Even after the Spring Festival, the border town was still very cold, a biting cold. The carriage was warmed by the heater, and the little dumpling who used to stick her little feet up and ask her sisters to dress her was still the same, leaning against the carriage without sitting up straight.
"How old are you? Why are you still like this?"
The incense burner was filled with more spices by the burning moth, and the faint peony fragrance made Huo Xiaolong feel a little ethereal.
“In your presence, I will never grow up,” Huo Xiaolong said.
The border town is far from the capital, and you all have to take a detour. Today it's the young girl's turn to accompany Fen'e in the carriage, but the woman is still unwilling to go out, just like before.
When they passed a village, Fen'e, unusually, got out of the car and looked towards the village entrance.
The bare trees were covered in silver, and there was still some snow on the rooftops, but for some reason, the village gave people a somewhat uncomfortable feeling.
"Sis, why did you get off the bus? Do you have relatives here? Do you want to go back and check on them?" Huo Xiaolong poked his head out and asked.
Burning moth shook its head, its eyes filled with sorrow, a mixture of nostalgia and grief.
"No, I'll just come down and take a look. Don't delay our Long'er's trip to the capital to report on his duties."
"It's okay, sis. If you want to stay for a few days, that's fine too. There's still time."
The girl turned around, finding the village strange no matter how she looked at it, when she heard Fen'e say...
"No, let's go quickly."
Huo Xiaolong didn't force her. He wanted to get out of the car and help Fen'e up, but the woman suddenly bent down, covered her mouth with a handkerchief, and coughed a few times.
The pink silk cloth was removed from the lips, revealing a crimson blood-red stain.
"sister?"
Fen'e didn't know what was wrong with her. She wanted to grab Huo Xiaolong's sleeve and say that she was fine, but before she could say anything, she fainted.
"Hou Xiangxiang! Help!"
The girl in white ran quickly, carrying a medicine box on her back. Her fingers touched the pulse. The little girl frowned and said to Huo Xiaolong...
"Why the sudden rush of anger? Did you anger Sister Moth to death?"
"I didn't. Look at me, I've never been more magnanimous than any older sister since I was little."
Hou Xiangxiang nodded and said
“Indeed, but Sister Fen’e is not in a good condition to travel right now. Judging from the weather, it looks like it will snow again tonight. Let’s stay here for a couple of days.”
Suddenly, dark clouds filled the sky, as if they could press down at any moment.
"Okay, but I don't know why, I just feel uncomfortable staying here."
"Then why don't you ask Li Jian's grandfather?"
This time when she went to the capital, Li Jian brought her grandfather along. The young woman wouldn't feel at ease if she didn't keep the old man by her side, fearing he might be secretly drinking at home.
"She should be alright, Sister Fen'e is the priority."
The young maids knocked on the village chief's door. When the snow-white silver was placed on the table, the old village chief's eyes widened. He began to speak.
"Stay! I guarantee I'll find you some of the best houses in the village, and I'll make sure they're all vacant for you. Don't worry."
Huo Xiaolong and his entourage were very conspicuous. From the moment they entered the village, every house was closed and the villagers dared not leave their rooms, for fear of offending the powerful and influential.
When they carried Sister Fen'e onto the kang (a heated brick bed), the girl felt that someone was watching them from outside the door. She looked sharply towards the door, but there was no one there.
“Little Grass,” Huo Xiaolong called out.
"Your Highness." Xiao Cao, dressed in full armor, approached Long Er and clasped her hands in greeting.
"Go and see if there's anything strange about this village, and also find out who was that person outside the door just now."
"yes."
The village chief's wife, an elderly woman over fifty, came to bring them some rice and flour. The woman placed the items at the door and said...
"You can stay here. If you need anything, just send someone over and let me know. Um... there's also..."
"What's wrong? Speak." Huo Xiaolong sat on the stool, his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the woman, his face cold.
"It would be best if you, esteemed guest, did not go to the back mountain. The back mountain of our village is not safe."
"Not peaceful? How so?"
"They're just making a fuss about all sorts of trivial things."
Watching the woman's departing figure, the girl frowned, feeling even more curious.
The whole village was shrouded in an air of strangeness, but the white-bearded old man with the sharp sword casually lay down on his bed, chuckled at the explanation, and said...
"If you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear."
"Miss Huo, do you understand what I mean?"
The girl nodded.
The moths inside the house were not feeling well; even when they fainted, their dreams were nightmares.
"Mother, I'll go. Please don't let my sister go. Please, Mother, please."
The woman held a bundle beside her with one hand, while waving the other hand wildly in the air, constantly calling out "Mother."
Helpless, Huo Xiaolong had no choice but to call Cen's mother over.
The woman with phoenix eyes, dressed in black, sat beside Fen'e and took her hand, saying...
"Mom's here, oh, it's all over now, whatever happened is in the past."
The woman's hands were icy cold, so Cen Ang used his inner strength to warm them up, and Fen'e slowly opened her eyes.
"My son, what's wrong?"
"mom."
Cen Ang knew the past of every girl in his building, but he didn't know Fen E's. That girl rarely went out, but luckily she was good at making incense.
"Shall we go?"
"You haven't been able to walk these past few days. Tell your mother, what's wrong?"
“Yes, sister, go ahead and tell me. I’m the Prince of Zhenbei now, there’s nothing that can scare you.” Huo Xiaolong said, sitting on her other side and holding her other hand.
Fen'e sighed deeply, looking at the goose-feather snowflakes falling slowly outside, the occasional biting and fierce howling winds making her somewhat afraid.
"This is where I grew up."
"It's my hell too."
"Everyone in this village is a murderer."
Her tone was as still as a stagnant pool as she pointed towards the back mountain.
“They’re all there, all of them are there.”
"Long'er, Mom, they want me to come back. They want me to come back and get justice for them."
Without explaining the reason, Fen'e couldn't hold back her emotions and burst into tears.
Cen Ang and Huo Xiaolong both understood and embraced her, letting her tears soak their clothes.
The two did not ask any further questions. Zhang's mother prepared a meal for everyone, and specially saved a portion for Fen'e, just so she could eat after crying. Whether she continued to cry or recuperate, she would not have the strength if she did not eat.
"Your Highness," Xiaocao said, striding into the room with a worried expression.
"explain."
"The woman watching the girl at the door was an old woman, about the same age as the village chief's wife, and then I went back to her house with her."
"Then what?"
"Then……"
The little grass looked at the burning moth, and seemed to want to go out and tell it.
"And then they wanted to nail me to a coffin, didn't they?"
"Did that woman say that their family's poor harvests over the years are because of me?"
The woman put down her bowl, her face full of self-mockery, her eyes, which were still red and swollen from crying, welled up with tears again.
"This mountain, this village, everyone in it deserves to die!"
"They all deserve to die, including myself."
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