NCCnovel Chapter 399 A Song You Can Sing Too
Chapter 399 A Song You Can Sing Too
Zhao Xuan struggled in Gu Zhanghua's arms.
She seemed to see that dusk again, the sky filled with blood, the fierce battle between the delegation's guards, and how living people instantly turned into bloody corpses lying on the ground...
There was also the poisoned arrow in her master's shoulder, the blood spurting from his mouth, and his earnest teachings to her before his death.
Reluctant to leave her, yet helpless, he could only touch her face with regret and longing...
"Sister Xuan, I don't believe it! I don't believe it! Please give the teacher a chance to explain! Please, please!"
Gu Zhanghua held Zhao Xuan with all his might, pleading incessantly.
Seeing the grief on Gu Zhanghua's face, Zhao Xuan knew that he was deeply shocked to hear Yang Liuming admit it himself, and that he must be in even more pain than she was!
Zhao Xuan took a deep breath, suppressing the raging anger burning in her heart, and pulled Gu Zhanghua back to sit down in the chair.
Gu Zhanghua looked at Yang Liuming with a sorrowful and pleading expression.
Yang Liuming gave a bitter smile.
"Zhao Xuan, if you want to kill me, I will absolutely not hide."
Zhao Xuan's emotions had gradually calmed down, and she let out a cold snort.
"If I were to actually kill you, that would be considered an abuse of power, and it would be condemned by the public! Tell me what grievances you have, and I will inform my father, the Emperor, and he will surely punish you according to the law!"
Even now, Gu Zhanghua still cannot believe that Yang Liuming is the real culprit behind the scenes.
"Teacher, I believe you would never attack the delegation without a reason... Is there some misunderstanding?"
Yang Liuming's face was bitter, and his feelings were indescribably complicated.
"For more than ten years, I have been waiting for this day to come. After all, the truth can't be hidden forever, but I don't know when this day will come. So every day of these years has felt like the last day of my life to me..."
At this point, Yang Liuming became completely lost in his own thoughts.
"Actually, I'm already very grateful to God for giving me so much time to try my best to make amends for the sins I've committed, so that I can do more for the Xia Kingdom..."
Jian Qiu remained motionless, leaning against Yang Liuming's shoulder. Even when Zhao Xuan was about to get rough with Yang Liuming, Jian Qiu seemed indifferent.
But upon hearing Yang Liuming say these words, Jian Qiu suddenly opened her eyes, reached out and grasped Yang Liuming's hand, looking at him with concern, as if she had a thousand words to say, which ultimately turned into a sigh.
Yang Liuming patted Jian Qiu's hand, smiled at her, and then turned to look at Gu Zhanghua and Zhao Xuan.
"This story... goes back to when I was a child... If you two don't mind me rambling, I'll tell you the whole story."
Gu Zhanghua immediately perked up.
"I don't mind, teacher, please go on!"
Yang Liuming looked at Zhao Xuan again, seemingly seeking her consent.
Zhao Xuan gave a cold laugh.
"Speak your mind! If you don't speak now, when will you?! Do you think you can escape this calamity and fly away? With me here, don't even think about it! I'm sitting here listening to your sophistry only because you were once my teacher. This is the last bit of respect I can give you!"
Yang Liuming didn't care about the obvious hostility in Zhao Xuan's words. He narrowed his eyes, as if recalling a very, very distant past, and his face gradually became weathered.
“When I was in school, I told you that when the three kingdoms of Chen, Yue and Song were in a tripartite balance of power, the area along the middle reaches of the Heng River, with the important town of Fengcheng as its main feature, was fertile with water and grass and rich in real estate. It has always been a place that the two kingdoms of Chen and Yue fought over.”
At that time, Emperor Chen's tyranny, coupled with internal and external troubles, caused the people to be displaced and almost lost their chance to survive!
I was originally from Fengcheng. My parents, brothers, and sisters all died in war, forced labor, or famine... I was the only one who escaped...
I was just a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy at the time. In order to survive, I had to beg along the way. Who knew that, in a daze, exhausted and hungry, I would wander into the Taklamakan Desert...
With no water and no food, just as I was about to die, I suddenly faintly heard an old man singing, coming from afar and growing closer…
As Yang Liuming spoke, his eyes suddenly filled with a deep longing for life, as if the twelve or thirteen-year-old boy from back then had returned to him.
"An old man? He's singing?"
Gu Zhanghua couldn't help but ask in confusion.
Yang Liuming suddenly looked at Zhao Xuan, his eyes filled with both expectation and nostalgia.
"Zhao Xuan, you can sing that song too..."
"I?"
Zhao Xuan was surprised when Yang Liuming suddenly mentioned her name and said that she could sing that song.
The only song she could sing perfectly without ever going off-key was the one her teacher taught her!
"Calming the Waves"!
"Do not listen to the sound of rain pattering through the trees; why not whistle and stroll leisurely?"
With bamboo staff and straw sandals, I can outrun a horse; who's afraid?
Let life take its course, like a straw raincoat in the misty rain.
A chilly spring breeze awakens me from my drunken stupor, a slight coldness settles in. Yet, the slanting sunlight on the mountaintop welcomes me.
Looking back at the desolate place I came from, returning, there is neither wind nor rain, neither sunshine nor gloom.
It's etched in her memory to this day! She'll never forget it!
My master once said that the musical score was created by my master's master, the mysterious old man!
Then, recalling the news her father, Huang Shuo, received when he first visited the Fuze Relief Home in Jing'an Prefecture and met Li Chongxi, he learned that the Fuze Relief Home was also the first institution established by the Elder Xuanji.
This also aligns with the information the father and daughter obtained from the village chief and his wife when they disguised themselves as peddlers to investigate Qian Bin's background in Mingshan Village.
Later, the old man Xuanji passed the Fuze Relief Home to its former director, Yang Liuming!
This is something Yang Liuming just admitted himself!
In an instant, Zhao Xuan connected all these clues perfectly, without missing a single one, leaving no flaws whatsoever.
She looked at Yang Liuming with certainty and blurted out the answer instantly.
"Are you talking about Dingfengbo?! The old man Xuanji saved you in the Tagan Desert? Then wouldn't you be a fellow disciple of my master?"
This conjecture was discussed by Huang Shuo with Zhao Xuan after visiting Mingshan Village and the main branch of Fuze Relief Home. He believed that the former director of Fuze Relief Home was likely Zhao Xiaoman's senior or junior fellow student.
Now it seems that this senior or junior brother is none other than Yang Liuming standing in front of us.
Yang Liuming's subsequent words confirmed this.
“That’s right. I started learning from your master later, but I’m older than her. I should call her senior sister…”
Not only Zhao Xuan, but even Gu Zhanghua was completely bewildered.
Since Yang Liuming is Zhao Xiaoman's junior brother, why did Zhao Xiaoman never know about this from beginning to end?
Was the mysterious old man deliberately concealing something?
Or did Yang Liuming and the Mysterious Old Man have ulterior motives and conspire to conceal this matter from Zhao Xiaoman?
Zhao Xuan decided to take this opportunity to get to the bottom of things.
"Why didn't you tell my master that you were her junior brother?!"
"At first, I didn't even know there was such a senior sister..."
Yang Liuming smiled wryly.
"You didn't know my master was your senior sister, yet you could so ruthlessly send people to kill her?!"
Zhao Xuan had a fiery temper and would start a fight at the slightest provocation. She patiently listened to Yang Liuming's rambling on and on, but when it came to matters concerning their master, he simply brushed it off with a casual "senior sister"?
Grabbing the teacup in front of her, Zhao Xuan raised her hand and, with all her might, hurled it at Yang Liuming.