The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#616 - A cave of ghosts

“But today, with great chaos imminent and the Chen Dynasty teetering on the brink, Meng Tuqiu isn't the only one with ambition. The Northwest military families are led by the four surnames: Ding, Le, Ning, and Jiang.

“Among them, the Ding family has been in power the longest and has the most influence, followed by the Le family. The Ning family was originally only middle-tier, but because they had a good daughter, they rose overnight to become a top military family. However, their foundation is still shallow, so they can only be ranked third.

“The Jiang family was originally as famous as the Ding family, but they chose the wrong side early on, and the Eighth Prince they supported ultimately failed to seize the throne. As a result, the Jiang family has also declined significantly. However, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse, and they are still much stronger than the remaining military families.

“Moreover, the current Emperor is preoccupied and can't spare any more effort to deal with the Jiang family, giving them a chance to catch their breath. This time, the Northwest rebellion is exactly what the Jiang family wants, the longer it lasts, the better.

“The Ding and Le families are currently taking a wait-and-see attitude. On the one hand, they are entangled with the Sanzhou tribal chiefs under the Emperor's orders, putting on a lively show on the surface, but in reality, they are mainly focused on preserving their strength to await the changes in the world.”

Luo Yingying said, “What about the Ning family? The Ning family is always on the Emperor's side, right? After all, General Ning's daughter is now in the palace, and it is said that she is quite favored.”

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“Heh heh, the Ning family… they may not be as honest as you think. Although they owe their current position to Ning Jieyu, a daughter is, after all, a daughter. The Ning family can't possibly bet the lives of their entire clan on the Emperor for the sake of a woman.

“Besides, Ning Jieyu hasn't given birth to a prince yet. She may be favored, but her position is not very stable. That old fox, Ning Zhonghe, is probably still undecided.”

Luo Yingying blinked, “So, these Northwest military families would rather watch Meng Tuqiu annex Ma Tuqiu and Tong Tuqiu, consolidating the power of Sanzhou, than send troops now to fight Meng Tuqiu and risk losing?”

“Then what are you still doing here, Father? Why not resign and return to our hometown? Don't we still have a few acres of land back there?”

“With chaos on the horizon, there will be no peaceful days to live.” Luo Changshi shook his head, “Besides, I've been working as Tong Tuqiu's chief clerk for so long. The knowledge I possess can only be useful in the Northwest Sanzhou. Where else would I have a place to use my talents if I went back?”

“But I see that you don't do anything here except sigh,” Luo Yingying said, puzzled.

“Your father is waiting.” Luo Changshi stroked his beard.

“Waiting for what?”

“Waiting for change. Just like I said, the war in the Northwest Sanzhou won't remain in a stalemate forever. When Meng Tuqiu starts annexing the other two families, I reckon someone will come looking for me. The person might be from Tong Tuqiu's side, or perhaps from the Northwest military families, but no matter which side it is, my knowledge should be able to play a role.”

Luo Yingying became more and more confused as she listened, “Father, which side are you on? You sent memorials to the Emperor saying that the Northwest military families ignored you, and now you say you want to serve Tong Tuqiu or the people of the Northwest military families…”

“A wily rabbit has three burrows. One shouldn't walk down a single path. Only by making multiple preparations can one remain calm in the face of danger,” Luo Changshi said earnestly, “As for that memorial, it doesn't matter. It definitely won't leave Liangcheng. The Le family won't hold a grudge against me because everyone likes people who are loyal to their former masters. Only such people can be trusted when using them…”

Lu Jing didn't listen any further. While Luo Changshi was still pontificating, he climbed down from the tree.

He went around the study and came to the backyard, where there was a pond.

Although the original owner of this residence was a Tubo, he was very fond of Chen Dynasty culture, especially the garden scenery of Jiangnan, which was his favorite.

So when he built his own house, he had people imitate it for him.

Ponds, small bridges, rockeries, and a lakeside pavilion were all available. Lu Jing walked to the lakeside pavilion and looked around, but he didn't see anything.

Secret realms need special methods to open, and different secret realms have different opening methods.

Lu Jing didn't know how to open the secret realm here, but he was only here to find someone this time, so he didn't need to go into the secret realm.

According to Huang Jianyuan, Qi Wenren was only investigating nearby. After all, with his cultivation and martial arts, it would be too dangerous for him to enter the secret realm alone.

So Lu Jing turned his attention to the surroundings.

With his eyesight, he quickly discovered something. The benches in the lakeside pavilion had been sat on recently, because Luo Changshi had only moved in halfway, and he had very few family members, only a daughter and a concubine.

The servants had all run away early on. Although he had bought two young maids later, they couldn't clean such a large place.

No one usually came to this pavilion, so it wasn't cleaned much. Other places had a layer of dust, but only one stone bench had no dust on it.

Then Lu Jing saw a few lines of calculations on the pillar next to the stone bench, carved with a small knife.

The person who carved the words must have suddenly had an inspiration and was worried about forgetting it later, so he started calculating on that wooden pillar. This behavior is naturally not worth advocating, but it allowed Lu Jing to confirm that Qi Wenren had indeed been here.

Not long ago.

The question is, where did he go after that?

Lu Jing looked around and didn't find anything else worth noting, so he simply jumped onto the top of the pavilion.

From a high vantage point, he had a panoramic view of the entire residence. As a result, he still couldn't find anything in the residence, but he saw a familiar face outside the residence.

Huo Xingsun was walking on the street, feeling a gaze on him.

This was not unusual, because it was already close to winter, and Liangzhou was in the north. Most people had already put on their winter clothes early, but he was still walking around with his chest open, so naturally, people would look at him wherever he went, but the problem was that this time the gaze actually came from above his head.

Huo Xingsun looked up, but there was nothing on the roof.

Was his feeling wrong? Huo Xingsun scratched his head. He was almost about to think so, but when he saw whose residence it was not far away, his expression became serious again.

After that, he started looking around, searching for nearby sources of fire, and preparing a route to escape.

But just as he took out a flint from his arms, it was snatched away by someone.

Then that person put his arm around his shoulders. To outsiders, this was just a friendly gesture, but in reality, Huo Xingsun felt that half of his body was unable to move after being embraced.

He turned his head and looked at the person who embraced him, and found that it was a strange face. He couldn't help but feel uneasy, but he still barely squeezed out a sentence, “Has Your Excellency mistaken me for someone else?”

Chapter 488

(Errata: In the previous chapter, I misremembered. Lu Jing met Huo Xing Sun using a different face mask. They shouldn't recognize each other. I've revised this part and adjusted some of the subsequent plot. Don't worry, it won't affect this main storyline. Thanks for the reminders.)

Just a few days ago, Huo Xing Sun's eyelids had been twitching non-stop, so he found someone to cast a divination for him.

The divination indicated that he was in danger of a great calamity.

Although Huo Xing Sun suspected that the Daoist priest was just sizing him up and exaggerating to swindle him out of his money, a knot formed in his heart, and he had been extra careful when going out recently.

At the slightest sign of trouble, he was ready to use his Fire Escape technique. That's why he was carrying flint, even though he was still in the city.

However, Huo Xing Sun didn't expect that even with such caution, he still couldn't escape his fate.

While walking down the street, he was inexplicably kidnapped.

Huo Xing Sun looked at the person beside him, but he had no impression of that face. He didn't remember ever dealing with this person before, so he naturally didn't know why Lu Jing was attacking him.

However, he wasn't naive enough to think that Lu Jing had really just mistaken him for someone else. After all, the other party had immediately snatched the flint from his hand, clearly knowing a lot about him.

He only asked that question to mislead the other party, to make them lower their guard, to see if he could find a chance to escape, or at least get some information out of them.

Lu Jing didn't say much, but pressed on Huo Xing Sun's shoulder, dragged him to the side of the road, let a squad of patrolling soldiers pass, and then lowered his voice, "This isn't the place to talk. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Uh, does this friend want to find a quiet place? How about the One-Cave Ghost Teahouse?" Huo Xing Sun asked tentatively.

He originally thought that Lu Jing was also probing for his accomplices, and would probably avoid the One-Cave Ghost Teahouse, choosing some other place.

But he didn't expect that Lu Jing would directly say upon hearing this, "Okay, then let's go to the One-Cave Ghost Teahouse."

This really stumped Huo Xing Sun.

But as things stood, he had no choice but to play it by ear. He obediently led Lu Jing to the One-Cave Ghost Teahouse in the south of the city.

The reason why this teahouse was called by this name was not because it was inhabited by ghosts, nor because the customers who went to drink tea were ghosts.

It was because a storyteller in this teahouse had been telling a story called "The One-Cave Ghost of Dongshan" for many years. Many people went to listen, and later the teahouse simply changed its name to One-Cave Ghost.

Before the three northwestern states fell into chaos, the One-Cave Ghost was quite lively. After the chaos, it became even more lively. People from all walks of life gathered here to chat and exchange information. But later, when the war started, the city began to have curfews, and soldiers came to the teahouse to arrest people every now and then. After that, no one came to drink tea anymore.

After the Tuqi army outside the city retreated, this place regained some vitality, but it was much worse than before. Now, it could indeed be called quiet.

When Lu Jing escorted Huo Xing Sun to the One-Cave Ghost Teahouse, there were only six or seven tea drinkers besides the four tea servers.

The storyteller, Old Man Qiu, was also nowhere to be seen.

Huo Xing Sun was probably a regular here. When the four tea servers saw him come in, they all greeted him.

Huo Xing Sun seemed a little impatient, "Don't just talk, didn't you see that there's also a distinguished guest beside me? Hurry up, find a quiet room upstairs. My brother and I want to go up and drink tea."

The tea server didn't dare to neglect him upon hearing this, and immediately one of them came out and led the two upstairs.

On the way, Huo Xing Sun secretly glanced at Lu Jing, but he couldn't read anything from the other party's face.

And when he was talking to the tea server just now, Lu Jing neither stopped him nor warned him.

This made Huo Xing Sun even more confused about Lu Jing's intentions.

Just as he was thinking, the two had already arrived in the room upstairs.

Lu Jing looked around, then pointed to a charcoal brazier beside the bed and said to the tea server, "Take this thing away. We want two bowls of tea, any kind of tea will do, brewed well, but don't bring it up. Don't worry, the money will be paid in full."

"Okay."

Although Lu Jing's request was a bit strange, the tea server did as he was told. After all, the purpose of opening a teahouse was to make money, and everything was easy with money.

He went over, picked up the charcoal brazier, and then walked out of the room.

Before leaving, he also looked at Huo Xing Sun and found that Huo Xing Sun's face was even more unsightly.

If Huo Xing Sun had still held a bit of luck in his heart before, thinking that Lu Jing's snatching of the flint from his hand was just a coincidence, then he was now completely disillusioned.

Lu Jing clearly knew who he was and what he could do.

So Huo Xing Sun also put away his arrogance and said cautiously, "May I ask who you are, sir?"

Lu Jing didn't answer his question, but just stared at Huo Xing Sun.

For a good while, he stared at Huo Xing Sun until he felt numb and secretly cried out in pain. Then he opened his mouth and said, "You're one of Mr. Ji's people, right?"

Huo Xing Sun's back was immediately soaked with cold sweat.

The number of people who knew about his relationship with Mr. Ji could be counted on two hands, and there wasn't even one in Liang City. He didn't know how the man opposite him had found out.

And this made Lu Jing become even more mysterious in his eyes.

Huo Xing Sun only felt his mouth dry, but before he could speak, he heard Lu Jing continue, "I already know all the good things you've been doing here."

Hearing this, Huo Xing Sun's eyes widened even more, like a toad spirit, "You… when did you start watching me? Why didn't I feel anything at all?"

"That's not the point," Lu Jing said, "The point is, when are you planning to hand over the person?"

Huo Xing Sun was like someone who had just been fished out of the water, "You're here to ask for someone?"

"Otherwise, what? Did you think I came to drink tea with you?"

Huo Xing Sun was speechless. He calmed down slightly, and then said, "I'll give you the person… will you let me go?"

"I can consider it."

"Friend, you should know that the words 'I can consider it' aren't enough for me to hand him over to you," Huo Xing Sun said, "Otherwise, after I hand over the person, you'll kill me with one knife. Wouldn't I get nothing?"

"You seem to have misunderstood something. This isn't a transaction, and you don't have any bargaining chips," Lu Jing said, "If you don't take me to find the person, I can kill you right now."

Speaking of this, Lu Jing paused, nodded towards the door, "Or do you think that the trash outside can save you from my hands?"

"Indeed…" Huo Xing Sun looked bitter, "I should have thought of it. Since you dared to listen to me and come here, you're not worried about me secretly calling for people at all. Maybe you even want me to do that."

"Anyway, after killing you, I can let the people outside lead me the way," Lu Jing said.

Huo Xing Sun shook his head, "They don't know where the person you're looking for is. They don't even know that person has come. In fact, not many people know that person has come."