The Heavens of Film and Television: From Serving as a Soldier

Chapter 200 Night Talk
late at night.

Zhang Yang brought Cao Zhengchun to Mei Changsu's residence. He was currently living in the residence of the first-rank military marquis Xie Yu, in the Xuelu in the backyard.

Zhang Yang walked in and said, "It's still a little cold here."

Mei Changsu shook his head and said, "It's okay."

"What are your plans for the next step, Your Highness?"

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "Do you think Xuanwu Gate is a good place?"

Mei Changsu said: "Your Highness, do you want to use force to remonstrate with me?"

Zhang Yang shook his head and said, "No, I am still young now, not old enough to make a military remonstration, but Your Highness the Crown Prince is old enough."

"It's just missing an introduction, a little bit of an introduction."

Mei Changsu said: "This matter is not easy to handle. Xie Yu originally climbed up from a low-level officer, and many of our plans cannot be hidden from him."

Zhang Yang smiled and said, "I know you have made preparations before entering the capital. Stop the actions against Prince Yu now and kill the prince's minions one by one, leaving only Xie Yu."

Then he said: "Don't worry, I won't let Xie Yu die even if he wants to. I will give you an explanation."

Mei Changsu said, "No, the case of Prince Yu and the Crown Prince cannot be stopped. It not only concerns me, but also many civilians. The officials under Prince Yu and the Crown Prince are rotten themselves. I cannot stop this operation."

Zhang Yang stood up and said, "Okay, I was wrong." He turned around and looked at Mei Changsu and said, "Who did you target first?"

After Mei Changsu mentioned a name, Zhang Yang said, "I understand. I will support you."

……

Su Zhe leisurely picked a sunny day and invited a few young friends to go out with him.

Mottled white walls, broken pink eaves, and occasionally broken parapets, covered with wisteria, creepers, and withered stems of wild roses that grow wildly and without any rules. Looking around, there are only withered grass, half-dead lotus ponds, fallen rockery and rocks, and corridors covered with spider webs. Only the outer wall built along the undulating slope still firmly encloses this small manor that has been unpopular for a long time.

In the middle of the manor, one can vaguely see the outline of an arc-shaped flower bed, but there are no flowers in the bed anymore. Only wild grass remains, a scorched yellow expanse extending in all directions.

But right in the middle of this patch of dry and messy weeds, there stood a few people in gorgeous clothes, all looking around as if admiring the decaying scenery around them.

"If I hadn't looked up and seen the top of the Chongyin Tower, I really wouldn't have known where I was..." The person who spoke was the eldest son of the Prince's Mansion, who was fanning himself in the winter. "I didn't expect there was such a desolate place in the city of Jinling. How did you find this place, Brother Su?"

"I didn't find it myself," the man in green clothes answered with a wry smile, "I just asked a business to buy a garden in the city, and the owner recommended this place, saying it was excellent..."

"Excellent..." Xie Bi repeated these two words like an echo wall, staring blankly at the half-collapsed flower bed not far away.

"You believed him just because he said it was great? You paid the money without even checking the place? Has the Jiangzuo League become so rich?" Yan Yujin used the three-level questioning method to clearly express his disapproval.

"I... I sent Fei Liu to take a look, and he also said it was excellent..."

"Excellent..." The echo wall sounded again. Fei Liu's figure seemed to be cooperating with him. He flashed past in front and disappeared in the maze-like group of rockery. It seemed that he was having a great time.

Yan Yujin crossed his arms and tilted his head to look at the elegant man in front of him. He asked the company to buy the garden, and only sent a child to take a look and then paid. Is this the style of a talented scholar? It is indeed different...

"Actually, this place isn't too bad," Mei Changsu said with a smile, "At least the location is good and the size is suitable. No one has lived here for many years, so it's not surprising that it's been abandoned like this. We just need to hire someone to renovate it. It should be very beautiful when it's done. Besides, Fei Liu also likes it... What do you think, Jing Rui?"

The young man, who had said little from beginning to end, just hummed in response.

"What's wrong?" Xie Bi came closer. "It was obviously Brother Su who was cheated when buying the garden. Why do you look more depressed than him?"

Yan Yujin glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eye. Instead of teasing him with Xie Bi as he usually did, he slowly tapped the palm of his other hand with his fan and paced around leisurely, as if he wanted to see the garden more clearly. However, after only ten steps, he suddenly heard an "ah" and disappeared.

Everyone nearby was shocked and rushed to the place where the living person mysteriously disappeared. Xiao Jingrui was the most skilled, so he was naturally the first to arrive, shouting "Yujin! Yujin!"

"Here..." A muffled voice came from underground, "Give me a hand..."

After being pulled out of the ground by Xiao Jingrui by the wrist, the prince's beautiful and luxurious robe was already covered with black dust and withered grass debris. Xiao Jingrui used his hands to brush him back and forth to get rid of the dust.

"It's a dry well, it looks eerie..." Xie Bi carefully pushed aside the weeds covering the well mouth and looked down, "The well platform has completely collapsed, no wonder you didn't notice..."

"Luckily, I'm very skilled and I caught the edge in time," Yan Yujin pulled the grass stems out of his hair, his face long, "I'm so unlucky!"

Xiao Jingrui said thoughtfully: "Fortunately, it was you who fell down. If it was Brother Su, he would definitely not be able to catch anything and would fall straight to the bottom..."

Yan Yujin gritted his teeth and looked at his best friend, as if he was looking at an ungrateful wolf, and said bitterly: "What do you mean it's a good thing it was me who fell? You have no conscience..."

Mei Changsu also came over to help him tidy up his body, and asked gently, "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, no, how can a master like me be hurt so easily?" Yan Yujin laughed and waved his hand with an indifferent expression.

"That's right," Xie Bi nodded in agreement, "He is very good at hanging from something in mid-air. I used to see him hanging like this in the Treeman Courtyard..."

Fei Liu arrived at the scene at some point, and stared at the dirty Yan Yujin with his eyes wide open. He felt something was wrong with him and felt even more embarrassed.

"There's no telling where there might be danger in the deserted garden, so it's better for everyone to walk on the stone road when they go out." Xiao Jingrui warned, and then turned back to look at Mei Changsu, "Brother Su, follow our steps."

"You are too cautious," Xie Bi laughed, "A garden, no matter how dilapidated it is, is just a garden. How can there be wells everywhere?"

"There is no greater fault than being careful," Mei Changsu said with a smile to defend Xiao Jingrui. "Although the grass was dense just now, if Yu Jin had been more careful, he wouldn't have fallen. This place is covered by grass and is uneven. We should really go back to the main road."

The words of an older person carry a different weight. Everyone followed his advice and returned to the main road. They strolled through the places they had not visited before, but no matter how much they wandered, they found that everything was still desolate. The garden was not big, and they soon reached the back corner door. The two door panels were actually closed, locked with a rusty iron lock. Except for Fei Liu, no one wanted to go back through the garden, so Xie Bi, who was walking in front, reached out to pull the door, but the whole door panel fell off.

“Oh my god, it’s so dilapidated, maybe only those few blue brick houses are still good?” Yan Yujin shook his head, “There is absolutely no place that doesn’t need to be repaired…”

"The doors and windows of that house probably need to be replaced. Even if they are not rotten, they are too dirty." Xie Bi also said, "Who is Brother Su? How can he live in such a simple garden? I heard that there is a good one in East City..."

"Forget it," Mei Changsu interrupted him with a smile, "The money has been paid, what else is there to say? Just like Yu Jin said, we in the Jiangzuo League are not that rich yet, we can buy a few gardens in Kyoto and leave them empty."

Xie Bi hurriedly said: "The garden in East City does not require money, His Highness said..."

"Xie Bi," Xiao Jingrui said with some annoyance, "Brother Su will take care of these things himself, why are you saying so much?"

Xie Bi was slightly annoyed and was about to retort when Mei Changsu stepped in between them and jokingly said, "No matter how bad this garden is, since I bought it, I have to live in it anyway. Otherwise, the brothers in the alliance will scold me for spending money indiscriminately, and you can't bear to see me getting scolded, right?" As he said this, he was secretly wondering which prince Xie Bi was talking about just now.

"It will probably take more than a month to make this garden habitable." Yan Yujin said with a smile, "But Brother Su is not in a hurry anyway, and Jing Rui doesn't want you to move out so soon. Look, he just came out to look at the garden today and he looked reluctant to leave."

Xiao Jingrui pursed his lips and did not refute Yan Yujin's words. He was silent for a long time before slowly asking, "Brother Su, do you really... have to move out?"

"It seems that I have to stay in the capital for a while longer. I feel uneasy if you keep bothering me at home." Mei Changsu's gaze was very gentle, but his words were unusually polite.

"Xuelu is a guest house and will not interfere with the main house. Why bother?" Xiao Jingrui said sullenly.

Mei Changsu smiled faintly, "I know the Marquis and the Princess won't mind, but it's still a little inconvenient..."

Although this sentence was said simply, it contained a deep meaning. Those present were not stupid. Thinking that he would become an important staff member of a certain palace sooner or later, they naturally knew where the inconvenience was, and for a moment, everyone was silent.

"It's better to move out. It's not far away anyway. For me, it's more convenient to visit Brother Su here than to go to Xie's house." After a while, Yan Yujin laughed loudly to break the dull atmosphere. "But although this place is not big, it is a whole garden after all. How can you and Feiliu live alone? You should add some servants and guards."

"I have never liked being served personally, and Fei Liu has always taken care of himself. But I do need to hire a few maids and servants to sweep the courtyard, which is not a difficult task... As for guards, I have Fei Liu, and I also have a few friends staying in the capital who can be invited to stay as guests."

Xiao Jingrui remembered that Yan Yujin had said that the four masters who escorted him to Beijing had not left yet, and he immediately understood. He couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable, but at the same time he felt a little relieved.

"It would be good to have more people living here, but..." Yan Yujin didn't know what he was thinking of, and smiled devilishly, "There are many tree monsters and flower demons in abandoned gardens and abandoned houses. Brother Su and his friends should be careful when they move in. If a beautiful woman knocks on the window in the middle of the night, you must control yourself. It's best not to even open the window to look at her, lest you be seduced."

"Tsk," Xie Bi spat, "You didn't even take a look at her, how do you know she's a beautiful woman?"

"Once a demon has the power to transform, it will of course transform into a good-looking appearance. If it transforms into someone like Lord Sun from the Ministry of Personnel, it would be better to show its true form."

The ugly face of the chief clerk of the Ministry of Personnel, surnamed Sun, was well known in the capital. Xiao and Xie Bi could not help laughing when they thought of his appearance. Xie Bi even laughed and scolded: "How can you comment on someone's appearance? How can you be so cruel! You are the only one who is handsome. How did Lord Sun offend you?"

Yan Yujin snorted, opened his folding fan and waved it, and said proudly to the inside of the wall: "Listen, vine spirits and tree monsters, if you want to transform, imitate my appearance. I guarantee that everyone will praise my handsome appearance after I transform..."

It would be fine if it was any other time, but at this moment, although he still had a handsome face, his whole body was covered in mud, and his hair was messy from picking grass roots. He looked more like a chicken coop than a handsome man. Not only did his two old friends laugh so hard that they bent over, but even Mei Changsu turned his face away, his shoulders trembling slightly.

"How can you learn the demeanor of falling down in three steps in a short time?" Xie Bi choked with laughter and said while coughing, "I'd better ask Brother Su to prepare a room for you and stay here for a few more days so that those monsters can keep a closer eye on you..."

"I won't bother with you guys," Yan Yujin turned around and said to Mei Changsu with a serious expression, "They have been jealous of me since they were young. I'm used to it."

"Yes," Mei Changsu nodded seriously, "I also think they are jealous of you."

"Go back and change your clothes," Xiao Jingrui punched his friend, and felt that he felt much better after laughing. "The reputation of the best embroidered pillow in the capital is not easy to come by. At least you have to keep this skin."

"I'm obviously a person who has cultivated both my inner beauty and my inner beauty, okay? You are such a jealous man..." Yan Yujin sighed as he lowered his head to brush off his clothes that he hadn't wiped clean. But after brushing twice, his hands suddenly froze. "What's wrong?" Mei Changsu immediately noticed something was wrong and asked hurriedly.

"Gone..."

"What's missing?"

"My Cui Yue Jue..."

"Ah?" Xiao Jingrui and Xie Bi both knew how precious the Cui Yue Jue was to Yan Yujin, and they both stepped forward, "Could it be that you forgot to bring it with you?"

"The Cui Yue Jue is inlaid on this belt, and the belt is still on my waist. How could I not have taken it out? I touched it before I came to find you..." As Yan Yujin spoke, his face turned pale.

Although Mei Changsu didn't know what treasure they were talking about, he knew it was something special from the looks on their faces, so he said hurriedly, "It must have fallen off. Let's quickly search along the path you walked today, I'm afraid we can still find it."

"Yes, yes," Xiao Jingrui agreed, patting his friend on the back to persuade him, "It doesn't matter if we can't find it today. We'll definitely find it if we offer a big reward."

Yan Yujin was anxious and didn't want to say more. He turned around, stepped over the back door that had been pulled to the ground, and re-entered the deserted garden, pushing away grass and turning over stones along the way, searching carefully.

After Mei Changsu quietly asked Xiao Jingrui about the general appearance of Cui Yuejue, the three of them rolled up their sleeves and bent over to help search together. Fei Liu hung on a high branch, dangling back and forth, curiously watching the scene below that he could not understand.

The return trip to the wasteland took nearly an hour longer than the journey there. All the places I remembered having been to were turned upside down, with piles of garbage everywhere, but there was no trace of the jade.

Finally, everyone straightened their aching backs and looked at the same place at the same time.

The collapsed dry well among the weeds.

"It can't be such a coincidence, right?" Xie Bi said anxiously, "It's not easy to find if you fall into this well. Even if there is no water, I'm afraid there will be a thick layer of silt..."

Xiao Jingrui frowned, nudged his second brother with his elbow, turned around, smiled and patted Yan Yujin's shoulder, and said in a relaxed tone: "It's just a dry well, what's the big deal, I'll go down and find it for you!"

"I'll go down by myself," Yan Yujin understood his good intentions and smiled back, "My clothes are already dirty anyway, why should I drag you down with me..."

"Go away," Xiao Jingrui punched him half-seriously, "What's the use of clothes? It's dark down there, and my eyesight is better than yours at night. Besides, isn't your eldest master most afraid of snakes? Snakes are the most common in this place with deep grass and wet mud..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he received four contemptuous looks from his younger brother and friends. He was a little confused when Mei Changsu whispered beside him: "Jingrui, it's winter now, snakes need to hibernate..."

"........."

"Don't pay attention to him," Xie Bi rolled his eyes at his brother, "I'll go find a rope. No matter who goes down, they will be tied up tightly." He turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by Mei Changsu.

"Fei Liu has gone to look for him. He's quite quick..." Just after he explained this, the young man came quickly over, holding a roll of thick hemp rope in his hand.

Xiao Jingrui reached out and grabbed it first, tying one end of it around his waist. Yan Yujin knew that he would be blind once he was in the dark, so he didn't say anything. He just reached out to help him check whether the knot was tied securely, and whispered, "Be careful."

"Yeah." Xiao Jingrui agreed, and turned around to see Mei Changsu squatting on the ground pulling out dead grass. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Su, what are you doing?"

"Make a small torch with hay and sticks and take it with you."

"No, I can see clearly at night. They say I look like an owl."

Mei Changsu chuckled and shook his head, "It's not for lighting you. This well doesn't look shallow, and the well mouth is covered with weeds, so the airflow must be blocked. There must be dirty air down there. If the torch doesn't continue to burn after you go down, you can't stay there for long, or you'll easily suffocate."

Yan and Xie were startled and quickly squatted down to help pull out the weeds. Soon, the simple torch was tied up. Mei Changsu took out a small flint from Fei Liu's body, lit the torch, and Xiao Jingrui held it in his hand and slowly lowered it from the well. Xie Bi and Yan Yujin held the rope tightly and lowered it little by little, while Mei Changsu leaned over the well, paying attention to the brightness of the flame at any time.

Since the Cuiyuejue can be inlaid on a belt, its size would not be that big. Therefore, Xiao Jingrui went down for a long time, and only heard him shouting "put it down, put it down, put it down", but it seemed that he had gained nothing.

"Stop, we've reached the bottom. The mud is really thick," Xiao Jingrui's voice came from the bottom of the well after a while. The sound was distorted by the mossy well wall. "It's not easy to find. I'll have to search for a while. The grass on the torch is almost burned out. Don't worry if you see the fire go out..."

"But..." Yan Yujin bit her lower lip, feeling very sorry. Just as she was about to say something else, she felt a weight on her shoulder, as if a hand was pressing down on her. She turned around and met Mei Changsu's eyes with a slight smile.

"Don't worry, the flame is burning steadily, it should be fine."

Seeing his knowing eyes, Yan Yujin couldn't help but lower his gaze and whispered, "Jing Rui... is the person who loves cleanliness the most..."

"It's just the mud in the well. It's not like it can't be washed away," Mei Changsu said with a smile, "He doesn't mind, so why do you mind? That Cui Yue Jue is very important to you, right?"

"Yes," Yan Yujin nodded, "That is a family heirloom. My grandfather gave it to me before he died..."

"So," Mei Changsu smiled slightly, "Helping a good friend find his most important thing is also very important to Jing Rui."

Yan Yujin looked at him deeply, then suddenly smiled, and leaned over the well mouth and shouted loudly downwards: "Jing Rui - this is a rare opportunity to show your courtesy to me, please try harder -"

"Go to hell!" A voice of laughter and cursing came from below, "I'll smear you with mud when I come out!"

Mei Changsu couldn't help laughing at the two of them, and Xie Bi also laughed and shook his head, and the atmosphere became more relaxed. After about half a cup of tea, there was still a rustling noise below, as if nothing had been discovered.

"Jingrui, if you can't find it, come up. It may not have fallen in here..." Yan Yujin shouted.

"A little while longer..." Xiao Jingrui's voice came out in a muffled voice, but before the sound faded, the rope suddenly shook, and at the same time, he exclaimed "Ah" from below.

"What's wrong?" Yan Yujin was shocked. He leaned half of his body down and shouted loudly: "Jing Rui! Jing Rui!"

There was a pause in the well before someone responded: "Nothing..."

"It's nothing, are you just screaming to scare people?" Yan Yujin couldn't help but curse, and turned to Xie Bi and said, "Let's pull him up!"

"Don't panic yet," Xiao Jingrui hurriedly said to stop him, "There are still some places that haven't been turned over, it will be done soon..."

Mei Changsu advised softly: "Don't worry, Jing Rui will tell you if there is anything. Since you have gone down, at least you should find out clearly."

Yan Yujin frowned and sat down at the wellhead again. He suppressed his temper and waited for a while before he heard another voice from below: "Pull me up!"

Coming up was naturally much easier than going down. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Jingrui's head popped up. As everyone expected, he was covered in mud and his hands were black.

Yan Yujin silently grabbed his hand and roughly wiped it with the inside of his collar. Instead, Xie Bi asked, "Did you find it?"

Xiao Jingrui raised his other black hand, curled his ten fingers into a fist, and then slowly spread it out. On the palm of his palm lay a small crescent-shaped hard object covered with black mud.

"Yeah, it actually fell here," Xie Bi took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped the Cui Yue Jue clean and handed it to Yan Yujin. The latter took a look at it silently, reached out to take it back and put it in his arms.

"It's good to find you, you two stinky ghosts, go back and take a bath!" Xie Bi breathed a sigh of relief and patted everyone on the back.

"Second brother," Xiao Jingrui turned his head and said solemnly, "Let's go back and take a shower, but I'll trouble you to go to the Jingzhao Yin Yamen."

"Jingzhao Yamen? What do they do?" Xie Bi didn't understand.

"Report it to the police. I saw human bones in the mud at the bottom of the well..."

"Ah?" Everyone was shocked. Yan Yujin said in a lost voice, "You just screamed because you found the body?"

"Ah."

"Why don't you come up quickly?!"

"I saw a little green light on the dead leaves on the other side. Cui Yuejue is so small. If I came out first and let someone raise the corpse, I would not know where it would have been. So I wanted to look for it again. Fortunately, it was really it."

"Idiot!" Yan Yujin gritted his teeth and cursed, "You stink, go take a shower."

"A corpse hidden in a dry well..." Xie Bi's face turned pale. "It sounds so disgusting. You are so brave that you can stay down there for so long... If it were me, I would have climbed out long ago..."

"Can you compare with Jing Rui? He is at least half a gangster!" Yan Yujin immediately shifted his target of attack.

"Yes, I am the most useless official!" Xie Bi replied with self-mockery, shrugging his shoulders, "Let's go, Brother Su."

Xiao Jingrui glared at him strangely, "Where are you asking Brother Su to go?"

"Go to the Jingzhao government office and report the case!"

"Can't you just go?"

Xie Bi raised his eyebrows, "Brother, this garden has been bought by Brother Su, so he is the most suitable person to report the case, right?"

"Xie Bi is right," Mei Changsu glanced at the wellhead in the weeds, "I should definitely go there."

Xiao Jingrui thought about it and it made sense. In addition, he felt very uncomfortable because of the stinky and sticky body, so he stopped talking. The five of them split into two groups and went their separate ways after leaving the garden.

(End of this chapter)