The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#615 - Meeting an old friend

“But with great chaos imminent and the Chen Dynasty teetering on the brink, Meng Tuqiu isn't the only one with ambition. The northwest military clans are led by the four families of Ding, Le, Ning, and Jiang.

“Among them, the Ding family has been established the longest and has the greatest influence, followed by the Le family. The Ning family was originally only middle-tier, but they rose to prominence overnight because they had a good daughter, becoming a top military clan. However, their foundation is still shallow, so they can only be ranked third.

“The Jiang family was once as famous as the Ding family, but they made the wrong choice in their early years, and the eighth prince they supported ultimately failed to seize the throne. As a result, the Jiang family has also declined significantly, but a starving camel is still bigger than a horse, and they are still much stronger than the remaining military clans.

“Moreover, the current emperor is preoccupied and can't spare any more effort to deal with the Jiang family, giving them a chance to catch their breath. This time, the chaos in the northwest is something the Jiang family would love to see last as long as possible.

“Heh heh, the Ning family… they may not be as honest as you think. Although they owe their current position entirely to Ning Jieyu, a daughter is, after all, a daughter. The Ning family cannot possibly bet the lives of their entire clan on the emperor for the sake of one woman.

“Besides, Ning Jieyu hasn't given birth to a prince yet. Being favored is one thing, but her position isn't very stable. That old fox Ning Zhonghe is probably also undecided now.”

Luo Yingying blinked, “So, these northwest military clans would rather watch Meng Tuqiu annex Ma Tuqiu and Tong Tuqiu, consolidating the power of the Three Prefectures, than send troops now to fight Meng Tuqiu and risk losing everything?”

“Then what are you still doing here, Father? Why not resign and return to our hometown? Don't we still have a few acres of land there?”

“With chaos approaching, there will be no peaceful days to live.” Luo Changshi shook his head, “Moreover, I have been working as a secretary under Tong Tuqiu for so long, and the knowledge I have can only be used in the Three Prefectures of the Northwest. Where else would I be of use if I went back?”

“But I don't see you doing anything here except sighing,” Luo Yingying said, puzzled.

“Your father is waiting.” Luo Changshi stroked his beard.

“Waiting for what?”

“Waiting for change. Just like I said, the war in the Three Prefectures of the Northwest won't remain in a stalemate forever. Once Meng Tuqiu starts annexing the other two families, I reckon someone will come looking for me. The person who comes may be from Tong Tuqiu's side, or perhaps from the northwest military clans, but no matter which side it is, my knowledge should be able to be put to use.”

The more Luo Yingying listened, the more confused she became, “Which side are you on, Father? You submitted memorials to the emperor before, saying that those people in the northwest military clans were ignoring you, and now you're saying you want to serve Tong Tuqiu or the people of the northwest military clans…”

“A wily rabbit has three burrows. One shouldn't walk down a single path to the end. Only by making more preparations can one remain calm in times of crisis,” Luo Changshi said earnestly, “As for that memorial, it doesn't matter. It definitely won't leave Liang City. The Le family won't hold a grudge against me because everyone likes people who are loyal to their former masters. Only such people can be trusted when they are used…”

Lu Jing didn't listen any further. While Luo Changshi was still holding forth, he climbed down from the tree.

He went around the study to the backyard, where there was a pond.

Although the original owner of this residence was a Tubo, he was very fond of Chen Dynasty culture, especially the scenery of the courtyards in the Jiangnan region, which was his favorite.

So when he built his own residence, he had people imitate it for him.

Ponds, small bridges, artificial mountains, and lakeside pavilions were all available. Lu Jing walked to the lakeside pavilion, looked around, but saw nothing.

But he knew that the secret realm of Liang Prefecture was less than a zhang away from him.

Of course, if you jumped forward directly, the result waiting for you would definitely be a headfirst dive into the pond.

Secret realms require special methods to open, and different secret realms have different methods of opening.

Lu Jing didn't know how to open the secret realm here, but he was only here to find someone this time, so he didn't need to go into the secret realm.

According to Supervisor Huang, Qi Wenren was only exploring nearby, because with his cultivation and martial arts, it would be too dangerous for him to enter the secret realm alone.

So Lu Jing turned his attention to the surroundings.

With his eyesight, he soon discovered something. The benches in the lakeside pavilion had been sat on recently, because Luo Changshi had only moved in halfway through, and had very few family members, just a daughter and a concubine.

The servants had all run away early on, and although he had bought two little servant girls later, they couldn't clean such a large place.

No one usually came to this pavilion, so it wasn't cleaned much. Other places had a layer of dust, but only one stone bench had little dust on it.

Then Lu Jing saw a few lines of calculations on the pillar next to the stone bench, carved with a small knife.

The person who carved the words must have suddenly had inspiration and was worried about forgetting it later, so he started calculating on that wooden pillar. This behavior is naturally not worth promoting, but it allowed Lu Jing to confirm that Qi Wenren had indeed been here.

Not long ago.

The question is, where did he go after that?

Lu Jing looked around and didn't find anything else worth noting, so he simply jumped onto the top of the pavilion.

From a high vantage point, he had a panoramic view of the entire residence. As a result, he still couldn't find anything in the residence, but he saw a familiar person outside the residence.

Huo Xingsun was walking on the street, feeling a gaze on him.

This was actually nothing, because it was already close to winter, and Liang Prefecture was in the north, so most people had put on winter clothes early, but he was still walking around with his chest open, so naturally people would look at him wherever he went, but the problem was that this time the gaze actually came from above his head.

Huo Xingsun looked up, but there was nothing on the roof.

Was his feeling wrong? Huo Xingsun scratched his head. He was almost about to think so, but when he saw whose residence it was not far away, his expression became serious again.

After that, he even started looking around, searching for nearby sources of fire, preparing a route to escape.

But just as he took out a flint from his arms, it was snatched away.

Then the person put his arm around his shoulder. To outsiders, this was just a friendly gesture between friends, but in reality, Huo Xingsun felt that half of his body was unable to move after being embraced.

Especially when he saw who was embracing him, he couldn't help but be shocked, “Why is it you?!”

“I should be the one saying that, right? Why did you come to Liang Prefecture?” Lu Jing asked.