A man walked out of the forest beside the road, it was Fang Yu. He changed his clothes, led his horse, and did not bring any weapons.
Li Bochen looked at him and said, "Are you here to dump the body?"
Fang Cheng looked a little uneasy and whispered: "Yeah."
Li Bochen sighed softly and said, "Okay. Fang Yu, what I said before was a bit harsh."
Fang Cheng frowned and looked like he was about to shed tears. Li Bochen was stunned, not expecting that he would care so much about his opinion of him. This made him feel a little uncomfortable, so he said in a deep voice: "You are not a bad person, you just did something wrong. I am half as wrong as I am. I can't teach you what you should and shouldn't do, but if you If you are willing to listen, I will say more."
Fang Chu immediately said: "General Li, tell me."
Li Boxen said: "For example, today's matter, I also know that if we don't kill these two people, there will be trouble in the future. If you don't want those troubles, just kill them. But there are some troubles that are inevitable in a person's life. For example, yours Mother - she was sick before. If you had to take care of her, she would bring you trouble. But can you not want this kind of trouble? "
"The same goes for taking human lives. I also have a lot of human lives on my hands, but before killing someone, I always ask myself, does this person deserve to be punished for his crime?" When he said this, he remembered that he was killed by himself in the Zhangcheng Mansion Yamen. The soldier who killed him shook his head and said, "Actually, even I can't do this all the time. However, if a person loses some restraints in his heart and lets go of all troubles, how is that any different from a monster? This becomes a human demon. When it comes to spiritual practice, he has also entered the path of demons."
Fang Chu said: "You are right, General Li."
Li Boxen didn't know whether he truly agreed with his point of view or out of gratitude and respect for himself. But he knew it was difficult to convince someone. The truth in a person's heart is the result of his own experience. It is almost impossible to make someone abandon what is in his heart with just a few words.
He sighed: "If this matter is exposed and you are in danger of your life, you can come to me. I am in Mengjiatun."
Fang Chu raised his hand to wipe his eyes, and after a while, he said, "Yes. I'm going back... I still have some savings in my hand. I'm going back to find a suitable opportunity to compensate the two families."
Li Bochen waved his hand: "Okay. Let's go."
When he drove to the town, the moon had already risen. Walking home from the town, you have to pass more than a dozen houses on the way. On the way, I saw several people gathered around a courtyard, and there were women and children crying in the house. I thought it was a couple quarreling, but didn't take it seriously.
He returned home, and Lin Qiao was pleasantly surprised when she looked at the newly bought car. Li Bochen felt warm in his heart, thinking that she had seen all kinds of rare things before. She was so happy now because of herself, so she felt a little happier.
He brought some fruits from Zhongjie to Lin Qiao, and the two of them ate, unloaded and put away the miscellaneous things in the car, and then they had some free time. He broke out in a sweat and took a shower again. Lin Qiao took the newly bought tea cup and tea leaves and made him tea according to his taste. Li Bochen sat on the threshold with the tea cup.
Lin Qiao washed the pot and stove, sat down and leaned next to him. After a while, she said, "What's wrong? Did something bad happen to you today?"
Li Bochen sighed and told the story about Qijin Pavilion.
Lin Qiao was silent for a while. After Li Boxen finished drinking the tea, he handed the teacup to her and said, "I'll cut some grass to feed the horses."
Lin Qiao said: "Yeah."
He walked out of the hospital to the vegetable garden, where there were some weeds mixed with new shoots. He hugged two bundles, and could still vaguely hear the cry of a woman in the distance. When he walked back to the courtyard, he cut the grass with a guillotine and fed it to the horse. He saw Lin Qiao still sitting on the threshold holding a tea cup.
Li Boxen didn't know if she was blaming him for the death of those two people, so he said, "What's wrong? You're not happy either."
Lin Qiao whispered: "I'm thinking about that Fang Cheng. Ah Chen, actually I don't blame him."
Li Bochen was stunned: "Huh?"
"Listen to you, he has had a bad life since he was a child and was bullied. People who grow up like this will most likely become the bad people you mentioned. But this Fang Cheng knows how to repay kindness, so he is not bad in nature. He It’s quite rare to be like this now.”
Li Bochen thought for a while and sighed: "Yes. So I didn't do anything to him. At worst, I just won't see him again."
Lin Qiao whispered: "But Ah Chen, he couldn't help but become what he is now. If in the past... his parents loved him and others were kind to him, maybe Fang Cheng would become as good a person as you. Well. If you don't care about him from now on, his path will become more and more crooked... and he will be very pitiful."
Li Bochen was silent for a while. Pitiful? That's right... Hateful people must be pitiful. What Lin Qiao said made sense. After Fang Yu's experience, it was really unexpected that he could still be so affectionate and righteous now. It's just that the suffering he suffered since childhood made him a little too narrow-minded.
He smiled and said, "Okay. If I have a chance to meet him again, I will give him some advice."
Lin Qiao became happy and walked into the house holding a tea cup. After a while, the room became brighter, and it was she who lit the talisman lamp bought by Li Boxen.
Li Bochen washed his hands and walked into the house. He saw that the calligraphy and paintings in the hall were all hung, and the cups and cups were all in place. It looked very decent. He breathed a sigh of relief and entered the east room again. He saw Lin Qiao hanging the curtains on the bed. He picked up a feather duster and swept every corner. He asked, "When I came back, I saw a family down there crying. What happened?"
Lin Qiao said: "I heard from Sister Meng - she brought people to our house at noon to dig out the well - that man went into the mountains to collect medicine and did not come back for several days. Later he reported to the official - the man from Zhu Hou ——They went to the mountains to look for it again, and then they found it.”
"It was said that the man had been dead for several days when he was brought back. There was a big gash from his shoulders to his belly. Were there many people surrounding him? They have been surrounding him for a whole day, and they all said it was a monster."
Li Boxen was stunned, monster?
"What did Zhu Hou's people say?"
"Sister Meng said that Zhu Hou's people said it was not a monster, but that the man had an enemy. She said that the man was a doctor in the town. He had treated a family of children before, but after seeing them die, they became enemies. This Isn’t he dead? The man from the family who had an enmity with him is not here these days. They guess that the man killed him.”
Li Bochen nodded, but he didn't believe all these words. Maybe it's really a vendetta, but...what if it's not? During the day, the blacksmith also said that many mountain people who came from the mountains said they had seen monsters. If it is really a monster, it is definitely not a trivial matter.
He thought for a moment and said, "Xiaoman, I'll go to his house and take a look."
Lin Qiao was stunned: "Do you think...it's really a monster?"
Li Bochen regretted a little now, thinking that she would be scared when she heard him say that. Then he smiled and said, "I'll know after I take a look. Don't be afraid, there is still the Chang family in the north. Even if it is true, even if it comes here tonight, the Chang family all have magical powers, and it will not be difficult to surrender. Don't worry. Bar."
Lin Qiao said: "Then... you should come back quickly."
Li Bochen nodded and wanted to bring a knife. But he realized that this was no longer anywhere else. Everyone would find it strange to walk around in this village with a knife, so he only took Yaohou with him.
He went out in the dark and walked to the door of the courtyard. He saw that the courtyard door was open and there were more people in the courtyard. At this time, many people had nothing to do and were rushing to watch the fun.
A few women were whispering together, and a few men were saying something with their hands behind their backs and serious expressions on their faces. The family seemed to be in a poor financial situation. The house was low and there was only one lamp burning in the house, so the courtyard was also dark. So when Li Bochen walked in, no one noticed him.
He went to the door of the house and looked inside. He saw a woman and a boy wearing sackcloth and mourning. They were crying on a mat. He guessed that there were corpses under the mat. At this time, a familiar voice was heard in the hall, which seemed to be Mrs. Meng.
He moved to the side and saw that it was exactly the same.
Listen to Lady Meng say: "...Stop talking about these things, use it first, and mourn people first."
There was another old woman who was crying and saying some words of gratitude. She didn't know what dialect she was speaking in, but Li Boxen couldn't hear clearly.
It would be great if Lady Meng is here. Li Bochen withdrew to the side and waited for a while, and then Lady Meng came out. He whispered: "Sister Meng."
Madam Meng turned to see him and was stunned: "Brother Chen? Why are you here?"
Li Bochen took two steps back, and Madam Meng followed. He whispered: "I heard that he was killed by a monster, so I came over to take a look."
After thinking for a while, he added: "I went to the north of the Sui Kingdom and ran Shang Dynasty before, and I saw people killed by monsters. I wanted to see if it was true."
Lady Meng was taken aback and wanted to say something. But seeing Li Bochen's serious expression, he thought for a moment and said, "You... okay. Do you really want to see it? Then I'll go in and talk about it."
Then he warned in a low voice: "Please watch carefully, don't dare to say such nonsense."
She believed in herself. Li Bochen felt a little moved and said, "Don't worry, eldest sister, I know the severity."
Mrs. Meng said "Hello" again, turned around and walked in the door. After a while, she walked to the door and waved, "Brother Chen, come here."
Li Bochen also walked in the door. Lady Meng closed the door and said a few words to the mother and son. The old woman came over and wiped her tears while she and Lady Meng helped the two of them away.
Li Bochen first walked to the confessional and took out the oil lamp, then walked to the corpse and lifted up the mat.
It doesn't smell good, and it has indeed been dead for a few days. The corpse had not had time to be decorated, and it was still almost as it was before death. He saw a huge wound extending from the collarbone to the lower abdomen, with both ends open and the collarbone shattered.
He immediately realized that this could never be done by a human being, at least not by someone who had not practiced spiritual practice. If he wanted to make such a wound, he might be able to use the magic sword to force out the sword light and slash with all his strength.
But this man is a countryman, who would do this?
Looking at this angle, it was not cut from the front, but more like it was scratched diagonally by something huge, such as a sharp nail. A chill arose in his heart - a monster.
But he couldn't be sure for a while which kind of monster was responsible. Judging from the wound, the monster must be huge. The large ones he had seen in Beiyuan include camels, swollen heads, thick armors, barbarian armors, and more than ten kinds. But these don't have sharp claws to inflict such wounds.
There is a kind of flying demon called Kamqu. But that thing is big, but not good at growing strength. Although this place is considered to be the north of Li State, it is still separated from Beiyuan by at least hundreds of miles of vast mountains, which cannot be reached by flying. Even if it did fly over, it should have been discovered long ago.
Is it some other great demon that I haven’t seen before?
Seemingly seeing that his expression was not good, Madam Meng came over and held her breath, and whispered: "Brother Chen, have you noticed?"
Li Bochen covered the corpse with a straw mat, secretly said he was offended, and then winked at Lady Meng. Mrs. Meng was stunned for a moment, then whispered: "...Really!?"
Before he could answer, the door of the room was suddenly kicked open, and a man shouted: "What are you spreading nonsense about? Who taught you to talk like this!?"
Li Bochen turned around and saw a man wearing black cloth with white trim. He was skinny and skinny, with a knife at his waist. This outfit is the same as those patrolling the streets seen in the town during the day. They must also be under Zhu Hou's command.
The man strode into the room and shouted: "Zhou family, what are you talking about? What kind of monster? Didn't I say it was a vendetta?"
The deceased's surname should be Zhou. It was the woman he was asking.
As soon as the woman heard his words, she was so frightened that she couldn't cry, but the boy cried even louder. The man entered the house and saw Madam Meng. His tone softened and he said, "Oh, Madam Meng is here too."
Lady Meng frowned and said, "Sun Cha, why are you so scary? You are an orphan and a widower."
The man sneered: "Ms. Meng, isn't it disturbing the people's hearts to spread such words randomly? If it reaches the ears of General Zhu, the person will inevitably be imprisoned. I'm not doing it for their own good."
He stared at Li Boxen again and then looked at the woman: "Zhou family, please don't spread rumors. People outside are also listening. This is a vendetta. Our people are still looking for Feng San. If we find him, the truth will naturally come to light."
Xiaoman said that the deceased was a doctor who killed a family of children. The Feng San that Sun Cha mentioned should be the father of the child. They suspected that Feng San killed him.
But didn't they see the gap in the body? Li Bochen thought for a while and felt that he understood a little more. The rumors of monsters in the mountains must have been spread by Zhu Hou's people...perhaps, as blacksmith Yu Meng said, it was to get people to come out of the mountains and come here.
But if there were monsters now, it would be bad. Monsters appear to hurt people. If Zhu Hou really wants to be a local official, he must send people to suppress them. But asking those people to go to the mountains to deal with monsters? I'm afraid it may not succeed even if it involves dozens of lives.
So, it’s better to go for a “vendetta”.
This is a very stupid approach, but Li Boxen doesn't think it is incomprehensible. Zhu Hou is essentially a bandit, and he will never really "love the people like a son" - even those serious and official people, how many people can do this? The death of a villager would not be able to shake his foundation, but the death of his soldiers would be extremely painful. It would be best if the monster went away on its own after a while.
Li Bochen sighed lowly. He originally thought that if it was confirmed that it was a monster, he would inform the local manager. But looking at Sun Chai's appearance now, I'm afraid he can't count on him.
He planned to leave first. But as soon as he moved his feet, Sun Cha stared at him again and said, "Who are you?"
