Chapter 51 The Dog's Thoughts
I stood up leisurely, brushed the dirt off my clothes, crossed my arms, raised my eyebrows, and looked at the dirty, thin figure. At that moment, that thin figure was standing with his arms outstretched, blocking my way, glaring at Hua Yingxiong with hostility like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
Poor Hua Yingxiong was completely bewildered, blinking his eyes and looking at me with an innocent expression.
"Doggy, I've been looking for you so hard." I opened my mouth and stared intently at the thin figure that suddenly trembled slightly as I spoke softly.
The dog lowered its head and turned to run away.
"Hero! Catch him!" I shouted, my voice rising and falling in cadence.
Perhaps it was because the word "hero" had stirred his blood, and almost reflexively, he felt he couldn't live up to this extraordinary name. Hua Yingxiong stepped forward with extraordinary bravery, grabbed Gou'er, and dragged him in front of me to await my judgment.
After I stared at it for a while, the dog shifted uncomfortably. Its little face was covered in black, but its bright black and white eyes were the only bright and lively feature.
"Why are you avoiding me?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"I just... didn't want to put my sister in a difficult position." He bit his lip and spoke softly after a long while.
Seeing his pitiful appearance, most of the fire in my heart was extinguished, but I still kept a straight face and said, "Difficult? You're actually thinking of me."
The dog bit its lip tightly, remaining silent.
"Tell me, how am I in a difficult position?" I looked at his dark face, full of stubbornness, with great interest.
He didn't look at me, he just stared at his toes. "In the beginning, it was all my wishful thinking that I wanted to cling to my sister... You said you wouldn't abandon me, but you still abandoned me... You jumped off the cliff with Aman, without taking me with you..."
What?
My lips twitched slightly, and I was both amused and exasperated. "Jumping off a cliff happens in an instant. Who can be sure? Besides, jumping off a cliff isn't like going to a market. If I knew I would die, would I be so eager as to drag you down with me?"
"That's right! My sister promised she wouldn't leave me alone! So, she can't break her promise, even if it means death! She'll take me with her!" He suddenly looked up and roared at me, his beautiful eyes red.
I stared at him, speechless for a long time.
"If that's the case, why are you still following me?" I said calmly, glancing at him sideways.
The dog bit its lip, "I belong to my older sister."
Stunned again, I looked at him helplessly, "How long have you been following me?"
"I searched for you after you fell off the cliff until Guo Jia brought you and Aman back to the manor." He said honestly, bowing his head.
"Following me the whole time?"
"Yes, I've been following them."
"And then you just stood guard outside the Prime Minister's residence?"
"Um."
"I was brought into the palace, and you stayed outside the palace?"
"Um."
I sighed; this child was exceptionally stubborn.
"This kid, you bumped into me and it hurt so much." Hua Yingxiong raised his hand and gave him a sharp rap on the head.
I quickly stopped him, rescuing the dog from his clutches and pulling it into my arms, tenderly patting its head. "Gently, it's not a boy, it's clearly a girl."
The dog stumbled and almost fell to the ground, then stared at me with its clear black and white eyes.
Hua Yingxiong paused for a moment, then burst into laughter. His fox-like eyes then stared intently at the dog, making the dog feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I can tell she's a girl, yet she bullies the weak and fears the strong. When the Prime Minister bullied your sister, why didn't you stand up for her? Now you only know how to bully an honest man like me."
An honest man? I glared at him. If he were honest, then all foxes in the world would be extinct.
"I didn't!" the dog cried out, feeling insulted, then glanced at me furtively. "I thought..."
"What did you think?" Hua Yingxiong scoffed.
"I thought that since my sister liked Aman, and Aman liked my sister too, so..." He lowered his head and said softly.
"So you've been hiding far away watching your sister get bullied?" Hua Yingxiong laughed.
The dog glared at him.
I sighed and patted his head. "Do you know how long I've been looking for you?"
"Sister is looking for me?" The dog looked at me, its eyes shining just like a puppy's.
"Hmm." I nodded, then noticed the dried bloodstains on his dirty trouser legs, which were torn in several places, and his clothes were tattered. I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.
“Ahem, I really didn’t want to disturb your touching reunion, but…” Hua Yingxiong looked at me, “that guy Fengxiao won’t last long. Once the Prime Minister finds out, none of us will be able to escape.”
I was taken aback. "The fortune teller said the defenses are lax now, so it's not a problem."
"Are you stupid?" Hua Yingxiong looked at me like I was an idiot. "You were dressed in red, all dressed up, and you swaggered out of the manor with Fengxiao. Of course, Guo Jia had taken care of you. Once the news of your disappearance spread, how could Fengxiao possibly escape responsibility?"
"Huh?" I was stunned. I didn't expect that the sickly man who always looked so aloof would offend his boss because of me.
"Enough, let's go quickly. The Prime Minister wouldn't really punish him for a woman." Hua Yingxiong shook his head. "Let's go, don't let Fengxiao's efforts be in vain."
I pursed my lips and took the dog's hand with one hand. "Get in the car, we'll talk about it once we're out of the city."
The dog obediently let me pull him into the car.
The carriage bumped along the way. I sat in the carriage, bent down and pulled down Gou'er's trouser leg. Gou'er moved uncomfortably. Looking at the crisscrossing scratches and marks on his calf, I couldn't help but gasp.
"How did this happen?" I glared at him, then remembered what he had just said: "After falling off the cliff, I kept searching until Guo Jia brought you and Aman back to the manor." My heart tightened slightly. That child's casual remark had caused him so many injuries.
"You're so stupid!" I raised my hand to tap his forehead, but I couldn't bring myself to hit him hard. "If you're all alone, why don't you go to a brothel and mooch off your mother?"
"She's dead." The dog muttered softly, head bowed.
"What?" I didn't hear clearly.
"She's dead," Gou'er said softly, looking out of the car, his voice unlike that of a child. "She hanged herself in a dilapidated house in the north of the city."
The dilapidated house in the north of the city? That's the house where the beggars lived; Dog's father used to live there too.
"When?" I asked, softening my voice as I held the dog's cold hand.
"After Cao Cao led his troops to kill Dong Guojiu."
I pulled him into my arms without saying a word. He was about the same age as He Yan, but he was very thin.
"Sister, do you know why Cao Cao had evidence to kill Dong Guojiu?" Gou'er asked sullenly.
"Is it related to your mother?" I asked, patting his shoulder lightly.
"More than ten years ago, she was a young lady from a wealthy family. Her family had been in business for generations and was quite well-off..." Gou'er began slowly.
"By chance, the young lady met Dong Cheng. Dong Cheng was lustful at first sight, but the young lady was indifferent to him. In a fit of anger, Dong Cheng plotted against her, causing her family to be destroyed and her to be forced into prostitution." I sighed, "But the young lady was very proud. Even after being forced into prostitution, she remained proud and unyielding. She would rather give her virginity to a beggar than associate with wolves. But is that all?"
I recalled what Huifeng said that day. She said, "He was willing to ruin me to get me, but I have to give myself to a beggar who is the lowest of the low. Even if I were the lowest prostitute, he wouldn't have the right to take my virginity. Isn't that the greatest irony?"
That woman was truly proud and unyielding.
"Sister, you..." Gou'er looked at me in surprise.
"I guessed," I said with a wry smile.
"Dong Cheng still liked her very much, but... that day, she seduced the gatekeeper of Dong Cheng's house. Dong Cheng caught them in the act, and in a fit of rage, he had the gatekeeper whipped and locked in a cell," Gou'er said, head bowed, still silent, as if recounting a story unrelated to himself. "Later... Dong Cheng was killed by Cao Cao, and she hanged herself in that dilapidated house by the city gate..."
After a little thought, it's not hard to connect the dots, but once I figured it out, I felt a chill in my heart. From the very beginning, Guo Jia's frequenting of brothels was probably also to get closer to Huifeng.
Knowing about that past event, he instructed Huifeng to seduce the gatekeeper, deliberately provoking Dong Cheng's anger. The gatekeeper, having been whipped, would naturally harbor resentment. With a little trickery, the gatekeeper would be released, and he would spill the beans, revealing in detail all of Dong Cheng's ancestors.
That's not the point. The point is that I once told Guo Jia about the blood edict. They were just struggling to find an excuse to do it, and the gatekeeper would be a living witness, the perfect excuse.
At that time, searching the mansion and killing people will be done in one go.
"Doggy, you can understand your mother's predicament, right?" I said softly, patting his shoulder.
He didn't say a word.
“Your mother loved your father,” I said softly, embracing me. “Who knows? Maybe when your mother was framed and the family fell into ruin, when she was at her lowest point, it was your father who saved her. It might have been a beautiful love story, and no one knows the details. But the only thing I can tell you is…” I helped him sit up straight and looked into his clear black and white eyes. “Your mother loved your father. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone to the place where your father used to live to commit suicide after taking revenge. She would rather hang herself in a beggar’s den than die in a brothel. So… you are not lowly at all. You are your parents’ flesh and blood, and they love you just the same.”
The dog looked at me with red eyes.
"Where is your mother?" I asked softly.
“I buried her and my father together in the wasteland north of the city.” Gou’er lowered his eyes slightly.
"Good boy." I smiled, and the image of those eyes, so similar to the dog's, came to mind—clear black and white, beautiful, carrying a hint of indifference, stubbornness, arrogance, and sorrow.
"Whoa!" The carriage suddenly shook violently and came to a stop. "Oh no, the Prime Minister is coming!" Hua Yingxiong's voice rang out from outside the carriage.
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