Strong Winds Return Home

The villagers gradually lost control of their emotions, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller. Their bodies staggered and their wrists shook, poisoned wine splashing out of the cups, but none of it fell on Liu Xian’an. Because Liang Shu almost simultaneously shot out a cold light with a sweep of his hand as the soft sword in his sleeve emerged like a silver dragon coming out of a box, blocking the bowls of wine back without a drop leaking through.

“Drink…….ai!” One person was excitedly urging the two to drink, but was unexpectedly splashed in the face and mouth. The venom ate through his skin like acid, and he was so shocked that he grabbed his throat and squeezed aside to vomit desperately.

This small misfortune caused the scene to go quiet for a moment. The villagers stopped and looked at Liang Shu and Liu Xian’an warily, as well as the sword in Liang Shu’s hand. And in that short period of silence, the villager who had mistakenly swallowed the poisoned wine had already collapsed with convulsing limbs, his face a strange blue color. Liu Xian’an said: “It should be snake venom.”

“Kill these two demons!” A shout burst out from among the villagers!

“Kill the demons!” The people shouted, raising their arms.

Then, as if a hidden switch had been flipped, they suddenly became excited again and seemed to have forgotten that their neighbor had died just now. They poured the poisoned wine in their hands toward the two of them like a summer rain. Liang Shu grabbed Liu Xian’an’s waist and flew over the dark mass of heads in front of him, landing firmly under the trees on the other side.

Gao Lin, who had been standing guard at the village entrance, also led his people over. When they first heard the sound of the rattle drums, everyone judged that this might be another trap set up by the Baifu Sect, but Gao Lin only suspected an ambush, not such a big scene as this. “When it comes to the routines of cults, I’m really too naive.” While thinking such, Lieutenant General Gao swung his sword to sweep away a group of ruffians who had already drawn their knives, and turned to ask: “Your Highness, how should this be settled?”

Liang Shu suggested: “If you can ask such a question, why don’t you try to reason with them first?”

Gao Lin: “…….”

There was no way to explain the truth when the knives were already at their throats.

On Liang Su’s southern tour this time, although he didn’t bring many guards, every one of them was a master, and the group of strong men from the court were still following him inseparably. This small village contained more than a hundred people. Excluding the old, the weak, and the women and children who could not be hit, there were about fifty men left. If replaced by enemies, it would take no more than half an hour to clean them up.

But they were common people. Even if they were raising their knives to kill at this time, they were still common people. An Imperial guard turned sideways to avoid the long knife in front of him, but two people snuck up from behind. He was hesitating for a moment over whether to draw his sword, when a cold black wind suddenly swept in front of him with a crash. The attackers flew up with blood dripping from their mouths, landing on the ground one by one. The soles of Liang Shu’s boots stepped on the arms of the two men, and the sound of cracking bones was clearly audible amidst the collisions of swords and knives. Their shouts of pain were accompanied by hysterical curses. Liang Shu ignored them, kicked them under the trees, and turned around to say coldly: “Don’t make me save you a second time.”

The Imperial guard was ashamed: “……Yes.”

Liu Xian’an stood alone under the trees, and an older child noticed him, saying in a cruel, shrill voice that had not yet changed: “Skin him too!”

The little dolls shook the rattle drums in their hands, trying to drive away the demons with the sound, and picked up stones to throw under the trees. A group of old women also raised torches to burn the demons. Liang Shu turned back in time and drew his sword, sweeping it under the trees to the sound of miserable screams. He landed on the ground and glanced around with cold eyes, shocking the group of children and old women so much that they dared not move anymore. A few sporadic people among them continued to babble even though they couldn’t get up, “Kill the evil gods! Kill the evil gods! Baifu Buddha Mother, kill the evil gods!” They spoke tremblingly, timid and cringing, but the hatred in the glances they occasionally stole did not diminish by half.

Liu Xian’an gave a slight sigh.

Liang Shu asked: “Should we have mercy on them?”

Liu Xian’an replied: “A little, but not much.”

Gao Lin was listening and thought, a little, but not much.

It sounds humane without overdoing it. I’ll learn it and say it next time.

Second Young Master Liu was truly suitable for the prince.

The villagers were quickly subdued. They increasingly regarded Liang Shu and his party as evil gods, and their hatred and fear were clearly displayed on their faces. Some of them even spat at the guards. Gao Lin moved away from these watering cans in disgust, and asked Liang Shu: “Your Highness, did the Baifu Sect put this group of people here just to repulse us?”

“Yes,” Liang Shu said. “They can’t do anything else.”

There were many rattle drums scattered on the ground. Liu Xian’an picked one up with a handkerchief and asked an older child: “Did you make these yourselves, or did they give them to you?”

The other party didn’t answer, but cursed at him in a dirty manner, then pulled out a provocative smile. Liang Shu frowned slightly. The guard to the side understood and pulled the soft whip from his waist, waving his hand.

A bloodstain bloomed. The child cried out in pain, and his parents also shouted anxiously in the crowd. The guard raised his hand and whipped again, this time toward the ground, which caused dirt to splatter and gravel to fly. This shocked the adults into silence, and the child was the only one still shouting loudly: “You adults hit me, a child!”

Gao Lin smiled at the sound: “How old are you this year?”

Given an opportunity, the child shouted loudly: “I’m only ten years old!”

“Ten years old?” Liang Shu looked at him. “At the Northwest camp, some herdsmen send their seven and eight-year-old sons there. Some children are so small that they can’t even climb on the back of a horse, but they can still carry big bags and follow the army on foot when marching and fighting. They are born into poverty, and feel that they can enter the military camp and have enough food to eat, read books, and practice martial arts, so they work hard. All of them are trained to be strong and righteous, and are good at riding and shooting. Those are the good boys that Dayan needs. However, the southwestern region is rich in food and clothing, there is no border turmoil, and the Bai river is not flooding. Instead, you have raised such a big, ignorant waste!”

The child was stunned by the scolding, and his chest heaved in anger. Due to the pain in his body, he didn’t dare to shout “evil gods” anymore, so he just stared fiercely at Liu Xian’an — he was also discerning, and among the crowd at the scene, this one looked the kindest and weakest. But evidence turned out to prove otherwise, because he was whipped again soon after. He screamed in pain and only cried: “You, why don’t you adults leave us alone?”

“It is because you are still young and can be saved that the prince is willing to discipline you personally,” Gao Lin said. “As for the rest.” As he spoke, he turned and glanced at the villagers under the trees. “You are things that will only grow older, not wiser. Life in the Southwest is stable and prosperous, and border trade is developed. If you want to live a long life and get rich, there are many ways to do so the right way, but you chose the wrong way.”

“Baifu Buddha Mother saves all living beings!” Someone shouted.

Gao Lin wasn’t even interested in shutting him up, and turned around to ask Liang Shu for instructions: “Your Highness, should the government take all the villagers away?”

“As soon as possible,” Liang Shu ordered. “After being taken back, those who can be persuaded and whose minds are working will still be temporarily imprisoned and do hard labor nearby for a few years. Those who still single-mindedly seek their religion will all be exiled to the mines in the north. Since they have the energy to chant their mantras here, that energy shouldn’t be wasted.”

“Yes!” Gao Lin ordered the guards to take the Imperial token and hurry to the local government. At this time, the crowd was still in commotion. The northern mines, perhaps the most unforgiving mines in the whole of Dayan, were covered in heavy snow and ice in winter and were thousands of li away. Someone cried: “My parents are already sixty years old and can’t walk. What is the difference between this and murder?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Your parents were able to try to burn me with torches, so it isn’t that they can’t walk, but that they walk more slowly.”

Gao Lin gave a laugh, pfft, and after laughing, he felt that this occasion should be more serious, so he cleared his throat and frowned at the man, saying: “Not to mention sixty years old, even if you were six hundred years old, can you break the law with impunity? In my opinion, your parents have lived decades longer than you but still don’t know right from wrong, so they should be sentenced more severely. My family’s prince has never bought such tricks as relying on youth and old age. If you want a lighter sentence, the only way out is to cooperate with the Imperial court’s investigation and clear up the Baifu Buddha Mother in your mind as soon as possible, and stop dirtying the ears of my family’s young master!”

My family’s……young master.

Liang Shu felt that he should consider giving him a raise.

Whether the villagers had been scolded to sobriety was hard to say, but they were at least scolded silent.

The guards kept watch on the area with their swords. The government office was not nearby, and even if they hurried, they should not arrive until noon the next day. Liang Shu didn’t want Liu Xian’an to stay in this strange, dirty village any longer, so he went back to the woods outside the village with him.

Liu Xian’an asked: “Will the prince continue to interrogate them?”

Liang Shu said: “No need, Gao Lin knows what to ask.”

Liu Xian’an nodded, feeling a little hungry.

Liang Shu smiled and patted him on the shoulder, then gathered a pile of dry firewood in the forest and lit it. He took a package of meat out of the carriage and slowly roasted it, saying: “It’s true that nothing can delay your eating and sleeping.”

“There are things that can delay them.” Liu Xian’an said beside him and imitated him by baking a piece of biscuit. He was indeed able to eat and sleep most of the time, but there were also a few times he was unable to eat or sleep all night, all because of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang — he was reluctant to fall asleep and was not at ease, worrying about having to work in his dreams.

Liang Shu asked: “What things? Let’s hear them.”

Liu Xian’an refused: “Won’t say.”

Liang Shu put his arm around his shoulders, coaxing: “A forty-eight thousand-year-old immortal who is rich in experience has nothing to say?”

Liu Xian’an remained calm and kept his mouth shut.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll make wild guesses.” Liang Shu cupped his face. “Were you thinking about me so much that you couldn’t sleep?”

He was just speaking randomly, and never thought he would get it right. A forty-eight thousand year-old immortal had not cultivated a forty-eight thousand year-old face. In this respect, Second Young Master Liu was still very young. Looking at his sweetheart at such a close distance, his heart was poked, and he blushed. Liang Shu seemed to have discovered a secret treasure stash: “No, you really think about me so much?”

But Liu Xian’an thought, this is human nature. That is to say, love is annoying, and you will think about someone when they’re out of sight. It is written like this in poems.

Liang Shu embraced him tightly: “That being the case, how about I don’t go back to my own place to sleep, and just stay at your bedside all night?”

Liu Xian’an’s ears itched because of what he said, so he turned his head to hide, but the other party refused to let go, so he could only say something like: “I’m hungry.”

Liang Shu continued to wrap the man in his arms in order to keep him warm, and leaned over to take something from the fire for him to eat. With food in his stomach, the chill in his bones that had just set in at the village dissipated a little, and he was much more comfortable. Liu Xian’an said: “I don’t know how many similar villages there will be farther south.”

“Even if there are one hundred or one thousand villages like this, they are not difficult to handle,” Liang Shu said. “The tricky part is the Baifu Sect. It is like a giant queen ant hidden deep underground, continuously spawning batches of victims. If it is not completely eradicated, there will never be peace in the Southwest.”

His voice was very soft when he spoke, without any hostility, and when he gave a light sigh, it was like a sigh of exhaustion. Liu Xian’an reached out to touch the side of his face, caressing it a bit. Liang Shu felt his care and distress, and pushed forward to get closer to him, their faces nearly touching.

The mountain wind rustled the trees in the forest, and winter in the Southwest was not very cold. The two of them snuggled up to each other by the fire, and their hands and feet were warmed up. It was rare for Liu Xian’an not to feel drowsy from being baked by the fire, and he stretched out his hand to let Liang Shu rest his head on his shoulder.

There was quiet a sense of being dependent on each other.

Everyone slept in the woods overnight. At noon the next day, the local official came with a bunch of people who were scared witless. He fell off his horse, and when he met Liang Shu, he almost wet his pants in fear. He knew that there were many cults in this world, but why were there so many? All of the people in the village were brainwashed and raised their knives to kill His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. This……they might as well kill themselves too!

“I will leave further investigation to you, and if you achieve results, this lord will spare you the crime of dereliction of duty this time,” Liang Shu said. “Persuade the people of this village if you can, and the ones who remain stubborn will be considered cultists, so there is no need to waste words.”

“Yes, yes, I will do my best!” The official had already determined that he would be beheaded, and now that he had recovered his life in the wake of this catastrophe, he nearly cried. “Your Highness, just rest assured!”

He kowtowed here, with the villagers on the other side still cursing and chanting scriptures endlessly. The official was so dizzy that he ordered his subordinates to shut them up and arrest them. A guard of Xiao Wang Palace was also anxious, and said: “It’s been a whole night, why aren’t these people tired? Do they really think they can talk people to death with just their mouths?”

“You can really talk people to death with your mouth, but not with this kind of wording.” Gao Lin tossed over a steamed bun. “Eat, then continue on your way.”

The guard asked: “Then what kind of wording?”

Gao Lin looked toward the other side, where Liu Xian’an was talking to A-Ning under a tree: “Look, that’s the way it is said.”

But Second Young Master Liu himself didn’t think he was too talkative. He didn’t have a good rest last night, so his neck was sore and his head was dizzy. While massaging his shoulders and neck, A-Ning asked: “The young master was holding the prince for the whole night?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Yes.”

A-Ning found this unbelievable: “But the young master usually sleeps lying down, and even has to change position seven or eight times per night.”

Liu Xian’an explained: “Because there is usually no prince there when I sleep.”

After speaking, he was so tired that he climbed back into the carriage to catch up on sleep. Gao Lin sneaked over to acquire information, and asked: “What were you talking about just now?”

A-Ning answered truthfully, saying that there was usually no prince when he slept.

Gao Lin slapped his thigh deep in his heart. I knew it, Second Young Master Liu’s hazy and distressed expression just now must have something to do with my prince. I’m so clever and witty. He immediately took this news as if offering a treasure, and said to Liang Shu: “Second Young Master Liu regrets that there is no prince when he usually sleeps.”

This sentence could be broken down into two parts. “There is usually no prince” was said by A-Ning himself, and the “regret” part was summarized by Lieutenant General Gao himself because of that distressed look. It must not be very much different from regret, and couldn’t be explained as happiness, right?

Liang Shu praised: “After returning to the Northwest, go to the accountant for a raise.”

Lieutenant General Gao had gone through many ups and downs during his years of life, but this was the first time he made such easy money. 

The mountain road became increasingly rugged as they went farther south. When they arrived at the Southwest garrison military camp, it was already approaching New Year’s Eve.

This city was called Garrison City. There were no civilians in residence, but soldiers and their families. Ku You personally led the army out of the city to meet them. Wearing silver armor and riding a white horse, he held a long spear, and had silver hair and golden eyes. With this appearance of somewhere between a demon and a god, it was no wonder that rumors about him spread everywhere in the Southwest and even the entire territory of Dayan.

“Your Highness.” He got off his horse and was about to salute, but was grabbed by Gao Lin, who said, “Kneel when your old injury is healed, or I’m afraid you won’t be able to get up.”

“I’m already better.” Ku You handed the spear to a subordinate, and personally led the horse for Liang Shu. The sun was just right on this day, and when he looked up, his eyes reflected the light like a cat’s or a leopard’s, and Liu Xian’an behind him was taken aback for a moment.

A-Ning also noticed it, and whispered: “This Commander Ku’s eye disease seems to be very serious.”

“It’s very tricky, and needs to be treated as soon as possible,” Liu Xian’an said.

A-Ning asked again: “Can the young master cure it?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “Although I know medical principles, this disease requires surgery, and I have never cut an eyeball myself.”

A-Ning had actually gone to observe several cadaver dissection classes, but that wasn’t enough either. The two of them just put their heads together and murmured. Ku You also noticed this, and asked: “Brother Gao, are those two people in the back the rumored miracle doctors?”

“Yes.” Gao Lin said, “I’ll ask Second Young Master Liu to take a look at your old wound for you. He’s a master. He treated our prince and tamed him.”

Ku You was puzzled: “Shouldn’t the miracle doctor be First Young Master Liu?”

Gao Lin said with surprise: “Aiya, you’re well-informed in these old Southwest forests. This matter is a long story, and we must start with our prince’s marriage.”

Ku You was happy to hear this. “I heard that the prince truly wishes to marry the lady of Baihe Mountain Village?”

As soon as these words fell, a piece of silver was thrown at Gao Lin’s head and smacked into his teeth. With sharp eyes and quick hands, Gao Lin snatched the small windfall from the sky and put it in his sleeve with peace of mind, saying in a knowledgeable tone, “This brother advises you to shut up.”

Ku You: “…….”

Their residences in the city had been prepared. Liang Shu naturally stayed in the main courtyard, and Liu Xian’an’s residence was also good, spacious and bright. However, it was far away from the main courtyard. Gao Lin was impressed, and asked: “Why don’t you just arrange for Second Young Master Liu to live in the wild forest outside the city?”

Ku You didn’t understand at all: “What do you mean by that? What’s this about arranging him outside the city? Isn’t this for the convenience of the miracle doctor to go collect medicinal herbs?”

Gao Lin was so choked that he couldn’t speak a word.

What happened, I didn’t notice you were this stupid in the Northwest, ah!