The sun gradually sets behind the mountains in the sky.
Chen Changsheng looked into the distance and saw a city bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.
It was a kind of city that was familiar to him.
Ximing City.
It was also the former royal capital of Xixiao.
For this kind of city that he hadn't seen for a long time, Chen Changsheng seemed to have met an old friend.
He quickened his pace and hurried over, entering the city before dark.
However, when he walked into the city, he suddenly smelled a putrid smell.
Chen Changsheng frowned.
He looked towards that front.
On both sides of the street, there were many people lying scattered. Their clothes were in tatters and their breath was weak, as if they had been hungry for several days.
There were broken bowls on the ground, and most of them were just a piece of rag, which was the begging bowl at that time.
"Give me something to eat..."
When Chen Changsheng walked over, the group of people surrounded him.
"Sir, please give me something to eat!"
"grown ups!"
"My lord, please be kind, I'm starving to death, lord."
Chen Changsheng was surrounded and impenetrable.
The people in front of him were grabbing his trouser legs, or kneeling in front of him and kowtowing. Without exception, they all had sallow complexions and thin muscles, and even their eyes were sunken.
Chen Changsheng looked at this scene with some confusion.
In his memory, it seemed that yesterday was not like this at all.
In the blink of an eye, it became unfamiliar.
Chen Changsheng saw some other people lying on the street. They were motionless. It was only when he just wanted to go that he realized that it was not that they had no strength to get up, but that they had lost their breath.
And the putrid smell also came from them, and there were already insects and flies lying on them.
I don’t know how many days have passed, but no one has taken care of the body.
The people in front of him knelt down, kowtowed and prayed. Chen Changsheng looked at them for a moment, then shook his head, pushed the crowd away and walked inside.
It's not that he is ruthless, but that he really can't give everyone something. Maybe because of a few copper coins, they may fight and someone will die.
This is what Chen Changsheng doesn't want to see.
The group of people behind chased him for a certain distance and then stopped chasing him.
They continued to wait for the next person to enter the city to kneel down and pray like before in order to get a bite of food.
Chen Changsheng walked along the direction in his memory until he came to an alley after a long time.
Arriving at a door, he reached out and knocked.
"Knock knock..."
There was no movement behind the door.
But Chen Changsheng could feel a breath inside, which seemed to be looking at the door, hesitating whether to open the door.
"Shopkeeper Long, we had a drink together three years ago."
Then there was still no movement.
Just a moment later, the person looking at the door seemed to remember something.
"It's you."
Longzhong stood up and walked forward to open the door.
Looking around, he saw the man in green shirt standing at the door, and his memory gradually became clearer.
Chen Changsheng smiled warmly and said, "Shopkeeper Long, long time no see."
"Come in quickly."
After Chen Changsheng entered the door, Long Zhongzheng immediately closed the door.
"sit."
Chen Changsheng looked back and saw Shopkeeper Long limping forward.
"What's wrong with your legs?" Chen Changsheng asked.
Long Zhongzheng sighed and said: "I ran into a troublesome situation and couldn't escape it, so I ended up with this limp problem."
He paused and asked, "What are you doing here?"
Chen Changsheng said: "I stopped by. I thought there was a friend here, so I came to visit."
Long Zhongzheng was stunned after hearing this and said: "We just met and drank a few glasses of wine."
"Yes." Chen Changsheng said, "Isn't this enough?"
Long Zhongzheng paused and asked, "What are you not here to do?"
Chen Changsheng smiled and said, "I don't have any other thoughts. I really just came to meet my friends."
Long Zhongzheng couldn't fault anything. Even so, he still didn't quite believe Chen Changsheng.
In other words, he doesn't even believe that there is such a person.
But when people came, he had to entertain them well.
After all, knowing each other is real.
Long Zhongzheng sighed and said: "I can't treat you to a drink this time when you come over. I'm so poor now that I can't wait to break a copper in half."
"It seems like you've had a rough few years."
Chen Changsheng said: "When I met you, Chen still remembered that you were the respected shopkeeper Long."
After hearing this, Long Zhong was dumbfounded and said, "Did you scold me?"
"Tell the truth." Chen Changsheng said: "At that time, all the gangs in Ximing City were willing to give you a face. This is not fake, is it?"
Shopkeeper Long sighed and said: "It's true, but the world will always change. No one's life will be smooth sailing. Similarly, people will also change, and people will not always give me face because of that old relationship.
"
"What's the reason?" Chen Changsheng asked.
Shopkeeper Long waved his hands helplessly: "It was to protect a child..."
"The child's father had a grudge against a certain gang, and he suffered retaliation later. They wanted to wipe out his entire family without leaving any further trouble. I have known that child for a long time, and at that time I was confused and felt pity. Please go and beg.
The leader of that gang, but they didn’t give me face. I wanted to give it a try, so I begged again, but in the end I pissed them off, and I was kicked out, and that’s how I became lame.
.”
Chen Changsheng saw him slapping his legs and said, "It sounds like you are a little regretful from what you said."
"Of course I regret it. Not to mention the lame leg, my life was ruined. The most important thing is that the child was not saved."
He sighed.
Chen Changsheng heard his complaint, and he felt that Shopkeeper Long did not regret taking the initiative, but he regretted not being able to save the child.
"What happened to you next? Logically speaking, you should leave Ximing."
"My legs are lame and my family is poor. Where can I go? Besides, look at the current world, where can I go?"
"..."
Chen Changsheng paused and asked, "Is Daxiang very chaotic?"
"Aren't you talking nonsense?"
"Chen is indeed a little ignorant. He went to a distant place before and doesn't know much about Daxiang."
"You really don't understand?"
"Um."
"Then I'll tell you."
Shopkeeper Long knows much more than the waiter in Jiang Gucheng before.
He is in Daxiang, and he has witnessed with his own eyes the current conflicts between the five parties, the frequent wars, and the chaos in the public.
"Can't eat enough! You know, those people had nothing to eat, so they gnawed tree bark and ate Guanyin soil, and were swollen to death. This was still considered good. I also saw some people cooking human flesh. Those were really...
…”
"This is still a time when it is not too chaotic. When it is the most chaotic, there is burning, killing and looting everywhere. If you can rob others, you can live. If you can't rob someone, then you will die."