"Little brother-in-law?" An Jinxiu walked in front of Shangguan Rui. Shangguan Rui's tearful voice chilled her entire body. At this time, she even begged Shangguan Rui in her heart to tell her that her family was well and that he was just here to pick her up.
A clap of thunder could be heard from the horizon, followed by a clap of thunder. The lightning bolt, aimed from the sky, only lasted for a split-second. However, it was enough for the three people facing each other to see each other's appearances.
Shangguan Rui saw An Jin's messy hair, and she saw the wounds on Shangguan Rui's body.
While the two juniors were stunned, Aunt Xiu seemed very calm. She said, "Let's find a place to talk, this is not a place to talk."
An Jin looked around her blankly. Where could she go to find a safe place in the mountain forest and the temple behind her?
"All of you, follow me," Aunt Xiu said as she pulled An Jin to the back.
"We can't go back." An Jinxiu shook her head at Aunt Xiu. "Let's leave this place first."
"I can't do anything about his wounds," Aunt Xiy said as she forcefully pulled An Jin into the main hall.
Shangguan Rui followed behind An Jinxiu. He still didn't know who the old lady was, but when he saw that Ah Jin was still alive, and that Shangguan Rui's heart had been beating wildly all the way, he finally calmed down a little.
Aunt Xiu took An Jinxiu and Shangguan Rui to a small room by the side door where the gatekeeper was staying. She asked Shangguan Rui, "Master Shangguan, what injuries have you suffered?"
"Who are you?" Shangguan Rui asked.
An Jinxiu quickly said, "Little brother-in-law, she's my birth mother."
Only then did Shangguan Rui calm down and call her Aunt Xiu.
Aunt Xiu asked again: "Young Master Shangguan, what injuries have you suffered?"
"Knife wounds and burns," said Shangguan Rui.
"I'll go find some medicine for the wound, you guys talk." After saying this, before An Jinxiu could say anything, Aunt Xiu ran out. She knew that something must have happened to the Shangguan Family, but she didn't want to know what had happened. She couldn't take it anymore. Today, she couldn't accept another piece of grievous news.
In the small room, the candles on the wooden table were lit. An Jinxiu looked at Shangguan Rui, trying to speak up but unable to.
Shangguan Rui saw that although An Jinxiu was in a sorry state, she was not injured, so he called her again, "Eldest Sister-in-law."
"Wh-what happened at home?" An Jinxiu stammered as she asked Shangguan Rui.
Shangguan Rui had always felt that as a man, when Shangguan Yong wasn't home, he should look after their family. In just a moment, facing An Jin, Shangguan Rui was like a child who had been frightened and wronged. He choked with sobs and began to cry.
An Jin walked in front of Shangguan Rui, grabbed his shoulders and said: "Little brother-in-law, tell me what happened at home! Where is my Ping An? Where's Ning'er? Where are they? "
Shangguan Rui thought of Shangguan Ning's corpse that had been burned in the fire, thought of how he hadn't even seen her body, and how he had been a strong man on the way here. At this moment, he finally broke down, men and women were on guard, Shangguan Rui had completely forgotten about it, and cried as he put his head on An Jin's shoulder, "They're all gone!"
An Jinxiu said in a daze, "Gone? Where can they go without us? "
Shangguan Rui cried, "Dead, someone broke into our house tonight …" Shangguan Rui cried until he couldn't speak.
"What?" However, An Jinxiu still asked, "Little brother-in-law, tell me clearly, what happened to Ping An and little Ning'er?"
"Dead, killed by someone," Shangguan Rui said. "A bunch of people rushed into the house and killed everyone."
The sky spun and the earth spun. An Jin's vision turned black. Suddenly, tears started streaming down her face. However, she felt that this was a dream that she was having. She had clearly been raising her son at home, looking after her little brother-in-law and sister-in-law, waiting for her husband, Shangguan Yong, to return home from the expedition.
But all of a sudden, her elder sister had wanted to take care of her, and a group of people had rushed into the house and killed her son and little sister-in-law? "How could this happen?" "Why isn't I'm awake yet?" An Jinxiu said to Shangguan Rui, who was crying bitterly, "Why is my dream for so long that I still haven't woken up?"
Shangguan Rui looked at An Jin's empty eyes and ashen face. He was so scared that he quickly put his hands on An Jin's shoulders and shook them. "Eldest sister-in-law, don't scare me!"
"Why would I dream about you, little brother-in-law?" An Jinxiu reached out her hand to touch Shangguan Rui's face. Her face was wet, it was unknown whether it was tears or rain. "Are you crying?" An Jinxiu asked Shangguan Rui, "Why are you crying?"
"Dead. Ping An and Ning are both dead!" Shangguan Rui didn't dare to shout out loud in the main hall. He could only whisper to An Jinxiu, "It's not a dream, it's real. They're dead."
"I don't believe it!" An Jinxiu listened to Shangguan Rui's words, and after listening for a long time, she suddenly pushed Shangguan Rui away and said: "Their corpses? If you want to see them alive, you want to see their bodies. If you have to say that they are dead, but where are their corpses?! "
"Those people set fire to our homes after killing them. Sister-in-law, our home is gone. I wonder how many houses we'll have left in that alley."
Fire after killing someone? An Jinxiu sat on a wooden chair behind her.
"Look at my wounds," Shangguan Rui forced An Jinxiu to look up at him, "Look at me, sister-in-law. Is this a dream?"
"They're dead." An Jinxiu muttered these two words, before covering her face and crying bitterly.
Shangguan Rui looked at An Jin's crying face in a daze. She didn't cry too loudly, but it sounded like she was crying blood. "What should we do?" Shangguan Rui seemed to be murmuring to himself, but at the same time, she seemed to be asking about the Aunt Xiu.
An Jinxiu put her hands down to cover her face. When she raised her head to look at Shangguan Rui, her eyes were cold.
Shangguan Rui took a step back, thinking, "His sister-in-law might be crazy."
An Jin's brain, after crying for a while, started spinning as if it knew how to move, whether it's master was willing or not. The Emperor had taken a fancy to her, so in order to please the Emperor, An Jinyan arranged this play in the monastery. She said that she would meet her own mother, but the truth was that she only wanted to be sent to the Emperor's bed. And then? If I were An Jinyan, what would I do? The emperor wouldn't **** his official's wife , so once the Emperor was satisfied, An Jinxiu no longer had to live, so she could just die with her family. An Jinyan? Was this woman really that ruthless?
"Eldest Sister-in-Law." Shangguan Rui took a few more steps forward, enduring the pain as she squatted in front of An Jin.
"Who is it?" An Jinxiu asked, "Who killed Ping An and Ning'er?"
Shangguan Rui showed the iron medallion he had picked up to An Jin to her. His clothes were burnt to the point that they couldn't cover his body, but Shangguan Rui didn't throw the iron medallion away when they came looking for An Jin.
An Jinxiu rubbed her eyes vigorously and looked at the metal plate by using the candlelight. There was only one word 'Xiang' on the plate.
"Which person with the surname 'Xiang' would want to kill us?" Shangguan Rui asked An Jin.
There were not many people in the court who held power and influence. In the capital, there was only one Empress Xiang. It wasn't that An Jinyan wanted to kill her entire family, it was the empress who wanted to kill her? Because the Emperor had taken a fancy to her, the Empress could no longer let her live? Or was today's matter something that the empress and An Jinyan had discussed and done together?
At this time, Aunt Xiu came in with some medicine and a large monastic robe. Seeing that her brother-in-law didn't say anything, she said, "Young Master Shangguan, I'll apply some medicine for you first."
Shangguan Rui wanted to stand up, but his legs went soft and he almost fell into An Jin's arms.
An Jin stood up and helped Shangguan Rui to sit on the wooden chair she was sitting on just now. Then she asked, "Mother, where did you find the medicine?"
Aunt Xiu looked at the wounds on Shangguan Rui's body as she said to An Jin, "I come here once a year. Besides the small courtyard in the Residence of An, I'm familiar with this place."
Shangguan Rui's wound was touched by the aunt's hand, causing him to gasp in pain.
"No," An Jinxiu looked at the wound on Shangguan Rui's abdomen. If the wound was any deeper, Shangguan Rui's internal organs would have fallen out of his body from the wound. "He can't use medicine for his wounds," An Jinxiu said. "He needs to see a doctor."
"Now is not the time to find a doctor," Shangguan Rui gasped, "I don't feel much pain here either."
"Young Master Shangguan ran here in the rain. The cold water could actually stop the bleeding," Aunt Xiu said as she applied medicine on Shangguan Rui. "No matter how severe the injury is, as long as the blood is stopped, his life can be saved."
It was as if this was the first time An Jinxiu had met her. She looked at her birth mother, while shw who was flustered and at a loss. How could her mother still be so calm?
"Did something happen between Ping An and Miss Shangguan?" At this time, the Aunt Xiu asked An Jinxiu and Shangguan Rui.
An Jin was at a loss for words, but Shangguan Rui nodded.
Aunt Xiu hand trembled, but she quickly said, "Now is not the time for you to be sad. First, think about what you should do next."
"What should we do?" An Jinxiu said in a daze.
"Second Miss. "AuntXiu turned around to look at An Jinxiu, but her eyes were still calm and emotionless," We have to look after the living first. Young Master Shangguan is still alive, this is the luckiest thing that could happen to us. "If you panic at this time, none of you will survive. All of you are trying to kill our enemy!"
The sound of thunder could be heard from outside the house, causing the doors and windows of the room to shake.
None of them could survive. As An Jin read the words of the Aunt Xiu, she slowly sat down on another empty chair. The tears in her eyes still flowed out uncontrollably. An Jinxiu was thinking, Ping An died, Shangguan Ning died, she couldn't let Shangguan Rui die again. She had to protect Shangguan Yong from the Shangguan family.
At this time, Shangguan Rui told An Jinxiu about how not only had his family died today, but also the dozens of farmers who came to deliver the rent, the women who came to help with the cooking, and the people who came to put out the fire and got killed when their family was burnt. At least thirty people had died today for the Shangguan Family.
An Jinxiu looked at the iron plate she put under the candle, and suddenly interrupted Shangguan Rui's words, "Brother-in-law, you'll leave in the middle of the night to find the general and tell him about the matters at home."
Shangguan Rui said: "We can't stay in the capital anymore. Eldest Sister-in-law, I'll take you to see Eldest Brother!"