Chapter 292: Heartwarming Action
Fan Xian didn't think it was a big deal at first, but his fellow villager's look was so sharp that it successfully made him blush.
With the facts before him, he was speechless and could only avoid his fellow villager's gaze, touched his nose awkwardly, and continued to look at the field.
Seeing this, Mei Cheng'an shook his head helplessly, turned around and continued to look at the two people in the field. Hong Sixiang spoke again at this time.
"Master Zhu, please follow me back to the city."
Zhu Ge lowered his head and remained silent. It was absolutely impossible for him to go back to the city with him, but he did not dare to refuse and could only remain silent.
Hong Sixiang narrowed his eyes.
"Master Zhu, do you want to escape, or kill me, or commit suicide? Please do as you wish. Let's see if you can achieve your wish!"
Zhu Ge was helpless and could only look at Chen Pingping with pleading.
Chen Pingping's first reaction was to lower his head and avoid his gaze. He was reluctant to speak because he was very unhappy with what Zhu Ge had done.
However, when Zhu Ge called out "Dean" in a mournful voice that sounded like a plea, he finally felt sympathy.
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Pingping made a decision, raised his head, looked at Hong Sixiang's back and spoke.
"Did you hear what Jug said before?"
Hong Sixiang didn't turn around, but just tilted his head and replied.
"heard it."
Chen Pingping said lightly.
"In this case, Zhu Ge's life or death is irrelevant!"
Hearing this, Hong Sixiang slowly turned around and looked at him.
"Dean Chen, what do you want to say?"
Glancing at the dejected Zhu Ge, Chen Pingping spoke softly.
"I know Zhu Ge. Taking him back to Kyoto and interrogating him by various departments is nothing but humiliation for him."
After a pause, Chen Pingping's tone became more profound.
"When a person is at the end of his rope, all he wants is to save his face."
Hong Sixiang lowered his eyes, somewhat reluctantly.
Chen Pingping leaned forward.
"Eunuch Hong."
Hong Sixiang looked up at him and waited for the rest.
Chen Pingping narrowed his eyes and asked him a question.
"If you and I had this day, would you be willing to endure this humiliation?"
Hong Sixiang's eyes moved, as if he was thinking about something.
Chen Pingping smiled, leaned back, and spoke gently.
"Return it to him."
Hong Sixiang looked at him for a moment, turned slightly, threw the dagger in his hand lightly and changed its direction, then after grasping the blade, he turned completely to look at Zhu Ge and handed the dagger over.
Zhu Ge bowed gratefully, took the dagger with both hands, and saluted Chen Pingping respectfully.
"Thank you, Dean!"
Straightening up, Zhu Ge pointed at Fan Xian and Chen Pingping and spoke calmly.
"Dean, Fan Xian is a man of great intelligence and literary talent. Among the younger generation, no one can match him except Mei Cheng'an.
In the future, he might become a literary master or a famous official who helps the country, but he is not suitable to take over the Supervisory Yuan.
I have been keeping an eye on him since he came to Beijing. Although he is a genius, he lacks the reverence for the royal family in his bones!
If he takes over the Supervisory Yuan, there will be huge changes!"
After saying this, Chen Pingping's face immediately drooped.
When Hong Sixiang heard this, he narrowed his eyes and couldn't help but turn his head to look at Fan Xian.
Fan Xian looked at Zhu Ge quietly without any reaction.
Except for the conclusion, which he disagreed with, the rest of his words were not biased, so I won't argue with him this time.
Anyway, his attitude is, if you give it, take it, if you don’t give it, that’s fine too.
Mei Chengan, who was standing with his hands behind his back, couldn't help but curl his lips when he heard this, but quickly put it away and watched quietly.
Chen Pingping's displeasure soon disappeared. It didn't matter if he questioned his decision. He wouldn't listen anyway. Your Majesty... could listen or not.
"Will you relay these words to His Majesty?"
Zhu Ge was silent for a moment, exhaled slowly, and after adjusting his mentality as he was about to face death, he smiled and spoke.
"This is the last time I will give you advice. Zhu Ge has devoted his entire life to the Qing Kingdom without any selfish motives. I will die today with regrets, but no regrets!"
After summarizing his life, Zhu Ge turned around and bowed to everyone.
Mei Cheng'an put down his hands behind his back. After all, he was a colleague and a big boss, and he had no grudge against him. He didn't need to return the gift, but he still had to give him basic respect.
"Everyone, the journey is long, Zhu will go ahead."
After saying the last sentence, Zhu Ge held the dagger with both hands and stabbed it into his abdomen.
Intense pain quickly swept over his body, and his face turned liver color almost instantly, with blood soon oozing from the corners of his mouth.
He fell to his knees with a thud, and then his body tilted. With a muffled sound, Lord Zhu, the number one subordinate of Chen Pingping in the Supervisory Council and the head of a department with great power and influence, fell to the ground and died in full view of everyone, his eyes wide open.
Everyone who witnessed this scene was silent. Chen Pingping's eyes twitched and he slowly closed his eyes.
Yan Ruohai stared at Zhu Ge's body in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking.
A breeze blew by and blew away the bamboo leaves that had fallen on Zhu Ge's body. After rolling for a few weeks, the bamboo leaves fell to the ground again and returned to silence.
Hong Sixiang was the first to break the depressing atmosphere. He slowly turned around, bowed and nodded to Chen Pingping.
"President Chen, I will return to the palace first. I will relay everything we have said here to His Majesty."
Chen Pingping opened his eyes as soon as he said the first word, and after he finished speaking, Chen Pingping slightly bowed his upper body.
"Thank you, Eunuch Hong!"
Hong Sixiang didn't say much. He immediately used his lightness skills and disappeared into the bamboo forest.
After he left, Chen Pingping waved his hand, and the two teams of black cavalry in front and behind immediately turned around and retreated along the same path they came.
At this time, only Mei Chengan and four others plus Yan Ruohai were left on the field.
At Chen Pingping's signal, Fan Xian pushed the wheelchair slowly forward. The dirt road was bumpy and not easy to walk on. Wang Qinian helped push from the side, and Mei Cheng'an followed slowly on the other side with his hands behind his back.
Several people stopped in front of Zhu Ge's body.
Chen Pingping bent down and wanted to help Zhu Ge close his eyes, but his hand paused halfway for some reason and then he retracted it.
With his head lowered, Chen Pingping silently looked at the red pavilion on the ground. His eyes suddenly became a little dazed. Recalling the past, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he spoke quietly.
"I still remember the first time I saw you, you walked into this courtyard with high spirits."
Yan Ruohai was not cold-hearted, he just felt that saying these things at this time was not only hypocritical, but also meaningless.
So he rolled his eyes and replied indifferently.
"I remember it too."
After saying this, he looked up at Fan Xian, glanced at Mei Cheng'an and Wang Qinian, and then spoke.
"Please push him back to the city!" Mei Cheng'an nodded slightly, and Fan Xian and Wang Qinian also nodded at the same time.
After receiving the response, Yan Ruohai immediately turned around and strode away.
Suddenly there were only four of them left.
Chen Pingping was still looking down at Zhu Ge. He tilted his head to face Zhu Ge's face, and suddenly repeated in a low voice the four words he said before he died, as if to see him off.
"The road ahead is long, long."
After reciting it word by word, Chen Pingping straightened his head, sat back down, paused, and leaned forward again.
"One day, we'll meet again!"
After saying this last sentence to Zhu Ge quietly, Chen Pingping seemed to feel a lot more relaxed. He leaned back in his chair and spoke in a cheerful tone.
"Let's go back."
Fan Xian glanced at Zhu Ge's body and asked.
"Don't you need to collect the bodies?"
Chen Pingping waved her hand.
"Someone will come and take care of it later."
Fan Xian nodded and pushed the wheelchair forward.
Before Mei Cheng'an had taken a few steps, Wang Qinian ran over and tugged at his sleeve.
"Master."
Mei Cheng'an glanced at him, and seeing that he seemed to want to say something but hesitated, he stopped and turned to look at Fan Xian and said something.
"You go first, we'll follow."
Although Fan Xian was curious, he didn't say much. He nodded and pushed Chen Pingping forward.
Mei Cheng'an watched them walk a little further away, then turned to look at Wang Qinian.
"Now you can tell me what it is?"
Wang Qinian exclaimed when he heard this.
"That's right, young master. I want to stay."
As he said this, he turned his head and glanced at the bodies of Zhu Ge and his men.
Mei Cheng'an then glanced at the corpse and looked at him with a smile.
"Want to make extra money again?"
Wang Qinian waved his hands repeatedly.
"No, no, Master, you misunderstood."
This time he didn't smile frivolously, but spoke seriously.
"This is what I think. Although Mr. Zhu... went astray, he has made countless contributions to the Supervisory Council and Qing Kingdom over the years. I have seen all of that.
I don't want to defend Mr. Zhu, but he has already paid the price for his mistakes, and I don't want him to die...
This bamboo forest is remote, with few people walking around and perhaps animals and birds roaming around, so I want to stay here before the body collectors come to prevent…prevent his body from being eaten by animals and being torn into pieces."
Mei Cheng listened quietly. Wang Qinian's kindness was what he admired most, so he didn't intend to stop him.
If Zhu Ge knew that after his death, it was this little unknown person who had been his subordinate for more than ten years but whom he had never taken seriously, who was grateful for his contribution to the Supervisory Council, and took the initiative to guard his body.
I wonder how he would feel about that.
……
Fan Xian was pushing his wheelchair forward silently when he suddenly spoke.
"I didn't intend to kill him."
Chen Pingping was silent for a moment and then spoke softly.
“In life, it is a blessing to choose a path, not give in, not change, and walk to the end. There is no need to worry about it.”
After hearing this, Fan Xian thought about it and nodded silently.
Maybe, it is true.
……
Mei Cheng put away his distracting thoughts, looked up at the sky and asked.
"It's getting dark soon. Do you know when the people who collect the bodies from the hospital will come?
Don't wait for several days to come. You can't stay here for days and nights, right?"
Wang Qinian waved his hand.
"No, no, I know the rules for collecting corpses in the hospital. They must come before dark at the earliest and tomorrow morning at the latest."
Mei Chengan nodded.
"Can you do it by yourself? I'll have someone bring you dinner?"
Wang Qinian said embarrassedly.
“Don’t bother me so much, young master. This bamboo forest is so big, I can just find some food, which will be enough for dinner.
As for my wife, I may need to trouble you, Master, to help explain the reason, so that my wife won’t worry.”
Mei Chengan nodded.
"Okay, since you've thought about it, I won't say much. I'll talk to my sister-in-law, don't worry."
"Thank you, Master!"
"Thank you, nothing else, I'll leave now."
"Master, walk slowly!"
Mei Cheng'an said no more and turned to chase after Fan Xian and Chen Pingping in front of him.
Fan Xian pushed the wheelchair on the dirt road, not moving very fast. Mei Cheng'an just took bigger steps and soon caught up with him.
"Where are the old Wangs? Why are you the only one here?"
Seeing that he was the only one catching up, Fan Xian asked curiously, and Chen Pingping also looked at him when he heard it.
After looking at the two of them, Mei Chengan decided to tell the truth.
Considering Zhu Ge's identity as a traitor in the Supervisory Council, Wang Qinian did not dare to tell the two of them directly, but he felt that there was nothing to hide.
Although what Wang Qinian did cannot be considered a good thing, it was definitely not a wrong thing either. Although it is difficult to say it clearly, it was indeed a heartwarming act.
So he repeated to them what Wang Qinian had just said to him.
After listening to this, Chen Pingping turned his head back and remained silent.
Fan Xian was silent for a moment, then he pulled out his hand and gave a thumbs up.
Then there was silence all the way.
……
Sorry for being half an hour late.
(End of this chapter)
