Chang'an is good

Chapter 606: The Three-Year Agreement Has Come
When Luo Guanlin left, he only left a letter.

The envelope was inscribed with the seven words "From Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess" and was placed on the desk in the afternoon with half a mask.

After the officials found the letter, they hurriedly looked for Mr. Qian Shen, but could not find him anywhere.

Knowing the importance of Qian Shen, and because some officials speculated that Mr. Qian might have gone to carry out the secret order of Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess, no one announced Qian Shen's departure and only hurried to send the letter to Taiyuan.

Qian Shen left very suddenly, but upon closer inspection, he was not unprepared. He had already assigned all the tasks before that.

Therefore, after he left, all matters in and outside Luoyang were not affected and continued to proceed in an orderly manner, including the resettlement of refugees outside Luoyang City.

The number of refugees pouring into Luoyang has increased instead of decreased in recent days. In front of a remote village outside Luoyang city, a temporary shed has been built, a stove is set up for cooking porridge, and several doctors are stationed there.

Wu Chunbai, dressed in a plain grey dress with her sleeves tied up, was investigating the situation here with another official, checking the huts, and counting the number of new refugees who had arrived recently and where they came from.

Wu Chunbai's father and grandfather had previously accompanied the emperor to Taiyuan, but Wu Chunbai asked to stay in Luoyang to take care of his sick sister-in-law and young nephew.

After her sister-in-law's illness recovered, Wu Chunbai went to recommend herself to "Qian Shen". Her words were very straightforward. She just said that she wanted to do something and was willing to do anything.

"Qian Shen" asked her if she was afraid of dirt and tiredness, and if she was not afraid, she could go and resettle the refugees.

Wu Chunbai's father, Wu Yu, was the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. She and her brother once worked for her father and could be considered half of his staff. With this experience, she was particularly adept at handling matters such as statistics of disaster victims and allocation of rice and grain.

When Wu Chunbai was checking the refugee list in front of a shed, a soldier ran over and said in a low voice: "The Sima of Puzhou is here!"

The official beside Wu Chunbai's expression changed: "Puzhou Sima? How many troops did you bring?"

The soldier said, "He only took a green donkey cart and brought two servants."

The officials breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, if the enemy came with troops, they would not be able to get close to this place. Their defense army was not there to just sit there and do nothing.

The official was about to ask the man why he came here, but Wu Chunbai closed the list, handed it to him, and said, "I'll go see him."

This place is less than a hundred miles away from Puzhou, which is located between Luoyang and the capital, and is now controlled by Bian Chunliang.

The Bian army and Luoyang temporarily used Puzhou as the boundary, each of them firmly guarded their own defenses and were wary of each other.

From a standpoint, Puzhou Sima is undoubtedly a target that needs to be guarded against.

Wu Chunbai soon met the Puzhou Sima who needed to be guarded against.

She smiled slightly: "Lord Song."

Song Xian quickly raised his hand to return the greeting: "Madam Wu!"

Yes, Song Xian was previously demoted by Emperor Shengce because of the plague in Yuezhou and transferred out of the capital, but under Wei Shuyi's arrangement, he was not allowed to go far away, but was kept in Puzhou.

The Sima of Zhongzhou was originally in charge of the military and political affairs of a province, but since the reign of Emperor Fei, this position gradually lost its real power, and on weekdays it only took care of miscellaneous affairs for the governor.

After Puzhou was controlled by Bian Chunliang, Tan Li, who was in Luoyang, wrote privately to Song Xian, asking if Song Xian was willing to come to Luoyang, and he could propose to recommend him to Mr. Qian Shen in Luoyang.

But Song Xian refused and chose to stay in Puzhou.

The people of Puzhou were in a very difficult situation under the control of the Bian army. It was only because Song Xian and the Puzhou governor worked hard to deal with the Bian army that order was barely maintained in Puzhou.

In his reply to Tan Li, Song Xian said that "I have lost all my backbone, so there is no need to have it again."

"Lord Song has changed a lot since the plague in Yuezhou," said Wu Chunbai.

But she did not think that Song Xian had lost his backbone. The reason why he abandoned the outward integrity was because his bones and blood were filled with kindness towards the world.

"Mrs. Wu has changed a lot." Song Xian looked at the plain-dressed young lady in front of him and tried to ask, "I think your family has been settled in Luoyang? How is Mr. Wu?"

"Grandfather and father both went to Taiyuan, everything is fine." Wu Chunbai said: "Brother was not able to leave with us."

As she spoke, her voice became lower, and there was no trace of sadness on her face: "My brother died on the day when the Bian army broke into the city in order to protect me."

Song Xian was slightly startled and quickly apologized: "I'm sorry... Madam Wu, please accept my condolences."

He felt sorry for mentioning her sad story and was ashamed of working with Bian Jun at this time.

"What does this have to do with Lord Song?" Wu Chunbai looked towards the capital and said, "One day I will demand repayment from the Bian army and this chaotic world for this blood debt."

She wanted there to be no more Bian Jun and no more chaotic times in this world.

Song Xian looked at her and felt that her previous casual clarity was gone, and she was covered with a layer of black hardness. This hardness seemed to contain inexhaustible determination, which was enough to support her to fight against this chaotic world to the end.

Song Xian silently clenched his ten fingers under his long gown and said slowly, "Madam Wu, Song will work with you to seek justice for this world."

Wu Chunbai turned back to look at him: "Lord Song and I were standing together."

Song Xian was stunned for a moment, and then he heard her say, "I work for Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess, and Lord Song feels the same way privately, isn't it?"

Song Xian came back to his senses and said with a serious expression, "That's right."

He suppressed the chaotic thoughts that should not belong to this moment and asked, "I wonder what the situation is like in the northern border? Is His Highness safe?"

He came here this time just for this matter.

Wu Chunbai slowly turned around and looked towards the north: "Your Highness has defended the northern border and never let the northern barbarians get close. Despite all the difficulties and dangers, he has never been defeated."

There has been no defeat, and there cannot be any. Once a war like this is lost, it will be lost again.

Thinking of the imaginable casualties, Wu Chunbai's voice became hoarse: "Compared to that, what we can do is really insignificant."

She wanted to seek justice for the world, but what Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess did was to prevent the world from collapsing.

Thinking of the past, Song Xian was a little absent-minded: "Once upon a time, Song was ignorant and shallow, and believed that Your Highness was just a show-off. But now that I think about it, there is only one person in a hundred years who can 'show off' to this extent."

Every step taken by Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess is watched by the world and is also beyond everyone's expectations. Just like at this moment, she is standing outside the gate of Purgatory with a sword in her hand, as the crown prince, killing the greedy and vicious evil spirits for the people of Dasheng.

In this world, only such an extraordinary "sensationalist" can save it, and only such a person can split the chaos and open the way to peace.

After Song Xian left, Wu Chunbai stood alone for a moment, then returned to continue his work.

Hearing a commotion among the refugees, Wu Chunbai quickly walked forward to check.

A barefoot woman with dishevelled hair and dirty face refused to be searched. Anyone who enters this place can be admitted, but they must undergo a strict search - this is the rule set by Wu Chunbai, in order to prevent those with unknown origins or ill intentions from mixing in with the refugees and approaching Luoyang City.

A body search was inevitable, and there were other female soldiers at the scene, but the woman did not allow the female soldiers to get close to her.

This unusual behavior naturally aroused the suspicion of the soldiers. The other refugees also hurriedly distanced themselves from the woman. At the same time, someone shouted in surprise: "... Look, she has the plague!"

The refugees were immediately startled and scattered. Wu Chunbai ordered people to control the situation. Two soldiers approached fearfully with knives in hand. The woman retreated while shouting, "I...I want to see the Crown Princess! I have something important to discuss with the Crown Princess!"

Hearing the familiar Beijing accent, Wu Chunbai looked at the woman with messy hair covering her face cautiously: "Who are you? Why do you want to see the Crown Princess?"

Hearing Wu Chunbai's voice, the woman suddenly looked up.

The two looked at each other. The woman with disheveled hair and swollen red rashes on her face was stunned for a moment and tried to say, "Wu... Wu's daughter?"

Wu Chunbai did not recognize the other person.

"I... I am a maidservant in Prime Minister Ma's mansion!" The filthy woman knelt down with a plop, and with trembling hands she pushed aside the messy hair covering her face: "My name is Lan Ying! I met Madam Wu several times when I was in the capital!"

After saying this, she immediately kowtowed and cried, "Please, Madam Wu, take me to Luoyang!"

Wu Chunbai had countless guesses in his mind, but he did not rush to ask too many questions. He let the doctor examine Lan Ying first.

Lan Ying, whose body was covered with red rashes, was in a very unstable mood and was about to cry at any time. She said to the doctor: "...It's not an epidemic, it's scorpion grass!"

The doctor was surprised, but after examination he found that it was indeed the case.

The skin scratched by the scorpion grass will swell and form rashes. Lan Ying repeatedly used this method to make herself covered with red rashes, creating the illusion that she was suffering from an epidemic and making people stay away from her.

Wu Chunbai remained silent and did not ask any more questions, but it was not difficult to imagine what a weak woman had experienced on her way here in such a chaotic world.

She first asked someone to serve Lan Ying a bowl of rice soup. After Lan Ying drank it, she took people to question her alone.

Lan Ying was sure that Wu Chunbai was working for Li Suining, so she took out the golden lock that she had almost risked her life to protect without hesitation, and tremblingly held it in front of Wu Chunbai: "...My daughter asked me to hand this item to Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess!"

That day, Lan Ying had just walked a short distance out of the military camp when she realized something was wrong.

The girl said she would wait for her to come back, but since she would come back, why was she in such a hurry to let her take away Princess Rong's belongings?

Lan Ying was startled and wanted to rush back immediately, but she thought of the girl's letter.

When there was no one around, she found an opportunity to quickly unfold it and read it, and couldn't help but burst into tears.

It turned out that the girl had no intention of leaving, the girl had lied to her, and the girl wanted her to leave alone!

She wanted to go back to find the girl, but the girl strictly ordered her not to go back in the letter, and asked her to go to Luoyang to find the people of the Crown Princess Li Suining and deliver the relics of Princess Rong...

Lan Ying was anxious and self-hating, and she slapped herself hard. She felt that she was so stupid that she didn't realize the girl's intention and just left alone!
As she cried, Lan Ying suddenly thought of the time when she was eleven or twelve years old, when she played rock-paper-scissors with the girl in private. She lost from beginning to end, and in the end she said she was stupid, but the girl smiled and scratched her nose, saying: [Lan Ying is not stupid, she just listens too much to her girl.]

Before the girl throws a punch, she always gives a little hint of what she's going to throw, and she always believes it again and again.

But she just wants to listen to the girl! She wants to listen to the girl all her life!
It was this thought that supported Lan Ying to get here all the way.

Only after handing over the golden lock and fulfilling the girl's instructions did Lan Ying finally collapse and fainted.

Wu Chunbai brought Lan Ying back to his residence in Luoyang City and did not make the matter public.

Lan Ying is about to leave after waking up.

When Wu Chunbai stopped her from questioning, Lan Ying could no longer hold back and cried as she explained everything that had happened: "…My daughter was deceived by Prince Rong and is now pregnant. I want to go back to find her!"

Wu Chunbai was moved and became more determined to stop the man: "At this moment, the battle between Prince Rong's army and Bian's army is fierce, you can't go back. If you die in vain like this, wouldn't it be a waste of your wife's kindness?"

Ma Wan asked Lan Ying to deliver the golden lock, probably to give support to this loyal maid so that she would have the determination to leave and try her best to survive.

"Since your wife is pregnant, her life will not be in danger for the time being." Wu Chunbai said, "The best solution is for you to recover here first, then inform Prime Minister Ma about this matter, and then make a long-term plan."

At this time, the golden lock was already on its way to Taiyuan.

Delivered earlier than this item was the letter from Luo Guanlin.

This letter was opened and read personally by Grand Tutor Chu - before Li Suining left, he had said that in order to avoid delays in important matters, all official documents and confidential letters could be reviewed and decided by the Grand Tutor.

The content of the letter was short and was a farewell letter.

Luo Guanlin said in the letter: [The three-year agreement has come to an end, but Your Highness has ignored the overall situation and insisted on rushing to the northern border. Such reckless behavior is not the wise leader I want. People with different paths cannot make plans together. I will abide by the three-year promise and leave. I hope you will take care of yourself.]

His words were decisive and merciless, just like his usual temperament and style.

After a while, Master Chu put the letter down. He showed no emotional reaction and just muttered to himself, "If you leave, Luoyang cannot be left without someone to take charge..."

The next afternoon, Master Chu asked someone to invite Wei Shuyi over.

While the two were discussing matters, a box was delivered from Luoyang. After Master Chu opened it, he took out a golden lock and a letter from Wu Chunbai.

Wu Chunbai did not open the golden lock without permission, but only explained in detail the origin of the item.

Master Chu examined it for a while, then handed it to Wei Shuyi: "My old eyes are not very useful, you can come and see if there is any mystery."

Wei Shuyi took it, and in just a moment, he opened the secret mechanism of the golden lock and found the old paper hidden in the lock.

At this point, Master Chu still didn't react much. He picked up the teacup and said casually, "Read it and listen."

Wei Shuyi unfolded the half-page of letter paper as he was told. His expression suddenly froze. After a moment, he was able to speak: "..."

Master Chu paused as he brought the teacup to his lips.

After listening to Wei Shuyi's recitation of the entire story, from the truth that the former Crown Prince was actually a girl, to the inside story of Prince Rong poisoning Princess Chongyue -

Master Chu put the cup of tea back intact.

The teacup made a slight sound when it bumped against the tea table, but other than that, there was only stagnant silence in the room.

After an unknown amount of time, Master Chu slowly spoke, "Okay."

Good night everyone~