N-A-A Chapter 145 Good and Evil
Chapter 145 Good and Evil
"I will never forget that day." Some emotion finally showed on Chenyu's face which was as calm as a pool of stagnant water.
Rong Heqing suddenly grabbed her hand and whispered, "If you don't want to talk about it, don't talk about it. It's better not to mention those old scars. I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask so many questions."
999: [Ah? If you don't ask, how are you going to know the plot and complete the mission? ]
Rong Heqing: [If the price of completing a mission is to expose a girl's most secret scars, then I would rather not do it. At worst, I can just change to another mission.]
999 didn’t quite understand and felt it was a pity. Just as it was about to persuade her again, Chenyu spoke.
She held Rong Heqing's hand and smiled. "If the old scars are not completely removed, they will ache every night when everyone is asleep. I have kept these things in my heart for too many years and I can't find anyone to talk to. It's rare that the princess is willing to listen to me."
Rong Heqing felt sad, but seeing that she insisted, he stopped trying to persuade her.
Chenyu sighed and continued, "That day they dragged me to the center of the village. There was a fire on the ground, which lit up the surroundings. That aunt pushed me down from behind, and my hair was almost burned by the fire..."
She stepped back, panicking.
The firelight illuminated the sky and the earth, but it could not illuminate the faces of those people. They stared at her lifelessly, numbly and full of malice.
She huddled into a ball, listening to them scolding her for seducing men at such a young age, saying that she would definitely be a vixen in the future and they wanted to skin her alive!
They said that she looked like a fickle person and would definitely be restless in the future and deserved to be punished, so she should be tied up and given a good beating.
Several aunts even said that she had broken their men's heads and demanded compensation from her.
She said they were the first to touch her and she just resisted, so they asked her: "Why did they go after you instead of someone else? Aren't you being disrespectful?"
At that moment she was speechless and begged her parents for help, but her parents just watched coldly, saying that they had no money and could not afford to compensate, and left her to them to do with her as they pleased, as long as they did not hit her in the face.
The fire was burning so brightly, but her heart was dead.
She didn't remember how many times she was whipped that night, nor did she remember how many times she was forced to apologize.
She only remembered that she knelt by the fire from dusk till dawn, and then limped back home alone.
No one came to her aid, and no one spoke for her.
They didn't slap her in the face or kill her out of kindness.
Because this village is remote and isolated, the people are barbaric, and it is almost cut off from the outside world. No one is willing to marry into it. Here, bachelors are everywhere, and women have become a scarce resource.
They needed a woman to carry on their family line, so they reluctantly spared her life.
She knew what they were thinking, so she behaved very well and pretended to be timid while recovering from her injuries.
Her parents thought she was scared after being beaten, so they paid less attention to her and gradually let down their guard.
In the early spring of the following year, Chenyu took the opportunity to go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables and ran away.
The eleven-year-old girl stumbled out of the mountains. She didn't know the way, so she ran forward with the spirit of survival.
Finally, she entered the city and saw the bustling streets.
But she was penniless and could only beg for food.
Some people saw that she was pretty and had evil intentions, wanting to capture her and sell her to a brothel.
She escaped with great effort. From then on, she stopped combing her hair and washing her face. She just squatted on the street begging every day, and no one paid any attention to her.
She lived for another year relying on the charity of kind people.
"One winter night when I was twelve, I was freezing to death when I heard the sound of horse hooves. I was hiding under a cart at the time, and they didn't find me. I was half asleep and half awake when I heard them say that they had killed everyone in the village, leaving no one alive, not even the babies in their cradles."
Rong Heqing's heart skipped a beat, "Could it be the village where you come from?"
Chenyu nodded, "Yes, it is Lijia Village."
She sneered, her eyes dark, "I don't know if this is retribution."
"After I heard about it, I ran back to take a look."
The once bustling village has turned into a charred ruin. The bodies were buried on the spot, turning into mounds of earth.
Some places were not cleaned properly and you could see broken hands and feet.
"The soldiers said that if anyone asked about it later, they would say it was done by the barbarians at the border, and they killed the barbarians to avenge the villagers."
Rong Heqing's eyelids twitched.
Chenyu raised her eyes and looked at her, "Princess, do you know why they did this?"
"Why?" Rong Heqing actually had a vague guess in his heart, but he didn't dare to believe it.
Chenyu curved her lips, "Because our dynasty stipulates that military merit is calculated based on the number of heads killed, that general was in charge of hunting down the barbarians, but because he drank too much, he let the barbarians escape. They had no way to report back, so when they passed by Lijia Village, they had evil intentions, killed all the people in the village, chopped off their heads, and reported them as barbarians."
"That general killed an innocent man and took credit for it, but he was unexpectedly appreciated by his superiors. In addition, he did have some skills, so he rose rapidly in the ranks and was awarded the title of Marquis for his military achievements."
Rong Heqing was startled, and the hand holding the wooden fish trembled slightly. His throat seemed to be blocked by something, and it was difficult for him to speak. He could only squeeze out a few trembling sounds.
"You mean—Marquis Luyang?"
Chen Yu curled her lips sarcastically, "He is cruel and heartless, yet he lives a life of luxury and comfort. How ridiculous, how absurd!"
Rong Heqing was speechless; her worldview was greatly impacted.
Killing innocent people to take credit!
She had only seen this kind of thing in novels and never expected it to happen in real life.
Regardless of whether those villagers are innocent or not, from the perspective of the soldiers, their mission is to defend their country and protect the people behind them.
But these people ate the people's food and wore the people's clothes, but in the end they turned their butcher knives against the people.
Not only are they not worthy of being an army, they are even less worthy of being human beings!
Rong Heqing calmed down for a while before asking, "So you sneaked into Marquis Luyang's mansion to avenge the villagers and your parents?"
"Why should I avenge them?" Chen Yu sneered, "What happened to them on the day I escaped from Lijia Village had nothing to do with me."
"That's right." Rong Heqing nodded, understanding, "Is that Jingwei's order?"
"Not exactly." Chenyu said, "When I went back that day, I found a waist badge in the ruins. It should have been left by the soldiers accidentally. It was considered as physical evidence. I kept it. Later, I was found by Jingwei's people and taken back."
"They taught me to read and write, taught me music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and forced me to practice martial arts. After they found the token on me, they told me to keep it, hoping it would come in handy sooner or later."
Chenyu lowered her eyes and looked at her hands. "They worked hard to train me to be a perfect killer. They taught me to be loyal to my master every day. If I resisted, they would lock me up and torture me. So during those five years in Jingwei, I kept a low profile and pretended to be obedient. Finally, I got the chance to escape."
"At the same time, I also learned a truth."