Qu Ya reached into the dark under the straw pile and pulled out a candle and a fire starter.
The moment the candlelight flickered on, his and Guan Nianshan's eyes were entirely focused on Huo Chong's face.
Seeing the mask, the two exchanged a glance, hesitating for a moment.
Seeing this, Huo Chong smiled calmly and took off his mask.
"During the exile, we encountered a landslide. I was crushed under the rocks for four days. By the time I was rescued, my face had already been ruined."
Qu Ya and Guan Nianshan stared blankly at the disfigured upper half of his face. The bitterness in their hearts felt even worse than when their own fingers were severed or their eyes blinded.
This was the Marquis's most precious youngest son. They had even held him a couple of times right after he was born.
Qu Ya choked up, shaking his head with a low voice, "It doesn't matter if your face is ruined, as long as you're alive."
Guan Nianshan pulled over a straw mat for Huo Chong to sit on.
"Not having seen the young master return for over twenty years, Qu Ya and I thought you were dead."
Huo Chong put the mask back on and sat on the straw mat with a bitter smile.
"All these years, I have been serving as a general under the Ningzhou Pacification Commissioner, Mu Ji'an. If I hadn't taken the opportunity to enter the capital while escorting the Prince of Qi, I wouldn't know when I'd ever get to see you two uncles."
Staring at the lower half of Huo Chong's face exposed outside the mask, looking closely, there was still some resemblance to the old Marquis.
Qu Ya wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his hand.
"You were only eight when the Chen family was exiled. Word came back that you all encountered a landslide and no one survived. At that time, Old Guan and I deeply regretted letting you go to the Chen family. Keeping you by our side would have been better than letting you lose your life."
Guan Nianshan asked, "How did the young master end up serving under the foreign tribes in the southwest? What exactly happened on the road to exile back then?"
The memories buried deep in his mind were dug up. Huo Chong's pupils dilated slightly as his thoughts drifted back to the past.
"After entering the southwestern territory back then, it rained heavily for several days straight. While we were resting at night, the earth shook and the mountains trembled. Rocks smashed onto my head, and by the time I woke up, several days had passed. It was Third Uncle Chen who saved me."
"He was left with a crippled leg, and my face was disfigured. Later, we lived incognito in the mountains outside a small city in Ningzhou."
"Third Uncle Chen was afraid I would forget the past, so he talked to me about my father and the Chen family every day, and even drew portraits of you all so I would remember."
"Five years later, Third Uncle Chen died of illness. When I went down the mountain to exchange for grain in the village, I was surrounded by bandits and nearly lost my life. It was Commissioner Mu who saved me. Seeing that I knew some martial arts, he brought me into the military camp, and I have been working under him ever since."
"The southwest is thousands of miles away from the capital, and I couldn't leave Ningzhou. Plus, having not made a name for myself, I didn't have the face to come back and see you. Before I knew it, so many years had passed."
Qu Ya frowned and asked anxiously, "The Yang clan of Panzhou and the Mu clan of Ningzhou have had many conflicts over the years. Back then, Zeng Qing took the Yuecheng Army to seek refuge in Panzhou. Have you ever been in contact with him?"
Huo Chong shook his head and said with a heavy expression, "In my third year in the military camp, the Mu clan and the Yang clan had a conflict in the Zhang River region. I saw General Zeng from a distance once, but I never saw him again after that."
"Although Panzhou took in the Yuecheng Army, they were ultimately not their own people. The Yang clan ordered Zeng Qing to lead the Yuecheng Army to help clear out the minority tribes near Panzhou. After years of fighting campaigns north and south, more than half of them were killed or wounded."
"I heard that Zeng Qing is now retiring in Panzhou, and the remaining Yuecheng Army has been handed over to his son, though they have almost completely merged with the Panzhou Army."
Qu Ya and Guan Nianshan exchanged a glance.
Time flew by. During the more than twenty years they had hidden in the manor, many things had changed.
Recalling the hatred and grievances of the past, they still held resentment in their hearts, but it seemed they could no longer do anything about it.
The token hidden against his chest was still hard, but just as cold.
After a moment of silence, Qu Ya pulled open his collar and forcefully tore the inner pocket of his undergarment. The pure gold token reflected a red glow under the candlelight.
Qu Ya's intact left hand stroked the token a couple of times. Then, taking a deep breath, he handed the token to Huo Chong.
"This is the commander's token of the Wu Family Army. Seeing it is like seeing the Marquis. I have kept it for all these years waiting for your return. Now, returning it to its rightful owner, I hope it can still be of use."
Taking the token, Huo Chong felt it was as heavy as a thousand pounds.
His father's face in his memory had blurred to the point of being unrecognizable, yet this token was something he had always carried with him.
Seeing the token handed over by Qu Ya, half the heavy burden in Guan Nianshan's heart was also lifted.
"Those who once served in the Wu Family Army in the past will more or less remember the old Marquis's past kindness when they see this token. Especially the Yuecheng Army. Since Zeng Qing is still alive, if the young master wishes to do anything, he will definitely help you."
Huo Chong solemnly tucked the token into his robes.
"I only hope that one day I can personally lead troops to attack the capital, chop off Xiao Chengjing's dog head, and avenge the Wu and Chen families as well as the fallen soldiers of the Wu Family Army. Then my life will be complete."
Qu Ya lowered his head.
Attacking the capital, killing the emperor.
It was easy to say, but how could it be easy to do.
Although they never left the manor, they had more or less heard about the affairs of the outside world.
The Mu clan, unable to defeat the Yang clan, sought help from the imperial court. If the young master were in the Panzhou Army, there might still be hope, but since he was in the Ningzhou Army, uniting the foreign tribes of the southwest would be highly difficult.
After putting away the token, Huo Chong looked up at Qu Ya and Guan Nianshan.
He spoke earnestly, "Returning this time, I also want to take Uncle Qu and Uncle Guan to the southwest. Once you get there, you won't have to keep hiding anymore, and you will never have to worry about your lives again."
Qu Ya and Guan Nianshan both paused at the same time.
At first, when Chancellor Chen arranged for them to stay at the manor, they had thought about leaving, but at that time they had nowhere to run.
Now, both of them had long since married and had children. Suddenly hearing that Huo Chong wanted to take them away, they momentarily didn't know what to do.
After some careful consideration, their eyes met, and they already had an answer in their hearts.
Qu Ya spread out his right hand, missing three fingers. "Young master, my right hand can't hold a sword. If I go to the southwest, I would only be a burden."
Guan Nianshan echoed, "Now we have wives and children at home. Even if we could bring them all along, there are still over two hundred people in the manor. Most of them have physical disabilities far more severe than Qu Ya's and mine. They also have families. We can't abandon them and leave on our own, so we won't be going to the southwest."
Huo Chong frowned in a dilemma.
"If you stay in the capital, you will have to hide for the rest of your lives. If you go to the southwest, you will be free."
Qu Ya said in a calm tone, "The oldest among us is sixty-one, and the youngest is forty-nine. We have already hidden for twenty-five years. Hiding for another twenty or thirty years, our lives will probably be at their end anyway. Besides, even if we could go out, the others wouldn't be willing to."
Huo Chong recalled the man crawling on the ground when he was peeking around the farmstead during the day, and for a moment his chest felt tight.
To think that back in the day, these men had also wielded weapons and galloped across the battlefield, yet now they could only drag their crippled bodies and live with heavy burdens.
He thought of the horrified and disgusted expressions of outsiders when he took off his mask.
If the same deformities were on him, he probably wouldn't want to go out and see people either.
That humiliating feeling of having one's dignity trampled upon truly made life worse than death.
