Blood Ear (Part 4)
She was willing to give up everything.
If only the end of that yearning in my heart could be found.
If I were alive, I could see him again.
If you touch his face and look into his deep eyes...
Love is loving to the point where your whole heart is burning; otherwise, you'd rather plunge into hell, suffer a thousand cuts, and then drift away in silence.
See? That's how she is—so infatuated, so hopeful, so yearning…
Even reaching hell
"Grandma, there's a letter for you."
When that small, blood-soaked ear was laid out on the paper, her mind began to go blank.
Patches of light flew in through the green glass window, slumped onto the chair I was sitting on, the taste in my mouth faded, and bland saliva slid down my burning throat into my body, making me restless.
Her mind raced for a few brief moments, while her hands and feet felt as cold as frozen iron.
Embarrassing, on the verge of tears
A flush returned to her face as she reflected her complex emotions, illuminating her small, round cheeks.
Gritting her teeth, she knew she couldn't care less about anything else.
"Go and fetch my coat."
The damp, cold air stung my skin, making it turn bright red.
The rickshaw driver stopped in front of her door, and she finally regained some clarity and slowly put on her gloves.
"Excuse me."
Wandering through the streets and alleys, the sparse human presence, like solidified frosting, covers the city's exterior without leaving any gaps.
The eldest daughter of the Yuan family still lives in the old house, where her entire life since she was nineteen has been built. She exhaled deeply as the car stopped.
The maid who opened the door was the same one from the old house. Upon seeing that it was her, she respectfully greeted her, "Third Madam."
Upon entering, not a single blade of grass or tree appeared to have been disturbed.
It was never discarded, nor was it ever replaced.
She entered the house, and Master Yuan was taken aback, seemingly not expecting her to come here.
"Big brother,"
Following her old habit, she called out like that. Actually, there was a bit of selfishness mixed in with it; she hoped that such intimate words would evoke his affection for family.
She sat calmly in the chair a little behind him, her hands clasped together on her knees.
"You've come about Siyuan." He quickly realized this.
"Please, brother, think of a way to save him." Seeing his bluntness, tears streamed down her face.
Master Yuan frowned, slowly rubbing the jade ring on his thumb without answering her.
After a long pause, he said:
"Don't blame me for being cold and selfish. This time, he is being held captive by the warlord of Minkou. I'm afraid my reach can't extend that far."
Her hands trembled slightly upon hearing this, and she slowly raised her eyes, saying, "Brother, please think of something. Are we just going to watch him die?"
"He's your own brother."
Suddenly, a sharp female voice pierced the air, saying:
"His own brother? In order to collect weapons for his own brother, we sold off all the family property that we could sell."
We all need to eat to survive, and even the eldest brother needs to live.
Your cold, calculating tone is clearly a call to his death.
Madam Yuan entered through the outer door, her narrow eyes slanted upwards as she coldly stared at her.
Such a sharp gaze, such a helpless, bowed head.
She finally realized that there was no longer a place for her here.
She fell silent, lowered her brows and eyes, and bid farewell to Mr. and Mrs. Yuan.
Once outside the Yuan family's residence, the biting cold wind made her wander aimlessly through the streets like a lost soul.
She walked straight to the alley entrance, took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind, and flagged down a car.
"Go to West City Street."
She hesitated as she stood at the door, until the maid pushed the door open with scraps of food and saw her, then she seemed to snap out of a dream.
The servant looked her up and down and asked, "Who is Madam looking for?"
Is your young lady at home?
The maid didn't answer after hearing this, seemingly hesitant. Seeing this, she quickly said, "I am the third mistress of the Yuan family. If your young lady were here, could you please pass on a message for me?"
The maid then turned and went inside, and came out a moment later, saying, "Madam, please come in."
She followed behind her, her gaze drawn to the magnificent hall.
"Please wait a moment, our young lady will be down shortly."
It's truly ironic that she always thought the Huai siblings had become traitors and wanted to never see them again.
Now that he's in trouble and has nowhere else to turn, he has to come to her for help.
How much is a person's spirit and integrity worth?
With a thought in mind, Huai Yiling made her entrance, her hair neatly tied up, and she came downstairs smiling.
"Wow, this is quite a rare guest."
She felt embarrassed, but still stood up and said, "If I didn't have something to ask of you, Second Sister-in-law, I would never have bothered you so rashly."
"You have to be so blunt when you ask for help. You're just too straightforward. If you were closer to me, we'd both married into the same family and spent so much time together over the years, why wouldn't I help you?"
Her secret was awakened, and she bit her lower lip.
Shishi knelt down: "Second sister-in-law, I..."
"What are you doing?" Yiling quickly walked up to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up.
The two women, who had been confined in the deep courtyard of a mansion for many years, exchanged a glance.
She looked at her restraint and her pleas, and her expression softened.
They were the same kind of women, who, in those years of constant warfare, became like duckweed, forced to depend on men for survival.
duckweed,
It has no roots at all, and it trembles when a slight breeze blows.
Looking at her embarrassment, it was as if she were sitting directly opposite a mirror, seeing her own embarrassment in return.
"Get up, get up."
Seeing that the force pulling her had increased, she still stubbornly remained kneeling and refused to get up.
Yi Ling smiled somewhat sarcastically, walked over to the sofa opposite her, and sat down.
She crossed her legs, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at her with a gentle smile.
"Don't kneel down and then stay down, or it will make it seem like I'm being harsh on you."
She didn't answer, her eyes were lowered and floating, her lips were pursed, and after a while she said, "Please, Second Sister-in-law, save Siyuan."
Yi Ling raised her eyebrows after hearing this and said,
"What happened to the third brother?"
She hesitated when she got to this point in the question.
Finally, he clenched his fists at his sides and said, "They locked him up."
"Locked up? Why would they lock you up for no reason?"
She had barely finished speaking when she suddenly stood up from the ground and stormed out the door.
Yi Ling was left sitting there in astonishment, her expression one of utter disbelief at what she had just witnessed.
When it was time for dinner that evening, Huai Xiankun returned home.
Yi Ling casually put a few grains of rice from the bowl into her mouth, chewed them carefully for a while, and said, "Do you know what happened to the third son of the Yuan family?"
"The third son of the Yuan family? What's wrong with him this time?"
"This time? He's always teaching outside, what could have happened to him?"
Huai Xiankun placed his chopsticks on the side of the bowl and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.
“Teaching? I think he spends all his time playing around and is practically bankrupting the Yuan family.”
After saying that, he ladled a bowl of soup and placed it in front of her.
"The last time Yuan Da called me, it was about his matter."
Why do they need Western weapons? And in such large quantities! This is clearly reckless.
Yi Ling was stunned after hearing this.
"What would a teacher need weapons for?"
She fell silent as if suddenly realizing something was wrong.
Amidst the vast chaos, it was as if a glimpse of something astonishing had been revealed.
She recalled Madam Yuan's dire straits and the many seemingly ordinary days that had quietly passed by.
She stared intently for a long time, lost in thought, at the lamp in the prayer hall, where the light seemed to flicker and dance on the glass tabletop.
Finally, their gaze slowly turned to Huai Xiankun.
She stared at his face, so strikingly similar to hers, and at the light-colored round mole beneath his eye.
She said, "Please help him." She said, "For my sake."
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