Chapter 88

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Liu Qi leaned against the armrest inside, and only after a pause did he speak: "Although Zhu Zhi's temperament is unstable and he is easily provoked, he also possesses a keenness unlike ordinary people. Even someone whose build bears a tenfold resemblance to me, in close combat, relying merely on a mask to disguise himself, could not possibly deceive him so easily."

Leaving aside bearing and conduct, his hatred for Zhu Zhi alone is something no one can replicate.

"The reason I showed myself wearing a mask in the mountains that night was merely to confuse the eyes of others," Liu Qi said. "Beyond that, I absolutely had to make Zhu Zhi recognize me; only then would he be provoked, and only then could this game begin."

Liu Qi's breathing gradually steadied somewhat, his voice still not heavy, as if chatting idly with the person before him: "The injury was indeed deliberate, just as you said a moment ago — since I had to act as bait, there had to be blood qi leaking out, to successfully lure the prey to the door."

As for having someone else take my place, besides being unable to easily hide it from Zhu Zhi, this is also one of the reasons:

"Engaging Zhu Zhi in close combat is an extremely risky matter; no one can guarantee the severity of the injuries, and there is also the possibility of dying on the spot. Going into the mountains myself was my decision, so this matter should rightly be done by me."

Everyone who entered the mountains that night to rescue the Ling family's descendants did so voluntarily risking their lives; anyone could die, but it should not be someone wearing his robe dying in his stead.

This has no direct connection to morality; each person naturally has their own convictions.

Liu Qi took the tea bowl Deng Hu handed over and drank the water slowly.

Shaowei ran through the whole affair in her mind again, thinking of the military treatises' talk of advancing step by step as a battalion and planning strategy within the tent, and couldn't help but look at Liu Qi again, thinking of how he had shown not the slightest panic or tension throughout, and asked him: "Did you have absolute confidence that you could pull off this scheme?"

Liu Qi set down the tea bowl; his lips, moistened by the tea, had finally gained some damp color. He looked at Shaowei, but slowly shook his head at her.

"People are alive, human nature is changeable; the more people involved in a scheme, the easier it is for variables to appear," he said. "I also do not know if there truly exists someone who plans strategy within the tent in this world, but even if there is, it was not me this time."

He did not, because of that line he had previously told Shaowei — "I am still very useful" — exaggerate his divine abilities now to show off his capability.

He could see the sharpness of the person before him, and also see her curiosity and thirst for knowledge, and the character and experiences behind that mind.

She is someone who has just entered the world, like a young tiger fresh out of the mountain forest, unknown for what reason she has blundered into this bloody, turbid struggle; she has sharpness to spare and astonishing courage, but still lacks experience.

It was he who reached out that hand and suddenly grabbed her, bringing her back here; therefore he has the obligation to answer her doubts directly, rather than let her develop a naive misunderstanding of power tactics — that would be a huge hidden danger.

Perhaps she has extraordinary discernment of her own, but he absolutely cannot be that shameless, vicious person who harms others.

Therefore he spoke frankly: "Injuring oneself to set a trap is not brilliant; I am the trapped beast, he is the chopping block. Resisting head-on, as a trapped beast there is no chance of victory; it is merely doing one's utmost to scheme in the dark and then letting go for a final desperate fight."

These words lose the profundity and imposing air, but Shaowei looked at him and said seriously: "Winning as the weak against the strong — that is what's formidable."

She felt this person understood many things she still did not, so she felt some jealousy, but she would never blindly deny the other's ability because of jealousy; otherwise even the jealousy would lose its meaning, and she herself would be muddle-headed and unable to stand firm.

And precisely because she sensed the other's frankness in this matter, Shaowei instead felt more appreciation for him, and at this moment did not stint on saying:

"I think you have a good head, and sharp claws and guts, and are also very good at putting on an act and disguising yourself; the evidence of your injury is right on your body, yet you could still put on that utterly uninhibited appearance before them — just now even I was nearly taken in by you."

Liu Qi was somewhat surprised she would actually praise him.

And although they were words praising him, there was still that one line "even I was nearly taken in by you," showing she is hard to deceive and also quite a sharp person — this is indeed fact; she is naturally vigilant, very good at self-preservation.

Liu Qi couldn't help but reveal a smile; he "humbly" said: "Many thanks, my trifling ability is not worth mentioning; just barely managing to live a few more days."

The atmosphere inexplicably became relaxed and at ease; the topic had been somewhat heavy and difficult, but her overly simple, direct words seemed to drag these damp, bloody things out into the sunlight to bake.

All the conspiracies and slaughter seemed to turn into natural predation between animals; and once stained with this natural feel, even amidst the cruelty of life and death there emerged a refreshing, liberating breath. The state of mind walked out of the narrow darkness toward the broad brightness.

"No need for thanks," Shaowei's tone was generous, then she asked him: "You were willing to let me see the wounds on your body, and told me these things — was that also out of goodwill?"

Again such a direct, clear way of asking; Liu Qi smiled and said: "It is goodwill, and also repayment for your kindness."

"You severely injured Zhu Zhi, so I could deal with things so easily today," he said. "That night I failed to kill Zhu Zhi; logically he would certainly come personally to investigate —"

From the start I made two preparations: one, Zhu Zhi dies, the Embroidered Uniform Guards withdraw back to the Capital, the situation afterward is much the same.

But he also knew Zhu Zhi would not be easily killed, so he had to make preparations for Zhu Zhi being alive even more.

Speaking to this point, Liu Qi turned his head, lowered his eyes, and glanced at his own left arm: "This spider silk concealment secret art is indeed hidden, but it is merely a blind; and Zhu Zhi is suspicious and formidable, he will certainly want to investigate a step further."

Shaowei then asked: "If that happens, what would you do?"

"Just like today Huang Jie also had the intention to step forward and investigate," Liu Qi smiled: "Naturally I cannot obediently submit. But Zhu Zhi is much harder to deal with than Huang Jie; it will inevitably involve a major clash. You also said I'm good at putting on an act; at that time I must feign a humiliated, crazed state, take advantage of the chaos to add injury upon injury, then bite back at him to confuse his vision."

"He is destined to be unable to find Congnan's whereabouts; I only need to deceive the other people present." He patiently explained to Shaowei: "Among those present today there is a Lord surnamed Zhuang; this person has roots and a faction in the Capital; they have many grievances with Zhu Zhi. If he personally witnesses Zhu Zhi acting wildly and outrageously, he certainly will not let the matter rest."

Shaowei recalled the sounds outside the house at that time, vaguely matched the number, and asked: "Was this person also arranged by you?"

"Not invited by me; it was the Mansion's Changshi who invited him," Liu Qi said. "But the Changshi thought of this Lord because he received a reminder from an inner attendant at his side."

It's just that the Changshi would not easily realize he was being prompted by someone.

Shaowei was startled, only to see a trace of a smile appear again on his pale face, and he said: "In my original plan, this Lord should have arrived several days ago, and incidentally could have joined the Changshi in scolding me for my drunken, outrageous behavior. It shows variables do indeed appear constantly; but fortunately you severely injured Zhu Zhi, the Embroidered Uniform Guards' move to come to the door was delayed a bit, so it did not delay matters."

Shaowei's attention was on that sentence in the middle: "Who was the one drinking in your place? A He?"

This time it was Liu Qi's turn to be startled for a moment; he was shocked by her perceptiveness.

And when he recovered, Liu Qi did not deny it: "Yes. When I went out to set the ambush, it was A He who covered my tracks. He resembles me in build, and can alter his features by three to five parts; as long as he doesn't appear face-to-face in close contact with people, it's enough to fool everyone."

That day the wine jar smashed beside Lord Tang's feet was thrown from behind the screen; a calculating person scheming against an unsuspecting one — this crossing the sea under heaven's nose separated by a screen is not hard to pull off.

Hearing Liu Qi say A He can alter his features by three to five parts, Shaowei suddenly leaned forward, using the tea water in a tea bowl on the low table to examine her own face by comparison.

She looked left and right; her complexion need not be mentioned, only to see her eyebrow shape, eye socket depth, and lip thickness had indeed changed; although close observation can still discern it, it is quite sufficient for dealing with strangers.

And from this one can also see that in this world there is probably no such thing as the legendary godlike, seamless disguise technique; this cosmetic decoration is perhaps the maximum extent to which appearance can be altered. If one wants to further modify and completely overturn features, the makeup feel would have to be extremely heavy, and one would definitely be able to tell it's a fake person at a glance, instead becoming bizarre and attracting attention.

Seeing her staring at the bowl lost in thought, Liu Qi fell quiet for a while; only when she raised her head did he continue: "Huang Jie is much easier to deal with than Zhu Zhi; you severed one of Zhu Zhi's arms, sparing this place a scene of bloodshed."

Perhaps, before this she had also averted an even greater bloodshed.

Liu Qi looked at her, silently much more serious: "Thank you."

After a thought, he added a formal address: "Jiang Jun."

In current times both men and women can be addressed as Jun, to show solemnity and respect.

This address made Shaowei freeze for a moment; a strange feeling rose in her heart, as if she had put on Jiang Fu's clothes and pretended to be a formidable big shot; for a moment she inexplicably felt a guilty conscience, as if bugs were crawling on her back.

But she has always been such that the more guilty her conscience, the more arrogant her face; at this moment she silently sat up straighter, her composure carrying a few points of confident expression: "I said it before, no need to thank me; even if I helped you, it was a blind cat hitting a dead mouse."

Shaowei did not want him to thank her so solemnly again, so she did not give him a chance to speak again, but abruptly changed the subject, asking him: "If that is the case, then you shot Huang Jie today also as part of the act? Wanting people to think you are not calm?"

It was again extremely blunt wording.

Liu Qi nodded, repeating her bluntness: "Yes, wanting people to think I am not calm—given someone as extreme as me, after being humiliated, seizing the other party's handle to kill them, is that not only right?"

"Killing him is also to eliminate future troubles; my calamities are already many, but such matters should not be increased indiscriminately."

After saying these, he smiled faintly, and candidly added: "However, it is indeed true that I am somewhat not calm; I truly wanted to kill him."

Shaowei fell silent for a moment, only feeling she was simply being made dizzy by him.

What made her dizzy was not these words of his, but what kind of person he ultimately was.

She thought his lack of calm was all a pretense, and inside there must be a composed appearance, but this inner composure of his seemed to be merely madness that was very restrained.

Black below was thought to be white, but within white another layer of black was seen again.

There was both cautious hibernation and plotting, and also staking everything on a desperate gamble.

Shaowei suddenly thought of the words Jiang Fu had said—those who are cautious all their lives seek to live, while those who gamble their lives seek that one moment of having their wishes fulfilled; both get what they want, with no distinction of high or low.

Shaowei pondered for a moment, and roughly understood the reason for Liu Qi's contradictory actions.

His caution was not to seek to live; judging from his fate in his previous life, he was not someone who only sought to survive.

The reason he was cautious was probably just to try to walk one step further, and kill one more person.

So this person was indeed mad in a very restrained and hidden way.

Shaowei looked left and right, but could not see a single trace of this person's shadow from when he choked to death in his previous life; back then he was like a White Ze with fallen scale feathers, inexplicably making Shaowei feel very auspicious.

She had never seen anyone die so auspiciously.

She did not know whether it was because his experiences in this life had changed, having witnessed something, thereby altering the base of his temperament, or whether he was mostly mad in a very restrained way in his previous life, but at the brink of death his spirit and madness both dissipated, and by chance he was briefly peaceful and auspicious for a moment.

Shaowei thus associated and compared her own state of mind when dying; she was different, she was also gnashing her teeth when she died, and her attitude toward life could be called consistent from beginning to end.

After sitting for a long time, the injuries and bones on her body were somewhat sore; Shaowei wanted to get up and move a little, then asked nothing more, making a final summary of the topic: "It is only hateful that Zhu Zhi has not yet breathed his last; he lost an arm, this place is damp, it would be best if his severe injuries went uncured and he thus lost his life."

This was less a summary and more like a curse.

Liu Qi took over the conversation: "Leaving him one life is also good; for him, losing his right arm will only be more painful than death."

Shaowei said while getting up: "This kind of person clearly should die as fast as possible; I do not like him being alive, I must still kill him."

She had sat for too long; upon getting up, she pulled at the wound; though she made no sound, she also frowned and gritted her teeth from the pain; her vivid expression paired with this decisive killing made Liu Qi suddenly become somewhat absent-minded.

Even her hatred was clear and decisive.

In contrast, he was like a ghost full of damp blood qi.

The youth somewhat self-mockingly lowered his eyelids.

And at this moment, a series of "dok dok" sounds suddenly came from the inner chamber, as if the window lattice was being struck.

This knocking sound was not heavy but had quite a rhythm; it was absolutely not caused by the wind; Liu Qi immediately became alert: "Deng Hu."

Deng Hu's reaction and movement were both swift; he took a large step out, but was grabbed by the arm by Shaowei, who had just stood firm; she had boundless strength; even though her strength had not yet fully recovered, at this moment she pulled Deng Hu back a full step.

The voice accompanied the action: "It is coming to find me; you must not frighten it!"

After speaking, Shaowei lifted her skirt and limped on one leg, hastily jumping toward the inner chamber.

That knocking sound was the secret signal between her and Zhan Zhan!

Zhan Zhan had returned; the house slaves were mostly nearby!

Shaowei ran to the window edge, reached out to push open one pane of the small window, and indeed saw a mass of yellow and white crouching on the window lattice, diligently pecking at another window pane.

Seeing the window was opened, the bird turned its head to look, blinked its eyelids, pressed its feather crown back, tilted its head, was puzzled for a moment, then suddenly flapped its wings and left.

Seeing it turn away as if it had mistaken the person and the wrong door, Shaowei shouted in annoyance: "It is me! Come back!"

Zhan Zhan heard this familiar voice, only then suddenly found his way back, made an emergency stop in the air, chirping as he flew back.

Shaowei extended her hand; Zhan Zhan landed on her forearm; Shaowei immediately asked: "Where are the people? Did you bring them over?"

Zhan Zhan extended one wing, gesturing toward the rear: "The house slaves have been brought! Hurry and send word! Hurry and send word!"