Chapter 540: Chapter 275: County Magistrate’s Amnesty, Gu Family’s Shaoyang
A distinguished guest visited the Funeral Shop today.
When the person arrived, Xu Qing was reclining in the Master’s Chair, fiddling with a walnut in his hand, pondering over the matter of the Ancient Yin River Dao.
The battle of the Eight Banner Marshals would not be easy. If the play in a few days could not suppress the arrogance of the Cangyi Group, Xu Qing wasn’t entirely confident in resolving the matter.
"The fortune of the nation depends on this; regardless of victory or defeat, the fate of Dayong will be depleted. But if he loses and seizing the momentum, the Southern Barbarians like the Yin Corrosive Dharma King take over, the sixteen states might suffer untold misery in the turmoil..."
Although Xu Qing liked corpses, he dreaded the corpses of those who died unjustly, violently, or needlessly, and deep down, he did not want to interact with them excessively.
This was related to his principle of doing the funeral business, just like the couplet at the door of a medical shop said: ’May people in the world be free from illness, and may medicine on the shelf gather dust.’
If truly good people met unfortunate ends, leaving countless families devastated, even if he could provide salvation for their corpses, his thoughts would remain obstructed.
More harm than good, from a certain perspective, the establishment of the Cat Immortal Hall and Bao Sheng Temple was a form of Spiritual Medicine to keep Xu Qing from veering into extremes.
"This battle cannot be lost. How do dead people come? From the living! Only by strengthening the development of the Bao Sheng Temple and ensuring that there are no drastic changes in the population of the sixteen states can the Funeral Shop’s business continue to develop sustainably."
"If there are no more people, what would the Sutra of Salvation be for? Wouldn’t I become a demon in an empty world?"
"This certainly won’t do!"
Xu Qing, linking the Sutra of Salvation with the Bao Sheng Temple, vaguely grasped something beyond his current realm.
However, just as he delved deeper into understanding, a figure appeared at the entrance of the Funeral Shop.
"Master Xu seems quite leisurely."
Xu Qing glanced over and saw the visitor wearing a round-collar robe, a cyan turban on his head, standing still and solemn with a natural aura of authority in his expression and demeanor.
"So it is indeed the County Magistrate visiting, my apologies for not coming sooner to greet you."
Xu Qing stood up, cupped his hands slightly, and asked, "What brings your honored self to visit my humble shop, is there something that you require?"
"..."
Chen Guangrui cast his gaze across the room filled with papermen, paper horses, wreaths, and coffins; it seemed inappropriate to want any of them for himself.
Yet, being an accomplished scholar himself, Chen Guangrui paid no mind to Xu Qing’s words. With just a brief survey, he pointed to the Master’s Chair at the entrance and said:
"I came to inquire how much this chair is for!"
"..."
Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and said with a hearty laugh, "This chair was a gift from a friend with the family name Shang. Since you like it, my lord, consider it a gift to you as well."
"..."
Chen Guangrui looked Xu Qing up and down and suddenly laughed, "I do like the chair, but how could I deprive someone of what they love? Since it was given to you by a friend, let it stay here!"
Xu Qing caught Chen Guangrui’s drift—was he trying to make friends?
"Today, I am traveling incognito, without my official status. Feel free to be at ease, Brother Xu."
Without the official status?
Hearing this, Xu Qing became cautious: "Brother Chen, are you really at leisure?"
"You and I, both scholars of Dayong, are as good as fellow students. I’m here to visit a virtuous younger brother, could I really have ulterior motives?" Chen Guangrui feigned a look of displeasure, but the more he acted like this, the more Xu Qing felt something was amiss.
Xu Qing calmly poured a cup of tea for Chen Guangrui, and they chatted over tea idly. Once the atmosphere was thoroughly relaxed, Chen Guangrui suddenly said, "The current situation of the court is unstable, treacherous officials hold sway, those Cangyi Groups and Red Robe Cultists cause trouble everywhere, spreading discord among the people, making them uneasy..."
"I often worry about this, as taking lives is easy, but regaining the trust of the people is immensely difficult. During this time, thanks to the advice of my virtuous brother, we proposed a performance under the pretext of a memorial for the Eight Banner Marshals. Imagine, as long as the play where the Eight Banner Marshals slay the Yin Corrosive Dharma King remains popular, the myth that the Cangyi Group previously built up will be shattered!"
"The people of Dayong will be inspired by this, it is indeed a clever stratagem..."
After listening, Xu Qing was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "The Yin Corrosive Dharma King of the Cangyi Group is like a castle built on sand, a dream, or illusion, easily broken. How does Brother Chen believe the Eight Banner Marshals can continue to replace them without collapsing in the people’s minds?"
Seeing Chen Guangrui’s brow furrow, Xu Qing chuckled softly, "These are all temporary measures, remedies that do not address the root cause. If even this can be considered presentable..."
Dayong is truly beyond salvation!
Xu Qing didn’t state it outright, yet Chen Guangrui understood.
"Virtuous brother, I see you have remarkable insight, as if possessing talents for management. Why not join the court as an official, to support a falling wall and rescue the people from fire and water?"
Xu Qing looked at Chen Guangrui with a deep gaze.
With the court of Dayong being so utterly rotten, if he were to help Dayong, wouldn’t that be pushing the people into the fire pit?
If Chen Guangrui knew that his proclaiming of the Eight Banner Marshals was merely to fend off barbarian invasions, what might he think?
Feeling Xu Qing’s gaze, Chen Guangrui suddenly felt inexplicably anxious. "Did I say something wrong?"
"Quite right, but I am just an ordinary scholar of the Wuxu class. I heard Brother Chen achieved in the imperial examination at a young age and is now nearly at the age of not being easily perplexed, yet still only a county official..."
Xu Qing tore through the superficial facade and said directly, "With talents like yours, who feel too exhausted, how could an ordinary scholar like me possibly soar?"
"Besides, I lack those capabilities."
Chen Guangrui opened his mouth, yet found himself speechless.
In the end, he sighed deeply and smiled bitterly, "Alas, we have the ambition of aiding the heavens, yet the heavens abandon us like dust. Letting the pearls and jade gather dust, and seeing good talent neglected is a sign of the collapse of the imperial order and the chaos of the world..."
Was this something that could be uttered? Xu Qing found himself twitching his eye at the words, pondering that the tea cup in his hand shouldn’t have contained any real wine, so how was it making him spout nonsense.
"Brother Chen need not be so pessimistic, as long as you remain devoted to aiding the world, no matter how the weather changes, you can still benefit the people."
Chen Guangrui’s eyes widened upon hearing Xu Qing’s subtly suggestive words, was this something that could be said?
The two nearly simultaneously took a strategic sip of tea.
Seeing that he could not convince Xu Qing and was nearly persuaded himself, Chen Guangrui refrained from mentioning the matter of ’summoning peace’.
"Brother Chen, any news of Shang Shaoyang?"
Solving the Nan Cuo issue cannot rely on the Eight Banner Marshals defeating the Yin Corrosive Dharma King alone. Xu Qing kept thinking about Shang Shaoyang’s words before leaving, about persuading his family to unite with the Dao soldiers of the Gu family to clear the southern turmoil and completely eliminate the Cangyi Army.
If he could truly accomplish this, the chaotic situation in the south could indeed be pacified sooner.
Chen Guangrui rubbed his temples; he felt a headache whenever he heard the name Shang Shaoyang, mainly because the child was too worrisome.
"Shaoyang’s father recently sent me a letter, asking me to advise him..."
At first, Xu Qing thought this second-generation son had caused another dispute. But after listening to Chen Guangrui, he fell completely silent.
"This boy wants to utilize his family’s power to persuade the Shang family to resist the Cangyi Army, or else he would remove his name from the family register and become the son-in-law to the Gu family, joining them in restoring order in the south."
"For an aristocratic family, there’s no profit in this matter; those barbarians are something Dayong’s troops would settle, so why would they expend effort?"
"The Shang family naturally refused, and when Shaoyang wanted to leave the family and marry into the Gu family, the family elders said to him—your studies and martial training, your food and drink, which was not provided by the family, leading to your achievements today. The reason you have such prominence today is thanks to the family’s nurturing.
Others may criticize the Shang family, but you cannot!"
"Shaoyang accused his family of being bloodsucking parasites that fed on the people’s taxes, and his peers retorted, saying you are also a member of the Shang family, and in saying so, you’re also insulting yourself!"
"Do you know what Shaoyang said?" Chen Guangrui paused for a moment, his gaze profound as he continued, "Shaoyang said it was not the Shang family who raised him, but his birth parents and the people being oppressed by the family. It is those people’s resources and taxes that nourished his growth."
"..."
Xu Qing hadn’t expected Shang Shaoyang to be so resolute and decisive; the noble young man truly wanted to contribute to the people oppressed by the Southern Barbarians.
"According to the letter, he has probably already gone to Sect Martial Mansion to share fortunes and adversities with the Gu family."
Xu Qing asked, "Has the Gu family agreed to wage war and send out troops?"
Chen Guangrui replied softly, "Now he is called Gu Shaoyang."
This second-generation son, surprisingly, managed to accomplish it!