How to Easily Capture a Long Aotian [Quick Transmigration] 71

Chapter 71: The Peerless Minister of a Troubled World (Part 2)

The two of them had stayed in the suburbs of the city for several months. On the day Yu Lin and his entourage had returned, he and Wei Zhiji had parted at the city gate.

It was raining, just like when they had first met. The misty rain seemed to bring a little of the charm of Jiangnan, and it fell on Yu Lin’s eyelashes, gentle and unique.

His eyelashes were dotted with fine rain, and his hand was holding the reins. When he was about to enter the door, he suddenly smiled and said to Wei Zhiji, “Go back. Remember to forget about the things of these past few months.”

His hand was holding the reins, and his voice was clear, and his fingers were as white as the best official porcelain.

Wei Zhiji had been secretly following him for several months, and he had been busy. He had pointed east and west, and because he had something on his mind, he had at first returned to the city to show his face, so that people could see him. Later, he had simply disappeared, and he had stayed in the countryside.

He didn’t know how to clean up the mess, nor did he know how to avoid suspicion. Yu Lin had cleaned it all up for him before he had left, but at this time, he did not know these things. But he had heard Yu Lin’s coldness, and he had immediately become unhappy.

He stood his horse on the city wall, and with his lips pressed lightly together, his pair of eyes were sharp and pressing, but also a little hurt.

He opened his mouth, and his high ponytail was hanging down slightly in the rain, and his hairband was soaked, like a roe deer that had been shot in the leg. He asked, “What do you mean?”

Yu Lin looked at him, and at his tightly gripped knuckles on the reins. After a moment of silence, he had to say it more clearly, “The marquis is noble. Let’s not have any contact in the future.”

The things he had learned during this period of time were a jumble, and they were barely enough for him to use when he was in trouble. Yu Lin looked at his puppy-like eyes and was a little intolerant, and he was also worried that he would die faster.

Thinking of the bomb identity he had received this time, he had to be ruthless. “From now on, don’t say we’ve met. Do you remember?”

Wei Zhiji was in a crimson robe and a golden belt, and he had a golden and jade-like appearance. His pair of eyes were staring at him fixedly. After a long while, as if in a fit of pique, he slapped the back of his horse, and with red eyes, he turned and left. “I don’t care.”

The little marquis had turned and had entered the rain curtain. His leaving posture was extremely proud, and his face was covered with water, as if he had won a battle.

It was as if they would never have any interaction in the future.

But at night, Yu Lin had just finished washing up, and he was wearing an outer shirt, and he had lit a lamp, and was about to go to bed, when the closed window was gently opened by a little thief.

A faint sound had caught his attention. He had pressed his lips together, and when he had looked up, he had seen the moonlight flowing. The little thief’s figure was nimble, and he had slipped in like a fish, and with a long arm, he had trapped him in his arms.

The little thief was mischievous. He had held his waist, and he had looked at him with a smile. After a while, he had suddenly reached out, and his warm palm had covered his eyes, and he had lowered his head slightly, and had held his lips.

The summer in Luojing was hot and humid. The little thief was clumsy, and he had kissed and bitten. After a short while, both of their thin shirts were soaked through.

Under the cold moonlight, Yu Lin’s skin was tinged with a faint red. He looked down in astonishment, and saw him go all the way down, quite unreasonably, and he held his skin and flesh and sucked and bit.

After several months of being together, it was a lie to say that he was not moved, and besides, the two of them were not ordinary.

But… Yu Lin reached out, and lightly held his chin, and forced him to look up from the snow-white skin and flesh. “Have you thought it through?”

He reminded him, “I am not favored by the Son of Heaven. If you get involved with me, it will be of no benefit to you.”

Seeing that Wei Zhiji did not even lift his head, and was still biting and eating him, he scared him again, “You saw what I did these past few days. Aren’t you afraid of bringing about a fatal disaster?”

Hearing this, Wei Zhiji finally looked up from his neck, and bit his finger, and his ponytail swayed lightly, and he smiled brightly. “Then I’ll be with you.”

“…”

Yu Lin reached out his finger, and lightly pressed his head. In the fifth year of Chang’an, a disaster was about to begin, and the wind and rain were precarious. The two people who had no interaction had inexplicably had a relationship at the beginning of the troubled times.

As the only pillar that the old dynasty could support in the future, Yu Lin was already very busy at that time. He would go to court to discuss politics, to curb the corrupt officials, and to balance the people’s livelihood. He was of the same line as the old prime minister, and he was the representative of the righteous and upright civil officials, and he had a deep grudge with the old faction.

One day in court, he had been falsely accused by an old-faction minister who was about to be investigated for hidden fields. The other party was determined to drag him down, and it had taken several hours of debate before he had been able to get away. On his way back to his residence, he had encountered a frightened horse.

The current emperor was partial to treacherous ministers, and he also relied on civil officials to govern the country. The struggle between the factions was not uncommon in Luojing.

But because there was one more person, the residence had become lively that day.

Yu Lin’s carriage had been frightened, and the doctor had hurried to follow. He had treated him in the hall. Wei Zhiji, who was staying in the small courtyard, had heard the commotion outside, and his expression was solemn. After he had listened for a while, and had understood the whole story, a fire had risen in his heart.

He had wanted to climb over the wall and go out, but he had been met with a crowd of people. Yu Lin had ordered him not to show his face. He was both anxious and angry, but he did not dare to disobey. He had anxiously dug a hole under the wall. When he had seen him, the dog hole had already been dug a foot high.

After Yu Lin had finished bandaging, he had changed his clothes and had come back, and at a glance, he had seen the newly dug dog hole at the base of his wall.

He was silent for a long time, and he sat down to rest. At the same time, he touched the dog head that Wei Zhiji had nuzzled over, and he asked with hesitation, “Did you do that?”

He looked at Wei Zhiji’s handsome and unrestrained features. The young man’s brow bone was high, which made him look sharp and imposing. His eyes were dark, and they were unstoppable, like a wolf, but also more obedient than a wolf.

Yu Lin looked at him, and at his high ponytail, and he had a daze of a spiritual transformation.

Wei Zhiji did not realize that he was petting a dog. He gritted his teeth, and held his slightly scraped palm, and his eyes were red. After looking at it for a while, his heart ached, and he suddenly got up, and he was determined to go out and kill the official who had hurt him.

The person in the hall just sat there, and after he had heard his words, he did not stop him, but he also did not smile. He just said to him placidly, “Go. You don’t have to come back after that.”

Wei Zhiji: “…”

Wei Zhiji suddenly stopped, and his fists tightened and then loosened. He gritted his teeth, and he turned back and pretended that nothing had happened.

A few months later, an official had been caught by a young man who had been squatting at the spot after he had bumped into the marquis’ carriage, and he had been beaten half to death on the spot, and his bones had even been broken. He had cried and had complained to the emperor. When the emperor had heard that the second son of the Marquis of Zhennan was so useless, he had immediately been amused.

He had waved his hand, and the matter had been settled.

The complaining official had been beaten up in a dark alley with a sack that night. He had been beaten twice in one day, and the beater had been very arrogant. After he had finished, he had left. His colleagues had all said that this child was narrow-minded and vicious.

However, no one had cared.

At night, the beater had openly climbed over the wall and had entered the Yu residence. Yu Lin had just finished his bath, and his body was still full of steam, and it was a faint, grassy scent.

The beater had come in through the window, his expression cold. He had held him in his arms, had turned over and had gotten on the bed, and he had buried his face in his neck with a muffled sound. After a while, he had asked in a low voice, “I wasn’t exposed. It was an accident. Can I not be driven away?”

Yu Lin was stunned for a moment, and his fingers lifted slightly, and he stroked his hair.

In the year that the two of them had been together, at first, Wei Zhiji had been clumsy, and Yu Lin had been worried about being exposed, and that he would be caught in advance and would be dealt with on the spot. Later, when he had seen that he was cautious and had never been caught by anyone, he had been relieved.

Time passed in a hurry, and by the sixth year of Chang’an, the two of them’s feelings had already become quite deep. They had no interaction during the day. One was an idle marquis, who had a vicious reputation, and the other was a high-ranking minister, who was busy with his affairs and was extremely noble.

However, at night, when the moonlight poured down, they would always sleep with their necks entwined, inseparable from each other.

Until the Yellow River had burst its banks, and Yu Lin, because he was good at water control, had been sent out to control the water. Wei Zhiji had also found an excuse to get away, and he had followed him in disguise, and had not left his side for a moment.

Unlike this year, when he had been by Yu Lin’s side and had heard of it, but had never been able to truly feel it, the outside world was a real scene of corpses littering the ground, and the people were living in misery.

Before the carriage had even reached the severely affected Kunzhou, it had been robbed by bandits along the way. Luojing was prosperous, and the water was shimmering, and the gold and red silk were everywhere, but the outside was already in chaos.

The disaster relief grain had been deducted layer by layer, and when it had reached the hands of the refugees, it was only a shallow layer of porridge oil, and there was not even a single grain of rice in it. The disaster victims could not survive, and the stronger ones had all occupied the mountains and had become bandits, and there were constant bandits along the way.

Wei Zhiji had led his troops and had killed two rounds of the most vicious ones, and he had also killed a few rounds of the county officials who had lined their own pockets. But when he had faced the more common people who were holding hoes, he had to take a detour.

Along the way, he had followed by the side of the carriage, and he was both a guard and a general. He had personally witnessed millions of refugees, and the ground was full of the starved, and bandits were rampant. The officials along the way had covered for each other, and had exploited them layer by layer, and had lined their own pockets, and had done nothing.

When they had reached Kunzhou, which was the most severely affected, they had only then heard that the officials had already taken the money and grain and had abandoned the city and had fled. The city walls had been washed away by the water, and when the group had arrived in the heavy rain, not even one in ten of the people in the city were left, and the righteous hall was emitting a foul smell of decay.

That was the first time Wei Zhiji had faced the world outside the royal city, and only then did he know that under the golden and jade-like appearance of Dayong, the rotten bones were like a mountain, and it was rotten beyond repair.

The pouring rain fell from the dilapidated eaves. The young man who had been raised in a pile of gold and jade looked up in a daze, and his eyes were red from the water. He pressed his lips together, and he was puzzled and in pain. He subconsciously turned his head, wanting to seek an answer.

The official in the green robe just looked at all this quietly. The corner of his clothes was soaked in mud and water, and his body was very thin from the wind and rain.

In the midst of the smell of decay and the cries, he stood still. After a long while, he covered his lips, coughed lightly, and his fingers lifted, and he pushed Wei Zhiji’s head. “Go and repair the dam.”

In those days, Wei Zhiji had not stopped for a moment, and he was not at all like a noble and precious little heir. He had followed Yu Lin, and he had gone to the riverbank at dawn, and had used grain to gather the disaster victims, and had built a dam. At night, he had lit a lamp and had looked through the account books, looking for loopholes.

His gaze had become sharper and sharper, and the originally youthful lines had become more and more tense. Sometimes, when he was wearing a coarse cloth short coat, and he was standing there, he almost did not look like a young man who had been raised in Luojing.

He had collected disaster relief grain, had suppressed the bandits, and had built up the people’s livelihood. No one had known that the rather capable guard by Yu Lin’s side was the most noble little marquis in Luojing.

He did not have a single piece of jade pendant on him, only the cold and resolute determination that had been tempered in the blood and water of war.

In the seven months in Kunzhou, Wei Zhiji had grown up rapidly.

He had learned to read account books, to distinguish inferior salt, to recognize the price of rice, and to see the fleeting despair in the eyes of the common people.

He should have been ignorant of the world, and he should have been humiliated after a sudden change of fortune, and he should have been polished into a new dynasty’s jade in a pile of hardships. But by a strange coincidence, by the side of the pillar of the old dynasty, he had gotten a glimpse of the impending storm.

A few days before he had returned to the capital, the guard who had performed quite well in the disaster relief and bandit suppression had died due to improper hunting. No one had cared about the reporter, and they were just happy that they had one more promotion spot.

A group of them had left the brand-new, but had been dragged down by the flood, and had looked lifeless, Kunzhou, and had returned to the capital in a low-key manner, just as they had come.

The city walls of Luojing were still tall, with red walls and golden tiles, and hundreds of lanterns were hanging high above the city walls, which were magnificent. The Feixing Tower was full of laughter and singing and dancing, and it was a scene of peace.

The unpopular minister of the Ministry of Revenue had returned to the capital with his defeated troops, and because of his meritorious service in water control and bandit suppression, he had been promoted to the minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

This time, he had not been so stubborn as to say that the prefectures and counties under the current emperor’s rule were not good, and he had learned to mediate.

The emperor had looked at him much more favorably.

At night, the little marquis had come in through the window, and he had held him in his arms. His eyes were bright and spirited, and his increasingly resolute jaw was tense. He had nuzzled his cheek and had comforted him, “It will be fine.”

He had thought that he would always be by his side, to help him and to protect him. He had never thought that after that, it would be the great case of the Luoxia Valley in the seventh year of Chang’an, which was full of sin.