After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 39

After hearing this, Centurion Jiang sneered. Thinking the man was completely unreasonable, he bluntly exposed him. “Don’t think I’m ignorant. The person was clearly captured by the Fourth Boss of the East Stronghold. You drank and arrived late, you didn’t even see a shadow of her. How can that count as you capturing her?”

The Third Boss snorted coldly, showing not the slightest trace of guilt at being exposed, and said, “You don’t know this, Fourth Boss is my good brother. Whoever he catches is the same as me catching them. If I’d known beforehand that he was going to catch someone, would I not have fought him for it? I say, Jiang Chong, you’re at least a centurion in the army, surely you’re not going to try to dodge paying even this little bit of money, are you? You say the person wasn’t caught by me? Fine then, I’ll collect the money on behalf of my brother. That’s allowed, right?”

As he spoke, he stepped on a bench, tilted his head back and downed another bowl of wine, then slammed the bowl heavily onto the table. The scar on his face looked ferocious, and there was menace in his gaze.

Centurion Jiang’s face turned iron-blue. He had long known this man was a rogue, but he hadn’t expected him to be this difficult to deal with. If they were in the military camp, a person like this would have been dealt with by him long ago.

But at the moment he was on someone else’s turf. Better to have one less matter than one more. It wasn’t worth falling out over a little silver.

So with a cold face, he took a money pouch from his robes and threw it over, saying, “Take it.”

The Third Boss caught the pouch in one grab and weighed it in his hand. It felt heavy, there should be quite a bit of silver inside. He immediately broke into a smile and said, “Now that’s more like it. Come, come, we’re all brothers here, drink, drink!”

But Centurion Jiang had no mood to drink with him. After saying an ambiguous “No need,” he stood up and left directly.

As soon as the Third Boss saw him go, he instantly dropped the smile and snorted coldly. “What a thing!”

After saying that he drank another bowl of wine, and when he finished, he tossed the bowl onto the table, leaving behind a table full of already cold dishes and wine, and strode outside.

Just as he walked out of the hall, the underling Ah Fu, who had been waiting outside the whole time, hurriedly followed.

The Third Boss opened the money pouch and lowered his head to count it. Afterward, he directly tossed both the pouch and the silver to the underling behind him.

The underling caught it in one grab. Seeing the shining silver ingots inside, his face immediately split into a grin. “Third Boss, this is all for me?”

“In your dreams!” the Third Boss said irritably. “This is Fourth Boss’s money. Later you take it and deliver it to Fourth, …forget it, if you give it to him directly he definitely won’t accept it.”

After thinking for a moment, he said again, “How about this: take the money to the kitchen of the East Stronghold and have the cooks there buy more chickens, ducks, fish, and meat. Make good dishes and send them to Fourth Boss. Fourth Boss is a gu, …ahem, he’s a scholar. He’s also rather delicate-looking. Usually he’s busy with the affairs of the East Stronghold, he works quite hard.”

The underling behind him thought: Fourth Boss isn’t delicate. He’s just not as sturdy as you. If we’re talking about fighting skill, there aren’t many in our Stronghold who are his match.

But on the surface he quickly flattered him, saying, “Third Boss really has thought it through. When Fourth Boss finds out later, he’ll surely be moved. But… were you really asking for this money especially for Fourth Boss?”

The Third Boss immediately began coughing when he heard this. His scarred face turned slightly red, and in a gruff voice he said, “Of course not! Don’t talk nonsense. It wouldn’t be good if Fourth Boss found out. I only… didn’t like the look of that Jiang fellow.”

“Ah? Why?” the underling asked, puzzled.

The Third Boss shook his head and said, “Let me ask you, aren’t we and the people of the East Stronghold all brothers?”

The underling thought to himself: That’s hard to say. Our relationship with the East Stronghold is pretty tense right now. You’re the only one pretending to be blind and not seeing it.

But on the surface he hurriedly agreed: “Of course we’re all brothers.”

“That’s it then.” The Third Boss nodded in satisfaction and continued, “Since we’re all brothers, if someone among us joins hands with outsiders to harm the brothers of the East Stronghold, how would the East Stronghold brothers look at us?”

“They’d definitely hate us to death,” the underling said.

“Exactly!” The Third Boss’s fan-sized hand slapped the underling hard on the shoulder, making the other’s small frame sway back and forth. Then he continued, “Look, this Jiang fellow is like those soldiers down the mountain, also brothers. Yet he joined hands with us and used such vicious methods to harm his own people. That’s really despicable!”

The underling hesitated. “Uh… seems so.”

The Third Boss stroked the thick beard that covered half his face and couldn’t help sighing. “Although we’re opponents with those soldiers down the mountain, when we fought before, no one used underhanded tricks. Seeing them all burned like that last night… it was rather pitiful.”

The underling nodded and hesitantly said, “That’s true… but Third Boss, why are you speaking up for the other side?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” The Third Boss immediately put on a fierce face. “Who said I’m speaking up for the other side? This is called… when the rabbit dies, the lone one grieves. Don’t you understand?”

Underling: …Isn’t it ‘when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves’?

He hurriedly shook his head and flattered him: “I don’t really understand, but Third Boss, those words you said sounded quite literary.”

“Really? Truly?” The Third Boss felt secretly pleased when he heard this. Seeing the underling nod repeatedly, he coughed and said, “I’m just learning from Fourth Boss. Fourth Boss is a scholar, he says reading is good. Heh heh, I like reading too.”

Just then they reached his living quarters. He casually picked up a book from the table and flipped through it in a showy manner, and even lectured the underling: “When you have time, you should read more too. Reading is good!”

The underling nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes… but Third Boss, it seems like you’re holding the book upside down.”

Third Boss: “……”

He immediately turned the book around and scolded with a fierce face, “Why are you still standing here? Why aren’t you hurrying to deliver the money?”

“Ah, right.” Having been scolded, the underling quickly ran off in a puff of dust.

***

East Stronghold, council hall.

Chief Song entered the hall in large strides, bringing along his trusted men and a group of attendants.

He saw Lu Zhi sitting in the main seat, his expression dark.

He let out a “yo,” strode forward, casually found a seat and sat down. His legs were spread freely, arms resting on the armrests, his attitude unruly as he said, “Brother Lu, feeling better? A few days ago I heard you were seriously ill. As your elder brother, I was quite worried about you. So when I heard you were short of medicine, I specially took some brothers to the nearby villages to look for medicine. It’s just a pity…”

Before he finished speaking, Xuanping, who was standing beside Lu Zhi, could not help interrupting with a cold laugh. “You took people to help my elder brother find medicine? You clearly took people to plunder the nearby villages. If I hadn’t rushed there with men in time to stop you, you wouldn’t only have robbed grain, you would have robbed people too!”

Thinking that if he hadn’t arrived in time, a young woman from that village would have been violated, Xuanping’s face turned iron-blue with anger.

When Chief Song heard this, he suddenly slapped the armrest of his chair and said unhappily, “Fourth Boss, what kind of attitude is that? I’m talking to the Second Boss, since when is it your turn to interrupt?”

Xuanping: “You—”

“Yes, Fourth Boss.” The scholar behind Chief Song stroked his long beard and also spoke, “The chief is the head of the stronghold, how can you speak to him like that? Besides, you only talk about the chief, why not talk about yourself? Didn’t you also seize military supplies yesterday, and even directly snatch a young woman back? Our chief didn’t bring anyone back.”

“Right, exactly!” Chief Song was suddenly reminded and immediately chimed in, “I did seize them, sure, but didn’t Fourth Boss Xuan also seize something? What, are the rules set by the Second Boss made only for my West Stronghold, and not for the people of the East Stronghold?”

“You, you all!” Xuanping’s face turned green with anger as he argued, “When did I ever seize military supplies? I didn’t touch even a blade of grass, I only…”

“You only snatched a young woman back, hahaha!” Chief Song cut in, laughing together with his men.

Xuanping gritted his teeth and was about to explain further, but was suddenly stopped by Lu Zhi raising his hand.

Xuanping had indeed directly taken the person by force; on this matter, they had been caught out by the West Stronghold.

Although Xuanping hadn’t seized military supplies, and his purpose in taking the girl was to help tend to his injuries, completely different from Chief Song’s actions, continuing to argue would only let the other side lead the conversation astray. Even if Xuanping told the truth, the other side would twist the facts, refuse to believe it, and might even demand that Miss Shen come out to confront them, which would damage her reputation.

Continuing to argue like this was meaningless.

Thinking this, Lu Zhi couldn’t help but cast a reproachful glance at Xuanping.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Xuanping subconsciously lowered his head.

Lu Zhi withdrew his gaze and looked heavily toward Chief Song and the others, an inexplicable sense of pressure emanating from him.

The group under Chief Song gradually stopped laughing; one by one, their expressions even stiffened, and they lowered their heads as if not daring to meet his gaze.

In the end, only Chief Song was still laughing, his exaggerated laughter echoing through the empty hall. When he realized that only his voice remained, he suddenly stopped.

As soon as he stopped, the entire hall became utterly silent, the atmosphere congealed.

Chief Song felt somewhat displeased, but when he lifted his head and met Lu Zhi’s gaze, his heart inexplicably trembled.

After everyone quieted down, Lu Zhi finally shifted his gaze, looking only at Chief Song.

“Song Wanqian,” Lu Zhi said, directly calling him by name, staring at him heavily. “Setting aside the matter of looting villages before, I only ask you, who leaked the existence of the small path by the rear cliff? And who taught you to pile up dry branches by the roadside and use fire to attack the army below?”

His tone was flat, but his gaze was icy cold, making Chief Song and the others’ hearts tighten inexplicably; for a moment, no one answered.

The scholar behind Chief Song looked around, then suddenly stepped forward, cupping his hands and forcing a smile. “Replying to the Second Boss, this matter…”

“Did I ask you?” Before he could finish, Lu Zhi turned his head and looked at him coldly.

The scholar fell silent at once.

Seeing his subordinate lose face, Chief Song finally slapped the arm of his chair and stood up. “No one leaked the path’s information, and no one taught me, can’t it be that I came up with using fire myself?”

Lu Zhi let out a cold laugh at that.

To Chief Song, that expression clearly looked like mockery: You? You have that kind of brain?

Chief Song immediately grew displeased and shouted, “What now? The government troops came to suppress bandits, you East Stronghold hid and did nothing. My West Stronghold solved the problem, and that’s wrong?”

Lu Zhi said coldly, “If no one leaked it, how would the troops know of the path’s existence? And how would the stronghold have been attacked last night?”

It was clear someone had deliberately set bait to lure the troops to attack.

“How would I know? Maybe there have been many new arrivals in the stronghold recently, and someone accidentally leaked the information. Or maybe your East Stronghold leaked it,” Chief Song said stubbornly, refusing to admit anything. In the end, he waved his hand impatiently. “Alright, alright, it’s not a big deal. I’ll go back and investigate properly.”

After saying that, he saw Lu Zhi looking at him coldly.

Being stared at like that made Chief Song’s heart tighten again. To be honest, he was sometimes quite wary of this man surnamed Lu. Although the other wasn’t as robust as these rough men, and even seemed sickly lately due to poor health, he truly was capable. The stronghold had managed to repel government troops several times before entirely thanks to his strategies.

Moreover, Chief Song could tell that when Lu Zhi dealt with those who came to suppress bandits, he hadn’t used his full strength at all. Most of the time, he merely drove them back; sometimes he even avoided harming them if he could.

Chief Song didn’t dare imagine what would happen if he truly used all his effort against someone.

On one hand, he was grateful that Third Brother had brought Lu Zhi and his people back to the mountains, they had helped repel the troops several times, so that these brothers in the mountains wouldn’t end up like the previous chiefs, losing their heads outright.

But as life gradually improved, he also began to fear Lu Zhi.

With such ability, and with subordinates all capable fighters, was he someone who would remain under another for long? If the other wanted to seize his power, would he be a match?

Though he thought all this, Chief Song still remained tough on the surface. “Anyway, what’s done is done. It’s just burning a few dog soldiers, so what?”

“Bang!”

Lu Zhi suddenly smashed the teacup beside him and said coldly, “Those people you speak of are all men guarding the northern passes, holding back the Hu people, fighting to the death for the country! You deliberately set bait to lure them here and used such ruthless methods, did you ever think that if the Hu people attacked and there were no border troops to resist them, would you and your brothers in these mountains survive under their blades?”

On the roof, Pei Er, hearing this, couldn’t help but look through the gaps between the tiles to take another glance at that Young Master Lu.

But Chief Song said carelessly, “Why should I care what they’re guarding? Since they came to attack me, can’t I fight back? As for those Hu people coming, I can fight them back too.”

Lu Zhi sneered upon hearing this. “If you could really do as you say, I’d think a bit more highly of you.”

Chief Song’s expression immediately turned angry.

But before he could speak, Lu Zhi added, “If you hadn’t deliberately set bait, those troops might not have found the stronghold, how would they attack you? Even if they did find it, I had ways to repel them.”

On the roof, Pei Er narrowed his eyes slightly at this.

“That small path was the final escape route I left for the people of the stronghold. If the day truly came when the stronghold couldn’t be held, you could still flee through that path. But now, for the sake of immediate gain, you exposed its location. Truly foolish, cutting off your own retreat,” Lu Zhi rebuked coldly inside the hall.

The truth is often unpleasant to hear, not to mention that Chief Song was a straightforward brute, usually only capable of showing off a reckless man’s courage.

Hearing this, he immediately grew angry: “That’s none of your concern, worry about your East Stronghold first.”

After speaking, he led his group of subordinates and was about to leave. Halfway out, he suddenly remembered something, turned back, and said, “Oh right, the girl your Fourth Boss captured yesterday was originally someone our Third Brother wanted to take. As for you going to the West Stronghold today to stop the fire attack, I won’t argue with you over it. Just hand that girl over and—”

Before he could finish, he suddenly saw Lu Zhi look over coldly, a killing intent seeming to flicker in his eyes.

Chief Song instantly fell silent, inexplicably feeling a chill at the back of his neck. In the end, he swallowed, didn’t say another word, and left directly.

Even after walking out of the council hall, he still felt as though a gaze was fixed on his back, carrying a cold killing intent. But this time it didn’t seem to be from the council hall, but rather…

When passing over an arched bridge, Chief Song finally couldn’t help himself and turned his head to look.

No one had come out of the council hall, and no one was watching him from the rooftop either.

He couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief and subconsciously raised a hand to touch his neck.

The scholar beside him asked in confusion, “Chief, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Chief Song turned back and continued leaving.

After he turned away, Pei Er revealed half his face from behind the roof ridge, a pair of dark eyes carrying a cold killing intent as he stared at the departing Chief Song.

***

Inside the council hall.

After Chief Song left, Lu Zhi suddenly raised his head and glanced upward.

Outside the roof, Pei Er had already left silently.

Xuanping noticed Lu Zhi’s gaze and asked, “Big Brother, what’s wrong?”

Lu Zhi shook his head, withdrew his gaze, and frowned. “Maybe it was my imagination.”

After speaking, he asked again, “On Miss Shen’s side, she wasn’t frightened last night, was she?”

Xuanping let out an “uh” and said ashamedly, “I haven’t gone to visit yet.”

Hearing this, Lu Zhi paused, raised his head to look at the sky outside, it was already time for the morning meal.

He thought for a moment and said, “Have someone send some food over first. After a while, I’ll go visit.”

It wouldn’t be appropriate to disturb her during mealtime.

“Alright.” Xuanping nodded quickly.

“Wait.” He had just turned to leave when he was called back.

Lu Zhi reminded, “Send something good. Don’t slight her.”

Xuanping couldn’t help but smile. “Rest assured, Big Brother, whoever I might neglect, I won’t neglect Miss Shen.”

After speaking, he quickly walked out.

When he reached the kitchen, Xuanping had intended to personally give instructions, but saw that the food was already prepared. And early in the morning at that, the dishes were quite lavish: chicken, duck, fish, meat, everything.

It seemed the people below were quite perceptive; without needing his instructions, they had already handled the matter.

Xuanping nodded in satisfaction and directly ordered, “Quickly, bring all the dishes to Miss Shen’s room.”

“Huh?” The servant who had been about to carry the food to his room froze, just about to explain something, but saw that Xuanping had already strode away.

***

After leaving the rooftop, Pei Er avoided places where people were and silently returned next door.

When Li Chanxiu saw him come back, he quickly shut the door and pulled him into the room.

Before being asked, Pei Er first recounted everything he had heard in full detail.

After listening, Li Chanxiu pondered: “It seems the conflict between the East and West Strongholds runs deep. Chief Song cannot tolerate Lu Zhi, and Lu Zhi may not be able to tolerate him much longer either.”

“Mm.” Pei Er nodded. “Originally, I planned to surround them for a few days first, and then attack once their stronghold became divided and discordant.”

It was only after learning that Li Chanxiu and Physician Hu had been captured that he temporarily changed his plan.

Physician Hu, hearing this, asked in surprise, “You already knew beforehand that they were at odds?”

Pei Er replied, “On the way here, I had people gather information along the route and learned some of the situation, so I had this suspicion. After hearing their confrontation just now, I’m even more certain.”

“So, you think they’ll split?” Li Chanxiu rested his fingers against his chin, thoughtful.

Pei Er nodded. “And it won’t take long.”

“Although the one surnamed Song is the chief, he’s clearly suppressed by the one surnamed Lu. Lu Zhi probably can’t tolerate some of Chief Song’s foolish behavior much longer either. Just now, during the confrontation, he gave him no face at all. But in my view, Lu Zhi won’t make the first move. In his eyes, Chief Song may be foolish, but not a real threat. On the contrary, Chief Song, after feeling Lu Zhi’s pressure today, will likely fear that Lu Zhi wants to kill him, and may strike first instead.”

After hearing his analysis, Li Chanxiu was momentarily stunned and suddenly thought of something. In the dream, during the time Lu Zhi had fallen into banditry, not only did he lose a leg, but the people around him all died protecting him, leaving only Xuanping in the end.

But based on what Pei Er had just heard, Lu Zhi believed he had ways to repel the troops and wasn’t afraid of the government forces truly finding the stronghold. Even the small path used as bait in last night’s fire attack had originally been left by him as an escape route for the bandits.

That being the case, when it came to dealing with the suppression of bandits, even if Lu Zhi didn’t have a perfect plan, he at least had more than one method. Would someone like that leave himself with only a single escape route? And one that even someone like Chief Song knew about, wasn’t he afraid of accidents? Like this time, when the path’s location was leaked.

He must have other escape routes.

So in the dream, it was unlikely that Lu Zhi’s subordinates died at the hands of the government troops he had already prepared for. Rather, it was more likely… that the East and West Strongholds split, and the West Stronghold turned against them.

Then he thought again, in the dream, he himself hadn’t been brought here, so no one had helped treat Lu Zhi’s injuries. At this moment, Lu Zhi was probably suffering from worsening wounds, burning with fever, and unconscious.

And Xuanping, worried about Lu Zhi, would surely go outside the stronghold often to find physicians and medicine, wouldn’t that give Chief Song an opportunity to take advantage?

***

West Stronghold.

Centurion Jiang returned to his temporary residence in the stronghold. Thinking that before long Chief Song would bring him the person he wanted, he couldn’t help rubbing his hands together, pacing excitedly around the room.

Suddenly, his gaze fell on the wine pot on the table. After hesitating for a moment, he took out a paper packet from his chest.

Opening it, the paper contained some white powder.

Thinking of the guarantee the physician in the city had given when he got the medicine, he gritted his teeth and was about to pour the powder into the wine.

It wasn’t that he was incapable yet still trying to act tough, it was just that after having one of them crippled by that kid surnamed Pei, he had lost some confidence.

But on second thought, he felt it might not be necessary. Hadn’t the physician who treated his injuries said that one would still work?

While he was hesitating, he suddenly heard a burst of footsteps outside, mixed with Chief Song’s somewhat displeased voice.

Centurion Jiang quickly put away the medicine packet, tucked it back into his chest, and hurried out.

When he reached the council hall, he only saw Chief Song sitting in the central chair, his face dark. The others were all beside him trying to calm him down, and Li Chanxiu was nowhere to be seen.

Centurion Jiang froze for a moment and asked, “Chief Song, what’s going on? That… Miss Shen…”

It would have been better if he hadn’t brought it up, once he did, Chief Song immediately recalled how just now, because of a single look from Lu Zhi, he had been so frightened that he didn’t even finish speaking before turning around and coming back.

But in front of Centurion Jiang, he absolutely couldn’t admit it, so he snorted coldly and patched things up for himself: “That Lu fellow is overbearing and unreasonable. I went to ask for the person, and he refused. To avoid harming our relations, what could I do? I simply let him have his way.”

Hearing this, Centurion Jiang was clearly disappointed.

But he wasn’t a fool, he still had some ability to read expressions and judge the situation. At this moment, he could more or less tell that Chief Song’s words were insincere. It likely wasn’t that Chief Song had yielded to the Second Boss, rather, he hadn’t gained any advantage at all against him.

Especially last night, when the Second Boss went to stop the stronghold from continuing the fire attack, Chief Song hadn’t dared to block him at all, though his expression had hidden displeasure.

It was clear that Chief Song was somewhat wary of the Second Boss of the East Stronghold, though deeply dissatisfied in his heart.

Centurion Jiang felt contempt inwardly and looked down on him somewhat, but on the surface he showed shared hostility and stirred things up: “The chief truly considers the bigger picture and the stronghold’s interests, able to endure a moment’s anger, I deeply admire that. However, I think the Second Boss is arrogant and tyrannical. When he came to stop us from using fire before, he didn’t give you any face at all. I fear he may not appreciate your goodwill.”