Chapter 165: The Terminator of Fate

  The states of Ba and Shu border each other.

  All the way, Song Chuyi didn't make any retaliatory moves at all. He either buried his head in studying maps of Bashu or crouched in front of a chessboard playing against himself. Ji Yu couldn't help but think that he had been narrow-minded and misjudged him.

  The Shu state strictly inspected all ships and horse teams coming from the Ba state, and Song Chu's group was very suspicious no matter how they disguised themselves. There were no goods on the ship, so it was impossible to pretend to be a merchant team. Song Chu took out the token and national letter, and entered Shu as a Qin envoy.

  Along the way, Guhan was even more strict and hardworking than before. Originally a person with no sense of humor, he became increasingly rigid.

  Song Chuyu appreciated this point about Gu Han: his final effort was not to seize the opportunity to survive, but to maximize his abilities before dedicating himself to the country.

  As a Qin messenger, Song Chuyi found it inconvenient to bring Wei Jiang along, so before entering Chengdu, he ordered Ran Ji and Ji Yan to take her and part ways.

  Song Chu was on a boat, gazing far away at the city shrouded in mist and clouds.

  "Gu Han came over and whispered, 'Sir, I've contacted Gongzi Ji.'"

  "Find a way to send a message and ask him to return to Qin immediately." Song Chu said.

  Tang Han was taken aback for a moment, then immediately responded, "Yes."

  Chengdu is right in front of us. Guhan then reminded him, "Sir, would you like to find a place to freshen up first?"

  They traveled in a state of disarray, the roads to Shu being difficult to traverse, and their clothes were no longer presentable. Especially Song ChuYi, who had insisted on wearing his official robes after entering Shu, and had been wearing the same set the entire time, washing them every other day so they looked clean, but as an envoy of a country...

  "It's fine like this." Song Chuyi said calmly.

  If it were usual, Guhan would have continued to persuade for the sake of Qin State's dignity. However, he now knew that Song ChuYi's actions seemed arbitrary and reckless but in reality, nothing was unnecessary. Therefore, he shut his mouth.

  The capital of Shu Kingdom was like that of Ba Kingdom, relying on natural barriers and not building high and sturdy city walls. The city was surrounded by low earth walls, which looked like a barbarian tribe at first glance. Only the giant bronze pillars standing on both sides of the city gate, carved with divine beasts, showed the richness of this country and its advanced copper smelting technology.

  The city gate had long been forbidden to common people, and two rows of Shu officials in dark blue robes stood at the gate waiting quietly. Seeing Song Chuyi and his party, their faces changed several times, they were silent for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.

  As envoys, they represent the face of a country. They dress like this and it's really damaging to the national prestige. How could those Shu ministers guess that this is intentional? They all thought that Qin Guo was still so poor that they couldn't even make decent clothes for their envoys. Moreover, such a big and powerful country actually sent a little yellow-haired kid as an envoy!

  The swordsmen were so embarrassed that they wished they could dig a hole and bury themselves.

  Gu Yan glanced at Song ChuYi, seeing her covering her face with her sleeve. She seemed to be in a similarly awkward state, but only for a moment before she regained her composure and dismounted her horse to bow to the Shu ministers.

  On the other side, a man in his forties who was the leader of the Shu ministers collected his sarcastic smile and stepped forward, saying in Mandarin, "Your Excellency has traveled far and must be tired from the journey."

  "It's nothing." Song Chu smiled and replied in Sichuan dialect.

  "Was the envoy robbed?" The man heard Song's Sichuan dialect and stopped speaking that awkward official language.

  "That's never happened." Song Chuyi replied very honestly.

  The people of Shu heard this and their faces showed even more ridicule. The swordsmen had never been ridiculed like this before. If they hadn't restrained themselves, they would have drawn their swords and chopped up these short wooden stakes at any moment!

  Thinking of this, they feel a bit more comfortable in their hearts. No matter how they dress up on the surface, at least they have achieved an overwhelming victory in height. As soon as they stand there, they are like leopards lying in wait to ambush prey, and their majesty is not worth mentioning.

  "Since we've never met bandits before, how did you end up in such a sorry state?" the man asked with a surprised expression.

  He didn't know if he was really unable to pretend or intentionally pretending, but that fake expression on his face made Gǔ Hán have the urge to kick him.

  However, what made Gu Xuan even more speechless was that Song ChuYi suddenly changed from his usual shameless self and became flustered with a bright red face, "Cough, this... is really hard to say."

  Can a person's temperament change so easily? Gu Xuan's gaze fell on her tightly wrapped arm, and it seemed that she was hiding something in her sleeve. Those who didn't know would think she was enduring the rudeness of the Shu minister with great effort.

  "Please enter the city and rest well, we will meet with our king tomorrow." said the Shu minister.

  Song Chuanyi forced a smile onto his flushed face and asked, "How should I address you?"

  "In the lower part of Zhu Heng." said the Shu minister.

  "Ancestor..." Song Chu was shocked at first, it turned out to be the guy who wore the green hat most famously, must worship, "I've long admired you!"

  Zhu Heng saw Song Chu's courtesy and humility, and became even more pleased.

  The man wearing the green hat is none other than the first ruler of the Open-minded Dynasty and also the last ruler after Can Cong, Bo Yong, Yu Fu, and Du Yu under the system of abdication.

  And then, the Open-minded clan has been passed down to the present, and the current King of Shu is already the twelfth generation.

  The Shu state's reverence for the gods was even more than that of the Central Plains. The silkworms, the Baoyong and the fish all had mysterious legends, and the legend of the Du Yu was also entangled with the Turtle Spirit in an unbreakable feud. It is said that Du Yu came from heaven to teach people how to cultivate, and indeed he had a natural talent for it, but he was not good at controlling water. So heaven gave him an assistant, which was the Turtle Spirit.

  The turtle spirit floated along with a corpse that had drifted in on the river water and came back to life after arriving in Shu, then led the people of Shu in controlling the waters.

  There are countless versions of rumors. One is that Du Yu had a private affair with the wife of Guiling, and feeling that his virtue was not as good as Guiling's, he voluntarily abdicated and retreated to Mount Tiantai, where he died and transformed into a cuckoo, reminding everyone to farm every spring; Another version says that Guiling used this method to harm Du Yu, and with the support of most of Shu's forces for his meritorious service in water control, he overthrew Du Yu by force, and after Du Yu's death, his vengeful spirit transformed into a cuckoo, crying out in sorrow.

  If there really is a god of war, Song Chu felt that it must be the latter. Du Yu must have been accusing the Shu people with tears in his eyes during the spring and autumn periods, he let the Shu people live a life of abundance, but what he got was only betrayal.

  This story has long been buried in the dust of history, and the Open-minded clan would not have left any direct evidence. Song Chu thought so simply because he felt that the first legend was unreliable - what's the point of crying blood just to remind someone of a spring outing?

  So Song initially speculated that this was not the original face of the story, but rather a revisionist forgery by those in power.

  The rise of the Qing dynasty was due to a woman, and looking at the licentious behavior of the 12th king of Shu, it's likely that its downfall will also be because of a woman.

  It's really interesting to have a destined fate. Song Chuoyi slightly raised her eyebrows and smiled more humbly at Zhu Heng.