During their conversation,
Cui Xun had already caught two fish. When he looked back, he saw Li Ying and Ji Qingyang chatting happily. Ji Qingyang was open and cheerful, and having long wandered the jianghu, he was even more uninhibited. Though many years older than Cui Xun, his eyes still sparkled like those of a youth.
Perhaps there are people who, regardless of how time passes, can forever maintain their passion and sincerity.
Sunlight poured over Ji Qingyang, making him even more brilliantly dazzling. He said something to Li Ying that made her laugh happily. Cui Xun pressed his lips together, then walked back with his fish in large strides.
He didn’t want to grill fish for Ji Qingyang anymore. Instead, he tossed a live, wriggling fish to Ji Qingyang and said coldly, “Hero Ji, one of your arms has been shot and wounded. Can you grill fish with your other hand?”
Ji Qingyang was stunned for a moment, then replied: “I can.”
However, with only one hand, he found it inconvenient. Li Ying nudged Cui Xun: “What’s wrong with helping Hero Ji grill his fish?”
Cui Xun didn’t respond and just concentrated on grilling fish for himself and Li Ying. Seeing this, Ji Qingyang laughed heartily: “Princess, don’t you see? Young Magistrate Cui is competing with me!”
Li Ying was confused: “Competing? Competing over what?”
Cui Xun hadn’t expected Ji Qingyang to speak so openly about it. He was momentarily taken aback, then became somewhat embarrassed and angry. His jade-white face was tinged with a light crimson. Li Ying suddenly realized what was happening and giggled: “You really are…”
Competing with Ji Qingyang, someone he’d just met.
Ji Qingyang also laughed loudly: “Young Magistrate Cui, though everyone in the world curses you—calling you treacherous, vicious, despicable, and shameless—I find you quite interesting.”
The villainous official universally despised turned out to be like a youth experiencing his first love, quietly sulking and jealous over the woman he loved.
How truly interesting.
Cui Xun was utterly embarrassed at being teased by the two of them. He gritted his teeth and said: “Thank you, Hero Ji, for relaying to me what everyone in the world says about me.”
Ji Qingyang smiled and said, “Young Magistrate Cui, there’s no need for that. I roam the four seas practicing chivalry; the matters of love and affection were cast from my mind long ago.”
Cui Xun didn’t believe him at all. Cast from his mind? The way he had looked at Li Ying earlier certainly didn’t seem like someone who had cast away such feelings.
He snorted coldly and said, “If Hero Ji has no other business, Mingyuezhu and I will continue on our journey.”
Li Ying was about to say something when Ji Qingyang said, “Young Magistrate Cui, please wait.”
Cui Xun frowned. Ji Qingyang sighed: “Actually, if Young Magistrate Cui weren’t in such a hurry, there’s a matter I was reluctant to bring up so quickly.”
Li Ying couldn’t help but ask: “What matter?”
Ji Qingyang respectfully placed the wooden box that had been beside him onto his lap and asked: “Young Magistrate Cui, I heard you were sent to escort Shen Que to Lingnan, but why have you appeared here in Hengzhou?”
Cui Xun disliked Ji Qingyang. From the moment he detected Ji Qingyang’s admiration for Li Ying between the lines, he disliked him. He admitted to himself that he was narrow-minded and truly could not chat amicably with a man who liked Li Ying. So he didn’t want to answer Ji Qingyang’s question and only said: “This has nothing to do with Hero Ji.”
Ji Qingyang didn’t take offense. Instead, he smiled and said, “I guess it’s because Young Magistrate Cui feared interception along the way, so you and the Princess are riding swiftly to Lingnan alone, correct?”
Cui Xun neither confirmed nor denied this. Ji Qingyang continued: “In Shen Que’s case, it’s rumored he was accused of killing a lieutenant from the Heavenly Might Army. But that lieutenant was of humble status, and neither the Empress Dowager nor His Majesty wanted to punish Shen Que for his sake. That Shen Que could be punished at all was reportedly due to considerable effort from Young Magistrate Cui.”
Cui Xun maintained his cold demeanor and mocked: “Hero Ji is certainly well-informed.”
Ji Qingyang boasted without any false modesty: “Well, I have friends throughout the world, so naturally I’m well-informed.”
Cui Xun ignored him. After a pause, Ji Qingyang continued: “However, for Young Magistrate Cui to be willing to offend both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor for that lieutenant, traveling thousands of miles to Lingnan, you must have had a good relationship with him.”
Li Ying jumped in first: “Seventeenth Brother and that lieutenant were as close as brothers.”
Ji Qingyang nodded: “Since you were as close as brothers with that lieutenant, what is Young Magistrate Cui’s relationship with the commander of the Heavenly Might Army, Guo Qinwei?”
Cui Xun seemed to realize something. He finally raised his eyes to look at Ji Qingyang and said each word deliberately: “I regard Commander Guo as my father.”
Hearing these words, Ji Qingyang seemed relieved and sighed: “If that’s the case, then good.”
Cui Xun stared at him steadily. Li Ying also glanced at the wooden box on Ji Qingyang’s lap. She probably guessed something, as her expression also became solemn. Ji Qingyang spoke slowly: “People say Commander Guo was a defeated general, but I think that having fought in hundreds of battles and repeatedly defeating the Turks, refusing to surrender even when surrounded at Luoyan Ridge, taking his own life rather than capitulating—he was a man worthy of respect. After Commander Guo’s death, his head was displayed in the Turk camp, his property was all confiscated, and his body was denied burial. Alas, for such a renowned general to meet such an end is truly lamentable.”
He paused, then continued: “Several months ago, after six years, the Turks finally returned Commander Guo’s head to the Great Zhou. I was greatly relieved. But then I learned from a friend that the head returned to the Great Zhou was fake. The real one remained in the Yabgu’s residence in Turkic territory. The Great Zhou did not publicize this matter, nor did they send a diplomatic note to the Turks demanding it back.”
Cui Xun continued: “The Turkic Yabgu has a blood feud with Commander Guo. The reason for not sending a diplomatic note is fear that the Yabgu, if cornered, might destroy Commander Guo’s head.”
Ji Qingyang nodded: “I figured as much. But how could the head of the Great Zhou’s commander remain in enemy hands? Indignant, I infiltrated the Turkic Yabgu’s residence. During this time, I encountered several secret agents from the Investigation Department who helped me…” Ji Qingyang asked Cui Xun: “These agents were sent by you, weren’t they, Young Magistrate Cui?”
Cui Xun stared at the wooden box. He seemed completely distracted and only managed to answer dazedly: “Yes, I sent them.”
From the day he learned of this, he had dispatched secret agents to Turkic territory, but the Yabgu guarded Guo’s head very strictly, and the agents couldn’t retrieve it immediately.
Ji Qingyang continued: “With their help, I finally succeeded in stealing the head.”
He carefully placed the wooden box on the ground and pushed it toward Cui Xun: “Commander Guo’s head is in this wooden box.”
Cui Xun’s eyes were filled with bewilderment. His body began to tremble slightly, and even his fingers were shaking. He reached out to open the box, but Ji Qingyang stopped him: “Please wait, Young Magistrate Cui.”
Cui Xun looked up at him. Ji Qingyang said reluctantly, “It’s better not to look.”
Cui Xun seemed dazed, his voice light and distant, as if coming from a far horizon: “Why not look?”
Ji Qingyang gritted his teeth and, after a long moment, finally said: “Commander Guo’s head has been made into a drinking vessel.”
Li Ying was dumbfounded.
Made into a drinking vessel? This was an enormous insult to Guo Qinwei!
And a massive insult to the Great Zhou!
Cui Xun’s face instantly turned as white as paper, as if all the blood had been drained from his body at that moment. His shoulders shook violently, waves of dizziness washed over him, and his fingers nearly dug into the ground. Li Ying didn’t dare call out to him. After a long while, he finally reached with trembling fingers to open the wooden box. Ji Qingyang still tried to stop him, but was brushed aside. Cui Xun placed both hands on the lid of the box. The lid seemed to weigh thousands of pounds. His hands shook terribly, and after several failed attempts to open it, he finally clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms. The pain helped him regain some composure.
He slowly lifted the lid. Inside the box was a skull that had been hollowed out in the middle and inlaid with gold and silver on both sides—a skull cup. Traces of wine could still be seen in the cup, suggesting it had been used frequently. Li Ying looked at it once and couldn’t bear to look anymore, turning her head away.
But she looked back, anxiously watching Cui Xun. His head was lowered, and Li Ying couldn’t see his expression. A deathly silence surrounded them; not even birdsong could be heard. Neither Li Ying nor Ji Qingyang dared speak. A moment later, Li Ying suddenly saw drops of fresh blood flowing from Cui Xun’s mouth, dripping onto the black soil.
Li Ying was alarmed: “Seventeenth Brother…”
She hurried to support Cui Xun, whose body was swaying as if about to collapse. He continued to stare fixedly at the skull cup, as if trying to burn its image into his marrow. Li Ying’s eyes reddened: “Seventeenth Brother, stop looking…”
She bit her lip and closed the wooden box, preventing Cui Xun from looking. More and more blood flowed from the corners of Cui Xun’s mouth. In her panic, Li Ying wiped it with her sleeve. With tears in her eyes, she urged: “Seventeenth Brother, don’t be like this… Commander Guo in the underworld wouldn’t want to see you like this…”
But Cui Xun still stared fixedly at the closed wooden box. His face was deathly pale without a hint of color, his eyes terrifyingly hollow. Li Ying remembered he had the same expression the day he learned of Sheng Yunting’s entrusting. She was somewhat afraid and didn’t know how to console him. She could only choke out: “Seventeenth Brother, please say something to me, will you?”
Cui Xun finally spoke. In his great anguish, his voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum, but every word carried profound pain and indignation. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth as he said: “I, Cui Xun… if I do not kill the Turkic Yabgu in this lifetime… I am not human!”
Although Ji Qingyang had anticipated his reaction, he was still so shocked that he remained speechless for a long time. When he finally regained his composure, he tried to counsel: “Young Magistrate Cui, the Turkic Yabgu has insulted Commander Guo like this; Heaven will punish him.”
Upon hearing this, Cui Xun only muttered each word deliberately: “No, Heaven cannot punish him, because I must punish him.”
He suddenly looked at Ji Qingyang. Just as Ji Qingyang thought he was about to say something resentful, Cui Xun staggered to his feet, then solemnly knelt before Ji Qingyang and kowtowed heavily. Ji Qingyang was extremely shocked and tried to help Cui Xun up: “Young Magistrate Cui, you mustn’t.”
Cui Xun shook his head: “You are my benefactor.”
His face was as pale as paper: “You are the benefactor of our Heavenly Might Army.”
Ji Qingyang also knelt before him and struck the ground with his fist, sighing: “Alas! I only regret finding it too late!”
He said to Cui Xun: “Young Magistrate Cui, if you trust me, I will deliver Commander Guo’s head safely to Chang’an.”
Cui Xun nodded and took out a seal from his sleeve: “With this seal, Hero Ji can find Liu Ruyu, the Magistrate of Hengzhou. He is from the Investigation Department and will escort Hero Ji back to Chang’an. However, His Majesty has decreed that Commander Guo’s remains may not be buried. I ask Hero Ji to deliver the head to Ximing Temple, to be placed before the Buddha.”
Ji Qingyang took the seal, his eyes growing hot with emotion: “Young Magistrate Cui, rest assured, even at the cost of my life, I will not allow these loyal remains to be abandoned and humiliated in a foreign land!”
Cui Xun nodded slowly. Li Ying supported him as he stood up unsteadily. He seemed extremely weak, barely able to stand even with Li Ying’s support. He looked at the wooden box in Ji Qingyang’s hand. Though his voice was soft, it was exceptionally clear: “One day, they will all be able to rest in peace.”