pjbooks Chapter 163
Chapter 163
“I know that my mother and father prefer my sister, so I never ask for anything. I work hard every day, thinking that if I do more, they will do less, so that they won’t have to sell me.”
"But I was wrong from birth, and effort cannot change the outcome."
“Since I am a man, I will be sold in the end no matter what.”
He spoke each sentence in an extremely calm and even voice, as if he truly didn't care at all.
But tears were clearly welling up in his eyes.
Why did she give birth to him if she didn't love him?
It was to pave the way for his sister.
To sell all one's sons for the sake of one's daughter—isn't that another form of cannibalism?
"So what is your wish?"
Jinse smiled, but her eyes always revealed a heavy bitterness, a bitterness like a dark shadow that shrouded her entire damp life, with endless rain and no sunshine.
"I just want to ask them if they love me or not."
He understands everything, but he's trapped. He wants them to say "I don't love you," just one sentence: "They don't love me," and perhaps then he can be freed.
Nalan Jingwen remained silent, but tightened her grip on his hand.
She has never experienced family affection; she asked this question when she was a child.
Why bring her into the world if you don't love her?
Later she realized that they just needed a tool, a tool to gain a foothold in the family.
Both of them were selfish people who never cared about others; their two older brothers were merely tools to them.
They let the three siblings fight to the death, regardless of who won, as they were all the ultimate beneficiaries.
If all three die, then continue to have children, even through adoption. To them, they are nothing more than pawns.
So she stopped dwelling on their love; people can live without love.
Nalan Jing looked at him and asked, "Do you remember where you live?"
Jinse shook her head and said, "They were afraid I would run back, so they blindfolded me, so I don't remember how to get back."
Nalan Jingwen remained silent. If they wanted to find his parents, they could only ask the people from the Heaven and Earth Pavilion to investigate.
She couldn't tell him how to let go; nothing she said would help with this.
The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, and left the city without any hindrance, heading straight for the place where the refugees had gathered the day before.
The further they went, the stronger the stench became. Nalan Jingwen took out a veil and handed it to Jinse.
Jinse took it and put it on obediently, without needing her to say anything.
When Nalan Jing smelled the aroma, his expression darkened.
This is the stench of rotting corpses, indicating that they have been there for a long time and that there are a large number of them, with no one taking any action to deal with them.
As they walked over, they saw many people weeping while holding corpses in their arms, and many children cowering and crying in fear. Everyone was pale and looked weak and sickly.
Nalan Jingwen frowned slightly and said, "Hold my hand tightly and don't let go."
Those people looked lifeless, with no desire to live. Even when they saw Nalan Jingwen, they didn't stir up the slightest ripple.
A few people did come up to her and ask for food.
Nalan Jingwen took out the things he bought from the oil paper package in his hand and distributed some to them. In an instant, many people surrounded him and grabbed them.
She reacted quickly, pulling the person next to her into her arms to prevent him from getting hurt.
"Are you okay?"
Jinse shook her head, "I'm fine."
Nalan Jingwen nodded and told Jinse to wait for her over there. Then he walked over to an old man, squatted down, and handed her a package of food.
The old man stirred, his eyes brightening slightly as he tried to get up to express his gratitude, but he lacked the strength.
"Thank you, miss."
Nalan Jingwen nodded and asked, "I'd like to ask, where are you from?"
"The old woman is from Huai'an Village."
Are all the people here from Huai'an Village?
The old man shook his head and said slowly, "And there are the people from Jing Shui Village. Our two villages are connected."
"Then what are you doing?"
The old man took a breath and said, "A disease suddenly broke out in our village. At first, it only affected a few people, but then more and more people got sick. We found doctors, but they couldn't cure it. Even the doctors got sick."
"Soon everyone in the village fell ill, and because the two villages were connected, the other village also fell."
“No doctor dared to treat us. They would run away as soon as they saw us. We had no other choice but to ask the imperial court to save us. But they didn’t care about us at all and just left us here to fend for ourselves.”
Nalan Jingwen frowned and glanced around. Many people were vomiting and had diarrhea. In just the few minutes since she arrived, many people had already had to go to the toilet repeatedly.
She probably already understood and had a certain idea in her mind.
She checked the old man's pulse, then stood up to examine their vomit and excrement. The feces were yellow and watery, resembling rice water, which confirmed what it was.
Many of the people here died from shock caused by severe dehydration.
She became even more certain of the answer.
With such a large-scale epidemic outbreak, the imperial court was not alert and did not even isolate them. Instead, they were left exposed, which only led to more and more people being infected.
Since this place is so close to Kyoto, the people of Kyoto were the first to be infected.
After thinking it over, Nalan Jingwen decided to go and find Nangong Shiyu.
She got up and walked towards Jinse, only to find him staring blankly at one spot, not even noticing her approaching.
Nalan Jing looked over at his gaze and saw a woman, presumably her husband, with a young woman in their arms, crying incessantly, looking utterly desperate.
"You want to help them?"
She asked.
Jinse did not answer, but stared blankly in that direction, as if her soul had been taken away. Nalan Jingwen sensed something was wrong and looked in that direction again.
But then I noticed that the woman's eyes bore a resemblance to Jinse's.
An answer was about to emerge in her mind.
"Is that your mother?"
Jinse was brought back to her senses by her words, and subconsciously raised her hand to wipe the moisture from her face, shaking her head.
"No, I don't know him."
He wanted to leave, but his steps were somewhat unsteady, and Nalan Jingwen grabbed him.
"Really not?"
Before Jinse could speak, tears were already streaming down her face.
Nalan Jing understood and led him over, but kept a certain distance between them.
"excuse me."
The couple looked up and were stunned when they saw Nalan Jingwen, but their eyes widened when they saw Jinse beside her.
"You, you, you are!"
Jinse turned her face away and did not speak.
The woman spoke first.
"You're A-mei?!"