diymy Chapter 87 My Lord, may we live for that day?
Chapter 87 My Lord, may we live for that day?
Beneath this person's glib tongue lies something.
When he speaks, his eyes never linger in one place for long; he looks around as if examining an ant, a leaf, or a crack in a wall.
But Cheng Yu noticed that every time his gaze swept over him, he was looking at something different.
First the eyes, then the hands, then the posture, and then the rhythm of breathing.
He is weighing himself.
It is not measured by words, but by sight.
"What advice do you have for me, Mr. Jian?" Cheng Yu asked.
Jian Yong took the grass stem out of his mouth and twirled it between his fingers.
He didn't look at Cheng Yu, but instead looked down at the grass stem in his hand, as if some interesting patterns had suddenly grown on it.
I've heard something.
He said his voice was not loud and his speech was slower than before, "I don't know if it's true or not, I want to ask you to verify it."
Cheng Yu remained calm and said, "Please speak."
"I heard that you once had a dream."
Jian Yong raised his eyes, his gaze meeting Cheng Yu's. "In my dream, I held the sun in my hands."
Cheng Yu's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
He did not mention this matter to Liu Deran.
Although he had mentioned it to some friends, that was in Dongjun. Apart from that, he rarely mentioned it, and not many people knew about it.
It wasn't that I deliberately hid it, but I felt it was unnecessary. Dreams are extremely private things, especially dreams like that.
How did Jian Yong find out?
He didn't ask.
Because he read an answer in Jian Yong's eyes: this person wouldn't tell him.
"After waking up, the gentleman changed his name," Jian Yong continued, his tone flat, as if he were talking about something ordinary. "Li was changed to Yu."
"Mr. Jian, you have excellent connections!" Cheng Yu said casually.
His voice was flat, and his expression remained unchanged, but the fingers clasped behind his back tightened slightly.
Jian Yong smiled.
The smile came and went quickly, like a breeze sweeping across the water on a summer afternoon; before you could even see it clearly, the water had already returned to calm.
Then he did something Cheng Yu hadn't expected.
He stopped smiling and took a step forward.
This small step shortened the distance between the two to a subtle degree.
It's not too close, but not so close that it feels oppressive.
It wasn't far enough that what I was about to say would only reach the other person's ears.
He looked directly into Cheng Yu's eyes.
Cheng Yu has seen many kinds of eyes.
Some were eager to recruit talent, some were wary and suspicious, some were sycophantic, and some were boastful.
But Jian Yong's gaze at this moment did not belong to any of them.
In those usually nonchalant eyes, it was as if two silent flames had suddenly ignited, not scorching, but burning.
Mr. Cheng.
Jian Yong's voice was extremely low, so low that only the two of them could hear it. So low that even the cicadas chirping outside the window could drown it out.
"My lord, may it be for that day."
It's not a question.
It is a statement.
Cheng Yu's pupils suddenly contracted.
He didn't answer immediately; he didn't even move.
He simply stood there, meeting Jian Yong's gaze, as if weighing the weight of those words.
Weigh the weight of this person, and consider what they were thinking when they said those words.
The cicadas suddenly started chirping very loudly.
After a long while, Cheng Yu finally spoke.
His voice was even lower than before, so low it was almost rolling out of his chest.
"Mr. Jian, is this your own opinion, or—Lieutenant Liu's opinion?"
Jian Yong put the grass stem back into his mouth.
The movement was so natural, as if the person with the burning gaze just now didn't exist at all, as if he had been talking about nothing more than mosquitoes and mosquito nets.
"My lord does not yet know your name."
He said, his tone becoming nonchalant again, "Yong is nothing more than that."
He turned around and walked towards the door, but after taking two steps, he turned back and winked at Cheng Yu.
"Let me take a look for my lord first."
After saying that, he sauntered out, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, his shadow stretching long in the intense afternoon sunlight.
Cheng Yu stood in the room, watching that figure disappear through the moon gate.
His hands were behind his back, his knuckles slightly white from the tension in his hands, but now they slowly loosened.
He lowered his head and looked at his outstretched palm. The lines on his palm were rough, and there were thin calluses on his fingertips. It was a pair of hands that had held both a pen and a sword.
Holding the sun in both hands.
He did have that dream.
In his dream, the sky was dark and the earth was heavy. He stood alone in a vast wilderness, his hands raised high, his palms cradling a blazing white sun.
The sun wasn't hot, but it was heavy, so heavy that his bones were cracking, yet he didn't let go.
After waking up, he changed "Li" to "Yu".
interesting.
Jian Yong said that he was just taking a look at the person first.
What are you looking at?
Is Cheng Yu worth recruiting?
Or should we see if Cheng Yu can recognize that sun?
So, Liu Bei, is that right?
Cheng Yu walked to the window and opened it.
The summer heat hit us, carrying with it the sounds of cicadas and the smell of dust.
The jujube trees in the yard drooped listlessly in the sunlight. Just as Jian Yong had been leaning against the wall, the ants had regained their order and continued to carry the green caterpillar in a grand procession.
He suddenly smiled.
This man is interesting. He has traveled halfway across the country and met many officials, famous scholars and heroes, but this is the first time he has met someone like this.
And such people are willing to stay in this small official residence.
He greeted guests for a seventeen-year-old captain, drew a line in the middle of a line of ants, and then squinted to watch them scatter in chaos.
Then, say that sentence to him.
Cheng Yu closed the window.
He decided to stay and take a look.
That's why I'm visiting today.
After Liu Bei's wedding, he was about to return to Liaoxi and had many things to take care of, so he only had a brief chat with Cheng Yu.
In the evening, Liu Bei finally had time to host a banquet for everyone.
Liu Deran was exhausted from his journey and went to bed early after dinner.
Han Dang and Hou Cheng, each with their own duties, also resigned one after the other.
Only three people remained in the council chamber: Liu Bei, Jian Yong, and Cheng Yu.
The lamp oil was added twice.
Summer nights in Zhuoxian are not hot; in fact, they can be quite cool.
The chirping of insects outside the window and the faint sound of footsteps of night patrolmen could be heard in the distance before silence returned.
A map lay open on the table, its corners held down by a copper paperweight, marking the mountains, rivers, and cities of Liaoxi, Liaodong, and Youbeiping prefectures.
Beside the map were several bamboo scrolls, a sword on a shelf, and a lamp.
Cheng Yu sat opposite Liu Bei, taking a real look at the seventeen-year-old captain for the first time.
Upon closer inspection under the lamplight, one could see something in the man's features that seemed out of place for his age.
It wasn't maturity or world-weariness, but a strange calmness, as if he had experienced something unknown to others, thus gaining a deeper understanding of everything before him.
"Mr. Cheng came from Yanzhou."
Liu Bei spoke, his tone casual as if in ordinary conversation: "How has Dongjun been these past few years?"