"Hmph!"
On a snowy night, a man and a woman carried a bucket of slop to the pigpen in the backyard. From a distance, they could hear the hungry grunts of several pigs in the pen.
The man lifted the slop bucket and poured it over the fence.
A few pigs smelled the food and rushed over, digging into the pig food bowl and started eating.
The man narrowed his eyes and shouted towards the corner of the pigpen, "Smelly boy! Your dinner is here!"
There was no movement inside.
The woman behind him put her hands in her sleeves and stamped her feet, her face full of impatience:
"Go, go, go! It's so cold, I'm freezing!"
The man carried the swill bucket, and the two of them walked into the house, saying as they walked:
"You said this kid is quite tough. He didn't die after all this time."
"I'm so annoyed! Bai Ruyue threw such trouble at me and didn't let me die. Two days ago, he even bit a pig. I want Bai Ruyue to compensate me!"
"Why don't you send him to the village chief? The village chief and his men are short of people anyway."
"Are you stupid? If it weren't for this kid, would we be able to get so much money from Bai Ruyue every year?"
…
The two people's voices gradually faded away. It was not until the pigs finished eating and began to disperse that a dark shadow huddled in the corner of the pigpen began to move.
He didn't stand up, but just put his hands on the ground and crawled to the trough using his hands and feet.
His limbs were still tied with heavy chains, and he was trembling as he grabbed the food in the trough with his hands and stuffed it into his mouth.
It was so cold at night that the slop in the trough turned into ice in just a short while.
The shadowy pupa was moving, still picking at the ice in the trough.
His actions disturbed two pigs that had started to rest nearby, and one of the pigs hit him with its head.
The shadow instantly took a defensive stance and let out a low, hoarse roar from its throat.
It doesn't sound like a sound a human should make at all.
This action angered the other pigs in the pigpen, and five or six pigs gathered around.
The pigs were several times larger than the shadow. Several pigs surrounded it, and the shadow looked like a piglet waiting to be slaughtered.
After he bit the neck of one of the domestic pigs two days ago, the man and woman beat him severely and moved him to a pigpen for wild boars.
The pigs in this pigsty are much more ferocious than ordinary domestic pigs, and their aura is more dangerous.
The shadow still used his hands and feet, his whole body in a defensive posture.
His eyes were fixed on the pig closest to him, not knowing which direction it would rush towards him in the next moment.
The pig stretched out its hoof and kicked the skinny human in front of it.
The man on the ground was kicked over and fell heavily against the fence.
But he waited for his opportunity, pounced on it and bit the hoof with his mouth.
He used all his strength, blood oozed from the pig's trotters, and the pig also started to cry out.
Suddenly, the other pigs stopped watching and joined in.
The messy pig's trotters kicked the little man again and again, but he did not cry out in pain.
It's like I'm numb.
Kick after kick came down, and the shadow was kicked and rolled on the straw in the pigpen.
The straw was frozen, and the view was dark and cold. His clothes were so rotten that only silk strips remained, which could hardly cover his body.
He had almost forgotten what warmth felt like.
I only vaguely remember that there was a fairy-like person who hugged me, smiled at me, and sang beautiful songs to me.
She has the scent of spring flowers on her body.
He remembered that he seemed to have a name, and a fairy-like person often hugged him and called him "Xiao Yu"...
What should he call the fairy?
"mother……"
A low whimper.
I can hardly hear it.
The kicks and blows that were falling on him stopped at some point.
He gradually lost consciousness and only felt a soft mass covering him.
There is a fragrance of flowers like spring.
…
After listening to Yuan Zhao's fragmented account of Qi Yu's disappearance, Huo Yan wiped her tears.
The person in front of me had tears in his eyes, his peach blossom eyes were red, and he looked at me with pity.
At this moment, Huo Yan had no mind to think about anything else. He only thought about what he knew before: Yuan Zhao's eldest son had a broken leg, his second daughter became mute, and now there was a youngest son who had been missing for two years and was suffering here.
A swelling of emotion welled up in his heart.
How much has she suffered over the years?
Over the past ten years, news about her has been sporadic, but mostly good.
She said that her husband was gentle and considerate, and that she and her husband were in love, very loving, and happy.
If this is true, why is she so haggard now?
He suppressed his emotions and impulses and analyzed the current situation with her:
"The reason I came here tonight is because the matter concerning South Vietnam that I was ordered to investigate is related to Black Mountain Village."
"South Vietnam?" Yuan Zhao murmured, "What happened over there?"
Nanyue was a vassal state of the Dacheng Dynasty. Located in the south, it had always been relatively well-behaved compared to some other vassal states.
Huo Yan gathered his thoughts. "A few months before the New Year, a number of people disappeared in the small towns bordering South Vietnam. Then, the county magistrate of one of these towns went mad for unknown reasons. Your brother noticed this and sent me here to investigate."
In fact, it was just a small case, but there happened to be a very important gold mine in that small town, which had been secretly mined by the court over the years. Yuan Cheng was meticulous, so he asked Huo Yan to go there.
"But I went to South Vietnam years ago and followed the clues. I found that the missing people seemed to have moved to the vicinity of Yangzhou. The last clues were all cut off in Heishan Village."
Yuan Zhao thought about the strange feeling of the village when they entered it just now, and felt uneasy. "What are they doing here?"
Huo Yan thought of the crazy county magistrate and paused, "Raising Gu."
A gust of cold wind blew in, and Yuan Zhao couldn't help but shiver.
Seeing this, Huo Yan draped the quilt over her and pulled it tighter.
Yuan Zhao thought of something and grabbed his hand, "Wouldn't that require a lot of people..."
Then, will her Qi Yu also...
Seeing her worry, Huo Yan comforted her, "My men are already investigating the news in the village. We will take action at the hour of Yin. I will definitely help you rescue Xiaoyu."
Yuan Zhao lowered his eyes, but his heart was still in a knot.
At this moment, Huo Yan moved suddenly, pulled her into his arms, and they lay down side by side.
"There's movement!"
Yuan Zhao was held tightly by him, closed his eyes and took a steady breath.
Could it be that Aunt Zhou is back again?
While she was thinking, she heard a low "ow".
It’s Xiaobai!
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