Don’t Pick Up Boyfriends From the Trash Bin Chapter 187 - The Domineering General & Charming Military Advisor (6): Gift, right track, Jade-l

Chapter 187 - The Domineering General & Charming Military Advisor (6): Gift, right track, Jade-like youth

Translator: kiribold
Editor: sarah
Once the departure schedule was set, the emperor dismissed the crowd.
After leaving the imperial study, they walked silently to a secluded place. Yan Yuanzhao couldn’t help but pull Chi Xiaochi away.
The brothers had long been accustomed to Yan Yuanzhao’s unpredictable style of behavior, and each dispersed.
“Alright, Shi Tingyun.” Yan Yuanzhao stopped his footsteps and said, “I went to the general’s mansion yesterday, you held your breath and didn’t say a word to me?”
Chi Xiaochi said, “It’s not too late. I received a letter from my father last night before I decided on this matter.”
“You…” Yan Yuanzhao looked around and lowered his voice, “Give me the truth, is there really nothing wrong in Nanjiang?”
Chi Xiaochi said lightly, “The Shi family will never commit the crime of deceiving the emperor. The Sixth Prince speaks too seriously.”
Yan Yuanzhao breathed a sigh of relief, but knowing that he had made a blunder, he changed his demeanor and raised his fan frivolously: “Okay, I understand…There’s still half a month before you leave town, and it seems like you’re very busy. That pot of good Hua Diao was originally for you and me to sit on the painting boat and admire beauties. Now it seems that it can only be used to give you a good trip. It rather lives up to its name.”
Chi Xiaochi glanced at him intently, and said, “A pot of Hua Diao, how can we talk about expectations, just don’t disappoint your lofty ambitions.”
Yan Yuanzhao didn’t answer his words as if he wasn’t the one who wanted to go to the side of the imperial study room. His golden silk fan turned and pointed somewhere: “If you have the heart to talk to me, why don’t you think about how to entertain yourself on the way to Zhennan Pass with that stuffy gourd.”
Chi Xiaochi looked in the direction Yan Yuanzhao’s fan pointed, only to see Yan Yuanheng standing under the apricot tree not far away, staring at the two of them.
Noticing that Chi Xiaochi was looking over, Yan Yuanheng’s expression changed slightly. He clenched his fist against his lips, coughed lightly, and then approached with his hands behind his back.
He asked: “You just recovered from your illness, and you are leaving after only half a month. Will you be okay to march?”
Since he was on business, Chi Xiaochi was naturally respectful: “It’s okay. Please rest assured, Thirteenth Prince.”
Yan Yuanheng wanted to say something else, but Yan Yuanzhao became impatient listening to these two people’s polite words and waved his fan: “I’m leaving.”
After sending off Yan Yuanzhao, Yan Yuanheng walked with him in the palace.
Unlike Yan Yuanzhao, Yan Yuanheng was quiet and spoke very little. He came to him specifically to ask what preparations he needed to make before going to the border.
Chi Xiaochi listened to his xiansheng’s class before coming here, took enough notes, and answered one by one. Besides that, he didn’t pretend to be clever and make friends with the Thirteenth Prince superfluously. On the contrary, he alienated him a lot.
After Yan Yuanheng asked the question he wanted to ask, the two fell into an awkward silence.
Yan Yuanheng struggled to find a topic: “Do you have something on your mind?”
Chi Xiaochi lowered his head and smiled: “Yes.”
Yan Yuanheng: “A family matter?”
Chi Xiaochi: “Sort of…a letter from my father, he urged me in the letter…ah, it’s not worth mentioning.”
Yan Yuanheng vaguely heard Yan Yuanzhao and Shi Tingyun talking about “family letters.” Seeing his vague words now, his expression was a little ugly.
He had been with Tingyun since he was six and knew Shi Tingyun best. This person behaved brightly with a clear mind and rarely acted like this.
He pretended to relax and said, “What is it that you can’t say? Is there someone you like?”
He said it casually. Who would have thought that the person in front of him would admit it: “…Yes.”
Yan Yuanheng changed color and immediately asked, “Which family’s daughter is it? If you are interested, why don’t you…arrange the wedding ceremony early. Why are you in a rush to go to the border at this time?”
Chi Xiaochi thought, oh, isn’t he talking after all with his little mouth blazing.
Chi Xiaochi smiled embarrassedly.
Yan Yuanheng thought of his strange behavior when he visited a few days ago, and his heart became increasingly uneasy, so he simply stopped, waiting for him to clarify.
Chi Xiaochi seized the moment of his hesitation just right: “Yuanheng…”
When Yan Yuanheng heard him call his real name in this palace with strict etiquette, his heart warmed slightly, and his chilly expression eased a little: “Yes. . . . It’s time for you to get married. Did General Shi choose the marriage for you? Who was chosen? The second young lady of the Minister of Revenue Qu’s family, or Qu Ying's sister?”
Chi Xiaochi: “Yuanheng, let me tell you something…you must not tell other people.”
Yan Yuanheng was inexplicably nervous: “Mn.”
Chi Xiaochi raised his breath, suppressed his voice, and said, “The person I like…is a man.”
Yan Yuanheng: “………………”
Yan Yuanheng’s finger joints made a harsh sound, and he said in a low voice: “Who is it? Chu Ziling?”
Chi Xiaochi asked curiously, “Why do you think it’s Ah Ling?”
Yan Yuanheng’s body trembled uncontrollably: “Is it really him?”
Chi Xiaochi reassured him: “You haven’t seen him before.”
Yan Yuanheng pressed: “Really?”
Chi Xiaochi said helplessly: “…Thirteenth Prince.”
Yan Yuanheng returned to his senses and realized that he had lost his composure. He took a deep breath, calmed his mind, and said in a low voice, “What are you thinking? A man, you and him…seven generations of the Shi family’s loyalty and righteousness, do you want to let the Shi family end without a descendent?”
“How can the Shi family have no descendants?” Chi Xiaochi’s mild attitude was infuriating, “My uncle is my father’s full brother and belongs to the same family. It’s just that second uncle’s talent in martial arts is really insufficient, so grandfather passed the Shi family’s spear to my father.”
Yan Yuanheng’s good-looking face was stiff and wooden: “Really. Then, when you go to Nanjiang, are you planning to reveal this matter to General Shi?”
Chi Xiaochi said: “That’s not the case. He might not know my intentions yet, and I don’t intend to let him know. If I love someone, I don’t expect anything. I’ll only bury him in my heart forever, promise my life to the country and never marry.”
Yan Yuanheng didn’t expect to hear such frank words, he was stunned for a moment, and his expression darkened slightly: “Suchang has deep feelings…It’s not the first time I’m going to the Nanjiang, but there are many things that I don’t know. I may still have to bother your residence these days…Farewell.”
He arched his hands, turned, and left. The view of his back leaving barely maintained an elegant poise.
Chi Xiaochi looked at his back, laughed silently, and walked away.
He was reluctant to believe the original owner’s dream. After all, seeing is not believing.
So he chose to take the initiative.
A family letter fabricated out of thin air measured two true hearts.
&#k2014;&#k2014;The Sixth Prince was a dandy on the surface, but his heart for family and country was not inferior to others. Although he had a very plastic relationship with thirteen in private, he intentionally avoided competing with him in significant matters.
——The Thirteenth Prince appeared calm and breezy, but his heart was full of affection for the original owner.
In the past two days, Chi Xiaochi acted as Shi Tingyun and accumulated a lot of performance impressions.
Shi Tingyun was treated favorably by the two princes. Although the purpose of the initial friendship couldn’t be ruled out, after a few days of testing, it was evident that Shi Tingyun was a straightforward person. To speak plainly, it was friendship obtained by exchanging sincerity for sincerity.
Yan Yuanheng was a person who valued friendship and had a rare open-minded ambition for a young person. Shi Tingyun had a strong sense of proportion, only had personal relationships with the two princes, and never mixed state and public affairs.
This kind of emotion cultivated since childhood was even purer.
So here comes the problem.
Who was it that slagged Shi Tingyun in the end?
If it were a common betrayal, it wouldn’t make the original owner say that he considered himself a slave. It also wouldn’t make him so uneasy after death that he would instead give his body to others to come back for revenge.
Therefore, the only thing that could hurt him the most was a sincere heart.
In this generation of the Shi family, only Shi Tingyun had military talent.
When General Shi asked him to return to Wangcheng, he was expected to leave heirs. However, he went against his father’s expectations. After returning to Wangcheng for a long time, he still didn’t do his job and hung out with the Sixth prince all day long, playing games with his life.
But judging from the information in Ah Shu’s words, this young general Shi returned to Wangcheng for a whole year and always remembered to practice his spear every day.
Last night, after lying in bed with him again, Lou-ge asked: “Maybe Shi Tingyun is not interested in marriage?”
Chi Xiaochi propped up his head and smiled at him: “Xiansheng, Shi Tingyun is nineteen this year. According to the average age of ancient people, almost half of his life has passed. Passing on the bloodline, who needs his heart, just his kidneys.”
Although the Shi family didn’t have a throne to inherit, in terms of the family’s importance, it wasn’t far from it.
Shi Tingyun would instead go against his father’s wishes rather than mention marriage. It was quite possible that he secretly fell in love with someone he couldn’t say.
…
Compared with the turmoil in the imperial city, the general’s mansion was orderly.
It wasn’t the first time Shi Tingyun went to the border, and was a time of peace between the two sides. He and the Thirteenth Prince could go to the border together with the team that dispatched troops and delivered food.
The family’s steward was busy doing things, and Chi Xiaochi had nothing to do and went to the training grounds in the backyard. Holding a hair tie in his mouth, he tore off the well binded silver crown, tucked his long hair back, and tied it behind his head with a hair tie three or two times. He took out the silver spear he used for practice in the past, and after a few simple drills, he suddenly heard a sound breaking through the air behind him.
Chi Xiaochi quickly turned around, and the horizontal spear blocked it. His silver spear parried away an iron spear, creating a muffled bang.
Chu Ziling had no intention of hurting him and only feinted a shot. He turned the iron spear behind him with one hand and bowed slightly: “Gongzi.”
Chi Xiaochi simply said, “One spar?”
Chu Ziling was also unequivocal: “This one obeys the order.”
Before he finished speaking, a silver light in the shape of a semi-circle directly attacked Chu Ziling’s face. Chu Ziling did not hesitate and greeted him with the side spear hook. He pushed the silver spear to the ground with only his physical strength and landed on the body of the silver spear, pressing the spear’s body into an arc.
Chi Xiaochi had the instinct to use a spear in his body. He turned the spear sideways and escaped from Chu Ziling’s suppression smoothly. After the silver-white spear blade drew a light spark on the ground, the spear body trembled slightly, and he turned it sideways to block Chu Ziling’s fists and feet.
The two fought evenly matched. After more than fifty rounds, Chu Ziling finally lost, and the iron spear flew out of his hands in a cross shape.
In the next instant, a ray of silver light fell three inches before Chu Ziling’s neck.
Chu Ziling raised his hand and said with a smile: “Gongzi, please spare my life.”
Chi Xiaochi withdrew his spear.
Just now, he watched from the sidelines and found that the original owner’s spear was well restrained, and it didn’t look like he wanted to take his life.
After this match, the two were sweating slightly, so they sat side by side in the training yard and talked.
“Do you know about Nanjiang?”
Chu Ziling laughed and said, “I don’t know. Ziling only knows where gongzi goes, Ah Ling will go. This promise is valid for life until Ah Ling dies.”
Chi Xiaochi sighed and covered his face with one hand.
He asked, “Where did you go last night?”
Chu Ziling smiled: “I’m really sorry, gongzi, I snuck out.”
Chi Xiaochi asked curiously, “Huh?”
Chu Ziling said: “Yesterday, I heard from Mama Su, who is in charge of shopping in the mansion, that there are several peach blossoms blooming at the south gate of the city. They’re very rare, and are the earliest in Wangcheng. Ziling wanted gongzi to see the first peach blossoms before others. Taking advantage of gongzi falling asleep yesterday, I secretly climbed over the wall and picked a few branches.”
Chi Xiaochi turned sideways and asked, “Where’s the flower?”
Chu Ziling smiled: “In gongzi’s hair.”
When Chi Xiaochi raised his hand, he found that there was indeed a bright peach blossom that he didn’t know when it got added to his ponytail. It was still covered with clear dew. It seemed that to prevent the peach blossom from withering, he also sprinkled water and carefully raised it until now.
He took off the peach blossom, played with it for a while, and sighed again.
Chu Ziling realized that there was something in his gongzi’s mind, so he turned to look at him: “Gongzi?”
Chi Xiaochi said, “Something happened in Zhennan Pass…do you remember father’s deputy general Wen Feiru? When he was escorting a batch of bows and arrows, he fell into a trap set by bandits in Great Green Mountain and was seriously injured.”
“Deputy General Wen?” Chu Ziling was taken aback, “What about Dingyuan City?”
“My father wrote to mention this. I happen to be tired of staying in Wangcheng, so I wrote back to my father to go on his behalf to guard Dingyuan City. Otherwise Governor Zhang would be left alone in the city, and I’m afraid that he would be lacking in resources and force. It’s hard to stand alone.” Chi Xiaochi lowered his eyes and said, “Don’t mention it to others, prepare more good wound medicine in private, and when we get to the border, come with me to visit Uncle Wen. By the way, you must pretend that he was injured by people from Nanjiang, otherwise with Uncle Wen’s temperament…”
Chu Ziling nodded.
He had been to the border with Tingyun and had met Wen Feiru before. He was a rough man desperate to save face.
With his character, he would rather kill himself in a head-on collision than swallow this suffocating loss.
He said, “Gongzi, I’ll take note of it.”
After explaining to him, Chi Xiaochi went to the hot springs for a short bath and returned to his room, but saw Ah Shu kneeling in front of his room, wiping tears. Lou Ying sat in a wheelchair before him, wearing a veil to block the light, warmly persuading him of something.
Chi Xiaochi was curious: “What is this? Is it Meng Jiangnu crying on the Great Wall or Yang Bailao begging Huang Shiren?”
Ah Shu didn’t understand it very well, so he walked to Chi Xiaochi on his knees, kowtowed deeply, and said, “Gongzi, I…this little one also wants to go with you to Zhennan Pass.”
“You?” Chi Xiaochi squatted down, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “You have been insufficient in martial arts since you were young, what can you do there?”
“It doesn’t matter if I’m pulling the horse of taking care of gongzi’s food and daily life.” Ah Shu wiped his tears and said, “This little one doesn’t want to wait for you at home, it’s too tiring. You don’t know that when you went to the battlefield before, you handed over one battle report after another, and this little one stayed at home all day in fear, staring at the border map anxiously, afraid that any battler report would be…”
Ah Shu couldn’t continue. He choked up twice, his young and handsome cheeks were full of tears, but there was a bit of determination in his eyes: “Ah Shu has given all the wealth he has accumulated over the years to his sister overnight. Although it can’t keep her safe for the rest of her life, it’s enough for her to marry a well-matched family…Ah Shu wants to go with gongzi on the battlefield, even if he can’t come back, he can still ask for peace of mind…”
Chi Xiaochi patted his head and tsked: “What are you talking about? This time is different from last time, it’s not a rebellion in Nanjiang. It’s just that Deputy General Bai didn’t listen to orders in Yongzhou and got hurt…”
While speaking, Chi Xiaochi gave Lou Ying a look.
Lou Ying stopped him promptly: “…Gongzi.”
Chi Xiaochi feigned a slip of the tongue and immediately stopped talking.
Ah Shu ignorantly looked up at Chi Xiaochi.
Chi Xiaochi blushed in embarrassment, looking like a student who made a mistake: “…Xiansheng.”
Lou Ying couldn’t help but wonder how he managed to genuinely blush so red.
“Yongzhou?” Ah Shu said in surprise, “Gongzi, are we going to Yongzhou? Not the Jinji Mausoleum?”
Chi Xiaochi interrupted him hastily: “Ah Shu!”
Ah Shu choked.
Chi Xiaochi ordered: “If you want to come with me, you are not allowed to mention this to anyone. This is a secret in the military, do you understand?”
Ah Shu was pleasantly surprised: “Gongzi has allowed this little one to go with you?”
Chi Xiaochi waved his hand.
Ah Shu happily got up, said that he would clean up before coming back to serve gongzi, and hurried back to his room to clean up his appearance.
Chi Xiaochi laughed and cursed at the unsteadiness, lifted his robe, and climbed up the steps. He came to his xiansheng and pushed him for a walk on the veranda.
Lou Ying turned back and said softly: “A letter that doesn’t exist can be used by you like this.”
“Who said it doesn’t exist.” Chi Xiaochi leaned forward on the wheelchair, his mood gliding happily, “The letter is already in their hearts.”
The people closest to Shi Tingyun and most trusted by him are Yan Yuanzhao, Yan Yuanheng, Chu Ziling, and Li Yeshu.
The four of them could be divided into two groups.
The Sixth Prince and the Thirteenth Prince belong to the royal family. If the two of them want to make trouble for profit, the set is nothing more than fighting for and usurping power.
At first, Chi Xiaochi was more suspicious of the Sixth Prince.
However, the Sixth Prince clearly wanted to go to Nanjiang, but he didn’t seize this precious opportunity to seize military power and establish prestige in the army. It even seemed that he dropped his request to go after Thirteen took the initiative to volunteer. Obviously, he was avoiding him, not like he was holding his breath and waiting to compete with Thirteen for the throne.
Although the Thirteenth Prince was interested in Shi Tingyun in his heart, when faced with the affairs of the border, he took the initiative to ask for military service and never declined.
At least from the current point of view, even if the two of them suffer in small ways, they wouldn’t lose big.
After the preliminary testing of the two princes, the next step would be the people around Shi Tingyun.
Chi Xiaochi wasn’t worried about which prince’s spies they were. He was only worried whether their thoughts had the ambition to swallow the sky.
Last night, he had already written a letter and sent it to father Shi in Zhennan Pass through the pigeons raised at home. He also specially used a “Delivery must be reached” card to ensure that this letter could only be received and opened by Shi Jinghong.
In the letter, he wrote: “There have been changes at home. I hope father will assist. Uncle Wen in Dingyuan, Uncle Bai in Yongzhou, wherever the enemy comes, feign injury and defeat.”
Chi Xiaochi also couldn’t rule out the possibility that the two servants around him were both spies.
If they met privately and exchanged information, they would immediately realize that Shi Tingyun suspected their identities. They would definitely take other measures at that time, either the dog jumping over the wall or secretly slipping away.
Naturally, the possibility that the spy was highly vigilant couldn’t be ruled out. They could stay put even after learning the news and let go of a chance to win the battle.
But Chi Xiaochi believed that if there were foreign spies among them, who lurked by his side and endured for many years, they would always choose the right time to do something to prove themselves.
Besides, if they didn’t make a move, there was no loss or harm for Chi Xiaochi, so why not do it?
Pushing the wheelchair, Chi Xiaochi said with a smile: “Wen Feiru in Dingyuan, Bai Jinghu in Yongzhou. Let’s see which side will be attacked.”
…
In the Lord God space, within “In Between Moments.”
The dark red mastermind slowly squirmed, paying close attention to Chi Xiaochi’s world line.
It’s just that its mood was unpleasant.
After seeing another messenger pigeon flying out of Wangcheng in the night, the Lord God wanted to shoot that pigeon down.
However, this was a serious violation to be suspected, so it could only think about it.
…what a fool! So restless!
It was cursing secretly when it suddenly heard a chaotic sound from outside, “In Between Moments”
These days, it had been overwhelmed by one thing after another and couldn’t help saying: “What is going on?! What is this chaos again?”
The door of “In Between Moments” was thrown open with a bang. A sweaty system ran in, panting for breath. His face was pale, and he was unable to utter a word.
The Lord God was anxious: “Speak!”
“Boss, the report we submitted last week…” The system was taken aback, but his speaking became smoother, “That is, the report that the system was broken into by abnormal energy has been modified…”
“…Modified?!”
With a mournful face, the system tremblingly projected the content of his display screen to the public screen.
The originally serious report in black and white was tampered with and changed into a highly polished and soft-lit emoticon of a man.
““You are so slutty. gif” ”
…it’s a fucking moving picture.
…and it fucking covered a hundred pages.
A hundred people saying you are so slutty at the same time. One can imagine the mental damage.
The Lord God was in disbelief: “Why didn’t you check it when you sent it over?!”
This system was specifically responsible for writing reports and seemed severely tormented: “Before sending it yesterday…I checked… But, the main system sent a reply and asked what it was. It was only then that I found out there was something wrong with it…”
“Are you trash?!” The Lord God was furious, “Check! Check it for me! Who entered your office yesterday? Who had the opportunity to touch your computer?”
“Yes…” The system trembled, “129, 872, 399, 737, 121, and 089… I was on duty yesterday, so there were a lot of people who came in to ask things…”
The Lord God managed to calm down: “Don’t worry about 089, investigate the rest one by one!”
The system trembled: “No, boss…the main system said that we’ve had a lot of accidents recently, and they’ll need to send a monitoring system to conduct another comprehensive review…”
The Lord God choked: “Get out!”
The system profusely sweating ran.
As soon as the door was closed, the AI asked the Lord God’s opinion: “Hello. The unreleased world line that we withheld…”
The Lord God’s voice became colder, almost gnashing its teeth. “Pretend to delay! Withhold it for as long as you can!”
Word spread quickly.
023, who was on duty, was in a good mood. He was playing games with his bare feet on the table: “The bootlicker in charge of writing the report is finally out of luck.”
089 held the mango, manipulated energy to peel off the skin, “What did he do?”
“You forgot?” 023 glanced at him, “When 61 was reformatted, he said that 061’s memory wasn’t fully cleaned up, so he reported it to pig brain, and threw him in for the second time. He’s really not a person. …Hey, let me say, your memory is like this and you still want to be someone’s father.”
089 was happy and dragged his voice: “Ah—”
023 opened his mouth: “Ah.”
089 understood, took a small fork to pierce the fresh mango pieces and fed them to 023, and at the same time, deleted the name of that bootlicker from his memo.
Before that bootlicker, there were seven or eight system numbers that had been deleted.
089’s creed in life had always been that no one can use you as long as you become a peaceful waste.
But he would also mark those lackeys mixed into the system and responsible for reporting to the Lord God. He recorded them on the memo, waiting for the right time to pull them out to be struck by lightning.
He believed that no matter what the Lord God did to 061 and Chi Xiaochi, it would have to withdraw tonight at the earliest or the day before the main system came for the inspection at the slowest, and everything would be back on the right track.
And his prediction wasn’t wrong.
Because of the different speeds of time passing inside and outside the system, Chi Xiaochi suddenly suffered from a severe headache on the eve before he left for Zhennan Pass.
This time, the world line was shoved into his head without warning, and the process of receiving it was excruciating. For a few seconds, Chi Xiaochi’s eyes went black, and he couldn’t see anything.
Lou Ying, who was woken up, hugged him tightly from behind. His body curled up, his teeth chattered, and after a long time, the image of a young man appeared in front of him.
He sat on the hillside polluted by blood and mud, panting slightly, his legs propped forward, and his front calf bone was sunken somewhat as if it was broken. A hacked-up silver helmet was thrown at his feet, and his dying white horse lay beside him.
A bent silver spear was stuck in his side, and the eyelashes covered with dried blood looked extraordinarily long.
The wind blew from behind him to the front of him, lifting his hair tie and making him look like he was biting the blood-stained hair tie in a daze.
That was the Shi Tingyun on the battlefield that the Thirteenth Prince Yan Yuanheng saw when he went to the frontier for the first time.
When he saw himself, he staggered to his feet, dragged his injured leg, and bowed down, his eyes full of youthful light.
He smiled brightly without much courtesy as usual: “Yuanheng, you’re here, it’s great to see you.”
Yan Yuanheng stepped forward to support him: “It was imperial father who sent me to support…”
Shi Tingyun clasped hands with him, raised his eyes, and smiled radiantly: “Then thank the emperor for the Thirteenth Prince to this general.”
Kiribold: Have you figured out who the target of this mission is yet?