t muster any vigilance.”

As Lu walked towards him step by step, Si Cao Gui suddenly said, "Sister, after you faked your death, we have been looking for you for more than ten years. The magistrate is still looking for you and has never given up."

Lu stood still: "Your fake death was flawless back then, so why do you think I'm still alive?"

Si Cao Gui calmly said, "Because you didn't pass on the Eight Trigrams Dragon to Chen Ji before you died."

Lu seemed to understand something: "No wonder, so that's where the flaw was."

Si Cao Gui continued, "The lord said that the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon is a unique official technique passed down in Qing Wentao's family. You are a person of great loyalty and righteousness, and you would never let it be buried in the world. Over the years, I have stayed by Chen Ji's side to test him many times and confirmed that he obtained the official technique after entering Taiping Medical Hall. Since you did not pass on the Eight Trigrams Swimming Dragon to him, it means that you are not dead... We have been looking for you."

Lu remained silent.

Si Cao Gui sighed, “I’ve guarded Chen Ji for so many years, always thinking you would come to see him. I never expected you to be so heartless, never showing up even once. I watched him being bullied and slandered by the Liang family, watched him sleep in a room with broken windows without even a brazier in winter, watched him being sent to Taiping Medical Clinic as a junior apprentice. Sister, how could you bear it? But I’ve finally found you. Last time you used the Bagua Youlong technique in Changping, I knew it must be you.”

Madam Lu nodded: "So it was you who kept trying to buy information from Xiaoman, wanting to know who Chen Ji had met, and to see if I had secretly gone to see him. The person Xiaoman used to devour the Taotie in Luocheng was one of yours."

Si Cao Gui readily admitted, "That's right."

Madam Lu narrowed her eyes slightly: "How far has Chen Ji gotten into trouble with the Military Intelligence Bureau? How much has he done for you?"

Si Cao Gui sighed, "He's a lot like you. Just like how we all thought you were omnipotent back then, whenever we were in despair, we could only rely on you to complete the mission. Now Chen Ji always manages to surprise me. Whenever I think things are hopeless, he always manages to pull things out of the predicament. If it weren't for you, he should have been groomed to be the head of the department... If he could have been adopted into the main branch of the Chen family and succeeded as the head of the department, what would have prevented our Jing Dynasty's great cause from succeeding?"

Madam Lu asked again in a deep voice, "How many people still know his identity?"

Si Cao Gui smiled and said, "Don't worry, sister. It's just me and Lord Lu. Lord Lu only wants to find you and doesn't want to make things difficult for his nephew. After all, Chen Ji is one of his few relatives."

Madam Lu sneered: "Lu Jin is so afraid of me, he has no choice but to find me and eliminate me completely?"

“It’s not fear, it’s missing you. You are the most important family member to my master in this world. He looks forward to seeing you again every single day,” Si Cao Gui said sincerely. “My master said that he no longer blames you.”

Mrs. Lu seemed to have heard a joke: "He... doesn't blame me?"

Si Cao Gui did not respond to that, but instead said earnestly, "Sister, when we first came to Ningchao, you took us in. I still remember that year when the assassination attempt on Military Strategist Jiang Xu failed, Lord Lu secretly sent us to Ningchao. After we disembarked at Tanggu, the first hot meal we had in Ningchao was cooked by you."

Madam Lu also recalled: "I remember you were in a sorry state back then, like twenty-seven homeless stray dogs. You could eat as much as you were given a bite to eat and sleep well after you were full. I made you a big pot of stir-fried noodles, and you ate it all. At that time, the Military Intelligence Bureau was still in its infancy, and Lu Jin had not yet become the Military Commissioner. We didn't even have military pay, but we had twenty-seven more mouths to feed. Later, as more and more people were waiting to be fed, I had to cut back on my own food and clothing."

The family of Lu Jin and Lu Ye had fallen on hard times. Lu Jin knelt before Yuan Zhong, the Vice Minister of the Privy Council, for three days and three nights, begging for a position as a clerk in the Privy Council, which gave him the opportunity to go south and make a name for himself. At that time, the Privy Council did not agree to Lu Jin establishing a Military Intelligence Bureau, so Lu Jin acted secretly, with only these twenty-seven stray dogs under his command.

But it was precisely these twenty-seven stray dogs who held up the Military Intelligence Division.

Lu Shi shuttled between the capital and Guyuan, while Lu Jin shuttled between Jingchao and Ningchao. It wasn't until a year later that the Military Intelligence Bureau began to take shape and had fresh blood.

Si Cao Gui suddenly said, "Sister, you shouldn't have abandoned the Military Intelligence Bureau and followed Qing Wentao to Guyuan. You should have been the head of the Military Intelligence Bureau."

Looking at the smoke in the sky, Madam Lu said, "So, should I continue to stay in Yujing Garden to perform and earn money to support the Military Intelligence Bureau? Agui, I also have things I want to do. During my time in Yujing Garden, I met many, many people every day, sang many, many songs, and played many, many tunes. Later, I bought Yujing Garden back, but I have never been to see it again."

Everyone thought that Lu Jin had single-handedly gone south to support the Military Intelligence Bureau, but they didn't know that the Military Intelligence Bureau was initially supported by a woman, simply because the matter was not honorable.

Si Cao Gui took a deep breath: "Come back to Jingchao with me and apologize to Lord Lu. You are siblings, so as long as you are willing to admit your mistake, there is still a chance."

Madam Lu smiled and said, "Tell me, why should I apologize to him?"

Si Cao Gui said calmly, "The people of Jingchao betrayed their hometown for the sake of a Ningchao general. It is already an act of mercy that they can admit their mistake and be spared death."

Madam Lu retorted, "Did he tell you how he returned to Jingchao, and how he stole other people's credit to make a name for himself? Did he tell you how he betrayed his promise and left a scar on my face?"

Si Cao Gui interrupted, "Sister, the lord is not that kind of person."

Lu casually replied, "It's alright, there's no point in explaining to you. I'll go to Jingchao to find him sooner or later. I'll just ask you one question: Was Si Caoding one of the twenty-seven people from back then? Who is Si Caoding?"

Si Cao Gui shook his head: "No."

Lu walked step by step toward Si Cao Gui: "Lu Jin set a trap to kill Qing Wentao. I must avenge this. He has been looking for me all these years only because he was afraid that I would expose his shameful deeds to the world and that I would seek revenge. That's all. As for Si Cao Ding, I will find him."

Si Cao Gui slowly said, "Since my elder sister is unwilling to return with me, then I will have no choice but to leave you in Ning Dynasty forever."

The next moment, Lu stepped forward, and Si Cao Gui thrust forward with his short knife, but Lu moved like a dragon, nimbly turning behind Si Cao Gui.

As Lu Shi turned her footsteps, the outer Bagua of her palm suddenly rotated, eventually settling on the Li trigram.

Li represents fire, volcano is associated with travel, and heavenly fire is associated with people.

The palm struck Si Cao Gui's back with a whooshing sound, but Si Cao Gui seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. His bones cracked and his spine twisted like a snake as he barely dodged the palm.

Si Cao Gui flew backward, but just as his body passed the carriage, he heard Madam Lu say in a deep voice, "Thirteen!"

In an instant, the carriage collapsed, and the arrows that had been embedded in it scattered in all directions.

Inside the car, "Yuancheng" had already removed his black hood and jumped out. This person was none other than Thirteen, who had rescued Chen Ji and the Lu family with Master Hu in Changping.

He swung the palm-sized crescent hook at Si Cao Gui, who was already dodging Lu Shi. Unable to dodge in time, Si Cao Gui was slashed in the right eye by the knife, and blood gushed out immediately.

Si Cao Gui swung his sword backhand, but Thirteen dodged with the agility of a monkey.

But Si Cao Gui's knife was too fast. Thirteen was only at the Innate Realm, so he could only twist his body to take the blow to his ribs and fly back into the carriage.

Thirteen cried out in anguish, "I'm going to die! Master, save me!"

(End of this chapter)