Crown Prince

The rain is getting heavier, the countryside is muddy, and the roads are slippery.

Li Heng shook his head slightly, some of the raindrops on the helmet were shaken off, and then quickly dripped down along the edge of the raised golden armor like a rain curtain. His hands in tanned leather gloves were dry. Besides, the breastplate, kneeplates, bodyplate, and the edges of the shoulder and armguards had seen rain seep, soaking the linen lining.He led a team of people and stood at the highest point in Baoquan Township. The entire dead village seemed to be shrouded in heavy rain, and the quietness made people feel panicked.

"In which direction?" He lowered his head slightly and asked the young child curled up motionless in his arms.

Li Ying stretched out his short little finger from the thick cloak blankly, and pointed to a large old bamboo forest on the far left near the foot of the mountain.

Li Heng nodded his head, then looked at the guard behind him and said in a deep voice: "Sun Dasun and Sun Er follow me, and the rest of the people spread out to check if there are any survivors - are there any surviving villagers!"

"Yes!" After the uniform voice sounded, the horseshoes scattered and rushed down the slope.

Li Heng kicked the horse's belly with a loud sound, and the red horse rushed in the opposite direction like an arrow, and the two guards behind him immediately followed.The three horses rushed into the rain curtain like this, and disappeared into the bamboo forest on the left in a blink of an eye.

As soon as they entered the bamboo forest, the sound of the rain suddenly became quieter.Li Ying huddled in his cloak and couldn't see it, but Li Hengsheng had already seen some traces not far away while controlling the horse to pass through the clumps of bamboo.They came in directly from the edge of the bamboo forest, and the stone road that the little guy said was on the other side... Li Hengsheng saw a large number of fallen bamboos in front of him, which were obviously left by violent trampling, and the fallen bamboos formed a A road - and the direction of this road is the same as the home of the child in his arms.

So Li Heng thought, maybe he should consider raising a son.

Although he always felt that he was still young and didn't need to think about life-long affairs for the time being—he could just go to a brothel directly with a quarterly salary—but among his colleagues, there were many people who got married and had children at this age.Compared with being harassed by those matchmakers from time to time, if he adopts the doll in his arms, these headaches seem to be solved?

It should be said that the young man was thinking wildly, but the horses subconsciously slowed down.

"Brother, I saw Xiaolu!" The confidant behind him reminded, with a very complicated tone.

Li Hengsheng recovered his senses and looked over, and he saw a winding gravel road.He understands the mood of his subordinates.To find a place, but perhaps to witness death, and to face the grief of an orphaned child.This is really not a pleasant thing.

Soldiers can be cold-blooded, but the premise is to face those villains.

The little thing in his arms trembled, and stuck his head out tremblingly.Li Hengsheng couldn't see his face, but he heard a suppressed sob.

Li Heng hesitated for a moment, then stuffed Li Ying back into his cloak without hesitation, and then drove out of the forest.They ran along the path all the way to the depths of the bamboo forest. A close friend stepped forward to explore the way, but he was still a hundred meters away from the fenced yard. He reined in the horse suddenly, and the brown horse under the seat let out a loud neighing in dissatisfaction. ————

The confidant turned his head to look at Li Hengsheng, and he could still see that horrible expression through the sporadic rain.

Li Heng subconsciously hugged Xiao Tuanzi tightly in his arms, and his thick eyebrows frowned even more.He thinks he knows... but he's not sure if he should take the little guy, after all, he's only so old, in case he can't stand the excitement...

"...Why, why didn't you leave..." Li Ying leaned against the man's breastplate with his red and swollen eyes closed, and tugged at the hemp skirt that was exposed.He really couldn't open his eyes, because his eyes seemed to have been completely out of his control, as long as he opened them a little, tears would pour down.

Li Hengsheng realized that his soft voice was hoarse, so he could only take a deep breath, shook his head at the cronies who were standing still in front, and then rolled over and got off the horse with the little thing in his arms.

"Look at my horse, I'll take him," he said to his two entourages, and walked toward the fenced yard.

Anyone who sees the scene in front of them will not want to go in again.

From the gate of the courtyard, the bloodstains stretched all the way in... There was a bamboo forest blocking the path, so the bloodstains were not blurred, but the courtyard was already a faint red pool of water.An old man threw himself in the middle of the yard, his waist was chopped off, almost severed, his internal organs and intestines seemed to be worn away during the dragging.

Li Hengsheng could imagine what was going on.

This old man's clothes are of good quality, so he should have a high status in the village, even the old man himself.Baoquan Township was hit by bandits. On the one hand, the old man asked the densely populated villagers at the foot of the mountain to hide in the cellar, and on the other hand, he wanted to rush over to inform these remote people.He didn't expect that his behavior would lead the bandits in the bamboo forest to this place. His feet can't keep up with the horse's hooves—let alone an elderly man?As soon as the old man ran to the entrance of the yard out of breath, he was cut by the bandit's saber... Looking at the knife edge, it may have been cut more than once, because the old man was still crawling into the yard while screaming, and finally died in the middle of the yard. At that time, I still looked at the direction of the room unwillingly, and stretched out my hand...

Li Ying hugged Li Hengsheng's shoulders tightly, and in the bumpy steps of his footsteps, he could see the cracked eyes of the old man from the corner of his cloak.His fingers felt as stiff and cold as ice cubes, and his head throbbed.

Even though he gritted his teeth this time, he still couldn't control the tears falling.

So useless... so useless! !

I... what else can I do but cry...

"..."

Li Hengsheng stopped suddenly and looked down at the young child in his arms.

"What did you say?"

Li Ying threw off his cloak tremblingly, struggling hard to get off the ground.

Li Heng supported him in a loud voice, and coaxed clumsily: "My dear, there's blood underneath... That water will stain the shoes."

Li Ying shook his head, but still struggled to get off the ground.

The shoes were soaked in blood in an instant.He held Li Hengsheng's rough hand tightly, his eyes staring blankly at the direction of the door, motionless.

After a while, the eyes were blurred by the rain.

Do you want to... go in?

really don't want to...

'I don't want to, or dare not? '

'...What's the difference...If the family members are gone, the set of crying while hugging the dead body...It's false makes people sad...'

"It's like Xu Bing crying in front of his tombstone... If he didn't die because of Xing Xing... I wouldn't have heard it at all..."

'What if there are still family members alive? '

'...impossible...all...dead...'

'The ones who didn't survive...the old people...'

'All... dead—'

Li Ying was trembling all over, wanting to cry loudly.

"Impossible..." He covered his face with his sleeve and said vaguely.Don't go in... don't go in, he can't take it.

Li Hengsheng looked down at the child, he didn't cry, he just grabbed his hand - but he could feel the sadness of this young child.

He knew that he dared not go in.

"If you don't want to go in, go back." He said in a low voice, "Leave the rest to us." In fact, he still wanted to say, do you want to live with me?Although the salary is not much...but as long as you don't go to brothels a few times, it can still be used for your education.

Obviously, it is not appropriate to say such a thing now.

As soon as the man's alluring words were spoken, Li Ying woke up from his grief.

This is not acceptable.certainly.

Born as a son of man, how could he just turn around and leave when his family encountered an accident? !Even if he has difficulties, it is impossible...

Li Ying wiped his tears with his wet sleeve, and then slowly let go of the little hand that was holding the man tightly.

Li Heng watched his small figure move slowly, and then pushed open the half-closed door - a smell of blood came to his nostrils.

The imaginary wailing call did not sound, Li Ying just stood there stiffly.

He looked at the only person standing in the room.

The man was dressed in sackcloth, leggings and straw sandals.The man looked simple and ordinary, but at this moment he was full of evil spirit.

The man held a long machete for chopping wood on one side and a... human head on the other.

father…

Is it dad...?

Li Ying took a step back, dizzy from the smell of blood, he shook his head, and looked over again - the man looked up and saw himself, his blood-splattered face was first blank, then unbelievable, and finally filled with ecstasy That face, against the head in his hand and the blood splattered all over the room, was terrifying and weird.

"Da Lang------!!!!"

When Li Hengsheng rushed into the room, what he saw was Wang Han throwing down the things in his hands and hugging the petite child into his arms.

"Who are you - put him down!!" Furious and frightened, he drew out his Mo Dao to face the man.

Li Ying was hugged by Wang Han in a daze, until he smelled the smell of sweat on the other party's body that was different from the smell of blood, and finally came back to his senses.The next second, he hugged Wang Han's neck tightly and cried hysterically.

"Father———————"

Li Heng was stunned, the handle of the knife in his hand lost strength and almost fell.

Wang Han frantically comforted his son. After a while, he gritted his teeth and his eyes turned red.

"Mother..." Li Ying cried desperately: "Where is mother———Erlang!! Father, where are they——"

Wang Han kept stroking the back of his son's head with his big hands, his voice hoarse and choked.

"Dalang...Dalang don't cry...don't cry..."

He walked inside with Li Ying in his arms, then opened the cellar, and lifted a basket with one hand from inside.

Li Ying looked over sobbing.

Erlang slept peacefully in the basket, tightly wrapped by the quilt, his sweet sleep was like another world.

Li Ying turned her head and buried her face in Wang Han's neck, hot tears poured out silently.

Hui Niang is gone.

If Hui Niang is still there, it is impossible not to be by Erlang's side.

"...You...your mother..." Wang Han seemed to be thinking hard for a long time, and then said in a difficult voice: "Your mother is so beautiful...she definitely doesn't want you to see her..." That look...

"Da Lang is good, father buried mother... Da Lang wants to coax younger brother... Let's go see her together in a few days... okay?"

Li Ying closed his eyes and shook his head choked with sobs. He didn't know what to do other than shaking his head...

He heard Wang Han's incessant breathing, and knew that his father was trying to control himself, not to cry.

"...Go to sleep, father's good son."

Li Ying fell into a drowsy sleep.

Li Heng walked into the inner room with a sound, and saw Wang Han carefully remove his hand from the child's soft nape.

"This Baoquan Township, I'm afraid you are the only one who survived." He said in a deep voice, "Since you have the ability to kill two bandits, why didn't you save your wife?"

The man across from him carried the eldest son and the younger son to the only clean little bed and wrapped them in a quilt.When the man stood up and faced him directly, the simple and honest expression on his face became cold, and the grief-stricken expression just now disappeared strangely.

Li Heng became vigilant in his heart.

"I went up the mountain to collect firewood, and when I came down the mountain, it was so nice to see that bandit take my wife—" Wang Han frowned, his face turned pale.He paused before continuing: "He raped and killed my wife, and he wanted to go in and kill my youngest son. I went all out to kill him—then I heard the sound of horseshoes outside again, so I hid my youngest son." Go into the cellar and kill the bandits that come in—"

Li Heng questioned: "Where did the bandit's horse go? Also, I saw a lot of bamboos trampled down by horses in the bamboo forest, but there were only two bandits? The rest didn't come?"

Wang Han looked at him angrily, and hissed, "What do you mean?! Then Ma Xu ran away by himself. I only saw two bandits—otherwise I might—" He covered his eyes .

Li Hengsheng was speechless, and suddenly felt annoyed by his successive suspicions, which was unbelievable.It's a good thing someone survived... He involuntarily looked at the two little guys sleeping on the bed.Li Ying's little face was still stained with tears, and his faint brows were tightly frowned, wondering if he thought of his mother...

Perhaps, he was just a little undeservedly disappointed.

"You'd better go to the county with me, you can't stay here any longer." He sighed and said to Wang Han.