#299 - Good dreams are the easiest to wake up from

Half an hour later.

The carriage slowly stopped in front of a mansion. Li Wutong entered the mansion accompanied by several guards, and came out about two quarters of an hour later.

Looking at Li Wutong, who was sitting across from him again, Wei Changtian did not ask her what she had said to Shen Shulin. He just stretched and then instructed Youjia to take out the cards to play "Beat the Devil."

"Whirr, whirr ~"

Youjia quickly shuffled the cards, but Wei Changtian was not in a hurry to draw.

He looked up at Li Wutong, who was staring blankly at the tips of her shoes, and suddenly asked:

"Do you want to play cards?"

"Ah?"

Li Wutong looked left and right as if she hadn't reacted, and then weakly pointed to her nose and asked:

"You, are you asking me?"

"Yes."

Wei Changtian smiled and asked again, "Princess, do you want to play cards?"

"I, I don't know how..."

"It's okay, I'll teach you."

"Alright..."

Li Wutong moved her body and sat next to the small table, listening to Wei Changtian explain the basic rules of "Beat the Devil" with a serious face.

It wasn't a very complicated game to begin with, so she quickly grasped the basics.

The three of them played a few rounds, and Li Wutong slowly became familiar with the tricks, but her interest was never very high.

"An eight."

Putting a piece of cardboard on the table, Wei Changtian casually asked, "Princess, are you worried about Young Master Shen?"

"Ah?"

Li Wutong immediately forgot to play her card, and after a long while, she nodded lightly.

"Yes, I'm afraid he'll do something rash, and I'm also afraid that he'll bear a grudge against me..."

"Well, that's not unreasonable."

Wei Changtian played a ten to beat Youjia's nine: "After all, 'passionate love has caused regret since ancient times.'"

Passionate love has caused regret since ancient times...

Hearing this sentence, Li Wutong was stunned, and even Youjia's expression became very complicated for a moment.

Both women were silent, while Wei Changtian smiled indifferently and asked:

"I played a ten, do you want it?"

"No! I'll play! A pair of fours!"

"This time, do you want it?"

"..."

The two women looked at each other, suppressed the messy thoughts in their hearts, and barely turned their attention back to their own cards.

"I'll play a pair of sixes."

Li Wutong said, absentmindedly putting down a six and a seven.

"Don't worry, Young Master Shen will wake up."

"..."

Shen Residence.

The spacious study was filled with the scent of paper and ink. Behind the huanghuali desk were two bookshelves, filled with classics, histories, philosophical works, and commentaries from scholars of various dynasties.

In stark contrast, the books placed on the desk were all strange cultivation books such as "Yunji Qiqian" and "Wuzhen Pian", or miscellaneous notes about the interesting stories of the Green Forest.

"..."

Sitting blankly in the wooden chair, Shen Shulin had been in this position for an unknown amount of time, his mind still echoing the words Li Wutong had spoken with her own mouth.

"Young Master Shen, I will never marry a scholar, nor do I want you to abandon your studies for martial arts..."

"You are a scholar, and you like to read, so you should continue to study hard and assist my father in governing the country in the court in the future."

"About last night... I'm sorry..."

"I believe that in the future, you will definitely find a woman who truly loves you..."

"I'm leaving, goodbye forever..."

"..."

"Whirr ~"

A gust of breeze entered through the window, flipping through a copy of "Unofficial History of the Martial World" on the table.

Ordinary people would probably just read this kind of unofficial history and anecdotes about the Green Forest of the Dafeng as a pastime, but Shen Shulin had carefully marked every page and paragraph, which shows how serious he was when reading.

Reaching out and gently pressing down on the pages that were fluttering in the wind, his eyes stayed on the lines of small characters that he was actually not interested in at all, until the whole book was heavily closed.

Shen Shulin suddenly stood up, stacked the "miscellaneous books" on the desk that were irrelevant to governing the country into a pile, and placed them in the corner of the study.

Then, he silently pulled out a copy of "Tongjian Jilan" from the bookshelf, sat down in front of the desk again, and slowly flipped through it page by page with utmost seriousness.

Outside the window, the morning sun was just right, and the breeze was gentle.

In fact, Shen Shulin still had a trace of unwillingness and despair in his heart at this time, and he did not know where his future lay.

But when he surpassed the ancestor of the Shen family many years later and returned to his hometown as prime minister, he came to this study again, recalling the scene of today...

At that time, he might also laugh it off like Wei Changtian did yesterday, and just turn this past into a self-deprecating smile.

Two days later, Yuanzhou City.

Just as Wei Changtian and his party left Huailing Prefecture and were only three days away from reaching Fengyuan, Lao Zhangtou and Agou finally arrived in Yuanzhou City in a donkey cart.

Although the two countries were at war, no one cared about civilians like them who were "escaping from the war."

It's just that other people were fleeing from Yuanzhou to the prefectures and counties in the hinterland of Da Ning, but these two people were "going against the grain", running to where it was dangerous, which was a bit strange.

"You are refugees from Jizhou?"

At the west gate of Yuanzhou City, several Dafeng soldiers were questioning Lao Zhangtou with strange expressions: "Old man, do you know this is Yuanzhou City?!"

"Hehe, sir, this old man naturally knows that this place is Yuanzhou City."

Lao Zhangtou replied with a smile: "We two want to pass through Yuanzhou to take refuge in your Dafeng!"

"Go to Dafeng?"

One of the soldiers laughed and said: "What? Da Ning is such a big place that it can't accommodate you?"

"Sir, you are joking. It can naturally accommodate us, but there are battles every two or three days, and life is not peaceful."

Lao Zhangtou took out the prepared speech: "We common people only seek stability in our lives. What does it matter whether we are in Da Ning or Dafeng?"

"Hahahaha, you old man are interesting."

A group of soldiers laughed and said: "Do you know that if your words are heard by the officials of Da Ning, you will lose your head?"

"Hehe, how would they hear it?"

Lao Zhangtou rubbed his hands: "Isn't this Yuanzhou City full of heroes from our Dafeng now!"

"Hahahaha!"

The hearty laughter was even louder. After the soldiers laughed, they didn't make things difficult for Lao Zhangtou. They prepared to check the donkey cart and let him enter the city.

After all, Da Ning has indeed been uneasy in various places after suffering several major disturbances in a row.

In addition, since the fall of Yuanzhou City, some people have indeed chosen to take refuge in Dafeng, so they didn't suspect Lao Zhangtou's motives too much.

Da Ning couldn't possibly send such an old and young pair to be spies, right?

"Alright, go in."

Casually flipping through the packages on the donkey cart, and pinching Agou's cheek, a soldier waved his hand and said, "Go to Dafeng and live a good life, at least you won't starve to death!"

"That's good, that's good, thank you, sirs!"

Lao Zhangtou hurriedly echoed a few words, pulling the donkey cart and preparing to enter the city.

However, at this moment, a voice suddenly sounded not far away.

"Wait!"