#858 - Daytime Star River

"My son is so young, I only want him to live."

When the woman named Zhang Zhen knelt before Lü Yuanjin, tears streaming down her face as she uttered these words, the surrounding chaotic sounds seemed to gradually diminish.

Many common people abruptly stopped in their tracks, staring blankly in this direction.

Wei Changtian and Lü Yuanjin's gazes both faltered slightly.

Clearly, for this woman, it must have taken immense courage to say these words.

She must have already foreseen her own fate, yet she still did it.

The reason for this is likely not complicated.

Because she is a mother, she does not want to see her child, still in swaddling clothes, die like this.

Therefore...

"Enough!"

Suddenly, a thunderous shout interrupted the woman's plea.

Lü Yuanjin, having snapped out of his surprise, abruptly flung his sleeves, and roared in an extremely cold voice:

"Don't forget! You are a citizen of Great Hui!"

"You must also understand! It is not I who wants to kill you! It is him!"

Pointing at Wei Changtian on the opposite side, Lü Yuanjin's face flushed red, showing how furious he was at the woman's actions.

"He is the one who killed the Emperor! He is the one who killed my second brother! He is the one who besieged the city with his army! He is the one who threatened to massacre the city!!"

"He is the one who wants to kill you! Yet you, as citizens of Great Hui, not only do not rise up in resistance! But instead, you aid the tyrant! And you actually want me to admit defeat to him?!"

"Ridiculous!"

"Hahaha! Truly ridiculous to the extreme!!"

Under the blazing sun, the two dragons faced each other in the clear sky.

Lü Yuanjin's furious laughter carried far, also causing most of the common people to silently lower their heads.

Because what Lü Yuanjin said was not without reason.

Indeed, the one who intended to kill them was Wei Changtian, not Lü Yuanjin, and certainly not the Great Hui Dynasty.

Moreover, Wei Changtian had previously killed Lü Hongji and countless Great Hui soldiers, and should have been a mortal enemy to the people of Great Hui long ago.

So, facing an enemy who wants to kill you, is it better to "die standing" or "live kneeling"?

Perhaps everyone would have their own choice on this question.

And now, it was very clear that most of the Yongding common people had chosen the latter...

"Y-Your Highness, this humble woman only wants to live, only wants my child to be able to live..."

More tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and the woman trembled, wanting to say something.

But before she could finish speaking, she was once again interrupted by Lü Yuanjin's stern voice:

"Shut up!"

"I ask you! Are you a spy sent by the enemy to spread rumors and confuse the masses?!"

"Ah!"

Hearing Lü Yuanjin's words, the woman's eyes widened in an instant, and she hurriedly shook her head in denial, holding the swaddling clothes: "This humble woman is not a spy! This, this humble woman only..."

"Then you think I will definitely lose?"

His tone became ice-cold and piercing, Lü Yuanjin suddenly took a step closer, looking at the woman at his feet with a gloomy gaze: "You think I have no chance of winning against Wei Changtian, so in order to save your life, you are pleading for Gongsun Yan."

"Speak! Is it or is it not?!"

"..."

Either you are a spy sent by Wei Changtian to confuse the people, or you have determined that I am no match for Wei Changtian.

"Y-Your Highness, this humble woman has never thought that way..."

Forcing a smile, the woman shook her head, still kneeling on the ground, but the fear in her eyes had disappeared, as if she had given up, staring at Lü Yuanjin and truthfully answering:

"This humble woman has never cultivated, and has never seen such a scene of the two dragons appearing in the world, how would I know who will win..."

"But Your Highness, this humble woman dares not gamble."

"This humble woman's lowly life, it's fine if I die."

"But if you lose, Your Highness, this humble woman's child will also die."

"This, this humble woman dares not gamble, dares not gamble ah..."

"..."

Dare not gamble.

This was the answer given by the woman.

And just after she said these words, more and more common people around her silently left the crowd, walked to Lü Yuanjin, and then knelt on the ground without saying a word.

Ten people, a hundred people, a thousand people...

Soon, countless common people were kneeling around Lü Yuanjin.

At first glance, this scene looked somewhat familiar.

But in reality, it was completely different.

An hour ago, they knelt at the foot of Dragon Head Mountain out of anger, petitioning for Gongsun Yan.

Now, they knelt at Lü Yuanjin's feet out of fear, begging for a way out for themselves or their loved ones.

Just like the woman said, they dared not gamble.

They were not Wei Changtian and Chu Xianping, who actually used a country as a bet.

They were also not Lü Yuanjin and Gongsun Yan, who were fighting for the throne.

They were just the most ordinary people, just the most common "lowly people."

Then, why should they use their lives to gamble on that wisp of illusory "dignity"?

This had nothing to do with righteousness, nothing to do with the country, it was just a simple question of "gains and losses".

After all, from the perspective of "loss", Wei Changtian and Chu Xianping would at most lose the sphere of influence of a country.

And from the perspective of "gain", Lü Yuanjin and Gongsun Yan could leap to become the Emperor above all.

Perhaps it was because they could "afford to lose", or perhaps it was because it was "worth a try".

In short, the gamble that Wei Changtian and the other three were conducting was a relatively fair one.

But what about these common people?

If they won, they would get nothing.

If they lost, they would all have to pay with their lives.

Who would dare to gamble on such an unequal gamble?

"Y-You, you..."

Looking at more and more common people kneeling silently in front of him, Lü Yuanjin's face turned from red to green, and then from green to white.

He seemed very angry, but he stammered and couldn't say a word.

At the same time, behind a wooden window beside the long street, Chu Xianping, who was watching all of this, slowly closed his eyes and sighed softly.

"Alas, let them go."

"..."

"Yes!"

Slightly stunned, the Kui Dragon person beside him immediately left the room, and before long, Lü Yuanjin's hysterical shouts came from outside the window.

The latter seemed unwilling to admit defeat like this, and was shouting something at this time.

But Chu Xianping did not look at him, nor did he look at Wei Changtian standing at the other end of the long street.

He just looked up at the two golden dragons in the sky, and then his gaze fell on the densely packed common people kneeling on the ground.

When the woman said the sentence "This humble woman dares not gamble", Chu Xianping already knew where he had lost.

Despair, being a delusion, is the same as hope.

In the end, he still thought of ordinary people as too brave.

But perhaps it is precisely because ordinary people have too many "dares not" that the world needs heroes.

In the clear sky, the so-called "Guardian Dragon" turned into specks of light amidst Lü Yuanjin's unwilling roars, just like a starry river appearing in broad daylight.

And Chu Xianping finally glanced at Wei Changtian from afar at the last moment, then closed the window, turned around, and went to be his hero.