Chapter 88: Everything Is a Merchandise

The convoy eventually settles at the small courtyard as arranged.

In the middle of the night, Lu Buwei, dressed in a broad cloth robe, walks toward Ying Yiren’s room.

His brows furrowed, after a moment of hesitation, he finally knocks on the door.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Ying Yiren sits in the room and hears the door knock.

Who could it be at this hour of the night?

Confused, he gets to the door and opens it to see Lu Buwei waiting outside.

“Mister.” Ying Yiren says with an intentional tone of “respect”.

If not for Lu Buwei, he cannot get back to Qin. In fact, he could already be dead as ordered by the king of Zhao.

Although his appearance is ordinary, his capability is not.

“Noble prince.” Lu Buwei smiles: “Can we talk about certain things?”

Ying Yiren does not know Lu Buwei’s intention, but still nods anyway: “We go to the wing room.”

Saying so, he leads Lu Buwei there.

The two enter the room, Lu Buwei first. After making sure that no one is nearby, Ying Yiren follows him into the room and shuts the door.

Only after they have both taken seat does Ying Yiren ask: “For what matter does mister come over?”

Lu Buwei thinks about it and then says: “Is general Gu an old acquaintance of yours?”

“Uh.”

Ying Yiren lowers his head and stares at the table.

“Yes, a few years ago, I met her at Dong Zhan Pavilion.” As if caught by old memories, he smiles: “Back then, she was a gifted scholar. I must admit that it was my embarrassment to call her brother.”

“Ha, you don’t know her. She wrote a ci at Dong Zhan Pavilion. It was nothing like a poem or fu, and yet it was still a brilliant piece of literature which earned her fame back then in the Xian Yang city.”

*Ci: A type of literature created akin to lyrics for musical accompaniment as the meter varies in the way that the words match the rhythm of the music. First created in Tang Dynasty, and then become popular in Song dynasty (960-1279).

Fu: Created to describe a view or an object, akin to prose. Emerged in the Warring States Period (403BC-221BC), and became popular in Han and Tang dynasty.

“Good.” Lu Buwei’s eyes slightly moves.

He does not listen to the latter half of his explanation.

“As long as she is an old acquaintance of yours, it is good.”

…

After a moment of thought, Ying Yiren looks toward Lu Buwei.

“Mister, do you want to win over brother Gu?”

“Yes.”

Lu Buwei does not hide anything. He opens up his mind: “General Gu is a fierce and brave general rare to see in the world. Her three hundred subordinates are also elites.”

“If she can be used by us, then it would be much more convenient for us to build our foothold in the Xian Yang city for future plans.”

Saying so, he strokes his beard: “If nothing goes wrong after your return, you can recognize Lady Hua Yang as your mother. However, even so, the position of crown prince is not guaranteed. We still need some extra measures.”

“If General Gu is on our side,” a sense of ferocity flashes across Lu Buwei’s eyes, as he raises one hand and puts it on his neck, “at critical moments, we can get rid of unwanted personnel.”

Hearing it, Ying Yiren falls silent.

Lu Buwei, you really treat everything as merchandise.

Everything is in your calculation; everything is about gain or loss.

However, he does not laugh it out. Instead, he slightly dips his head: “Understood. If I can, I will talk to brother Gu.”

“Alright.” Lu Buwei sighs a breath of relief, seemingly relaxed. However, as both of them know, until everything is settled, he can never truly rest assured.

“Noble prince.” After another thoughts, he speaks in a serious tone.

“If possible, the most secure way is to marry her.”

Saying so, he smiles: “General Gu is a rare beauty as well.”

Ying Yiren blushes momentarily on the thought as he feels like his heart skips a beat.

However, after thinking over the melody of Butterfly Chasing Flowers, he smiles with a bitter feeling, shaking his head.

A filthy person like me does not deserve her.

“Please do not say it anymore; do not embarrass me anymore.”

“How embarrassing.”

“Mister!” Ying Yiren furrows his brows.

“Haaa.” Lu Buwei waves his hand after witnessing Ying Yiren’s insistence. “Whatever, it is fine as long as she can be on our side.”

“Then, please excuse me.”

“Mm.”

Lu Buwei walks out, leaving Ying Yiren alone in the room, who looks up at the direction Lu Buwei leaves, and then closes his eyes.

Mister, I am afraid that I, Yiren, is also but a merchandise to you.

Ha ha.

City of Han Dan, the capital of Zhao.

The king of Zhao looks with a gloomy expression at the captain who is in a total mess.

“Tell me what of Ying Yiren.”

“Report to your highness. Ying Yiren has escaped.”

Blood fades off the captain’s lips as he speaks. Over two thousand men were sent on pursuit, yet only less than half returns, the commandant also killed.

If the king of Zhao gets furious, he could very likely lose his life.

“He has escaped.” The king of Zhao collapses on the couch, blankly staring at the front.

The hostage that he wants to vent his frustration on has escaped.

His kingdom lost four hundred thousand men in the Chang Ping battle. Should he not have asked for assistance from other kingdoms, the Zhao kingdom would have been eliminated already.

However, given the current circumstances, what is the difference from elimination?

Years ago, the Zhao kingdom was just as powerful as Qin.

Yet now, it only has an army less than one hundred thousand left.

What is the difference between this and subjugation?

“He he he.” The king of Zhao laughs.

“Tell me everything, from start to finish. Gua needs to know it.” His voice is feeble as if he is too weak to utter a word.

“Yes.” The captain swallows hard, and tells the whole story —-

Including that battalion of camp crushers, including that white robed general.

“Three hundred men can rival thousands with few lost in battle.”

“One rider can charge at the whole army, breaking all resistance.”

The king of Zhao squeezes out the words through his gritted teeth.

“The camp crushers, the white robed general.”

“They had the likes of Bai Qi, and now they get another. The kingdom of Qin is really crowed with fierce armies and generals.”

And finally, no longer able to quell his anger, he roars.

“Why don’t we have that kind of brave generals!”

“Why don’t we have that kind of armies!”

Angered at extreme, the king of Zhao draws his sword and points at the dome.

“Why is the heaven so partial to Qin! Why do you let into existence such a fierce country! Argh!”

The captain waiting downstairs do not dare raise his head, as servants on the sides shiver listening to the thundering roar of the king.