Chapter 38: Chasing Stars and Changing Fate, Reversing Grudges and Resolving Enmities

  Three days later, everyone finally arrived safely in Taiyuan. After entering the city, several children and Dou Xian came to Li's residence, while Li Yuan went to the prefecture to take over from the outgoing governor. It was very late at night when he still hadn't returned, but news came that his father and soldiers had gone out of the city to kill bandits.

  But Li Jiancheng knew that these people were not bandits. According to historical records, this was because Yuwen Shu in the imperial court was worried about Li Yuan's future changes and sent out the elite palace guards to disguise themselves as robbers outside the city at Zhangshu Gang to kill them. Coincidentally, Qin Qiong arrived here to help Li Yuan retreat from the enemy, and then when Li Yuan pursued and killed the bandits, he mistakenly killed Xuan Xing's older brother Xuan Zhong, leading to many people in Wagang surrendering to the Tang army later, except for him who refused to surrender. However, Yuwen Shu had no relation with the Yuwen family. But because many things were mentioned earlier, Qin Qiong had already seen them on the road, so now without Qin Qiong's help, it seems that he needs to hurry out and assist, also to avoid Xuan Zhong being mistakenly killed. In this way, in the future, the Tang Dynasty will have a rare great general.

  After hearing the newcomer's words, Li Jiancheng didn't even have time to talk to Dou Xian, and he took his sword and rushed out of the city. When he arrived outside the city, those imperial guards disguised as bandits had already disappeared. After asking around, it turned out that Qin Shubao had come to Taiyuan again to handle a case, and earlier, together with Li Yuan, they had killed those imperial guards disguised as bandits. Now the two of them had split up to pursue and kill the remaining bandits. Li Jiancheng hastily asked Li Yuan which direction he was heading in, and quickly found a horse to chase after him, hoping to catch up soon.

  But Li Yuan thought that the man was one of the bandits, and with Qin Shubao's help, they killed a group of fake bandits and chased them away. The two then split up to pursue and kill the remaining bandits. After chasing for a long time without seeing any bandits, they were about to return when suddenly they saw a lone horseman rushing towards them from afar. Li Yuan mistakenly thought it was one of the bandits from earlier and lightly drew his bow, preparing to shoot!

  "Father, spare his life!" Li Jiancheng shouted as he saw Li Yuan about to make a move. But it was too late, and the arrow had already been shot out of Li Yuan's hand. In this critical moment, Li Jiancheng drew out his mother's sword and used the "Chasing Stars and Chasing the Moon" step to its extreme, barely managing to deflect the arrow at the last second. However, he was left panting heavily, for even though he had learned this new technique over the past few years, he still hadn't fully mastered it, and using it with all his might now left him somewhat exhausted.

  "What's the point of stopping me?" Li Yuan asked as he rode his horse up to him.

  "Father, I heard that you were chasing after a bandit, so I came to help. But seeing that you want to kill this person, I observed that he doesn't seem to have any signs of being a bandit!" Li Jiancheng explained.

  "This noble sir, I am indeed not a bandit. I am Shan Yongzhong, the master of Erxian Manor."

  "Almost killed a good man! I am guilty!" Li Yuan said and hurriedly begged for forgiveness.

  "Since there's nothing wrong, I won't blame you either! I have something to attend to, so I'll take my leave first." said Shan Xiongzhong with a fist bump.

  "How can this be? Why don't you come to my home in the city and rest for a moment?" Li Yuan invited him.

  "Unfortunately, I have to go into town to find someone and really don't have the time. If there's an opportunity, another day will do." Zhān Xióngzhōng continued to make excuses.

  "This strong man is looking for someone, my father is too far away to stay and can dispatch people to help the strong man find him." Li Jiancheng said.

  "It turned out to be Lord Liushou, don't blame me for not knowing the etiquette." Zhān Xióngzhōng apologized and then continued: "The person I want to find is Qín Shūbǎo. My brother once said that this man is loyal and righteous, a hero! Last time there was something, we didn't meet, it's really regrettable. So when I heard he came to Taiyuan City, I came to see him."

  "Haha, just in time!" Li Jiancheng said with a smile: "Brother Qin, I've just helped my father chase down some bandits and should have arrived at the city by now. Since that's the case, we can head there together."

  Shan Xiongzhong heard Li Jiancheng say this, and also agreed to go. When they arrived inside the city, it turned out that Qin Shubao was indeed riding his precious horse and chatting with soldiers at this time.

  "Thanks again for your help this time, Qin Gong." Li Yuan said as he saw Qin Shubao hurry forward.

  "It's just a small effort, Lord Liu is being too polite." Qin Shubao said as he dismounted his horse.

  "It's just a small effort for me, but it's a lifesaver for the Li family. Why don't you come to my house as a guest today?" Li Yuan hastily invited him in.

  "As the host has sincerely invited me, Qin Mou cannot decline." Qin Shubao also did not decline.

  "Are you Qin Shubao? Indeed a talented young man!" said Shan Xiongzhong, taking two steps forward.

  "Who are you?" Qin Shubao wondered, as if he didn't recognize him.

  "Haha, I am the great master of Erxian Manor, and Xiong Xin is my younger brother! Now you know." Xiong Zhong said loudly, seemingly very pleased with himself about Erxian Manor.

  "It turned out to be a single big landlord, and also thank Erxian Zhuang for his help." Qin Shubao said with a bow.

  "Two of you come to my house again to chat, now is not the time for that." Li Yuan saw the two were happy and seemed to continue talking, so he hurried forward to interrupt.

  Then the four of them rode their horses to the government office, where Yuwen was directing some servants to sweep. Seeing Li Jiancheng walk in, she hurried over and asked: "Jiancheng, why did you rush out so hastily just now?"

  "The child heard that there were bandits outside the city and went to help his father kill the bandits," Li Jiancheng explained.

  "Haha, thanks to Cheng Er, otherwise I almost mistakenly killed an innocent person!" Li Yuan walked up and said. Then he told the story of what happened, and Qin Shubao was also relieved, if such a thing had happened, he would not have been able to handle it either. However, Qin Shubao's feeling towards Li Jiancheng became even stranger, since he had such incredible martial arts skills, even arrows could catch up with him, so he thought in his heart: This child is absolutely not an ordinary person!

  When they saw the guests arriving, Yuwen Xian hastily ordered someone to go down to the kitchen. After a while, when Li Yuan and Qin Shubao, Shan Xiongzhong were chatting, the dishes finally came up, and the three of them stopped talking and sat down to eat together. Dou Xian and Li Shimin ate at another table, originally according to reason, Li Jiancheng should have gone to Dou Xian's table to eat, but Li Yuan didn't do so either, letting Li Jiancheng eat with them, and Qin Shubao and Shan Xiongzhong didn't find it unusual either, because from various signs, Li Jiancheng's behavior at home seemed normal. During dinner, Qin Shubao drank the wine that his father had poured and shook his head slightly, seemingly dissatisfied with the wine. Seeing this, Li Jiancheng understood, drinking the wine he brought, guessing that he was still thinking about that wine now. However, he didn't say anything, teasing him a bit was also fun, so the meal ended in everyone's happy chatter.

  Qin Shubao then went with Shan Xiongzhong to Erxian Zhuang as a guest, but because Li Yuan almost mistakenly killed Shan Xiongzhong, he didn't dare to compete with him for people, so he let Qin Shubao leave. Before they left, Li Jiancheng took out two gourds, and when he saw the gourds in his hand, Qin Shubao's eyes lit up instantly. Shan Xiongzhong looked at him suspiciously, what was there to be excited about?

  "Brother Qin, Brother Shan, a small gift, not enough to show respect!" Li Jiancheng handed each of them an gourd and said, while Qin Shubao received it as if he had obtained a treasure, but Shan Xiongzhong didn't recognize what this thing was, so he wasn't very concerned.

  After giving the two gourds, he didn't say much more. In fact, this was also a way of introducing his product to himself. It's worth knowing that Qin Shubao knew many people from afar, and Shan Xiongxin also knew many people from all over the mountains and rivers, mostly from the northern regions, who were particularly fond of this strong liquor.

  "Qin brothers, I saw you were so happy just now, what's the reason?" asked Shan Xiongzhong on their way back.

  "Haha, Brother Shan will know when he gets to his village, let me keep it a secret for now!" Qin Shubao said with a smile. Shan Xiongzhong shook his head helplessly, it seemed like they could only find out the reason after arriving at the village. The two of them quickly picked up their pace and hurried towards Erxian Village.