Chapter 101 He Won't Fall
Canghan Pass is the only way from Central Plains to Tingzhou.
In the winter of the fourth to fifth year of the Yongjia period, the Xue family army held Tingzhou in the midst of heavy wind and snow, preventing the Hu people from entering Canghan Pass.
Inside the pass, Wei Fu slowly came with reinforcements and food. Seeing that the Xue family army was forced into a desperate situation and more than half of their troops were lost, the reinforcements finally broke through the pass and drove back the exhausted Hu people.
Fourteen-year-old Xue Yucheng held the body of his brother Xue Yuzhuo, looked up at Wei Fu and cried:
"General Wei, if it were a little earlier, just a little bit earlier, my brother would..."
Wei Fu looked at the bloody body in Xue Yucheng's arms. His hands and feet were cold, and even the blood on his back seemed to be frozen.
The young general who had promised to protect the people of Dayu was stabbed nine times, his blood freezing to ice at the wounds. He supported himself with a long sword pierced through the mud and blood, his eyes wide open as he died.
Over the next decade or so, Wei Fu saw the deceased Xue Ming, Xue Feng, and Xue Yuzhuo in his dreams many times, standing in the wind and sand of Tingzhou, looking at him and asking:
"Why didn't you come earlier, earlier..."
Wei Fu and Xue Yucheng together drove the tired and exhausted Hu people out of Dayu.
Wei Fu won the battle and returned to the capital to report in a dejected mood.
The emperor was very pleased and praised him for his good work. He even praised the timely arrival of the reinforcements in front of his ministers.
He Tingfang looked at him sarcastically with a disdainful smile.
When the emperor wanted to promote Wei Fu, Wei Fu took the initiative to resign and return home.
When he proposed to resign, the emperor looked at him coldly:
"So it's so difficult for General Wei to be loyal to me. If that's the case, I won't force him."
Wei Fu took off his armor, sold his house in the capital, and returned to his hometown in Shannan Road with his family.
But he was chased several times on the road.
His wife, eldest son, eldest daughter-in-law, second son, daughter, eldest grandson and second grandson all died on the way, leaving only the youngest grandson.
Wei Fu disguised himself and took his grandson with him, changing his route. Instead of returning to Shannan Road, he went to Qianzhong Road. From then on, he and his grandson depended on each other in the barbarian land.
There is cause and effect in the world.
He felt that this was retribution from God.
It was retribution for watching so many lives being sacrificed.
But his grandson is innocent, and he wants to survive with his grandson.
After living in Qianzhong for more than ten years, the people were living in poverty and rioting, so they fled to Heifei Mountain.
Since going to the Black Bandit Mountain, my grandson Ah Qi's physical and mental condition has been getting better and better, and he even sleeps more peacefully.
When he learned that Shan Shang wanted to forge weapons, he hesitated for a long time, but still wanted to repay the village and contribute, so he drew the blueprint based on his memory.
However, he didn't expect that after he walked into the iron workshop with the blueprint, he guessed Xue Che's identity.
What the little girl Su Zhizhi said is right. When people get older, even if they have a bad memory, they will still remember the past.
When he saw the jade on Xue Che's chest, all the scenes from many years ago intertwined before his eyes...
When Wei Dashuan opened his eyes, it was almost dark.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw two or three flickering stars hanging in the sky outside the window, which was not yet dark.
The whole world is as quiet as a deep blue lake at nightfall.
He sat up from the bed and saw Xue Che sitting at the desk a few steps away, reading a book by an oil lamp.
It was a small figure, looking very focused on reading a book.
Wei Dashuan thought back and felt that the Xue family, for generations, seemed to be very serious people who focused on everything they did and moved forward courageously.
He saw a piece of jade hanging rope sticking out from the back of Xue Che's neck, and then looked at the back of the child's head. He looked a bit like Xue Feng when he was a child.
He had never noticed it before, but now he feels that it looks similar no matter how he looks at it.
Wei Dashuan wanted to open his mouth to say something, but found his throat was dry and sore.
"Grandpa Wei, are you awake?"
Xue Che heard the noise and poured a bowl of hot tea from the teapot on the stove at his feet and handed it over.
"Grandpa Wei, drink some water first."
Wei Dashuan took the bowl and drank the tea in big gulps.
He has been like this since he was young. He doesn't know how to taste tea or wine. He just drinks when he is thirsty.
After drinking the water, I felt that my dry and sore throat was much better and I felt calmer.
Wei Dashuan looked at the child in front of him and saw that his eyes were clear and bright, without any trace of wind, frost or blood.
He didn't know why Xue Che had ended up in this mountain, but recalling his observations over the past few days, he was sure that Xue Che was safe here.
Except for Village Chief Hao, no one on the mountain should know Xue Che's identity, and Wei Dashuan did not intend to reveal it.
Wei Dashuan: "Ache, where am I?"
Xue Che: "You vomited blood and fainted, and the villagers sent you to Doctor Yu."
Wei Dashuan propped himself up and got out of bed.
Xue Che's eyes swept across the exposed skin of Wei Dashuan's ankles:
"Doctor Yu said you fought against the Hu people."
Wei Dashuan paused for a moment, then looked at Xue Che and said:
"Yes, I fought against the Hu people in the northwest before, and I fought alongside Xue Mingdu. Today, when I went to see Village Chief Hao with the weapons drawings, I suddenly remembered the war and felt a little unwell. I'm sorry to have caused you trouble."
Xue Ming? Xue Che's eyes widened.
That was the name of his great-grandfather, which he had only seen on the tablet in the ancestral hall.
Wei Dashuan gave Xue Che a loving smile, like a grandfather looking at his grandson:
"If you're interested, I'll tell you about the war in the northwest later."
Xue Che nodded, of course he was interested.
Wei Dashuan stood up and said as he was about to reach the door:
"The sword that Master Wu Ya made for you is too heavy. I'll make you a wooden sword when I have time these days. You can change it to an iron sword when you're older."
"Thank you, Grandpa Wei." Xue Che felt that after Grandpa Wei woke up, his attitude towards him became very friendly.
"Grandpa! Grandpa!" Wei Qi ran in from outside and hugged his grandfather nervously, "Grandpa, how are you?"
Wei Qi came back from work in the ink workshop, his body still covered in cigarette ash.
He heard that his grandfather had fainted during the day, so he rushed to see him, but his grandfather had not woken up yet. Doctor Yu said that it was not serious and asked him to come and pick up his grandfather in the evening.
Wei Qi only has his grandfather as his blood relative, and he is very worried that something might happen to him.
Wei Dashuan patted his grandson, and his eyes wrinkled with smile:
"Aqi, grandpa is fine. He just vomited some blood. He's in good health."
Wei Dashuan and his grandson walked out of Doctor Yu's courtyard.
Wei Qi insisted on carrying Wei Dashuan on his back: "Grandpa, I'll carry you."
Wei Dashuan couldn't overcome his grandson's stubborn temper, so he had to let his grandson carry him on his back.
Wei Dashuan lay on his grandson's back, and only then did he realize that the grandson he had raised with his arms in his arms now had broad and powerful shoulders and a strong body.
"It's been the eighth year of Zhaoqing. Ah Qi, you are seventeen now." Wei Dashuan hugged his grandson's shoulders.
Wei Qi has grown up, but he still looks like a child in front of his grandfather.
He complained angrily behind his grandfather's back:
"Grandpa, you scared me to death. Why did you faint when you were fine? Did you eat some poisonous wild fruit because you were greedy? There is enough food in the village now. Grandpa, please stop looking for food..."
The night was overhead, but it was not dark at all.
A big, round moon rose, illuminating the entire hillside.
The shadows of the grandfather and grandson overlapped, with a bulge on the back of the shadow, like the shadow of an upright turtle.
Wei Dashuan recalled that more than ten years ago, he escaped at night carrying his grandson on his back in this way.
Carrying the sleeping grandson on his back, he also carries a lot of sins.
Wei Qi was still mumbling:
"Grandpa, I thought you..."
Wei Dashuan smiled and tapped Wei Qi on the back of his head:
"Don't worry, Ah Qi, Grandpa won't die yet."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh! Don't say this word..." Wei Qi was so anxious that he almost jumped up.
"Okay, I won't say anymore." Wei Dashuan stopped talking and just looked at the shadow on the ground.
The watery moonlight soaked the wrinkles on his face, and his whole face was wet.
He originally thought that after escaping to the Black Bandit Mountain, his retribution was finally over.
But today he finally understood——
He escaped death time and time again, not because of God's favor, but because he had unfinished business and unredeemed sins in the world.
The cycle of cause and effect has not ended yet.
Until then, he won't fall.
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