The setting sun cast its last rays of light on the horizon.
Lu Liangsheng and Yang Guang looked at each other, stepped forward to help the battle-hardened old man up, and didn't know what to say for a moment. He thought that he must have heard the conversation just now, but it was really difficult for a living person to turn into a ghost and go to the underworld.
"Master, don't worry, everything is my will."
The old man looked at the emperor opposite him, then at Lu Liangsheng in front of him, and then turned his gaze to the group of children playing excitedly in the square. "Just now, I left, but I was still worried, so I turned back. I heard your majesty talking to the national teacher, and I thought, I can't be useless. There must be someone to do things that others can't do. If the city is broken and my home is gone, I will just lie on the couch and wait for death. Instead of that, I might as well go to the underworld and summon my old subordinates to do it again!"
Lu Liangsheng pursed his lips and said, "Isn't Han Zhuguo afraid?"
"Haha, I'm old now, what am I afraid of?" Han Qinhu straightened his back and leaned back slightly, stroking his beard and laughing, "Instead of being unable to lift a gun or ride a horse, and lingering on for a few more years, it's better to be an immortal for once. Your Majesty, I have lived enough. If you count the civil and military officials in the court, only I agree. If the late emperor were still alive, he would never hesitate like this, so as not to delay the opportunity to fight!"
The laughter slowly stopped, and the emperor pursed his lips, his beard fluttering in the wind. He clasped his fists tightly, bowed again with a firm look, and spoke powerfully.
"I hope your majesty will approve it."
Yang Guang was silent for a moment, then walked over slowly, held the old man's clasped hand, looked at the surrounding rosy clouds, pursed his lips and nodded, sniffed hard, his face solemn.
"I... agree!"
He looked at the old man: "National Master."
Lu Liangsheng clenched his teeth, his cheeks puffed up a few times, and turned his back to look at the children chasing each other, and Lu Pan and the other eight people who were talking with their hands on their hips. After a while, he nodded and squeezed out a few words.
"Han Zhuguo, I will come to your house at midnight tonight and go back to... settle my family."
If it were someone else, their hair would have stood on end. But the old man behind him, upon hearing these words, bowed heavily again, turned half a circle, lowered his hands, and laughed.
Hahaha-
"Your Majesty, Imperial Master, I will go back to prepare for my funeral!"
He turned around, pushed aside the guards who came to support him, and strode to the mountain gate below, laughing heroically. In the sunset, Lu Liangsheng raised his hand and bowed towards the empty forest. After standing up, he sighed: "Your Majesty, having such an old minister in the court is the cornerstone of the family and the country."
Yang Guang did not answer, but just nodded.
Soon, night fell. After dinner in the temple, Lu Liangsheng sat alone in the room in silence. In the flickering candlelight, he took out a blank scroll and spread it on the desk. He dipped the tip of his pen in ink and wrote on the paper an outline of large and small lanterns rising in the market. The green ink rustled along the paper, drawing lines of ink infused with magic power and emitting magic light.
The tip of the pen dotted the buildings, and then fell to the streets. The rows of street tiles extended to draw the figures, robes, and steps of people, dressed in red and white. A thin layer of smoke surrounded them, outlining the contours of two rows of teams. The tip of the pen turned, and the sedan chair was lifted high. The patrolman in front held up a wooden sign with the words "Strangers Keep Out".
"No matter what, it should be more grand."
When he finished the painting, it was already midnight. The night wind blew in through the window. Lu Liangsheng put down his brush and blew a stream of fresh air onto the painting. The wet ink seeped into the paper and dried. He put away the scroll, turned around, pushed the door open and walked out. Everyone in the building knew what he was going to do, but they just watched from afar as Lu Liangsheng walked outside and disappeared into the night.
Woof woof woof~~~
Woof~~
The night wind blew through the long street, and a thin layer of white mist rose on the ground. In the distant streets, one could faintly hear dogs barking and babies crying. It was already late at night, and the night watchman knocking on the gong walked through the main street of the government offices. When he heard the crying in the middle of the night, he probably thought that someone had died in a family.
The fog was swaying. As he turned the corner in front of him, a gust of fog rushed towards him. The lantern in his hand shook twice. In the range of the swaying candlelight, a vague figure flashed past him. He quickly turned his head to look. The street behind him was empty and there was not even a ghost. He muttered to himself, "I didn't see anything." "Don't blame me for being indecent." "The road is wide and we should go our separate ways..."
The long street behind him was getting farther away. The sound of footsteps gradually slowed down in front of a courtyard wall. Lu Liangsheng looked at the mansion in front of him. White paper lanterns with the word "甸" written on them were hung on the corners of the door eaves. Above the red-painted mansion door, a door plaque was also hung with white silk. Bursts of crying could be heard from inside.
From time to time, the old man's scolding could be heard from inside.
"Why are you crying? This old man died a worthy death!" "I really shouldn't have told you all this. In a few years, I won't be able to survive and I'll die anyway."
"Alas, you guys... just cry, it's considered early."
Crossing the front yard, in the main hall of the backyard, Han Qinhu was sitting on a stool, touching his shroud, and occasionally yelling a few words to one side. The mourning hall in the house had been set up, with a pitch-black coffin in the middle. A pair of white wax candles dripping with wax illuminated the old man's children and relatives gathered around, all of whom were in mourning and kneeling on the ground crying.
In the afternoon, everything was still fine. When the old man came back, he said that he was going to die at midnight tonight and asked them to quickly prepare for the funeral in the house. Everyone was shocked at first, but then they thought that some old people could foresee their own death, and they probably thought that the master was the same, so they hung white cloth all over the house. Later, when they asked, they found out that it was someone else who told him. Immediately, some people were not happy and cried and asked the old man to give up such an idea.
"Dad, who told you that? I will beat him up. How can you want to die like this?"
Han Shiye cried and burned paper money: "If you really leave, how will we brothers live?"
"My eldest brother is right, Dad. People in this world wish they could live longer, but you are the one hoping to die." Han Zhao, the second son who was kneeling on the other side, wiped his tears and nudged his brother with his elbow, "Burn less, Dad is not dead yet."
The old man over there snorted, crossed his arms, and sat upright on a low stool at the end of the coffin, looking at the night scene in the courtyard outside, and his daughter-in-law, two younger brothers, and a large group of relatives kneeling outside.
"Someone will come to take me away at midnight tonight. After I leave, you don't have to worry about anything at home. Your Majesty will not be short of salary for the family."
Among the crying crowd outside, the woman who looked like the daughter-in-law raised her face and wiped her tears: "Whoever dares to take my father-in-law away, we will beat him!"
A group of people echoed and shouted.
"Yes, brother, you have fought for your whole life, and now you want to enjoy a few years of peace and quiet, but now you are going to die. You won't do anything!"
…
Outside the mansion, Lu Liangsheng clearly heard the conversation of the people inside. He sighed, unfolded the scroll in his hand and threw it. It floated across the night sky, and the painting on it lit up. The moment it fell to the ground, the sound of suona and gongs rang out on the long street.
The two servants standing at the gate of the mansion heard the sound of suona in the middle of the night and turned their heads hurriedly. The street was filled with white fog. A team carrying a large sedan chair, blowing suona and beating gongs, and wearing uniform red robes and pointed white hats were spreading from the end of the street.
Such a weird scene frightened the two servants at the door so much that they ran into the mansion in a hurry and quickly closed the door. Lu Liangsheng, who was standing outside in the mist, spread out the Kongtong seal, pinched the magic formula, tapped the center of the eyebrows and then drew a line between the lips.
"Han... capture... the tiger!"
A gust of cold wind blew away the plaque on the door of "Han Mansion", the white silk fluttered, and the lanterns creaked and shook. In the mansion, the servants' screams and panic caused a little chaos. He ran to the main hall in the backyard and saw many people. He felt much more at ease and pointed to the crowd outside with a crying voice because of fear.
"Here it comes, something is coming from outside!"
The noisy main hall suddenly quieted down. The servant sorted out his words and shouted: "A strange team, dressed in red and white, playing music, came towards the mansion in a blink of an eye."
'Han Qinhu~~'
At this time, a vague and ethereal voice came from outside that only the old man sitting in the hall could hear.
'The King of Hell, return to your throne—'
Hahaha!!
Hearing this, the old man on the stool suddenly laughed, causing his sons, daughters-in-law, and brothers who were gathered outside and talking to turn their heads in surprise.
"Hahaha... The Imperial Master is here to pick me up. I will be the Supreme Pillar of the State in my lifetime and the King of Hell in my death, hahaha..."
Han Qinhu sat on a stool, stroking his beard and laughing loudly. Outside, one of his brothers turned around and said to his nephew, "I'm afraid your father was frightened by what the servant said just now."
"Come on, let's go out and take a look, so that father won't be suspicious and live a relaxed life!"
Han Zhao pulled his brother Han Shiye and the timid female relatives who dared not stay here and ran out. He told the servants to open the door and rushed outside. The sounds of suona and gongs became clear and rang in their ears. They saw a team not far away having gone to the other side of the street. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"It seems that he was just passing by. The servant is really making a fuss."
However, as they were talking, one of the women suddenly screamed in fear, holding her head and jumping up and down on the spot, pointing at the strange team passing by.
"Father-in-law... I saw Father-in-law... in the sedan chair."
Han Zhao and Han Shi'e were stunned, their eyes following the direction the woman pointed. In the team playing the suona, the curtain of the swaying sedan was lifted, and an old man poked his head out, smiling and waving at them, as if saying goodbye.
In the blink of an eye, it gradually disappeared from everyone's sight.
"broken!"
Han Shiye reacted, turned around and ran home. The others hurriedly followed him and rushed all the way to the backyard. The uncles and aunts who were still guarding there asked them what happened outside. The two brothers didn't say anything, but went straight to the front door of the hall and called softly, "Dad?" They slowly approached, stretched out their fingers to feel the breath, and then suddenly retracted their fingers.
Then, with a thud, they all knelt on the ground. The candlelight illuminated the room. Han Qinhu was sitting upright on a stool, motionless. He had been dead for a long time.
Soon, loud wails echoed throughout the mansion, and the mist on the long street gradually dissipated.