Chapter 38 Xie Family Memories Meeting you is the only light that fate has given me...
Shen Wenji raised his hand, suppressing the severe pain in his spiritual veins, and circulated the spiritual power throughout his body to help stabilize Xie Yunqing's shaky aperture barrier.
She held Xie Yunqing's hand, supported his arm, and pulled him up from his huddled position. Those eyes, filled with grief, were close at hand. She raised her fingertips and gently stroked his wet cheek.
"I know nothing about your past, and I can't protect you from your inner demons, but I can let you know that you are not alone."
"I will bear your inner demons with you this time."
As he spoke, Xie Yunqing straightened his back. He held Shen Wenji's hand tightly, pulled him behind him, and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, we will definitely get out."
The scene in front of him suddenly began to distort, the dim sunlight mixed with blood shadows, and a blood mist appeared in front of his eyes.
Shen Wenji clasped his fingers with Xie Yunqing's with one hand, and put his other hand in front of his eyes to block the blood mist that was blowing in his face, frowning and squinting his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, the blood mist dissipated and the chaos before his eyes turned into streets with blue bricks and black tiles.
Shen Wenji stood alone on the familiar street of Xie Mansion, his palms empty with only a trace of residual warmth.
Xie Yunqing disappeared.
Her heart sank suddenly. Have they...completely entered a deeper realm of inner demons and illusions?
The streets were filled with the crackling sound of firecrackers, mixed with the noisy music of sheng, flute, and drums, making it very lively.
Following the sound, she saw red lanterns hanging high in front of the red gate of Xie's mansion, and the whole long street was illuminated in red.
The neighbors were laughing and talking, and the guests were congratulating and expressing their happiness. However, deep in the alley, a suppressed sob could be heard faintly.
Everyone here seemed to have already planned their movements. Shen Wenji followed the long procession of brides and walked deep into the alley. Along the way, everyone ignored her and no one stopped her.
She saw the young Xie Yunqing, his arms clinging to a green-covered carriage, the curtains of the sedan chair with the phoenix and mandarin ducks singing were tightly grasped by him, and the wrinkles of the fine embroidery were pulled.
The carriage curtain lifted slightly, and the girl in the phoenix coronet and bridal robe in the carriage tearfully slapped his hand away, the gold ornaments on her temples rustling in the wind. "Yunqing, be obedient. Sister is leaving."
This girl was Xie Zhaozhao, Xie Yunqing's elder sister. She was wearing a wedding dress that was dazzling red, but her eyes were filled with an unrelieved sadness.
She has not been valued by her family since she was young. No matter how hard she tries or how well she does, it is all in vain, and in the end she can only become a useless chess piece of the family.
Not only was the name chosen hastily, but even the marriage was hastily arranged.
The family she was forced to marry into was notoriously violent. It was rumored that the head of the family was an alcoholic and the whereabouts of his previous wives were unknown.
She was the tenth wife in the family. Apart from her mother, only her blood-related brother treated her sincerely.
But what's the use? They can't help her, and she can't escape by herself.
"That man is not a good person. Sister, you can't marry him. I will kill him!" The young man Xie Yunqing's eyes were red and his voice was dull and full of tears. The long sword at his waist was about an inch out of the sheath, but was held down tightly by Xie Zhaozhao.
"Silly brother." She smiled and wiped away his tears, the coldness of her fingertips passing through his cheeks. "You're always playing around and don't even know a few sword moves. You can't even beat me, so how can you kill that man? Don't worry, I will protect myself well and wait for you to come and take me home."
She raised her hand and rubbed the boy's head, her voice becoming more choked: "In the future, you must practice sword skills well, eat well, and live well."
The young Xie Yunqing was roughly pulled away by the servants of the Xie family, his shoulders were firmly clamped, and he could only watch as the glaring red wedding procession left.
Xie Zhaozhao leaned out of the carriage window, pulled the broken jade necklace around her neck, and shook it at Xie Yunqing. She tried to smile: "Don't worry about me, go back quickly."
The carriage went farther and farther away, and when the last wheel rolled through the alley, the girl's forced smile completely collapsed, and her soft crying was crushed in the wind.
The servants who had shackled Xie Yunqing had already dispersed, but he still stood there, his nails digging into his palms, and blood dripped down his fingers and onto the ground, echoing with the red lanterns on the eaves.
He raised his bloody hand and tightly grasped the broken jade necklace on his chest.
This was made from the jade pendant that came with her mother's dowry. She divided the jade pendant into three parts, keeping one for herself and giving the rest to her sister and brother.
Legend has it that this jade pendant can bring peace, and the mother hopes that all of them will be safe.
My mother said, "No matter where we are in the future, as long as I have this jade pendant, we will never be apart."
Now, he clutched the broken jade and cried inconsolably.
Shen Wenji looked at his trembling figure and rushed over to hug him, but his hands passed through his body and touched nothingness.
She suddenly understood that the scene here was an established fact that had already happened, a tragedy that could not be reversed.
And she was just a complete bystander, unable to stop it, nor could she do anything to change it.
The blood mist reappeared and the scene changed suddenly.
It was a bitterly cold winter with white snow, and the smell of medicine in the backyard of Xie's house was so strong that it was choking.
Shen Wenji pushed open the creaking wooden door and saw that there was little coal in the house, and Madam Xie was lying on the bed wrapped in a heavy cotton mattress.
Her face was dark blue, with black blood hanging from the corners of her mouth. She was barely breathing, and her skinny hands were tightly clutching a tear-stained letter.
It was a letter that Xie Zhaozhao had sent home with great difficulty. The handwriting on it was sloppy and the ink was blurred by tears, with only a few lines of words vaguely visible.
"My husband's family is a cruel family. I suffer humiliation every day. I am determined to die, seeking only liberation. In this life, I only wish for my mother's health and my brother's safety. If you miss me, please don't seek revenge, just live a peaceful life..."
"Madam, the medicine is here." The maid came in with a pitch-black medicine bowl and sighed, "This is the last one. It's in the storeroom..."
"Oh no, madam!" A hurried voice called out from not far away, the voice coming before the person arrived, "The eldest lady... passed away."
The voice trembled: "My husband's family sent an obituary."
Madam Xie suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and with her last bit of strength she grabbed the maid's hand, wanting to say something.
But apart from the sound of the medicine bowl being knocked over, she could not make any sound.
The maids around her kept crying for help, and Madam Xie stared at the door, as if she was waiting for someone.
But until her last breath, the person she wanted to see did not appear through the door.
At that time, Xie Yunqing was practicing sword thousands of miles away. When he received the letter from home, his mother had already passed away. The news of his sister's death also came. The obituary said that it was a sudden serious illness.
That day, it was snowing heavily, and Xie Yunqing went to his brother-in-law's house alone.
The door was kicked open, and the cold wind rushed in with snowflakes.
The room was filled with the smell of alcohol, the string music stopped abruptly, the singers screamed and looked straight at the door.
My brother-in-law got up drunk and accidentally kicked the empty wine jar at his feet to the door. He cursed and asked, "Who is it? Get out of here!"
Xie Yunqing looked at the mess in the room, which didn't look like a funeral at all, and his eyes turned completely cold.
He raised his sword, the cold blade touching his brother-in-law's greasy neck, and asked in a sinister tone, "Where is my sister?"
After a few sword strikes and blood splattering, he finally found out the whereabouts of his sister from the scum.
Xie Yunqing rushed into the depths of the mansion with a sword in hand. Some servants tried to stop him, but even though his moves were immature, they could not withstand his desperate and crazy spirit of attacking without defending, and those who tried to stop him were defeated one after another.
Anyway, he was here to collect the bodies, so to save them from throwing the bodies away, they just let him do it.
Walking into the remote and deserted backyard, there is a woodshed in the corner.
Xie Zhaozhao curled up in the straw pile in the woodshed, his body frozen cold and stiff.
Her linen clothes were torn to shreds, stained with dirt and blood. The left side of her face was swollen, and the wound at the corner of her mouth was scabbed, oozing blood and saliva that had frozen into ice.
Her thin shoulders were bulging and tense, and in her arms she held a swaddling baby tightly, inside of which was her one-year-old daughter, but her little body was already colder than snow.
Ever since she gave birth to a daughter, the man has found it unlucky and annoying, making the already difficult life even worse.
Xie Zhaozhao didn't even dare to cry. Every time she shed tears, she would be beaten, scolded and humiliated by the man.
She could only bite her lips and swallow the blood and tears into her stomach. Now she can finally be relieved.
The things in front of him made Shen Wenji cover his mouth, tears burst out of his eyes and seeped into the gaps between his fingers. His throat tightened and he couldn't breathe.
Xie Yunqing knelt heavily in front of his sister's cold body, murmuring hoarsely over and over again: "I'm sorry, I'm late..."
Finally, he wiped away his tears with trembling hands and forced a smile: "Sister, I'm here to take you home."
In the next scene, Shen Wenji saw Xie Yunqing kneeling in front of the mourning hall, holding a complete broken jade pendant in his hand.
One piece is for his mother, one piece is for his sister, and one piece is for him.
At this moment, the jade pendants are reunited, but the people are separated forever.
So this jade pendant can only protect one person? He would rather die than himself.
Mist rose up and the smell of blood filled the air again.
The ice and snow melted, the seasons changed outside, the houses began to shake, and evil spirits surged into the streets like a tide.
The demon's blade split the door, and in an instant, screams rang out one after another.
Xie Yunqing's father only cared about himself and had already escaped with the Xie Mansion's defensive formation.
Shen Wenji was pushed to the corner by a force, and watched helplessly as all the servants of the Xie Mansion were torn to pieces by the demons. His grandmother, who once loved Xie Yunqing, was nailed to the door, her white hair stained with blood.
Xie Yunqing hurried back after receiving the news. When he rushed in with a sword, the entire Xie Mansion was surrounded by demonic fire.
He raised his sword and cut the demon's throat, but he couldn't stop more ferocious monsters from coming.
The sword in his hand broke into pieces under the erosion of the demonic energy. Xie Yunqing was covered in wounds and pounced towards the demons with red eyes, like a dying cub that was still struggling tenaciously.
"Young master, let's go!" The old butler raised a hatchet and blocked his way, but the monster bit his neck and blood splattered all over Xie Yunqing's face.
The devilish fire climbed up the beams silently, and the plaque of Xie Mansion was burned with crackling sounds, and finally collapsed and fell to the ground with a loud bang.
Shen Wenji watched the young man struggling in the sea of fire. He was pinned to the ground by the monster and watched helplessly as the last of his loved ones breathed their last...
The young man's clear eyes became gloomy, and the light gradually died out, leaving only the dead silence of ashes and a heart full of hatred.
"Don't..." Shen Wenji rushed forward recklessly, but he could not get through the invisible barrier.
She could only watch the young man being devoured by the evil spirit, watching him scream in a pool of blood, his voice choked and broken by the evil fire.
Tears rolled down his cheeks, Shen Wenji felt as if his heart was being cut by a knife, and he was choked with sobs.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed her wrist, slid down, and held her hand.
The adult Xie Yunqing appeared beside her at some point, his face as pale as paper, and the bloodshot in his eyes was thicker than the blood mist in the illusion.
He was trembling all over, but he held her hand tightly, as if it was the only piece of driftwood that could save him from the sea of suffering.
"Don't look at it." Xie Yunqing raised the corners of his lips with difficulty, and said in a hoarse voice: "It's all fake... I'm fine."
But his hands were shaking and his fingertips were cold, and she knew he was trying to be strong.
Shen Wenji hugged him without hesitation, and her soft embrace dispelled the chill all over his body. She gently pressed his head on her shoulder.
She could feel his body trembling and hear his suppressed sobs. She said, "Xie Yunqing, if you're unhappy, don't keep it to yourself. You can tell me."
"It's all my fault. Everything is my fault..." Xie Yunqing finally took off his armor. He muttered in a daze, "If I were stronger, if I had gone earlier, would everything be different?"
Shen Wenji was afraid that he would be devoured by his inner demons, so she turned his face and forced him to look at her.
"Yunqing, listen to me." She held his hand, her voice gentle and clear: "You are very strong now, you have the ability to protect those you want to protect."
"The dead are gone. They all hope that you can live peacefully and happily, rather than wallowing in sorrow and drowning in hatred."
"Look." She pointed to the gradually brightening sky outside the illusion. "The demonic fire was extinguished, the demonic energy dissipated, and you survived. In the future, you killed many demons, avenged them, and protected even more. You didn't let anyone down."
She patted his back gently: "Believe me, that's all in the past."
The blue bricks and black tiles began to disintegrate as she spoke, gradually turning into dissipating shadows.
Xie Yunqing's body gradually stopped shaking. He buried his head in her shoulder and said in a muffled voice with a heavy nasal tone, "But I couldn't protect them..."
"You've done very well." Shen Wenji held his face and wiped away the tears on his face with his fingertips. "They are watching in heaven and must be very proud of you."
The fish belly white that appeared in the sky gradually spread, and the surrounding evil spirit gradually subsided, until the sunlight was completely bright, the illusion disappeared, and the world returned to clarity.
Xie Yunqing stared at her blankly, the dead silence in his eyes was replaced by warmth, and his eyes were filled with the reflection of Shen Wenji.
He suddenly hugged her tightly in his arms, slowly lowered his head, and gently pressed his cool lips against the soft hair at her temples, leaving a precious kiss.
"Chen Wenji, thank you."
Thank you for helping me out in my most unbearable fantasy.
"It's great to meet you."
Misfortune has been following me like a shadow for half of my life. Meeting you is the only light that fate has given me.
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The author has something to say: Xie Zhaozhao is a very good person. The subsequent memories will talk about her youthful vigor and ambition (but should it be in the later chapters?)
"Zhao means bright sun." If there is an if line, Zhao Zhao will definitely live a bright and glorious life.
The story of the Xie family is not yet complete, and will be gradually unfolded along with the main plot.
Thank you all for your support. I received so much nutrition solution and I can’t thank you enough [laughing] I am so happy that I am crying. I love you all so much! [kiss][red heart]
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