The Hermit Has His Own Ingenious Plan
Taijing was under martial law, with the city gates sealed.
Initially, the tenant farmers near the capital had no idea about this, but by nightfall, those who had gone into the city had not returned home. At night, the sounds of troops and horses passing by scared many into staying awake all night.
At the break of dawn, the stewards of the farms dressed and prepared to visit several nearby farms to gather news.
These farm stewards are usually the servants of the nobility.
Due to their masters’ influence, the interactions among the stewards are meticulous, not merely based on proximity. Now with the situation at hand, one must still bring a visiting card and some gifts to maintain appearances when inquiring.
The gift box was prepared by the women of the house the night before.
It contained nothing significant, just a few snacks and dried fruits, along with a small jade ornament symbolizing good fortune, tied with a red string, ready to be carried out.
The steward had already decided which house to visit, called several attendants, took the box, and headed straight for the estate of Earl Weiping.
The owner of that farm is War Minister Ning, considered an old subordinate of Emperor Lu Zhang. Although he no longer holds military power, his imperial favor is rich. He was granted the title of Earl Weiping at the founding of the dynasty and later acquired this farm in the capital’s vicinity. The land is fertile, yielding slightly more than others each year, and it was said to be an imperial farm in the early years of the Chu dynasty.
There had been a torrential rain yesterday, leaving the ground muddy and difficult to navigate.
Not only was it hard for carriages and horses, but even walking was a challenge, stepping deeply into the mud with each foot.
“Steward Mi, look at the horse tracks here!”
Steward Mi looked as instructed, his expression growing even grimmer.
Horse tracks overlapped with more horse tracks, followed by footprints and wheel tracks.
“…What was the carriage carrying to be so heavy?” Steward Mi murmured to himself.
The wheel tracks were deep, and from the footprints beside them, the front of the foot pressed down harder, clearly indicating the effort of pushing the carriage, suggesting its load was very heavy.
“Could there be a rebel army? And they’re carrying provisions, definitely not out to suppress bandits!”
“Nonsense, only the two camps near the capital are here, and they’re for defending Taijing. They wouldn’t be called to fight!”
“Enough!” Steward Mi interrupted, “Let’s hurry and figure this out!”
His attendants looked at each other nervously.
In fact, besides suppressing bandits and warfare, there was another possibility.
Someone was plotting rebellion!
Steward Mi’s hands trembled slightly; at over forty years old, he had lived through the catastrophe of the Chu dynasty’s fall and knew how terrible this could be. The people in the city couldn’t escape, the rebel soldiers would kill with their swords, and even the farms outside the city weren’t safe.
Thinking of the anomaly in the sky yesterday, Steward Mi almost wanted to turn back, pack up his valuables, and flee with his wife and children.
He walked restlessly for a while, then suddenly heard a series of screams.
Steward Mi stumbled and fell to the ground.
Ahead was the estate of Earl Weiping, and the screams were coming from there.
“Hurry!” Steward Mi’s expression drastically changed, and his followers, no longer caring for much else, turned and ran.
Steward Mi stood up only to realize he had twisted his ankle, the pain excruciating. He tried to call his attendants to stop, but they had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The wind carried a faint smell of blood, making Steward Mi even more panicked.
He simply rolled into the field, curled up, and used the tall ridges to hide his figure.
Soon, smoke drifted over, and scattered footsteps could be heard from the ridge.
“Is the search complete?” a voice asked.
“Reporting to the commander, we found two hundred sets of iron armor and several dozen bows and crossbows in the cellar, nothing else.”
“That’s enough, we’ll return to the capital to report to His Majesty! You stay here and search the nearby farms as well, there might still be evidence of Earl Weiping’s involvement in the rebellion!”
“Yes!”
The voices gradually faded, and Steward Mi, struggling to his feet, saw that these men wore the Imperial Guard’s uniforms.
There truly was trouble!
Steward Mi struggled to get up, but halfway through, he was spotted by a small squad of Imperial Guards, looking suspicious with mud all over him. Without asking any questions, they drew their swords to strike.
“Clang!”
A stone deflected the blade’s path.
Steward Mi thought he was doomed and was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder. Although he escaped death, he was still too shocked to recover, sitting on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s the jianghu bandits the commander mentioned before, withdraw!”
This squad of Imperial Guards did not carry bows and arrows. Seeing the sword damaged by the stone, they knew well how difficult it was to deal with martial arts experts and made a quick decision to leave.
Meng Qi frowned and looked around, hearing cries of alarm from the nearby farms.
“What’s going on?” Mo Li stopped in his tracks,
The stone that had saved Steward Mi’s life was thrown by him.
They were speeding along with their lightfoot skills when they noticed a farm on fire and took a closer look, coincidentally saving Steward Mi’s life.
“It’s the Imperial Guards. They shouldn’t be leaving the city,” said Meng Qi, puzzled.
It seemed not only was the martial world out of control, but unexpected events were also unfolding in Taijing.
The duty of the Imperial Guards is to protect the imperial city. Emperor Lu Zhang suspected a rebellion, not even trusting the Jinyiwei, and directly mobilized the Imperial Guards. Supposedly, these tens of thousands of men should be on alert for a possible rebellion within the city, so why would they be sent out?
“Unless the plotter’s plans have been exposed, and his followers captured, Emperor Lu Zhang believes victory is in his grasp…”
Meng Qi mused to himself, his voice low, audible only to Mo Li.
He paid no attention to the nearly frightened-to-death Steward Mi and headed directly to the nearest farm.
The Imperial Guards didn’t massacre here but instead gathered the tenants and farm residents inside the houses, then conducted a thorough search, overturning boxes and digging the ground.
“Speak up, have you been hiding anything sent from Earl Weiping’s farm?”
The steward of this farm shook his head repeatedly, swearing and crying.
“Listen well, Earl Weiping incited the Second Prince to rebel, a crime punishable by the extermination of his house. Anyone who shelters him or helps hide the rebel’s goods, once discovered, will be punished as an accomplice!”
After the Imperial Guards finished their threats, since they indeed found nothing prohibited, they left with their men.
A group of people shivered and whispered in panic.
“My Lord, rebellion?”
“Yes. Why would Earl Weiping commit such folly? He’s a key minister in the court, deeply trusted by the Emperor. He has no connection with the Second Prince, who also has a disability. Why go to such lengths?”
Due to their master’s influence, the stewards knew roughly about the affairs of the court, who was rising or falling, all was clear to them.
The Crown Prince’s days were numbered, which was not a secret, and even the officials and their servants quietly discussed the next candidate for the Crown Prince. In their view, the Second Prince was practically out of the running, with the competition for the succession likely between the Third and Sixth Princes.
“Perhaps the Second Prince was unwilling to accept this, hence the rebellion… As for Earl Weiping, maybe he was framed?”
This worry immediately concerned everyone, anxious about their master in the capital.
If their master was implicated in this turmoil, their peaceful days would vanish. The tenants might still fare well, as long as the taxes don’t increase, who they farmed for didn’t matter. But the stewards would be in trouble; if their masters were convicted, they would become criminal slaves, pulled away to be soldiers or exiled.
The more anxious they became, the more they talked.
Meng Qi and Mo Li visited four farms in succession, hearing similar stories.
“So, the one colluding with the Second Prince was that Ancestor Qingwu? He’s been captured?” Mo Li couldn’t help but ask, “Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?”
“Of course, it’s bad news. Ancestor Qingwu won’t just let things be,” Meng Qi sighed.
As long as the Second Prince is alive, Ancestor Qingwu still has ways to manipulate the situation.
Originally, Ancestor Qingwu didn’t want to overly reveal his power. He needed a puppet to willingly ascend the throne, trust him deeply, and appoint Ancestor Qingwu as the national preceptor, then unknowingly allow Ancestor Qingwu to use him to sever the dragon veins.
Such trust takes time and disguise.
But now the situation has changed. Ancestor Qingwu believed that a dragon was about to die but couldn’t locate which one. He was preoccupied with the spiritual energy that would emerge after the dragon’s death and how to comprehend a higher realm of martial arts within it. He couldn’t wait and had no time for the games of feigning loyalty to the prince to gain his trust.
His true intentions were now exposed.
Meng Qi thought for a moment and said, “He might directly storm the imperial palace to do what I didn’t do three years ago.”
As long as the emperor dies, the Second Prince’s charge of rebellion would become irrelevant.
The death of Lu Zhang is not to be regretted, but the people of Taijing could not withstand another catastrophe.
“We must act before everything happens…”
Murmuring, Meng Qi then grabbed Mo Li, “Doctor, this way.”
Along the way, they mistakenly saved several people who were nearly killed by the Imperial Guards. Soon, nearly all the Imperial Guards knew a highly skilled martial artist had arrived.
Based on the reports of their sightings, they immediately tracked this “expert’s” movements.
“This person is heading north… The north is close to the imperial palace, quickly relay the message back to the capital!”
“No, return to the capital immediately!” The leader of the Imperial Guards made a decision without hesitation.
“But commander… we were ordered to search here for evidence and rebels…”
“The Left Camp of the capital was sent to suppress bandits but let them escape. In this rebellion, the Jinyiwei were suspected by His Majesty, and now it’s our Imperial Guards’ turn to shine. If not now, then when? Achieving great merit, and official positions and wealth will be plentiful!”
“Yes!”
Thus, the Imperial Guards arrived quickly and left quickly. The people of the farm were stunned for a moment, then panic-strickenly began to pack, preparing to flee with their families.
—Anyway, it’s better to hide first.
Meanwhile, Meng Qi led Mo Li further off course, not heading towards the city gates, so they diverged from the pursuing Imperial Guards.
The north side of Taijing is the imperial city, with four gates that ordinary citizens cannot use.
Mo Li saw figures moving on the city walls from afar, not appearing to be on high alert, just cautious, with not many bows and crossbows prepared.
“How do we get past? There are people above,” Mo Li asked.
He estimated the height of the wall, thinking it possible to climb over, but impossible to do so unnoticed.
“If we’re going to go, we must move fast. I’m not sure about the force of these bows and crossbows…”
“No, we’re not going through the walls,” Meng Qi interrupted Mo Li, posing as if he had a clever plan. Instead of approaching the walls, they moved even further away.
Meng Qi waited for a moment, disappointed when Mo Li didn’t ask further questions.
—The doctor is good at many things, just not at playing along.
Outside the imperial city, trees and buildings are forbidden to prevent thieves from hiding. Thus, the area five miles outside the city is desolate, with only rocks of various sizes. Meng Qi and Mo Li moved swiftly on the flat ground without kicking up dust, like a breeze, occasionally spotted by people on the walls who thought they were seeing things.
“Here we are, this is the place.”
Meng Qi stopped in front of a huge rock, far from the city walls but close to the cliff of another mountain.
With a casual effort, he moved the huge rock, revealing a dark hole.
Mo Li: “…”
The entrance was small, definitely not fit for an adult unless one practiced bone-shrinking techniques.
Meng Qi removed his soft sword and then his outer robe.
“Wait.” Mo Li thought someone was about to transform into a sand mouse again, he frowned and asked, “Is this a secret passage? Where does it lead?”
“To an abandoned well in the imperial palace. I don’t know from which dynasty it dates, but as long as I can remember, this secret passage has existed. It’s been neglected over the years, so I secretly repaired it,” Meng Qi explained as he took off his clothes, then turned to fiddle with the belt of Mo Li’s outer robe.
Mo Li barely had time to ask before hearing Meng Qi say, “To save trouble, the passage I cleared and reinforced is quite small, so Doctor, it’s better to just take off your outer robe and keep the clothes close to your body.”
He demonstrated by rolling up the sleeves and legs of his undergarment.
Then he stuffed his outer garment and soft sword into a bag, subsequently transforming into a child whose height reached only to Mo Li’s knees.
“……”
A pair of large, beautiful black eyes took up half of the face, and the chubby hands had five little dimples each, with arms round and segmented like lotus roots, albeit dressed in adult clothes which, despite being rolled up several times, still appeared somewhat baggy.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi urged.
Faced with this appearance, Mo Li instinctively took a step back.
“Hurry, we’re running out of time.”
Even the voice was that of a child’s, and somewhat whiny.
Mo Li was far from amused, knowing that when he reverted to his normal form, he would have the same voice.
…He regretted trusting Meng Qi; he would rather face crossbows and climb over the city walls!
Author’s Note:
Mr. Qin, hurry over here, there are chubby babies, two of them.
The Hermit Has His Own Ingenious Plan
Taijing was under martial law, with the city gates sealed.
Initially, the tenant farmers near the capital had no idea about this, but by nightfall, those who had gone into the city had not returned home. At night, the sounds of troops and horses passing by scared many into staying awake all night.
At the break of dawn, the stewards of the farms dressed and prepared to visit several nearby farms to gather news.
These farm stewards are usually the servants of the nobility.
Due to their masters’ influence, the interactions among the stewards are meticulous, not merely based on proximity. Now with the situation at hand, one must still bring a visiting card and some gifts to maintain appearances when inquiring.
The gift box was prepared by the women of the house the night before.
It contained nothing significant, just a few snacks and dried fruits, along with a small jade ornament symbolizing good fortune, tied with a red string, ready to be carried out.
The steward had already decided which house to visit, called several attendants, took the box, and headed straight for the estate of Earl Weiping.
The owner of that farm is War Minister Ning, considered an old subordinate of Emperor Lu Zhang. Although he no longer holds military power, his imperial favor is rich. He was granted the title of Earl Weiping at the founding of the dynasty and later acquired this farm in the capital’s vicinity. The land is fertile, yielding slightly more than others each year, and it was said to be an imperial farm in the early years of the Chu dynasty.
There had been a torrential rain yesterday, leaving the ground muddy and difficult to navigate.
Not only was it hard for carriages and horses, but even walking was a challenge, stepping deeply into the mud with each foot.
“Steward Mi, look at the horse tracks here!”
Steward Mi looked as instructed, his expression growing even grimmer.
Horse tracks overlapped with more horse tracks, followed by footprints and wheel tracks.
“…What was the carriage carrying to be so heavy?” Steward Mi murmured to himself.
The wheel tracks were deep, and from the footprints beside them, the front of the foot pressed down harder, clearly indicating the effort of pushing the carriage, suggesting its load was very heavy.
“Could there be a rebel army? And they’re carrying provisions, definitely not out to suppress bandits!”
“Nonsense, only the two camps near the capital are here, and they’re for defending Taijing. They wouldn’t be called to fight!”
“Enough!” Steward Mi interrupted, “Let’s hurry and figure this out!”
His attendants looked at each other nervously.
In fact, besides suppressing bandits and warfare, there was another possibility.
Someone was plotting rebellion!
Steward Mi’s hands trembled slightly; at over forty years old, he had lived through the catastrophe of the Chu dynasty’s fall and knew how terrible this could be. The people in the city couldn’t escape, the rebel soldiers would kill with their swords, and even the farms outside the city weren’t safe.
Thinking of the anomaly in the sky yesterday, Steward Mi almost wanted to turn back, pack up his valuables, and flee with his wife and children.
He walked restlessly for a while, then suddenly heard a series of screams.
Steward Mi stumbled and fell to the ground.
Ahead was the estate of Earl Weiping, and the screams were coming from there.
“Hurry!” Steward Mi’s expression drastically changed, and his followers, no longer caring for much else, turned and ran.
Steward Mi stood up only to realize he had twisted his ankle, the pain excruciating. He tried to call his attendants to stop, but they had disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The wind carried a faint smell of blood, making Steward Mi even more panicked.
He simply rolled into the field, curled up, and used the tall ridges to hide his figure.
Soon, smoke drifted over, and scattered footsteps could be heard from the ridge.
“Is the search complete?” a voice asked.
“Reporting to the commander, we found two hundred sets of iron armor and several dozen bows and crossbows in the cellar, nothing else.”
“That’s enough, we’ll return to the capital to report to His Majesty! You stay here and search the nearby farms as well, there might still be evidence of Earl Weiping’s involvement in the rebellion!”
“Yes!”
The voices gradually faded, and Steward Mi, struggling to his feet, saw that these men wore the Imperial Guard’s uniforms.
There truly was trouble!
Steward Mi struggled to get up, but halfway through, he was spotted by a small squad of Imperial Guards, looking suspicious with mud all over him. Without asking any questions, they drew their swords to strike.
“Clang!”
A stone deflected the blade’s path.
Steward Mi thought he was doomed and was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder. Although he escaped death, he was still too shocked to recover, sitting on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s the jianghu bandits the commander mentioned before, withdraw!”
This squad of Imperial Guards did not carry bows and arrows. Seeing the sword damaged by the stone, they knew well how difficult it was to deal with martial arts experts and made a quick decision to leave.
Meng Qi frowned and looked around, hearing cries of alarm from the nearby farms.
“What’s going on?” Mo Li stopped in his tracks,
The stone that had saved Steward Mi’s life was thrown by him.
They were speeding along with their lightfoot skills when they noticed a farm on fire and took a closer look, coincidentally saving Steward Mi’s life.
“It’s the Imperial Guards. They shouldn’t be leaving the city,” said Meng Qi, puzzled.
It seemed not only was the martial world out of control, but unexpected events were also unfolding in Taijing.
The duty of the Imperial Guards is to protect the imperial city. Emperor Lu Zhang suspected a rebellion, not even trusting the Jinyiwei, and directly mobilized the Imperial Guards. Supposedly, these tens of thousands of men should be on alert for a possible rebellion within the city, so why would they be sent out?
“Unless the plotter’s plans have been exposed, and his followers captured, Emperor Lu Zhang believes victory is in his grasp…”
Meng Qi mused to himself, his voice low, audible only to Mo Li.
He paid no attention to the nearly frightened-to-death Steward Mi and headed directly to the nearest farm.
The Imperial Guards didn’t massacre here but instead gathered the tenants and farm residents inside the houses, then conducted a thorough search, overturning boxes and digging the ground.
“Speak up, have you been hiding anything sent from Earl Weiping’s farm?”
The steward of this farm shook his head repeatedly, swearing and crying.
“Listen well, Earl Weiping incited the Second Prince to rebel, a crime punishable by the extermination of his house. Anyone who shelters him or helps hide the rebel’s goods, once discovered, will be punished as an accomplice!”
After the Imperial Guards finished their threats, since they indeed found nothing prohibited, they left with their men.
A group of people shivered and whispered in panic.
“My Lord, rebellion?”
“Yes. Why would Earl Weiping commit such folly? He’s a key minister in the court, deeply trusted by the Emperor. He has no connection with the Second Prince, who also has a disability. Why go to such lengths?”
Due to their master’s influence, the stewards knew roughly about the affairs of the court, who was rising or falling, all was clear to them.
The Crown Prince’s days were numbered, which was not a secret, and even the officials and their servants quietly discussed the next candidate for the Crown Prince. In their view, the Second Prince was practically out of the running, with the competition for the succession likely between the Third and Sixth Princes.
“Perhaps the Second Prince was unwilling to accept this, hence the rebellion… As for Earl Weiping, maybe he was framed?”
This worry immediately concerned everyone, anxious about their master in the capital.
If their master was implicated in this turmoil, their peaceful days would vanish. The tenants might still fare well, as long as the taxes don’t increase, who they farmed for didn’t matter. But the stewards would be in trouble; if their masters were convicted, they would become criminal slaves, pulled away to be soldiers or exiled.
The more anxious they became, the more they talked.
Meng Qi and Mo Li visited four farms in succession, hearing similar stories.
“So, the one colluding with the Second Prince was that Ancestor Qingwu? He’s been captured?” Mo Li couldn’t help but ask, “Is this a good thing, or a bad thing?”
“Of course, it’s bad news. Ancestor Qingwu won’t just let things be,” Meng Qi sighed.
As long as the Second Prince is alive, Ancestor Qingwu still has ways to manipulate the situation.
Originally, Ancestor Qingwu didn’t want to overly reveal his power. He needed a puppet to willingly ascend the throne, trust him deeply, and appoint Ancestor Qingwu as the national preceptor, then unknowingly allow Ancestor Qingwu to use him to sever the dragon veins.
Such trust takes time and disguise.
But now the situation has changed. Ancestor Qingwu believed that a dragon was about to die but couldn’t locate which one. He was preoccupied with the spiritual energy that would emerge after the dragon’s death and how to comprehend a higher realm of martial arts within it. He couldn’t wait and had no time for the games of feigning loyalty to the prince to gain his trust.
His true intentions were now exposed.
Meng Qi thought for a moment and said, “He might directly storm the imperial palace to do what I didn’t do three years ago.”
As long as the emperor dies, the Second Prince’s charge of rebellion would become irrelevant.
The death of Lu Zhang is not to be regretted, but the people of Taijing could not withstand another catastrophe.
“We must act before everything happens…”
Murmuring, Meng Qi then grabbed Mo Li, “Doctor, this way.”
Along the way, they mistakenly saved several people who were nearly killed by the Imperial Guards. Soon, nearly all the Imperial Guards knew a highly skilled martial artist had arrived.
Based on the reports of their sightings, they immediately tracked this “expert’s” movements.
“This person is heading north… The north is close to the imperial palace, quickly relay the message back to the capital!”
“No, return to the capital immediately!” The leader of the Imperial Guards made a decision without hesitation.
“But commander… we were ordered to search here for evidence and rebels…”
“The Left Camp of the capital was sent to suppress bandits but let them escape. In this rebellion, the Jinyiwei were suspected by His Majesty, and now it’s our Imperial Guards’ turn to shine. If not now, then when? Achieving great merit, and official positions and wealth will be plentiful!”
“Yes!”
Thus, the Imperial Guards arrived quickly and left quickly. The people of the farm were stunned for a moment, then panic-strickenly began to pack, preparing to flee with their families.
—Anyway, it’s better to hide first.
Meanwhile, Meng Qi led Mo Li further off course, not heading towards the city gates, so they diverged from the pursuing Imperial Guards.
The north side of Taijing is the imperial city, with four gates that ordinary citizens cannot use.
Mo Li saw figures moving on the city walls from afar, not appearing to be on high alert, just cautious, with not many bows and crossbows prepared.
“How do we get past? There are people above,” Mo Li asked.
He estimated the height of the wall, thinking it possible to climb over, but impossible to do so unnoticed.
“If we’re going to go, we must move fast. I’m not sure about the force of these bows and crossbows…”
“No, we’re not going through the walls,” Meng Qi interrupted Mo Li, posing as if he had a clever plan. Instead of approaching the walls, they moved even further away.
Meng Qi waited for a moment, disappointed when Mo Li didn’t ask further questions.
—The doctor is good at many things, just not at playing along.
Outside the imperial city, trees and buildings are forbidden to prevent thieves from hiding. Thus, the area five miles outside the city is desolate, with only rocks of various sizes. Meng Qi and Mo Li moved swiftly on the flat ground without kicking up dust, like a breeze, occasionally spotted by people on the walls who thought they were seeing things.
“Here we are, this is the place.”
Meng Qi stopped in front of a huge rock, far from the city walls but close to the cliff of another mountain.
With a casual effort, he moved the huge rock, revealing a dark hole.
Mo Li: “…”
The entrance was small, definitely not fit for an adult unless one practiced bone-shrinking techniques.
Meng Qi removed his soft sword and then his outer robe.
“Wait.” Mo Li thought someone was about to transform into a sand mouse again, he frowned and asked, “Is this a secret passage? Where does it lead?”
“To an abandoned well in the imperial palace. I don’t know from which dynasty it dates, but as long as I can remember, this secret passage has existed. It’s been neglected over the years, so I secretly repaired it,” Meng Qi explained as he took off his clothes, then turned to fiddle with the belt of Mo Li’s outer robe.
Mo Li barely had time to ask before hearing Meng Qi say, “To save trouble, the passage I cleared and reinforced is quite small, so Doctor, it’s better to just take off your outer robe and keep the clothes close to your body.”
He demonstrated by rolling up the sleeves and legs of his undergarment.
Then he stuffed his outer garment and soft sword into a bag, subsequently transforming into a child whose height reached only to Mo Li’s knees.
“……”
A pair of large, beautiful black eyes took up half of the face, and the chubby hands had five little dimples each, with arms round and segmented like lotus roots, albeit dressed in adult clothes which, despite being rolled up several times, still appeared somewhat baggy.
“Doctor?” Meng Qi urged.
Faced with this appearance, Mo Li instinctively took a step back.
“Hurry, we’re running out of time.”
Even the voice was that of a child’s, and somewhat whiny.
Mo Li was far from amused, knowing that when he reverted to his normal form, he would have the same voice.
…He regretted trusting Meng Qi; he would rather face crossbows and climb over the city walls!
Author’s Note:
Mr. Qin, hurry over here, there are chubby babies, two of them.
