step by step

For a moment, Sora almost thought he had heard wrong.In the heart-reading line with strict family rules, such a huge crime would definitely make her even death a luxury.Her mind was at a loss, and her thoughts were terribly chaotic.She seemed to be thinking a lot, but she didn't seem to think about anything.

The third elder who was closest to her moved her lower lip, her expression gradually became stunned, she frowned slightly, and soon calmed down again.Kong Zhu happened to see that the third elder looked at her strangely, as if with some kind of indescribable sadness.Only Kong Zhu, who was facing her, saw the brief mood swings.She even felt a low sigh from him.

Does he know something?Was he feeling sorry for her?

The clansman who came out of her house was holding some unremarkable details, the so-called "evidence".When passing her by, he glanced at her lightly, his eyes were extremely contemptuous.

The clansmen behind the third elder scrambled to meet her, shouting and laughing with unprecedented joy, as if they had long expected that she was the murderer.The two clansmen who were twisting behind her also laughed softly, with uncontrollable excitement in their voices.

Kong Zhu looked at all this in a daze, feeling that he and them were characters from two worlds.

She was a little confused.She couldn't even feel the pain in her arm.For some reason, she was calm and didn't feel sad.She knew exactly what would happen to her.Harsh family rules will give the most severe punishment.

No one would listen to her, even... just because of an inconspicuous piece of evidence that wasn't even a piece of evidence.

A powder that even she herself didn't know what it was.

Maybe it really is?she laughs.

so funny.

"Third Elder, what punishment will I be sentenced to?" Kong Zhu slowly loosened his frowning brows and asked lightly.Her eyes drooped slightly, but she didn't look at anyone.

"Bone piercing, nailing, tattooing, and slavery." He replied slowly.He was in charge of the laws of the family, and he knew it all too well.

Wear the pipa bone, order the bone nails, brand the character slave on the face, and become a slave.In this life, I can no longer stand up.

"Really cruel." Kong Zhu said to himself.Her voice was not loud, and she seemed to be speaking only for herself.She smiled slowly again.Kong Zhu didn't want to provoke anyone, but obviously, not everyone thought so.She never wanted to cause trouble, but she was never afraid of trouble.

She raised her head and scanned the faces of the tribesmen around her one by one, keeping these faces firmly in her heart.She didn't say a word of excuse, she knew in her heart that even if she wasn't the murderer, Mind Reading needed a scapegoat like her to appease the panic of the people.

They took Kongzhu to the ancestral hall.It is rare for the clan ancestral hall to be opened once, and the posture of the three halls' joint trial is extremely scary.This is the second time in the past three years that Kong Zhu has seen the rulers of these clans.

The patriarch, ten elders, ten law enforcement teams, one hundred warriors protecting the clan, and thousands of clan members.Those who can arrive will not fall.

Kong Zhu knelt at the foot of the hall, tilted his head, and swept over one by one.All kinds of angry, mocking, sarcastic, and mocking eyes.The clansmen who gloated at others' misfortune.They seem to have recognized her identity, and they no longer pretend to be aloof, and vent their anxiety and fear of the unknown with insults to their heart's content.The clansmen who lost their loved ones turned their mouths up and down quickly, spit out all kinds of vicious curses coherently.

She only listened to the old, majestic, ruthless voice from the high seat above:

"The branch of the prophet, the daughter of Su Zhong, who is the second generation direct descendant of the heart reading, is empty. Her heart is like a snake and scorpion, she harms her own clan, violates clan rules, and arouses public anger. Sentenced, pierced bones, nailed, tattooed, and dismissed as a slave. In this life, I will not step out of the top of the cold river. Hope to change my mind and atone for my sins."

Clean your mind and atone for your sins.

With a calm face, she kowtowed respectfully to her superior.

But he sneered silently in his heart.

I don't understand, I have never understood, I am empty, what, what, sin, what, what?

———————————————————————————————————————————————— ——————————

The rules of the mind-reading family are extremely strict, and almost all the clansmen who make mistakes will either die or be disabled.The only dungeon in this clan looks extremely spacious, and there is no end in sight at a glance.In the huge space, there are dried blood, unknown minced meat, and strange bone dregs everywhere.On the mottled walls, there are all kinds of terrifying instruments of torture.Dark red, black red, reddish brown, and red are the tone of this cell.

There was a sickening smell of blood in the air.Occasionally, the heart-piercing screams of prisoners locked in the next cell can be heard.

"Take a good rest, the execution will be carried out tomorrow." The surrounding clansmen all retreated, half of the third elder's body was hidden in the shadow outside the prison door, and Kong Zhu couldn't see his expression.

She sat on the ground with her legs crossed, her eyes covered by her soft long hair, and the third elder couldn't see her emotions clearly.

"Why?" she asked unconsciously.

She remembered that when she was young, she was kicked away by the queen mother, and the whole person flew a few meters away.The soft snow was smashed into a groove by the body, and the snow under the promenade was very cold, and it seemed that half of the body was paralyzed.The thin clothes could not withstand the severe winter chill, and the cold fists of the loyal servants flew down their heads and faces.

The last scene in my memory is that lady in fine clothes coldly flinging her sleeves away.The contemptuous look in her eyes was firmly engraved into the bottom of her heart.The young child tried to avoid the oncoming blow, raised his head high, and looked at her leaving back in a daze.

How much she wanted to call her queen mother, she had never called her like that before.The child didn't know what she had done wrong, she was just adoring, and wanted to get closer to her mother!

Did she dirty the corner of the queen mother's clothes?

No, no, when she saw the disgusted eyes of the queen mother, she withdrew her hand.

Under the cold winter sun, the empress's gold and silver jewelry reflected the dazzling glare, which hurt the child's eyes.

She heard a lot, saw a lot, and endured a lot.

The bullying from my own brothers, the gossip of the palace people, the undisguised negligence of the concubines in the harem; the strange eyes of the father and the emperor, the contempt and disregard of the patrolling guards.It seems that in the huge palace, every person, every flower and even every tree is repelling her approach.

She's just a kid and she doesn't understand what she's done wrong.

She's just a child and no one cares about her feelings.

In the days when she was struggling to survive, she had seen dirtier transactions than changing sons and eating, seeing concubines who were unwilling to be lonely having sex with the emperor's close ministers, seeing fake couples formed by eunuchs and palace maids, The corpses of the dead servants rotted under their feet; the false Taoist priests invited by the little masters with a guilty conscience, all kinds of Taoist talismans were flying all over the palace.

In the blink of an eye, so many years have passed.

She wanted to ask them, what did she do wrong?

What should she do to satisfy them?

She was tired, really tired.

Kong Zhu asked endlessly, but the other person who heard it was surprisingly able to fully understand what she was thinking at this time.The two were relatively silent.After a long time, the Third Elder finally said with difficulty: "Your mother, Su Zhong, had an affair with someone and fled from the clan."

Kong Zhu smiled: "Is that why you despise me so much?"

When Kong Zhu smiled, the corners of his eyes were always slightly curved, not a deep arc.A slight flick of the corner of the lips gave off a half-smile.Hu Ye smiled, and Ang also smiled, she perfectly hid all her emotions under her disguise.There was a small tear mole at the corner of her eye, which was inconspicuous at first, but as she smiled, as if blood flowed in, the tear mole turned bright red unconsciously.Gorgeous and eye-catching, more like a drop of blood and tears hanging but not falling.It added a bit of enchantment to Sora's already enchanting face.

However, even when Kong Zhu was smiling, her eyes were always just a pool of stagnant water, as if she would not be stirred up by any waves.Her appearance is completely different from that of her mother's, not as handsome as that person, and her facial features are exquisite and delicate.However, those pupils are a strange light gray color, just like the eyes of ordinary ferocious beasts, even more so, there is a hint of coldness and sharpness.There is also a strange, inexplicable meaning.

The third elder looked at her face in a daze.

He suddenly remembered that more than 20 years ago, when the girl who was completely different from the child in front of him left here, she had a bright smile on her face.The girl flicked the horsewhip briskly, without a trace of reluctance.He chased her for nearly three thousand miles, more than a dozen days and nights, across most of the continent, but he still watched her escape from his control.He still remembers the last time he risked his life to chase her, she was finally going to get rid of him, what did he think at that time?Oh, he remembered very clearly, he yelled at her back angrily: You will definitely regret it.

Now, he was thinking day and night, if he hadn't said that at the beginning, would she not regret it now?

She regretted it, and he regretted it too.

He could still clearly remember that the girl always had a hearty smile on her face.He always thought that she was cast in the wrong fetus. With such a mischievous personality, she should be a man!When meditating and practicing, he often scolded her for being lazy and slippery. She wrinkled her nose pitifully and made faces at his back, but she was an idiot, and he would catch her every time.

The third elder felt as though something was choking his throat.

When he came back to his senses, Kong Zhu still looked up at him quietly, with a faint smile on his lips.The girl in front of her is really different from her.With a completely different personality, if that idiot had been wronged like this all these years, he would have hugged his head and cried, his eyes were red.They also have different looks.But, that pair of eyes is the only one. When looking up at people like this, they are exactly the same as her mother.

The third elder left in a hurry.He walked in a mess.It seems to be an escape.Kong Zhu watched his leaving back silently, as if he could feel a drop of crystal liquid, with a strong taste of memory, following his vigorous movements, it fell silently to the dirty ground.

torn apart.

She was still sitting, not sleepy.

When footsteps sounded here again, she didn't even bother to look up.

Execution tomorrow.

No, it's already today.Execution today.

There was no hourglass in the cell, and no watch drum could be heard.She leaned on her chin on her knees in boredom, counting the passage of time just by feeling.

The footsteps were getting closer.

"Those who died, did you do it?"

In a vague way, it seemed that someone had asked her this.It was a very strange voice, and Kong Zhu believed that he had never heard it, nor had he seen the owner of the voice.

How strange, a stranger.She slowly bent the corners of her eyes, with a half-smile, but she still didn't raise her head: "Will you believe what I say?"

"Why don't you believe it? Killing those people won't do you any good. I'm not like those old guys, I'm old and blind, and I can't tell right from wrong." There was a little smile in the man's voice.It was a very clean female voice.

Across the fence, Kong Zhu felt a warm palm slowly caressing his long hair, touching his cheek lightly, his slender hand passing between his eyebrows, and even that piece of skin gradually warmed up.

She finally raised her head, and with the light of the torch, she saw the woman and met those shining eyes.

The man's black hair was only tied loosely with a wooden hairpin, and he was wearing a mysterious purple gown, which made him even more indescribably noble.Independence from the world, overwhelming the country and the city, should be such a character.

This is a person who seems to have stepped out of a painting.And what attracted Kong Zhu the most was undoubtedly the clean and warm smile on that person's face.It was like suddenly seeing another sun.Warm and bright.

"Huh?" Kong Zhu looked at her with a surprised tone in his mouth.In the light gray pupils, the star-like eyes fell into the opponent's eyes for a moment, but then disappeared very quickly, as if it was just an illusion.Kong Zhu frowned slightly imperceptibly, she didn't expect that her invincible mind reading skills would fail when facing a foreigner.There were many doubts in my heart, but Kong Zhu reacted in an instant, and smiled slightly: "I didn't do it."

"I believe in you." The woman chuckled, and she bent down slightly, staring at Kong Zhu.The distance between their faces was extremely close, separated only by a small fence.She brushed the broken hair from her temples behind her ears, and said softly, "I'm here to look for you. My name is Shi Sang."