Chapter 92 Relics of an Old Friend
An army marches on its stomach. Gao Huan was extremely busy, yet he still had to find time to search for people.
Fortunately, it's good news.
Hei Lao Er and Yao Sanlang were still alive. It was almost the Ghost Festival, so he simply closed the blacksmith shop and took his children back to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors, one to his parents and ancestors, and the other to Sister Ning and Yao Village.
He erected a tomb for the two men, but there were no clothes inside; instead, Yao Sanlang's hair was placed there. The body and hair, given to us by our parents, were now embodied in this moment.
Because of the ancestral worship ceremony, they narrowly escaped a disaster.
During the turmoil in the capital, the two lived well in Xiahe Village, except that they ate all the sacrificial offerings that had been prepared.
Thanks to the foundation laid by Zhiwei, the two of them didn't get cold, frozen, or hungry. The head of the Chen family still occasionally distributes grain to Xiahe Village.
Gao Huan suspected that Hei Lao Er's ancestors and Yao Sanlang's parents had smashed their heads in the underworld and signed a 30,000-year indenture to save the two of them.
He happily told Guan Zhiwei the news, thinking she would be very pleased.
But Guan Zhiwei said indifferently, "If I don't die now, I'll die later anyway."
Gao Huan's cheerful tone gradually subsided, and she asked softly, "So, will you see him or not?"
“They’ve disappeared. Take some money with you, not too much, just enough for them to live on. When you lack the means, money can become a disaster.”
"Yes." Gao Huan stepped back and had just reached the door.
"Wait, we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let me take a look at it."
The kitchen prepared a large table of delicious food and brought it to the table. Blackie's eyes lit up, and he ate nonstop.
Guan Zhiwei held Yao Sanlang in her arms, broke off small pieces of meat, and fed them to him little by little.
At first, Yao Sanlang felt a little unfamiliar with her, and smiled shyly, running around and refusing to let her hug him.
Later, he peered at her from the corner of the table for a while, and seemed to have taken a liking to her again, so he climbed onto her lap and asked her to hold him.
That small face vaguely resembled Yao Zhuang and Sister Ning. He wasn't particularly good-looking, but he was considered cute because of his age.
Guan Zhiwei has a bit of a crush on him.
What the deceased left behind was a living, breathing child.
The child tentatively called out, "Mother?"
He no longer remembers his biological mother; children forget things quickly, so this might be a form of protection.
“Oh, Xiao Guan, don’t be angry. You’re not even engaged yet! This kid just likes to call anyone ‘mother.’ Whenever he sees a woman, he calls her ‘mother.’ When we were in the village, he would see other women with mothers and he would call them ‘mother’ too. He would play with their children and even try to sneak into their homes after dark. This kid is cunning and shrewd; he’s a bit of a nuisance.” Black Second Brother kept scolding Sanlang.
Sanlang stared intently at Guan Zhiwei, eager to know if she would chase him away or if she was truly a mother.
Guan Zhiwei touched his little face. "I'm your mother. I'm very busy. I go out to fight bad guys, so I may not be able to see you often. You'll be able to see me when you grow up."
When he grows up, he will realize that she is not his mother, and then he will not look for his mother anymore.
Yao Sanlang was still young and didn't understand. He just raised his little hand high, his face flushed red, and happily spun around in place.
The tension in Hei Lao Er's heart suddenly eased. He muttered, "I want to wait until he's older and more sensible before I get married, then he'll have a mother. He's still young now. What if I get married and have children, and then I become biased and treat him badly?"
Guan Zhiwei said, "You take very good care of him. His face is very clean, and there is no eye discharge."
"..." Blackie covered his eyes and choked back a sob. When he got to that point, sadness seemed to surge over him.
"Xiao Guan, I heard about Gouya. I'm not as brave as him. If I were in the city, I would definitely find a place to hide. I don't dare to kill anyone, and I'm afraid of being killed myself. I'm useless."
"It's perfectly normal not to kill or want to be killed."
This era is so strange that not killing people is considered useless.
The second brother choked up and said, "I just want to work in the blacksmith's shop and earn a living."
“Blacksmithing is good. With Sanlang by your side, we can't let his father's craft die out with him,” Guan Zhi said with a smile.
They didn't drink alcohol, they just ate some good food and chatted for a while.
After eating and drinking their fill, Hei Lao Er took Yao Sanlang away, and Gao Huan even gave Sanlang a peace charm.
He said that he would send Sanlang to school when he was a little older, as a very good school had been opened in Yong'an City.
Hei Lao Er was looking forward to it. "That kid Gouya always says he's been to school, but he only studied for a few days and knows a few words. Sanlang is lucky. He'll get an education in the future and maybe he won't be a peasant anymore, but a superior person."
People live, people die, people still have hopes; that's how a person's life goes by.
Once they leave this door, Guan Zhiwei will no longer be Little Guan, but Grand Tutor Guan.
She said, "We're going to war."
Gao Huan: "Grand Tutor, you are invincible in battle and unconquerable in attack!"
The emperor issued an edict, announcing to the whole country that the Yuan family had murdered the emperor and committed treason, and that they should be executed by the whole country, thus nailing them to the position of traitorous ministers.
It should be noted that in the struggle for power, most warlords who carved out their own territories had titles bestowed by the imperial court and were nominally subjects of the Zhou dynasty. Yuan Shi was the first to openly murder the emperor and usurp the throne, and then attack the capital. Many people suspected that he had lost his mind.
Yuan Qiuhe had also had his doubts.
He wondered if his son had gone mad.
Why don't the advisors around you offer any advice when you suspect something?
Why did none of the three generals sent out return?
Are they working together to cause trouble?
Only at the very end did I begin to doubt myself.
How can a father trust his son?! Aren't there countless examples of sons betraying their fathers?
Because of the "good deeds" his son did, he lost his reputation. Without a proper reputation, his words would not be credible, and his pretext of "purging the court of corrupt officials" crumbled without a fight.
But Guan Zhiwei raised an even bigger banner, showing him what it meant to serve the emperor to punish the disobedient.
—Whoever beheads Yuan Qiuhe will be enfeoffed as a marquis with five thousand households and rewarded with fifty million coins! Any subordinate generals or officials of the Yuan clan who surrender will not be prosecuted.
The emperor was in dire straits, and the culprit was Yuan Qiuhe. Whoever killed him would be a hero of the nation!
"Hahahaha, a bunch of rabble! Even if they gather together, they can't shake me in the slightest!"
After reading it, Yuan Qiuhe slammed his fist on the table and stood up, shouting, "Who is willing to fight for me!"
"This humble general is willing to go!" A group of people volunteered one after another.
He had countless strategists and generals under his command, and his students and former officials were all over the country. He controlled a region and commanded millions of armored soldiers. Even after suffering two consecutive defeats and losing two or three hundred thousand elite soldiers and three or four hundred thousand laborers, the people on his land were as numerous as grasses, and he could levy taxes on them again and again.
So what if a family with wealth and influence suffers two setbacks in a row?
At worst, he can just stop trusting his son!
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