On the day of Qi Yan's eighth birthday, his parents were beheaded at the execution ground.
He was in prison with his brother and knew nothing of his parents' deaths.
Ten days later, I learned about it from the mouth of the new prisoner.
The elder brother cried into tears, Qi Yan grabbed his sleeve tightly, at a loss for what to do.
My brother is only two years older than him, and like him, he is just an ignorant child.
The two couldn't understand what "beheading" meant.
Qi Yan stared:
"Did Mom and Dad lose their heads? Mom is so beautiful, so she doesn't have a head?"
The elder brother wiped away his tears and wrapped his hands not much bigger than him.
"Don't be afraid, don't be sad, we will be reunited with our parents soon."
Qi Yan asked him:
"Are we going to die too?"
The elder brother nodded and said to him:
"My parents are gone, we are their sons, how can we be alive? Soon, someone will come to kill us."
Qi Yan has no fear of death in his heart, only the expectation of seeing his parents again.
A few days later, in the early hours of the morning, someone turned up outside their cell.
Qi Yan was awakened by the visitor, got up with sleepy eyes, and asked through the railing:
"Are you here to kill us?"
The man didn't speak, he raised his hand and split the chain on the cell door.
Brother also woke up, trembling all over, standing in front of Qi Yan:
"You... start with me first! You'd better move quickly! We are still children, and we are very afraid of pain!"
The man didn't say anything, picked up the two children from one side to the other, quietly took them out of the cell and put them into a carriage.
The groom didn't stop for a moment, and galloped out of the city with his whip. He ran for fifty miles in the dark and stopped in a small town on the outskirts of Beijing.
The man who rescued them got the two children out of the car and said to them:
"I can only send you here. The favor I owe to Mr. Qi has already been repaid. From now on, you can go anywhere you want, to the north or the south. In short, you must leave the Central Plains and don't return to the capital."
Leaving those words behind, he left quickly in the carriage, never to be seen again.
He said it easily, but for two penniless children, it is impossible to go to a distant land.
Qi Yan and his elder brother could only hide in an abandoned warehouse in the town first, picking up other people's leftovers to survive.
It didn't take long for the news of their escape to be known to the emperor.
The emperor at that time was still the first emperor. Compared with his son, the first emperor had a more vicious personality. When he heard that the two children had escaped, he immediately ordered the whole city to search and arrest them.
The officers and soldiers searched every inch of the capital, but they couldn't find them.
The old emperor was furious and asked to expand the scope of the search.
The small town where Qi Yan and his brother were hiding soon became the focus of the investigation.
Seeing many officers and soldiers suddenly appearing on the street, my brother immediately realized that these people were looking for them.
He took Qi Yan away from the original warehouse and hid in a pigsty of a family, not daring to come out for several days and nights.
Qi Yan hadn't had any water or rice for three days in a row, and was thirsty and hungry. On the fourth day, he couldn't bear it anymore and asked his brother if he could go out and get some water to drink.
My elder brother is only ten years old, and I am still a child who needs to be taken care of.
Qi Yan was thirsty, and he wanted to drink water more than Qi Yan.
"...Okay!" He really couldn't bear it anymore, "Let's go together, drink some water and come back."
In the southeast corner of the town, there is a well. The water quality is bitter. No one in the town drinks it. It is usually used to feed camels.
The two brothers lay down by the well, hugging the bucket, and drank for a long time without letting go, until their belly rounded.
After drinking a bucket of water, my brother pulled up Qi Yan.
"I can't drink anymore, I have to go back quickly."
Qi Yan was very obedient and quickly left behind him.
When passing the corner of the street, the two didn't pay attention and accidentally bumped into a child.
The child was about seven or eight years old, about the same height as Qi Yan, he was knocked down to the ground, and lost his temper:
"Are you blind?! Walk without looking at the road! How dare you bump into me!"
Qi Yan felt his voice was very familiar, and when he took a closer look, it turned out that the other party was his classmate, Xia Xing, the second son of the Xia family.
Xia Xing also recognized him:
"You—how are you here?!"
Xia Xing heard from his father that Qi Yan and his elder brother are both fugitives, and the government is looking for them.
Qi Yan went up and covered his mouth: "Hush! Don't make a sound!"
The relationship between Xia Xing and Qi Yan is very ordinary.
Xia Xing is stupid by nature, has no understanding of anything, but has a reckless and domineering personality, so he is very unpopular in the school.
He was often scolded by his master because of his poor homework.
Qi Yan is the exact opposite of him.
He is gentle and generous, tolerant and sincere in dealing with others. He has read many books at a young age, and he can often speak very insightful remarks when answering his master's questions.
The children in the academy like to play with him, and the master admires him very much.
Only Xia Xing didn't like Qi Yan.
He is very jealous and hates all the people who are better than him, but he himself is worthless, so he almost hates everyone around him.
And Qi Yan was the one he disliked the most.
Something happened to the Qi family, and everyone in the school was very sad, especially the master, whose eyes got wet several times during the lecture.
And Xia Xing was so happy secretly that his stomach would burst from laughter.
Later, when he heard that Qi Yan had become a fugitive, he laughed so hard that he rolled on the bed.
From now on, no one will praise Qi Yan in front of him again.
A few days ago, Xia Hongxi suddenly said that this small town had a beautiful scenery, and he wanted to bring him and his mother to live for a while.
At first, Boss Xia Xing was not happy.
He disliked this place very much, and felt that this small county town was dirty and dilapidated, where there was no grandeur and grandeur in the capital.
Who would have thought that he would bump into Qi Yan today? It's a great thing!
Xia Xing rolled his eyes, and immediately pretended to be submissive without struggling, letting Qi Yan cover his mouth.
Seeing that he didn't intend to call for someone, Qi Yan hesitated for a moment and let go of his hand.
Xia Xing pretended to be concerned, and asked him repeatedly:
"Qi Yan? How are you?! I'm so worried about you! I thought, I thought you were dead! I'm so sad!!"
He said it sincerely, and the brothers were quickly fooled, and they were no longer so defensive about him.
Qi Yan whispered to him:
"We escaped, you must not report on us, or both of us will lose our heads!"
Xia Xing pretended to be sad:
"... Yes, I forgot, Uncle and Aunt Qi are gone..."
Qi Yan also said:
"We can't stay outside for too long, we have to go, can you pretend that you haven't seen us?"
Xia Xing vowed:
"Of course! I will keep my mouth shut and won't tell anyone! But... I just came from the front, and there are officers and soldiers everywhere! Don't go there, go around to the alley to the east!"
The two believed it was true, and thanked him a thousand times.
After saying goodbye to Xia Xing in a hurry, the elder brother took Qi Yan and walked straight to the alley in his mouth without the slightest doubt.
Xia Xing lied to them.
That alley was heavily guarded, and the streets were full of officers and soldiers.
As soon as the two showed up, they were recognized.
They turned around and ran, but how could the two children outrun the able-bodied soldiers, and they were caught within a few steps.
The old emperor didn't kill them in the end, he confiscated them as slaves in the palace when they were young.
The two were very lucky at first, thinking that they had saved their lives.
Even though being a slave is hard work, as long as two people depend on each other for their lives, there is no suffering to be unbearable.
But it didn't take long for the joy to turn to humiliation.
— To enter the palace as a slave, one must purify oneself.
This time, the elder brother still stood in front of Qi Yan and entered the cleansing room one step ahead of him.
The elder brother didn't live long, less than two days after he came out, he died in Qi Yan's arms due to bleeding from the wound.
He had just turned ten years old and died young.
His death touched the remaining compassion of the old emperor, Qi Yan was finally released by him, and he ordered people to drive Qi Yan out of the capital, and he would not be an official in the court for life.
Qi Yan was secretly adopted by his father's old acquaintance, changed his name and surname, and raised him in Jiangnan.
In order to avoid people's eyes and ears, he did not participate in the scientific examination under a false identity until the old emperor died of illness and the new emperor ascended the throne, and returned to the capital to become an official.
Later, at the behest of the new emperor, he got rid of Xia Hongxi for him.
The emperor was grateful for his contribution and exonerated his father. Qi Yan also restored his original name.
Seven years later, in the city of Binzhou, he asked Xia Xun:
"Tell me, should Xia Xing die?"
Xia Xun's hands and feet were cold and she was covered in cold sweat.
He thought, Xia Xing really deserved to die, even his father Xia Hongxi deserved to die.
No matter what Qi Yan wanted to do to him, it seemed to be a matter of course. It was originally what the Xia family owed him.
Xia Xun couldn't control his breathing, his chest rose and fell violently, he gasped and asked:
"Then why...don't you kill me? Why...let me live?"
Qi Yan didn't answer. He looked at Xia Xun and said word by word:
"Have you forgotten? The first day I saw you, I told you my real name."
The shimmering and dark shadows in his eyes hurt Xia Xun.
Xia Xun clutched her heart, stepped back several steps, and propped herself up on the table to barely stand.
"No... don't say any more..."
He waved his hands in vain, and before Qi Yan could speak again, he turned and walked out the door.
He staggered and nearly tripped over the threshold.
Qi Yan wanted to help him, but he escaped.
Xia Xun didn't know about the past of the Qi family and the Xia family before, and in the past few years, he and Xia Wen agreed to avoid mentioning this matter.
It was only in the prison car going to Lingnan that Xia Wen once told that it was Xia Hongxi and his wife who conspired to kill Qi Yan's parents.
Xia Wen's mother passed away very early, and the wife he mentioned refers to Xia Xing's mother.
Xia Wen seldom intervened in his father's business affairs, usually, apart from dealing with the official affairs of the court conscientiously, he just went back to the mansion to accompany his wife.
Xia Xun's eldest sister and Xia Wen were born by the same mother, and they got married early, so they don't know the details.
So much so that when Xia Xun asked Xia Wen how Qi Yan's parents died, Xia Wen couldn't tell the exact story.
Even if he only heard a few words, Xia Xun at that time was greatly shaken.
He still remembers saying vaguely to Xia Wen:
"It seems...he should treat us like this..."
Xia Wen didn't know that Xia Xun and Qi Yan had known each other for a long time. He stroked Xia Xun's head and comforted him:
"It's just that it hurts you. You didn't do anything wrong, but you suffered a great crime..."
At this moment, Xia Xun was shocked far more than that day.
It turned out that Qi Yan had an older brother, and it turned out that his older brother died so tragically.
All of this was actually caused by the Xia family, Xia Hongxi killed his parents, Xia Xing killed his elder brother.
Xia Xun thought, in fact, Qi Yan did nothing wrong, right
If it were him, he would have to find his enemy for revenge after risking his life.
What did Xia Xun do wrong
He knew nothing from the beginning to the end. When the incident happened, he was only four years old and could not read a few big characters.
He likes Qi Yan so much, trusts him unconditionally, and regards him as the only treasure he owns.
However, ever since Qi Yan brought people to raid Xia's house, he never took a look at Xia Xun.
Xia Xun was imprisoned for several months, but he never showed up once.
Seven years after Xia Xun passed away, he only made a trip to Lingnan, and it was still for business.
He only regarded Xia Xun as the son of his enemy, and thought he deserved to die too.
He didn't even have the slightest affection for him.
Xia Xun's brain was about to explode.
Qi Yan did nothing wrong, and he did nothing wrong, so who is to blame
He couldn't move anymore, so he squatted down slowly.
Blood rushed to his head, his temples throbbed, his head was a mess, and he couldn't think.
There was only one thought, which was very clear in his mind.
—He didn't want to stay here, and he didn't want to see Qi Yan again.
Chen Jingyin walked out of the room, just in time to see Xia Xun's strange appearance, stepped forward a few steps, and asked with concern:
"Master Xia, are you alright?"
Xia Xun took a few breaths and stood up shaking:
"... I'm fine."
The shadow of the mottled tree was cast on Chen Jingyin's face. From her pure expression, Xia Xun vaguely saw her former self.
He really didn't want to see the same thing happen again, but there was nothing he could do.
He could only escape.
He asked Chen Jingyin:
"Miss Chen, do you know any Hu people?"