Zhu Tian: A journey of spiritual practice starting from Joy of Life

Chapter 199 I'm a Madman, Not a Knight
"Speaking of which, I should thank you! If it weren't for your letter, His Majesty wouldn't have ordered us to eliminate the Ming family so easily."

After Leng Feibai finished speaking, he picked up a clean lettuce leaf from the side, wrapped a few pieces of fried meat, scallions, minced garlic, and his own barbecue sauce, which he had created himself while traveling all over the country, and handed it to Li Chengze.

"Try my cooking!"

Seeing Leng Feibai's actions, Li Chengze didn't stand on ceremony and put the lettuce roll into his mouth.

With one bite, Li Chengze was immediately captivated by the wonderful taste in his mouth, and he wolfed down the meat and vegetable roll in his hand.

At that moment, Li Chengze felt as if he had wasted half his life, never expecting that there could be such delicious food in the world.

Still wanting more, Li Chengze glanced at the plates on the table next to Leng Feibai, his eyes filled with the desire to eat another one.

"Make it yourself if you want to eat it!"

As soon as Leng Feibai finished speaking, Li Chengze rushed to the table and, following Leng Feibai's method, ate seven or eight lettuce and meat rolls in a row.

"belch"

After eating his fill, Li Chengze let out a burp, his face beaming with satisfaction.

Seeing this, Leng Feibai placed a jar of wine and a large, rough earthenware bowl on the table and said, "Pour your own wine!"

Without hesitation, Li Chengze removed the mud seal from the jar, poured out a bowl of wine, and drank it down.

Leng Feibai had only prepared ordinary baijiu, but Li Chengze seemed to taste it as if it were a fine nectar.

"happy!"

A gentle smile appeared on Li Chengze's face. "Leng Feibai, I never expected you to have such excellent cooking skills. Now I know how you won over Haitang Duoduo. If I were a woman, maybe..."

"stop!"

Leng Feibai interrupted Li Chengze, "You don't need to say the rest. But Li Chengze, you've got some nerve. You actually dared to come see me alone. Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu just let you run wild like this!"

"Fan Wujiu is not in the capital!"

Li Chengze said in a nostalgic tone, "After passing the imperial examination, that guy was transferred to Jiangyuan County, under Qinzhou, as the magistrate. As for Xie Bi'an, if you really want to kill me, Xie Bi'an coming would only be a pointless waste of a life!"

"You seem to know the truth perfectly well!"

Leng Feibai calmly processed the grilled meat in front of him, picking up a piece of medium-rare meat and popping it into his mouth. "But I came to see you because of something else! Do you know, Qin Ye..."

"Are you implying that Qin Ye has sided with the Crown Prince?"

Li Chengze stretched and said, "I already knew about this. Although the Crown Prince and I are both under house arrest, it doesn't mean that the spies we left in the other side's hands aren't doing their jobs."

"Oh!"

Leng Feibai laughed after hearing this, "It seems you made a deal with the Crown Prince?"

"It's not really a deal, it's more like a final settlement!"

Li Chengze's tone suddenly became subdued. "I made a promise with him that if His Majesty really dies at Mount Dadong, then we will settle things in Kyoto."

Looking at Li Chengze's expression, Leng Feibai changed his tone and said, "There's always a way to be resolute or to find relief. It seems that if you don't succeed this time, you're prepared to die for your cause!" As soon as he finished speaking, Li Chengze's face turned ashen. He grabbed the wine jar, drank it all in one gulp, and then smashed the jar to pieces.

"You're right! I really don't intend to—no, I should say I'm already dead!"

Li Chengze's face twisted in a grimace, then he said with a bitter smile, "Back when I was thirteen, that guy told the entire court that I was virtuous and talented, the prince most like him. Do you know what the Crown Prince was thinking back then? He wanted to kill me. Before that, we were such good friends. But after that, he actually had the idea of ​​killing me. Leng Feibai, do you know that I envy you more than Fan Xian? You can be like a chivalrous knight-errant, punishing evil and promoting good, your fame spreading far and wide, living a carefree life."

As he spoke, tears welled up in Li Chengze's eyes. "Actually, I have no ambition. I just want to travel around, see the world, and experience the chivalrous spirit and vengeance described in those stories. I want to be a chivalrous hero like you, fighting evil and protecting the innocent! But I can't have that. Have you ever seen a father who forces his son to be another son's whetstone? My dear younger brother, when he was ten years old, even tried to kill me."

Seeing Li Chengze's appearance, Leng Feibai felt a surge of anger for some reason. As if remembering something, he suddenly interrupted, "I'm going to the East Palace now and have Li Chengqian tied up for you!"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengze, whose eyes were red, froze and stared blankly at him, unable to help but ask, "What do you want to do?"

Leng Feibai's face was gloomy, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories. With a wave of his hand, two sharp short knives flew out of his sleeve and stuck directly into the table.

“I’ll go and grab Li Chengqian. You two stay here. Take your knives and fight it out. Let’s see who can kill whom! That way, we won’t have a bunch of people losing their lives because of you two fighting.”

Leng Feibai instantly recalled the events before his transmigration and angrily cursed, "It's always like this, always like this. Damn it, even if you're not royalty, not half-siblings, even in an ordinary merchant's family, brothers from the same mother treat each other like enemies in order to fight for the position of head of the family business. I really don't know what you're all doing this for."

Li Chengze didn't understand what the last sentence meant, and felt that Leng Feibai was angry for no reason.

"There's one thing you said that's wrong!"

Leng Feibai raised his head and said, "Li Chengze, I can tell you. If my father hadn't been killed by pirates, which caused my mother's illness to worsen and lead to her death, I wouldn't have bothered killing those bandits. If you hadn't wanted to use Baoyue Tower against my family, I wouldn't have taken action and destroyed Baoyue Tower. So I'm not a chivalrous knight-errant; I'm just a madman, a lunatic, trying to protect my family."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengze finally understood why Baoyue Tower had been destroyed so silently; it was indeed Leng Feibai's doing.

"We've asked you to come here as a matter of courtesy before resorting to force!"

Leng Feibai said calmly, "Li Chengze, I can't be bothered with your business with Li Chengqian. But remember this: if you two harm the safety of the Fan family during your fight, I guarantee I'll pull every single bone out of your and Li Chengqian's limbs!"

Looking at Leng Feibai's ferocious face, Li Chengze's lips moved, and he calmly said, "You can kill me now, anyway..."

"hehe!"

Leng Feibai said nothing, turned around and disappeared from Li Chengze's sight.

Upon seeing this, Li Chengze was instantly soaked in sweat.

But just as he was about to leave, Leng Feibai's voice suddenly rang out, "Let me give you one last piece of advice: take Xie Bi'an and the silver, find a place where no one knows you, and retire there. Perhaps you can still escape this calamity."

Upon hearing this, Li Chengze swayed slightly, and a bitter smile appeared on his face again. "Retire? Where can I retire to? A group of people are willing to go crazy with me. If I retire now, I'll be letting them down."

After saying that, Li Chengze spurred his horse and left the woods.

Seeing this, Leng Feibai, who was hiding in the shadows, also sighed.

If Fan Xian weren't his brother, he might have considered helping Li Chengze.

After all, he and Li Chengze were both patients suffering from the same kind of mental illness!

(End of this chapter)