At noon, Su Jinxia did not come home for lunch. Su's parents were used to this and knew that Su Jinxia must have something to do.
Zhou Chen was restless. He had something on his mind and wanted to talk to Su Jin, but he didn't know how to bring it up.
He made it very clear that he wanted to say something but didn't, so Su Jin didn't ask him what was wrong.
This made Zhou Chen very angry and discouraged.
Su Jin didn't show up today. She used to come home for dinner every day. Could she have already left?
With the war raging, who knows when she will be able to return?
No! I have to go find her!
Zhou Chen made up his mind. He ran out of the yard, went to another house, and shouted, "Brother Su Li, are you there?"
Su Li, a disciple of the Phoenix Society, heard the shouts and came out of the room. "It's Brother Zhou Chen, what's wrong?"
"Are you going to the Liuli Society today? Can you take me with you?" Zhou Chen asked expectantly, his big eyes full of hope.
The villagers generally don't know the way to Liuli Village, not even Su's parents.
"What are you going to Liuli Village for? The villagers don't allow you to go to Liuli Village without permission!" Su Li was not very willing.
Zhou Chen panicked. "I have something urgent to tell my sister. Please, take me there."
Su Li thought about it for a moment. After all, they were family members of the Lord of the Glass. If there was any emergency that caused the delay, it would be his fault.
"Alright, I'll take you there. If the Lord of Liuli blames you, you'll have to bear the consequences yourself."
"no problem!"
"Wait a moment, I'll be leaving soon."
"good."
Zhou Chen waited obediently at the door. After a while, Su Li led him up the mountain and they arrived at Su Jinxia's room.
Su Hu stood in front of the house, and when he saw Zhou Chen, he frowned slightly. "Why are you here? Is something wrong with your uncle and aunt?"
Zhou Chen shook his head. "I'm here to see my sister."
"Is something urgent? She's not feeling well today." Su Hu's eyes were full of worry. Although the crying had stopped, there was no sound from inside the room. Su Hu wanted to bring food in, but Su Jin stopped him.
Zhou Chen realized he had acted rashly; it turned out his sister hadn't come home for dinner because she wasn't feeling well.
"I……"
"Come in." Suddenly, a cold voice came from inside the room.
Su Hu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; as long as he was still willing to see people, that was good.
Staying cooped up alone will make you sick.
"Go in quickly," Su Hu gestured to Zhou Chen.
Zhou Chen took two deep breaths, pushed open the door, and went inside. He saw Su Jin sitting at the table, engrossed in the map.
"Sister, I've thought a lot these past two days. I'm willing to tell you about my past, and I can face my inner fears!"
Su Jin looked up and saw that the boy had become much more determined.
"Sit down and talk."
Zhou Chen noticed something was wrong with Su Jinxia; her eyes were red, as if she hadn't slept well. "Sister, are you feeling unwell? I can come another day."
Su Jinxia put down the pen she was using to make annotations and said softly, "It's alright, go ahead and tell me. I'll be leaving soon."
Zhou Chen then sat down.
"Actually, I haven't experienced much. You could say that I have nothing to tell outsiders about my life, and it has no value whatsoever."
Zhou Chen lowered his head somewhat dejectedly.
Su Jinxia remained silent and listened quietly.
"To outsiders, I am a prince, raised under the Empress's care, and seem to be very noble. In reality, my mother is just a maidservant by the Empress's side. Even though she is favored and has given birth to two princes, she still has to serve the Empress wholeheartedly. If the Empress tells us to go east, we cannot go west. Our whole family is dedicated to serving the Empress and the Crown Prince."
"Of course, these are all things I heard from my servants, or things I've recently come to understand. In reality, I spend every day in the palace in a daze."
“My mother died when I was born. My impression of her comes from what other people say. She was a lowly maid who got into the emperor’s bed with the empress’s help, and the child she gave birth to was to be raised by the empress.”
"Everyone says that the Empress named me Chen, which is an insult that I am as lowly as dust. At first, I didn't believe it because the Empress treated me quite well."
"Until one day, the Crown Prince made a mistake and beat a little maid to death. Somehow, all of this was blamed on me. The time and place were all reasonable, and there were witnesses who pointed out that the little maid was with me before she died."
“I denied it, so the Empress said I had violent tendencies and that this wasn’t the first time I had hit someone. I never expected that I would kill someone this time. Suddenly, all the palace maids said the same thing. Of course, the Emperor chose to believe the Empress and ordered her to lock me up and raise me properly. I was only six years old at the time.”
"I don't know why things turned out this way, until one time I overheard the Crown Prince bragging to his servants that he was the Crown Prince and could do whatever he wanted, and even if he made a mistake, I would take the blame for him!"
"Later on, I was always accused of some inexplicable crime. At first, I would try to refute it, but how could I possibly deal with the Empress? She had already arranged everything. No matter how much I argued, no one would believe me. Everyone saw me as a disgusting fly and didn't want to have anything to do with me. Gradually, I became numb."
"Later, I was sent to the Southern Kingdom as a hostage. The Southern Kingdom had long wanted to fight and didn't take me seriously at all. I was locked in my palace every day and couldn't go anywhere. Only when that hateful Chu Heng wanted to beat someone up to vent his anger would he let me out for a moment."
Zhou Chen calmly summarized his twelve years of life.
He thought it would be very embarrassing to say these things, but when he actually said them, he realized that those things were in the past, like a lifetime ago. Now he has new parents and a new life.
Su Jin felt very sorry for her. The story sounded simple, but in reality, all the grievances and humiliations were endured slowly day by day.
Just like Su Jin said, she was imprisoned for several years and had her flesh cut off and blood drained.
In short, it encapsulates countless days and nights of unbearable suffering.
The old emperor of the Northern Kingdom, who had already died, was an incompetent and mediocre man. The harem and the court were completely controlled by the empress and the crown prince's faction. The empress never intended to cultivate Zhou Chen. His existence was merely to take the blame for the crown prince's crimes.
Therefore, Zhou Chen was instilled with the idea of humility from a young age, was bullied and framed, which fostered his personality of being powerless to resist and wanting to die.
Su Jin sighed and then asked, "What about your brother? As a general, he commands 100,000 troops and holds a very important position in the court. Haven't you ever thought of asking him for help?"
Zhou Chen's eyes flickered slightly. His brother was the only blood relative he had in the world.
“Brother, he went to the army to train when I was born. He spent his life on the battlefield and rarely returned to the capital. In my memory, I only saw him twice. The first time was when I had just learned to speak. He was very happy to see me and brought me many rare items. The second time was when the Crown Prince killed someone again. Of course, in everyone’s eyes, I was the one who killed him. The Emperor was furious and wanted to behead me to uphold the law!”
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