Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 77 Transaction (I)

There are two roads from Jing to Jusai City. One is a straight road that passes through Fengcheng and Zhenyun Pass. The road is flat and easy to walk on. The other is an old road before the straight road was opened. The road is small and winding, passing through many mountains and steep cliffs. It has been gradually abandoned. Occasionally, some merchants and travelers who are avoiding taxes pass through it, but they are also prone to encounter bandits.

Gu Jizu chose the old path.

Nine days after leaving the capital, we entered the Yidi Mountains, which was the northwest barrier of the capital. After leaving this mountain range, we entered the range of the Dingxi military road.

Three days after entering the mountains, the team stopped at a place called Deadwood Cliff.

A river valley faces a cliff, and on the cliff is a steep mountain. There used to be a village on the mountain, called Kumu Village, but it is now deserted. It was not destroyed by the court, but the business of robbery is not easy to do, so everyone has gone to find a way to make a living.

The village had been emptied long ago, but the terrain here is indeed excellent, backed by mountains and facing water, easy to defend and difficult to attack, with a good view. The only drawback is that there are no fields available for farming.

Gu Jizu ordered his men to settle down, and then said to Gu Jingnian, "Wait for Chu Danqing to come."

"He may not come."

"He will come." Gu Jizu said, "I guessed it from Master Ma's expression. You know where that Womin is."

Gu Jingnian said: "You are too self-righteous, so you guessed wrong."

The two brothers had nothing to say. He left Gu Jizu's tent and saw Miao Chunniang again.

Miao Chunniang said she could choose to come or not, and asked Gu Jingnian for his opinion, but did not listen.

When Gu Jingnian saw her in the team, he was only slightly surprised. He had known for a long time that he could not help this woman. Although she always said that Gu Jizu made her feel depressed and wanted to relax, she had never thought of escaping. She could not live without Gu Jizu because she had no life of her own.

She is not like Feng Niang, who is willing to run away with Gu Jingnian with just a little courage.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

Miao Chunniang finally found an opportunity and whispered to Gu Jingnian.

"You don't have to apologize to me. Take charge of your own affairs."

Gu Jingnian agreed and turned to find Huang Hu.

This team has more than 300 people, most of whom are veterans who retired from the Xiaoyi Army. They are experienced and capable.

There were more than ten Kaiping officers who were transferred by Wang Qinghe and led by Huang Hu. They lived in a tent. Among them was a thin young officer who was usually called "Xihou" by others and was taciturn.

When Gu Jingnian arrived, he lifted the tent curtain and looked inside. Huang Hu was personally spreading a mat for Xihou and letting him sleep in the corner.

"Come out and talk."

"it is good."

Huang Hu couldn't stand straight in the tent, so he came out with a bent back, and did not forget to call Xi Hou and ask him to follow him.

Inside the tent, the other hooks couldn't help but discuss in low voices.

"Why is Captain Huang so nice to Xihou this time?"

"Maybe he took the back door..."

Over there, Gu Jingnian and Huang Hu walked along a deserted road covered with weeds and saw old soldiers chasing away birds with bows and arrows, or cutting down trees to prepare traps, or carrying various objects out of carriages and horses.

Although he is the son of the Gu family, Gu Jingnian has never experienced military service before. This time, when he followed Gu Jizu to the border, he came into contact with the Xiaoyi Army for the first time and noticed that there were many weapons in the army specifically for dealing with aliens.

"This is too obvious." Huang Hu said, "Will the old man really come?"

"He will come."

Gu Jingnian gave the same answer as Gu Jizu, but the reasons were slightly different.

"Because he is greedy. This all started with greed and will always end with greed."

The three of them walked deeper into the camp and saw Master Ma coming out of the tent to take a walk, watched by an old soldier, so they walked towards Master Ma.

When they were about to get close, a mole suddenly jumped out from the grass in front of them and ran desperately into the woods.

The old soldier immediately raised his bow and arrow to shoot.

"Don't shoot it." Master Ma shouted quickly, "It's not a mole. It's unlucky to kill it."

The old soldier holding the bow didn't understand what it meant and there was a look of confusion in his eyes.

"Look at it, it has white ears and a white mouth. Its name is Zhuru. Once it appears, it means that there will be war in the country. If you dare to shoot it, your whole family will suffer."

As Master Ma spoke, he pressed the old soldier's hand and asked him to put down the bow and arrow.

Because of this small gesture, the old soldier and he became a little closer.

At this time, Gu Jingnian and three others came over.

Master Ma turned around and looked at Xihou first, but quickly looked away and gave Gu Jingnian a flattering smile.

Gu Jingnian looked at the old soldier and said, "This is an important person. Brother, you are the only one assigned to guard him?"

"Of course more than that."

The old soldier pointed to a group of companions not far away, but before he could finish his words, Gu Jingnian had already given an order.

"Huang Hu, you stay and guard Master Ma."

"Okay!"

Huang Hu squeezed his tall and strong body into Master Ma's tent. Xi Hou was stunned for a moment and followed him in.

Naturally, someone would report to Gu Jizu. Gu Jingnian knew that Gu Jizu would not object to his arrangement, because although the defense here seemed lax, it was actually the most tightly guarded place, and it was safest to place important people here.

Sure enough, Gu Jizu said nothing about this.

They all guessed that Chu Danqing would come, but they did not expect that Chu Danqing would appear outside the camp leisurely in the evening of the same day, with only six servants in green clothes following him.

Gu Jingnian went to meet him alone, and unexpectedly found that among the six green servants, there was not only the feathered man Luoxia, but also the previous Xie man Qin'er and Fei man Popo. It seems that the skeleton found by the swamp at that time was indeed fake, but it is not known whether it was forged or Chu Danqing had many Xie people and Fei people in his hands.

"It's nice here."

Chu Danqing had obviously seen through the trap set by the Gu brothers to deal with him. Instead of being afraid, he praised them.

"If we did, it wouldn't cause a big stir like it did in the capital. People in our line of work are always afraid of being investigated."

Gu Jingnian said: "I thought you were fearless."

Chu Danqing waved his hand and said, "I am a person who lives in the dark."

Gu Jingnian thought for a moment and replied, "You are not living in the dark, you are afraid that others will follow your example."

This sentence probably touched Chu Danqing's heart. He laughed at himself and did not continue the topic.

When he arrived outside Gu Jizu's tent, he told six servants in blue to wait outside, straightened his clothes, and walked into the tent in a graceful manner.

Inside the tent, Gu Jizu was sitting in a wheelchair, pushed by an old servant, and there was no one else around.

"Is this Mr. Chu? I am ill and cannot come to greet you. I am sorry for the inconvenience."

"You don't have to be polite, young master. You and I are old friends."

Chu Danqing seemed very relaxed, sitting on the left and right of Gu Jingnian, and said, "Eighteen years ago, on the battlefield, I took the pulse of the eldest master, but he was still in a coma at the time and didn't remember me."

"In that case, Mr. Chu is my benefactor." Gu Jizu expressed his gratitude sincerely and bowed deeply while sitting in a wheelchair.

"I dare not take responsibility, but I am entrusted by General Gu."

This kind of pleasant conversation between the two was obviously not what Gu Jingnian wanted, but he could not openly sow discord. He could only hope that Gu Jizu would not hand over Ying Yao and the talks would fail in the end, so he sat there patiently.

"Suiguo strictly prohibits alchemy, but my views on alchemy are different from those of the imperial court." Gu Jizu said, "Everything is created by nature, and it has its own way of survival. Meat can be eaten and used as medicine. In years of famine, it is common for people to eat each other. What is the difference between saying that you cannot refine alien creatures and saying that you cannot eat meat?"

The original intention of these words was to agree with Chu Danqing.

However, Chu Danqing actually shook his head and said, "No, the way of refining is extremely dangerous and not everyone can master it, so it must be banned and only gentlemen can use it."

Gu Jizu was silent for a moment, and finally understood what was said. It turned out that he had been excluded from the group of gentlemen for so many years.

He was too proud to accept this fact.

But he really wanted to participate in Chu Danqing's career, so he suppressed his unhappiness, smiled, and said, "What a good saying, 'Only gentlemen can be used'. I wonder if I am a gentleman in Mr. Chu's eyes?"

Chu Danqing stroked his beard without answering. Instead, he looked at Gu Jingnian, raised his hand and pointed, and said with a smile: "Comparatively speaking, he is more like a gentleman, not greedy, not angry, and can control himself even with the world's miraculous medicine."

Gu Jizu's face darkened.

Gu Jingnian said, "Mr. Chu, are you trying to sow discord?"

Chu Danqing said, "Aren't you the one who really wants to lead me and the eldest son to kill each other?"

"Okay." Gu Jizu waved his hand to ease the atmosphere, and asked in a friendly but slightly intimidating tone: "Can you please ask Mr. Chu to treat me?"

"Two conditions."

Chu Danqing raised two fingers, but added one more condition than when he discussed with Gu Jingnian before.

"One is to hand over the herbs I want; the other is to kill Gu Jingnian... and Gu Beiming."

Gu Jizu hadn't reacted much until he heard about killing Gu Jingnian, but when he heard the last name, his face changed and he angrily slapped the armrest and shouted, "Mr. Chu, what do you mean?!"

Chu Danqing remained calm and said to Gu Jingnian, "Last time, when I told you about the past, did you feel that there was something wrong?"

"Yes." Gu Jingnian said, "One of the snake hearts is missing. You said that the refined snake heart was eaten by my eldest brother, but it didn't cure his leg. I don't believe it."

"You saw with your own eyes that Master Ma gave Viper Heart to Womin, but he didn't make her a healer."

"Someone told me that it was because Master Ma was not very skilled."

"That's right." Chu Danqing smiled, turned to Gu Jizu, and asked, "Young Master, do you know why you have never been exposed to alchemy in the past eighteen years? Even though General Gu clearly knows a lot about it."

This question directly hit upon the doubts in Gu Jizu's heart. When he learned that raising snakes could cure his legs, he was indeed puzzled as to why his father had not told him earlier.

"Why?"

Chu Danqing said: "It's not that I don't want to treat the eldest son's leg, but the Gu family is really not a gentleman."

As he spoke, he glanced at the two brothers of the Gu family, and when he spoke again, his tone became serious and inoffensive.

"Since I have already given the eldest master a snake heart, there is no reason to give him another one."

Gu Jizu had just heard that the viper heart could cure his leg. Upon hearing this, he first set his eyes on Gu Jingnian, thinking that Gu Jingnian had obtained the viper heart that belonged to him.

But he soon realized that something was wrong. Gu Jingnian was not born eighteen years ago.

If so, there is only one possibility -

Gu Beiming.

(End of this chapter)