Chapter 124

Chapter 124

The story of "Catching Demons" needed several more rehearsals before it was ready to go up.

During this period, Shen Yuan compiled illustrated guides of the herbs, poisonous insects, and edible mushrooms that appeared in the story's thick forest.

In addition to these, there were also the foods that were in it.

The Wu Country didn't have a way to ferment dough yet. You could only get steamed buns in teahouses partnered with the Storytellers' Union, where they were sold as teahouse treats.

Sweet buns were priced at sixteen wen each because honey and white flour were expensive, making a profit of seven wen.

Meat buns and vegetable buns were priced at fifteen wen and fourteen wen respectively, making profits of eight wen and nine wen.

Both types of buns contained spices, and vegetable buns had extra lard added. However, since a small amount could significantly change the flavor, the cost was actually lower than that of honey.

When teahouses bought the buns, the Union would knock off three wen each.

Buns weren't a big moneymaker for the teahouses; they were just an extra item.

Shen Yuan intended to get the fermentation method out there through "Catching Demons," which wouldn't really hurt the teahouses' bun business.

Putting the recipe out there was also to get more variety in the types of food available.

Shen Yuan had observed that while there were many food stalls in Wu Country, what they sold was pretty much the same. Most sold baked flatbreads, raw fish slices, or noodles. Because they were working with the North Country, more and more traveling merchants were coming to Youyang City.

With such limited food options, the merchants were pretty sick of them.

Many brought their own ingredients and had cooks that came with them prepare meals. Occasionally, some bought food from stalls, but there weren't a lot of them.

Shen Yuan noticed that the city's residents weren't all that well-off; most of the money the food stalls made came from these traveling merchants.

If more diverse food options were available, it would certainly bring in more money.

The local government likely wouldn't pay much mind to this small amount of money, but regular folks would appreciate it.

Besides these, the chestnut cake mentioned in the story was also not available in Youyang City.

Shen Yuan wrote down all the recipes and then went to the palace to see Emperor Li Xing.

Shen Yuan rarely entered the palace unless he was called in to talk business; he preferred working at the Storytellers' Union and the theater.

When the eunuch announced that State Preceptor Shen was here, Li Xing was thrown for a second, wondering if something had happened.

He told them to bring him right in. Li Xing first looked Shen Yuan up and down, confirming there were no visible injuries and he seemed okay, which put him at ease.

Brother Xie's prized person was fine.

With eunuchs present, Li Xing didn't call him "brother-in-law." "What brings you here, State Preceptor Shen?"

Shen Yuan handed the compiled booklet to Li Xing. "These are items that show up in the new play 'Catching Demons.' Please review them, Your Majesty, to see if we can use them."

A new play?

Li Xing perked up.

Anything Shen Yuan wrote was new and interesting; it probably wasn't useless.

The more Li Xing looked through it, the happier he got. He spotted the fermentation method right away. "This fermentation technique is good. Can it really make dough expand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The imperial kitchen can try it. I can also go there to show them how."

Li Xing waved his hand; he couldn't have Shen Yuan go do that. "Let the imperial kitchen study it. State Preceptor Shen, tell me about 'Catching Demons.'"

With so much going on at court, he likely wouldn't be able to watch "Catching Demons" in the short term. Stealing this little break, he'd like to hear a bit about it.

Shen Yuan first gave Li Xing the gist of the story. Li Xing sighed. "Who's to say whether demons eat humans or humans eat demons. But I didn't expect there to be demons besides gods and ghosts. You really have a head full of such fascinating things."

Shen Yuan chuckled. "They're from the fairy world in my dreams; there are many legends of this kind. Your Majesty... there's something else I wanted to talk about."

Seeing Shen Yuan's hesitation, Li Xing guessed the matter was significant and nodded. "State Preceptor Shen, say what's on your mind."

"During the rehearsals for 'Catching Demons,' I observed the actors really getting into their roles. The familial and friendly bonds in the play are like things in real life, so they're easier to connect with. However, in 'Snow Disaster,' regarding scenes of soldiers rescuing people, exhausting themselves to save others, the actors just went through the motions. They couldn't really feel it in their hearts."

Shen Yuan paused before continuing. "If the common people haven't truly seen or experienced it, they cannot imagine how good it could be. Even if performed for them, it wouldn't be convincing. Your Majesty is currently reforming the military. If possible, it would be best for them to treat the people according to the standards of the soldiers in 'Snow Disaster.' Only then can they win the people's hearts."

The latter part involved how to regulate a nation's military. Li Xing understood why Shen Yuan had hesitated earlier.

"State Preceptor Shen's reminder is apt. I will order military commanders to pay more attention in this regard."

Li Xing pondered for a moment before asking Shen Yuan, "Once military training is more complete, could the State Preceptor write a play that showcases both Wu Country's national prestige and the new spirit within the army?"

This was essentially an official propaganda department. Shen Yuan nodded. "Of course."

Although Li Xing was only making a preliminary request, Shen Yuan was already beginning to outline the story.

Returning to the theater, he found a package delivered from the Storytellers' Union in his room.

The journey was long; this must have been written over half a month ago.

Besides letters from the local government office and Dashu Village, this batch included one from Xu Dashan.

Wang Sanhu's letter contained a line.

"Xiao Yuan, it's your big brother Dashan. Are you doing well in Youyang City? I carved some small toys for you and the children. Recently, I've been helping Little Yuan with carving. How is Qing Xuan? The family is thinking of arranging a match for him, not sure of his thoughts. Help your big brother Dazhuang ask."

Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. Arranging a marriage for Qing Xuan...

Xu Qingxuan had come to Youyang City initially as Shen Yuan's bodyguard.

Later, when the theater opened, the props department was severely understaffed. With enough hidden guards around Shen Yuan, he had Xu Qingxuan return to his original trade as a carpenter, making props for the plays.

Xu Qingxuan had some innate talent in this line of work, understanding quickly and producing good work.

Later, when training others, he also contributed significantly.

However, his daily routine consisted of either making props or exercising. Coupled with having enough food and drink, his physique had become even more robust than when he arrived.

Compared to his father, he now more resembled a "big mountain."

He also kept a full beard and seldom smiled, making people in the theater somewhat afraid of him.

It wasn't that Shen Yuan judged by appearance, but Qing Xuan did look rather intimidating, easily causing misunderstandings. If he wanted to marry a wife, Big Brother Dashan and the others likely had their work cut out for them.

Shen Yuan mentioned this matter to Xu Qingxuan. The eight-foot-tall, burly man actually blushed, nodding sheepishly. "I'll follow the family's arrangements."

Shen Yuan said cheerfully, "When autumn comes, you can return home to meet potential matches. After getting married, come back, bringing your wife along."

Xu Qingxuan's face flushed even redder, and his hands moved faster as he crafted the props. "Thank you, Uncle Yuan. I'll bring my... my wife..."

As the word "wife" left his lips, Xu Qingxuan's ears turned so red they seemed about to drip blood. Shen Yuan stopped teasing him, reminded him to be careful and avoid injury while working, and then left.

The letter still made no mention of rain, suggesting it had finally stopped.

Xie Manor, Tranquil Garden.

Xie Yulin was reading the latest report sent back by Agent Gui Qi from the North Country.

Through their persistent efforts, more and more farming households were learning the art of ice carving from them.

On the surface, while only about half the people in the initial villages took up ice carving, subsequent villages saw only one or two learners. In reality, however, nearly half of each village was secretly learning the craft in private.

They covered for each other, and the North Country's local officials weren't particularly strict in their oversight—no one wanted to handle a duty that offered no extra benefits. Consequently, the authorities above still hadn't realized that the farmers were spending all their time learning ice carving instead of tending their fields.

Once skilled in ice carving, they grasped the principles and could apply them to wood carving as well.

They organized themselves to sell their carved items to the covert guards disguised as traveling merchants.

The large volume of goods didn't pile up; they were genuinely taken to market. With over a dozen countries involved, the demand easily absorbed the supply, which was actually insufficient to meet it.

The covert guard division even gained an additional source of income from this trade.

The money the farmers earned from selling their carvings was a full four times what they would have made toiling in the fields all year.

For food, they spent a little money on old millet and foraged for wild vegetables in the mountains, eating much as they had before, with little difference.

When it came to taxes, they paid in copper coins, which was far quicker than producing grain.

It was the summer tax collection that finally exposed the fact that the farmers weren't cultivating their land.

When the local officials came to collect taxes, they found that nearly half the payments were in copper coins instead of grain. The amount of grain collected plummeted by half—a significant drop.

The key issue was that this wasn't happening in just one village or one county...

It was even occurring across multiple prefectures.

With such a drastic reduction in grain, the higher authorities were bound to investigate.

The investigation revealed a shocking truth.

Those Wu Country ice carving masters, who had been working right under the noses of the North Country officials, had somehow managed to slip past them and travel to more distant areas to take on apprentices.

They had covered almost every village under the various North Country prefectures. The North Country's manpower was simply insufficient to monitor them all!

Further inquiry uncovered that they had hired North Country commoners who had already mastered the skill to go to other places, recruit apprentices, and teach them. Since the North Country officials were only keeping an eye on the Wu Country people, they had failed to detect the scheme.

Besides, who would monitor the commoners' daily movements and activities?

Thus, the situation arose where there was no grain to collect for the summer tax.

As a result, before the autumn harvest, the North Country was certain to face a famine...

The Northern Emperor was furious. He issued a strict decree forbidding the commoners from learning ice carving and ordering them back to farming.

But the commoners who had already benefited from learning ice carving were unwilling to comply.

By learning ice carving, they had also gained some skill in wood carving. They could sell these carvings to traveling merchants, earning far more money than farming ever could.

They no longer had to toil under the sun, face to the yellow earth and back to the sky, exhausting themselves for a year only to accumulate nothing and go hungry day after day, year after year.

It was only after learning the ice carving skill that they had begun to eat their fill.

Now, even if the Emperor himself stood before them and forbade them from learning, it wouldn't work. If farming could guarantee them full meals every day, wouldn't they have farmed?

Moreover, Wu Country agents previously planted in the North, along with covert guards who had impersonated or bribed North Country commoners, were now fanning the flames.

"If we farm, we die. If we don't farm, we also die. We might as well live one day at a time."

"Learning a skill can be passed down to our children. Even if we die, our children won't. Can those officials kill our whole families? Then there'd be even fewer people to farm the land."

"Maybe being killed is better. This life is unbearable. The taxes are so heavy, and there are snow disasters every year. When winter comes, officials, soldiers, and bandits all come to rob us of our money and grain. How are we supposed to live? How can anyone live like this?"

"That's right! We're doomed either way. If I die, I want to die with a full stomach. The taste of a full meal and meat—I'll never forget it even in death. That's better than starving or freezing to death."

Long-standing grievances between the commoners and the court, now stirred up, spiraled out of control.

The villagers actually banded together and beat up the government troops sent to force them back to farming.

And it wasn't just in one place; resistance erupted almost everywhere. The court, having no other choice, dispatched the army. The commoners, unable to fight them, simply fled into the mountains.

Those with no mountains to flee to adopted a defiant stance.

"Go ahead and kill us. Even if you kill us, no one will farm your land for you."

The North Country court also realized this. Apart from executing a few ringleaders, they didn't kill the others, instead forcing them to farm.

Some did return to farming, but their numbers were pitifully small compared to before. Meanwhile, half of those who hadn't initially resisted now secretly fled to the mountains as well.

The mountains were full of fierce beasts, but with an entire village sticking together, their chances of survival were actually higher than farming down below.

There were no taxes or corvée labor in the mountains; whatever they produced was entirely their own.

As for the harsh living conditions, to them, there wasn't much difference between life in the mountains and life below.

Survival was impossible either way. It was just that the mountains offered a slightly higher chance of staying alive.

Regardless, a grain shortage in the North Country for the next few years was now an established fact.

The Northern Emperor, enraged, executed a batch of officials. For days during court sessions, he berated his ministers, accusing them of negligence, poor governance, corruption, and lawlessness, which had driven the people to rebellion.

The Northern Emperor understood better than anyone the severity of pushing the people to rebellion. His own ancestor had ascended the throne precisely because the people, unable to bear exorbitant taxes and corrupt officials who shielded each other, leaving them with no recourse and plunging them into misery, had been forced to take up arms and revolt.

This incident triggered a rare sense of panic in the Northern Emperor. His long-held sense of supreme authority as a powerful ruler developed a crack at this moment.

He could deal with threats from other countries with swift, decisive action. But he couldn't simply slaughter all his own rebelling people.

For now, all he could do was find a gentle way to make the commoners willingly return.

The North Country court was overwhelmed dealing with this matter, and the Northern Emperor lay awake night after night.

The North Country naturally hadn't let Gui Qi and the others off the hook, but they had long since changed their appearances and gone into hiding among the North Country populace, making them impossible to find.

Xie Yulin burned the paper containing the information. Flames flickered in the small jar, reducing it to ashes in moments.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded from outside.

"Your Majesty, the undercover agents from Qingyun have reported."

Xie Yulin’s brow furrowed slightly, deducing that something major must be afoot.

The undercover guard who entered knelt respectfully on one knee and reported, "Due to prolonged heavy rain in Qingyun County, a landslide occurred deep within Cuiming Mountain. Several days later, an old Taoist from a mountain monastery discovered signs of people and led a rescue party, saving six emaciated individuals. After being treated, a few days later, some regained consciousness and revealed that there was an iron mine in the mountains, and they had all been forced to mine it. Magistrate Xie led men to search the area they described and, after several days, finally found the location."

If that were all, the guard would not have appeared so urgent.

Sure enough, the next moment, the guard added, "Magistrate Xie discovered that Cuiming Mountain belongs to State Preceptor Shen."

Cuiming Mountain has an owner, holds an iron mine, and that mine has been excavated.

Anyone would think that Shen Yuan was secretly mining iron ore.

Even with multiple pieces of evidence proving that Shen Yuan did not send people to mine the iron, it would be useless—those attacking him care little for the truth.

The records in the county office are the ironclad proof.

Xie Yulin's eyes grew icy as he thought of one person.

Song Zijuan.

Back then, it was discovered that something was amiss, suspecting someone in Qingyun County was privately trafficking iron in such large quantities it suggested an iron mine.

However, the investigation led to the private salt trade, Magistrate Pang's sale of official iron, and dismantling a spy outpost set up by Westmoon, yet the exact location of the iron mine remained elusive.

In an instant, Xie Yulin realized why Song Zijuan, upon leaving Qingyun County, had been willing to sacrifice a death warrior to kill Magistrate Pang.

The target's value was not sufficient to warrant such a risky move by a death warrior under those circumstances.

It was likely to conceal the fact that Cuiming Mountain was under Shen Yuan's name.

By doing so, what was he scheming?

Anything concerning Shen Yuan made Xie Yulin consider matters more deeply.

He never imagined that back then, when he thought himself infallible in his schemes, using Shen Yuan to get close to Song Zijuan in hopes of creating a weakness in him...

Now, after all the scheming, it has come back to haunt him.

In this scheme, Song Zijuan had outmaneuvered him.

However, upon recalling that Song Zijuan was distrusted in Westmoon, treading on thin ice...

Xie Yulin said, "Contact the spies in Westmoon and deliver a message to Song Zijuan."

Luo Yun quickly ground the ink. After Xie Yulin finished writing the letter, he handed it to the guard.

But they were still a step too late.

Song Zijuan had fled Westmoon a day earlier.

Disappearing along with him was Lu Yuan's entire family.

Ever since receiving the message Shen Yuan had sent via the escort agency, Lu Yuan had begun making plans.

He never expected that his younger brother might be the most powerful chancellor in Westmoon, second only to the emperor.

Such an impressive status did not put Lu Yuan at ease or make him eager to reunite with his relative. Instead, he focused on arranging for his family to leave Westmoon with a merchant caravan first.

The year they were separated, both he and his brother were old enough to remember things.

Especially since his brother had been exceptionally clever since childhood. If he held such a high and powerful position yet never sought out his family, there were only two possibilities.

One, his brother had forgotten everything.

Two, if it were discovered that his brother had family, that family would face mortal danger.

Lu Yuan had always valued his life and was extremely cautious.

It was precisely this caution that had allowed him to survive safely to this day, avoiding death crises multiple times.

Lu Yuan trusted his first instinct: send his family away, then settle his goods in Westmoon and leave himself.

Westmoon had classified all story-related items brought from Wu Country as contraband.

Lu Yuan had no choice but to find a way to offload them.

It was impossible to transport these goods out of the city to another place now.

Goods could enter but not leave.

If they entered, selling them was prohibited. Anyone caught selling would have all their goods confiscated and be imprisoned.

Having been a merchant for many years, Lu Yuan understood the trickery involved.

If goods could enter, it meant the nobility wanted them.

Using the court's ban on selling contraband as a pretext for confiscation was essentially a way to obtain valuable goods without spending a single coin, which could then be resold to other countries.

Not only could they profit from the sale, but they could also extort a ransom.

Lu Yuan was considering partnering with foreign merchants who had come to Westmoon, selling his batch of goods to them at a low price for them to take away.

Who knew he would still be investigated, thrown into prison, and not even allowed to pay a ransom to avoid jail time—simply kept locked up.

However, apart from poor food and accommodation, he could eat his fill and had a place to sleep.

Some people, seeing he had a cell to himself, thought he must be some serious criminal.

Lu Yuan also found it strange why he was in a solitary cell. After being imprisoned for nearly a month, finally, others were locked up with him.

Three people in total, all odd characters.

Each remained silent all day. If not for their open eyes and breathing, Lu Yuan would have thought they had no life in them.

Fortunately, his family had safely reached the place he arranged and had written to report their safety.

But he had already exceeded the time he promised to join them, so his family was likely worried about him.

Lu Yuan was extremely anxious in prison, fearing they might, out of concern, send someone to inquire in Westmoon. If they learned he was imprisoned, it might lead to other complications.

He dared not ask the prison guards to help deliver a letter. He always felt his imprisonment was abnormal, especially since his brother likely held a significant identity, making the situation even more suspicious.

However, Lu Yuan's worries did not last many more days, because he was broken out of prison.

Though calling it a prison break wasn't quite accurate.

It must have been an involuntary prison break.

His three strange cellmates, on a dark and stormy night, upon hearing two meows, suddenly rose and skillfully opened the cell door. One of them knocked him unconscious and transported him out of the prison.

When Lu Yuan woke up again, he was already in a carriage leaving Xiyue.

Sitting beside him was a person of royal bearing.

With just one glance, Lu Yuan knew the man was his younger brother.

It wasn’t that he looked much like their mother—to be honest, after so many years, he could hardly remember his mother’s appearance.

Rather, among the people he knew, only the Chancellor of Xiyue, who was suspected to be his younger brother Lu Jin, could possess such an air of nobility.

Seeing him awake, Song Zijun chuckled softly.

"Fortunately, you didn’t draw attention to yourself and come looking for me when you received the news."

Otherwise, Lu Yuan would be a dead body by now.

The Emperor of Xiyue would not spare anyone related to him.

Lu Yuan felt somewhat awkward. Was this an acknowledgment that they were brothers?

After so many years apart, Lu Yuan deeply missed his deceased parents and his missing younger brother.

But now that they had finally met, he realized his brother felt utterly unfamiliar.

Not a trace of his childhood self remained.

"Ah Jin... you must have suffered a lot over the years." Lu Yuan’s eyes grew moist. Otherwise, how could the younger brother who loved to laugh and play the most as a child have turned into this composed, inscrutable man?

Hearing the address buried in his memory suddenly called out, Song Zijun felt both strange and incredibly familiar.

It even carried a hint of secret warmth.

Habitually, he lowered his gaze to hide his emotions, wearing a flawless smile. "Elder brother, I am now called Song Zijun."

The espionage bureau had a rule: everyone who entered was without name or family name, possessing only a code name.

Having a name meant one had killed.

Only by killing the person one was meant to replace could one assume that identity and live in various places.

Until the mission ended.

The name Song Zijun had been used for so long that he seemed to have forgotten his original name.

After hearing Song Zijun’s words, Lu Yuan felt a pang in his heart.

He couldn’t quite explain it, but even though the man before him was smiling, the sense of detachment and coldness was palpable.

After all, this was not the past, and this was not the person from his memories.

He didn’t know what experiences over the years had shaped him into this.

Lu Yuan didn’t say much more and didn’t bring up family ties.

He could sense that the other man didn’t want to dwell on these topics.

After some thought, Lu Yuan asked where they were headed. If it was on the way, he could share the carriage to reach his wife and children faster.

"The State of Wu."

Lu Yuan was delighted—that was perfectly on the way.

He had settled his wife and children in Wu.

Thinking that he would soon see his family, the joy washed away some of the earlier heaviness. Lu Yuan couldn’t help but smile again and again. It was truly wonderful that they could all meet alive.

Song Zijun glanced at Lu Yuan, who couldn’t suppress his smile, then closed his eyes.

He had always known of Lu Yuan’s existence.

But what could he do about it?

Getting close would mean their deaths. Reuniting, once a hopeful yearning, had slowly become an unattainable desire he no longer dared to think about.

In the end, Song Zijun had completely stopped caring; he treated it as if he had no family in the world, and all his past memories were "cast aside."

He was Song Zijun, Xiyue’s elite agent. He had assumed control of the espionage bureau, completed his missions, and upon returning, leveraged the compromising information he held on numerous officials to maneuver his way into becoming the Chancellor.

He could be many people, many identities, but he was no longer Lu Jin.

He wondered how Shen Yuan was doing.

When the Emperor of Xiyue had ordered him to kill Shen Yuan, he had guessed the Emperor's intent.

It was nothing more than using a borrowed knife to kill.

Using Wu’s hand to kill him.

On the surface, he had sent people out, but in reality, he wanted to send a warning. However, Xie Yulin would definitely have covert guards protecting Shen Yuan, so he didn’t know if his messengers had even gotten close.

Never mind, he would see when they reached Wu.

He hoped nothing would go wrong.

...

Xie Yulin received the news from Qingyun County. While sending a message to Song Zijun, he also sent someone to inform Magistrate Xie to temporarily suppress the fact that Shen Yuan was the master of Cuiming Mountain.

Six days after he received the news, Shen Yuan also received a letter from Qin Shisong.

They had found Shen Yushu.

But the person was no longer there.

The letter said that he and Li Baozhu had taken bailiffs up the mountain to locate the iron mine. They had dug out more people, a few of whom still had a breath left in them. There happened to be an opening where air could circulate and muddy water would drip in; they had survived for a few days by drinking that water.

They had asked the group from the Taoist temple earlier, but no one knew Shen Yushu.

After these survivors regained consciousness, they helped ask again, and one person knew him.

The name, age, and birthplace all matched.

But Shen Yushu had died a year ago.

They had all been in the illicit salt mine before. While there, Shen Yushu had constantly tried to escape. Later, because the deep mountain iron mine needed workers, Shen Yushu—who had one leg broken from his escape attempts—was deemed unfit for the iron mine.

But he was young, and his leg was only crippled. Running in the deep mountains would be even harder for him, so they sent him to the deep mountain iron mine as well.

Still, even at the iron mine, he seized every chance to escape, saying his younger brother was waiting for him at home and he had to go back.

He was just a child in a poor village where the villagers could barely feed themselves; they certainly wouldn't have the extra capacity to raise another child.

He was probably already dead from starvation or the cold.

Forget about not being able to return—even if he did, he would only be a corpse.

But Shen Yushu wouldn't listen. He ran away again and again, was brutally beaten each time, and he didn't survive the last beating.

Recalling the scene that day, the man's eyes welled up. "To teach us all a lesson, the overseer made us all watch that day. He was beaten to death, his eyes wide open, refusing to close. He just wanted to go home to find his younger brother, saying his brother was waiting for him and he had promised to return."

"He begged many people, even the overseers, but sending a message was impossible, let alone letting him go home. That child even called for his brother in his dreams, saying things like 'don't blame him'."

The man was so deeply moved that after the overseer threw the body into the corpse pile, he secretly retrieved it under the cover of night and buried it on the mountain.

Qin Shisong and the others found the burial site, and there was indeed a body inside. The coroner examined it, and the age characteristics and height roughly matched Shen Yushu's.

It was all but confirmed to be the same person.

The letter described everything in great detail. Shen Yuan’s heart was heavy, and he took a long moment to compose himself before calling Shen Liushu over.

He didn't know how to tell Shen Liushu about this; it was just too painful.

He thought that perhaps it would have been better if they had never known. At least they could have held onto a sliver of hope that he was alive and well somewhere unknown.

By now, Shen Liushu could also read, having learned from Shen Yuan and the other brothers. He wasn't yet very proficient, but he could read a letter.

In fact, when he entered and saw the sorrow on Brother Yuan's face and the pained look in his eyes, he had already guessed the content of the letter.

He was prepared when he read the letter.

He just didn't understand why, even with preparation, he still couldn't control his crying.

Tears smudged the paper. Shen Liushu carefully tried to wipe them away, only making the smudge worse. In the end, the paper was nearly torn, and his tears still wouldn't stop.

Shen Liushu slapped himself hard, trying to stop crying. He couldn't even read the final news of his brother clearly anymore.

If he had known that his brother would keep running away again and again to come back and see him, would endure repeated beatings to return, would die trying to come back...

If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn't have repeatedly urged his brother the day he left, telling him he must come home.

He was too afraid of being abandoned, too afraid of losing his brother.

In the end, he still lost him.

Amidst Shen Liushu's suppressed sobs, his hunched back, and the painful veins bulging on his forehead, Shen Yuan stepped forward and embraced him, gently comforting him, "Liushu, cry. Just let it out."

"Brother Yuan... my brother, he..." Shen Liushu choked up, unable to control himself any longer. He clung tightly to Shen Yuan, seeking solace, and wailed loudly.

Shen Yuan sat with him for a long time, and Shen Liushu cried for a long time.

Until his voice grew hoarse and his eyes were so swollen that even blinking was painful.

Shen Yuan fetched a cloth, soaked it, and placed the damp towel over Shen Liushu's eyes to ease the pain.

Lying on the recliner, Shen Liushu pressed the towel with his hand, tears still streaming down.

His eldest brother had never abandoned him.