Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 79: Birds of a feather

The wind was very strong on the cliff. Looking down, a thick fog surrounded the Kurumu Village, making people feel like they were in the clouds.

Huang Hu was pulling out the arrows from his body one by one and putting them into a bundle.

After waiting for a while, his injuries gradually recovered, and he couldn't help but say: "It's amazing, everything is just as you expected, young master."

"It didn't go smoothly." Gu Jingnian said, "If my plan had been followed, one of Gu Jizu and Chu Danqing would have died."

"So what should we do next?" Huang Hu asked, "Let's go, leave Zhongzhou now?"

If Gu Jingnian left Zhongzhou at this point, he would be safe, but as long as Gu Jizu and Chu Danqing were alive, they would bring disaster to Gu Caiwei sooner or later.

He thought for a moment and said, "I will go see Wei Yu and borrow his knife to kill someone."

"Sir, I'll go with you."

"No, it will be hard to get away if there are too many people." Gu Jingnian said, "You guys go to the agreed place and wait for me. I will come to you after I finish the rest of the things."

They had agreed with Feng Niang and others in advance that if they were separated by some unexpected event, they would first meet at the old market town, 20 miles south of Jusai City, and then go to Yong State together. The tokens and letters needed for the journey would be stolen by Master Ma from Gu Jizu.

Upon hearing this, Master Ma took out a talisman from his bosom and said, "Don't worry, sir. I found the thing, but..."

"I'll bring the tassel with me."

Gu Jingnian said this, patted Huang Hu on the shoulder, and walked towards the fire at the foot of the mountain alone.

Huang Hu kept staring at his back, full of worry, wishing he could catch up with him, but he still obeyed his orders.

There was still thick fog surrounding the Kurumu Village, but in the distance the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, and the night was clear.

Gu Jingnian saw where Wei Xie's carriage was and walked over there.

As a prince, if he mobilized troops outside the capital, even if the number was not much, he could easily be accused of treason.

Even if Wei Xie had someone to rely on that others didn't know about, he still took a big risk, which showed that he was determined to defeat Kui.

This is also the reason why Gu Jingnian dared to meet him.

In the darkness of the night, a team of heavily armored cavalry was galloping. Gu Jingnian went straight to meet the galloping horses and shouted, "Take me to see the Third Prince!"

"Who told you that the Third Prince was here?!"

The heavily armored cavalrymen either drew their bows or drew their swords, but their first reaction was to kill him to silence him.

He was not afraid, but went forward to meet it.

"Just tell His Highness that it was Gu Jingnian who came."

Sure enough, the cavalryman who was about to charge at him pulled the reins when he got close and led Gu Jingnian towards the direction of the ceremonial guard.

Wei Xie simply set up a tent leaning against the mountain. Outside stood twelve guards in black cloaks. They looked extremely powerful just standing there silently.

Gu Jingnian sensed a dangerous aura, calmed himself, stepped into the tent, and thought about what to say to Wei Xie.

However, when he entered the account, he unexpectedly discovered that the person sitting behind the desk and giving orders was not Wei Xie.

"Princess Yushu?"

"It's you, Gu Jingnian."

Wei Chan raised her head, looked down at Gu Jingnian with pride, and said, "I had already guessed it was you."

She was talking about the incident in which he pretended to be Wei Xie and went to Zhaowenguan.

"So the princess knew I was coming." Gu Jingnian said calmly, "I guess the Third Prince must have informed the princess in advance."

He thought to himself that the reason why Wei Chan was here was because it was inconvenient for him to lead the troops out of the capital in person in the capacity of Wei Chen, so he had to use her name.

I wonder what’s so special about this princess that she could shoulder such a big responsibility.

So, without waiting for Wei Chan to respond, he asked again: "It seems that the princess has the final say on this important matter?"

When Wei Chan saw Gu Jingnian, the first thing that came to her mind was the shameless fart she had let out in Zhaowen Pavilion. She wanted to hold Gu Jingnian accountable for his crime, but when she saw Gu Jingnian's serious look, the words stuck in her throat were temporarily blocked.

She coughed twice and regained her dignified appearance, looking high and mighty as if she was oblivious to the world.

"Yes, I am in charge of everything here."

That being said, in fact, she was only responsible for sitting in charge, and the specific actions were taken by a guest official in Prince Wei's palace.

Although that man was only a guest official, he actually had extraordinary abilities and was admired by the dignitaries in the capital. Wei Xie relied heavily on his talents and boldly delegated power to him.

But now Wei Chan has made the big promise and can’t take it back.

Gu Jingnian frowned, looking very conflicted, and said, "I have to admit to the princess that the medicinal herbs that Chu Danqing is looking for are indeed in the hands of the Gu family and have been taken by my brother."

Wei Chan and Wei Xi's intention is to kill Gu Jizu, capture Chu Danqing, and make medicine for them in the future.

When she heard that there were medicinal herbs, she naturally wanted them too, but she didn't know what they were exactly, so she looked at Gu Jingnian with a scrutinizing gaze. Seeing Gu Jingnian's frustration and helplessness, she felt that what he said was true.

But then she began to wonder whether under Gu Jingnian's serious appearance, he had the intention of making fun of her or looking down on her because he had smelled her fart.

This guy seems to be good at acting.

At this moment, a man in a black cloak came in from outside the tent and said, "Princess, someone is coming from the Prime Minister's residence."

"Xiangfu?"

Wei Chan, who had just said that she could make the decision, was surprised for a moment and muttered, "At this time? How can I deal with it? Should I let Mr. Du see him?"

After a while, a middle-aged man in official uniform was led in. He said politely, "Greetings, Princess Yushu. I have something important to report. Please ask the princess to dismiss the attendants."

Although Wei Chan's personal affairs had not been resolved yet, he had no choice but to let Gu Jingnian go first.

After leaving the tent, Gu Jingnian walked through the camp and looked at the moonlight shining on an old tree, casting a shadow.

A shadow also appeared in his heart, and he realized that his plan would not go smoothly.

The strong predators would not kill each other as he wished. There is a saying in the world called "officials protect each other". These people who refine aliens to strengthen themselves are just like the word "official". There are people protecting them and they have greedy mouths. Gu Jizu can easily reach a compromise with Chu Danqing, and so can Wei Yu and Wei Chan.

Da Rui said that alchemy was forbidden, but looking around, there were few decent people to be seen, and even if there were, they looked extremely weak.

How to do it?

While thinking about this, I suddenly saw a few soldiers unloading some weapons from a car not far away, including a flamethrower.

This should have been something unique to the Xiaoyi Army, but unexpectedly, the guards of the royal palace also had it. It was probably a large iron box, about the length of an arm, with a sheepskin bag filled with kerosene inside. It was ignited by a fuse, and with a push, it would spew out a raging fire.

Gu Jingnian was naturally afraid and repelled by such objects. When he saw it, he turned around and wanted to walk away.

But the next moment, he paused.

Since he was afraid, then Chu Danqing was actually afraid too.

Thinking of this, Gu Jingnian turned around and walked closer to the flamethrower cabinets.

"who?!"

Some soldiers stared at him warily.

Gu Jingnian was about to speak when a voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"He is a friend of the Third Prince."

Looking back, I saw that the person coming was a handsome young man in his twenties, but his temperament was different from that self-admiring handsome man like Wang Qinghe. Just looking at his figure, this man had broad shoulders and a majestic posture. When he approached, a deep and majestic aura of a mountain came over me.

When he arrived in front of Gu Jingnian, he bowed and said, "Captain Gu, I am honored to meet you. I am Du Xingyan."

"It turns out to be Mr. Du. You recognize me?"

Gu Jingnian had just heard Wei Chan mention this in the tent, and he couldn't help but take a closer look at Du Xingyan. He saw that he was wearing a blue shirt and a round-necked robe, with a handsome face. Under his sword-like eyebrows, he had a pair of eyes with distinct black and white, bright and lively, and a righteous look. He didn't look like someone who would help Wei Xie capture the pharmacist to refine the alien.

"I've heard about Captain Gu's deeds." Du Xingyan responded briefly without further explanation, saying, "If you are interested in these flamethrower cabinets, you can take a look."

Gu Jingnian pressed the issue further and asked, "It's dangerous tonight, can I take one to protect myself?"

Du Xingyan looked at him deeply, and finally nodded and said, "Of course it's okay."

"Thank you."

"I have something else to do. Bye."

Du Xingyan bowed and walked towards the main tent.

Gu Jingnian watched his back as he walked away, then looked at the flamethrower cabinets again. The soldiers around him were busy with their own things and ignored him.

Each flamethrower cabinet was not meant to be used only once. The carriages were often loaded with sheepskin bags filled with kerosene.

It was dangerous to have so much kerosene piled together, so the soldiers didn't wait for Gu Jingnian to get close, but picked up a flamethrower cabinet and handed it to him.

"If Captain Gu wants to protect himself, he can only take one. Also, stay away from this place."

Gu Jingnian took it and felt it was heavy in his hand.

He didn't want to attract attention anymore, so he didn't argue any further. He walked away with the flamethrower cabinet and sat down under a tree in a secluded place, wondering how he could break the deadlock with just one more weapon.

A little bird suddenly landed on his shoulder, chirping.

Gu Jingnian didn't understand and was thinking about his own things.

Gradually, his eyes became firm and he made a bold decision in his heart.

If the predators compromised with each other and were difficult to exploit, he would kill them himself.

He then took out a small cloth bag from his arms and fed all the dry food in it to the chirping bird on his shoulder.

--------

The little bird flew over the mountains and forests and landed on a pair of soft hands.

Feng Niang held the bird in her arms and looked, but she didn't see any letter tied to its claws. She could only listen to its chirping.

This is a few miles east of Kumu Village, and three carriages are parked in the woods.

The carriage seemed to be loaded with belongings, but when the boxes were opened, they were full of all kinds of food.

Gao Changgan was sitting on the cart, slowly stuffing dry food into his mouth, one bite at a time, swallowing it with great difficulty.

"I really can't eat anymore."

"Eat another piece." Lao Hei said, "Only when you are full can you have the strength to lead others. Don't let it stop you from coming back."

"Ugh."

Gao Changgan, who was always greedy, sighed for the first time. He never thought that one day he would be troubled by being too full.

He barely managed to stuff the last piece of dry food into his mouth, not daring to drink the water, and only muttered, "I'm going."

After saying this, he closed his eyes and stood silently in the forest for a long, long time. Finally, at a certain moment, he suddenly disappeared.

"Boss, he has gone to pick someone up." Lao Hei said to Feng Niang.

Feng Niang was still standing in a daze under the moonlight.

At some point, the bird in her hand had flown away, but her hand was still holding it.

"The shopkeeper?"

Feng Niang came back to her senses, her usually lively eyes became a little dull, and she muttered something to herself in a low voice.

"He won't leave with us..."

(End of this chapter)