Heartbreaker

"The white lion banner flutters high,

His Majesty the King laughed.

Who, asked the king, drove out the regicide?

The knight raised his sword,

Bright and furious,

One sword chopped off the head, two swords split the chest, three swords peeled the flesh, and four swords removed the marrow and bones.

The king said that the sword still needs to be forged, and the armor still needs to be polished.

Hundreds of blacksmiths worked all night, tired and tired,

One smashed his own hand, and the other stepped into a bucket of molten iron, screaming and creaking.

The sharp sword has been tempered thousands of times, and the cold air is pressing,

Mixed with soul blood, human tears.

There are tens of thousands, minerals and money.

Wait for the flag to fly high,

Who, asked the king, drove out the regicide?

The knight raised his sword,

Bright and furious,

One sword chops off the merchant's head, two swords split the laborer's chest,

The three swords cut the flesh of the farmer, and the four swords cut the bones of the craftsman.

The king still laughed,

Clap your hands, good job. "

****

I knelt in an abandoned chapel in Lower Town, whispering a prayer to the broken statue.The singing of the children outside the church became louder and louder. They ran barefoot on the ground that had just thawed, from one street to another, and the immature nursery rhymes spread throughout the streets and alleys like the cuckoo's call.

The limestone pillars on all sides of the church have peeled off, and fine dust covers the cracked floor tiles.People in the lower city seldom spend time in prayer. All their energy is spent on daily running, and every minute of omission may lose a piece of bread.The feet of the idol were covered with thick spider webs, I wiped them clean, looked at the chapped milky white face, knelt down on my knees, clasped my hands together, and respectfully placed my chin on the interlocking fingers.

"God." I closed my eyes and whispered, "Please take pity on those souls who died in the war, and guide them to heaven. I am an undead, and I do not deny the blood on my hands. Sooner or later I will suffer I will be judged, but I have no regrets. My only wish is to see the sins of the dead be purified, and the wandering and lonely souls rest in peace. You are noble and merciful, and the world you created is bright and beautiful. Please sow the gospel , allow more people to enjoy your kindness..."

While I was praying in a low voice, there was a loud cry from behind the statue.I was taken aback when I saw two children in ragged clothes with snot hanging from their noses crawling behind the statue, with a metal rod in their teeth that had been broken off from nowhere, obviously unable to climb down.

"Wait a minute." I hurriedly said, "Don't be afraid, don't move around, I'll save you right away."

One of the children shouted, "You are blind, how can you save us!"

I said, "I'll stretch out my arms so you can fall on me. I can catch you."

The two kids stared at me suspiciously.I made an invisible appearance, pretended to stand under them unintentionally, and carefully stretched my arms to the position where they could touch.

"Jump down." I said.

After two plops, the two children still chose to jump into my arms.These are two boys, short in stature and skinny in shape, but their skeletons are heavy, like two iron weights hitting my chest.They rolled to the ground, hurriedly helped each other up, and ran away without saying a word, clutching the metal sticks in their hands.

I turned around behind the statue and saw the two holes that had just appeared on the back of the statue. I shook my head with a wry smile.

These metal rods fetch money, half a sole if you're lucky, and you can buy four loaves of bread or a piece of bacon.I was one of those kids in the past, and although I never got my hands on the ornaments on the statues of the gods, I knew how hard it was to survive.

For the undead, survival is a long-lasting boon.For human beings, survival is an eternal problem.

****

Every time I leave Wangcheng and wander around the lower city, I will go to the poorhouse to visit Barbara and the children, and occasionally follow Lemon's instructions to bring them some food and cloth.I was as familiar with the almshouse as the chapel, and it is the starting point of my memory.I don't know who my biological parents are, and no one has ever told me. I only know that when I was born in this world, I was alone.

"Luo" is not the only name that belongs to me. There have been many children in the poorhouse named "Luo".When I came to the poorhouse, a kid named "Ro" had just passed away, so I inherited the name.No matter who called "Luo", he was just calling a name, a title, nothing more.

But Lemon is different, only he uses it - such a common name, it wakes me up.No one is like him, just calling my name can make my heart overflow with endless joy and emotion.

As soon as I pushed open the wooden door of the small courtyard, several little girls put down their needles and threads, and flew towards me happily.

"Brother Luo!"

"Oh, brother is here!"

I smiled and stroked their heads. This time I picked up a brown-haired little girl, and heard the other girls sigh in disappointment.I distributed the candy in my pocket to them, and the girls cheered happily again, surrounded me and thanked me.I feel a little sad.Those sweets are hard even for the maids in the palace, but the girls in the ghetto are always easy to please.

"Brother Luo, can I kiss you?" The brown-haired girl in my arms asked with a flushed face when I bent over.I was taken aback for a moment, and the little girl immediately hugged my face and kissed me loudly.The other girls yelled in dissatisfaction and said in unison that they wanted to kiss my face too.Their faces are pure and flawless, like lovely angels.Although they are all children, I still feel a little hot on my cheeks at this moment.

"Okay, girls. Your beautiful Brother Luo is blocked by you at the door. He can't bear to push you away. Make way for him!"

Barbara leaned against the door and giggled.She wore a rag floral dress with a turban and thick braids hanging down her waist.She led a little boy who was sniffling, and some boys behind her were looking at me.I haven't seen her for many days, her waist has become thicker, and her complexion is also a little yellow, but I think she is more beautiful than before.

Some of the boys in the poorhouse were always so hostile to me that I couldn't understand it.As soon as I entered the house and put the candy box in front of them, the boys ran away and continued to stare at me warily by the door frame.

"Barbara, here's what Raymond asked me to bring." I unwrapped it.When she saw those fresh potatoes, carrots, onions and beef, Barbara cheered in surprise and said, "Oh, this is so good, all rare ingredients!"

She called out the door, "Girls, come in and help, we can make curry soup today!"

The almshouse only ate two meals a day. The boys waited for the sun to rise and the surrounding air became a little warmer, then ran out to pick up things that could be exchanged for supplies, and the older ones could go directly to some shops to help.The girls deftly carried the vegetables to the well to wash, and Barbara gathered around the hearth to process the beef.She couldn't use a kitchen knife a few months ago, but now she can cut beef into various delicate shapes with ease.

I took off my cloak, rolled up my sleeves, and helped her with the housework.These are very familiar to me. Before I became a ghost, my adoptive mother was idle and lazy, my younger brother was sick in bed, and even my stepfather was idle all day long. Therefore, it became my responsibility to solve the big and small affairs of the family.

I mended the children's clothes and washed them all in the laundry tub. I cleaned the floor tiles and furniture in the house, repaired the fence in the yard, and bandaged the wound of a girl who fell down.During this period, Barbara was beating her back tiredly, so I asked her to sit down and rest, and took over the work in her hands.

She was sitting on a chair, holding a pot of hot water, and stared dumbfounded at me tidying up the house, "God, Luo, don't be angry if I say something. I thought you were a limp idiot before, and you were weird about Lemon Why did he choose you... Now I think he really took a big deal! Don't you feel tired? "

I smiled, "It's okay, I'm used to it."

She sighed, took a sip of water, and asked, "By the way, is Lei Meng okay in the palace?"

I said, "Fortunately, it's just that I get overtired easily. The king's business is complicated and complicated, and he has to deal with various relationships. I will try my best to persuade him to take a good rest."

"Oh." She nodded and asked again, "Then, are you okay?"

I stared blankly, and was quickly noticed by her.Barbara looked at me and said, "I'm in the lower city, and I also learned about the customs and customs of Vulture City... People here hate the undead, you know?"

I whispered, "I know."

She said, "I have always felt that the sentiment of the people is easily influenced by the upper class. The reason why the people here are able to hold the ceremony of dispelling the undead... must be called by someone from above. I guess there must be radical anti-dead spirits in the palace molecules."

"Perhaps. But you are too worried, Barbara, I am fine in the palace." I forced a smile.Barbara looked at me tentatively, and asked worriedly, "Rom, are you really okay?... I know you always like to keep things in your heart, especially because you are afraid of causing trouble to Lemon, thinking that as long as you feel wronged, you will get over it." ...but blindly tolerating it is not an option, besides, if you let Lymon know that you are hiding something from him, whether it is good or bad, he will be very angry."

"Well. Thank you, Barbara, and you don't have to worry about us."

Barbara rubbed her brows and sighed, "Oh, it's not that I want to worry about you, it's that the downtown area... People's lives are hard. Whenever it's hard, there will always be some extreme guys who stir up everyone's emotions... You Have you ever heard that nursery rhyme?"

My heart skipped a beat and I nodded.She lowered her voice and asked, "Is it true that Lemon is going to forge new weapons for the entire Winter Ting Army?"

I said in a deep voice, "It's true... I went out with the Winter Ting Army this time, and I assisted them secretly with Chichikov, so that the loss was minimized. After returning to the city, the people of the legion presented a The weapons held by the soldiers of the Twilight Empire. Each of them is forged from a special material of fine steel, which is light and strong enough to split the blade of an ordinary sword in five strokes. Lemon and Chichikov, as well as the famous The blacksmiths studied for a long time before they completed the design and decided to create new weapons for the soldiers."

Barbara listened quietly, frowned and sighed, "Sure enough... war, war again..." She stood up, washed her hands, stood beside me to make bread with me, and said in a deep voice, "Then Can you go back and persuade Lemon? Now the tax collectors in the lower city are rampant, and many people can't even eat. I'm afraid something will happen if this continues."

"Well, indeed." I kneaded the dough and said with a bowed head, "But Lemon has given the matter to the Secretary of the Exchequer Ellison, and he doesn't bother to listen to what I have to say."

Barbara exclaimed, "Ellison?! Just the notorious Finance Minister Ellison?! Satan, what the hell is Lemon thinking! This old man is insatiable, and he is best at scraping people's body to the last drop , people in the lower city hate this guy so much! Luo, you must persuade Lemon not to let him hand over his errands to that old villain!"

——I persuaded.He just laughed, laughing so that I was bewildered.

I swallowed the words, and just responded to Barbara's comfort.After several times of busy work, the sky was getting dark, and the boys who ran outside all came back.We brought steaming curry soup and freshly baked bread to the table for each child's dinner.Even with a large bag of food and a large pot of broth, there is only one spoonful for each child.

The children happily slapped the table, emptying the bread in the basket with a blink of an eye.I sat quietly by the side, watching these wolf-eating children, and suddenly remembered Jeremy sitting at the table when he was a child, slurping soup with a bowl in his hand.

At that time, my adoptive mother always wanted to leave all the delicious food to him, but he would always share some with me, and excitedly said to me, "Brother, isn't it delicious? You can eat it too!" Although he made me lose The last eye, I should hate him, I should hate him, but every time I can find the warmth he brings to me in the gap of sad memory.

Thinking of the past days, I felt sad and sat in the corner silently.At this time, a little boy quietly grabbed me and said, "Brother, can you come here more often in the future? When you come, we will have broth."

"Don't embarrass my brother by asking such questions." Barbara wiped her hands with her apron, rubbed the top of the boy's hair, and said with a smile, "This brother has his own affairs to be busy, and if he is free, he will always come of."

The little boy blinked his innocent black eyes, nodded, bowed to me, and ran back to the dining table.I whispered, "It's been a tough time here, Barbara."

"It's not too difficult, really not." She laughed, "It's good enough to feed these children. When I separated from Lemon, I told him, 'You and I owe nothing' —but he still remembers me, I'm glad..."

I said, "A few days ago, Lai Ge, Ah Mu and Ai Er left the royal city, did you know?"

"Really? I don't know, I didn't see the three of them," said Barbara in amazement. "I'll go out to-morrow to find out about them! Well, they must have made some mistake and couldn't stay there any longer. , will come out... Oh, Satan..."

****

I stayed in the house for a while longer, and waited until the thick ink-like night completely enveloped Vulture City before I put on my cloak and prepared to return to the royal city.Barbara stood at the door to see me off, rubbed her hands and breathed, hesitated for a moment, and said to me, "Luo, there is something I think I should ask you..."

"It's all right, go ahead, Barbara."

"That girl named 'Feline'." She raised her head, looked at me and said, "I saw her on the street a few days ago, she was a girl, carrying a heavy sack, walking from the street At the end of the street, she went home alone...she seems to be your friend, doesn't she?"

"...Yes. We... used to be very good friends." I lowered my eyes, "But I died. When I saw her again, she knew that I was an undead and that my master was Lemon."

Barbara stared at me and suddenly asked, "Do you like her?"

This question suddenly scratched a scratch in my mind, as if it had poked a wound that I had long neglected.I was silent for a long time, then slowly shook my head and said to Barbara, "She is very good, the best girl I have ever met. We used to be each other's comfort and promised to be together forever, but now it is different I am a ghost, I belong to Lemon, and I love him too...I know I am sorry for Feline, I..."

I couldn't go on, guilt wrung out my heart into bitter drops, soaking every nerve in me.Barbara took my hand and comforted me, "It's okay, you don't have to feel guilty, Luo. At the beginning, no one knew what the future would bring, who would meet whom, and who would be separated from whom were all unknown... I I don't think she ever blamed you. She is indeed a very good girl, so I want to tell you..."

Barbara sighed, and said in a deep voice, "She is living alone, I always can't see it, and want to help her, but I am busy every day, and I don't have the time and energy... This time you come to the city, it just happens to be an opportunity."

"If it's no longer possible between you... you might as well persuade her to find a suitable husband and let her live with mutual support. She is probably not yet 20 years old, a girl, and she should find a down-to-earth person It's better to rely on."

The author has something to say: today's update~

I'm sorry to tell everyone that I found some language problems in some previous chapters, but frequent revisions too much affect the cleanliness of the interface, so I decided not to have a big problem and wait until the final completion before repairing. Please forgive me! QQ