Chapter 63: Dilapidated Village

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At the crossroads.

Xiao Die was wearing an emerald green dress. She stood under a big tree anxiously, looking at the foot of the mountain.

Not long after.

Her eyes lit up, and a happy smile finally appeared on her face.

“Young Master…”

She ran up with tears in her eyes.

Luo Qingzhou gently hugged her still trembling body and comforted her gently. “It’s all right. Don’t be afraid.”

This was the first time the little girl had seen such a bloody scene.

Furthermore, it was the first time she had seen him kill someone. Naturally, she was afraid.

Xiao Die cried, “Young Master, you’re covered in blood, let’s go home quickly.”

Luo Qingzhou held her hand and looked at the path they had come from.

After a pause, he bent down and whispered into the little girl’s ear, “Xiao Die, we won’t be going home for the time being. I will bring you to a fun place.”

“Huh?” Xiao Die said.

When the little girl heard this, she was stunned. “W-where?”

Luo Qingzhou looked at another path with a complicated gaze. “The place where I was born.”

Xiao Die’s eyes widened.

“Let’s go.”

Luo Qingzhou did not dare to stay here for too long. He pulled her to another path that was covered by weeds.

He could not go home directly.

If there was an ambush on the way, in his current state, he and this little girl would probably be doomed.

He could only stay in that small mountain village for a night.

When dawn came tomorrow, he would take the enemies by surprise and ride a carriage back to the city.

“Okay.”

Xiao Die did not say anything else. She obediently followed him and walked onto another path, completely reliant on him.

No matter where Young Master went, she would follow him.

She had no complaints even if Young Master intended to sell her.

If Young Master sold her, at most, she would secretly escape and look for him after he took the money and left.

In any case, she would be Young Master’s woman for the rest of her life.

She would never be separated from Young Master!

The master and servant walked on the deserted path and did not speak again.

Luo Qingzhou pricked up his ears and remained vigilant. From time to time, he would look back to confirm if anyone was following him.

In his memory, the small mountain village was only four to five kilometers away from here.

However, no one cared about this path all year round. Wild grass had already grown all over, and there were many places where the path could no longer be seen.

At noon.

The two of them finally saw the small mountain village ahead.

The small mountain village was already desolate and dilapidated.

After a few attacks by demon beasts, more than half of the young people in the village had died. Other than some elderly who had lost their loved ones and were still stubbornly staying there, there were no more young people in the village, let alone children.

The lively scene at the entrance of the village seemed to have happened yesterday.

However, Luo Qingzhou had nothing but traumatic memories of this place.

His mother had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. After giving birth to him, she did not even know who his father was. There was a lot of discussion in the village, and everyone criticized them harshly, calling them shameless.

Almost every day, there were sarcastic remarks and curses.

Even the children did not play with him.

To raise him and to let him study, his mother suffered all kinds of disdain and humiliation in the village, but she still persevered.

After his grandparents passed away and his eldest uncle and second uncle left the village and never returned, his mother was alone. Without any protection, she was afraid that he would be harmed and wanted him to live a better life. Therefore, she forced herself to be thickskinned and brought him into the city and the Chengguo Residence.

From then on, the mother and son never returned to this village which made them sad.

Luo Qingzhou thought about these things and brought Xiao Die to wash up in the river in front of the village before entering.

The village that was once filled with the sounds of children playing, dogs barking, and adults scolding had now become silent.

Wild grass covered the front and back of the house.

The iron locks on the door were rusty, and the walls of some houses had collapsed.

Luo Qingzhou brought Xiao Die along as they walked and watched. Through the courtyard door, they only saw two old men sitting alone in the small courtyard. Their eyes were closed as they basked in the sun as if they were waiting for their last day on Earth to arrive.

Luo Qingzhou did not stop. He arrived at the small courtyard where he used to live with his mother.

The door had already decayed and collapsed. Half of the courtyard wall had already collapsed. It was unknown if it had been hit by the wind and rain for a long time, or if it had been pushed down by the villagers after the mother and son left.

The small courtyard was filled with lush weeds, broken bricks, and some tattered fabric buried in the soil.

There was nothing left in the house.

Even the table, stool, and bed had been removed.

Fortunately, the four walls were still there and the roof was still there. They could still shelter them from the wind and rain.

“Young Master, is this where you and Madam used to live?” Xiao Die looked at the scene here with a sad expression.

“Clean up the room. We’ll make do in here tonight.”

Luo Qingzhou did not say anything else. He walked out of the house and said, “I’ll go see what there is to eat. You should be hungry too, right? Don’t run around. Just stay in the house.”

“Okay.”

Xiao Die agreed and went to find the broom.

There was a broom in the small courtyard, but it was already badly damaged.

However, it did not matter. She could wrap a clean cloth on it and continue to sweep the floor.

There should still be water in the well.

Luo Qingzhou left the small courtyard and walked to the end of the village to look at the houses.

When he was about to reach the end of the village, he saw an old woman.

The old granny in a tattered cotton jacket sat on a chair in front of the door. Her eyes were turbid and confused as she looked at the distant mountain. No one knew what she was thinking.

The old granny had a head full of white hair and her face was covered in wrinkles. Her back was hunched and she was already in her twilight years.

However, Luo Qingzhou recognized her the moment he saw her.

Back then, the person who had treated his mother the most viciously in this village was the person in front of him.

He still remembered clearly that one summer, his mother had picked up a wild watermelon from the mountains.

Just as the mother and son were about to happily share the watermelon, this person, who his mother addressed as “Ninth Aunt”, suddenly barged into the house with some people and slandered his mother for stealing her watermelon. Then, she scolded her and said all kinds of vicious words. She even grabbed his mother’s hair and scratched her face with her nails. In the end, the watermelon was taken away.

His mother hugged him and cried silently in the corner.

At that time, he secretly swore that when he grew up and had the ability, he would make this vicious woman suffer.

However, at this moment, looking at the old woman in front of him, looking at her white hair, wrinkled face, and quiet and old appearance, he could no longer hate her.

“You… You’re Qingzhou? Yu’er’s son, Qingzhou?”

The old woman looked at him with a surprised expression.

Luo Qingzhou came back to his senses and walked forward with a smile on his face. “Ninth Granny. Yes, it’s me, Qingzhou.”

The old woman’s eyes widened as she stood up and sized her up. Seeing that her robe was tattered, she could not help but ask, “Didn’t you go to the city with your mother? Why are you back? You… were chased out?”

Luo Qingzhou did not explain and nodded. “Yes, I was chased out.”

He was used by the Chengguo Residence as a tool to break off the engagement, which was also considered as being chased out, was it not?

The old woman sighed and said, “How pitiful. Your mother was also pitiful. After entering the city, she didn’t even enjoy a few days of bliss before she passed away at such a young age. I heard from them that she was buried on Zixia Mountain in front of our village, right? Sigh..

Luo Qingzhou was silent for a moment before saying, “Ninth Granny, your family…”

The elderly woman was already indifferent. “They’re all dead. Other than an old woman like me, none of them are left alive.

Luo Qingzhou did not dare to ask further. He glanced at her courtyard and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Ninth Granny, do you have food at home?”

The old woman glanced at him, turned around, and staggered into the house. She sighed and said, “There are still two pancakes, but they’re too hard. I can’t eat them anymore. If you’re hungry, take them.”

“Sigh, how pitiful. Look at you. Your mother is dead. You can’t even get a proper meal now. I’ve already said that there’s no use in studying. You might as well learn to farm.’

The elderly woman rambled on. She went into the kitchen and took out two dry and hard pancakes.

After some thought, she went back into the house again, took two eggs, and handed them to him.

“Sigh, the last chicken was snatched by a weasel. Other than us old farts, there’s nothing else alive in this village. In the past few years, even those man-eating beasts have stopped coming…”

The old woman sighed.

Luo Qingzhou took the pancakes and eggs, took out a piece of silver from his pocket, and handed it to her. “Ninth Granny, take the silver. If a peddler comes

to the village, you can buy something to eat.”

The old woman looked at the silver but did not take it. She shook her head and said, “You can keep it. It’s useless even if I take this. How can there be peddlers here now? My body is still all right, and I can still plant some stuff and feed myself. You’re young, and you still have a long way to go in the future. Keep it for yourself.”

Luo Qingzhou glanced at her and did not say anything else. He prepared to leave.

When he reached the door, the old woman suddenly said, “Qingzhou, previously, I treated you and your mother badly. Now that I think about it, I regret that and feel very guilty. I’m old now, so I finally realized that those so-called rules and customs are actually not important. What’s important is to be happy and live. It’s not your mother’s fault that she got pregnant before marriage back then. We shouldn’t have treated her like that…”

Luo Qingzhou suddenly turned around and asked, “Ninth Granny, do you know how my mother got pregnant with me back then? Do you know that person?”

The old woman shook her head. “I don’t know him. No one in the village knows who that person is, so they treated your mother like that. However, in the end, I heard that your mother was forced… Sigh, at that time, even if she was forced, her reputation was ruined. No one will respect her. Moreover, your mother was too stubborn and refused to say who that person was…”

Luo Qingzhou did not say anything else. He nodded and walked out.

The old woman also followed him out. She muttered to herself and rambled on. No one knew what she was saying.

Just as she was about to sit down on the stool at the door, she suddenly realized that there was a piece of silver on the stool. When she looked up, the youth had already walked far away.

“Sigh…’

The old woman let out a sigh, picked up the silver, and sat down. She thought back to what had happened to the mother and son.

Luo Qingzhou returned to the dilapidated courtyard. After eating the pancakes and eggs with Xiao Die, he sat down in the room and circulated his internal cultivation technique.

Xiao Die did not dare to disturb him. She left the house and looked around the other rooms, courtyards, and entrances.

After a while.

She could not help but walk out of the door and stroll around the village curiously.

The sun soon set.

Luo Qingzhou felt that the pain in his body had subsided a lot.

When Xiao Die returned, she brought a needle and thread with her. She said happily, “Young Master, I met an old lady in the village. I spent the entire afternoon chatting with her. I borrowed these needles and threads from her. Take off your clothes quickly. I’ll help you mend them.”

Luo Qingzhou’s heart skipped a beat. He took off his clothes and asked, “What did she talk to you about?”

Xiao Die took the clothes and said, “We didn’t talk much. The old granny kept talking about the past. I didn’t dare to ask about Young Master and Madam, and the old granny didn’t mention it either. By the way, the old granny also told us not to go out at night. This place is haunted.” At this point, the little girl’s face was filled with fear.

“Haunted?”

Luo Qingzhou’s eyes flashed.

Xiao Die nodded and said, “Yes, the old granny said that at night, the village is filled with sobbing sounds. She said that she saw many black shadows floating around. She said it was so terrifying.” Luo Qingzhou looked outside.

Was it very scary?

Why was he still looking forward to it?

Outside the house, night fell.

A crescent moon rose into the air.

The entire village was shrouded in darkness. It was dead silent..