The window was open, the lamp fire flickering, like Lu Qingming's mood at this moment.
Song YanShi did not directly attack me, his purpose should be to have Liu Hu monitor me and find the grain by tracking down the vine.
After all, even if I died, if he couldn't find that batch of grain, it would still be a hidden danger.
However, Song YanShi's patience was limited. If Liu Hu had no discoveries in a few days, he would surely realize that he himself had already been noticed by me, and taking action against me would just be a matter of time.
But I still had a thousand Fu troops in my hand. Although they were helpless against Liu Hu, they might be able to keep me safe. But...
Was it really so?
Would Song YanShi really pin all his hopes on Liu Hu?
No.
Lu Qingming instantly made inferences. Although he didn't know about that batch of elite Zhennan troops, he knew that Song YanShi must have a backup plan.
So.
One day! Two days at most! He had to make a quick decision and get rid of Liu Hu, this final trouble, all at once.
But how to do it?
In such a short period of time, to go kill a Xiaotianjie expert with a group of masters under him, who was also renowned for his lightness skill.
I...
Couldn't do it.
Lu Qingming racked his brains, but couldn't think of any way. At this moment when he was at a loss, he suddenly had an unstoppable thought:
If I were Lu Gaosheng now it would be great.
Lu Qingming found it very hard to control himself from thinking this way.
Because he felt that Lu Gaosheng would surely find a way, that arrogant, conceited, yet unfaltering version of himself.
In fact, Lu Qingming and Lu Gaosheng were essentially the same person after all, but they were also completely different.
Simply put, Lu Qingming and Lu Gaosheng were... two people with the same body and memories.
And because they were two people, their ways of thinking were totally different.
Take Wu Qixue for example. In principle, he was taught by the same master as Lu Gaosheng, they ate and lived together when they were young, his skills were slightly inferior, but not much.
From how Wu Qixue was able to see through the court intrigues behind the chaos in the Northern Land, and hurried south all the way until he found that ancient Lou Lan road, these two things showed that Wu Qixue was no mediocrity.
Yet in the end the winner was Lu Gaosheng.
Speaking of officialdom, Wu Qixue had entered government service even earlier than Lu Gaosheng, but the outcome was that one was about to be dismissed while the other was about to become prefect.
What set them apart was not their talents, but their ways of thinking.
Or to put it more bluntly, this world was inherently a zero-sum game arena. People who were unscrupulous, cunning, who manipulated rules rather than abide by them, were more likely to succeed.
Lu Qingming hesitated, but soon shook his head firmly, silently telling himself that now was not the time to indulge in such thoughts.
Yet he still couldn't think of a way.
Going through it over and over in his mind, a name gradually surfaced.
Zhang San.
If this man was still here, he would have the ability to kill Xu Guo, and most likely Liu Hu as well.
But according to Lu Gaosheng's previous speculations, Zhang San was unlikely to return after leaving, and even if he did, it would probably be to take Lu Gaosheng's life.
In Lu Gaosheng's eyes, Zhang San was just like him, equally cold-blooded and ruthless.
But after hesitating for a moment, scenes of Zhang San's interactions with Lu Gaosheng over the past few days floated up in Lu Qingming's mind, one by one.
The character “starving to death” in the bookshop, the “anger” revealed in the wilderness on the way back to the city...
Bit by bit, piece by piece, Lu Qingming vaguely felt that Lu Gaosheng's “judgement” of Zhang San was actually incorrect, or that there were errors.
Yet Lu Qingming couldn't quite pinpoint where the errors lay.
So Lu Qingming started to go over, in his mind, all of Lu Gaosheng's past speculations about Zhang San...
From the day he entered the city, to his departure after the deal was completed yesterday.
Lu Gaosheng had thought he saw through Zhang San completely.
But.
"No."
"All of Lu Gaosheng's inferences about Zhang San were indeed correct. Whether it was Zhang San's cold-blooded personality or powerful martial arts, there were no mistakes."
"But regarding Zhang San, Lu Gaosheng had two blind spots that he failed to notice."
Lu Qingming muttered to himself after carefully analyzing it.
The first point was Bai Fang.
"When this is over, return Wang Xiaoer to me, otherwise, I hope Master Lu understands, I don't like killing people randomly, but I'm not afraid to kill a few more either. That woman, can you protect her for a day, two days, can you protect her for a lifetime?"
These were the threatening words Zhang San said to Lu Gaosheng after killing Xu Guo.
In this threat, Zhang San did not directly threaten Lu Gaosheng's life, nor did he mention the list of the Bailu Army or the ledger of maritime merchants, things that could jeopardize Lu Gaosheng's future.
That meant Zhang San was very clear on what could truly threaten Lu Gaosheng.
So the question was.
Why didn't Zhang San directly use Bai Fang's life to coerce him when he was first under surveillance, in order to escape?
Was Zhang San oblivious at first? Or was there some other reason?
The second point was Zhang San's paintings.
Paintings, like books, reflected what the artist wanted to express. Of course, compared to words, the expression in paintings was less direct, and different people could derive different meanings from the same painting.
Ming Qing saw the demeanor of forgetting enmity and fearlessness in Zhang San's paintings.
Bai Fang saw the past image of Lu Qingming in Zhang San's paintings.
They were fascinated by the paintings for a time.
These two people were looking at the same "Serenity", because that painting was the best, so people's attention would naturally be drawn to the finest work.
From Zhang San's paintings, Lu Gaosheng could uncover Zhang San's secrets and deduce a series of related events.
That was because Lu Gaosheng looked at all of Zhang San's paintings, not just "Serenity".
Now it was Lu Qingming's turn to take a look.
Although not in that bookshop at the moment, Lu Qingming stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and closed his eyes.
He was a learned talent to begin with. Although he wouldn't claim an eidetic memory, things from the recent past could be recalled quickly if he wished.
With eyes closed, he was no longer in his own hall, but in that rundown bookshop.
The walls on all four sides were covered with paintings. These were all hung up by Wang Xiaoer based on his own feelings after Zhang San finished them, so the order of new and old paintings was random.
However, Lu Qingming believed this was Lu Gaosheng's second blind spot — the order of the paintings.
Lu Gaosheng had cleverly noticed the differences between the new and old paintings in paper quality, details, etc, but he did not pay attention to the order.
So now.
Let me put them back in order.
The new paintings used inferior paper from the local workshop, but they were new paper after all, unyellowed in blank areas.
Lu Qingming moved these paintings to the left wall in his mind.
The old paintings were all on cheap southern paper, many details indicating their age.
Lu Qingming adjusted these to the right wall in his mind.
Lu Qingming turned again, eyes still closed, but what he saw in his mind's eye was the old paintings on the right wall.
He looked at them one by one, paintings of beauties, landscapes, cityscapes, taking them all in, then muttered to himself softly:
"You are such a cold-hearted person..."
"These beautiful ladies, your brush shows no admiration, only dispassionately outlines their figures."
"These majestic mountains under your brush are no different than dirt mounds."
"This stronghold, this village, even the Dragon Boat Festival celebration, all are depicted with the same indifference."
"Zhang San, you are a cold and heartless man."
But was that really so?
Lu Qingming turned yet again, to look at the new paintings Zhang San did after arriving in Tian Ruo City.
Similarly there was a painting of mountains and rivers, similarly there was a painting of beauties, similarly there were cityscapes, the painting techniques were almost the same, the so-called artistic conception, was the same as the old paintings, without essence, but...
Lu Qingming said in a low voice:
"That tranquility is indeed good, however, tranquility does not appear suddenly, in your other new paintings, there are actually already signs."
"In the painting of mountains and rivers, your brushstrokes have gradually begun to be bold and unconstrained."
"In the painting of beauties, your use of color is bolder than before."
"In the cityscapes, in this corner, I don't know if you noticed, you painted a harmonious family of three, in the details here, the level of attention even exceeds the entire painting, although, this is just a corner."
Finally.
Lu Qingming looked towards that scene.
Why has your painting style begun to change?
Is it to sell better?
Then you should have started doing this earlier.
The techniques have not changed much, but the style is subtly changing, until that tranquility, the artistic conception bursts forth, anyone can feel it.
In fact, what has changed is not the technique, but... the person.
"Although I don't know what happened to you in the south, or on the road to Tian Ruo City, maybe even you yourself have not noticed, but, Zhang San, I am very certain..."
At this moment, Lu Qingming opened his eyes.
All doubts, suddenly enlightened.
Regarding Bai Fang, regarding the doubts about the painting, everything is solved.
There is only one reason.
Lu Qingming said: "Zhang San, you are gradually negating your past self."
This is the answer!
Ming Qing read the artistic conception, Bai Fang read the familiarity, Lu Gaosheng read the secret.
And Lu Qingming.
He smiled slightly and said, "Zhang San, I read you."