Chapter 8 Enlightenment

  Confucius's forehead turned green with anxiety, he had known earlier that these two women would fetch water and then wash their feet, after washing their feet they would take a bath, he should have hinted to them that someone was here long ago, now it's a bit awkward to show up.

  As soon as the strange woman was about to undress and jump into the water, when she got in and saw herself, even the vast waters of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers couldn't wash her clean. Confucius didn't dare hesitate any longer, and hastily shouted loudly: "Don't undress! Don't get in the water! There's someone here!"

  Ren Bingyue opened her jacket, and the small lotus on her chest was just exposed, when a man's voice rang out. This fright was truly not trivial. She let out a sharp cry, covered her jacket and shrunk back, angrily and shamefully shouting: "Who is it? Get out here!"

  The green feather was even more surprised, and as soon as he reached out his hand, an arrow shot out with a thud. The sharp arrow flew into the dense foliage and landed right next to Confucius' big hand, firmly pinning itself to the tree trunk. Green Feather shouted in a shrill voice: "Shameless thief, you dare to sneak a peek here! Come out quickly!"

  Don't mention Confucius, even if he was stark naked at this moment, even if he was dressed in formal attire, seeing the other side beckoning with bows and arrows, he would rather die than go out. He stood behind the branches and leaves, explaining repeatedly, but the two masters and servants on the shore, Ren Bingyue, were just shouting and scolding.

  Xí Bīn was leaning back on his heels, observing the knights, when suddenly a shrill shout came from upstream: "Shameless scoundrel, dressed like a gentleman but with the heart of a beast! How dare you sneak a peek here? Come out quickly!"

  Xī Bīn was thrilled upon hearing this, and hastily shouted: "Quickly, quickly help Ben Gongzi go see what's going on."

  Confucius hid behind the tree and sighed with a bitter smile: "Two ladies, it's not that Confucius is being rude, when I was bathing here, you two ladies hadn't arrived yet..."

  Ren Bingyue had already dressed, her pretty face flushed with anger, she swiftly drew out a sharp short sword from Qing Yu's waist and shouted: "If that's the case, why didn't you speak up at the time?"

  Confucius helplessly said: "At first, I didn't know who the visitors were. Later, I found out they were two young ladies. I thought they would fetch water and leave, so there was no need to speak. Unexpectedly, the two young ladies wanted to wash their feet here. At this point, speaking out would not be polite. Confucius could only endure it. Never did he expect that the two young ladies would also want to take a bath. Forced by circumstances, he finally spoke out to warn them."

  Ren Bing's eyebrows rose as she sneered, "Huh? So you're saying that I'm the one who's wrong?"

  "It's not yours, it's not mine, it's just... a mistake of yin and yang, heaven playing tricks on people!"

  "Stop spouting nonsense! What did you see?" Qing Yu asked indignantly.

  Qing Yu asked a question, and Confucius didn't react much, but Ren Bingyue's small face suddenly turned bright red with embarrassment.

  Confucius hid behind a tree and said calmly: "Confucius is upright and broad-minded, how could he do such an impolite thing? In fact, he has seen nothing."

  Qing Yu angrily said: "You scoundrel, don't try to talk your way out of this! Miss, why not call the family guards and have them behead him!"

  Just then, Xi Bin arrived in high spirits.

  Xie Bin rushed over, only to see the young lady and the maid Qing Yu with flushed faces, holding swords and bows facing a willow tree in the river. He hastily asked: "Ah... Miss, what happened?"

  Confucius heard Qingzi's voice in the water and couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Young Master, bear witness for me! Young Master, bear witness for me!"

  "Huh? It's actually Confucius! The warm spring in March is lovely, could it be that the Sage has also been moved by spring feelings?" Xi Bin thought to himself with a smile, using his own mind to measure the Sage's intentions.

  Qing Yu's words were like a sharp sword, cutting through the air and making everything clear. Xi Bin only understood what had happened after Qing Yu finished speaking. As soon as he knew the whole story, he immediately pointed to the sky and swore an oath: "It's impossible, absolutely impossible! I stake my family, my life, and my reputation on it - Kong Shi is not that kind of person. If a single word or half a sentence is false, may heaven strike me with five thunderbolts and may I die without a place to be buried!"

  As soon as Xi Bin made such a poisonous oath to defend him, the saint was moved: "I have known Qing Ji Gongzi for only a few days, and I didn't expect him to know me so well and believe in me. It's really... it's really fair and just."

  Ren Bingyue stared at Qing Yi, suspiciously saying: "You made such a poisonous oath to defend him, what is he to you?"

  Xie Bin said with a serious face: "Just friends who met on the road, but although I have known Kong Shi for a short time, I have no doubt about his moral character. If you say that Kong Shi is not a gentleman, then there will be no man in the past five thousand years or in the future who dares to call himself a gentleman."

  Ren Bingyue didn't want to be seen through by others either, seeing him speak so generously and make such a poisonous oath, she believed it a bit in her heart. However, when he praised the guy hiding behind the tree as if he was one of a kind in heaven and earth, she felt extremely resentful in her heart, and spat at him: "I've observed men from ancient times to the present, and there hasn't been a single gentleman."

  Her expression had greatly eased, and the sword in her hand had also dropped. Qing Yu saw that his young mistress had risen to the idea of letting things go, so he said: "My young mistress doesn't want to pursue this further, so you're lucky. Call out your friend to apologize and make amends to my young mistress, and this matter will be settled."

  Xī Bīn immediately responded with a mouthful of agreement: "Yes, yes, yes, Master Kong. Put on your clothes and come out to apologize to these two young ladies..."

  He hadn't finished speaking, when Confucius, from behind the tree, flatly refused: "Your Highness trusts me so much, I'm deeply grateful. But I ask myself and find no wrongdoing, my actions are upright and transparent, with nothing to be ashamed of before heaven or embarrassed about on earth. What crime should I confess to? What courtesy should I apologize for? If I were to yield now, wouldn't that be admitting to having acted like a petty person?"

  "Huh? This old Shandong man is quite stubborn." Xi Bin couldn't help but laugh and cry, so he had to be a good person and say: "Miss, Kong Shi's behavior is absolutely trustworthy. Think about it, if he had ill intentions, why would he speak out to stop you from taking off your clothes and getting in the water?"

  It's a pity that the one standing behind the tree isn't me. If it were me, I would definitely dive into the water and not come out even if you threw a bomb at me.

  Ren Bingyue thought about it and found it reasonable. Although the man was hiding, his enthusiastic friend kept bowing and apologizing. She had always been arrogant, but in this male-dominated world, a grown man had gone to such lengths to apologize, which somewhat restored her dignity. With a cold hum, she turned and left.

  Qing Yu glared at Xi Bin and scolded: "You're lucky!" Then she hastily followed the young lady.

  "Xī Bīn looked at the two people walking away, then chuckled and said: 'Master Kong, Master Kong, you can come out now.'"

  The words were finished, and Confucius came over with his clothes held up out of the water.

  Confucius had put on a knee-length undergarment, and walked up to the shore with a wet body. Xi Bin's great dream of "I have seen the buttocks of the Holy Confucius" was thus shattered. However, when he glanced down again, his eyes widened in surprise: "Wow, the Holy Confucius actually has leg hair!"

  Isn't this nonsense? A nine-foot-tall Great Han with long legs, what's so great about that? It's just that Confucius' great name has been passed down for two thousand years and has already been perfectly deified to the extreme. People who revere Confucius as if he were a god only need to think that he also had seven emotions and six desires like ordinary people, and that he also ate, drank, urinated, and defecated to feel that it's blasphemous to the sage. Although Xi Bin didn't have such severe saint-worshipping tendencies, he still couldn't help but feel surprised.

  Confucius smiled wryly, wringing out the water from his clothes as he shook his head and sighed: "Alas, I never thought that even while bathing here, I would suffer such an unexpected calamity, being humiliated by two women for no reason."

  In the next two thousand years, whenever someone says a word that is not in favor of Confucius, some filial sons and virtuous grandsons will be furious, like they have dug up their ancestors' graves. But what Xi Bin saw with his own eyes was that the Sage Confucius was actually being bullied by two little maidservants, unable to speak out. Xi Bin couldn't help but burst into laughter, feeling that at this moment, Confucius was a living person, not just an idol on a pedestal.

  Xí Bīn returned to the camp and noticed that the two girls and the twenty or so knights had set off, also heading through the valley towards Qī Chéng.

  Xī Bīn couldn't help but nurture some hope in his heart: "In Qi City, I wonder if I'll run into that lovely girl again." But then he thought to himself, as a prince, he was now exhausted and wandering like a dog who had lost its home, how could he have the qualifications or thoughts of having a family, and couldn't help but sigh...

  When the smoke rose, the soldiers returned to the camp in twos and threes, each with their clothes disheveled. Some had even washed their clothes and were walking around naked, but no one paid attention since there were no women in the military camp. Many people laughed and joked, it seemed that these days of long-distance marching and lack of training had made the military discipline extremely lax. Xi Bin saw this and secretly frowned.

  At night, Ah Qiu brothers laid out soft grass and covered it with a leopard skin, inviting the young master to rest. Xi Bin lay down in his clothes, gazing up at the vast starry sky, a kind of inexplicable loneliness and sadness quietly creeping into his heart.

  It's not just the nostalgia for a life that can never be restored, nor is it just the longing to see loved ones who are gone forever. It's also because of his current circumstances. He knows that these carefree days won't last long, and he inexplicably gained a chance to extend his life by inheriting Qingyi's body, but at the cost of taking on Qingyi's responsibilities and hatred, leaving behind a mark in history that belongs to him.

  His injuries have stabilized now, but he doesn't want to change his path and return to defend the country. He has carefully considered his situation, and in order to survive, to live a good life, he must persist on the path that Qing Ji is taking until he eliminates Huan Yu. They are an irreconcilable pair of sworn enemies; if he doesn't eliminate him, Huan Yu will not be able to sleep peacefully, and if he doesn't eliminate Huan Yu, he won't even have a pillow to rest his head on.

  The country of Wei is too far from Wu, so although it provides him with a base that is not easy to be attacked by Helü, he also has too much difficulty in counterattacking Wu. Especially since he was ambushed and defeated this time, many of the aristocratic families in Wu who were originally inclined towards him will probably waver for the sake of their family's survival.

  The longer he is away from Wu, the weaker his influence in Wu will be. Eventually, he will have little impact on the nobles of Wu. At that time, it will be even more difficult for him to restore his state. To maintain his influence in Wu, he must let the nobles and people of Wu know that he is nearby.

  So setting up a "government in exile" near Wu State in Lu State is the most appropriate choice, but it can't be done without the permission and support of Lu State. As he was about to arrive at Qufu, how would the people of Lu State treat him? What could he do to get the support of Lu State? These questions made his head ache as soon as he thought about them.

  Next to him was Confucius, but his teachings were of no help to Xiban's current situation. Scheming had never been something Confucius considered; neither Qin Shi Huang nor Han Wu, Tang Zhuang or Song Zu, none of them used Confucianism to conquer the world, for the way of Confucianism cannot found a nation.

  Unable to fall asleep with the help of external forces, and having no intersection with the three major families who held the power of Lu State before, thinking of these difficulties made Xi Bin more and more anxious. He felt that the wind was blowing everywhere and he couldn't sleep, and then he felt that the earth under the leopard skin was hard to bear. After tossing and turning for a long time, he still couldn't fall asleep. He suddenly sat up with a huff, feeling frustrated and wanting to shout loudly.

  The surroundings were quiet at this time, Ah Qiu and Zai Qiu, the two brothers, were snoring loudly, in the distance several bonfires crackled, the unburned tree trunks made a "sizzling" sound, the wind blew through the grass, and far away, several warriors wielding spears appeared.

  Xī Bīn took a few deep breaths, but the turbid air that had been suppressed in his chest couldn't be expelled no matter what. His gaze shifted to the left again, five or six zhang away, where Confucius and his disciples were leaning against grass mats and had already entered the land of dreams. The difficult situation of being at a dead end everywhere seemed not to have made them desperate, and temporary setbacks hadn't dispelled their faith. For the ideals in their hearts, they optimistically looked forward to every tomorrow.

  Gazing at Confucius and his disciples' sleeping figures for a long time, Xi Bin's heart suddenly seemed to have an epiphany, as if the starlight in the sky had all poured into his heart at that moment.

  Today's Confucius encountered setbacks everywhere, he would never have thought that his future achievements would be beyond the reach of even a generation of emperors; Yesterday's Qingji knew that recovering Wu Guo was full of difficulties, but in his heart, there was only a dream of success. I look back at the road they walked, it feels like a thorny path, when they were walking on this road, what was in front of them was a bright light...

  His heart surged with emotions, and the feeling of anxiety and depression gradually disappeared, leaving his mind clear. He lay back on the soft leopard skin blanket, his hands clasped together on his chest, gazing quietly at the starry sky, the azure heavens, when suddenly a bright shooting star streaked across, trailing a long arc of light that vanished at the horizon, but the beautiful, fairy-tale-like glow left a deep impression on his mind.

  He took a deep breath, and the air was filled with the refreshing scent of green grass. He straightened his waist and felt the softness and smoothness of the beast's fur beneath him. Xi Bin's lips gradually revealed a hint of a smile, and he suddenly had an unprecedented epiphany about the meaning of life: "Who cares what the future holds? The meaning of life is to live each day to the fullest! From today on, I am Qing Ji, and I will make every day of my life extraordinary!"

  P.S: On the new book rankings, there's a cute toad jumping up and down on our head, friends please give a few more recommendation votes, I want to poke his little butt, haha~~~