has become a demon

Chapter 18

When Zhao Yuan woke up from the dream, it was still half dark.

The whimpering north wind crept in through the gaps in the window paper, and ice flakes condensed near the window frame, all the way to the ground.

But in the thatched cottage, the charcoal fire in the iron stove was only scattered, unable to provide any heat at all.

The north wind chilled the humble house.

Zhao Yuan reluctantly sat up, and lay on the bed for a while.

The winter mornings he remembered were different.

Every time he wakes up, Feng'an and the servants in the county prince's mansion have long been waiting for him, bringing him a cup of hot tea, a soft and warm face towel, and clear water and green salt for washing...

His cloak was sent by the Weaving Bureau and carefully made by the weavers with mink, silk thread and countless brocades. It is warm and comfortable.The stove in his hand is always stuffed by Feng An impatiently, and he wears a fox fur scarf and dark pattern hood.And the back kitchen prepared a light and exquisite breakfast, waiting for him to sit and taste it.

In the morning, he either admired the snow and tasted plum blossoms, or had a long chat with his friends. He was really bored, so he read all kinds of lonely chess records on the Arhat bed.

The large quilt covered with brocade, the incense burner smoldering all the time, and the earth dragon that has never cooled down...every winter in the county prince's mansion looks comfortable and warm.

But at this time... In the dark and low room, those pampered lives in the capital are blurred as if they were the memories of the previous life.

The blood, corpses, and unjustly dead souls in the dream seemed to be squeezed out from every dark corner of the room, bloody and bloody.

It was his father, his brother, his kin...and himself.

It has been more than two months since I came to Ningxia Wei and was detained in this small courtyard in Yuanma Temple.He has countless time to recall countless details of the past.

The honorable life he had taken for granted was only part of it.

More, it is about the dispute of stealing the country that he has never taken to heart.

He repeatedly recalled the past ten years, and repeatedly deduced every word, every action, and every meaning of all stakeholders...

It's like a game of chess.But how can the lore situation be resolved?

If he was more worried about the court situation, if he got to know more officials in the court, if he was more thoughtful when facing the prince and King Ning... If he didn't put all his thoughts on love and pleasure, learn more technique.

Will everything be different?

In an instant, all the resentment broke through the deliberate restraint and patience.

It pierced through his heart as if it had an entity.

Zhao Yuan trembled all over.

He grabbed his chest, looked pained, and gasped for breath.

hate it?

he asked himself.

--hatred.How could he not hate the hatred of killing his father and brother?

Are you willing?

he asked again.

——not reconciled.But what if you are not reconciled?Imprisoned in the borderlands, imprisoned by the military household herders, a disabled person with a mutilated body, precarious, what else can he do?

The pain in the heart seemed to be about to explode, even if the atrium was cut open and the heart was dug out, it could not relieve one or two.

He gritted his teeth, but the pain didn't seem to come from the bottom of his heart, but from the flesh, every inch of bone, every piece of skin, and even every drop of blood was hurting.

The pain made his silver teeth gnaw, and the pain made his bones rattle.

But he still endured the cry of pain, grabbed the thin quilt, and quietly endured all the pain-like this is not bowing to fate, and like this is not considered embarrassing to the end.

I don't know how long has passed.

As the sky gradually dawned, everything in the room became clear, and the pain finally faded away. Zhao Yuan was drenched in cold sweat, and it took a while before he had the strength to get out of bed.

His vein-injured left wrist gradually regained some strength, but he also knew that he was able to survive because of his disability, so he must not be known by others, and he tried his best not to expose it in his daily behavior.

There was a simple wheelchair on the head of the bed, the workmanship was crooked, there was no backrest, and there was no soft cushion.Zhao Yuan moved himself up, the cold touch made him feel uncomfortable all over, and for a moment he thought of returning to the nest when he was left behind on Tianshou Mountain.

Tao Shaochuan asked someone to do it urgently for him.

He shouldn't be picky, without this wheelchair, he can only crawl in and out on the ground, he should thank Tao Shaochuan.

Not just this-

After Kan Yufeng and his party disguised themselves as merchants and sent him to Ningxia Town, Tao Shaochuan was left to take care of him because he was already in charge of patrolling the border.

But at the end of November, before the twelfth lunar month, the Yirentai tribe of the Tatars plundered Yongchangwei in Ganzhou. Tao Shaochuan left behind food, coal and other simple living utensils, and took the remaining dozen people from Chimukou to Helan Mountain. Go to Ganzhou.

Tao Shaochuan was young, and he looked down on the young man from the capital, so he left too hastily, and the things left behind were used in various ways.

Especially coal.

Even if Zhao Yuan saves everything, he only puts an extra shovel at night.However, in the past one month, the basket of charcoal has bottomed out and is coming to an end.

It's not just charcoal, but also food.

However, these are not considered the top priority of today, but in such a field, the top priority of the former Le'an County King every morning was to turn his wheelchair to the big vat in the yard to wash and clean himself.

The water in the tank had also bottomed out, it was all ice, Zhao Yuan smashed the floating layer above it, covered it with his hands and melted it, wiped his hair and face, before he could finish his actions, there was someone in the utility room next to him. There was a sound.

It was probably daylight, and it was dark inside and the road could not be seen clearly. Someone fell out of it with a bag of things, probably tripped over something.

He looked back and saw things scattered all over the place.

There is a small half bag of cornmeal, a dry cake, and a small handful of soybeans.And finally some char.

His small yard was not locked.

A high threshold was blocked at the door, and the guards were not afraid of a cripple running out at all.What's more, Yuanma Temple is a camp village where military households are stationed, and there is nowhere to go in the wilderness outside in winter.

Therefore, from half a month ago, I felt that the things in the warehouse were running out quickly, and there was a small thief who often came.He heard the noise and went out to see it, but unfortunately he was too late to see him.

Hit it today.

It seems to be a girl.

"Grandpa, please spare me." She said in a flustered voice, "I...my grandfather...is sick...the food and charcoal are gone, gone..."

After she finished speaking, she knelt on the ground and looked at him blankly.

Zhao Yuan also looked at her.

The girl's face was dirty, but her eyes were bright, and she looked a little frightened.

Thirteen or fourteen years old, still a child.

"Is it enough?" Zhao Yuan asked her.

"what?"

The girl was still in a daze, Zhao Yuan drove the wheelchair inside, took off the last piece of bacon hanging on the stove, and used tongs to push the charcoal away to reveal a warm egg hidden underneath.

He took out a black cotton kerchief from his arms, wrapped the bacon and local eggs in it, went out again, and handed it to the girl.

"There's meat and eggs. But that's all," he said. "There's no need to come tomorrow."

The girl took it, and the warmth spread to her palm.

She held them in her hands in a daze, looked at the scattered things on the ground, and hurriedly tucked those things that were considered life-saving in such severe cold into her arms.At this moment, she felt her face was burning hot, and she was so ashamed that she didn't dare to look at the "uncle" in front of her again.He gave him a serious kowtow and ran out.

Zhao Yuan sighed.

Continue to wash.

In this way, you don’t have to worry about how to distribute the follow-up food, and you don’t have to worry about whether to add charcoal at night.

The last layer of ice in the water tank melted in his palm. He wiped his cheeks carefully with the ice water, cleaned his gums and mouth, and combed his hair with water to make them look as neat as possible.

Finally, he wiped off the stains on the clothes one by one.

After doing all this, Zhao Yuan's hands were already red with cold, and his handkerchief was also given away to someone just now, so he could only rub his hands in the cold wind, waiting for his hands to dry and warm up naturally.

Waited for a while, it was too cold.

When he turned the wheelchair to go back to the house, he raised his eyes and saw a tall man standing at the door.

Xie Taichu was wearing a black Taoist uniform, standing at the door and looking at him, he didn't know how long he had been here.

The snow-covered branches of the old locust tree outside the door crossed the wall and hung down. When the wind blew, snow fell on his shoulders, reflecting his black clothes, like clouds falling on his shoulders.

He is still the immortal who just floated down from the mountains and rivers outside the clouds, even the heaven and the earth love him very much.

Zhao Yuan pressed his chest, suppressing some inexplicable sourness.

Like the deprived honor status, the slaughtered clansmen, the little dignity left...

Xie Taichu is nothing but the past of the past.

After the mountains and rivers are exhausted.

Instead, it felt a little easier.