Chapter 36: Burning the City
When Cui Junji heard about the fire in Xunyang, he was playing with Zhang'er. Just a moment ago, he said, "I was not there when Zhang'er was born. This time, your husband will definitely be with you."
After the New Year, Li felt Cui Junji's care and protection, and gradually put her heart on Cui Junji. Thinking about the previous estrangement, it was probably because they were not familiar with each other at the beginning.
Unexpectedly, the attendant only whispered a few words to Cui Junji, and his face changed and he wanted to leave immediately.
Seeing his panic, Li asked, "What happened, husband? Don't worry."
"Brother Shen sent a secret report saying that Xunyang was burned down and the imperial court didn't care. I need to go there, you..." Cui Junji couldn't bear it as the words just now were still ringing in his ears. "Father and Mother will take good care of you. My dear friend is in trouble, I can't..."
Cui Junji left without caring about anything. When he realized someone was grabbing his sleeve, he turned back in surprise and his eyes finally fell on Li.
Seeing her husband's calm face, now filled with anxiety and panic, she slowly loosened her grip on Cui Junji's sleeve and said gently, "Then my husband should also take care of himself. Let the servants do what they can..."
Before he could finish his words, Cui Junji said "I know" and disappeared around the corner.
After the people left, Li was stunned for a long time. It was not until Zhang'er grabbed her clothes that she forced herself to cheer up and said, "Hurry up and pack some things for my husband to take with him. Take the food and medicine too. You don't have to follow them, but you must send them there."
After saying that, Li sat back on the chaise longue dejectedly.
When the maid finished her instructions and came back to see Li's expression, she immediately comforted her, "Madam, your son-in-law is concerned about the people, which is a good thing. There are so many people out there whose husbands are just good-for-nothings, and they envy you more than anything else."
Caressing her belly, Li still felt uneasy, thinking that the first pregnancy was just a routine matter, and the second pregnancy was because he was considerate to her after he came back from the northern border, allowing her to experience the pleasure of the boudoir.
But she always felt uneasy, especially today when he left without looking back, making her feel that his previous tenderness seemed to be an attempt to escape from something.
The journey took more than two months, and Cui Junji lost four horses to running. It took him more than twenty days to reach the destination.
The guards reported that the fire burned for three days and three nights before it was extinguished. When Cui Junji entered the city, it was even more serious than he had imagined.
The entire city was saturated with a charred stench, as if all life had been burned away, leaving only the scent of death. He walked forward through the thick ash, his feet making a slight, unpleasant crunch, as if he were stepping over the crushed bones of countless people. With each step, the ash flew up, staining his trouser legs and floating in the air, like a gray ghost swirling around him.
In the past, there were lush green vegetation and fertile fields surrounding the city, but a fire destroyed years of hard work.
On top of the city wall, the originally solid stone walls had been smoked black as charcoal, and huge cracks were opened like hideous wounds, as if silently screaming in pain.
The tattered spirit-calling banners fluttered helplessly in the wind, ripped by the increasingly bitter wind after the Cold Dew Festival, emitting a whimpering sound. The wind swept up paper money and ashes, like countless black butterflies, fluttering and falling powerlessly on the ruins.
The once prosperous streets are now reduced to ruins, and the once vibrant wooden pillars are charred and twisted, stubbornly stabbing at the equally lifeless sky.
Accidentally stepping on a hard object, Cui Junji bent down to push away the thick ashes, only to discover a suit of armor that had been burned out of shape. There was a deep dent on the chest, and several copper coins were melted onto the breastplate, resembling solidified tears - that was the last armor of a guard. He probably did not remove the breastplate until the last moment of his life, and the copper coins melted into it, like the salary he was unable to spend until his death, or his humble greed, all permanently sealed in the armor by the raging fire, becoming a silent and burning mystery in the ashes.
Cui Junji didn't dare delay even a moment. He grabbed a soldier who was repairing the building and asked, "Where are Lord Shen and his wife?"
The soldier's eyes were filled with death. He pointed eastward, toward the huge old locust tree at the city gate, which had been burned to its charred bones, stretching towards the sky in despair. Cui Junji didn't dare to stop and ran eastward.
A few crows landed on the dead branches, croaking hoarsely. From time to time, they jumped closer and pecked at the charred, empty eye sockets with their hard beaks. They pecked silently. In this world, they were the only ones still chewing and moving in the dead ashes.
Regardless of his fatigue, Cui Junji walked through countless charred corpses and charcoal. Suddenly, a faint but clear baby cry suddenly pierced the silence, as if coming from a corner that was still burning.
Cui Junji's heart suddenly tightened, but before he could make out, the crying sound suddenly stopped, as if it had been strangled by an invisible hand.
The surroundings fell back into a suffocating silence, the only sound being the wind, whimpering through the holes in the shattered walls, like countless ghosts drifting and humming among the ruins. Crows started and took flight, the flapping of their wings like a tear in the curtain of silence, which then closed again, leaving no trace of the depths.
What etiquette, what rules. In the face of life and death, Cui Junji shouted: "Shen Zijie! Wen Youqing!"
His ankles sank deep into the ash, and his steps were heavy and slow. Behind him, the shattered walls gradually blurred into a vast, silent silhouette in the twilight, like a shocking scar on the earth. Beneath the ruins, countless eyes, still awake, seemed to peer through the layers of ash, gazing at this desolate world where no soul could be summoned.
That last hopeless cry weighed even more heavily on his heart than the scorched earth. He thought he had no feelings for this place, and he thought he had no feelings for that person either.
Just when he was in despair, he heard a voice saying, "Here."
Following the direction of the sound, Cui Junji pushed aside the charred wood and saw an intact temple.
The man guarding the door was disheveled, but he recognized Wen Youqing at a glance.
"Just take care of yourself, I won't say anything else." It's been a month since I last saw her. Wen Youqing was so thin that her cheeks were sunken. She was standing in front of the porch of the maternity and children's hospital. Her clothes were dusty and smelled of burnt food.
The wind and sand were so strong that a drop of water fell from the sky. The drop of water quickly disappeared into the black ash on the ground, as if it had never appeared.
Cui Junji ran over quickly, took off his cloak, and wrapped Wen Youqing tightly. He angrily pulled her into the temple: "You just gave birth, why are you staying in such a cold place? Come inside quickly."
As soon as they pushed open the broken door, hundreds of eyes were looking at them quietly. Wen Youqing snatched the bag from his shoulder, handed it to Sishi, and then closed the door again.
As soon as the door closed, Wen Youqing shook his hand away, her eyes bloodshot as she whispered, "All the living women and children in the city are here. There's water all around, so the fire can't get here."
The bodies of his men were rubbing against him, and the coldness of their hands could be felt through his cold clothes. Cui Junji's eyes still reddened: "I will take care of them, but you have to take care of yourself first."
"More than two thousand people were burned to death in their homes just after the Chinese New Year! Some were choked to death in the fire for the food they had just harvested. How could I sleep? How could I possibly take care of myself first? Do you know that there were people screaming that day? They couldn't get out and were burned to death in their own homes. Do you know those people were burned and stuck to the ground and couldn't be pulled out? Do you know how many people froze to death in those days?" The inner courtyard was full of surviving women and children. Wen Youqing didn't dare to speak loudly, but ten fingers pierced into his arms like rakes, causing him to feel a sharp pain in his heart.
"I don't believe it's a natural disaster." After venting his anger, Wen Youqing calmed down and stared coldly at Cui Junji. "Why did you come so quickly? What do you know?"
Prime Minister Wang's words that day were like nails stuck in his tongue, preventing him from speaking.
It was just a moment of hesitation. What was there for Wen Youqing to understand? A piercing chill instantly froze her limbs, overpowering even the residual heat around her. Her gaze fixed on Cui Junji, then swept over the heavily armed private soldiers, raised by aristocratic families, standing beside him. Seeing their cold and isolated postures, a terrifying, venomous thought, like a venomous snake, uncontrollably entered her mind and instantly seized her heart—it was him! It had to be him!
Only aristocratic families have the motivation and ability to turn Xunyang into a scorched earth overnight!
Only they need such an "accidental" fire to cleanse everything that Shen Zijie has painstakingly built, so that they can re-place their minions!
Rage, like volcanic lava, crashed through the dam of reason. The exhaustion of days, the near-death experience during childbirth, the tragic sight of the midwife perishing in the flames, the suffering endured by countless citizens of Xunyang City... all the grief, despair, and unwillingness found the most direct outlet at this moment, transforming into a raging hatred!
Like a leopard, she guarded her people and territory, growling softly, "Get out! If you truly feel guilty, leave your food and supplies behind and have someone send more money and provisions! Get out of here!"
Seeing Wen Youqing's furious expression, Cui Junji knew that if he really left, the accusation would be confirmed. He immediately said, "I know who did it, but it wasn't me. Believe me."
"Why should you trust me? Cui Junji, you have no credibility with me anymore." Wen Youqing just stared at him coldly. After a while, she sat back down at the doorway of the dilapidated temple, her bony hands pulling out her broadsword and holding it across the doorway. As if she would swing her sword if Cui Junji dared to step forward the next moment.
"Go away! Don't let me see you again."
Cui Junji's body shook violently, as if struck by an invisible hammer. If before it had been merely disgust, now it was complete hatred.
He simply stood there, his gaze fixed on Wen Youqing's face, which was completely twisted by hatred. Deep within those deep eyes, a complex light surged—astonishment, hurt, and unbelievable pain. Ultimately, it turned into a bottomless, heavy silence.
Cui Junji's tightly pursed thin lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, his Adam's apple rolled with difficulty, but in the end he didn't utter a word.
All the excuses, all the truths, were like heavy lead blocks, stuck deep in the throat by the tragic price represented by the overwhelming hatred.
He simply closed his eyes slowly, extremely slowly. When he opened them again, only a kind of almost sad calm remained.
He looked deeply, deeply at Wen Youqing's heavy eyes, as if he wanted to carve this desperate scene into his soul.
"Madam, take care." Then, Cui Junji turned around abruptly, no longer looking at anyone, and resolutely, like a moth to a flame, plunged into the all-consuming, purgatory-like ruins behind him. The figure in the deep purple brocade robe was instantly swallowed up by the rolling smoke and dust.
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