Chapter 75 Two strings of candied hawthorns, five coins
Upon hearing this, Lin Changning mounted his horse, and the two rode swiftly outside.
The streets were in complete disarray late at night. Shop doors were smashed open, and door panels were scattered on the ground. Grain, goods, bowls, chopsticks, and porcelain shards were strewn about, gleaming coldly in the moonlight.
Vegetable stalls, jewelry vendors, and even Granny Wang's stall, where they often ate, were all overturned and in disarray. Some vegetables that were not very fresh to begin with were trampled into mud by horses' hooves and men's boots, mixed with the soil and emitting a bloody smell. Occasionally, a few Tartar corpses could be seen. On the deathly silent street, the sound of horses' hooves was exceptionally clear.
The bloodstains were still wet and flowed down the street, a shocking sight. It was unclear whether the old man's blood was mixed in with them.
Lin Changning heard several people talking ahead. Looking closely, he saw Qi Ming leading a group of people in a circle.
Upon hearing this, Lin Changning reined in his horse. He stumbled as he dismounted, scrambling and crawling towards the group gathered around him. Qi Ming, seeing Lin Changning's pale face, whispered...
"Xiao Liu, please accept my condolences..."
Lin Changning rushed over and finally saw the old man's face. A large patch of dark red was spreading across the old man's chest and abdomen. His eyes were slightly open, staring at the grayness above his head, and his pupils were already dilated.
Lin Changning touched the old man's thin, withered face, which was still warm to the touch. Suddenly, Lin Changning exclaimed, "He's still warm! He's still warm! He can be saved! Wenzhi, lend me your horse, I'll take Old Liu back to find the army doctor!"
He hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay."
Qi Ming grabbed Lin Changning, who was looking somewhat deranged, and said worriedly, "Xiao Liu, Liu Tou is dead. I know you two are close, but if it had been a little earlier, you could have seen him one last time."
Lin Changning touched the old man's nose and checked several times, but there was no breath.
Hearing this, he said in a heavy tone, "When we arrived, Liu Tou was already dead. There were three corpses lying over there, which Liu Tou must have killed."
Qi Ming also said, "Liu Tou has four wounds on his body, all of which are life-threatening. At this point, it's too late for us to save him."
The old man's face was clean, without a speck of blood, but a large pool of blood, mixed with the smell of rice wine, was dripping down behind him.
The old man gripped the gourd string tightly in his palm, as if regretting that he hadn't finished drinking a pot of wine before he died.
Qi Ming and the others didn't dare to speak, standing quietly to the side. Lin Changning gently pried open the old man's hand holding the wine gourd: "Even at the last minute, you still think of your wine. A few dozen coins' worth of wine, is it really necessary..."
Lin Changning pressed the old man's pulse, checked it, and finally accepted the fact that Old Liu was dead. He asked, "Didn't Old Liu say anything before he died?"
Qi Ming nodded: "He said that when we arrived, Old Liu was already at his last gasp. He was leaning against a roadside stall, panting heavily. Our men dismounted and tried to take him to a military doctor, but he said he couldn't be saved and that it was too much trouble. He asked us where we were going and if we could call him."
Hearing this, her eyes reddened slightly: "After hearing this, I went back to the camp to find you, but unfortunately, I was too late."
A soldier hesitated for a moment: "Liu Tou has no family. His son, grandson, and mother have all died one after another. He has been all alone for the past two years. He is only close to Commander Lin. There are not many veterans of his generation left. Most of them are in poor health and do not go out much. Commander Lin, could you please take care of the funeral arrangements? In our garrison, you and the young master are the only ones who are close to him."
Lin Changning nodded: "I'm from the province. Is there anything else?"
Qi Ming nodded: "Yes."
Qi Ming wiped a few copper coins on his clothes and said, "These were Liu Tou's hands before he died. They were stained with blood, and he couldn't get them clean no matter how hard he tried. Before he died, he handed me these copper coins and asked me to give them to you."
Lin Changning squeezed the old man's rough, bark-like hand, looked up and took the copper coin from Qi Ming's hand. Looking at the bloodstains on the brown copper coin, his nose tingled with emotion.
Lin Changning stretched out his hand and carefully counted the copper coins: one, two, three, four, five.
Five copper coins, stained with Old Liu's blood, lay conspicuously in Lin Changning's palm.
Lin Changning suddenly broke down. Her phoenix eyes widened slightly, and tears instantly filled her eyes, making them bloodshot as if they were about to bleed. Her mouth opened wide, but she couldn't make a sound. Tears rolled down and landed on the old man's hand. After a long while, Lin Changning finally cried out. Her heart-wrenching cries were so sorrowful that they instantly brought tears to the eyes of everyone else.
Lin Changning, kneeling before the old man, trembled violently, her cries of anguish as mournful as the cry of a cuckoo.
Seeing this, Qi Ming's eyes reddened. He turned away and secretly wiped his tears. When he turned back, he patted Lin Changning's shoulder and said, "Xiao Liu, please accept my condolences. We all have to go through this day."
Hearing this, he sighed and gently patted Lin Changning's shoulder a few times to comfort him.
After Lin Changning recovered somewhat, he slowly got up, ignoring the bloodstains on the old man's body. He staggered to his feet, lifted the old man's body under his armpits with both hands, and prepared to carry the old man's body on his back. With Qi Ming's help, he lifted the old man's body up a little.
The old man's body was still limp, but his arms hung limply at his sides. Qi Ming helped to support the old man's body as he fell to the side. The old man's head slumped on Lin Changning's shoulder, and the stray hairs swept across Lin Changning's neck in the breeze.
After carrying the man on her back, Lin Changning suddenly realized that the old man was so thin that his bones were pressing against her back, and he was extremely light. Lin Changning felt as if she could lift the old man up with one hand.
"Uncle Liu, let's go home."
Lin Changning, carrying the man on his back, slowly walked along the chaotic street toward the old man's house. The group followed quietly behind Lin Changning, and no one spoke.
Hearing this, Lin Changning lagged behind on his horse and slowly walked forward. Then, Lin Changning began to sing a loud elegy: "Three years a captive, today again crowned in the south, endless tears for the mountains and rivers, who says the world is wide!..."
The others joined in singing a lament: "Knowing the road to the spring is long, parting from home is difficult; on the day the resolute spirit returns, the spirit banner will be seen in the sky~"
The desolate melody made Lin Changning even more sorrowful. One of the soldiers sighed and asked, "Boss, what do those copper coins mean? I don't understand."
Qi Ming shook his head: "I don't know either."
The whispers of the two behind him reached Lin Changning's ears clearly. Lin Changning stopped in his tracks, holding the copper coin in his hand, and looked at the soldier who had asked Qi Ming.
Qi Ming's face stiffened as he explained, "He didn't mean anything by it, Xiao Liu, don't take it to heart."
Lin Changning's voice was hoarse from shouting. He shook his head slightly and looked at the soldier with red eyes, saying:
"It'll cost five coins in total. At the market, candied hawthorns are three coins a skewer, five coins for two skewers. One skewer for the young master, and one for me..."
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