As soon as these words were spoken, one could hear a pin drop in the pleasure boat.
The aura surrounding Xiao Yue was quite intimidating, but Qin Zhao just stared at him quietly. After hearing these words, there was not even a ripple in his eyes.
Not losing at all.
Everyone present was so shocked by this scene that they were speechless. Gu Changzhou thought to himself that this was not good, and hurriedly said something to smooth things over: "General, you don't know, my master is not in good health. He just had a serious illness and really can't drink."
"A serious illness?"
Xiao Yue looked at Qin Zhao's face for a moment and indeed saw that he was pale and thin, with a sickly look.
"So you're a sickly person." Xiao Yue propped up his chin, put on a smile again, and said leisurely, "Does this general have to apologize to you?"
Qin Zhao: "It's okay, General Xiao, don't take it to heart."
Xiao Yue: “…”
Everyone at the table gasped.
This... This means he accepts the general's apology? How dare this man use this attitude-
Xiao Yue was choked by someone, but he didn't seem angry at all. He laughed out loud: "Interesting, really interesting... Let's start eating, don't just stand there."
The meal was so delicious that people were trembling with fear and lost their appetite. On the other hand, Qin Zhao was not affected at all and was so relaxed as if it was just an ordinary family dinner.
Xiao Yue hardly touched the food, but just silently drank the wine in front of him, one glass after another.
After waiting for the banquet to end, everyone put down their chopsticks one after another, but no one dared to leave. Xiao Yue's face was already drunk, and he looked around with a blurry look: "Are you done eating? Then let's go."
After saying this, he stood up shakily without paying any attention to the people around him.
A subordinate who was traveling with him wanted to help him, but he pushed him back: "Get lost, do I need your help?"
He turned and walked out. His steps were a little unsteady but still steady.
The subordinates that Xiao Yue brought with him hurriedly said goodbye to everyone. Both sides said goodbye politely and walked out of the houseboat one after another, all with relieved looks on their faces.
Gu Changzhou and Qin Zhao stayed until the end.
Gu Changzhou lowered his voice and asked, "Just let him go like this?"
"No." Qin Zhao drank the last cup of tea slowly, wiped his fingers with a handkerchief, and then stood up, "Let's go out too."
The two of them left the pleasure boat, and the people who had been traveling with them had already left, and their whereabouts were unknown. Before the two of them could reach the front hall, someone suddenly blocked their way.
The other party said, "My general would like to have a private chat with this gentleman."
This man was dressed in civilian clothes, but he made no sound when he walked. It was obvious that he was also skilled in martial arts. Gu Changzhou looked at Qin Zhao hesitantly, but the latter said, "You go back. Let Ah Qi go back first, and tell my husband that I will be home later, so that I don't have to worry."
"I'm going to meet the general."
It is still a painting boat.
However, this pleasure boat was smaller and less impressive than the one they had dined on before. The attendant who led the way just helped Qin Zhao push open the door and waited on the side. Looking inside, there was only a table inside, and Xiao Yue was sitting in the pleasure boat with his back to him.
Qin Zhao walked in and felt the boat shaking slightly. Looking back, he saw that the servant had untied the reins tied to the shore and pushed the boat out of the water with a force of oars.
The pleasure boat sailed all the way to the center of the lake before stopping.
Then the bow of the boat lightened, the servant jumped off, floated with his lightness skill, and returned to the shore in a blink of an eye.
In this way, only Qin Zhao and Xiao Yue were left in the painting boat.
Qin Zhao took a breath silently, walked to Xiao Yue, saw him pour two glasses of wine, and frowned slightly.
"Can't you live without wine?" Qin Zhao sat down opposite Xiao Yue and looked at him calmly, "Xiao Yue."
"Whether I survive or not has nothing to do with you. On the contrary, it's you... I really want to know how you survived."
Xiao Yue pushed one of the cups in front of Qin Zhao, raised his head, and said coldly: "Qin, Shu."
Qin Zhao remained silent.
The current royal family is surnamed Qi. Prince Rong is the only prince of a different surname in the current dynasty. His surname is Qin, his name is Shu, and his courtesy name is Chengchao.
When Qin Zhao was stranded in Linxi Village, his memory was damaged, so he gave himself the pseudonym Qin Zhao based on his remaining memories.
There are no stars or moon tonight. The pleasure boat is floating quietly in the center of the lake. The lantern hanging on the bow is like a lonely lamp in the long night, swaying slightly, lonely and silent.
The painting boat was equally silent. Xiao Yue raised his head and took a sip of wine, then said with a smile, "The powerful regent back then gave up his position as a prince, changed his name, and even went to take the imperial examination. What? Did he feel bored after retiring? At his age, he wanted to prove his talent once more?"
In such a short period of time, Xiao Yue had already found out everything about him, which was not easy.
Qin Zhao looked at him with an indescribable expression and reminded him, "I am five years younger than you."
Xiao Yue: “…”
"You are still so annoying when you talk." Xiao Yue poured himself a glass of wine, "Try it, this is not the inferior wine from the restaurant, this is the mare's milk wine I brought from the border, you can't drink it on weekdays."
Qin Zhao then noticed that the wine in the glass was milky white, and when he smelled it carefully, there was a faint milky aroma. It was indeed different from ordinary wine.
Qin Zhao's eyes moved slightly, but he still shook his head: "I really can't drink."
Xiao Yue's nonchalant expression finally faded away, and he frowned: "What on earth are you..."
Qin Zhao pressed his eyebrows.
He had just recovered from a serious illness and had been out for too long today. He was already a little exhausted: "Do you think I'm pretending to be sick?"
This time it was Xiao Yue's turn to be silent.
He stared at Qin Zhao for a moment and asked in a deep voice: "What's going on? I thought you—"
"Do you think I'm retiring on my own initiative?" Qin Zhao sighed, "That's how it should have been."
Xiao Yue: "What happened?"
"have no idea."
Xiao Yue rubbed his fingers gently on the wine glass and said leisurely: "Although I am far away in the frontier, I have heard a lot of things."
"When the young emperor ascended the throne, he was only twelve years old. The late emperor was worried about him and entrusted him to you. It happened to be a time of turmoil, and you killed countless corrupt officials, but you were labeled as a man of wolfish ambitions."
"… You spread this rumor on purpose, didn't you?"
"Yes." Qin Zhao said calmly, "Aren't you afraid that I would take away your military power, so you have been hiding in the border for so many years?"
Xiao Yue cursed: "I'm not afraid of you—"
Qin Zhao raised his eyes and looked at him.
Xiao Yue's voice paused, and he changed the subject: "Go on, what happened next?"
Qin Zhao said: "The late emperor has been seriously ill for many years, and corrupt officials are rampant in the court and the country. If one thing is pulled, the whole body will be moved. If you want to uproot it, you can't take the right path."
Xiao Yue: "So, you used the name to kill them all and took the opportunity to replace them with your own people."
This is the reason why the regent, as the legend goes, became bloodthirsty in his desire to eliminate dissidents.
Qin Zhao corrected him: "It was a replacement of a talented person."
"It's all the same. They're all yours anyway." Xiao Yue waved his hand and said, "I already knew all this. What happened next?"
Qin Zhao said: "It took me five full years to stabilize the situation. As His Majesty gradually grew up, I began to prepare to retire."
Xiao Yue understood: "You deliberately created an image of a treacherous minister to the outside world, and when the time is right, you will play a trick on the little emperor, so that he can kill the treacherous minister and take back power."
Qin Zhao nodded: "Yes."
Qin Zhao only recently began to recall these things.
As the days passed, his lost memories were mostly recovered. Otherwise, he would not dare to appear in front of Xiao Yue so easily.
It is true that he and Xiao Yue don't get along.
The Xiao family has always been the most protective of imperial power. When the late emperor entrusted him with the regent before his death, many people were afraid that the imperial power would fall into the hands of others, and Xiao Yue was the one who opposed it the most.
But Xiao Yue couldn't defeat him, so he left in anger and asked to guard the border.
In the following years, Xiao Yue continued to pay attention to the developments in the capital from the border, and gradually understood Qin Zhao's intentions. Qin Zhao never thought of taking his military power.
They both understood that everything they did was for the stability of the court.
But even Xiao Yue couldn't help but be secretly shocked after knowing the truth.
Power is the easiest thing to change people's hearts in this world. Many people have tasted the sweetness of it and their temperaments have changed drastically since then. But this person has been in power for many years and can let go just like that.
What kind of mentality is required to achieve this
Xiao Yue calmed himself down and stopped thinking about it.
He had led troops for many years, and based on what Qin Zhao had just said, he could roughly guess what had happened: "Of course you wouldn't want to die, so I guess you must have planned in advance to fake your own death and get away. Did the accident happen when you were faking your own death?"
Qin Zhao shook his head: "My plan has not yet been implemented."
He did want to retire, but that wasn't something that could be solved by faking his death.
After he leaves, what will happen to those who continue to follow him in the court, what will happen to his old subordinates, and whether they will be held accountable later. These are all things he has to consider.
Therefore, he originally planned to gradually withdraw his forces and leave after everything was properly arranged.
But something unexpected happened.
"During that time, I happened to be traveling near Jiangling and was ambushed. All my guards were killed. And I..."
He was poisoned, lost all his memory, and ended up in Linxi Village.
As Qin Zhao described this, Xiao Yue's brows furrowed more and more. After he finished speaking, he slammed the table and said angrily: "What do you mean, killing the donkey after it has done its work?"
Qin Zhao's eyebrows jumped, and he didn't like Xiao Yue's choice of words.
But he didn't care about that. Xiao Yue asked again, "Wait, does that mean the little emperor sent someone to assassinate you? Where did that young boy get the courage?"
The current emperor has a weak temperament, which was one of the reasons why the late emperor was not confident in handing the throne directly to him.
Unfortunately, the late emperor had bad luck. Before his death, his children either died of illness or became mentally retarded and dull. Only the current emperor, apart from his soft temper, is a gifted child.
Xiao Yue hadn't seen the little emperor for many years. The last time they met, he could only hide behind Qin Zhao and wipe his tears quietly.
Qin Zhao sighed: "I don't know."
Xiao Yue was a warrior after all, so he didn't bother to think about the twists and turns involved, and asked directly: "What are you going to do?"
"Go to the capital and find out the truth."
"It's been so many years since the incident happened, and there's no evidence. How can you investigate?"
"Confrontation."
"You want to break into the palace?" Xiao Yue sat up straighter and frowned, "This general will not help you rebel. Although I also dislike the little emperor, the royal family has been kind to my Xiao family, and I can't do anything like rebelling."
"..." Qin Zhao said, "I don't intend to rebel."
Xiao Yue: "Then you—"
"I just hope you can help me with a small favor when necessary."
"How small?"
“It’s a piece of cake.”
Xiao Yue withdrew his gaze and seemed to have become extremely interested in the wine glass in front of him.
Qin Zhao said: "What are the conditions? Tell me."
Xiao Yue opened his palm and made a five to him.
Qin Zhao: “…”
His head began to ache again. Qin Zhao closed his eyes and said, "Xiao Yue, you have been in the border for so many years. Have you finally learned how to be a bandit?"
Xiao Yue was unhappy: "What do you mean by bandits? Do you know how many soldiers I have to support? Do you know how much those kids can eat? The food and fodder sent by the court every month is barely enough to keep them half full. What's wrong with asking you for 50,000 taels? You, the regent, can't even come up with this little money?"
Qin Zhao was almost laughing because of him.
He said calmly: "Do you know that I have been teaching for the Gu family recently?"
"I know."
As soon as he got out of the pleasure boat, he hurriedly called the waiter of the restaurant and told him everything about Qin Zhao.
Qin Zhao said: "Then have you found out that my monthly salary is only thirty taels, and I have not been able to go to Gu's house for two whole months."
Xiao Yue: “…”
Xiao Yue looked at Qin Zhao with sympathy in his eyes.
"Wait." He felt something was wrong again, "The one with the surname Gu is yours, right?"
"right."
"He's quite rich, can't you just ask him to give you some money?"
"Of course I can, but I can't give you that much." Qin Zhao said, "Ten thousand taels."
Xiao Yue couldn't believe it: "You bargained too hard, didn't you?!"
Qin Zhao remained indifferent.
"You are the one begging me now, not me begging you." Xiao Yue said unhappily, "I can just not help you, and I won't lose anything. What about you? Besides me, who else can you ask for help now?"
Qin Zhao said: "Except you, there is indeed no one who can help me."
Before Xiao Yue could feel proud, Qin Zhao said, "But at the same time, I am the only one who can help you now."
What he was talking about was naturally the imperial court's desire to use military power.
Qin Zhao said: "You don't want to hand over your military power to others, nor do you want to conflict with the court. You can choose not to cooperate with me, just like now, when my mother died of illness, I could only come back secretly to bury her."
Xiao Yue's expression darkened and his eyes turned cold in an instant.
Qin Zhao met his gaze and said calmly: "No one will help you with this matter except me."
A long silence spread in the pleasure boat. Xiao Yue took a long time to make a decision. He sighed and said, "I heard that you have a manor outside the capital, and it was seized by the emperor after the incident. Give it to me after the incident."
Qin Zhao gritted his teeth: "That manor is worth more than 50,000..."
Xiao Yue raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, when I come back, I will give you the farm."
Xiao Yue: "Deal!"
Xiao Yue drank the wine in front of him in one gulp, stood up and said, "Let's go back."
Qin Zhao sat there without moving: "What's going on?"
In order to ensure that no one could hear them talking, Xiao Yue had the boat rowed into the lake. Now all of Xiao Yue's subordinates were waiting on the shore, which was some distance away from the shore and could not be contacted.
Xiao Yue didn't care: "This place is not far from the shore, can't we get there with a light skill?"
Qin Zhao looked at him silently.
Xiao Yue suddenly realized: "I forgot, you are now a sick person."
"What should I do? I don't want to carry you over there. It's too disgusting." Xiao Yue imagined the scene and felt a chill.
Qin Zhao reminded: "There are oars at the bow."
"Okay, let's row back." Xiao Yue said as he walked out, but saw Qin Zhao still sitting there, "Why don't you get up?"
Qin Zhao: "It's windy on the lake at night, I can't handle the wind."
"..." Xiao Yue was angry, "I am a general, and you want me to be your boatman?"
"Hurry up." Qin Zhao said calmly, "I have a headache."
Xiao Yue went to the bow, cursing. Qin Zhao's eyes fell on the untouched cup of mare's milk in front of him again. He hesitated for a moment, raised the glass, and took a sip.
It has a rich milky aroma and a strong wine aroma.
Qin Zhao savored the taste for a moment, then lowered his head and took another sip.
The price of indulgence was that Qin Zhao caught fire again on the way home.
He leaned against the carriage window, his lips slightly pale, his voice weak: "Turn left on this road and go to the end."
Xiao Yue had never seen him like this before, and it was still a bit strange: "With your body, can you really make it to Beijing?"
"I can't die."
"It would be better this way." Xiao Yue said, "I have had my eyes on your farm for a long time. If you fail this time, I will have to find another opportunity to ask His Majesty to give it to me."
Qin Zhao glanced at him and said, "Promising."
The carriage stopped in front of Qin Zhao's house. Seeing that the latter was really sick, Xiao Yue took pity on him and helped him to the gate.
Xiao Yue just knocked on the door, and it was quickly opened: "You are finally back, which blind bastard kept you here until now-"
Xiao·Asshole·Yue: “…”