Chapter 112: One is more miserable than the other, she burst into tears

Song Suihuan was feeling pity for these poor people, but when she heard Shen Yuanwei's words, her pupils suddenly shrank.

She looked at Shen Yuanwei in disbelief.

Shen Yuanwei said, "A month ago, Xiao Lingzhao sent people to look for them. They are indeed the families of the victims of the crimes committed by your father."

Song Suihuan opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

She stiffened and turned her head with difficulty to look at those people again.

Those numb faces and lifeless eyes were crueler than the sharpest pen in the hands of the most stringent historian. They silently told Song Suihuan how many unforgivable sins her father had committed in the past...

When her eyes fell on the spirit tablets in those people's arms, Song Suihuan felt it difficult to breathe. She staggered back a step and wished she could run away.

But she couldn't escape.

She mustered up her courage and took another look at those people who were looking at her silently without any sadness or joy. The misery of those people made her eyes seem to be burned. She no longer had the courage to look at those people and lowered her head in a hurry.

Shen Yuanwei glanced at Song Suihuan and spoke slowly.

"Did you see that little girl?"

"She is only fifteen years old. When her father was killed by your father, she was only a little baby of half a year old. She could have grown up well under the love of her parents, but your family made her lose her father. Her mother couldn't support her and had to remarry with her."

"Over the years, her stepfather treated her badly. When she was four years old, she had to carry her younger brother on his back to coax him. She and her brother fell down accidentally, and her hands and feet were bruised, but no one cared for her. Her stepfather would come back and beat her with a thick stick."

"After finally growing up, her stepfather sold her to an old widower in his thirties for a mere ten taels of silver. She became his wife when she was thirteen."

"She is a few years younger than you, Miss Song, but she is already a mother of two children. She just gave birth to her first child and soon after she came out of confinement, she got pregnant with her second child. Doesn't she know that getting pregnant again right after giving birth is very harmful to her body? She knows, but she has no choice. She doesn't want to get married, she doesn't want to have children, but her father was killed. Who can help her?"

“…”

When Song Suihuan listened to Shen Yuanwei's words, he felt his eyes getting sore and swollen.

She didn't dare to look up, but she wanted to know which girl was so miserable.

She looked in the direction where Shen Yuanwei's finger was pointing.

She saw it.

The girl was wearing washed-out, patched men's clothes, with dishevelled hair and a numb expression as she stood in the crowd. In her arms was a crying baby, and she was patting the child's back dully, as if she had lost all passion for life.

Song Suihuan only took one look and felt her heart broken and she couldn't control her tears.

She didn't dare to look any further and quickly looked away.

Shen Yuanwei pointed at someone else and continued.

"Did you see that boy?"

"He is a few years younger than you. His mother died during childbirth, leaving him with only a blind grandmother and father. But his father was killed by your father when he was two years old. His blind grandmother couldn't afford to support him, so she gave him to a family without a son to raise."

"Who would have thought that when he was seven years old, his adoptive mother, who had never been able to have children, became pregnant. After she gave birth to her own son, she began to dislike him."

"Those two black-hearted people could have sent him back to his grandmother's house, but they felt that raising him for five years was a waste and they had to make up for it, so they sold him to a human trafficker for four taels of silver..."

"Later, he was sold by a human trafficker, castrated, and became a eunuch..."

"Look, the male members of your family were executed by the Emperor. How much better is his family than yours? His father was killed by your father, and he was helpless and forced to become a eunuch. His family, like yours, will have no descendants."

Shen Yuanwei glanced sideways at Song Suihuan.

"No, your family still has a daughter like you alive, so it's not considered extinct. But their family is truly extinct, and they can no longer have descendants."

Song Suihuan clenched his teeth tightly and looked at the young man in the crowd with trembling eyes.

The young man was wearing the clothes of a eunuch in the palace and stood quietly at the back of the crowd. He seemed to think that being a eunuch was a very shameful thing. He kept his back hunched and his head lowered, not daring to look up at these villagers who he once knew.

Shen Yuanwei pointed at other people and continued.

"Also, look at the grandpa and grandma over there."

"They are in their sixties. They were unlucky. They originally had two children, but unfortunately both died when they were teenagers. They cried until their tears dried up, but life had to go on. Two years later, they gave birth to their third child in their thirties."

"They raised this youngest child with great difficulty, but before they could even find a wife, he was killed by your father. They were already over 40 and could no longer have children. After losing three children in succession, they felt that life was too hard and they had no hope to keep going, so they tied stones to their chests and jumped into the river to commit suicide."

"Luckily, they were found in time by villagers, who rescued them and took turns to take care of them, so they are still alive today."

"But even if they survived, their lives were hopeless. They lived a very hard life every day..."

“…”

Song Suihuan looked at the old people in the crowd with tears in her eyes.

She didn't know which two old people Shen Yuanwei was talking about, because there were too many old people who were equally old and numb, too many...

These old people all looked miserable. Their own sons had been killed by others, leaving them to live in misery...

Shen Yuanwei turned and looked at Song Suihuan.

"Miss Song, your mother felt that the mistakes made by General Song should not affect her two sons. The emperor's order to behead her two sons and grandson was too cruel. She felt that her sons' death was too pitiful, so she had to take revenge--"

Shen Yuanwei pointed at those people.

"Then ask the parents of these victims how they feel when their sons die?"

"You feel that the men of your Song family died unjustly and pitifully, but to them, everyone in your Song family deserves to die with your father! They wish they could kill your entire family with their own hands, drink your blood, and eat your flesh, so that they can resolve the grief in their hearts."

Shen Yuanwei let out a long sigh.

"So, I can't sympathize with your mother, and I can't sympathize with your hatred for General Xiao. Where we live, there is a law that 'one person's crime will implicate the whole family'. Your father knows the word 'incriminate by association', but he still wanted to harm people, and he harmed more than a hundred families. How can you blame the emperor for being too cruel?"

"Ms. Song, if you still want to avenge your Song family in the future, I hope you can take a closer look at these people before you do so. Which one of them is not as miserable as you? Which one of them doesn't want revenge?"

Song Suihuan squatted on the ground, crying.

She had long known that her father deserved what he got. She knew...

However, she had never faced the misery of these victims, so she felt at ease to avenge her father...

Now looking at these people, her belief in revenge suddenly collapsed.

These people have not yet sought revenge on her. What qualifications does she have to seek revenge on General Xiao and the Emperor for a father who is full of sins?

Song Suihuan cried enough, her eyes were swollen, and she slowly raised her head.

She looked at the people who were having a hard time and made up her mind.

"In the future, I will support them. I will work hard to earn money and support them."

"My father owed them their lives, and my father and my brothers paid it back with their lives. My father ruined their good life, and I will double compensate them in the future."

She wiped her tears and said softly, "Although they have suffered for more than ten years, no matter how much I try, I can never make up for their suffering, but I can always make their future life a little better..."