"Exchange children for food."
These four words finally reached my ears.
Yan Huailiu held his breath, waiting for him to continue.
"Ten miles south of the tower where we're enjoying the view today, there's a shabby little house that specifically takes in children like me who were abandoned at birth."
"The person who initially looked after the place was an elderly woman. She died in the first year of the drought while begging for food for us."
"For the next two years, the oldest girl there took care of us younger ones. The day after the people of Qingfeng Town moved back, she disappeared and never returned."
Gu Xingyun hugged the person in his arms tightly, as if seeking some sense of security.
"After that, suddenly a lot of people adopted us. I thought it was a good thing, but I didn't expect..."
"Stop talking!" Yan Huailiu covered his mouth, suppressing his discomfort, and softened his voice: "Stop talking."
Gu Xingyun released his hand: "But Master, I haven't finished yet."
Yan Huailiu lowered his head, frowning for a moment before continuing to ask, "Then how did you escape in the end?"
"Well, I saw a group of people staring at me with red eyes. I was so scared that I bit the one who grabbed me and ran away into the woods."
"They can't catch up." Gu Xingyun leaned on the pillow: "Master, isn't it funny? They all have the strength to kill me, but they don't have the strength to catch me. So many people, but they can't even outrun a four-year-old child."
Yan Huailiu was silent. It was difficult to judge that era with today's perspective.
"Heavy rain fell on New Year's Eve that year. The whole town was filled with cheers and wailing. I hid on the city wall and watched those people lying in the rain and cheering."
"I thought things would gradually get better, but many people in the town died inexplicably. Others thought it was just a result of the drought, so they cleared the land and planted crops while holding funerals."
"Master, do you know what happens to someone who has been starved for three years and experienced cannibalism?"
Gu Xingyun turned around and asked, Yan Huailiu stopped thinking and just shook his head.
"They would be extremely fearful of famine and would secretly store what they thought they could eat."
Yan Huailiu's stomach churned a little.
Gu Xingyun stared at the curtain with cold eyes: "I saw with my own eyes that they dug up the newly buried people, divided up the bodies in front of the new grave, and each of them left with a large cloth bag."
"Those rotting corpses, soaked by several rains, brought the plague."
Yan Huailiu didn't dare to listen any further. He had never imagined that this would be the life that was not described.
He couldn't imagine how Gu Xingyun survived under such circumstances.
He had read similar content in historical books and documents, which described other people's struggling half-life in just a few words.
"The town was covered with white sheets, and the wailing continued from morning till night. There was no place to bury the bodies, and no one dared to bury them, so they dug a deep pit and threw all the dead into it."
"The town's doctor had long since passed away, and no one knew how to treat the plague. The people of the town were in a panic, and the land had become barren once again."
"I hid during the day and at night I went to the fields to look for food. If I was lucky, I could even dig up a few small potatoes, but there were always times when I couldn't avoid it and eventually I got sick."
Yan Huailiu's heart tightened, and he put his hand on him, trying to make him relax.
Gu Xingyun just curled his lips and continued, "At that time, everyone who was still alive became frightened birds. If they saw anyone infected with the disease, they would immediately throw them into the death pit."
"Oh, it should be called a pile of dead bodies at that time. The pits were all filled up."
He pretended to be relaxed when he finished speaking, but his face fell again. "But I'm not dead yet. I can still walk and run. Even so, they didn't let me stay in the town."
"There were also people guarding us, not allowing us to leave the corpse pit, for fear of infecting more people."
Gu Xingyun's voice suddenly weakened. He bent one finger slightly, supported his chin, and thought about something.
Yan Huailiu didn't dare to disturb him.
After a while, he looked as if he had suddenly realized something: "So that's how it is."
"What?" Yan Huailiu was puzzled.
"For a while, Qingfeng Town must have attracted some demons. The conditions in the town were quite suitable for them to survive. There was also a black aura surrounding the corpse pit from time to time. I always thought it was because I was seriously ill and had problems with my eyes."
He realized it later: "So that's why so many cultivators came to Qingfeng Town later."
"Thanks to those monks, the plague was completely stopped. But with so many dead, people's hearts have long been twisted. At first, the people in the town were grateful, but later they looked at those people with hatred, blaming them for not showing up earlier..."
"Those monks left cleanly and efficiently. They had no obligation to do more. Qingfeng Town has not returned to normal like it did after the drought. No one wants to start over. They all live in hatred."
"I survived thanks to a pill and sneaked back to town, but the smell on me was too strong, and I was discovered as soon as I entered. They tied me up with animal ropes and threw me back into the pit."
Yan Huailiu choked up a little: "They are so bad."
"Yes, I almost lost my voice. I wanted to tell them that I wasn't sick and that I was already well, just like them, but no one wanted to listen."
Gu Xingyun hooked Yan Huailiu's pinky finger and said, "They are so strange. It's like they want to vent all their hatred on me, as if I were the one who caused the plague."
"You're not, it's their fault, they shouldn't be like that." Yan Huailiu comforted softly.
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