Chapter 65: Undisturbed Dust
Just as Luo Jin was about to say something, Xiao Lian suddenly said, "I seem to have... some impressions."
Luo Jin: "What?"
"Huzhuang. I remember, I used to live in Huzhuang!" Xiao Lian became excited, "Elder Sister, let's go and have a look. Maybe that's Xiao Lian's home?"
Luo Jin’s heart twist, "There are many villages called Huzhuang, this one may not be your home?"
All the people in this village were dead. If this was Xiao Lian's home, she would be disappointed!
But now she had another reason to go to Huzhuang. No matter if it was or not, she had to take a look. Even if it was bad news, it was better than no news.
Escape could never solve the problem.
The three of them got on the carriage and the driver headed toward Huzhuang.
When it was getting dark, the carriage stopped at Huzhuang. The driver was a little anxious, "There is a stone tablet here. Let's not go in, shall we?"
Luo Jin got off the carriage and saw a large stone tablet at the entrance of the village. It was signed by the local government. It seemed to be officially established. The stone tablet recorded the plague more than ten years ago, saying that more than a hundred people here weren't spared. It warned the merchants not to enter to avoid being contaminated by unclean things.
"Then you wait here." Luo Jin said, but she didn't mind these things and walked directly into the village.
Shui Yingchen also followed into the village. Xiao Lian looked around and didn't chase after Luo Jin until walked far.
"Elder Sister, I am familiar with this place. This was my home!" Xiao Lian's expression gradually became sad. "My parents died of the plague, right?"
Luo Jin couldn't deny it and could only pat her on the back. "My condolences."
Xiao Lian walked along the road at the entrance of the village, faster and faster. She suddenly stopped in front of a house.
"Here... my home was here, Elder Sister!"
Luo Jin raised her head. As it was dark, she was holding a lantern. ‘Li's House’ was written on the door.
It was the Li Family that Luo Xin's father mentioned.
It turned out that Xiao Lian was the descendant of the Li Family.
It was a pity that all the family members had died of the plague and no one could say anything.
No one had set foot in this house for more than ten years. It seemed like a haunted house at night. Luo Jin walked in with a lantern, feeling a little uneasy. She looked back at Shui Yingchen and saw that he looked calm and didn’t show any fear. She felt a little relieved.
Xiao Lian kept wandering around the house. She also held a small lantern and turned things over with her little hands without any disdain.
Luo Jin didn’t stop her. Although there was a plague here, more than ten years had passed. The virus couldn't survive without living people, so there was no risk of infection.
"Elder Sister, my ball!" Xiao Lian was excited, "The ball I played with when I was a child! And this little wooden horse, my mother bought it for me when I was little!"
She held the two things in her hands and tears couldn't stop flowing from her eyes, "Elder Sister, I am the child of this family. My surname was Li. I remember it all. My name was Li Hanxiang."
Luo Jin walked to Xiao Lian and gently hugged her shoulders, "Tomorrow we will go to the town to buy some paper money and burn it for the people in the village, okay?"
Xiao Lian nodded with tears in her eyes.
She took Xiao Lian's hand and walked out of Li's house, returned to the village entrance, and the three of them got on a carriage and stayed at the inn in the town.
Luo Jin asked the storekeeper to get some water, washed Xiao Lian's toys, and wiped them carefully with a soft cloth before returning them to her.
The next morning, Luo Jin took Xiao Lian to the town to buy paper money. She originally thought that Shui Yingchen didn't need to follow. It was just burning some paper money. So it was a bit strange for him, an emperor, to personally follow her.
Shui Yingchen ignored her and got on the carriage. Luo Jin felt helpless. She couldn't drive him off the carriage.
The local government buried the bones of the villagers in an open space behind the village. Although they were buried separately, there was no tombstone, so it was unclear which was the Li Family's grave.
Luo Jin bought a lot of paper money and burned paper on each grave.
It took a long time to finally burn all the paper money. Luo Jin said: "Okay, go back."
Xiao Lian stood in front of the grave and said out of the blue: "I remembered something. Elder Sister, I'll take you to my home."
She ran off as she said that. Luo Jin hurriedly followed.
Xiao Lian ran back to Li's residence, fumbled in a corner of the house for a while. A bulge was pressed and a crack appeared in the corner. Xiao Lian reached in and took something out.
"I remember my mother told me that our Li Family has a mission. As long as someone is still alive, this mission must be completed." Xiao Lian explained, opening the box.
There was a letter in the box with a few words written on it.
For the attention of Princess of Yeyuan Country, Feng Lingruo.
Luo Jin picked up the letter and felt something was wrong.
"Luo Xin died nineteen years ago, and Feng Lingruo is... eighteen years old this year!"
"Writing to someone who wasn't yet born... is a bit interesting." Shui Yingchen said. Abruptly, he reached out to grab the letter, tearing open the seal, and taking out the yellowed paper inside.
"Why did you open it? It's not your letter..." Luo Jin wanted to stop him, but Shui Yingchen had already unfolded the letter. She had no choice but to wait for him to finish reading the letter.
Shui Yingchen only glanced at it a few times and finished reading the letter. He raised his finger lightly, a flame lit up, and ignited the letter.
Luo Jin was anxious, stretched out her hand to grab the letter, fanned out the fire with her hand, and fumed: "What are you doing?"
Shui Yingchen said coldly: "That person's words aren’t trustworthy."
"If she can't predict, how can she know Feng Lingruo's name?" Luo Jin looked at the letter in her hand. Although she fanned out the fire, a small part of the letter was burned. The lower half of the content could no longer be seen.
This was a letter from Luo Xin to Feng Lingruo. Meaning, a letter from the author of the novel to the protagonist of her own work.
What was written must be important.
She looked at the letter in her hand.
The handwriting was neat.
"Dear Feng Lingruo, hello, I'm Luo Xin. You can call me the great astrologer, or you can call me... the author."
"I am the creator of this world, but unfortunately, I can't change it. Only you and He Xiao can change it. I wrote to you to tell you about the disaster that is about to happen in this world."
"I'm sorry, this disaster is my setting for this world, but I didn't write it into the main storyline. When I entered this world, I found that those things that were originally only written in the setting notes actually existed in the world. Forgive me, I am an irresponsible author. Because of something that happened in life, I hurriedly finished this book. But the disaster wasn't solved, and the setting still exists. "
"If I knew that the people in this novel would suffer so much because of my setting, I would definitely not do this. I feel sorry for the original villain Shui Yingchen. I set him to have a complex, terrifying background and with an absolute reason for his darkening. However, I ended the story without him appearing. I have seen that child. He was only five years old at that time. His eyes were clear and he would smile and call me Elder Sister. "
"I want to change his fate, so I told him the prophecy about him. But I didn't expect that his vicious father would kill him and bury him in the underground palace in order to save his own life. "
"And now, I want to tell you that I set up another disaster to occur in this world. I originally wanted you to solve it in the main storyline. But I didn't have time to finish it because I died before I finished it. "
"This disaster was caused by the gu insect created by Empress Dowager Su of Hanyuan Kingdom. To solve this disaster, you need to find two things. One is the Imperial Sword. I have placed it in the underground palace of Yeyuan Palace. It is easy to find. The second is..."
The letter broke off here. The rest was burned by Shui Yingchen and it couldn't be seen.
Luo Jin raised her head and looked at Shui Yingchen with an inquiring look, "What is the second one? Did you see it?"
"No." Shui Yingchen snorted coldly, "I don't believe a word of it."
"Forget it." Luo Jin put the letter away and curled her lips, "There are two copies of this letter. The other one was arranged to be sent to He Xiao. Obviously Luo Xin also knew that eggs cannot be put in one basket. I will go to Feng Lingruo and ask her to find the Imperial Sword first. Then I’ll ask He Xiao if he had received the other letter."
As soon as she turned around, Shui Yingchen suddenly grabbed her arm, "You can't go!"
Luo Jin shook off his hand and took a step back, "It's none of your business!"
Without saying a word, Shui Yingchen suddenly drew his sword and stabbed toward Luo Jin's back. Luo Jin immediately jumped away, frowning slightly, "You said you wouldn't hurt me."
"It’s just talk." Shui Yingchen turned her wrist and gave another slash.
A blue light flashed in Luo Jin's hand, blocking Shui Yingchen's attack. She wasn't at an advantage with her short sword. After a few moves, she suddenly jumped back.
Countless reptiles swarmed around her, bypassed her, and crawled straight toward Shui Yingchen.
Shui Yingchen had to take two steps back to avoid the insects on the ground.
Luo Jin stood far away and didn’t step forward. She said lightly: "You have no chance of winning against me."
"You are stronger than before." Shui Yingchen whispered.
"I have recently upgraded to the seventh level. Now this form can last for a long time. Even if I don't summon these insects, I will not lose to you."
Shui Yingchen lowered her eyes before putting away the sword.
"I understand," he said in a hoarse voice, "I respect your decision, as long as it is your own decision."
He sighed and turned away.
Only then, Xiao Lian dared to come up and whispered: "This man burned letters and beat people... is he actually a bad person?"
Luo Jin shook her head, "People in this world cannot be judged by the label of good or bad people."
She walked out of the house slowly.
"Let's go to Yeyuan."
There was no need to go through Hanyuan to travel from Jiyuan to Yeyuan, but the journey was quite far. Luo Jin had Shui Yingchen's token in his hand, thinking that it would be a waste if she didn't use it. Anyway, he knew she was here and there was an official post station nearby with attentive service and no charge. She stopped the carriage at the post station and walked in.