Aqing held back her lips and said, “Chang Sheng, did you recognize all along?”
Yan Huanglou reacted at this mont and said, “You’re not, you’re not that one!”
He widened his eyes and said, “You’re not…”
Aqing said, “It’s , the girl who raised insects back then.”
Yan Huanglou suddenly realized and said, “You’ve all grown so big.”
Chen Changsheng only said calmly, “Sit down and talk.”
Several people sat down.
Then Aqing started to speak to Chen Changsheng about her experiences back then.
She had indeed been captured then, locked in a woodshed, and at that ti, it wasn’t just her locked there; there was also a decent girl.
“That girl’s surna was Pan, and I called her Pan Jiejie. She was also captured like , against her will.”
“We both knew what terrible treatnt we would face later, and since it ant death anyway, we thought we might as well die clearly, so we used Pan Jiejie’s hairpin to cut our faces. This scar on my face ca from that.”
“That night, both she and I got beaten, but our thoughts had been too simple. So people could not even be called human any more. Even with our faces cut, that man still would not stop.”
Yan Huanglou asked, “How did you survive later then?”
Aqing said, “Later, soone saved us. That person was a healer. He heard our cries and sneaked into the woodshed to rescue us.”
“He sent us out of the city. He did not want any reward. Pan Jiejie had a younger brother in Qingshan City, so after kowtowing three tis, she left. I had no ho to go to, so I followed him into a deep mountain.”
“Oh, so that’s how it was,” Yan Huanglou paused, then asked, “So those people, that man who healed others killed them?”
Aqing shook her head and said, “I killed them.”
“Ah?” Yan Huanglou was stunned.
Aqing glanced at Chen Changsheng and said, “My dad died. Back then, I only thought about revenge, so I started practicing the guzu poison arts.”
Yan Huanglou was shocked inside. He opened his mouth and said, “This, this is what he said about that…”
“I caught hundreds of poisonous insects in the deep mountains and gave them so dicines to make them fight and eat each other. After I took out the poisonous insect, I disguised myself and sneaked into Qingshan City the next day. When night fell, I released that insect in the yard. Those military n who fought wars had very heavy Blood Qi, and the insect recognized them at once…”
As she spoke, Aqing glanced at Chen Changsheng’s face.
Chen Changsheng only listened for a long ti, drinking tea quietly without saying anything.
“I went back to the mountains first thing the next morning. He asked what I had done, and I told him all I knew.”
“After hearing it, he got very upset and had kneel on the ground. Then he went out and later brought back that poisonous insect.”
Aqing murmured, “It was good that it was him. Otherwise, many might have died, even so innocent folk.”
She sighed softly and said, “At that ti, I only thought about revenge and did not think about the results at all…”
Seeing Chen Changsheng still silent, Aqing went on, “After that, I stayed with him to learn dicine. As for the guzu poison arts, he warned again and again not to use them, saying they went against the way of heaven.”
“It went on until the warfire broke out at Abyss River. Then he took south to heal the sick, and we walked for two whole years.”
Yan Huanglou said, “I hear you keep talking about this healer, why haven’t you ever said his na?”
“I do not know his na.”
Aqing said, “He never told . I usually just called him ‘big brother.’ But I heard many people call him Physician Wenzhu. I know that is not his real na.”
“Shouldn’t you call him Master?”
“He did not accept as a student. He said my thods were too cruel, and I was not fit to be a healer. But he allowed to stay by his side.”
At this point, Chen Changsheng said, “Perhaps he did not wish for you to go astray.”
“Yes,” Aqing nodded and said, “All along, he guided just so I would not use that evil guzu poison art.”
She sighed and said, “But I failed to et that goal.”
“When I ca across things I could not handle, I often wavered. So people I had to kill, or I could not calm the anger inside . So I cannot call myself a healer.”
Chen Changsheng nodded and said, “True healers focus solely on their art and hardly ddle in the right and wrongs of the Mortal World. The one you t must have been highly skilled in healing.”
“He was very powerful.”
Aqing said, “He could cure any illness. So even offered a thousand pieces of gold for his help.”
“Physician Wenzhu…”
Chen Changsheng murmured this. Under the table, his fingers pinched as he made a calculation. Then he seed to understand.
“He did not travel with you?” Chen Changsheng asked.
Aqing explained, “When we passed through a deep valley, I used a poison insect to kill so bandits who captured won. After that, he and I parted ways.”
“Why was that?” Yan Huanglou questioned, puzzled. “Wasn’t that a good deed?”
Aqing said, “He argued that we did not need to kill all those bandits. Sotis people ought to have a chance to change their ways. Besides, in a big bandits’ lair, not everyone was truly evil. He said it was clearly wrong to kill a thousand wrongly rather than spare one.”
Hearing this, Yan Huanglou paused and said, “That does sound reasonable.”
Aqing said, “But I thought that since they all took part, not one should be spared. I do not have eyes to see through hearts. For such villains, I would rather kill them all than risk sparing any.”
Yan Huanglou paused, thought a mont, and said, “Put that way, it also seems right.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Both views are valid. He was a true healer as his role, while you have a spirit of the Jianghu, so naturally your paths divided.”
Hearing this, Aqing nodded and said, “Chang Sheng is right.”
She had seen her dad die before her, and since then, she deeply felt the world’s ill will and lost much liking for it.
“But still, I am very grateful to him.”
Aqing took a deep breath and said, “Had it not been for him, I might never have known the path I would have taken.”
Yan Huanglou looked at Aqing and thought inside.
Yes…
If that had beco her fate, she might have beco more violent, even a person who kills like a Demon Sovereign, losing all reason.
Chen Changsheng sipped his tea and said, “Now grown up, you really have changed.”
Aqing smiled and said, “I have changed.”
She lowered her head but muttered, “I thought you would scold for speaking about the guzu poison art.”
Chen Changsheng said, “Why would I scold you?”
Aqing said, “Several years ago, you and I sat right here, and I listened to what you said back then. But I did not figure out which peach was the best.”
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