Chapter 326 Guiguzi's Unexpected Pursuit
After a heavy rain, even the official road becomes muddy, making it inconvenient to ride a horse or a car, so ordinary people would not choose to travel at this time.
On a thirty-meter-long section of the official road, there was only a big blue ox with tendons all over its body and black mud on its hooves. It walked steadily step by step, pulling the carriage that was not too heavy for it, leaving two tracks on the official road after the rain.
The driver sitting outside the carriage, holding the reins, had black and white hair and looked quite old. In fact, he was not young either, having just passed away two years ago.
The old driver in coarse linen clothes hunched his back, leaning against the carriage pillar behind him. He turned his head slightly and said to the curtain:
"Teacher, why do you want to take an ox cart? If you want to leave Korea as soon as possible, you should take a horse carriage."
Ox carts are comfortable and horse carriages are fast.
There was no response, as if there was no one in the carriage and the old driver was talking to himself.
The old driver listened for a while with his ear tilted, but heard nothing. When the new wheel tracks were several dozen meters longer, he couldn't help but tilt his head, and the sound became a little louder.
"We have only walked less than fifty steps in half a cup of tea. This ox cart is really too slow. I'd better change the carriage for you. The longer you stay in Han, the more dangerous you will be. You must leave Han before Chang'an Jun comes to search for you."
With his ear pressed against the curtain, he still received no feedback. If the old driver had not personally escorted the teacher into the carriage, he would have thought it was an empty carriage.
The old driver was a little worried. He held the rough reins in one hand and scratched his sparse hair with the other. He turned his head for the third time and said:
"Teacher, are you worried that my old body may not be able to control the horse?"
There was only a curtain between him and the teacher in the carriage, but no matter how anxious the old coachman was, he never thought of lifting the curtain.
"You are still as talkative as before. Since I am not saying anything, I don't want to answer. Why do you keep asking me?"
The old driver finally heard the response and laughed happily like a child.
"Confucius said: 'You should be quick to learn and you should not be ashamed to ask questions.' My disciples thought that their love of asking questions was their merit."
"I have warned you long ago not to quote words whose specific meanings you do not know. 敏而好学 means that you are intelligent and studious, but you are not intelligent. But this sentence is not bad. It is also embarrassing for you to boast. But the four words 不耻下问 mean that you should not feel ashamed to ask for advice from people who are not as good as you. Are you saying that I am inferior to you?"
The old driver's face immediately showed panic, as if the person who was speaking was not sitting inside the carriage, but outside, next to him, and could see his expression.
"Disciple definitely has no such intention!"
"I know you haven't. If you don't change, it will be bad for your future... Well, you are over fifty years old, and there is not much time left. There is no need to change..."
The old driver was not angry when he heard these half-cursing words. He said with a little sadness:
"I am unworthy of the title of Master and am not worthy of being a disciple of Guiguzi."
The old coachman was the last disciple accepted by Guiguzi Wang Chan. According to later generations, he was called the last disciple, who was supposed to establish a new school and inherit Guiguzi's legacy.
But don't even mention comparing them with Guiguzi's disciples, such outstanding people as Pang Juan, Sun Bin, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and Yue Yi, who were able to stir up the situation in various countries and became famous throughout the world.
Even compared with Guiguzi's ordinary disciples who can only achieve fame in a certain place, the old coachman who has not left a name in this world cannot compare to him.
The old driver could not learn the knowledge that other students could learn in an hour in a day and a night. The old driver himself did not know why the teacher would accept such a dull person as his disciple.
The sun was setting, and the ground was covered with a warm orange hue.
It is not easy to keep the official roads clean in this era, and no one cares about the weeds on both sides of the road. If the practical value of the road cannot be guaranteed, the so-called beauty is useless.
The chilly autumn rain is a little cold, and the breeze after the rain also brings the chill of the rain, making the weeds rustle and the old coachman shiver and tighten his sackcloth clothes.
"Changan Jun won't chase us out."
The old driver opened his mouth to let in some cold air, and his hunched body straightened up a little, just like he had done in the past ten or twenty years. He said humbly and respectfully:
"Please enlighten me, teacher."
After he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered his own qualifications, and his expression became a little frustrated.
"I am a dull student. Even if the teacher explains it in detail, I still cannot understand it. I will not ask any more questions."
"Chang'an Jun was born in a humble family. Although his character has been tempered several times in the royal family, he still has a kind of corruption that cannot be erased. He once said that the crown prince Ying Fusu did not have the spirit of a king, and that he was too benevolent and righteous to succeed the second emperor. In fact, he himself is not much better than his eldest nephew, and it is just a matter of one person and the other. He said that I was the source of trouble, and when he first saw me, he wanted to kill me, and he could kill me, and he would kill me..."
Crackling
The old driver swung his whip hard and hit the big blue ox. The big blue ox stopped in pain and hissed loudly with its horns towards the sky.
Moo~
The old driver was very angry when he heard that the teacher was called the source of trouble and that others had wanted to kill him. But the teacher was talking, and he didn't dare to yell or scold him in case he interrupted him. He could only whip the blue ox hard to vent his anger.
Guiguzi already knew the character of his last disciple, so he kept talking and was not affected or disturbed at all.
"…But I have been with him for several years, living in seclusion in Chang'an Junfu, and keeping to my duty. He will not kill me emotionally, rationally, or conscientiously, not to mention that he told me last night that I must not kill Chongtongzi.
"He once told me that if I escaped, I should run as fast and as far as possible, so that he would kill me if he caught up with me. He is a scoundrel and a trustworthy person. Since he said he would kill me if he caught up with me, he would not chase me to avoid killing me."
Although this statement was a little difficult to understand, it basically explained the reason thoroughly. Any disciple of Guiguzi would be able to hear it clearly and understand the true meaning.
But the old driver didn't understand.
An expression of distress and embarrassment appeared on his deeply wrinkled face.
"Teacher, I don't understand... Should I stop asking?"
“To know what you know and to know what you do not know is true knowledge.”
"...Teacher, what does this sentence mean?"
“…If you know, you know. If you don’t know, you don’t know. This is a sign of wisdom.”
The old driver looked delighted.
"The teacher praised me for being smart?"
He had never heard his teacher praise him like this before.
"Listen to the words and the sounds of the gongs and drums. I want you to ask immediately if you don't understand something."
The pain from the whip on the big blue ox has lessened a little over time.
The big blue ox, which did not bear grudges and worked diligently, set out again, shaking off the black mud on its hooves and pulling the carriage behind it forward, heading out of the land of Han.
In the carriage, the hundreds-year-old Guiguzi patiently answered questions for his 52-year-old last disciple.
The cows, carts, and people were all covered with a light, slightly reddish golden edge.
The sun is getting bigger and closer, and it's about to set...
The moisture in the soil on the wet road was lost day by day and gradually dried up. The wheels sank less and less, and the conversation in the carriage slowly died down.
Suddenly, the old driver's inquiring voice sounded again.
"Teacher, what does Chang'an-kun look like?"
"Why do you ask this? Chang'an Jun doesn't have four moles on his forehead, nor does he have two pupils in each eye. Words alone can describe his appearance very well."
"Teacher is right. It's my fault. I didn't expect it."
The old driver apologized hastily and tightened the reins. The big blue ox knew what its master meant and stopped lifting its hooves, with all four hooves sinking shallowly into the mud.
"Is Chang'an Jun surrounded by beautiful women? Is he always accompanied by beautiful women?"
There was no answer from inside the car.
After a breath.
Hula~
The car curtain was lifted, and the warm sunlight flowed into the car through the gap in the curtain, stopping less than half a meter deep.
Guiguzi's figure is vague and his face is not clear, but the four moles on his forehead are very conspicuous and his identity can be confirmed at a glance.
Guiguzi held the carriage curtain with one hand and looked at the long pavilion beside the official road covered with weeds a hundred steps away. Although the distance was a bit far, they were too familiar with each other because they had been together for several years.
Guiguzi could tell at a glance that the person standing in the pavilion with his hands behind his back and facing him was his former master Ying Chengjiao.
Behind Ying Chengjiao was a Yue woman with an extremely beautiful but unusually cold face, whose eyes only showed warmth when she glanced at Ying Chengjiao unintentionally, carrying a two-foot-long sword on her back.
The face may not be clear because the distance is too far, but she must be a Yue woman, as she is carrying a sword less than three feet long and can appear here.
The Qin sword is three feet long, about one meter long, which is the length the Qin people usually use. The Yue girl is the goddess of the Baiyue, and the sword of the Baiyue is two feet long.
"The teacher got off the car and the disciples stopped them."
The old driver was sure that he was not wrong from the teacher's attitude, and spoke naturally.
Guiguzi told him all the way why Chang'an Jun would not come, but he still didn't quite understand and didn't remember it clearly.
But the old coachman understood one sentence very well and remembered it very clearly - this Chang'an Jun named Ying Chengjiao called his teacher the source of trouble and wanted to kill his teacher, so he chased after his teacher just to kill him.
"That woman is the descendant of the Yue Girl Sword. There are very few people in the world who can fight against her. When you were young, you could hardly withstand a single move from her. At your age, going here is tantamount to committing suicide."
"If you want to die, then die. There is no reason in the world for a teacher to die before his students."
The old driver knew that he was no match for his opponent, but as long as he was alive, he could not see his teacher die.
Hula~
The curtains were lowered.
"The teacher is as old as his disciples. After the teacher dies, the disciples can continue his teachings. It is common in the world for teachers to die before their disciples.
"Drive over there."
"only."
The old driver responded reluctantly, cracked the whip lightly, and the ox raised its hooves, splashing mud lightly.
The big blue ox took almost a cup of tea to walk a hundred steps.
There are few things in this world that have the best of both worlds. If you choose the comfort of an oxcart, you have to accept its slowness. If you want the efficiency of a horse-drawn carriage, you have to endure its bumpy ride.
The old driver, who had just complained about the slowness of the ox cart, was now thinking of going slower and slower.
But things will not change according to his will. As an ordinary person, he has no ability and can only go with the flow.
He lifted the curtain for his teacher and tried to straighten his back, but in the end he was still hunched over. He helped Guiguzi, who had a straight back, get off the ox cart.
Ying Chengjiao walked forward with a smile and grabbed Guiguzi's other hand in the murderous and hostile eyes of the old coachman. Just as he was about to speak, Guiguzi spoke first.
"You shouldn't have come."
Ying Chengjiao blinked.
“But I came anyway.”
Guiguzi smiled faintly.
"If you come, I won't die, right?"
Ying Chengjiao also smiled faintly.
"you guess?"
[If you have the ability, you can follow up with a guess and ask me to guess. ]
Guiguzi smiled bitterly.
"I can't compare to your determination, Lord."
Ying Chengjiao also smiled bitterly.
"You are the fish and I am the knife, but you still dare to test me again and again. Your strength may be insufficient, but you are really brave."
Guiguzi just kept smiling bitterly and didn't say anything. No one knew what he was saying.
Just now, when he got off the ox cart, he said "You shouldn't have come", opening the scene with a line from Gu Long's novel. If Ying Chengjiao also responded with the line from Gu Long's novel, it would prove that Ying Chengjiao still had a joking mind, and it was unlikely that he would be killed.
In the second sentence, he no longer used the dialogue from the novel, but took the initiative to point it out, showing weakness when Ying Chengjiao was in a good mood. Ordinary people would probably say "how is it possible" or "the prince is joking" at this time, which would take control of the topic and put an iron chain on his life.
Ying Chengjiao's vague answer of "Guess" wasted Guiguzi's thoughts. Guiguzi knew that Ying Chengjiao had seen through his probing intentions, so he revealed that he was not as strong as Ying Chengjiao, and flattered Ying Chengjiao by devaluing himself. In order to save his life, it is not shameful to flatter.
But Ying Chengjiao, who usually agreed without hesitation and enjoyed the flattery complacently, did not agree this time and instead flattered back.
This made Guiguzi, who had everything under control, a little nervous.
When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong. And today, seeing the demon of Ying Chengjiao, he might pay the price with his life.
Guiguzi thought about the month, day, and time.
The hand that was being held by the old driver was hidden behind him, and the thumb began to tap quickly on the index finger, middle finger, and ring finger.
I silently recited "lingering", "sudden joy", "red mouth", "small luck", "empty death", "great peace" in my heart, over and over again, and calculated madly.
Before he finished calculating, Ying Chengjiao smiled and said:
"Did you calculate for yourself and figure out that you can't die, so you can just do whatever you want?"
Guiguzi paused for a moment while calculating with his left hand, and then his thumb moved quickly again. Whether Ying Chengjiao was aiming at something or making a surprise move, it was meaningless to him, and he would talk about it after he finished calculating.
The old driver hated Ying Chengjiao, and his old body was accumulating strength, ready to pounce on Ying Chengjiao and Yuenu at any time, giving the teacher a chance to die later.
If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to hide his teacher's calculations with his left hand, he would have pounced on him right now after Ying Chengjiao insulted his teacher like that.
"I just figured it out. You were testing my character by asking me whether I wanted to kill Xiang Yu. Then when I was about to go find Chongtongzi, you said you could only calculate the approximate range to be in Qi.
"From whether I can find my double pupils, I can test my strength. Prince, what's wrong with your brain? How can you think of so many things in a few minutes? You are really a wise old man."
Ying Chengjiao leaned closer and asked tentatively:
"Could it be that you have really lived for hundreds of years?"
Guiguzi said nothing, but was still reciting silently in his heart.
"You haven't finished yet? It's okay, take your time and we'll talk after you finish."
