Chapter 176: The Soul Of A Soldier Is Lost, And The Soul Of A Country Is Empty.
Xiao YuAn, in order to clean off the blood on his body, spent almost an hour soaking in the bath. Only then could Xiao YuAn press all his emotions back inside his heart, completely calming down. After he changed into dry and clean clothes, he went back to his bedchamber.
However, after a wave that had not yet subsided, another wave started again.
Xiao YuAn had just stood still when a maidservant suddenly came to report in a hurry: “Xiao-gongzi, Xiao-gongzi! Something terrible happened, Xie-gongzi ran out of the Palace by himself!”
Early this morning, Xie Chungui woke up and suddenly began to mumble something about the Xie family to himself. Then he was desperate to get out of the Palace, but the Imperial Bodyguards didn’t let him leave. He was just like a child, sitting on the ground, and crying out loud. When the Imperial Guards saw that he was a fool, they wanted to report this issue first, and then take action. But as soon as they stopped paying attention to him, Xie Chungui calmed down, climbed the wall, and escaped!!
“Those Imperial Guards are too careless!!” Xiao YuAn was extremely angry and amused at the same time. “Although Xie Chungui is very skillful, he’s still one person. Aren’t they able to stop him?!”
“Xiao-gongzi, that’s because His Majesty has given the order that you two can’t be hurt. Every order must be followed obediently!!” The maid replied. “Xiao-gongzi, what should we do?”
Xiao YuAn: “Don’t worry, I think I know where he went.”
Xie Chungui was walking down the street in a daze. He still didn’t understand what had happened to him, but earlier today, when he was eating his meal, the maid had served him a dish of exquisite delicacies. As she smiled, she explained: “Xie-gongzi, this dish is unique to our Southern Yan Kingdom. Please try it.”
Suddenly, Xie Chungui’s heart was filled with depression. The appetizing dish in front of him was slowly covered in blood, staining the entire wooden table with a horribly bright red color. Xie Chungui fiercely overturned the table and hurriedly stood up in a panic, raising his head only to observe how the sky turned into a solid golden net, pressing straight down at him. As the words ‘Southern Yan Kingdom’ echoed in Xie Chungui’s ears like a vicious curse, he hurriedly covered his ears and desperately ran away as fast as he could.
When he came back to his senses, he was already walking on the main street of the Imperial City.
All around, there was a bustling crowd of people. The sounds of shouting, selling and bargaining were mixed together, forming a scene of prosperity and harmony. There were stalls cooking noodles and wontons on the roadside. As soon as the lid was lifted, the white mist immediately blurred the whole Imperial City. The tragedy of the country being conquered three years ago, seemed to have been swallowed by the people together with the fragrance of wontons.
Xie Chungui stood frozen in place, thinking: ‘Where’s this? What was I going to do?’
‘Right, my name is Xie Chungui. But, where am I?’
Xie Chungui looked left and right, when suddenly, he was surprised to recognize something from his memories upon seeing the corner of the street. ‘The same blue stone slabs, the same corner alley.’
‘Here, it looks like my old home; and this place looks like my country.’
A strong sense of familiarity slowly poured into Xie Chungui’s mind, along with an inexplicable joy. Xie Chungui refused to let go of this feeling, and went to that corner to observe things more carefully.
‘Isn’t that store selling my favorite sweet-scented osmanthus cake?’
‘Isn’t that the clearing where I used to play as a child?’
‘The accent of those people yelling, isn’t it the same one I used to hear when I was young?’
‘This place is my country! This place is my home!’
Xie Chungui suddenly became excited as he ran towards the familiar place that lived in his memory. As he rushed through the street, he accidentally bumped into someone.
That man exclaimed an ‘ouch’ as he fell. After he stood up, and was getting ready to blame that person, as soon as his eyes fell on Xie Chungui’s face, he was extremely stunned. As he pointed at Xie Chungui with a trembling finger, he was unable to utter a complete sentence: “The youngest son of the Xie family? You, you, you… how? We all, all thought that you were killed on the battlefield. You, you, you….”
‘The youngest son of the Xie family?’
After hearing those words, Xie Chungui suddenly remembered the reason why he wanted to come here, after hearing Xiao YuAn say that he’ll go to the North that day.
‘That’s right. I wanted to go back home, to see it again!’
Then, the man pulled Xie Chungui up, and said with emotion: “It’s good that you’re alive! It’s good that you’re alive! At least, the Xie family’s line wasn’t erased. Second son of the Xie family, are you in a hurry to go back to worship?”
After hearing the man’s words, Xie Chungui repeated the last words feeling very puzzled: “….. Worship?”
“Yes, on the day when the country was conquered, more than 20 members of the Xie family died together. Your house was filled with too much blood and the resentful energy was too deep. Although it was located in the Imperial City, no one has dared to move in there, so it’s been empty for the past three years! Speaking of which, where have you been in the past three years, since the Southern Yan Kingdom conquered the Northern Kingdom?”
‘The Southern Yan Kingdom conquered the Northern Kingdom?’
‘The Northern Kingdom was conquered?’
‘Conquered?’
Suddenly, a thousand iron needles were ruthlessly twisted inside Xie Chungui’s body, relentlessly grinding his head and limbs. The pain he felt was so strong, that it was like torture. Something was repeatedly being torn apart inside the depths of his memory, on the verge of coming out into the open.
XCG breaks my heaaaart 💔💔💔💔（┬┬＿┬┬）
Since I know that some people might want to read the angst arc in one go, instead of having to wait for the updates and suffer, you can accumulate chapters
Spoiler
177 to 196 (approx)
[collapse]
Comments