Chapter 128 The Past of Suhaicheng

Wu Yang walked to the wooden box in the corner on his own. He opened the box with ease, took out a jar of strong liquor and held it in his arms. His steps were as if he was dragging heavy shackles weighing a thousand catties, each step stepping on his broken heart and lungs. Finally, he stopped beside Chen Chang's body, slowly sat on the haystack, bit open the wooden stopper of the wine jar, and took a big gulp with his head raised.

The aroma of the wine filled the air. The fierce alcohol was trapped in his stomach, just like his full heart of thoughts with nowhere to tell.

"Stop drinking!" The gray curtain was suddenly lifted. A girl wrapped in white cloth was seen. Her green eyes were filled with a pool of tears, just like the Tuck Lake outside Suhaicheng reflecting the blue sky and green waves.

Pan Yueqing turned her gaze to the girl holding the waist token. "Do you know him?"

"No," the girl shook her head and directly denied it. Looking at Wu Yang who didn't stop his action, she said timidly, "My father said that one can't drink strong liquor like this. The liquor is cold in nature and will accumulate in the stomach. Using the internal organs to warm it is bad for the body."

Pan Yueqing smiled faintly. "Since you don't know him, you don't have to care about his life or death."

The girl's natural distant mountain-shaped eyebrows frowned. She tore off the gray curtain and draped it over herself, stretched out her bruised and purple calves, and stepped on the ground barefoot. She said firmly, "He saved my life. I will repay his kindness by any means."

Repay kindness by any means? Pan Yueqing raised her eyes and looked at the thin figure. In her previous life, she also got help from a noble person in a desperate situation. Looking at the girl's serious appearance, she finally saw her own former self. She let out a light sigh. "What's your name?"

The girl raised her eyes and met Pan Yueqing's gaze. "My humble self is Zeng Jianyue."

Pan Yueqing smiled and repeated the girl's name twice. As if remembering something, she asked, "Were you born in autumn?"

"Yes," Zeng Jianyue looked up blankly, not knowing how the delicate young master in front of her knew the season of her birth.

Seeing the moon in autumn often evokes homesickness. It seems to be very similar to the state of mind of a general guarding the border.

Pan Yueqing avoided the doubt in Zeng Jianyue's eyes. Wu Yang had already drunk all the liquor in the jar in his arms. All the emotions pent up in his heart were released in a state of being half-drunk and half-awake, venting all the sorrows of his life. He let out a burp, half-opened the straw mat with his dazed eyes. When he touched Chen Chang's stiff hand, tears streamed down his face.

He was not used to expressing the sadness in his heart with sounds. He clenched his fist and stuffed it into his mouth, blocking the grief in his throat, and only a few scattered syllables came out. The killing star who had always been indifferent to life and death finally experienced the heartbreaking pain of death. It turned out that he wasn't completely ignorant of death, but just didn't have such a sense of empathy for the common people.

Pan Yueqing raised her arm horizontally to block Zeng Jianyue who was about to approach Wu Yang. "Don't get close to him."

"At least let him cry freely for a while now," Pan Yueqing's words were calm, as if she knew the person in front of her very well. "He won't be so bitter in the days to come."

Wu Yang lay on Chen Chang's body and cried for about the time it took to burn a stick of incense. He cried until he lost all his strength and finally collapsed on the ground feebly. Looking at Pan Yueqing slowly walking up to him, squatting down, the eyes that he thought were decisive in killing and attacking in Pan Yueqing's face actually made him read a trace of pity at this moment.

Pan Yueqing stretched out her hand with the palm facing up. "Get up."

"From now on, whether it's bitter or sweet, it's your own path," Pan Yueqing signaled Wu Yang to use the strength in her hand to stand up. Wu Yang slowly caught his breath and finally placed his hand on Pan Yueqing's palm. But he didn't just use her strength to stand up. The moment he stood still, he knelt down on one knee in front of Pan Yueqing and cupped his hands.

"What are you doing?" Pan Yueqing squinted her eyes.

She wanted to get a fierce general, but she never expected it to be so easy.

"Lord Chen gave me a hand in the face of life and death," Wu Yang raised his eyes and looked at Pan Yueqing with a calm and firm gaze. "I beg the young master to give me another hand!"

Pan Yueqing not only read the breath of life from his eyes but also saw the longing for life. This was what she hoped to see. She lowered her head and pondered for a moment. "What do you want me to do?"

Wu Yang raised his eyes, suppressing the surprise in his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "I want to go to Suhaicheng!"

"You can't go!" Before Pan Yueqing could speak, Zeng Jianyue hurriedly stepped forward and blocked in front of Pan Yueqing. "Young master! Suhaicheng is a dead city! You can't go there!"

"I escaped from Suhaicheng! Magistrate Zhou Poshan held the last pass of Suhaicheng, but the Rong and Di tribes still attacked it... They burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of atrocities... In the end, there was no other way but to use the plague that broke out in Suhaicheng. They put children under the age of twelve in coffins and buried them in the ground. They buried us shallowly and deliberately left air holes," Zeng Jianyue held the waist token in her hand, gritted her teeth and her body trembled. "They let us come out after seven days, after those foreign tribes had finished killing and looting and left..."

Tears streamed down Zeng Jianyue's eyes. "But there were very few people who could really come out. I crawled out of the pile of graves, but my sister and brother are still sleeping in there forever..." After saying that, she covered her mouth with both hands and sobbed uncontrollably.

Pan Yueqing stood there. When she was thinking, she always had a blank expression. Now she just raised her eyes and looked at Wu Yang, and said indifferently, "Did you hear that?"

Wu Yang nodded. "I must go!"

"Give me a reason," Pan Yueqing turned her head. After hearing Zeng Jianyue's words about Suhaicheng, her heart was like a stormy sea. She originally only knew that Suhaicheng was a dead city, but she didn't expect that it was not just because of the plague but because it had been massacred by foreign tribes! And they knew nothing about this matter!

It can be seen that the situation in the northern border is much more complicated than it seems.

She also didn't know what role Lin Shuzhi, the governor of the northern border who rushed to the capital for help, played in this series of events. Was Lin Shuzhi, who had seemed to love the people like his own children and was eager to execute Qian Cheng, real or just acting in front of them?

Wu Yang raised his head. "In fact, the plague in Suhaicheng was once suppressed. The local people made purple centipedes into a medicinal primer and let the sick people drink it with the water mixed with incense ashes. Most of the young people could survive." As if to confirm something, he added, "Lord Chen always cared about the safety of the people. I don't want him to see Suoyue become the next Suhaicheng in the afterlife."

Pan Yueqing was silent for a long time and then nodded. But before she could agree, a loud voice from Qi Sian came from outside the door, "I approve!"

As soon as the words fell, Qi Sian, supported by Shiguang, lifted the curtain and appeared in front of Pan Yueqing with a smile. "But there is one condition."