Agent secret Wind Boy

Chapitre 61

I listened to his endless rambling with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face, a feeling of happiness overflowing in my chest—ah! It feels so good to be cared for! It feels so good to be reunited after so long…! [Volume 4 Finale: Chapter 5 Taking the Seed of the Prodigy]

"Big brother, you're asking me so many questions at once, which one should I answer first?!" I tilted my head and looked up at him playfully. "You've gotten so long-winded in the last few months!"

"Yes, I was confused." Brother Yan smiled gently, affectionately taking my hand and leading me to the snow-white fur-covered mattress. Suddenly, his handsome face darkened, his smile vanished, and he frowned at me. "Why are your hands so cold? Are you really sick?!"

"Ugh! Isn't this all thanks to that weird old man who keeps saying 'I don't care' or 'I ignore me'?!" I couldn't help but clench my fists and pout as I cursed, "That old guy thinks he's so great just because he won a few battles. He's clearly bullying people!"

"What? Cough, cough...!?" Brother Yan almost choked on his words, coughing loudly. He glanced at me sideways and said, "Who exactly is this 'I don't care' referring to? Where did this strange old man come from?!"

"Brother, are you alright? Are you sick too?" I hurriedly stood up, patting Brother Yan's back haphazardly, my cheeks puffed out in anger as I launched into a tirade: "I know, it must be that old geezer abusing you, forcing you to fight on the battlefield all day while he does nothing, just waiting to claim your credit. Damn it, he's already the second prince of the Jin Kingdom, what position does he want to climb to?!"—Sigh! I was so angry I even swore!

"Wait a minute." Brother Yan grabbed my fidgeting little hand and looked at me strangely. "That strange old man you're talking about, you wouldn't happen to be referring to the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route of our Great Jin Kingdom, would you?!"

"It's him! Is there another person named Wanyan Wulibu in the Jin Kingdom?" I rolled my eyes at him impatiently—was it really necessary to verify something so obvious?!

"Ahem, ahem!" Brother Yan coughed lightly, barely suppressing his laughter. "Where did you hear from, and from whom, that he was an old man?"

"Is that even a question? It's history... uh, it's only natural—look, he was such a good commander, and he was a marshal, he couldn't possibly be young!"—Whew, that was close! I almost blurted out that it was history, but thankfully I caught myself quickly and didn't say anything wrong—although the book says that Wanyan Zongwang's birth year is unknown, if you think about it, to become a marshal, he must have been at least forty or fifty years old, right?

"Alright, I'll assume you're right for now. So how exactly did he harm you? Tell me!" Brother Yan crossed his arms and looked down at me with an air of superiority.

"That old man said he wanted to negotiate peace with us, but when we arrived, he didn't even bother to greet us. He just dumped us in that dirty, messy, small, and dilapidated house. Not only did he ignore us, but he didn't even give us a decent bed. The house leaked when it rained, and the food was terrible. I stayed there for two days. If I hadn't happened to see Sangman, I might have frozen to death there!" I angrily recounted the Jin army marshal's faults without pausing for breath.

"So you came with Zhao Gou?" Brother Yan looked at me with a mixture of amusement and anger. "You rascal, you really don't know your place! Do you think this peace negotiation is some kind of joke? You actually pretended to be a peace negotiator and came here to cause trouble?!"

"Hey! Can't you be reasonable?" I puffed out my cheeks, glared at him, and defended myself righteously, "How could I have asked to come here on my own? Isn't this all your fault?"

"Oh? How did this get involved with me again? I don't recall asking you to negotiate peace." Brother Yan pointed to his nose, somewhat incredulous that he would be the target of my attack.

"How can it be nothing? If you hadn't gotten on good terms with that guy surnamed Zhao, would that kid have gone to such lengths to trick me into coming here?" I grumbled, full of complaints. "If I hadn't become sworn brothers with you, I'd still be comfortably nestled in my warm bed enjoying my delicious food, instead of suffering like this here! Tell me, isn't this all your fault?!"

At this point, it suddenly dawned on me that Brother Yan had just said "my Great Jin Kingdom." Could he be a Jin person? One is Yan Zongwang, the other is Wanyan Zongwang, could it be...?! I was startled, my eyes widened, and I pointed at Brother Yan with trembling hands, "You, you..."—the shock in my heart was beyond words.

"Me, what?" Brother Yan mimicked my voice, laughing and crying at the same time as he brushed away my finger pointing at his nose. "Now you finally understand the situation?! I'm really impressed with you. You still have the same problem of talking nonsense without even knowing who you are!" -- Sigh! This problem was actually spoiled by Huaiyuan. Who would believe that I used to be so cool?!

"Are you really Wanyan Zongwang, the Marshal of the Eastern Route of the Jin Dynasty, also known as Wulibu?" A sudden realization struck me, and my good mood plummeted. My face paled and then flushed, and I murmured, seeking confirmation—why was Zhao Gou so wary of Brother Yan? Why did he insist on bringing me to negotiate peace...? All these seemingly illogical things suddenly found a reasonable explanation. But I felt no relief or joy. My mind was in turmoil, and I held my breath, desperately hoping for a miracle, hoping that Brother Yan would deny my suspicions. Perhaps, besides the Marshal Wanyan Zongwang, the Jin Dynasty truly had another general named Yan Zongwang?!

"What? You don't seem happy that I am Wanyan Zongwang?!" Brother Yan raised an eyebrow, asking with a hint of disappointment, "Is this something so hard for you to accept?!"

I lowered my head in sorrow, tears welling in my eyes—I still couldn't process the fact that my elder brother, Yan, was the second prince of the Jin Dynasty. What was the situation now? My eldest brother was the commander-in-chief of the Jin army that invaded the Central Plains, while my second brother was a famous general of the Song Dynasty who dedicated his life to resisting the Jin. But what saddened me most was that—according to historical records, my eldest brother, who was dashing and handsome in my eyes; the intelligent and brave son in Wanyan Aguda's heart; the invincible embodiment of the Jin army in the eyes of the Jurchens; and the marshal of great talent and strategy in the hearts of the Jin soldiers, died of illness in June of the second year of the Jingkang era, drawing a regretful end to his brilliant and proud military career.

Yan Zongwang waited a long time for my answer, then couldn't help but reach out and lift my chin. Seeing the tears welling up in my eyes, he was shocked: "Qingyang, what's wrong?!"

"It's nothing, I'm just hungry." I barely managed to suppress the turmoil in my heart, sniffed, and gently pulled at the corners of my mouth, forcing a shy smile. "You know, I get really depressed whenever I'm hungry. You don't have to worry about me."

"Really?" Zongwang looked me up and down seriously for a while before smiling and teasingly saying, "You! You're just like a child! You startled me. I thought you were angry that I didn't tell you the truth! You almost made me actually become the weird old man you were thinking of!"

"I wish Wanyan Zongwang really were an old man, how wonderful that would be!" I murmured softly, gazing at him with tears in my eyes, my voice barely audible.

"What are you saying? I can't hear you." Zongwang pretended to reach for his ear, feigning shock. "You're not cursing me, are you?!"—I knew he was trying his best to make me happy.

"Well, if you're willing to bribe me with some delicious food, maybe I'll consider not scolding you," I replied casually, allaying Yan Zongwang's suspicions.

"My lord!" Sang Man's loud voice came from outside the door at just the right moment.

"Come in," Brother Yan ordered in a deep voice.

As soon as the curtain was lifted, the aroma of food wafted into my nostrils—Sang Man was holding a tray filled with fragrant rice and several plates of meat slices piled high, glistening with oil and golden brown.

"Yes, Young Master Ye just said he was hungry. So I had someone bring over some food." Sang Man put down the tray, his dark face flushed, and explained awkwardly.

"Thank you, Brother Sangman." I looked at this towering, strong man with emotion and sincerely thanked him.

"Hehe, no need to be so polite. Young Master Ye is the lord's good brother, it's only right." Sang Man scratched his head sheepishly and grinned.

"Qingyang, aren't you hungry? What are you standing there for?!" Brother Yan kindly pulled me to sit down at the table, handed me a pair of chopsticks, and looked at me with a smile.

"Uh, my lord." Sang Man looked at Brother Yan, hesitating to speak.

"Is there anything else?" Brother Yan asked, frowning.

“Just now, the Fourth Prince Zongbi was lingering outside the Lord’s tent, as if he had something to report?!” Sang Man glanced at me, hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke up: “Because Young Master Ye is in the Lord’s tent, this servant did not dare to let him come and disturb him, and sent him back to camp first.”

"Fourth brother? Go find him." Zongwang instructed Sangman with a smile, his face beaming with pleasure.

"Jin Wuzhu?!" I stopped eating and blurted out in slight surprise—Wanyan Zongwang's fourth brother? Isn't that the famous Jin Wuzhu?! He's here too?

"Judging from your tone, you seem to know your fourth brother quite well?" Zongwang looked up at me thoughtfully, his tone filled with deep doubt—how could I know so little about the Jin army's commander-in-chief, yet seem to know more about his 'unknown' younger brother?!

"I'm not very familiar with him, I've only vaguely heard people mention him." I smiled casually and brushed it off—how was I supposed to explain to him that later generations were actually much more familiar with this insignificant younger brother than with his elder brother! Sigh! I really need to change this impulsive habit of mine!

"Really? It was that friend of yours, the Heartless Swordsman Jiang Mohui, who told you this?" Zong Wang clearly didn't believe it. He said sarcastically, "He's really something. He even found out the details of a mere commander of our army, but he didn't tell you the age of the Jin army's commander-in-chief?!"

"Uh, it wasn't him who said that," I said hastily, feeling a pang of guilt. "Actually, I heard General Zong Ze mention Wanyan Aguda, saying he was a skilled warrior. He also said he had four sons, all of whom were very capable. He didn't mention your ages though." — Flattery always works. God help me, my lie will dispel his suspicions!

"Oh, is that so?" Zong Wang smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying. But then he suddenly threw out another question: "When did you start associating with Zong Ze?!"

"Ah? Oh, I was guarding Cizhou with my second brother a while ago." I blushed, lowered my head, and answered softly, not daring to look at him—it seemed that his trip south this time only encountered some setbacks in Cizhou?!

"Is Second Brother in Cizhou now?" Zongwang's expression was quite normal. He looked at me calmly and asked about Yue Fei's recent situation with concern. "Is Second Brother doing well?"

"He's doing well. We often talk about you, eldest brother, when we're together! It's a pity that I don't know when the three of us brothers will be able to reunite again." As I said this, my heart ached, and I felt a deep sadness—now my second brother and eldest brother are on opposing sides, and it seems they're about to turn against each other. How am I supposed to cope...?

[Volume 4, Finale: Chapter 6, The Iron Drum Still Resounds]

"Second Brother, why are you meeting with the Song people so soon?"—Ever since I entered the tent, Jin Wuzhu's suspicious gaze hadn't stopped scanning me. Now, he was directly expressing his dissatisfaction with Zongwang—Faced with his obvious arrogance and rudeness, I wisely remained silent, lowering my head and sitting quietly at the table.