Being a Gentleman
How so?
Ji Yunshu took out a folded piece of paper from her sleeves, unfolded it slowly, and laid it flat on the table. Then, she turned it 180 degrees to face Wen Lingyang.
On the paper, four lines of a poem were neatly written.
'Looking deeply at the shadows in people's eyes,' Enduring to rise ', returning to the side of the past, meeting old friends one by one.'
She said, "This humble one did not understand the four lines that Advisor Wen wrote before, but after the events that followed, I understood in an instant."
"Oh? Tell me more, Teacher. "Wen Lingyang smiled faintly, retracting his gaze from the door to the piece of paper in front of him.
"'Looking deeply at the shadows in people's eyes', was it referring to your father? 'Enduring to rise', was it referring to yourself, returning to the side of the past, was it referring to Yun Tongyang, Li Mingzhou, and the other six people, and 'meeting old friends one by one', was it referring to all of you. "
Wen Lingyang listened intently.
Twenty words, cleanly written!
It was like a picture of his life, from the beginning to the end of his life.
Ji Yunshu continued, "When you wrote those four lines of poetry, you were trying to tell me that you're the murderer. Of course, it's not just these four lines of poetry. There's also the small brocade box that you always carry around with you. I presume that the third layer of the box that you haven't opened contains ink mixed with the daisy, right? If the crazed Li Yuan had not rushed in, you would have already laid your cards on the table. There was also the tattoo on your body. If you really wanted to escape punishment, you would never have let Prince Rong see the scar on your body. All of these were done so that I would find out about it. "
Wen Lingyang did not deny it, and his expression did not change.
He looked up and praised, "I thought that no one else in this world could understand these four lines except for me. I didn't think that Teacher would be able to decipher them all. I've only heard of Teacher's intelligence, and even doubted it. How could there be such a genius in this world? But now, I can't help but admire Teacher. You're the smartest person I've ever met. If I could befriend Teacher, this life would be more than enough for me. "
Not a single word of falsehood!
"When Boya played the zither, Ziqi was the only one who could understand his music. After Ziqi died, Boya smashed his beloved zither on Ziqi's grave. The zither had strings, but no one could listen to it. Only Boya himself could understand such a tragedy. If there is a 'what if' in this world, Advisor Wen could be Boya, and I could be Ziqi. It's not impossible."
"With teacher's words, even if I die, I will feel relieved."
He took a sip of tea, feeling extremely satisfied.
The next moment, Ji Yunshu took out something from her sleeve and pushed it in front of him.
That thing was a square stone with a small hole in the middle. Previously, it must have been hung by something, so the surroundings of the small hole were more slippery and darker than other places.
What was even stranger was that there were seven scratches of different depths on the stone. Due to years of polishing, the scratches were getting deeper and glossier.
Wen Lingyang's heart skipped a beat when he saw the stone and he frowned.
"This is my father's."
He was at a loss for words. He picked up the stone and carefully rubbed the seven grooves on it.
Ji Yunshu explained, "Li Mingzhou dug up Chang Shiliang's grave for two reasons. First, he wanted to destroy Chang Shiliang's body, and second, he wanted to find this stone. After your father died, this stone was always with Chang Shiliang, and he always carried it with him. After his death, the Chang family treated it as a funerary object and placed it in the coffin. Chang Shiliang didn't throw away such an ordinary stone for twenty years. Li Mingzhou risked being captured just to find this stone, so it must be very important to them, right?"
"The seven scratches on this stone were made by them and my father. They represent seven people. I thought that after my father died, they threw the stone away too."
But …
Chang Shiliang kept it, and Li Mingzhou kept it in his heart.
It was clear that the seven brothers' friendship was still there.
Wen Lingyang sighed and squeezed the stone in his palm. The icy coldness seemed to flow through the veins in his palm.
His entire body was cold.
Outside, the sun had already peeked half its head out of the mountain.
Rays of light shone into the room, moving from the ground to the bamboo walls, giving off a lazy and leisurely feeling.
Slow down!
Wen Lingyang raised his head and reached for the bamboo in the vase, handing it to Ji Yunshu.
"Teacher, please do me a favor and pass this bamboo to Xinlan. That girl loved this bamboo in my room the most, and would often ask for it. Now that the place is empty, there's no point in keeping it. Why not give it to someone who loves it and take good care of it?"
His voice grew weaker and weaker.
Ji Yunshu held it carefully and nodded, "Don't worry, this one will hand it to Miss Zhang personally."
"Thank you."
She stood up and brushed away the wrinkles on her robe, then turned to leave.
She had only taken two steps when she paused and asked Wen Lingyang with her back facing him.
"Do you regret it?"
She didn't know what his expression was, but she could feel the person behind her smile.
"Regret?" Wen Lingyang's lips curled into a smile, "Life is like a game of chess. Only after careful consideration can one make his move, and having no regrets after making a move is what a gentleman should do. Although I can't be a good person, I want to be a gentleman."
His voice grew weaker and weaker.
What a gentleman!
Ji Yunshu didn't dare to turn back to look at Wen Lingyang. She could only hear a faint sound, the sound of someone's head drooping down.
She took a deep breath and went out.
When the yamen's people came in, they found a cold corpse.
Wen Lingyang was sitting upright with his head lowered, his eyelids shut tightly, but his lips were still curved in a smile.
In his hand, he was holding the stone.
His shadow was still imprinted on the screen behind him. As the light moved, it became longer and longer.
At this moment, the sky was completely bright …
Outside Wen Lingyang's room, Zhang Xinlan was hugging the scroll that she had never opened. Her pair of empty and bloodshot eyes stared straight at the innermost room from the main entrance.
There was no movement!
She stood there for a long time.
Actually, like Ji Yunshu, she didn't dare to enter or look at Wen Lingyang.
Ji Yunshu walked in front of her and inserted the bamboo stick into the scroll.
She didn't say anything.
Zhang Xinlan's tears fell, her voice choked and hoarse as she asked Ji Yunshu.
"What did he say to you?"
Ji Yunshu shook her head.
"Did he say when he was going to teach me how to write?"
She shook her head.
"So, he went back on his word, right?" Zhang Xinlan felt terrible, as if a knife was stabbing into her heart.
But …
Ji Yunshu didn't respond.
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