Notes on Longevity

Chapter 243 A gentle breeze blows, flowers fall to the ground, and a beauty cannot escape her destined enemy.
The newcomer was Qian Si, the registrar of the prefectural government. Behind him stood several men in black. "You two must be Cheng Ye and Miss Wanqing."

Cheng Ye looked at the person in front of him, then shielded Wan Qing behind him and asked, "What do you want with me?"

Qian Si clasped her hands in a respectful greeting and said, "I am Qian Si, the registrar of the Quzhou Prefectural Government."

"Greetings, Lord Qian."

Cheng Ye returned the salute with his gun in hand.

Qian Si looked at Cheng Ye in front of her, then glanced at Wan Qing behind him and said, "A perfect match, truly a talented man and a beautiful woman."

"Prefect Zhang ordered me to come and invite you two to leave the city."

Cheng Ye frowned slightly and asked, "The reason?"

“The lust of Lord Sun Gong of the prefectural government is outrageous.”

"You two were spotted by Lord Sun when you entered the city today. The prefect has specifically ordered me to take you two out of the city. Without further ado, please follow me."

Upon hearing this, Wanqing gripped Cheng Ye's arm tightly. Although she was wearing a veil, the fear in her eyes was clearly visible.

Cheng Ye patted her hand that was clinging to him and asked cautiously, "But how can I trust you?"

Qian Si sighed helplessly: "I understand Master Cheng's concerns, but I cannot provide any favorable evidence right now. If you are willing to believe me and the Prefect, then come with me. Otherwise, once Lord Sun arrives, it will be difficult for you to leave. Even if you are a master of martial arts, you are facing the imperial court."

"The imperial court?" Cheng Ye said, "Could it be that the prefect is afraid of a mere government office?"

"Master Cheng is a man of the martial world; the intricacies of the imperial court are far more complex than you think."

Cheng Ye looked at Wan Qing behind him, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Alright, then I will trust Lord Qian."

After packing their luggage, the two followed Qian Si towards the outskirts of Quzhou City.

As Wanqing left the city, she looked at the lights on both sides and the thousands of pedestrians, feeling deeply moved. She was born with a beautiful face but could not enjoy herself like them, and she felt very down.

Cheng Ye knew what was on her mind, and he held Wanqing tightly in his arms to comfort her.

"This horse was selected from the government office. Although it can't travel a thousand miles a day, it can still leave the territory under Quzhou's jurisdiction in a short time."

Once outside the city, Cheng Ye finally let down his guard.

He bowed and asked, "May I ask who this Sun Gong is? Even the Prefect gives him a wide berth?"

Qian Si shook her head, remaining silent, "Guests from all directions of the court have descended to the land of the literary sage. Even if they are fools, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away."

Cheng Ye frowned, his brow throbbing with pain from being squeezed. He bowed and said, "Please convey my thanks to the Prefect. If you need my help in the future, I will do my best."

"Let's go quickly."

Cheng Ye led the horse and let Wan Qing ride first, then he mounted it and said, "Thank you, Lord Qian."

Watching the two leave, Qian Si led her men back to report.

The clatter of hooves was like a farce, making people laugh.

Outside an inn in the city, dozens of yamen runners stood in uniform, their batons wielding menacingly. Inside the inn, Sun Gong was furious, banging on the table and smashing chairs: "Zhang Qingxun, you better not let me catch you doing anything wrong, or I'll make you experience the power of the yamen!"

Sun Gong ordered his men to summon the guards at the city gate and inquire about the direction Cheng Ye and his companion had gone. "Send a message by carrier pigeon to the nearby mountain strongholds. If they see these two, report their whereabouts immediately. If we can stop them, that would be best!"

Cheng Ye rode at full speed, his mind filled with worry, his thoughts replaying Qian Si's words: "It seems that this Sun Gong was demoted from the capital to this place, but judging from the prefect's attitude, he must be no ordinary person."

Most prefects of a city are officials personally appointed by the imperial court. According to the laws of Dayan, most prefects are transferred from the military. Now that Dayan has been powerful for a thousand years, the military's influence is far less than that of the civil officials.

The so-called "Three Halls" actually refer to three leaders: the emperor, the cabinet composed of civil officials, and the military.

Cheng Ye silently pondered these thoughts in his heart, and by the time he stopped, it was already dawn.

Wanqing was already feeling sleepy, but the mountain road was winding and there was nowhere to rest. In addition, the horse was tired after running all night.

He rode his horse slowly with Wanqing to a patch of grass. He took off his coat and put it on the ground, letting Wanqing rest against a tree for a while, while he led the horse to graze.

The horse was grazing leisurely, and Cheng Ye looked at it and felt a little hungry. He and Wan Qing hadn't eaten since yesterday's meal.

He never imagined that his superb martial arts skills and recent fame would lead him to such a state—was it fate or destiny?

He turned to look at the sleeping Wanqing and suddenly thought of a phrase: "beauty is a curse."

Countless legends in this world are born from beautiful women: Yang Guifei, who loved to eat lychees, and King You of Zhou, who played with the feudal lords by lighting beacon fires.
Cheng Ye frowned slightly and sighed softly, as if their fate was already sealed at this moment.

It was already noon when the horses had eaten and drunk their fill. He woke Wanqing and they continued on their way. Finally, after ten miles, they found an inn.

The shopkeeper was a tall, middle-aged woman dressed in coarse linen clothes, with a sincere and kind smile.

Cheng Ye asked the shopkeeper for a lot of food and water, mostly dry rations. Then the shopkeeper brought over two bowls of hot porridge, saying, "Please enjoy, sir."

Cheng Ye nodded without speaking. He looked at the hot porridge in front of him and asked Wanqing to use a silver needle to test for poison, since things were different now than before.

The silver needle was taken out of the hot porridge. Wanqing half-lifted her veil, smelled it, and shook her head to indicate that there was nothing wrong.

To avoid any mishaps, Cheng Ye took a few silver needles from Wan Qing and tested them one by one in the dry rations. After confirming that there was nothing wrong, he let Wan Qing eat first, while he watched her eat.

Cheng Ye did this because even if there were things that the silver needles couldn't detect, at least one person could handle them in time, so as not to be caught off guard.

By the time Wanqing finished eating, Chengye's porridge had already gone cold.

Looking at the porridge in front of him, he remained cautious, knowing that there might be something out of the wild forest. So he asked, "Innkeeper, how much further ahead is it before we see the next inn?"

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper wiped his hands on his clothes and chuckled, "There's an inn twenty miles ahead. Most people traveling on weekdays take the official road, so my little shop is a loss-making business. But during the imperial examinations, it's packed with people."

Cheng Ye then asked, "During the imperial examinations, were you able to manage everything by yourself?" The shopkeeper replied with an "Eh," "Of course I couldn't manage it all by myself, but my son and daughter-in-law would come back to help."

Cheng Ye followed up on the topic and asked, "The shopkeeper is almost fifty years old now. His wife died early, and his son runs a small business in Huangzhou City. He sends two taels of silver here every month, and they manage to make a living."

He asked the shopkeeper why she didn't go to the city with her son, but she said, "My old man had difficulty moving around before he passed away and didn't want to live in the city, so he turned his old house into this small inn, which allowed him to make a living and enjoy some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Since he passed away, I've been staying here alone and don't want to trouble my children."

The shopkeeper's sincere words put Cheng Ye at ease, and he finally stopped gulping down the porridge. He then ordered two more bowls. He and Wanqing needed to fill their stomachs first, otherwise how could they continue their journey?

"Old woman, bring me a few bowls of braised pork noodles! And a few jars of wine!"

As Cheng Ye was drinking his porridge, several burly men arrived, each wielding a large knife, and shouted at the shopkeeper.

Upon seeing the group, the shopkeeper smiled and said, "Please wait a moment, gentlemen. I'll go make the noodles right away. The wine is inside; please go and get it."

One of the bearded men laughed loudly, "Old women are so much better! The people at that inn down there act like I owe them money. Not only is the food sparse, but the meat is also shredded. It's infuriating!"

Another person chimed in, "He's so stingy, no wonder travelers would rather go hungry than stay with him any longer."

"Hahaha," the man laughed, "That shopkeeper is like a miser, not giving a penny. If I can rank well in this martial arts tournament, I'll tear his shop down."

Cheng Ye looked at the group and felt a little flustered, but after hearing about the "Martial Arts Tournament," he relaxed a lot. It seemed that these people were going to participate in the tournament.

He sighed, thinking to himself that it seemed he was destined to be apart from her.

After finishing his porridge, Cheng Ye took out some silver to pay the shopkeeper. Just as he was about to leave, one of the men eating noodles suddenly called out to him and asked, "Brother, are you also going to the martial arts tournament because you're carrying a gun?"

Cheng Ye didn't want to dwell on it and said, "No, I'm just on my way."

Upon hearing this, the man suddenly smiled and said, "Since you're not going to participate in the martial arts tournament, why not stay in Quzhou City a little longer? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

The man's words sent a chill down Cheng Ye's spine. He immediately shielded Wan Qing behind him and asked, "Are you Sun Gong's men?"

"We don't know any Sun Gong or anything like that."

The group ate their noodles and said this without a care in the world.

Seeing that they showed no signs of making a move, Cheng Ye took Wan Qing's hand and was about to ride a horse when he suddenly felt a pang of panic. In an instant, his limbs went limp, his spear fell to the ground, and a constant ringing filled his ears. Even his consciousness gradually blurred. Before he fainted, he heard Wan Qing hoarsely crying out his name, and he also heard someone say, "Lord Sun's use of the Spring Fatigue Powder is truly miraculous."

Spring fatigue.

Spring fatigue can be treated with medicine; it is also called "immortal's sleep," and is colorless, tasteless, non-toxic, and harmless.
In Cheng Ye's memory, the martial arts world was a place to yearn for, where fame could be gained as long as one had enough strength. Yang Tianqian's earth-shattering battle back then made countless people tremble at the mere mention of it.

And he was more or less influenced by Yang Tianqian, and stepped into this world called Jianghu.

He had done many things over the years: upholding justice, robbing the rich to help the poor, killing evildoers, and saving good people. He met Wanqing during one of his Robin Hood-style robbings.

At the time, she was a traveling healer.

A wealthy businessman pretended to be sick and wanted Wanqing to treat his illness. Cheng Ye, who had been watching him for a long time, happened to see this.

Cheng Ye's act of "robbing the rich to help the poor" and taking Wan Qing away angered the wealthy merchant, who then hired someone to kill him. At that time, Cheng Ye had never met him before, and his martial arts skills were only considered good among ordinary people.

If he encountered someone even slightly stronger than him, he would only suffer defeat. Later, Wanqing also said that he was all bark and no bite, and even when she came here, she said the same thing.

Despite escaping the assassins' pursuit, he was left with a scar on his face.

After the two escaped, Wanqing looked at Cheng Ye, whose face was covered in blood. She felt both sorry for him and amused. He didn't have the ability, yet he tried to rob the rich to help the poor, just like in the story.

But Cheng Ye couldn't laugh. He said, "What? You can't rob the rich to help the poor if you don't have the ability? If you hadn't met me today, you would probably have been eaten by that fat pig."

While tending to his wounds, Wanqing said with a wry smile, "He's a pig, but I'm not pig feed. He can't eat me."

Cheng Ye felt she was exaggerating, and said sullenly, "So you think you're so capable?"

“Of course,” Wanqing said firmly, “otherwise, how could such a beautiful woman like me dare to practice medicine alone?”

"Then tell me, what are your skills?" Cheng Ye still didn't believe her and demanded that Wan Qing produce evidence.

Wanqing smiled gently, then held out one of her hands in front of him and asked, "How many is this?"

Cheng Ye looked at her raised hands and said firmly, "This is ten!"

Wanqing smiled and said, "Look carefully, I only raised one hand."

"How is that possible?" Cheng Ye felt dizzy and said weakly, "You clearly had both hands raised."

As the words fell, an overwhelming drowsiness enveloped Cheng Ye, and he finally collapsed in front of Wan Qing. He vaguely heard her say, "You don't even know when I drugged you, yet you dare to call yourself the number one genius?"

Cheng Ye watched Wan Qing being dragged away through his blurry vision. He tried to scream with all his might, but found himself unable to utter a word. He felt dizzy and disoriented, as if the world was spinning and everything was indistinguishable.
The two people under the tree frowned as they listened to Cheng Ye recount the past. Guo Zikang patted him on the shoulder with regret and said, "Life is unpredictable. Please accept my condolences."

Du Shiwei and Wanqing were both beauties, and she could empathize with Cheng Ye's plight. She comforted him, saying, "Most beauties in the world cannot escape the word 'fate.' From the moment they come into this world, it is destined that their lives will wither and fall to the ground as soon as the wind blows gently."

Cheng Ye lowered his head and remained silent, his mind filled with the tragic image of Wan Qing. He took a deep breath and then looked at Du Shiwei, "Later, I took her back to Quzhou City and went to see Prefect Zhang, but he told me that he couldn't do anything about it either."

Cheng Ye held Wanqing's body and looked at the high and mighty Zhang Qingxun, "Aren't you the prefect? ​​He's just the head of a yamen. Is his official rank higher than yours?"

"The officialdom is not as simple as you think. It's not that a higher rank can crush you."

Zhang Qingxun looked helpless as she faced Cheng Ye, saying, "I've done all I can to help, but there's nothing I can do about the outcome now."

"You go."

Zhang Qingxun's order to leave left Cheng Ye disheartened. He carried Wanqing away, and gave a wry smile: "Truly a good parent to the people, and a wise and discerning elder in the palace."

(End of this chapter)