It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Lid took out a handful of copper and silver coins from his arms, threw them on the ground, and said in a calm tone:

"Ask a question."

After these two sentences, the man immediately hid the stick behind him without making a sound. His tone became much softer and he asked tentatively:

"You, what do you want to ask?"

Lid glanced at He Yue, who let out a breath and asked with a smile:

"Excuse me, how do I get to Xiaowu Hutong, Songchun Street?"

The man looked at He Yue carefully, completely letting down his guard, and muttered a few words:

"That place disappeared a long time ago... I didn't expect that besides the little mule, someone still remembered it. Are you going there to look for someone? That place was burned down during the last war, and now it's turned into a ruin. After you go out, turn left, walk to the end, then walk right along the road. On the right side is a row of dark earth walls."

He Yue nodded and took a look at the porridge in the pot. The porridge was not the beautiful white rice porridge, but a handful of rotten leaves mixed with some rice bran and other things, so the taste of the boiled porridge was not even close to the fragrance, but full of bitterness. But the children sitting around the stove with their hands folded on the stove looked at the pot with shining eyes, as if this was a delicacy that could only be eaten during the Chinese New Year.

He Yue sniffed and walked out. Li De noticed that the man holding the wooden stick had blisters on his hands when he was holding the iron pot. When he clenched the wooden stick, the blisters broke and his hand was covered with blood.

But the man seemed to feel no pain, his eyes were fixed on the seven copper coins and two silver coins on the ground.

After Li De and He Yue left, they vaguely heard voices of gratitude coming from within the room.

Lid stopped to listen. The man was thanking the gods in the temple. He said that the clergy were right. They had endured torture for generations just to pay for the original sin they were born with. Now that they had paid it off, they could finally enjoy the sweetness of life. Instead, the child in front of the stove asked in confusion, "Weren't the big brother and sister who gave us the money just now?"

The man was speechless. After muttering for a long time, he said: Let's eat first.

38. Live like a summer flower

With the information provided by the locals, the place where He Yue once lived was actually not difficult to find.

Reed walked with her in Ansheng City and soon saw the charred remains of the house.

He Yue stood solemnly in front of the ruined old house with his hands clasped together. After a long while, he spoke:

"Mom and Dad, I'm back."

He Yue opened her eyes. It seemed more like she was simply confiding something than talking to anyone.

Just like many people would say a few words when they kneel in front of a tombstone, mixed with beautiful hopes of conveying thoughts, but more likely just a soliloquy. The cold winter wind blew away He Yue's words, and no one else could hear them except Lid:

"When I was sold to the lord's mansion that year, I also resented you in my heart. But later I let it go. Born in this world, I have no right to ask more from you. Everyone wants to survive, and you are no exception. So the people around you are doing the same ugly things. Everyone influences each other, hand in hand, stepping into the abyss... and then making this world worse."

He Yue smiled, paused for a while, and continued:

"But now, I can finally do something. Within a year, I will make sure that most people in Tiancheng can have enough food to eat and wear new warm clothes. No one will be sold to the lord's mansion, crying until their voice is hoarse but still no one cares about them. No one will dress up as a man and sing in a brothel, being looked down upon but having to smile. I will not let this kind of pain happen to the people of Tiancheng again, because I know that I am already a lucky one among the people of Tiancheng. I left here, but those who stayed behind are a thousand times and ten thousand times more miserable than me."

He Yue's voice trembled slightly.

In fact, there is no point in comparing misery. If even misery has to be inward-looking, then this world is too sad.

He Yue still remembers the day her parents bought her new clothes. She felt that she was no longer an ugly duckling. She kept washing her face with water from the river until it turned red. But after putting on her new clothes, she was sent to the dark gate of the lord's mansion before she could show off to her friends.

Fortunately, He Yue was very smart. After realizing something was wrong, she immediately changed into men's clothes, secretly pulled out some Luodong grass from the flower bed, and used the grass juice to paint her face and hands a waxy yellow. This way she was able to save herself from the hesitant gazes of the Tiancheng Lord and the Tiancheng Young Masters.

Many young girls were unable to react in the first place, and many girls thought that being chosen by noble masters was an opportunity to rise to prominence, so they consciously showed themselves.

So, He Yue could hear miserable crying and begging for mercy on many nights in the lord's mansion.

Human life is just a consumable for them, and it is not even a luxury among consumables, but a very cheap one. At that time, He Yue had an idea. She hoped that no one in Tiancheng would live in fear like her, so she chose reform, but reform was destined to fail in Tiancheng.

Later, she went to Yunyang. This period of time seemed long, but if you counted carefully, it was only two and a half years.

Two and a half years ago, she said that Tiancheng would not survive the next three years. Today, she helped Yunyang to personally end the tyranny of Lord Tiancheng.

Revisiting the old place, the dreams of the past have now come true, and the home of the past has now become a ruin.

All kindness and resentment are scattered in the wind.

Reed silently put his arm around He Yue's shoulders and stood side by side with her.

He Yue's tears fell down in an instant. She sniffed, suddenly smiled, and said softly:

"In the past, you always kept complaining about who would end up with your child. During those years when I worked as a handyman in Lord Tiancheng's mansion, I endured being beaten and scolded while doing odd jobs. During those years when I sang in the brothel, I pretended to be crazy and stupid and was ridiculed by others. Now, after all the hardships, I have finally married into a good family."

The ruins naturally could not give her any response, but He Yue still silently finished what she needed to say:

"Although I am not the legal wife and have no status, and even for a long time - at least before the unification of this country, I couldn't even make my own affairs public, but at least I am happy now. When the chaos in Tiancheng ended, I also felt confused, but now I have decided to put an end to my past life and live with my head held high. I will never forget the kindness of raising me, and I will dedicate my life to my family and country in exchange for peace in the world and the well-being of the people."

He Yue's words seemed to be spoken to his parents who were no longer around, to Li De, or perhaps to himself as well.

Reed listened quietly, and stood with her in the wind for a long time before he held He Yue's hand and left together.

On the way, He Yue said that she could take Li De to the river where she often went when she was a child, and Li De readily agreed.

But at the last moment before leaving, Li De suddenly turned his head and saw a piece of clothing flashing behind the dark wall. Li De could feel the other person's breath. It was the child he met when he first came to Ansheng City. The other person didn't seem to want to show up. After confirming that Li De and He Yue were far away, he quietly leaned out from behind the wall and carefully checked the place where Li De and He Yue had just stood. After confirming that there was no damage, he sat down with a sigh of relief, took out the half pancake that Li De threw over from his arms, and placed it on a gap in the wall.

Judging from the location, it should be the house next to He Yue’s.

"Mom, I need food."

The child gave a silly smile and continued:

"Mom, can you please come back? I heard from them that the bad guys have been driven away, and we won't have to go hungry anymore."

There was no response from the room, only his voice echoed in the empty room:

"Mom, I miss you so much... I shouldn't have been naughty and shouldn't have disobeyed you. Mom, please come back, please don't leave..."

The child pushed the pancake hard into the wall, and half of it fell over the wall and into a pile of moldy food.

No one responded to him, only he was still talking to himself:

"Mom, you eat. I'm not hungry. I can find food for myself now..."

He staggered away.

In Tiancheng, the death of a person like him at any time and anywhere would not cause any ripples because it was too common.

But this time, when he was running on an empty stomach, he bumped into someone unexpectedly.

The child looked up and saw that the other person was tall and strong and wearing a military uniform. He immediately turned around and ran away, completely ignoring the man shouting behind him.

"That child should be Little Mule... According to the information we found, his father was captured and sent to serve in the army, and only his mother raised him. His mother was not a good person either. She made him go out to find food, and beat him when he couldn't find any. Later, it seemed that she hooked up with a few soldiers and abandoned him and ran away."

The soldier who was hit explained to his companions, who complained helplessly:

"Damn it, why does Tiancheng always do such a thing?"

The soldier who was hit also sighed:

"Who said it wasn't? But we have no right to say anything about them. If it weren't for the Lord and the Prime Minister, we would have had a lot of trouble here... We should take him back to the orphanage as soon as possible, otherwise Sister Yayu will be unhappy."

The companion also stretched his neck and said:

"That's true. Just keep working. Save as many people as possible."

39. The huge net is slowly tightening

The northeastern border of Yongtian Kingdom.

For the Yongtian Kingdom, the dragon clan has always been a major and difficult problem to deal with.

Unlike the north, which was guarded by the Lingwu lord, the eastern border of Yongtian Kingdom was not strong, so the friction with the dragon clan often resulted in more losses than wins. A great war with the dragon clan exhausted the last vitality of the royal family, and the royal family fell into decline from then on. In the battle between the two kings, the dragon clan did not send out its main force at all, and almost captured the entire royal capital.

However, in fact, the development of the dragon clan during this period was not entirely smooth.

The ninth son of the Dragon King, Ofland, died inexplicably in Tianyue Mountain, and the war against the elves did not completely annex the elves. After the main force returned to the Dragon King, the dragons once again set their sights on Yongtian Kingdom - the fertile land they had always wanted to take for themselves.

That night, heavy snow fell. A woman wearing a bamboo hat put one hand on the scabbard at her waist and walked against the wind.

The prince of Wanze Territory, the ninth level of perfection, Xihe.

After meeting Lide in Yunyang, Xihe borrowed the new army formed by [Potian] from Lide. As a reward, she agreed to take Lide's place to visit the border between the dragons and humans to find out about the movements of the dragons and find Merlin's whereabouts. It was already a very cold place, but Xihe did not change into heavy winter clothes, but still wore clothes that were convenient for movement. If you look closely, you can see the red bloodstains on her back, which are still steaming.

Xihe exhaled, his heroic eyes now a little distracted, but he still tried his best to look at the scenery around him, as if to confirm something. After judging that there was no danger here, Xihe reached into his arms and took out a bird the size of his palm.

This bird is called "Wanli Chuanyin". Only the direct bloodline of Lord Wanze can raise it. Usually, it is injected with a special anesthetic to put it in a dormant state. When necessary, it can be awakened by feeding it an antidote, and then it can be directly spoken to. "Wanli Chuanyin" will record up to 50 words of information, and then quickly flap its wings to the place where it woke up last time.

The biggest advantage of "Wanli Voice Transmission" over carrier pigeons is that when the crisis is so severe that there is no time to write a letter, it can convey the user's final words.

In the Yunyang Lord's Mansion, Xihe once briefly woke it up so that it could remember the direction there.

Now, Xihe took out the bottle of antidote again, bit open the lid with her teeth, and tried to pour the antidote into Wanli Chuanyin's mouth. However, due to the cold, excessive blood loss, or excessive fear, her hands kept shaking, and she poured it several times before she succeeded. Many white pills were scattered on the snow, disappearing without a trace.

"Wanli Chuanyin" woke up slowly and looked at Xihe with blinking dark eyes.

Xihe patted its head gently, took a deep breath, and said in a hoarse voice:

"Tell him... don't worry about the dragon clan, and run as far away as possible..."

"This is not something that humans can participate in..."

"Please...please...don't come..."

"Wanli Chuanyin" can only mimic human speech, and cannot understand human thoughts. However, when Xihe stretched out his hand and lifted it high into the sky, "Wanli Chuanyin" knew that it had to fly to the designated location to deliver the message.

Feeling the weight in his hand lighten, Xihe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She was still a little worried, because she felt that with Lid's character, he would not back down after hearing these warnings. But she couldn't convey more information to Lid, because everything she experienced here was too weird. Xihe, who had reached the ninth level of perfection, couldn't even figure out who her opponent was. This was all she could do.

Just as Xihe was about to leave, time in the world seemed to stop for a moment.

A strange hand as dark as a shadow stretched out from the end of the field of vision and grabbed the "Wanli Transmission" that was about to fly high. Along with the slight sound of broken bones, a pool of red blood was squeezed into the snow.

Xihe drew his sword instantly, turned around and slashed towards that direction.

But before the knife fell, she seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying and stood there in a daze.

Soon after, blood spurted out of her chest, and all the strength in her body seemed to be drained away, and she slowly fell to the ground in the snow.

The blood melted the snow beneath her.

There seemed to be a sound of metal rubbing in the air, and if you heard it too often, your brain would tremble. But if you forced yourself to listen, the strange voice seemed to be uttering simple syllables:

"abyss……"

"Always..."

"Watching you..."

The harsh sound slowly faded away.

After a long time, two cloaked men appeared in front of Xihe.

The male voice is strong and powerful:

"So, are you going to kill her?"

The female voice is elusive:

"No need. Wanze's prince is still useful. Besides, it will be easier to trick Li De into taking the bait with her around."

The man walked forward, grabbed Xihe's head, picked her up and carried her on his shoulder.

The woman raised her head, revealing her charming peach blossom eyes, and said with a half-smile:

"Let's go to the Dragon Clan. It's time to meet up with the Dragon Clan's eldest princess."

The heavy snow fell quietly, covering everything here.

It was as if no one had ever been here and nothing had ever happened.

……

On the same day, the main city of Western Qin territory, Yuanyang City.

The only light in the dark solitary confinement room was the flickering candlelight. A handsome, noble-looking middle-aged man stood solemnly in the center of the room, looking down at the young man in front of him who looked somewhat similar to him.

The young man's hands were handcuffed to the wall, his body was covered with wounds, and blood had stuck his clothes to his flesh. No one knew what kind of torture he had suffered here, he had become somewhat inhuman.

The middle-aged man was silent for a while, then said:

"Ying Bai. I'll ask you one last time. Have you really thought it through?"

The young man raised his head, his black hair was stuck to his fair cheeks by the blood, only his eyes were clear and bright.

He opened his mouth and answered slowly:

"I think very clearly... I am on a different path from you."

The middle-aged man showed a look of pity on his face, but it was only fleeting. He was similar to Ying Bai, both of them had expressionless faces and basically no expression.

The middle-aged man nodded, stopped trying to persuade Ying Bai, and didn't tell Ying Bai what to do next. He just left the confinement room silently, closing the heavy iron door behind him.