Dark Night (Part 1)
Mo Wenqing thought for a moment and walked out of the tent.
"All soldiers, listen up!"
"The imperial court's reinforcements will arrive soon. Everyone, just hold on a little longer. As long as we can hold on until the reinforcements arrive, we will be saved."
Madam Mo looked solemn and clenched the handkerchief in her hand.
When Tang Xixu heard that the rest of the Mo family army had gone to Wutong Pass, he also prepared to go there.
Granny Wu tried her best to stop her, hugging Tang Xixu and saying, "Young Master, it's not that I don't want you to go. It's Madam who told you before she left that you must not set foot outside the Mo Mansion."
"Don't try to stop me, mother-in-law. My brother is already dead." The young man's eyes turned red with anxiety, but then he calmed down. "I just hope that my parents can come back safely."
Granny Wu hugged the boy's back and held him tightly in her arms, hot tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks onto her robe.
"That's why the young master should stay at home."
Xu Ning squatted aside, holding the young man who looked like a wounded deer in his arms.
His eyes were hollow, and the jade pendant on his chest gleamed faintly in the moonlight.
She knew everything that was going to happen, and even though she knew the boy couldn't hear her, she still didn't want to say it, as if some things would not become reality unless they were said.
Xu Ning's shoulders were shaking, his eyes were red, and he tightened his arms even more, burying them in Tang Xixu's neck.
Ah Xu, I'm sorry for not saving the Mo family. I knew exactly what was going to happen, but for my own sake, I didn't change anything. I watched my eldest brother die tragically, and watched the heroic spirits of the Mo family disappear into the desert. I was wrong, I was wrong...
After being here for so long, Xu Ning prided herself on being emotionally stable and not being disturbed by anything in the book, but when she saw flesh-and-blood people die before her eyes, her heart couldn't help but waver.
A cool breeze wrapped around the young man, and his neck was wet. He thought it was Granny Wu, but Granny had already let go.
The young man looked at the white sky, his eyes gleaming with light, and murmured softly: "Little girl, it's a good thing you left. If you hadn't left, you would have been so sad to know that your elder brother had passed away..."
…
The sandstorm blew, and the people in the city stayed at home. It was a bright day under clear sky, and the empty streets were quiet.
Wutong Pass is the last barrier of Ye County and also the last "gate" of Daxin.
Tang Xixu listened to Grandma Wu's words and never went to the front line.
He did very little every day. He would get up at 3 a.m. to practice shooting, and would practice for the whole morning. In the afternoon, he would stand on a high platform and look at Wutong Pass, standing there without saying a word. As the war spread, the young man would sometimes frown and sometimes have tears in his eyes.
Xu Ning was really afraid that he would rush to the front line without caring about his own safety.
…
"Hurry up and move everything that needs to be moved."
When Tang Xixu woke up, he saw a group of people in the house, hurriedly moving things.
"What are you doing? This is the Mo Mansion, the residence of General Mo Wenqing of Daxin!"
Without even putting on his outer robe, he went down barefoot and rushed out the door, shouting at those people.
These people were all wearing black armor and had long swords on their waists. Nine out of ten of them were strong and sturdy warriors.
He is big and strong, and looks like he can lift Tang Xixu up.
One of them came forward and whispered, "I guess you are the young master of Tangxi."
"yes."
"Your Majesty has ordered that the powerful General Mo Wenqing died on the battlefield. We have been ordered to bring his family back to the capital as a token of comfort."
The young man froze in his place, and hurriedly grabbed the man's arm, demanding, "What did you just say? My father died on the battlefield?"
The pupils dilated, and the high walls deep in the eyes suddenly collapsed.
"Young Master, don't you know yet? General Mo's body is already on its way back to the capital."
The young man took a few steps back, a chill suddenly rising in his heart.
A few days ago, Tang Xixu caught a cold at night. Adding to his constant worries, he fell seriously ill and was bedridden all day. He only woke up because of the loud noise just now.
Upon hearing the noise, Madam Mo hurried out, frowning and speaking in a deep voice, as if she had lost all her strength: "Yin Zhao, hurry up and pack up."
The Mo family didn't have much stuff, only enough to fit into five carriages.
Along the way, Mrs. Mo held Tang Xixu's hand tightly and frowned. Tang Xixu saw that her mother wanted to speak several times, but finally she stopped talking and went back.
The path the officers and soldiers took was bumpy all the way, and Qiao Mulan was pregnant and could not withstand such hardships.
That night, at Fulai Inn.
The candlelight flickered, Tang Xixu was sleeping in a daze, a dark shadow stood there, and a small snake slightly poking its head out from its shoulder was spitting out its tongue and looking at him.
"Chief, Awan still hopes that you can save my son's life. Awan does not ask for anything else, but only wishes that my son is safe and sound."
The mother lowered her head and knelt on one knee to beg the man.
He had never seen his mother so humble. He wanted to open his eyes, but he couldn't.
Tang Xixu didn't hear clearly what the man in black robe said. He only heard his mother remain silent for a long time and then hesitate to agree to something.
Hiss——hiss
Suddenly, there was a sound of electricity, the picture disappeared, I felt dizzy, and my soul became light and airy.
"What's going on?"
[Danger warning! System is in chaos and needs to be restarted!]
Everything went dark before his eyes, the world around him shrank infinitely, and Xu Ning began to spin.
"ah--"
[System Light Feather has officially activated. Due to the mission interruption, a key background unlock card for the capture target is issued. Does the host need to use it?]
She had too many doubts. Where did Ah Xu go? What did he go through? Why did he become like that?
Xu Ning said without hesitation: "Please use it immediately."
A large number of chaotic shadows came pouring in, confusing and intertwined, making it difficult to cope.
"Let me in!"
"If you can't tame these poisonous insects, you won't get out alive."
The person in the shadow is none other than the man in black robe with a snake wrapped around his wrist.
He threw Tang Xixu into a big black pit, and all kinds of strange-looking insects and small animals came out one after another. The boy dodged in panic, but could not escape.
"Go away!" A corpse-bug crawled onto Tang Xixu's arm.
The young man jumped around on the stone wall, unable to avoid it, and just as he jumped over, he was faced with a huge centipede.
The boy was not successfully tamed. When he was dying, he was fished out. His body was full of holes, and black blood was flowing out in streams from many places. There were also small insects gnawing at some parts of his body.
The scene shifted again, showing the same group of people. The young man was locked in a cage, his body filthy and his clothes tattered. He crouched on the ground like a pug, picking up stale rice and gobbling it down voraciously.
Soon, the man in black robe released a purple scorpion to bite Tang Xixu. The young man suddenly raised his head, his eyes were filled with black bloodshot, and veins on his neck were bulging. He struggled hard to break free from the chains, but to no avail.
After an unknown amount of time, Tang Xixu failed to meet their expectations and was eventually thrown into a desolate mountain.
The boy had messy hair, was skinny, and his clothes were tattered. Many of his wounds were scabbing, and some of the scabs had peeled off. The sour smell on his body attracted several mosquitoes to fly around him.
There was no food or water in the barren mountains, and wolves howled at night. Soon, a lone wolf appeared in the depths of the dense forest.
Its pupils reflected the white frost of the crescent moon, revealing its long white fangs, and it stared at its prey with a salivating look.
When people are on the verge of death, they often burst out with more powerful strength.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Ning saw the young man bite the wolf's neck and drink its blood, filling his mouth with wolf hair. The young man's eyes were greedy, cruel and full of murderous intent. He sucked madly, ignoring the fishy smell, as if he could never drink enough.
After sucking the wolf's blood dry, he suddenly looked up. Xu Ning in the void was startled and his heart trembled. Their eyes met. For a while, the young man's eyes were gloomy, and the silent pool was reflected in his pupils.
"Can he see me?"
[Of course not. It's just that you were scared by him.]
Xu Ning let out a long sigh.
His expression was solemn, with mixed feelings in his heart.
Ah Xu was only twelve or thirteen years old at that time. A twelve or thirteen-year-old child suffered such inhuman treatment. If it were her, she would be a thousand times more cruel than Tang Xixu in ten years. What's more, the emperor did not care about the matter, and the supreme authority was suspicious of her and put her at the center of the storm. In this case, it would be better to overturn everything and make a new rule.
His heart gradually became heavy, his breathing became more rapid, and as his thoughts drifted away, Xu Ning came back to his senses and returned to a month after Tang Xixu's fake death.
Based on Tang Xixu's youthful experience, Wen Liang might not be the culprit behind the Mo family's deaths, nor might the emperor. And who was it that poisoned the Mo family's army back then?
After reliving his life, Xu Ning felt even more confused. There were so many suspicious points in what happened back then, and Tang Xixu was afraid that he was still being kept in the dark and being used as a pawn by others. Xu Ning immediately set out for Buhuo City.
The water is cool at night, and frost forms on cold nights.
The entrances to Buhuo City are secretive and strange, and there are multiple ones. Even in his second life, Xu Ning asked many people for directions before he finally found one of them.
The entrance is a cave. The initial part is quite narrow, only allowing one person to pass through. After walking a few more steps, it suddenly becomes clear. There are mountain springs, beautiful ponds and ridges, which gives it a feeling of being in another world.
The valley was shrouded in thick smoke, with lanterns hanging on several corner towers. If it weren't for the dim lights and noisy laughter in the city, one would have thought it was a dead city.
The place is as extravagant as ever, with drunkenness, brothels and excessive debauchery.
"Young master, would you like to have some fun with me tonight?" A man coquettishly and shyly nestled in the arms of a woman, nodding timidly in response.
Xu Ning was shocked. Why didn’t she realize in her previous life that there were maids working here?
"Bone-touching fortune-telling, would you like to give it a try, young lady?" Xu Ningfang came back to her senses and saw a man in tattered fortune-telling clothes coming towards her, who was obviously a liar.
It was probably because I came early this time that I didn’t meet the thrush lady from my previous life.
"Thank you, but that's not necessary. Big brother, do you know where the city lord is now?"
Xu Ning declined politely. She had met this man in Tangxi Xu's mansion in her previous life. He was a housekeeper or something like that.
As for why he was telling fortunes here, Tang Xixu was not often in Buhuo City and did not like to be disturbed. Most of the time, the servants were in the city looking for a living or killing time, and they would only go back when Tang Xixu summoned them.
The unshaven and shaggy man looked the woman up and down, frowned, and said coldly, "Who are you? How dare you ask for an audience with the City Lord? Don't you know that you need to submit a visiting card a month in advance to ask for an audience with the City Lord?"
Xu Ning smiled lightly, not getting annoyed, and said softly, "I'm new here, and I really don't know the way. I hope big brother can show me the way."
His thick eyebrows relaxed, and his eyes widened slightly. "It's not wrong for me to say that, young lady, but I haven't opened my shop for two days, and I'm short of money. I'm afraid I have to waste time to make some money."
Xu Ning understood and took out a few silver leaves from his sleeve and put them into the man's hand. "You've been watching the shop for so long, maybe you should take a break, big brother."
The man took it without any objection, and said with a smile and a respectful tone, "Young lady, please follow me."
The man brought Xu Ning a set of coarse cloth clothes used by servants, which was a little too big for Xu Ning.
The man led her in one direction.
He took a small cup from the maid, stood outside the wooden door with a bow, and called out in a charming voice, "City Lord, the weather is quite cold today. I asked someone to make some calming soup, and your son has brought it to you now."
After a moment, Xu Ning suddenly felt a cool breeze blowing through the door, and "whoosh", the door was pushed open by a strong wind.
"Enter."
A deep voice came from the hall.
The man sitting on the black-gold rattan wood chair had a silver-patterned mask covering half of his face. The golden threads on his navy blue robe were flowing. The young man held his forehead with his hand and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
