Chapter 118 Death is like the extinguishing of a light
In this battle between Huo and Yu, the Huo Gang paid a huge price and sacrificed two of their personal guards in exchange for a brief period of "peace".
The hat of "treason" is still on Huo Bang's head, and whether he is guilty or not depends entirely on Yu Yangji's decision.
If you give in a step, you will give in step by step.
The halls were ceded one after another, and the annual profits were reduced by 10% after 10%.
Even the common people on the streets said that even a lion will fall one day, and the Huo Gang might be doomed.
Yu Yangji still specifically asked Yun Chen to be the messenger, responsible for delivering letters regarding subsequent hall transfers and other matters.
Huo Gannian refused to do it no matter what and asked others to do it for him.
Yu Yangji returned the agreement again and again, and the peace talks were stuck halfway and difficult to move forward.
Nan Lijun became increasingly dissatisfied with this and repeatedly sent Song Lan to question him. Huo Gannian only insisted:
"Yun Chen can't go."
Because Huo Gannian knew more about Yu Yangji's immoral and beastly behavior than Xiaoliu, and he also understood what Yu Yangji was thinking in his lustful eyes when he stared at Yun Chen again and again.
He sat in the study of Beiningtang all night.
The pear tree outside the hall has lost its leaves and its branches are covered with frost.
Before dawn the next day, he called Yun Chen over, concealing his tired face, and said to her gently:
"Come for a walk with me."
Not allowing anyone else to follow, the two men rode their horses towards a hill near Egret Island.
We went up the mountain in silence.
When we reached the top of the mountain, the sun had not yet risen.
Looking around, the mountains are dark blue and the autumn wind is howling, which is quite desolate.
Huo Gannian looked at Yun Chen. She was quietly looking at the mountains in the distance. Her smart and clear eyes were now gloomy every day.
The successive deaths of Xun Xun and Xiao Liu hit her hard.
It was already autumn, and everyone was gaining weight. Only Yun Chen became thinner, and his guard uniform was so loose on him.
He frowned slightly and spoke sadly:
"Since I took over as the head of the Huo Gang, thirteen years have passed, and two thousand seven hundred and eighty-two of the Huo Gang's guards have died. The youngest was sixteen, and the oldest was thirty-seven. Others only see the Huo Gang's wealth and power, and how powerful I, Huo Gannian, am. Only I know that these mountains of gold and silver are all stained with blood."
The oldest person Huo Gannian mentioned, who was thirty-seven years old, was referring to Xun Jian.
The seventh day after Xiaoliu's death and the seventh day after Xunhuan's death have passed, but whenever Xunhuan and Xiaoliu are mentioned, Yun Chen still wants to cry. He can't help but feel a pain in his heart and his nose immediately becomes sore.
Huo Gannian said again:
"After becoming the head of the family, for the first two years, I was most afraid of hearing the news of the guards' sacrifice. After every fight, I dreaded counting the casualties. As the young master of the Huo Clan, in charge of all the branches across the country, shouldering the responsibility for the success and failure of the family, I had to harden my heart and be cold. But as soon as I closed my eyes, my mind was filled with the images of people dying one after another."
Yes, Xun Yan and Xiao Liu are Yun Chen’s closest brothers, but the more than 2,000 guards of the Huo Gang who died were also other people’s brothers.
Thinking of this, Yun Chen suddenly realized a chilling problem.
Except for her, Xun Jian and Xiao Liu, all the guards of the Huo Gang are family-born children, descendants of the loyal servants and guards of the Huo Gang, and some are even brothers with the same surname as Huo Gannian, who are not within the five degrees of kinship.
Some of the dead guards had been his childhood playmates, who had accompanied him in robbing bird nests and chasing dogs, and some were good friends who had grown up with him in school.
There were more than 2,000 Xun Kan and Xiao Liu belonging to Huo Gannian.
They died one by one, but their families were still in the Huo Gang clan, and some even continued to serve as slaves and servants in the Huo Gang, loyal and dedicated.
Huo Gannian is reminded every day that their descendants have fought and sacrificed for you.
Yun Chen didn't dare to imagine the tremendous pain and pressure, and it seemed that no one had ever thought about this for Huo Gan.
It only took a slight touch for everything to become clear. Huo Gannian knew that Yun Chen understood the pain he had never told anyone.
Thinking of his own sorrow now, Huo Gannian had swallowed it alone thousands of times. Yun Chen looked at him distressedly and called out with sobs, "Young Master..."
He sighed, "At first, I always tried not to think about those people and those things, but the more I tried not to think about them, the more painful it became. I simply cried my heart out a few times, cried enough, felt sad enough, and then got up and lived a good life, for myself and for them."
She couldn't help crying. He said:
"Yun Chen, have a good cry. Just think of this as your final farewell."
She cried louder and louder, and her whole body was shaking.
She cried out at the top of her lungs into the dark night before dawn:
"Brother Dog——"
"Xiaoliu——"
He shouted over and over again, his heartbroken cries echoing among the wilderness and mountains.
After letting out the sorrow, she took a few deep breaths of the cool autumn breeze and finally felt much calmer.
Huo Gannian didn't shout or cry, but his silent eyes were full of longing. He whispered:
"People say, 'When a person dies, it's like a light goes out,' or 'Death isn't the end, forgetting is.' But I don't think either of those things are true. I believe everything in the world has a spirit; every flower, every blade of grass, every stone, every tree has a soul.
So even if it is slowly forgotten, it does not mean it is truly gone. Because the wind, frost, rain and snow all remember it, the moss you have stepped on remembers it, and the pear tree in front of the hall also remembers who has approached it and smelled its flowers.
As he finished speaking, a streak of gold cut through the darkness.
The sun finally overflowed with its boundless golden soul, bathing the mountains in sunlight and sweeping away the haze.
She raised her face, feeling the increasingly warm sunlight, and murmured:
"Brother Gou, Xiaoliu, all the brothers who sacrificed their lives in the Huo Gang... They have merely left their bodies, left time behind, yet they exist forever within this world... Young Master, just like for mountains and trees, ten thousand years is just one day, right?"
"Yes." He smiled gently.
After a while, the golden sun climbed completely to the top of the mountain, so bright that people could hardly open their eyes.
Unexpectedly, she spoke softly:
"Master, I like you."
He opened his eyes wide in surprise, as if he couldn't believe his ears and wondered if he had heard it wrong.
But she looked at him with clear and firm eyes and repeated:
"I like you."
He just felt his whole body numb, and an indescribable sourness surged in his heart.
I wait and wait, hoping that she will be moved and fall in love with me.
Wait and wait, waiting for her to respond with a firm heart.
Now I finally waited for it, but...
Her cheeks flushed a little, but she said frankly without any hesitation:
"When we were at the waterfall pond, I said that after the matter with the Yu family was over, I would tell the young master something, and that's it. I have never dared to tell you, and I am ashamed to tell you, but..."
But just like Xun Xun and Xiao Liu, they were living people, and they were gone just like that.
She was afraid that if she didn't confess now, she might never have the chance to do so again.
Which comes faster, life or death, only God knows.
Seeing his expression change from surprise and excitement to calmness, and then to silence, she felt a little panicked.
"Young Master, don't you have something to say to me?"
After a long silence, he said calmly:
“It used to exist, but now…it’s gone…”
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