Chapter 418 Screen
The Nan Kingdom fought for several years. While the war destroyed people's livelihood, it also nurtured a group of unscrupulous businessmen who profited from the national disaster.
The armor, weapons and other equipment of the national army were all well-made and expensive, so many people set their sights on the post-war wreckage.
They stripped the armor from the soldiers who died fighting for their country, and pried open the fingers of the soldiers who held their swords tightly until their death, and took away the swords.
The war debris retrieved was either resold or melted into new objects and sold.
The imperial court would sentence to death these unscrupulous and immoral traffickers once they were caught.
However, people die for money and birds die for food. Despite the huge temptation of money, many people still take risks and start selling war debris on the black market.
Yun Chen stared at Yan Shijiu's armor.
She thought that every scar on it was left when he led the Northern Expedition Army in a desperate battle with Luojiang.
Only the broken armor is still there, but its owner is no longer alive. He has been left in Luojiang forever in the most sincere and tragic way.
Recalling Yan Shijiu's heroic appearance when he wore this armor, Yun Chen's mind reappeared the scene of his final death.
It must have been extremely painful when such a sharp and cold blade pierced his chest from her hand...
Yun Chen's eyes were slightly moist. Without saying a word, he took out the money and bought the armor, but his eyes glanced at the stall next to him.
Yan Shijiu's armor belt was actually there. She hurried over to buy it.
Then I saw Yan Shijiu's sword, badge, and even folding fan... scattered on various stalls.
Yun Chen went over and bought them one by one, holding them tightly in his arms, tears welling up in his eyes, almost blurring his vision.
For Yun Chen, Yan Shijiu is neither her lover nor her brother who has been through thick and thin with her, but he is one of the few and purest friends around her without any conflicts of interest.
She felt bad, and as she walked forward, she kept muttering to herself, "Yan Shijiu, if there is an afterlife and we can meet again, I will definitely repay you double, treat you well, and never beat you again. I promise."
As she spoke, tears were about to fall. She raised her hand to wipe them away, and then she realized that she had unknowingly reached the deepest part of the black market while collecting and buying back Yan Shijiu's relics.
Seeing that Fu Lin hadn't caught up, Yun Chen was about to turn around to look for him, but a tall, thin, masked vendor nearby stopped her with a smile:
"Sir, you're holding all these bloody and sinister things from the battlefield. It's clear you have unique hobbies. I have some wonderful and rare things here. Would you like to come in and take a look?"
Yun Chen followed the masked vendor's inviting gesture and saw a large, tattered tent standing not far away.
Other people display their goods in the most conspicuous places, but this person surrounds the goods with a tent. It must be something extremely mysterious.
"Do you have an old silver medicine jar?" Yun Chen asked.
The masked vendor said no, and she immediately turned and left. She was not interested in what was in the tent.
The masked vendor stopped her again, smiling rather mysteriously:
"The things in here are much better than those old silver medicine jars. If you buy them and put them in your home, they will be both luxurious and beautiful. If you have guests, you can pull them out and show them off. It will make you look so noble. Take a look, I guarantee you'll like them. And it's free to see them."
The masked vendor tried hard to invite Yun Chen into the tent, and even started to pull him.
Yun Chen was holding a bunch of Yan Shijiu's belongings in his arms. When he was pulled, the "Yan" badge in his arms rolled out and rolled into the broken tent as if guided by ghosts and gods.
Yun Chen followed her into the tent. When she went to pick up the badge, she saw a huge screen in front of her.
The dim candlelight illuminated the embroidered screen, weaving a pattern of a small pond and green willows.
A thin man wearing a conical hat, black clothes, a black scarf covering his face, holding a black wooden sword, stands leaning against a willow tree with a killer posture;
The other one had a handsome and cold face, with his white upper body naked and only a white towel draped over his lower body. He held pure white Bodhi Buddhist beads in his hand, with his eyes slightly closed, as if he was meditating by the pool.
This painting of two men walking on a willow tree is lifelike, with one figure being black and the other white, one with murderous intent and the other with compassion.
The light and dark stitches are delicately interwoven, the depictions are lifelike, and the figures are woven and embroidered in actual size proportions.
It looks like two living people sitting behind the screen, so beautiful.
Yun Chen was amazed in his heart, thinking that it was worthy of being a black market, with all kinds of rare things. Then he picked up Yan Shijiu's badge, placed it in the palm of his hand lovingly, and blew off the dust on it.
Unexpectedly, just as she put the things in her arms and was about to leave, the screen coughed as if it was choked by dust.
“Ahem…”
The sound was very light and small, but it definitely came from the screen!
Yun Chen was stunned, thinking he was hallucinating.
She slowly approached the screen and looked at the man meditating by the pool face to face.
As I watched, I couldn't help but think:
This embroidery is amazing. Look at her, so fair and handsome, with distinct eyelashes, just like a living person. She looks like Yan Shijiu, so similar...
She wanted to buy the screen as a souvenir and couldn't help but stretch out her fingers to touch the eyelashes.
Just when her fingers were about to touch her eyelashes, the man on the screen suddenly opened his bright dark eyes.
“Ah—he can move!!!”
Yun Chen screamed in fear, stepped back repeatedly, and fell to the ground.
The masked vendor rushed into the tent upon hearing the noise, and without saying a word, he picked up the horsewhip and hit the man on the screen hard.
The man behind the screen didn't move, but Yun Chen could clearly hear the sound of the whip hitting his flesh again and again.
One of the whips hit the man's face, leaving a red mark immediately.
Yun Chen was completely stunned, shocked and frightened. He pointed at the screen with shaking hands and stammered:
"What the hell is this?"
The masked vendor had had enough, so he put away his whip and said with a smile:
"Don't be afraid, young master. This is a flesh screen. These two figures are embroidered with the silk thread on the screen. The gold and silver threads are twisted into strands, threaded through the various acupuncture points on their bodies, and then woven into the pattern of the willow trees in the pond. If you buy it, all you need to do is keep them alive with secret medicine from the West and feed them a few sips of clean water every day. They should last for three years. Don't worry, I have trained them well. I guarantee they won't move or make a sound all day. If you put them in your home, they will look like a real screen. If they don't obey, feel free to whip them."
Yun Chen was stunned, and it took him a long time to understand the meaning of these words.
The two men on the screen are not fake, they are real people?
Are they two fucking living people?
Embroidered together with the screen? Force them to maintain this posture from morning till night, without moving a muscle?
Can it last three years? Kill it after three years? Replace it with a new one? Or is it so abused that it won't last more than three years?
Yun Chen's brain was buzzing.
Is it possible for a human to come up with such a cruel and inhumane idea?
Then she finally realized that the man on the screen was not embroidered, but a living person, so -
Her pupils trembled as she looked at the face of the man meditating by the pool on the screen.
In the dim light, she once again looked into those eyes that were as bright as stars, but sad and helpless.
It seemed like a lifetime had passed before Yun Chen finally called out that name:
"Yan... Nineteen?"
The man on the screen didn't say a word, his eyes didn't even waver. But the thin man next to him, who looked like a killer, spoke with a weak voice from behind the black scarf covering his face:
"General Yun...save us..."
Yun Chen's eyes suddenly widened, and he was so frightened that his soul almost left his body. He shuddered violently before coming to his senses. Then he turned over and kicked the masked vendor away.
The vendor was kicked and hit the tent pillar. With a loud "bang", the entire tent was smashed to pieces.
Yun Chen rushed over and dragged the screen out. When she reached a place with brighter lights, she found that it was just as the masked vendor said.
The silk threads of the screen all passed through Wan Chen and Yan Shijiu's limbs, torsos, and various acupuncture points, and were embroidered together with the entire screen seamlessly.
Yun Chen's scalp tingled as he watched. He pulled out the dagger he carried with him, but he didn't know where to start first.
It was still Wan Chen's weak voice that reminded:
"General Yun, cut all the silk threads first and take us away from here..."
As he was speaking, the masked vendor who was kicked down climbed up, lay on the ground and spit out several mouthfuls of blood, cursed his mother, and immediately picked up the machete on the ground and slashed towards Yun Chen.
The other vendors around, some of whom were familiar with the masked vendor, also rushed forward with their swords raised.
Yun Chen dodged left and right, quickly counterattacked, and during the break in the fight, he cut the silk threads on Wan Chen's hands and threw a knife to him.
Soon, Wan Chen and Yan Shijiu escaped from behind the screen.
While fighting, Yun Chen shouted at the two to run quickly, but he saw Wan Chen just standing there with his legs shaking, obviously extremely weak.
Yan Shijiu couldn't even stand up. His limbs were as soft as noodles, hanging on his body and dangling, and he was completely unable to move.
At this moment, the surprise of meeting Yan Shijiu again and the curiosity to ask him how he survived were all overshadowed by the anger at how they were abused like this.
Yun Chen yelled "Fu Lin!! Come!!!" and directly drew out the sword that was Yan Shijiu's "relic" that he had just bought, and began to kill the people around him fiercely.
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