Los bandidos de montaña están en movimiento

Capítulo 149

Zhan Zhao felt a warmth in his heart as he recalled her appearance back then. He downed the wine in his cup in one gulp and said sincerely and apologetically, "I was too foolish back then."

Mo Yan, already troubled, drank with him and served him more food, then poured wine for both of them. The two reminisced about their time in the capital, drinking and talking, until it was late at night. The food was cold, and the wine jar was empty.

Mo Yan hadn't slept well for several days and hadn't had a proper rest. She wasn't a strong drinker to begin with, and the wine here was quite strong. As the alcohol hit her, her speech became slurred, but she forced herself to stay awake just to keep Zhan Zhao company.

Zhan Zhao continued talking until he could no longer hear Mo Yan's voice. Then he fell silent, gave a bitter smile, got up, and groped to help Mo Yan to bed to rest.

"I promised you I wouldn't use any more pressure points to put you to sleep." He gently covered her with a thin blanket, thinking to himself, "From now on, I will never lie to you again."

The candles in the room were blown out.

As the wind picked up, a figure staggered alone into the depths of the desert.

Epilogue of Volume Two

Epilogue: "Don't look anymore, you won't find him." The blind old woman leaned against the well railing, her eyes blankly staring at the vast yellow sand. "In this desert, a gust of wind can bury a person in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Lei's father also went into this desert and never came back..."

Lei Zi's mother kept rambling on, while Mo Yan expressionlessly loaded water bags onto the camel's back. Each trip into the desert required at least three days' worth of water and provisions. Over the days, she had become tanned and thin from the desert sun, her eyes shining unusually brightly against her gaunt face.

It has been exactly three months since Zhan Zhao left.

Over the past three months, she has searched for him in the desert countless times, only to return empty-handed each time. She even followed a caravan back and forth through the desert, but still found nothing.

The vast desert stretches for thousands of miles, with only the same monotonous yellow sand as far as the eye can see, desolate and silent. Mo Yan grits her teeth and hates this yellow sand from the bottom of her heart, hating that her hands cannot move all this overwhelming and endless sand so that she can dig out the person underneath.

"Mother, don't say anymore." Lei Zi came out of the kitchen, carrying a package of oil paper containing more than a dozen flatbreads. He stuffed the package into the saddlebag on the camel, said nothing to Mo Yan, and silently went back inside.

He had tried to persuade her, but he realized that he couldn't persuade her at all.

Mo Yan led the camel away, and all that could be seen before her was endless sand.

After taking only seven or eight steps, someone suddenly pulled hard on the reins from the other side of the camel. The camel was very tall, and Mo Yan could not see the person's face. She could only see the person's boots and the hem of his robe, which was dressed in the style of a Central Plains person.

"Big brother, is that you? You're back, aren't you?..." Mo Yan didn't move, her eyes fixed on the hem of the clothes, muttering to herself.

The owner of the robes slowly walked over, until he stood before her. She hesitated to look up, only smiling softly and mumbling, "Brother, I knew you would come back..."

The man sighed, "Girl, why did you get yourself into this state?"

Mo Yan seemed not to hear, still muttering as if in a dream, "Are you hungry? I'll cook for you. What would you like to eat?"

"Girl!" The man grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. "I'm not Zhan Zhao, look carefully!"

Mo Yan finally stopped talking, slowly looked up at him, her face expressionless. After a while, she took the camel's reins, walked around him, and continued forward.

The man caught up with her and blocked her way, angrily demanding, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Brother Zhan." She spoke these words very clearly.

"Zhan Zhao is dead."

"No."

"He's dead."

"No."

"His heart has been poisoned; there is no cure."

"……no……"

"Girl, wake up!" Ning Jin, unable to bear it any longer, grabbed her and pulled her back, shouting, "Come on, come back with me. You can't stay in this godforsaken place any longer." He had heard about Zhan Zhao in Zhao Yu's letter to Emperor Renzong, so he rushed to the Liao Dynasty. After meeting Zhao Yu, he learned that Zhan Zhao's heart was poisoned beyond cure and that he had left alone, while Mo Yan had gone after him. He searched for more than half a month before hearing that someone seemed to have seen her here. He rushed over and finally met Mo Yan.

Mo Yan struggled free and said calmly, "I'm going to find him."

"He's already dead, where are you going to find him?" Seeing how she had tormented herself, Ning Jin was furious. "Do you want to die with him?"

Upon hearing this, Mo Yan froze, stopped in her tracks, as if remembering something—"If you die, no one in this world will think of me or miss me like you did." She stood there, motionless.

"Girl, come back with me," Ning Jin said in a low voice, trying his best to be gentle.

Go back? Go back to where? Mo Yan thought blankly. There was no sign of her older brother anywhere. Where could she possibly go back to?

Lei's mother, leaning on her cane, walked by, muttering, "Take her away quickly. With her searching day and night like this, her husband won't find peace even lying under the yellow sand..."

"No peace"—Mo Yan was startled by these four words, and a thousand emotions seemed to surge in her heart. Her knees buckled, and she almost knelt on the ground: Brother, do you really not want to see me? Do you really not have peace when I look for you like this?

Seeing her desolate expression and swaying precariously, Ning Jin rushed forward to support her. Wu Zichu, who was standing to the side, wanted to help, but hesitated for a moment and then retreated.

Mo Yan broke free from him, pulled hard on the reins to steady herself, stubbornly turned around, and walked towards the desert. Although she was taking steps, her mind was buzzing with chaotic noise, as if thousands of tiny hammers were constantly pounding inside, and she could no longer hear any sound.

She tilted her head slightly, and the sunlight pierced down, making her feel dizzy and disoriented before it quickly went dark.

She seemed to have a very, very long dream.

Sometimes I feel light and airy, as if floating in the air; sometimes I feel icy cold, as if I'm in a snowy wonderland; and sometimes my mouth is parched, as if I'm being scorched by the sun in the desert...

"Father, save me, save me..."

Childhood memories swirl in my mind like the deepest, darkest dreams.

"Big brother, where are you?"

She walked through the fog, but no matter how loudly she shouted, she could not see the person.

When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she had indeed been dreaming. The people in front of her were so familiar, as if she had never been to the capital or the Liao Kingdom.

"Second brother," she called softly.