#617 - Same but different story
In the end, Wei Changtian still didn't send a message to Xu Suisui.
It wasn't that he had nothing to ask or say.
But rather, there was no need to ask or say.
Whether she called herself "Guanyin Reincarnate", wanted to use the power of Buddhism to fight against the Qian and Hui countries, or wanted to establish Buddhism as the state religion...
These were all Xu Suisui's affairs, and had nothing to do with him.
Since she was no longer an ally, she could walk whichever path she wanted.
The only thing Wei Changtian could do was probably not actively scheme against this fellow countryman.
That was all.
“...”
“Young Master, where are we going now?”
Zhang San's voice floated into the carriage, which was now slowly leaving the imperial palace and arriving on the street outside the Meridian Gate.
There was still some time before sunset, so there were many pedestrians on the street, and various banners fluttered in the wind amid the hubbub.
Wei Changtian had several things to do on this return to the capital.
And now, these things were basically done, with only the last one remaining.
“Leave the city.”
“Go to Fish Belly Mountain.”
Half an hour later.
Ten miles north of the city, Fish Belly Mountain.
Fish Belly Mountain was shaped like a fish belly, not very high, and many chrysanthemums were planted in the mountain.
This was just an ordinary low mountain around the Great Ning capital, but it had some unusual significance for Wei Changtian.
Two years ago, during the Double Ninth Festival, he had ambushed here, attempting to kill Xiao Feng for the second time.
Of course, the result was unsuccessful.
A third-rank general named Chen Jie, in order to repay the Liu family's favor, withstood Wei Xianzhi's pressure and insisted on protecting Xiao Feng.
However, as a condition, he also revealed the location where the Liu family had kidnapped and hidden Lu Jingyao and others.
Looking back now, if it hadn't been for that Chen Jie, Xiao Feng might have already died at the foot of Fish Belly Mountain.
And Lu Jingyao and Qiuyun would most likely have been killed by the bandits.
If that were the case, Wei Changtian might not have killed Liu Yuanshan in order to gather enough numbers to exchange for Mica Fungus, and thus would not have been exiled to Shu Province.
If he hadn't gone to Shu Province, he wouldn't have been involved in Ning Qingyu's family extermination case, and he wouldn't have met the current Great Shu Empress, Ning Yuke...
A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest of South America, occasionally flapping its wings a few times, might cause a tornado in Texas.
In the previous life, it was called the butterfly effect, and the ancient saying was that a hurricane originates from the tip of a green blade.
The world is like this, any small change, amplified by time, will guide the development of the world in a completely different direction.
But this kind of "if then" hypothesis is actually meaningless.
Wei Changtian's coming to Fish Belly Mountain today is not to review why his assassination of Xiao Feng failed back then.
He is actually here for two other people.
Two insignificant little people.
“Young Master, we're here.”
The carriage slowly stopped by the dirt road in the forest, not far ahead was Fish Belly Mountain.
The forest covering the foot of the mountain had little green left, and all that could be seen were bare branches and fallen leaves covering the ground.
With the leaves all fallen, there was little obstruction to the view, and the graves in the forest became clearly visible.
Undoubtedly, this was a mass grave, burying some pitiful people with no relatives or family.
These people had different identities and causes of death, the only common point was that no relatives or friends claimed their bodies after their death, so they were randomly buried here by the government.
“Is it here?”
Stopping beside these two adjacent graves, Wei Changtian turned to look at Zhang San.
“Yes.”
Zhang San lowered his head and replied, “Everything has been done according to your instructions, Young Master. Someone has been regularly cleaning this place for the past two years.”
“Mm.”
Nodding, Wei Changtian stopped talking, but looked at the two graves and sighed softly.
No monument, no name, half a zhang of desolation.
Buried here were a little girl and an old man.
The former was called Liu Yingying, and she was only twelve years old when she died.
And the latter was her grandfather.
Like thousands of ordinary people, this grandfather and granddaughter who depended on each other had nothing special about them.
They both lived in Houqiu Village, a dozen miles outside the city, and usually made a living by farming and collecting herbs in the mountains.
They had been living a plain life that, although hard, could be maintained.
The little girl had delicate features, and in a few years she should be able to marry into a good family.
The old man could also enjoy a comfortable life at that time, and no longer had to toil in the fields all day long.
Such a life could barely be considered hopeful.
But one day, the appearance of a pig demon changed everything.
This pig demon was not powerful, but still ate more than a dozen people in the village within a few days.
The villagers reported this to the yamen, and the yamen said that it had to be reported to the Hanging Mirror Division for disposal.
Perhaps because going through the process always took time, or perhaps because the "adults" in the government did not understand the suffering of the people, in short, the villagers had not been able to wait for the government officials to come and slay the demon for a long time.
Fortunately, at this time, a young hero named Xiao happened to pass by and killed the pig demon without saying a word.
With the demon killed, this young hero naturally became a hero in the hearts of the villagers.
Everyone wanted to thank the young hero for his life-saving grace, but they had nothing to offer, so in the end, the old man surnamed Liu gave the young hero a jade pendant passed down from his ancestors.
What was wrong with repaying kindness?
Neither the old man who gave the jade pendant, nor the little girl who had secretly fallen in love with the young hero, probably would have thought that such a normal act would offend a powerful figure in the capital.
This person not only had power that covered the sky, but was also a notorious troublemaker.
More importantly, he had a life-and-death feud with the young hero surnamed Xiao.
In this way, the grandfather and granddaughter who had inadvertently given Xiao the young hero a life-saving treasure were naturally imprisoned.
That was the first time they had been taken away by government officials, the first time they had been imprisoned, and the first time they had been interrogated.
Although that powerful figure did not eventually torture them, these many firsts still made them become trembling from then on.
Then, they were sent back home.
But those government officials lurking in the village were constantly reminding them that the past peaceful days would never return.
The villagers looked at them with strange eyes, and eyes followed them wherever they went. They spent day after day in fear.
Later, they were taken away by government officials again, their acupoints were sealed, and they were thrown onto a carriage.
The grandfather and granddaughter only remembered that it was the Double Ninth Festival, and large patches of chrysanthemums were blooming outside the village.
Sitting in the bumpy carriage, they could not move, could not speak, and could not even see anything.
They did not know where this carriage would go, what they would encounter.
It was not until those sharp arrows whistled and pierced their chests, and the fierce sword energy shattered the carriage, that they knew the answers to the above two questions.
However, even in the last second before their death, they still could not figure out one thing.
They did not know what they had done wrong.
They had only repaid a life-saving benefactor, only given a jade pendant that they did not know what it was for, only done what all ordinary people would do.
So, why did they end up like this?
If people had souls or ghosts remaining in the world after death, presumably this grandfather and granddaughter would definitely desperately pursue the answer to this question.
However, even if there was such a thing, it was the privilege of those with extremely high cultivation levels like the remnant soul of the Xuantian Sword, and ordinary people like them would definitely have no chance.
So, they could only wait.
The grass in the forest turned yellow and green again, and the leaves on the branches withered and grew again, grew and withered again.
They waited for nearly three years before finally hearing a sentence in the howling wind today.
“...”
“I’m sorry.”
