Chapter 178: Song Chu Er's Ruthlessness

  Song Chu-yi spent three months traveling in Shu State. Elegant words and sentimental feelings were first expressed there.

  To onlookers, she really did let go and enjoy herself. The itinerary wasn't tight, compared to the days before, it was a tenfold enjoyment. However, after three months, her height increased by some, but her originally slender figure almost became a bamboo pole.

  Ji Yucai realized for the first time that Song Huaijin was a person whose mind was hidden so deeply! So deep that, apart from his thinness, he couldn't find any other clues.

  Ji Bian had asked once, but Ji Yu had never spoken up to ask, she didn't make a sound, so there must be an unspeakable bitterness in her heart, and even if she was asked, she wouldn't get a true answer.

  Indeed, Song Chu had an unspoken thought. For the past three months, she had traveled to all the famous mountains and rivers in Shu, always thinking about whether one day she could meet her master by chance. Their relationship was like that of father and daughter, but in this life, they were just strangers who met once. It wasn't hard to let go, but as a human being, she was greedy for this familial bond, which was the only thing from her past life to this life that she couldn't bear to let go of.

  On the way back to Wang City, the group did not rush along the road and instead drove their horses slowly along the mountain path.

  Wei Jiang rode in a carriage, Ji Yu drove the chariot, and Qi Bian, Song Chu, and their guide rode horses ahead.

  The guide that Zhu Heng found for Song Chuyi was named Qing Shan. He used to be the second-in-command of a certain mountain stronghold, but after the leader died an untimely death, the stronghold collapsed and everyone went their separate ways to seek new opportunities. Many of those people joined other strongholds, but Qing Shan came to Wang City and submitted to Zhu Heng. In recent years, wars in Ba-Shu have been frequent, and there hasn't been enough energy to spare to eradicate mountain bandits, so many people like Qing Shan who are familiar with the various strongholds have been used to deal with them.

  So even without many guards, there was no trouble on this road.

  These past few days, unexpectedly received a letter from the Zhen family in Qin State. Ji Bian couldn't help but sigh and say: "The Zhen family will surely suffer a great blow, even to the point of being destroyed."

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, there was an eyebrow-raising challenge. She was willing to take on the honor and shame of the Zhen family, but before gambling, the Zhen family should have made sufficient preparations. In the Zhen family, there must be many who are dissatisfied with Zhen Jun, if she didn't guess wrong, those people would seize this opportunity to overthrow Zhen Jun. And as the person who had propped up the Zhen family, Zhen Jun could not possibly resign from his position as head of the household, which would force the Zhen family to split apart.

  For Zhen's family, this was a huge blow, but it was exactly what Song Chu Yi wanted.

  As for the reason why he did this, it's actually very simple. Song Chu didn't want to control Zhen Shi in order to gain power or have a bigger scheme. He wanted her to be his backing and retreat route. Therefore, these people need absolute loyalty, even if they want to plot something against her, they must firmly believe in her. The internal situation of Zhen Shi is chaotic, Song Chu doesn't want to waste more energy on controlling it. So those forces with ulterior motives must be eliminated as soon as possible.

  Zhen's family was once divided. Zhen Jun had to maintain the authority of the head of the household, even if it meant pretending to continue supporting her. Song Chuyi had a way to tell them that insisting was not wrong.

  Having a family of followers in the palm of her hand, she could manipulate them at will, which was indeed unrighteous and selfish, but for Song Chuyi, it was just a matter of convenience, and she would never have any sense of guilt.

  Although Ji Yu couldn't have imagined all this, she was very clear in her heart that if Song Chuyi hadn't done it on purpose, Zhen Shi wouldn't have had to suffer this disaster, but she didn't take any action.

  "Mr. Zhen is a man of honor." This matter can be said to have originated from Song Chuyi, and Ji Bian saw that she had no intention of lending a helping hand, so he felt injustice for Zhen Jun in his heart.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, she clicked her tongue and looked up at the sky. The sunlight was dazzling, so she narrowed her eyes and sighed, "Such a big thing, I'm still thousands of miles away, all I can do is pray to the gods for protection."

  Ji Bian fell silent, during his time in Qin Guo, Zhen Jun had been quite good to him, so it seemed somewhat unrighteous to just let things be. After some thought, he urged his horse closer to Ji Yu and said softly "Big brother, can you persuade Mr. now, it's still not too late to return to Qin Guo."

  Ji Bian always thought that Song ChuYi was a woman and had doubts about her abilities, but even he himself didn't realize that when faced with difficult situations, he would unconsciously place his hopes on her. Deep down, Ji Bian had already acknowledged that Song ChuYi had the talents of a man, but due to societal norms, he couldn't shake off his deep-seated prejudices for the time being.

  "It's better to seek divine help than to ask for favors from others, who knows it might even come in handy." Ji Yu said in his usual tone, without any intention of avoiding Song Chu Er.

  "If you dress as frankly as your words one day, I'd be delighted to see it, sir." Song Chu said with a smile.

  Ji Yan's eyes widened "Big brother, sir is teasing you!"

  He glanced at him vaguely and said "I understand."

  "We're almost at Wang City, I'm thinking of going to Tianjing for a stroll, you go back and report to Lord Heng first." Song Chu threw a bag of gold to Qing Shan.

  Qingshan caught it, originally wanted to retreat, but the weight of the gold in his hand made him hesitate for a moment, and he took advantage of the situation to stuff it into his own pocket. He cupped his hands together and said "Thank you, sir, goodbye."

  Song Chu smiled and nodded, reminding him "With a large sum of money, you must be careful."

  Mr. Xie reminded. Qing Shan said a word of thanks and whipped his horse to go ahead.

  At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, she saw him off with one glance, all the way until even the dust raised by his horse's hooves had completely disappeared, before withdrawing her gaze.

  From here, the royal city is still seven or eight miles away. Not far ahead, there is a tribe called Tú Zhěn. Zhěn refers to Tu Zhěn, one of the four great ferocious beasts of ancient times. Legend has it that when it opens its eyes, the wind and clouds change, and when it opens its mouth, it swallows the sky and earth. The name Tú Zhěn means "slaughtering Tu Zhěn". This is an ancient and mysterious tribe, whose people rarely venture out of the valley.

  Song Chu initially inquired about the Tūchuán tribe from Qing Shan during their journey. The tribes that could settle and plunder near the imperial city were indeed unusual, and this remote mountain valley was actually a place where Shu state's military generals emerged, starting with Can Cong, it has existed here, and even today, there are still great shamans revered by the tribespeople.

  They have been rooted here since the founding of Shu, as the hometown of the gods and generals of all generations. The Shu state gives them a certain degree of respect and autonomy. They are allowed to rob and kill on their own territory.

  Although the Tú Zhàn is a tribe, for merchant groups it's no different from bandits, and even more ferocious. Qing Shan usually has the most dealings with this tribe, and whenever he passes through this road, he'll offer eight-tenths of his wealth to the great shaman of the Tú Zhàn.

  This time...

  Within three months, Song ChuYi inquired about many trivial matters of Qing Shan. She knew that every few days, Qing Shan would secretly send messages back to Wang City. She never stopped him nor exposed him. She didn't know what specific content Qing Shan wrote, but based on the time they could be alone each day, it was only enough to say a rough idea through secret letters.

  Zhu Heng is not foolish, and that seemingly out-of-place Shu king is not a simpleton either. If Qing Shan were to carefully reveal the questions she had asked, her intentions might not be able to remain hidden.

  So, borrowing a knife to kill someone is also unavoidable.

  Although it seems unstable, after three months of understanding, Song Chu knew that Qing Shan's greed would push him into the abyss of death.