In the end, everyone went to the Valley of Ten Faces together.

Sitting in the carriage, Liu Xian’an looked outside. Every now and then, a village would appear on the side of the road. They were all neat and tidy, and even the cured pork hanging at the doors of the houses was cut more squarely than others. The shadow of military camp life could indeed be seen.

“These are also some of the most stable and affluent villages in the Southwest,” Ku You said. “The land is fertile and the population is prosperous. They not only respect martial arts, but also culture. No matter how small the village is, the villagers will raise money to hire a teacher. This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, and today, almost everyone is literate and sensible.”

“Look, Young Master!” A-Ning pointed into the distance and said in surprise, “There are words on the cliff!”

A wall of stone soared into the clouds. There was a neat cross-section, as if it had been split open by the giant ax of a god, and quartz fragments shimmered in the sunlight. Like a river of stars pouring down, it was as if an immortal had used a sword as a brush to engrave eloquent, thousand-character prose. Even in the Three Thousand Worlds of Second Young Master Liu, it was difficult to find such a marvelous heavenly text.

“To carve out such characters on such a precarious cliff is as difficult as climbing to the sky. You would have to attach someone to a rope and slowly lower them from the top.” Riding on horseback, Gao Lin squinted his eyes to look into the light, and looked carefully for a long time. Although Cheng Suyue’s body had not recovered, she still found the carriage stuffy and rode a horse most of the time. At this moment, seeing that her older brother was looking intently, she moved closer to look together. The two traveled in unison until His Royal Highness Xiao Wang said coldly: “Can you understand the words?”

Gao Lin: “……”

Cheng Suyue: “……”

We can’t read the words, but can we not simply appreciate the beauty?

Liang Shu ignored the two bitter-faced subordinates, galloping forward alone to bring Liu Xian’an out of the carriage.

Gao Lin: It’s started, the prince is about to start showing off again, and he’s going to let Second Young Master Liu perform a show for us soon!

Naturally, Liu Xian’an could understand this ancient text. Although the handwriting had been worn away by the wind and rain, the full text could be inferred based on the context. He said: “It’s a folk tale.”

“Someone took so much effort just to carve a folk tale?” Cheng Suyue couldn’t quite believe it. “I still think it must at least be a secret martial arts text.”

Gao Lin knocked on her forehead, which had nothing behind it. What “secret,” it could at most be regarded as an “ancestral record.” From his point of view, such carefree things were generally not worth anything.

“It’s the origin of the Valley of Ten Faces,” Liu Xian’an said. “It says that hundreds of years ago, the gates of heaven suddenly opened, and a group of immortals descended. Upon coming here, they saw the beautiful scenery, with springs and clear, quiet mountains, and simply settled down. They multiplied from generation to generation, forming today’s Valley of Ten Faces.”

Cheng Suyue commented that there was no beautiful immortal insisting on marrying an idle villager, and there was no cowherd who hid the clothes of a beautiful woman to prevent her from leaving. Although it was boring, it was still a good, law-abiding and virtuous story.

Gao Lin insisted on being disagreeable: “There are so many words on the cliff. Second Young Master Liu just gave us the general idea, how do you know there aren’t some unsavory hidden details?”

“There really aren’t,” Liu Xian’an said. “But the rest of the story isn’t interesting, and is not worth telling. I’m thirsty.”

As soon as these words fell, Liang Shu handed over his water bag and said: “It’s windy here. Don’t talk too much, and be careful not to get cold.” While speaking, he untied his cloak and wrapped the other person up tightly until only his eyes were exposed. Then he nudged the horse’s belly with his feet, and the two of them walked away.

Cheng-guniang, who had just become part of a new family, was not quite used to this kind of scene. She held back for a long time before she couldn’t help asking: “Ge, why doesn’t the prince hide?”

“Hide from what, you mean the Imperial Guards? There’s nothing to hide from,” Gao Lin said, waving his hand. “Our prince has personally written a secret letter, reporting his love story to the Emperor in detail.”

“Ah?”

“It was about four or five sheets of paper.” Gao Lin gestured, the text was long, and the writing flowed like a spring. If he was taking the Imperial Examination, there would only be three lines left.

Cheng Suyue: “……”

It’s really too terrible.

The garrison camp was halfway up the mountain, surrounded by villages in the front and deep, dense forest in the back. Bamboo buildings, tiled houses, and tents were scattered in an orderly manner, and for the people at the foot of the mountain, this was the most secure protective barrier.

Although Ku You’s eyesight was impaired, he basically didn’t need any help walking. He was very familiar with this large camp, and didn’t even need a cane. He just strode forward, his silver blindfold and silver hair blown back by the wind, his figure neat and capable. Liu Xian’an imitated him by closing his eyes and raising his leg to take a steady step forward, but was grabbed by Liu Xianche, who said with a frown: “There are dead vines everywhere, how can you fall asleep while walking?”

“First Young Master Liu misunderstands, Xiao An wasn’t sleeping.” Liang Shu helped explain behind him, “He’s just learning how to walk like Ku You.”

Learning how to walk like Ku You was better than sleepwalking? First Young Master Liu thought coldly, it really isn’t, ah. The custom of Liu family disciples was that when walking, they walked with their necks straight, solemn and dignified, all of them like green pines in the wind. What sort of method was this to lazily close your eyes? Thus, he seriously criticized his lazy little brother.

Liu Xian’an shrugged and said: “Hmm.”

There are too many rules, ah, I want to go to Xiao Wang Palace where there are no rules.

After Liang Shu sent this person back to his residence, he went to the front hall to deal with military matters. Liu Xianche sat at the table and watched A-Ning organizing the luggage. Nine out of ten items were from Xiao Wang Palace. The most outrageous thing was that there was a pair of clearly oversized night clothes.

First Young Master Liu suddenly had a headache again, and thought about whether he should take his little brother back to Baihe Mountain Village for a period of time after this matter was over, so as to save him from becoming more and more unreasonable. Just as he was thinking this, A-Ning took out another stack of rice paper from the bag and stacked it neatly on the table.

They seemed to be portraits.

Liu Xianche picked up one of them: “These were drawn by Xiao An?”

“They were drawn from the Second Young Master’s imagination,” A-Ning said. “First Young Master, if you take a closer look, you will find that each face is different.”

It depicted a woman with raised fox eyes, flirtatious and charming, leaning on a railing. This was the beauty in the painting that he had carefully sketched based on the information Liu Hengchang sent, combined with Feng Xiaojin’s appearance.

“Da-ge.” Liu Xian’an came in with a plate of pastries, his cheeks puffed out. Seeing that he was looking at the portraits, he said, “It’s a pity that A-Chang doesn’t know how to draw, otherwise he could copy it as it is, and save me from having to guess based on the description in the letter.”

“This girl…..” Liu Xianche frowned slightly. “Her behavior is too frivolous.”

“The prince also says that she looks like a dancer,” Liu Xian’an said. “And also like a prostitute. Anyway, she can’t be from an ordinary family.”

In Liu Hengchang’s description, the beauty in the portrait had almost the same face as Feng Xiaojin, but her features were more delicate and small, and her figure was also graceful. He even inquired about Feng Xiaojin, wanting to find out if he had any sisters.

Liu Xianche asked: “Are there any?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “No, it doesn’t look like there are. A-Chang said that the leader of the Baifu Sect looks to be about forty or fifty years old. If this portrait was painted more than ten or twenty years ago, then the person in the painting may also be Feng Xiaojin’s mother. I think this guess is more reasonable.”

With such a beautiful face, if she was a dancer or a prostitute, she should be very popular and highly sought-after. That the leader of the Baifu Sect still hung her portrait in his room after many years was iron proof.

“The prince has already sent people to investigate,” Liu Xian’an said. “I had originally wanted to ask Da-ge if there is any way to spy and gather information.”

“Then why didn’t you come and ask?” Liu Xianche actually did know a few well-informed jianghu people.

“Because the prince said there was no need.”

“Why not?”

“I didn’t ask.”

It had been very late at night. Liu Xian’an was laying in bed, talking very sleepily, and when he heard “no need,” he just nodded his head, “En, en, okay,” and then inadvertently fell asleep. After waking up, this conversation was lost in the clouds. He only remembered that Liang Shu said there was no need, so he definitely wouldn’t do it.

It would take less effort for himself.

In the end, this lazy person was still very lazy, and was tired after drawing so much. It was better to lie down and analyze. After Liu Xian’an finished eating the pastries, he took out another portrait and lay down on the table while saying to his brother: “This is what I speculated. If Feng Xiaojin’s mother really has a family background, and Feng Xiaojin hated Tan-daren in the court, could Tan-daren be his father?”

After all, this sort of story about an infatuated woman meeting a flirtatious man was very common in books, and ten out of ten would not have a happy ending, which was very consistent with reality. Liu Xian’an continued to analyze: “The prince says that Tan-daren came from a noble family, and his family education was very strict. He would definitely not be allowed to go out and court prostitutes, and it would be even more impossible for him to marry a concubine.”

But no matter how strict his family education was, it couldn’t control the love between men and women. One spring night sowed evil roots, and that son of a noble family returned to the Dream Capital Wangcheng to continue to be a favored young master, perhaps forgetting about it soon after. Thus, there was a poor orphan and widow pair in this world. One was no longer beautiful, and was forced to remarry a vulgar tofu man, and the other grew up with hatred, lurking on the mountain road and just waiting to kill his heartless father with his own hands.

Liu Xianche said: “It seems that you have indeed read a lot of idle books these years.”

“…….” Liu Xian’an kept his mouth shut and didn’t speak. The prince clearly praised my analysis as very reasonable, comparable to that of a military advisor.

Liu Xianche was somewhat amused: “What are you muttering?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “Nothing, nothing, ah.”

In any case, there was no ruler in the military camp, so he was very presumptuous now. Liu Xianche had initially not wanted to hit him at all, but seeing his present unruly appearance, he wanted to hit him again.

A piece of sun-dried medicinal herb hit Second Young Master Liu’s palm until it was burning hot. He was awfully depressed, and still had to sit at the table and silently write the family rules as punishment. The calligraphy brush in his hand flowed eloquently across the paper like dragons and snakes, with the last stroke dragged out. All of it revealed the mentality of being impatient to sue.

Liu Xianche stood at the door: “Why are you running?”

A-Ning was also panting as he followed behind his young master. Why was he running so fast? It wasn’t as if he had never been beaten by the First Young Master before, so why did he react so violently this time?

Liang Shu watched the person running toward him in the distance, and was also very surprised: “What happened?”

“Da-ge beat me again.”

Liang Shu held his palm and looked at it for a long moment, then asked wonderingly, “It looks fine, where were you hit?”

Liu Xian’an calmly withdrew his hand: “On the hand, the swelling has subsided.” But I really fled very fast.

It wasn’t red or swollen, but Liang Shu still rubbed it cooperatively, holding back a smile: “Let’s hear it, what was the mistake?”

“No mistake.” Liu Xian’an said, “I spoke of my analysis of Feng Xiaojin’s past, but Da-ge beat me.”

So unreasonable, ah!

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Chapter Ninety-Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ninety-Five