Chapter 53 Persuasion

  The guards in the courtyard were familiar with Min An's character and saw him riding a leopard from outside the wall with a disheveled appearance, but they didn't find it strange. They returned to their posts, standing guard behind Li Peinan. The imperial guards under Zuo Qingquan's command took a rare glance at the novelty, carefully scanning Min An from head to toe before turning back to stand on the wall, no longer distracted by the commotion in the courtyard.

  Li Peinan lifted Min An's collar with his left hand and straightened him up, asking: "How did you get hurt on your hand?"

  Min An deliberately wanted to maintain his dignity in front of everyone, and hastily waved his hand, saying: "It's nothing, it's nothing." He couldn't say that he was embarrassed by falling off the horse.

  Li Peinan suddenly reached out and pinched Min An's left arm, causing Min An to let out a loud cry. This attracted the attention of Fei Yi, who was standing guard on the wall, observing the outside situation, and he turned his head to take a look.

  Li Peinan smiled maliciously: "Since the bone is broken, my leopard should be fine, right?"

  Min An pulled back his sleeve and smiled: "It has nothing to do with Baozi, he's fine, it's just that my riding skills are not good."

  Li Peinan didn't say anything else, puckered his lips and whistled, raised his hand to point towards the flower hall, and the leopard that had been circling in the courtyard walked into the gate of the flower hall. Then he ordered: "You go rest." He took up his sword and walked towards the wooden fence, continuing to guard the only entrance.

  Li Peinan has always been expressionless when dealing with his trusted subordinates, and the most considerate thing he can say is to take a break. At this time, he treats Min'an as if he were one of his own attendants, without feeling any impropriety. He doesn't ask Min'an why he came back again because it's already a done deal, and no matter who tries to change the outcome, Min'an insists on participating in the council. Moreover, the situation at the county yamen is urgent, and Li Peinan needs to keep an eye on every move outside, so it's not convenient for him to ask Min'an about some private matters in front of many ears.

  Li Peinan ignored the issue, but Lei Qun put it in his heart. He signaled Lei Qun to jump over the wall and guard his weak point, then lightly jumped to Min An's side and asked: "How did you run back again? Didn't I tell you to hide further away?"

  Min An secretly took a look at Li Peinan's back, seeing him standing with his sword raised, no longer looking this way, before relaxing his shoulders and rubbing his left upper arm to relieve the pain from being pinched. "You've helped me many times before, I said I'd repay you."

  Especially when he borrowed the general's, he made a vow in front of Fei Yi, saying that if he had the chance, he would definitely die to repay him. Tonight's situation is very urgent, with corpses falling at the door of the Second Academy, and whether or not he will die, he doesn't know, but he does have a genuine intention to risk his life to repay Fei Yi.

  Fei Yi lost his smile: "The situation is already under control, you rushing in can only drag your feet, where do you need to pay for anything."

  Min An'ang stood upright in front of Fei Yi: "You and the Crown Prince only know how to fight and suppress others, have you ever thought that reason can also solve things?" He puffed out his chest, turned his eyes to see Li Peinan's back in the firelight, still looking stern, under the pressure of that intangible aura, he swallowed the next sentence "As members of the imperial family, law and reason are nothing but empty words".

  "Hmm, that's true." Fei Yi smiled incredulously, "Looking at your confident appearance, I suppose you have solid evidence of the murder case?"

  Min An lowered his head and rummaged through his waist bag to show the crucial evidence, mud wax. Suddenly, he remembered that he couldn't bear these dirty things, so he put down his hand and patted the dust on his sleeve. "In short, I can help you overturn the case, I fell and found it, not as easy as you said."

  Min's safety was broken, his clothes were torn and made into a bandage for his hand, and his robe was stained with mud and grass ash. When he said this, Fei Yi only knew how his hand was injured and felt a pang of heartache. He quickly put away his playful expression, patted Min's head, and whispered: "Thank you, I'm really grateful." He looked deeply at Min, then jumped over the wall and continued to guard the road.

  Min An looked around, the people in the yard were busy with their own tasks, no one noticed him. If he followed Li Peinan's instructions, he was injured and had been running all night, it was possible to go to the flower hall to rest for a while, but the leopard was still coiled inside, compared to the threats outside, it didn't seem like it would make him feel at ease either.

  Min An hesitated for a moment, walked to Li Peinan's side and whispered: "Young Master, do we have to fight tonight to get things done?"

  Li Peinan said calmly: "I always choose the simplest method to solve problems."

  That's when they had to draw their swords and decide the outcome. Min An hesitated for a moment, then retreated with a sullen expression. Li Peinan turned his head and looked at his pale face, saying: "Don't you really want to take a rest?"

  Min An secretly clenched his fist in his sleeve and boldly replied, "I'm not tired, I can still hold on." His arm hurt a lot, but his mind was clear, reminding him to seize the urgent situation at hand to show his loyalty and determination as a subordinate.

  Li Peinan held the hilt of the sword with an inverted hand and handed the long sword over: "I'm a bit tired, why don't you take my place for a moment?"

  Min An scratched his head, hesitated for a moment before taking the sword from Rong Yang, and felt a sudden weight in his hand, almost dropping the long sword. He mustered up the strength to hold onto the hilt, facing the gate, and saw Li Peinan about to leave, so he hastily chased after him to ask: "Young Master, if they really charge in, what should I do?"

  Li Peinan didn't turn his head and said: "Kill anyone you see, the treasure sword will help you with three parts of strength." He walked straight into the flower hall.

  Min An held the long sword with his head bowed, and the cold air emanating from the sword body was reflected in the moonlight, flowing out a layer of red light. He thought to himself, "The treasure sword is good, but it has killed countless people, I'm afraid I can't control it." Turning his head, he looked at the guards waiting on the side and lightly waved his hand to familiar people: "Do you really want me to hold the young master's treasure sword and kill for a while? But my martial arts skills are very low."

  Zhang Fang was familiar with Min An's gambling habits and they were close friends. He thought for a moment, realizing that his own young master wouldn't possibly shirk responsibility on the spot and shift the blame to someone else, and said in a low voice: "Why don't you go ask the young master?"

  Min An slipped into the grand hall in a quiet, confrontational stance. Li Peinan was already seated, seemingly aware of his arrival, his expression unchanged. The leopard at his feet added to the chilly atmosphere.

  Min walked up timidly and before he could even open his mouth, Li Peinan threw him a question: "Why didn't you listen?"

  "I didn't mean to come in, it was Zhang Fang who reminded me —"

  "Is the purpose of coming just for clothes?"

  "How could you think of me like that? I just thought it was a crucial moment and couldn't let someone with weak martial arts skills like me take charge —"

  "What you said to Fei Yi, I heard it very clearly."

  Min Anna looked at Li Peinan with a puzzled expression: "What did I say to the second young master... wasn't it just advising him to give up using force and reason to turn the case around?"

  "What else?"

  Min An thought hard: "Could it be repaying Second Master's sentence?"

  Li Peinan stopped talking. Min An thought carefully again and felt that his previous words seemed to have gotten crossed with the young master's, so he hurriedly tried to salvage the current awkward situation.

  "The young master blamed me for not listening, but I was really worried about the young master's situation, so I brought evidence and ran back in one breath." Min An took out the mud seal from his waist bag and placed it on the table, saying in a low voice, "Moreover, the young master once taught me that a gentleman values his promises. Since I have recognized the young master as my master, I will naturally serve you with loyalty. If the young master also wants me to repay your kindness with my life, I absolutely won't say another word."

  "That's wrong."

  Min An's enthusiasm was extinguished by Li Peinan's cold words, and he looked at Li Peinan with a somewhat unclear expression.

  Li Peinan said calmly: "Not this sentence."

  Min An lowered his head and remained silent, thinking that no matter what the young master said, he would just agree.

  "You once said that you'd die together, and today's a good chance."

  Min An raised his head in surprise: "Is the situation outside so severe that you have to say such depressing words?"

  Li Peinan didn't give a direct answer, but instead stared tightly into Min An's eyes: "Are you willing or not?"

  Min An nodded without hesitation: "Even if it's just one day as your lord, I'll follow you for a lifetime. Of course, I'm willing."

  Li Peinan immediately knocked on the armrest and pointed at Min An, saying: "I intentionally provoked a dispute, just to take the opportunity to eliminate Peng Yinxin's forces. Peng Yinxin was afraid, so he brought in 2,000 troops from the county suburbs, which is also something I expected. The troops have been occupying the mountains privately, intercepting the imperial salt and iron transportation, and harming the people for a long time. Taking advantage of today's opportunity, let me settle accounts with them together. Therefore, it doesn't matter if we can't reason things out in the public hall, having an excuse to kill them is the right strategy."

  Min An recalled the corpses lying in the corridor, piled up haphazardly, with blood flowing from top to bottom, dripping onto the ground. It was impossible for them to regain their former arrogance and swagger that had harmed so many people. However, when he thought about it again, he still felt a sense of unease in his heart. Those lives lost at the hands of the young master, no matter how justified, were not easily forgotten. They didn't disappear like wisps of smoke blown away by the wind; they had lived and left behind loved ones who remembered them.

  Min An hesitated and said: "Can't you, young master... persuade them... not to fight again?"

  Li Peinan looked at him: "What do you want to say?"

  "I saw the old master lead us to suppress the bandits, and many times he took out official documents to amnesty the bandit soldiers, then gave them good land and settled them down with a good life, in order to demonstrate the imperial court's kindness. Why doesn't the young master try this method?"

  "Do you want to advise me to be softer and not use violent means?"

  "Yes."

  Li Peinan pointed out of the window: "Two thousand people surrounded the county government, if you don't use brutal means, can you calm down this riot?"

  Min An clenched his fist and nodded: "Can."

  "What method?"

  Min An bit her lip and said loudly: "I'm going to use one mouth to kill them!"

  Li Peinan looked at Min An's extremely serious face in silence, then suddenly smiled: "I believe you this time, give you one night, is it enough?"

  Min Anxi was overjoyed: "Thank you, young master!"

  Li Peinan followed the principle of using people without suspicion and not using suspicious people. If he had followed his previous way of doing things, he would have definitely started by clearing out the entire area where the incident occurred, sweeping it clean so that not a single blade of grass was left standing, and then sending trusted officials to govern, develop agriculture and animal husbandry, train soldiers and horses, and turn the place into a fortified military stronghold.

  Min An had heard of these tactics, which vaguely carried the style of Taishang Huang's unification of Hua Dynasty, an iron-fisted policy implemented with a military campaign. If it were to be used in Qingquan County, where fish and dragons mixed together, the local people, especially the witch doctors and artisans, would find their situation difficult to preserve. They were at the bottom of the social hierarchy and would naturally be caught and forced into hard labor, building wall after wall and moat after moat, only to be trapped in a military town on the outskirts, separated from their wives for most of their lives.

  Min An thought he should do something for his master and the ordinary people, so he took a chance to suggest it to Li Peinan. Unexpectedly, it was adopted. He walked back and forth in the flower hall, thinking about what would happen next. Li Peinan dismissed him and went to the courtyard to order all the horses and men to return to the flower hall and warehouse to rest, and wait until dawn to make further plans.

  "I'll keep watch for the first half of the night, and you bring someone to take over for the second half." Li Peinan sat in the chair that Lai Qun had brought over, stationed at the entrance of the walkway behind the railing, saying this very clearly to Fei Yi.

  Fei Nei was shocked, walked into the flower hall and asked Min An about Li Peinan's sudden ceasefire. Min An repeated his argument and urged Fei Nei to rest quickly.

  He had been rushing about for a whole day and night, his clothes were stained with dirt, which made him feel very uncomfortable. He went to the government office to wash himself, put on his undergarment, wore the soft leather armor handed over by the guard, and then went out.

  Midnight moonlight lingers, cold and silent.

  Li Peinan's cold back still loomed ahead, without a sound, yet impossible to ignore. Fei walked over and asked, "Why did the young master agree with Min An's proposal?"

  "What he said makes sense, I will naturally listen."

  "Any other ideas?"

  Li Peinan lightly plucked the zither on his knees, and the long sword immediately emitted a clear and cold hum. "What do you think?"

  Fei Yi remained silent with a pursed mouth. Li Peinan looked up at Fei Yi: "You're so concerned about Min An, what's the reason?"

  "Master has entrusted him to me and asked me to take good care of him. As long as it's related to him, I can naturally ask a few questions."

  Li Peinan's face grew even colder: "You've asked enough, go rest now. Isn't one little Snow enough for you to worry about?"

  Fei Yi smiled and said, "The young master's thoughts have always been difficult to guess, so I'll speak directly, don't take offense. As for Min An, I only have one request: train him with your abilities, apart from that, no personal matters can be brought up in front of him."

  Li Peinan said coldly: "Is this how you speak to your elder brother?"

  Fei Yi stood before Li Peinan's chair and bowed deeply: "I have always respected the young master in my heart, never changing a single bit. It's just that this concerns Min An, so please listen to my request, young master."

  "I have my own measure." Li Peinan's tone was still cold, "Withdraw."

  Before leaving, Fei Yi still had to finish what he was saying: "The prince intends to marry Xiaoxue to the crown prince, but the crown prince doesn't listen; then he wants to send Xiao Zhiqing to the crown prince's side, but the crown prince is still unmoved. Now the crown prince gradually values Min'an and secretly starts to raise a male concubine, if the king finds out about his position, with thunderous punishment, how will the crown prince deal with it?"

  Li Peinan swiftly raised the sword from his knee, neatly drew a sword flower, and a heavy ray of light flashed towards Fei Yi's throat. Li Peinan's hand holding the sword was very steady, so steady that when the sword tip touched Fei Yi's neck, only a clear red dot appeared.

  "Is that all?" Li Peinan asked coldly.

  Without changing his posture, he bowed to Li Peinan again and left the yard. Lai Qun saw through the carved window that there was no one else in the yard, walked to Min An who was lying on the soft couch, pushed him awake, and handed him a cloak. "It's cool at night, young master, go and add some clothes for the young master."

  Min An rubbed his eyes: "My hand hurts a lot, Li Da Ge you go."

  Li Peinan's gloomy face made Lei Qun turn around and push Min An out the door. Min An slowly walked towards Li Peinan, draped his cloak over him, retreated far away and said: "The night is cool and the wind is cold, young master take care of yourself."

  Li Peinan reached back and grabbed the cloak, tossing it onto Min An's body. Min An covered himself with the cloak and said, "If the young master doesn't want it, then I'll gladly accept it." After finishing speaking, he smiled towards Li Peinan's retreating figure.

  "Come here," said Li Peinan. Min An walked over to him, bent down and looked at his face, asking: "Is there anything you'd like to instruct me on, sir?"

  Li Peinan hesitated for a moment, then said: "If the king comes, no matter what he accuses you of, just pretend you didn't hear it. For all matters, come find me and I'll back you up." He saw that Min An was slow to move out, so he used the strategy of "one mouth saying dead people" to retreat from the enemy, and naturally guessed that Min An had brought reinforcements and was waiting for an opportunity to rush in. The backup options were no more than the prefecture, the prince's mansion, and the trusted army. Li Peinan thought carefully and could also tell who would come to rescue him later.

  Tonight, no one needed to come out and rescue the county government office, but Min An went out once and ran back, and even asked for reinforcements. This was something that Li Peinan could not have anticipated. However, since Min An had done all this, he had won a few points of praise from him. Why didn't he just go along with it and let Min An handle tonight's unexpected turn of events? Even if things didn't work out in the end, he could still clean up the mess, just like his usual tactics when dealing with his father - first loosening and then tightening until victory was within his grasp.

  Min An didn't understand the connection and sat in front of the chair, stunned: "Not even listening to King Chu Nan's words? Not very good, right?"

  Li Peinan patted Min An's left arm with his sword: "Don't mind him, did you hear that?"

  "Ouch, ouch." Min An jumped to one side and took a deep breath, not paying attention to Li Peinan's reminder at all, muttering, "This family is full of weirdos, can't they just talk properly?"

  Li Peinan raised his eyes and looked over: "Are you sure you can listen?"

  Min An stood there for a moment, thinking to himself that it was only right. He would only listen to his master, Cui Hua, and Xuan Xu because they were different from everyone else. His thoughts inadvertently strayed to Xuan Xu, causing him to lower his head and smile slightly, revealing a patch of fair skin on his neck above the collar. This bashful demeanor was so captivating that it made Li Peinan frown.

  "He asked in a cold voice: 'What are you thinking of again?'"

  Min An wiped his face clean and said: "Nothing - is Young Master cold?"

  Li Peinan turned his face and didn't speak. Min An hesitated for a moment, covering her cloak to continue sleeping in the flower hall.

  Li Peinan ordered, "Stay here and keep watch with me tonight." Min An walked to his side, stretched his neck to look out into the corridor, it was pitch black, vaguely reflecting a bit of lamplight.

  "What's good about keeping watch?" Min An asked. Still, he didn't get a response from Li Peinan. He looked down and saw that Li Peinan was sitting up straight, his face shrouded in a hazy moonlight, with a cold and stern long sword placed on his knees, as if guarding the desolate and lonely king of the courtyard. His heart softened slightly, and he accompanied Li Peinan to keep watch for a long time. Finally, unable to resist sleepiness, he simply slid down along the back of the chair and leaned against Li Peinan's back, dozing off for a while.

  At that moment, a palm was placed on his hair and rubbed gently, followed by Li Peinan's calm voice: "The person you've been waiting for is here."

  Thank you for the kind words, young heart, Huang Sang, Bingbing, Ice Sugar Red Fruit, Biao Bing, Pig Ear, Rain After Sunshine, h, Momo, Mai's landmine (*^__^*)l3l4