I whispered to Wang Yin, "Don't you have anything that, if you just say it, would make him believe your privacy?"
Wang Yin rolled his eyes and said, "Why would I have so many tricks up my sleeve?"
"...Then you two fight outside first, and come in when you're done."
The two Wang Yins went out...
Pang Wanchun said dejectedly, "Um... everyone, don't you recognize me anymore?"
Pang Wanchun No. 1 asked, "Who are you?"
Pang Wanchun No. 2 said with a bitter face, "I am you. I'm just a little chubby."
Pang Wanchun No. 1: "Shall we have a competition?"
I said, "You two go outside too!"
After the two kings and two Pangs left, Bao Jin looked at Deng Yuanjue, and Deng Yuanjue looked at Bao Jin. Suddenly, the two of them said in unison, "No fighting, no fighting, we won't fight."
I asked curiously, "Why aren't you two fighting?"
The two Dengs laughed at the same time, saying, "We just need to wait for the results of those two couples."
...This is the wisdom of Buddhism!
Old Wang moved closer to Fang La, both of them feeling a little awkward. After all, not everyone can understand the feeling of talking to oneself. Fang Jie and Shi Bao stared at the two of them, momentarily petrified…
Old Wang spoke first: "Brother—they usually call the newcomers 'elder brother,' but I'm a few years older than you, so I'll take advantage of that and call you 'brother.' Brother, have you ever thought about why you started this rebellion?"
Fang La scratched his face with his large hand and said, "I've stumbled along here, and it seems like I've suddenly become like this. As for why, I really haven't thought about it—why?"
Old Wang chuckled, “That hits the nail on the head. You started the rebellion because you didn’t want to be bullied and wanted your neighbors to have enough to eat. But you never expected it to grow so big that you ended up having no choice in the matter. Everyone trusted you and wanted to follow you to live a good life. To avoid letting them down, you had no choice but to grit your teeth and keep going. Actually, you never wanted to be emperor, and you hated fighting and killing. You lacked the ambition necessary to be an emperor. You just wanted to express your anger and tell that bastard emperor that you, Fang La, were not someone to be trifled with. As for the outcome, you never really thought about it. Deep down, you already knew the uprising wouldn’t succeed, but you told yourself, ‘Who cares? A grand and spectacular uprising is good enough.’”
With a "smack," Fang La slapped his thigh hard, saying somewhat excitedly, "That's what I thought, but it's not as good as what you said."
I never expected the old carpenter to be so eloquent; his hypnotic words almost brought me to tears. But this might be because he was talking to himself. No one but Fang La understood Fang La's thoughts better than him. Plus, the old carpenter had spent half his life in poverty, wandering the streets, so his words carried a weighty weight of experience.
Old Wang said, "I only figured these things out at the very end, and many of them I only recently came to understand. So, brother, you can't possibly succeed. Since that's the case, let the mess that's been left to rot. As long as they can't bully us anymore, who cares? Let's call it a day—find a secluded place and live our lives peacefully. We'll have good wine for friends when they come, and hunting rifles for wolves when they come."
Fang La remained silent for a long time before turning to Fang Jie and the others and saying, "You all heard it too. There's no future in following me. What do you all think?"
Shi Bao said nonchalantly, "Brother, we'll follow you no matter what. There's one thing this old man said that I like to hear. Who cares? As long as it's a spectacular event, that's good enough!"
Fang Jie said with a stern face, "Uncle, don't be fooled. I think these people were sent by the imperial court to persuade us to surrender. They know that they can't just talk to us directly, so they're resorting to this trick."
Fang La shook his head sadly and said, "What he said is all right, you just don't understand."
Old Wang chuckled, "Let's not talk about whether it's right or wrong yet. I know you still doubt my identity. I just learned a trick from Tianrun, and now I'll tell you a secret only you and I know. If it's right, you can't treat me like an outsider anymore." Without waiting for Fang La's agreement, Old Wang whispered something in Fang La's ear. Fang La, just like Li Tianrun's apprentice, was stunned and paled, abruptly standing up and grabbing Old Wang's hand, saying, "From now on, you're my elder brother!"
Almost simultaneously, everyone present asked Fang La, "What did he say to you?"
The two Fang Las shook their heads and smiled in unison: "It cannot be said, it cannot be said..."
Chapter 126 Marriage Certificate
With those two "unspeakable" statements as a foundation, we can say that tonight's plan is more than half successful. As for what those two "unspeakable" statements from Li Tianrun and Old Wang actually meant, I'm afraid we'll never know...
Actually, Wang Yin might have something "unspeakable" about him; he's just too lazy to think about it. I don't believe everyone doesn't have some embarrassing little secrets. I suddenly thought, what if one day a guy who looks exactly like me came to me and insisted he was my reincarnation? What would I have to say to make him believe me? I pondered for a while and remembered a few things... well, unspeakable, unspeakable!
After dealing with Fang La, Old Wang said, "Think about what I said. Should we recruit the troops or not?"
Fang La looked at his men, stood up, and solemnly said, "I have made up my mind. We shall withdraw our troops here."
Shi Bao said, "Then where do we go? We have so many brothers with us, we can't just leave them to fend for themselves, can we?"
I said, "We can talk to the people of Liangshan about this. As soon as you stop fighting, they will also have to find a way out. If all else fails, they can all go to Liangshan first."
Fang Jie snorted and said, "Do you expect us to live under someone else's roof?"
Fang La said, "That's not how it works. If we're all together, we're all brothers. Why talk about who's superior or inferior?"
I found Fang La to be a man who did what he said he would, which made him much more likable than Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng was a failed politician, but a failed politician is still a politician. Fang La was a true hero; I reckon if he were still in Shandong, Song Jiang would have "tricked" him into joining the Liangshan bandits long ago.
Just then, the two Wang Yins returned leisurely, and I asked, "How did it go?"
In the ancient costume drama, Wang Yin No. 1 casually said, "We've done the sparring, we're brothers!"
The two Pang Wanchuns also walked back to the main tent, chatting and laughing. I asked again, "Where are you two?"
Pang Wanchun No. 1 said with undisguised joy, "Now we don't have to worry about dealing with Hua Rong."
I was taken aback: "Why are you messing around with Hua Rong? Brother Fang has already decided to call it a day."
Deng Yuanjue and Bao Jin smiled at each other: "Luckily we didn't fight, it saved us a lot of energy."
Li Tianrun #2 said to #1, "Now you should completely believe me, right? Here's a piece of advice: treat those wives better. You'll have a good life in this one, but in the next life, it'll be my retribution!"
Li No. 1 said, "Why don't you take the two of them with you?"
Li No. 2: "..."
At that moment, the twelve Heavenly Kings and the two Fang Las gathered together in a lively atmosphere. After chatting for a while, they began to discuss future matters. Fang La said, "If the two sides cease hostilities, there will still be a lot of follow-up matters to deal with. I think I should go and meet with Song Jiang."
Seeing that his uncle had made up his mind, Fang Jie didn't say anything more about the issue of ceasing hostilities. He glanced at us worriedly and asked, "Uncle, is it safe?"
Old Wang sighed, "You brat, you've never taken me seriously. Let me tell you, if you want to marry Er Ya, you're out of luck if I don't agree!"