Jun Aoyan came back to her senses and focused her eyes again, which could more or less reflect the light of the fire. She turned her head blankly, with dried blood on her face, and looked at Bai Ya as if she was helpless. She seemed innocent, as innocent as a child who got up confused after being pushed into a mud pit. This was completely different from her previous posture.
"what's wrong with you?"
Bai Ya's tone sounded like he was interrogating a prisoner. Qi Huan felt a little flustered, but Ao Yan actually didn't say anything. She just looked at the two of them blankly, remained silent, and then lowered her head, really like a master who refused to admit guilt.
"You are in a very bad state." Qi Huan explained Bai Ya's question. "You are very depressed now, very... just like when I just pulled you out of the wreck. But we know that It's not you, it's not who you are. But it's not you just now - the person who was fighting with swords and guns on the fire field just now is not you either."
"That's me." Jun Aoyan raised her head and repeated, "That's me."
She suddenly smiled dryly, like a piece of originally moist land that was exposed to the sun and cracked after dehydration. It was a harsh, dry smile without any sign of life.
Qi Huan was speechless for a moment, but Bai Ya nodded lightly.
"I also think that it should be you."
"What do you mean?" Qi Huan didn't understand.
"About your parents, what happened that day? It's not about Jun Luanjiu, I'm talking about your biological parents. You must tell us, otherwise we will part ways at dawn, and no one will get in the way of the other."
Bai Ya's words didn't sound like a threat. After all, according to Aoyan's logic, she didn't have to follow him. But Jun Aoyan was silent for a while, then took a breath and prepared to speak. She wanted to say it herself, not who forced her to.
"It is nothing special."
Jun Aoyan stretched out her hand, as if preparing to sign something, but in the end she didn't. Maybe she didn't think it was necessary, or maybe her body language wasn't enough to express her feelings. Her eyes gradually became brighter, but without energy, as if she had been led into some kind of memory, and the scene deep in her mind was released from her eyes.
"I don't like thinking about this."
As if trying to pull herself out of the flow of memories, Jun Aoyan reminded herself this way. Bai Ya said:
"But it's like you never came out."
"Maybe." Jun Aoyan lifted her hair from her temples, which was stuck to her face with dried blood. "Actually, there is really nothing worth paying attention to... At night, the whole village fell asleep. We are not very rich, so we won't Lighting lamps, so we work at sunrise and rest at sunset, the whole village. We always go to bed very early... It was winter, and it got dark especially early. At that time, I don't remember which prince the court wanted to attack. Yes, but it got here. Let me think about it..."
Jun Aoyan's sentences were a bit cumbersome, not organized deliberately, and were fragmented. He just said whatever came to his mind. But no one interrupted her, they just sat there holding their knees and listening to her quietly.
"I didn't know that at that time. I was still young, and I slept in the corner of the kang... It was too cold, and I always woke up. I was too cold to sleep, and those two people occupied the hottest spot on the kang. I don't like the kang. It hurts my back from the heat under it, and the quilt side is as cold as an iron plate - forget it, it doesn't matter. I was really too cold at the time, so I got up and secretly lit a fire and burned the charcoal. I was really afraid that my parents would wake up and find that the charcoal was low, and then beat me, or wake up before dawn. I only planned to burn it for a short time, put out the fire, and sleep while it was hot. But that day, for some reason, I had a stomachache at night, maybe I ate wild vegetables during the day. The fire was still burning, so I went to the hut. It was even colder outside and my legs were almost frozen. When I came back, I was so lucky that they were still asleep. I sneaked in quietly Under the quilt...and then, well, it started to burn."
"You didn't put out the brazier, so the fire lit the house?" Qi Huan asked.
"No, it was the war that burned our village. First someone was woken up, and then everyone woke up. But I didn't have time to escape, and the fire burned faster. It was originally very cold, but suddenly it became so hot. I haven't fully recovered yet. I was woken up by the noise when I fell asleep, but I was very sleepy and dizzy, so I couldn't escape. I shook my parents, but there was no reaction, so I had to escape by myself. But when I walked to the door, the roof collapsed - hit by a flaming stone. I was trapped in a corner, with a beam in front of me, stuck on both sides of the wall, and I couldn't push it away."
This description seemed familiar to both of them. Bai Ya and Qi Huan looked at each other, remembering the time when she was trapped on the boat - by her Mo Dao. But as qualified listeners, they did not interrupt her narrative.
"Another stone smashed the water tank in my house. The water spread, but the fire did not burn here. I kept squatting there with my head in my hands, covering my eyes tightly, but my eyes were still red, and I blocked my ears but still I could hear crackling burning. A strange smell penetrated my nose. It was fragrant and smelly. I didn’t know how to describe it... Later I learned that it was the smell of people being burned by fire."
Jun Aoyan is lucky. The initial flaming stones burned almost everything in this area, so the fire from outside did not spread. This, combined with large, damp water stains, provided her with temporary shelter. The wooden beams of the barrier restricted her movement to a very low place, which was safe, and there was a solid triangle there. No one found her, and she hid there until the sound of the fighting had completely died down.
When Jun Luanjiu's reinforcements arrived, they were only able to clean up the mess. They found her and the two charred bodies on the kang.
It stands to reason that many people died in the war, but there were very few, almost none, lying peacefully on the kang like this. Most of the people fled in panic and looked for shelter everywhere. Military doctors in the army later dissected the bodies under the instruction of General Jun and found that the lungs of the man and woman were clean - they had been unable to breathe before the flames ignited the house.
Jun Luanjiu didn't think about the bad things. After all, there was a brazier in the center. When he asked later, Aoyan didn't hide anything and told everything that happened at that time, so he could easily figure it out. The army was full of rough guys, so no one pursued this kind of thing, they just regarded her as a survivor. The general and the military doctor were kind enough to keep the secret secret. Later, as she grew up, her memory of that day became increasingly blurry, so Jun Luanjiu told a crude lie to confuse her.
"I almost forgot, until one time I heard a girl wailing at the top of her lungs outside the battlefield... They wouldn't let me pass, and I couldn't follow the logistics to clean up the mess until the fighting was over. I didn't find the girl in the end, and I don't know if she died. It was possible that she might have escaped or been captured if the situation was too miserable. But her screams reappeared repeatedly in my dreams, so I remembered that after the war that day, when I saw the bodies of my parents, I did also scream. The exact same cry."
Jun Aoyan spoke clearly and honestly, just like when she told her adoptive father the truth. Although at this time, she already knew what it all meant - she killed her parents in a confined space, a burning charcoal brazier, and plenty of time. She herself would have suffered the same fate, but many "misfortunes" condensed into a huge "coincidence", allowing her to survive by chance. It's just that I don't know if this is a salvation for her, or a longer punishment. She couldn't explain it herself.
Then, there was a long silence. Qi Huan rarely made any comments on other people's narratives, and Bai Ya didn't respond further. They just thought--silence--thinking...and longer silence.
Another strange cry of birds came from the distance. Their hearing became clearer, perhaps because the influence of those monster screams was lessened.
"I'm sorry to hear this story..." Qi Huan whispered, "I don't mean anything else, but Miss Jun, what do you think is the connection between all this and your performance on the battlefield?"
"It's nothing." Jun Aoyan shrugged, "It may have a lot to do with it. I don't like the part of being kind to others... Although I may be better at it, I don't like it in my heart. I like -"
"Fight."
"Yes, fighting." Jun Aoyan nodded candidly, agreeing with Bai Ya's wording, "It is simpler and more pure. I just want you to die, nothing else. I don't need to be like my parents, who have been fighting since childhood. They scolded me, criticized me, and tried their best to make me feel uncomfortable. After living with Jun Luanjiu, I discovered that the relationship between people is actually quite simple. There is no need to watch people's words and emotions day and night, and be on tenterhooks. Only after getting familiar with everyone did I realize I discovered that I can speak directly if I have something to say. So I prefer this place on the battlefield... There is no need for intrigues or long periods of trying to figure out the opponent's mind. All judgments are made in an instant. If you misjudge, you will be injured or die. . This is good, murderous intent is the purest form of malice. Good and evil have many expressions, but the most direct and hostile way is to want to kill the other person."
When I raised my head, the moon moved many steps unconsciously, and the stars also quietly slipped away for a distance. Bai Ya suddenly picked up the knife and looked at one of them carefully. After holding it up for a while, he put it down and opened his mouth.
"Later Jun Luanjiu didn't let you go to the battlefield...the same reason as today, right?"
"Well, I think so." Jun Aoyan nodded, "When I rushed over with the knife... I was a little scared. It's not that I retreated, but I was afraid that I would be excited about it. I felt like I didn't look like myself. Now, compared to when I started fighting in the past, I am not who I am. But maybe...this is me. Everything that happened later also proved that that kind of me is the real me."
"What kind of thing?" Qi Huan gestured blankly, "Do you mean wielding a sword across the battlefield? You were not yet twenty at that time."
"That's right. I've done a lot of menial jobs since I was a kid, including picking up manure. So I have a better physique, stronger, and much stronger than other women and even men of the same age. In addition, my father has trained me well and taught me Being able to read and write - that's rare in the military. I became what I am now."
Bai Ya blew on the blade, making a metallic sound. He raised his eyes and glanced at Jun Aoyan. From what he could see, half of Jun Aoyan's face was above the blade, and half was hidden.
"He's scared, right? He's scared and raised you like this."
"He was never afraid of anything - only me. Although I have forgotten what happened at that time, he was sure that the expression on my face when I came to kill the horse at that moment was clearly smiling. "
"Smiling?"
"Smiling."
Qi Huan looked at her blankly, as if it was the first day they met. Bai Ya still didn't speak, just put down the knife, and suddenly sneered along with their conversation.
"Tsk. As expected...it's so interesting to smile."
Recommended: The Witch Doctor Awakens to read on your mobile phone.
