Chapter 134
As dusk fell, the wind blowing from the mountainside already carried the chill of early winter.
The Xie family is a wealthy family with a history of hundreds of years, and the family's cemetery occupies half of the mountain outside the city.
The frosty moonlight sprinkled on the bluestone path, as if the first snow had fallen.
There were graveyards everywhere, making the place look a bit eerie in the night. But someone came in the moonlight, the lantern in his hand swaying in the cold wind, casting a hazy yellow light.
The man stopped only when he reached the joint tomb of Xie Linshan and his wife. The dark gold embroidery on his brocade boots flickered in the dim light of the lantern and was difficult to distinguish.
The old servant holding the food box squatted down, opened the food box, took out the offerings one by one, and placed them on the stone platform in front of the tomb: "Miss, the Prime Minister came to see you and brought your favorite Shouyi alfalfa cake."
After placing the three offerings, the old servant took out the fire starter and the yellow and white paper money, lit them and slowly burned them in the charcoal basin in front of the tomb, muttering:
"Chef Nie, who makes Shouyi alfalfa cake in the main kitchen, has become increasingly blind in the past two years. Since you got married, the Prime Minister has kept him for 21 years because of this cake he is good at making. In another two years, he will probably not be able to make it anymore and will have to resign and go home to retire."
The light from the burning paper overshadowed the glow of the lantern, revealing the sorrow and sadness in the old servant's eyes.
The words engraved in running script on the stone tablet are also clearly legible, and the words "Tomb of Wei Wan, wife of the general who protects the country" are particularly eye-catching.
Wei Yan, with a sable cloak draped over his shoulders, stared at his sister's grave in the flickering firelight. After a long while, he said to the old servant, "Wei Quan, you can go down."
The old servant stood up and said goodbye: "Then I will wait for you at the intersection at the foot of the mountain as I did in previous years."
Wei Yan nodded slightly, and the old servant left the lantern in front of the tomb, bowed and left.
The wind blew harder, blowing the hem of Wei Yan's cloak and blew the burning paper money in the brazier, sending sparks and ashes flying everywhere.
Wei Yan bent down and picked up a pile of unburned paper money placed beside the brazier, tore it off a little bit and threw it into the brazier to burn it all.
He remained silent throughout, and even when facing a lonely grave, he could not utter a single word of his true feelings.
This was the scene Xie Zheng saw when he walked in the chilly night.
He stood ten steps away, curled the corners of his lips sarcastically, and spoke in an extremely cold and sharp tone: "You forced her to death, and yet you come to see her every year on this day. Who are you pretending to be for? Or are you afraid that she is too peaceful in the underworld, so you come every year to hate her?"
When he heard the footsteps, Wei Yan knew who was coming.
He turned his sideways to Xie Zheng, without even raising his eyelids, and burned all the paper money in his hand as if he had heard nothing. Then he brushed the ashes off his collar and stood up.
As they passed by Xie Zheng on their way back, Fang Zhuzu said, "I thought you had been hiding for months and didn't even have the courage to come here to pay homage today."
Xie Zheng raised his eyelids, his gaze was as cold as an ice knife, and his face, reflecting the moonlight, seemed to be covered with a layer of frost. He twitched the corners of his lips and said, "Prime Minister Wei visited my Xie family mausoleum late at night, just to see if I came to burn incense?"
He turned his head and said sarcastically, "Of course I am not afraid to come here. It is the Prime Minister who needs to borrow some courage to come again, right? The blood debts have to be repaid eventually, right?"
Wei Yan glanced at Xie Zheng, unable to tell whether he was happy or angry, and was about to leave without saying a word.
He had just taken two steps when Xie Zheng stared gloomily at the cold tombstone of his parents not far away. The night wind blew his hair in front of his forehead, and his eyes, like cold stars, were filled with hostility. He drew his sword without warning and slashed at Wei Yan with his backhand. The sword was powerful and fast as lightning.
"bite--"
A teeth-grinding metallic sound echoed in the night.
The close combat was loud and sharp, and sparks were produced.
All the assassins hiding around the cemetery appeared, staring at Xie Zheng as if they were a powerful enemy, and protected Wei Yan firmly in the rear.
Xie Zheng raised his lips in a cold and sarcastic arc, staring coldly at Wei Yan standing behind more than a dozen assassins, and raised the long sword in his hand: "We must finally make a conclusion between you and me, why not do it today?"
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes became fierce, and he suddenly approached a dead soldier, slashing dozens of times with the long sword in his hand in an instant, sparks flew everywhere, and the huge force caused the dead soldier's palm to crack, and the gushing blood directly soaked the handle of the sword, so he had to retreat again and again.
Xie Zheng's handsome face was ferocious at this moment, as if he was a fierce ghost. His whole body seemed to be filled with a bloody aura. He swung the long sword in his hand and chopped until only a trace of afterimages remained. He questioned Wei Yan in a fierce voice: "My father supported the Crown Prince Chengde and blocked your way, so you plotted to kill my father. My mother discovered your conspiracy, so you want to kill my mother too?"
When the last sword was swung, the long knife in the assassin's hand broke into two pieces with a "ding" sound.
His eyes widened in horror, but he was still hit by the sword across the waist. He twitched and couldn't get up, and scarlet blood slowly spread from under his body.
When the mountain wind blew, the smell of blood was so strong that it made people feel nauseous.
The rest of the assassins stared at Xie Zheng with increasing fear.
Those who came with Wei Yan this time were all top-ranked warriors.
The top-notch warriors trained by the Wei Mansion, who were even comparable to military generals in the army, could not last more than half a quarter of an hour under Xie Zheng's hands.
Xie Zheng stood not far away holding a bloody sword, his face stained with tiny blood foam, leaving his overly handsome face with only an evil and murderous look.
He asked Wei Yan: "How did you have the nerve to come here in the past seventeen years?"
The wind blew the burned paper scraps into ashes, and his tall figure was wrapped in a black robe, as if blending into the thick night.
Wei Yan listened to his accusations, word by word, without saying a word.
The ashes of the ghost paper fell on his shoulders. In a trance, his already gray hair seemed to have even more white hair.
The assassins guarding Wei Yan looked at Xie Zheng, who was being held by the other assassins, and said to him, "Prime Minister, this place is dangerous. Shall I escort you out first?"
Wei Yanmian raised his hand to signal the assassin to retreat.
The assassin showed a bit of astonishment on his face, but he still didn't dare to disobey Wei Yan's wishes. He put away his sword and retreated to Wei Yan's side.
Wei Yan looked at Xie Zheng from a distance of two meters, his eyes full of regret: "You hate me, that's right. Even if you don't want to kill me, one day I will chop off your head. But you shouldn't be so arrogant as to fight me here."
He brushed off the paper ash on his cloak and said, "You can't kill all my top warriors by yourself. Your mother is watching, so I won't embarrass you here and disturb her peace."
Wei Yan turned and walked forward along the bluestone path where the night was getting darker.
Xie Zheng stood there holding the sword, and suddenly sneered: "When she was alive, you couldn't stand her. Now that she's dead, you're pretending like this. Do you really think she can understand?"
Wei Yan paused slightly, then continued walking forward without saying a word.
The assassins surrounding Xie Zheng did not dare to let their guard down. Their palms were sweaty as they held the knife handles, fearing that Xie Zheng would suddenly attack again.
After making sure that Wei Yan had gone far away, he pointed the knife at Xie Zheng, retreated a certain distance, turned around and left quickly.
The entire cemetery fell into deathly silence again. As it was early winter, not even the sound of insects could be heard.
A lantern had fallen to the ground during the fight; its paper basket and bamboo frame had been burned out, leaving only the lamp oil spilled on the bluestone slabs, still burning slowly. The thin bluish flame illuminated Xie Zheng's blood-stained face, as if it was covered with a layer of cold frost.
He tilted his head to look at the grave of the Xie couple not far away, standing there motionless, like a statue.
Scenes from the past came to mind, and the memory of the sixteen years spent in the Wei Mansion had never been so clear.
Since he was five years old, Wei Yan would bring him to the Xie family mausoleum every Qingming Festival or memorial day, with the driver and guards waiting at the foot of the mountain.
Wei Yan said that his mother liked quietness when she was alive, and bringing too many people here would disturb her peace.
He was afraid of Wei Yan's severity and hated his mother for cruelly abandoning him. Every time he knelt in front of the grave, he had nothing to say except burning paper money and kowtowing.
Wei Yan was the same. He was always silent. When he came here, he would stand quietly in front of the tomb for a long time before leaving.
The lamp oil spilled on the ground burned out, and the blue fireworks went out with a "puff".
Apart from the cold moonlight, there was no other light between heaven and earth.
Xie Zheng finally took a step and walked towards his parents' grave. He looked at the two words "Wei Wan" engraved on the cold stone tablet, raised his hand and touched it. His drooping eyelashes were soaked in the moonlight, and a faint shadow fell under his eyelids.
Depression, gloom, suffocation and hatred enveloped him like a tide and dragged him into an endless abyss.
Xie Zheng's other hand, which was hanging at his side, clenched unconsciously, his jaw clenched, a vein bulged out on the corner of his forehead, and a few traces of scarlet could be seen faintly under his eyes.
Not far away, there were hurried footsteps coming in this direction, tut, tut, tut...
It's like stepping on someone's heartstrings.
Xie Zheng raised his eyes and glanced, and saw a small ball of warm light approaching him quickly in the dark night.
He saw the girl's skirt dazzled by the dim light of the lantern, her hair blowing in the night breeze as she ran, and her face flushed with worry from her rapid running.
It's a wonderful feeling, all the dark and gloomy emotions in my heart are gradually fading away.
Finally one day, even though he was covered with wounds, he was still illuminated by the sun that was running towards him.
When Fan Changyu was at the foot of the mountain, he smelled the smell of blood on the wind and was worried that Xie Zheng had been ambushed. Xie Zhong secretly stared at the carriage and horses left by Wei Yan at the foot of the mountain, while Fan Changyu ran all the way up the mountain.
On her way here, she saw a large pool of blood on the ground. Seeing that Xie Zheng's face was also stained with blood, she hurriedly used a lantern to see if he was injured. Her voice became tense unconsciously: "How are you? Did Wei Yan's men set an ambush here? Are you injured?"
She asked a bunch of questions in rapid succession, and because she ran so fast, her breathing was not smooth and her voice was panting.
While she was anxious to check the injuries on Xie Zheng's body, the person in front of her just lowered his eyes and stared at her without blinking.
Fan Changyu did not find any wounds on Xie Zheng's body, but the smell of blood on his body was really strong. Fan Changyu was worried that he had a wound on his back, so he hurriedly said, "Turn around and let me see!"
Xie Zheng didn't move.
Fan Changyu had learned from Xie Zhong that he had returned to the Xie Clan Ancestral Hall to receive 108 lashes. Thinking back to when he later came back to Lucheng to find her, she certainly knew why he had received those 108 lashes.
On the way here, she never suppressed the sadness in her eyes.
Seeing that Xie Zheng was not cooperating, she was worried that he really had injured his back. She was anxious and reached out to pull his arm, wanting him to turn around so that she could see.
Unexpectedly, the person in front of her suddenly raised his arm, pressed the back of her neck, and pressed her hard into his arms.
The force almost broke her waist, making it difficult for Fan Changyu to breathe.
The lantern in his hand fell to the ground as he staggered, but was instantly ignited by flames.
"You shouldn't have come."
Fan Changyu was forced to press his cheek against his cold chest and heard his low, hoarse and cold voice echoing from above his head.
Although it was clearly a rejection, Fan Changyu had the illusion that he would never be able to break free from his control.
The author has something to say:
Yunhui General's Diary:
It was his mother's death anniversary, but he didn't tell me. He was unhappy~( ︵` )~
I was getting ready to go home, but when I heard that he might be in danger, I decided to go look for him.
Found it.
I didn't know if he was injured, so when I asked him about his condition, he suddenly hugged me without saying a word and said I shouldn't have gone, but he held me very tightly.
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