Chapter Thirty-Four: The Chaotic World Melody (Part Two)

  After a few days, I calmed down and rode my horse to the eastern part of Xi'an, arriving at the "Fuju Guest House", a small villa belonging to Xiao Wuyi, to visit the Qi brothers. Before entering the main hall, I heard the sound of laughter coming from inside. A man in his thirties with an ordinary appearance was busily calling out to customers. As soon as he saw me, he quickly called over a waiter to attend to me. I slipped inside and saw that in the center of the room there was a high platform where two storytellers were enthusiastically telling the story of Yanzi's heroic resistance against the Western Turks. The place was bustling with people coming and going, doing business. The waiters were busy taking orders and serving tea to customers. One of them was surprisingly Qi Botian, who was tall and majestic. He was busy carrying a tray to serve dishes to customers. When he saw me, he was taken aback for a moment, then smiled foolishly at me. Familiar with the place, I went upstairs to the elegant room. I opened the window and looked down at the crowded streets below. I thought that as the saying goes, "a small hidden person hides in the countryside, while a big hidden person hides in the city". The villa arranged by Song Mingliang was indeed unlikely to attract attention, making it convenient for me to move around.

  At this time, the curtain was lifted, and Zili walked in lightly, looking at me up and down several times. Her bright eyes were clear as water, yet deep and unfathomable. I was about to speak to clarify my identity when she bowed deeply to Wuhou and said respectfully: "Junior Li Ru has seen Senior Si."

  I thought to myself that this must be the Li surname boss's wife arranged by Song Mingkui, and quickly went forward to help her up: "Li doesn't have to be polite, Song Erge is not here, thanks to Li for taking care of our Xiaowuyi's industry."

  Li Ruzi stood up, still bowing her head and lowering her eyes. I asked her a few questions, and she only answered one by one, very cautiously, without any of the usual ease and fluency in conversation. After chatting for a while, there was still no sign of Qifang. Li Ruzi took the initiative to tell me that Qifang should be in the backyard kitchen cooking. At first, I didn't believe it, but when she smiled and led me to the kitchen, I saw Qifang with a towel tied around his head, and the right hand that had once held the Qingfeng sword threatening my life was now tightly gripping a large spoon, intently stirring a dish of spicy chicken cubes over high heat. His movements were practiced and professional.

  I was taken aback as he quickly finished copying the two dishes, the aroma of chili peppers rushed to my nose, and I was drooling. He glanced at me standing there, and I immediately withdrew my head. Pulling Li Ru back into the room, Li Ru asked if it was okay to arrange for the Qi brothers like this, but I fell into confusion. On one hand, I really wanted to let Qi Fang help me deal with Yuan Fei Bai, on the other hand, thinking of his carefree expression when cooking just now, it seemed a bit cruel to pull him into the bloody storm again. Just as I was at a loss, Qi Fang's voice came from outside: "Boss Li, may I come in?"

  I hastily sat up straight, carefully placing the four small dishes, a silver wine jug, two silver cups, and two pairs of chopsticks on the kang table. I stood respectfully beside him, not saying a word. Li Ruo smiled slightly, excusing himself to go downstairs after eating, and left. I exchanged a few words with him, but he only replied humbly with his head down, without speaking much. I was about to decide to let him be a cook for the rest of his life when Qi Bo Tian burst in excitedly.

  I cleared my throat and asked the two of them what they planned to do after avenging themselves. The two brothers spoke in unison: Qī Bó Tiān: "Stay at Fú Jū Kè Zhàn..." Qī Zhòng Shū: "...and naturally follow..."

  The two brothers looked at each other, then stopped talking and looked at me. Qi Fang's uniform response gave me some reassurance in my heart. I smiled and said, "I won't keep you two here any longer," and bid farewell to the Fuju Inn. Just as I was about to mount my horse, Qi Fang rushed out and grabbed the reins of my horse, looking at me with a determined gaze: "Please take Qi Fang back with you, let Qi Fang protect you personally!"

  The autumn wind lifted a strand of his long hair on his forehead, and the hair brushed over his bright eyes, filled with the panic of being rejected due to heartache. He looked like a stray puppy in a storm. I leaned forward from my horse and gazed at him, feeling a warmth in my heart. Smiling, I said: "West Maple Garden is short of a cook, would you like to go?"

  He was taken aback, then smiled at me with joy, his dimples reappearing after a long time. On that day when I brought Qi Fang back to Xi Feng Yuan, Wei Hu and Su Hui were already anxiously pacing back and forth. When they saw me, their eyes lit up immediately. Su Hui complained, "Young lady, why didn't you tell us when you went into the city? You've got us..."

  Then he saw Qi Fang behind me, and his face sank: "Who is this?" Wei Hu also looked at Qi Fang with vigilance. I said that Qi Fang was my childhood friend, who made a good dish, came to Yuanyi to help San Niang, but Su Hui's regional protectionism began to play tricks on him, being extremely vigilant and cold towards Qi Fang. When Wei Hu heard Qi Fang's name, his face changed, it can be seen that he had already guessed Qi Fang's true identity. I thought to myself, could it be that Wei Hu was the secret agent placed by Hou Ye beside Fei Bai?

  Keeping a cool face from start to finish, Wei Hu and Su Hui whispered to each other for a while, then Su Hui jumped out and said with her nose: "In the presence of Mu Niang, Qi Zhuang Shi can enter the garden, but also show us some skills."

  As he spoke, he made a move as if to take action. I was about to speak out in discontent when Qi Fang smiled slightly and said with a slight bow: "Please."

  Su Hui and Qi Fang were of similar age, both having learned martial arts from famous masters. However, after exchanging blows, Su Hui retreated with a sweat-drenched face, while Qi Fang remained unmoving, not even a single strand of hair out of place. Wei Hu's eyes gleamed: "Could it be that you are a disciple of the Golden Valley True Person?"

  Qī Fàng bowed with his fists and said: "Zhòng Shū is indeed the master's closed-door disciple, this must be the Jianghu known as 'Shèntiān Hǔ Xiào' (Tiger Roar that Shakes Heaven) Wéi Hǔ Zhuàngshì."

  Thus, the three of them became acquainted with each other. Heroes cherish heroes, and Wei Hu and Su Hui pulled me down from my wooden stake, dragging me to turn around and enter the garden to drink and chat together. From then on, Qi Fang began to have a stable place to settle down.

  On August 21, Yu Qingjiang accompanied Consort Lian, Princess Zhang and her husband to return to the capital to visit Dowager Empress Dou's illness. According to the report of the Wei Tingling, on August 15, Dowager Empress Dou suddenly fainted while taking a walk in the imperial garden. Emperor Xizong hurriedly came down from the morning court to visit her and found that she had fallen into a deep coma. The imperial physicians were at a loss, anxious like ants on a hot pot, and the front of the Zhao Ming Palace was shrouded in dark clouds, plunging into a tense atmosphere again.

  In the second year of Yongye, in October, a sudden and early snowfall hit the northern part of the Eastern Court. This snowfall was strange and low-hanging, with icy swords and frosty blades, and many places north of Shandong were even frozen to death. However, what was more frightening than the heavy snow in the north was the surprise attack by the Khitan, a powerful neighbor of the Eastern Court. On October 13th, the Khitan general Yelü Xiuge led an army of 80,000 iron cavalry across the Song River and attacked the weakly defended camp of the Yuan family's northern army, arriving at the city of Ji in just a few days and directly threatening the capital. At that time, the capital had only 10,000 soldiers, with another 10,000 from the Imperial Guard, but most of the defenders were nobles' sons who had no actual combat experience and could not withstand the Khitan iron army. The Eastern Court's two most elite troops were the Yanzi Army fighting against the Turks in the northwest and the Duan family's southern army defending against Nanzhao. The Khitan surprise attack on the capital gave the Duan family a perfect excuse to summon their southern army northward. Yuan Qingjiang was well aware of the Duan family's intentions, so on one hand, he asked Emperor Xizong for permission to order the defenders of Ji city to fight to the death in order to buy time for reinforcements, while on the other hand, he sent a urgent golden plaque to Yu Feiyan, ordering him to hurry to the capital to defend it.

  At that time, Ji Zhou was a small city with insufficient military strength. Its commander, Li Shi, was a famous and heroic general in the late Eastern Jin dynasty. When he received Emperor Xi's secret edict, Li Shi had already refused several times to surrender to the Khitan general Yelü Xiuge, who had been besieging the city for over a month.

  The soldiers and civilians of Ji State, under the circumstances of being besieged by the Khitan army, repelled their repeated attacks. When the food was exhausted, the soldiers and civilians first slaughtered cattle, horses and mules to eat, later they had to cook and eat the leather armor and bowstrings to fill their hunger, while the ordinary people in the city could only use chaff and dry grass to fill their stomachs, and finally even cannibalism occurred.

  Cannibalism had set in, meaning that the defense of Youzhou was at its limit. On the twenty-first day of the twelfth month, the Khitan breached the walls of Youzhou and Li Shou led his exhausted troops in a half-day street battle against the Khitan army. In the end, Li Shou took the portrait of Emperor Taizu of Liao from the temple in Youzhou and broke out of the city with it, but was pursued by the Khitan army and died after being hit by dozens of arrows.

  After the Khitan soldiers obtained Li Shi's body, they drove war chariots to trample his body into a pulp to vent their anger. After the city was broken, all local officials and strong men in Ji Prefecture died for their country, and the Khitan army slaughtered the city in revenge. The people of Ji Prefecture who survived in hunger were killed.

  The Khitan army approached the capital, and the officials of the Eastern Court were in a state of panic with Emperor Xizong. On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, Yu Feiyan led 8,000 of the bravest soldiers from the Yanzi Army into the capital ahead of schedule. Yuan Qingjiang was overjoyed but also somewhat surprised that Yu Feiyan only dared to bring 8,000 men to fight against the 80,000-strong iron cavalry. Yu Feiyan calmly ordered his men to bring out the secret weapon of the Yanzi Army, which was the "Brocade No. 1" super crossbow invented by me, Lu Yuan, and Wei Hu, with improvements made by adding fire medicine.