Strong Winds Return Home

A-Ning’s persuasion was ineffective, so he had to leave the bedding newly sent by His Royal Highness Xiao Wang to the young master. He got out of the carriage with the original old quilt in his arms, wanting to see if anyone else needed it.

When Liang Shu went south this time, he only brought a dozen of his own soldiers with him, pretending to be a wealthy young master. Presently, everyone was cooking by the side of the road. When a troubled face appeared and wandered around while holding a quilt, they all looked at him and smiled. Gao Lin also noticed the movement over there, and strode over to ask: “Are you going to shake it out?”

“No.” A-Ning shifted the quilt to his other side and carried it on his shoulder. “My family’s young master wants to use the blanket from the prince, so I took out the old one to see if Uncle Yang would accept it.”

Uncle Yang was the cook, and was also responsible for managing some of the daily supplies, so he would definitely collect it, but how could Gao Lin allow the bedding used by Second Young Master Liu to fall into Lao Yang’s hands? He immediately said: “Give it to me, ba.”

“Ah?” A-Ning hesitated, wondering if this was appropriate. An old quilt, if used as bedding for ordinary soldiers, would be fine. But the dignified Lieutenant General, how could he use what the young master left behind? He wanted to refuse, but Gao Lin immediately added: “I’ll take it to my family’s prince.”

A-Ning was even more taken aback when he heard this: “No, no, this is too rude. Is the prince short of a quilt? Then I’d better return the new bedding, ba.”

Gao Lin froze in terror – don’t! But on the surface, he was quite proper: “How can there be so much fussiness in a military camp? The winter in the southwest is wet and cold, and the prince feared that Second Young Master Liu would freeze, so he sent his own quilt over there. Now that Second Young Master Liu is not short of one, there is no need to change it back and forth. That’s all, we can just cover up with whatever. Give it to me.” After speaking, he snatched the quilt from A-Ning like a bandit. Having won the prize, he turned around and fled without saying a word, walking briskly to present the treasure to his prince.

A-Ning was left where he was standing, extremely entangled. The young master really had covered up with that quilt for quite a while. It had been washed several times, and the fabric had changed from thick and smooth to thin, fluffy, and soft. Even if there was no fussiness in the military camp, how could it be used for the prince? He returned to the carriage, looked at the carefree young master who was wrapped in the new quilt and sleeping soundly, and had a terrible headache.

Liang Shu was reading military reports alone in his carriage, and was feeling pain in his temples when the carriage curtain suddenly moved. An old quilt was brought before him for some reason, with the familiar faint scent of medicine, and Gao Lin stuck his head halfway in to ask for credit: “Your Highness, A-Ning said that Second Young Master Liu wants to use the new quilt, and there is no place to put this old bedding. He wanted to dispose of it, so I took the opportunity to ask for it.”

A prince and a lieutenant, the two of them conspired to steal an old quilt used by another family’s young master. If this matter got out, the Emperor would probably faint on the spot. But since those men from the Imperial court were resting at the other end at this time, Liang Shu still hooked his fingers calmly and invited him into the carriage: “Tell me in detail.”

Gao Lin spoke of it again, and although no matter how detailed he was, there was no sign of tender affections in the story, Liang Shu still felt that this person looked more pleasing to the eyes than ever before. Gao Lin was encouraged, and slapped the carriage bench: “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I will definitely keep a close eye on Second Young Master Liu’s carriage to see if I can pick up something else.”

This sentence sounded both moving and degenerate, full of an uncanny feeling that could not be studied carefully, so Liang Shu decided not to think about it anymore and waved him away. Leaning on the quilt, he closed his eyes and rested for a while. The fragrance of medicine was not too much, just enough to relax tense nerves, and the cotton was so fluffy and soft that it was like lying on a cloud.

Little lovers gave each other handkerchiefs, sachets, and jade pendants to hold in the hand or place in the sleeve with a shy and timid secret joy. Only His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was different. Before clarifying his intentions, he first exchanged the most intimate quilt, covering the whole person from head to toe with a kind of overbearing, arrogant romance that was like the northwest winds.

Unique. Extraordinarily intimate.

With the new quilt, the Sleeping Immortal slept even more and had long dreams, and Liang Shu’s long-standing symptoms of insomnia were even relieved a little by the lingering medicinal fragrance. Sometimes, when he was free during the day, he could even take a nap. Gao Lin caught sight of this, and there was joy on his face and emotion in his heart. Since a quilt could have such a miraculous effect, if they really got married in the future, how great would that be?

Liang Shu asked: “What are you giggling about?”

Gao Lin said: “I’m not. I was thinking about the prince’s marriage, and I’m happy.”

When he said this, his voice was a little louder, and it happened to be heard by Liu Xian’an, who had just gotten out of the carriage. He immediately turned around and asked A-Ning: “Is the prince going to get married?”

“What do you mean, does the prince want to get married?” A-Ning was confused. “He doesn’t, ah, who did you hear that from?”

He didn’t? Liu Xian’an looked over suspiciously, and Gao Lin was still smiling, smiling like a flower on horseback, as if drinking wedding wine. And Liang Shu, who was riding beside him, seemed to be in a good mood. His eyes were slightly narrowed and his figure was tall and straight, bathed in gold by a ray of winter sun, extraordinarily luxurious and romantic.

He also rode over to listen carefully.

As a result, when Gao Lin saw his prince’s sweetheart coming, he promptly turned his horse’s head and went in another direction. At the same time, he also took away the circle of guards around him, skillfully clearing the scene. Second Young Master Liu was unable to hear anything, and was very downtrodden. Liang Shu asked him: “What are you in a daze for again, didn’t you sleep?”

“Woke up. I’m dizzy.” Liu Xian’an took the reins. “What was the prince talking with Lieutenant General Gao about just now?”

“He was telling me something about the future when I return to Wangcheng.” Liang Shu glanced at the sun. “We’re about to arrive at Huaizhen City, shall I take you for a tour?”

Liu Xian’an actually wanted to ask more about what was going to happen when he returned to Wangcheng, but also felt that he couldn’t admit to eavesdropping, so he planned to find another opportunity to investigate next time. Huaizhen City. Liu Xian’an had read of this place in the local chronicles of Southwest China. It seemed that there was a kind of multi-colored flower cake that was not bad, so he nodded: “Okay.”

Liang Shu took his hand and gently brought him over to his own horse. The soldiers were no longer surprised by this. They turned sideways to give way, and Xuan Jiao galloped all the way like lightning. On the way, they passed a small village with smoke curling up from the kitchens, and it looked particularly harmonious and happy. In fact, once one left the Baihe River Basin, most places in Dayan were still wealthy and stable, including the southwest — even if the current foundation was unstable due to the cult, at least the common people had what they needed.

Just as Liu Xian’an was thinking so, Xuan Jiao stopped in its tracks. Not far away, a blue city wall had appeared. This was the first big city that they had arrived at after entering the southwest.

Second Young Master Liu’s stomach growled in a timely manner.

Liang Shu smiled and pressed his stomach: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to dinner.”

Xuan Jiao trotted briskly over. The guard at the city gate didn’t recognize His Royal Highness Xiao Wang, but it could be seen that the status of these two people was not low, and they should come from wealthy families. So he lowered his voice and warned: “The two young masters have come to watch the Many-Color Festival, right? It has been canceled now, and there is no excitement to join in. It’s better to go back instead of going into the city.”

The southwest bloomed with seas of flowers, and the people were proficient in song and dance, so some singing and dancing events were often held. When there were flowers, there were many colors, and when there were no flowers, they tied beautiful cloth ropes, which could also be called many-colored. There was no fixed time or location for a Many-Color Festival. As long as there were people singing and drinking, they could celebrate.

Liang Shu asked: “Why was it canceled?”

The guard sighed, waving his hands as he said: “It’s not a good thing, Young Master, don’t ask. It’s getting dark, go back quickly.”

Liang Shu took out an ingot of broken silver from his sleeve: “We’ve been riding all day and we’re very hungry. Even if there is no Many-Color Festival in the city, we can still have a meal.”

“No, no, no, that’s not what I meant. Young Master, quickly put away the money.” The guard hurriedly refused. Seeing that the two of them insisted on entering the city and couldn’t be dissuaded at all, he could only tell them the truth. “The city is haunted by ghosts recently, and it is extremely dangerous. This……ai.”

Liang Shu and Liu Xian’an exchanged glances. Haunted?

The two disregarded the guard’s dissuasion, and still entered Huaizhen City. The sun had already set, and the sky was half dark and half bright. There was not a single person on the long street. Only a few wild dogs were running around, whimpering and growling. The colorful ropes hanging from the eaves of every house had not yet been removed, blowing erratically in the wind. The festiveness was half-gone, but there was a great deal of strangeness.

Liu Xian’an couldn’t help shivering.

Liang Shu grasped his shoulders and took him into his arms: “Shall I take you out of town first?”

“No need.” Liu Xian’an said, “This place looks very strange, let’s go to the inn first.”

According to the guard’s words, they found the biggest establishment in the city. After knocking on the door for a long time, the sound of footsteps came from inside, and then a voice from the other side of the door asked, “Who is it?”

“Guests,” Liang Shu said. “Let me ask, are you still doing business?”

Squeak. The wooden door was opened a crack, and an attendant looked the two of them up and down: “Why are you coming to Huaizhen City now? Haven’t the two of you heard……the latest strangeness?”

“We didn’t hear about it until we reached the city gate, but it was too late to leave,” Liang Shu said. “Before entering the city, it was just an ordinary rumor, but after entering and seeing the spectacle, the matter does not seem to be small.”

“It’s more than not small.” The attendant opened the door and allowed the two of them to enter the establishment. “A woman who has been dead for seven years suddenly crawled out of the grave and walked around the city. Who is not afraid of this!”

Liu Xian’an asked: “Then where did she go in the end?”

“I don’t know, ah. Liu-daren[1] is organizing people to look for her, but they haven’t found her yet,” the attendant said. “As soon as the news came out, all our customers fled the next day. We’ll give the two of you a cheap price for two rooms. This way, please.”

“I also brought some followers, who will enter the city in about half an hour.” Liang Shu tossed a silver coin over. “We’ll book this inn. Please go and prepare some food.”

The attendant was overjoyed. The first happy event was that they received a big guest, and the second happy event was that the empty inn would finally have popularity. It was good to be popular, ah, popular enough to suppress ghosts! He hurried down to prepare. Liang Shu took Liu Xian’an upstairs, picked a guest room facing the long street, and asked him: “Crawling out of the grave, is there such a Gu?”

“There certainly is, but it is more likely that a living person is pretending to be a ghost.” Liu Xian’an said, “A corpse controlled by Gu worms is already at its limit just being able to move around. If it still has the brains to avoid the government’s search, there is no need to be dead. Continuing to live is rather good.”

Liang Shu smiled and shook his head: “Haunted by ghosts, yet you can still analyze it calmly. Tell me, is there anything in the world that scares you?”

There should be. Liu Xian’an searched for one – there is my elder brother’s ruler. Although my dad’s big stick looks thicker, he doesn’t really beat me, but my elder brother’s beating is a real beating. When mentioning this, he stretched out his hands to complain: “Once they were all swollen.”

Liang Shu held his slender white fingertips and carefully spread those palms. “Did it hurt?”

This question was obviously superfluous, but for love talk, nine and a half out of ten sentences were superfluous. What was superfluous had meaning, and what wasn’t superfluous was called talking about business.

The effect was remarkable. The sentence, “Did it hurt?”, coupled with His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s frown and caring eyes at this time, really succeeded in evoking a little bit of childhood pain hidden in the heart of Second Young Master Liu, stretching out continuously. As if he had been greatly wronged, he complained loudly and with conviction: “It hurt, I couldn’t even hold chopsticks steadily, and my elder brother still drove me into the pharmacy to cut bark for work.”

Liang Shu clasped their hands together: “In the future, if anyone dares to beat you again, I will go to him to settle the score.”

The Village Master and First Young Master Liu, who were hundreds of li away, both sneezed a series of times.

Liu Xian’an’s nose was also a little itchy. He looked at at Liang Shu close at hand, his face and eyes so gentle, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed, so he shook his hands free and turned his head, saying nonchalantly: “Let’s analyze the matter of the haunting.”

[1] This person’s name uses the 刘 Liu, while Liu Xian’an uses the 柳 character. They both have different intonations in Mandarin. ⮐