Hua Yuan supported himself with a tree branch and limped up the mountain. His crippled leg could only drag on the ground. Because the mountain road was rugged and difficult to walk on, he was so tired that his forehead was sweating and his chapped lips curled up. Lu Zheng glanced at him and couldn't bear to look away.
Outsiders felt sorry for him, but Hua Yuan seemed to have lost his sense of pain. There was no expression of pain on his face, but some relief and urgency. The closer he got to his destination, the more urgent his steps became. He even hopped on one leg for the last few steps.
No one made a sound, but one of the squires accidentally stepped on something while walking, making a cracking sound.
Hearing the movement, Jiang Pengji turned her head and glanced at it. She found that the squire had stepped on a piece of dirty human bone buried in the mud.
Hua Yuan wasn't surprised. He turned around and walked over. He squatted down and picked up the bone that the squire had stepped on. His expression was somewhat absent-minded. He sighed and said, "After the disaster of Nanman, everyone felt insecure and uneasy. Our clansmen had to move away to avoid the disaster. Only a few loyal servants stayed behind to take care of the ancestral house and guard the clan's graves to prevent the people nearby from going up the mountain to dig up the graves … "
He said it calmly, but the others reacted differently.
Lu Zheng looked down and Jiang Pengji was expressionless. Lu Zheng secretly observed Jiang Pengji from the corner of his eyes.
Jiang Pengji had done this many times. There were many gold-raiding officers under her command. When she fought with An Cui previously, she relied on this method to alleviate the shortage of rations. Because of this, she angered the Nansheng aristocrats in Fen Province and other places. The Nansheng family rebelled and was finally wiped out by her.
Yue Wu Fengqi: "Hahaha, Lu Zheng's eyesight is amazing."
Lovers Zicheng Xiumei: "I really want to stuff the microphone into the streamer's mouth and interview her about her current mood."
Rencongzhong: "There's no need for an interview. I bet on the streamer's integrity. She must be smiling on the outside but cursing in her heart."
Jintian Jigeng: "It seems that the streamer has dug up more graves than Boss Cao. Do you know about gold-raiding officers?"
Jiang Pengji was a model worker among the streamers. She had been in the wind and rain for so many years. She was occasionally delayed, but she was never absent. The salted fishes had practically watched her grow from the age of twelve to the present. They had witnessed her development and growth for more than ten years, so they knew her inside out.
When she gave the order to dig up the graves to replenish the military supplies, many of the salted fish expressed their opposition, but most of them chose to remain silent. It wasn't that the salted fish were cold and heartless, it was just that their rationality told them that Jiang Pengji's behavior was not wrong in the context of her era. As spectators, all they could do was send bullet screens to watch the show. They could not control Jiang Pengji's life.
Things had changed with the passage of time. Now that this matter was brought up again, the salted fishes could only laugh and laugh.
Hua Yuan didn't seem to notice the awkwardness in the atmosphere. He continued to speak in a hoarse voice, "There are a few villages on the mountain and at the foot of the mountain. In the villages, there are often hooligans who don't work in production but do some shady business. They sneak up the mountain to dig robber's holes and steal the funerary items from the tombs to sell. If that was all, then it was fine. If the dead can be buried with the living, it can be considered as accumulating good karma after death. Unfortunately, most of the villagers are despicable and greedy. Not only do they steal the funerary items on the outside of the coffin, but they also want to take the things inside the coffin. In the end, they even split the coffin and used it to make fire. It's a pity for these poor people. They were famous for a time when they were alive, but they died without a burial place … "
On this point, Jiang Pengji could be considered to have moral integrity.
The gold-raiding officers did dig up graves and steal money, but they wouldn't go so far as to remove the things worn on the bodies and not even leave a coffin behind.
Of course, this was just the pot calling the kettle black. There was no difference in essence.
The grave of Hua Yuan's parents was also destroyed. There was a robber's hole that had been filled in nearby. It looked full of potholes.
Even though it had been destroyed beyond recognition, one could still see the wealth of the deceased when they were alive. This was not a standard that ordinary people could have.
Most of the graves nearby were overgrown with weeds, and some were even used as nests by small animals. Only the grave of Hua Yuan's parents looked rather clean. The weeds around it had been carefully pulled out, and there were no bones scattered outside. There seemed to be no need to guess who had tidied it up.
Hua Yuan looked at the grave. He seemed to be in a trance. His eyes were filled with tears.
His parents had died of the plague when he was young. His uncle and aunt had taken advantage of his young age and stolen his family's wealth. They had caused him to live in pain from a young age to a young man. If the plague had taken him away, he wouldn't have had to suffer for more than 30 years.
Hua Yuan knelt in front of his parents' grave and whispered. Jiang Pengji didn't disturb him. She just watched quietly and treated herself as the background. After about a quarter of an hour, Hua Yuan's eyebrows relaxed. It was as if a burden had been lifted from his heart. His breathing became stable.
Hua Yuan bowed to Jiang Pengji and said sincerely, "Thank you, Master Lanting."
Jiang Pengji said, "Do you know that when you lost your mind, you called yourself 'Liu Xi'?"
Hua Yuan wasn't surprised by her question. Apart from that, he couldn't think of any other reason why a noble would appear before him.
"I didn't know about it before. I only found out about it later."
Hua Yuan's breathing fluctuated as he talked about it.
He seemed to be suppressing his emotions, but his eyes revealed his true feelings. Remorse and pain almost drowned him.
Of course, these emotions weren't directed at Jiang Pengji. They were directed at other people, such as the young master he treated like his own, his chief of the Public Security Bureau, and the people who had died directly or indirectly at his hands. He didn't intend for those people to die, but he did cause them to die.
Hua Yuan didn't want to explain himself. He only wanted to seek relief through death.
"Can I see him?"
Jiang Pengji's suggestion was beyond Hua Yuan's expectations. His expression froze in shock.
"It's not impossible, but … Master Lanting, you don't know. That thing seems to be especially afraid of you …"
Hua Yuan could wake up and temporarily regain his sanity because Jiang Pengji's breathing was close.
Jiang Pengji said, "Are you saying that you can't make him come out?"
Hua Yuan said shamefully, "This isn't something I can control …"
If he could control the appearance of those annoying personalities, he wouldn't have ended up like this.
Jiang Pengji said, "If that's the case, it's a pity."
When she first met Hua Yuan, she could tell that there were many personalities in his body. Now that she looked at him again, those messy personalities were gone. What replaced them was a muddy and broken "secondary personality." It was like the product of the personalities devouring each other.
This "secondary personality" was probably the so-called "Liu Xi."
Even if he was awakened, he would still be an irrational "monster."
"I'm not that crazy to kill my own child in front of my parents' graves. I'll give you a chance. End it yourself."
Jiang Pengji's hand, which was on the God Slaying Sword, dropped. She threw a dagger to Hua Yuan.
Hua Yuan looked at the dagger and smiled.
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