Le voyage d'un mendiant à travers le monde

Chapitre 145

The woman looked her over again, as if trying to recall the past. After a long while, she grasped the necklace, her hands trembling as she placed her hand on Yue Ruzheng's shoulder, stammering, "Zheng'er... I don't recognize you... How did you disappear..."

"Auntie!" Tears finally welled up in Yue Ruzheng's eyes. She gently grasped her aunt's wrist and choked out, "I've been looking for you for so long, I thought I'd never see you again..."

"My child!" Aunt cried out in grief, "They took you away, and you must have gone through so much hardship to escape..." As she spoke, she suddenly grabbed Ruzheng's hand and insisted on taking her away.

"Auntie, where are you taking me?" Yue Ruzheng asked in a panic.

"Go, go! We can't stay here, Lian Haichao will definitely send people to hunt us down again!" Aunt shouted urgently, and pulled Ruzheng toward the mountain path.

Yue Ruzheng's wrist ached from being gripped so tightly, but she couldn't resist. She could only plead, "Auntie, please don't do this. I was never kidnapped, and even Hai Chao is long gone..."

The aunt, who had been striding forward with unwavering determination, suddenly stopped. Yue Ruzheng felt as if her back had frozen completely, and she didn't make a sound for a long time.

"Auntie..." Yue Ruzheng called out cautiously.

She whirled around, her face pale, her eyes blazing with resentment, and screamed hoarsely, "You lied to me! You lied to me! Lian Haichao is clearly still in the East China Sea. He will never let me go. How could I die? How could I die?!"

Before Yue Ruzheng could explain, her aunt became increasingly agitated and wouldn't let her speak. She gripped her wrist tightly, her sharp nails digging into Ruzheng's skin, leaving dark red welts.

"Aunt, you are Mingyu, you are Lian Haichao's personal maid, right?" Yue Ruzheng asked painfully, "Where did I come from? What is my connection to Seven Star Island? Please tell me!"

Her aunt's white dress billowed in the wind, and her eyes widened in terror. "Don't mention that name again! Don't mention it again!"

"But I..." Yue Ruzheng was about to plead with her when she suddenly heard someone approaching on the mountain path. She involuntarily glanced in that direction, and her aunt shuddered, quickly grabbing her arm and dragging her deeper into the pine forest.

Meanwhile, Lian Junchu was rushing back when he heard Ruzheng's crying and another woman's shouts from afar. Startled, he quickened his pace. Just as he stepped onto the top of the jade platform, he saw Ruzheng being held tightly by a woman in white. In a moment of urgency, Lian Junchu lightly touched the blue stone with his feet, swiftly leaping over the treetops and rushing behind the woman under the moonlight. With a flick of his sleeve, he swept his robe over her shoulder.

Hearing the sudden gust of wind, the woman involuntarily turned around. Silver needles, sharp and pointed, sprang from Lian Junchu's sleeve, aiming directly at her face. Yue Ruzheng cried out, forcefully pulling the woman aside and pressing her hand on Lian Junchu's shoulder, sobbing, "Xiao Tang, don't hurt her! She's my aunt!"

Lian Junchu forcefully pulled back her sleeves, took half a step back, and exclaimed in surprise, "What did you say?!"

"She is my aunt, who was your father's maid when he was alive!" Before Yue Ruzheng could finish speaking, her aunt, whom she had pushed aside, suddenly stared blankly at Lian Junchu as if possessed, and then let out a laugh that pierced the sky, startling both of them into silence.

"Island Master, Island Master, I've waited so long, and you've finally agreed to leave the East China Sea to see me?!" She smiled through her tears, and even her chapped lips were oozing a faint trace of blood.

Seeing her like this, Yue Ruzheng felt a chill run down her spine and instinctively tightened her grip on Lian Junchu's sleeve, leaning closer to him. At this moment, her aunt walked slowly to Lian Junchu, her beautiful eyes filled with immense anticipation. She raised the necklace in her hand to him and said wistfully, "I knew you would come back to find me... Everyone says you drove me away and will never see me again, but I understand that you only let me leave Seven Star Island because you had no choice and didn't want to anger Madam. Actually, you've always had me in your heart, haven't you?"

Her eyes were full of tenderness, but to everyone's surprise, Lian Jun stood there stunned when he first saw her, without saying a word.

"Island Lord, why won't you speak? Did you quarrel with Madam again? You can talk to Mingyu, I won't tell anyone. In my heart, there is only room for the Island Lord..." As Mingyu spoke, she couldn't help but kneel down to Lian Junchu.

"Auntie, please don't be like this." Yue Ruzheng anxiously tried to pull her up, but at that moment, she suddenly heard Lian Junchu say in a trembling voice beside her, "It's you?"

"It's me! Island Master, you finally recognized Mingyu!" Mingyu cried tears of joy, clutching Yingluo to her heart, her eyes filled with deep affection as she looked at Lian Junchu.

Yue Ruzheng didn't know why Lian Junchu would ask such a question, so she turned around and looked at him.

Under the cold moonlight, his face was almost bloodless, and his chest heaved as if he was having trouble breathing or as if he was enduring immense pain.

"Xiao Tang?" Yue Ruzheng rarely saw him so frightened, so she put her hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down.

But he remained oblivious, staring blankly at Mingyu kneeling before him. Mingyu reached out and tugged at his robes, looking up at him, saying, "Island Lord, I've stayed here all these years, just to see you again. But why did it take you so long to come to Chicheng Mountain? So you really don't love that woman surnamed Tang, do you? You were just acting on a whim, because of your discord with your wife, and that's all you did. I never believed you could like her, I never believed it!"

"So you brought people to assassinate my mother and then threw us into the dungeon..." Lian Junchu suddenly said in a hoarse voice, her face filled with uncontrollable grief and indignation.

Yue Ruzheng felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her hand, which had been gently stroking him, jerked away abruptly, and she exclaimed in shock, "You're saying it was my aunt who led people to assassinate your mother?!"

Mingyu stared at the two people before her, her eyes glazed over. Suddenly, she gritted her teeth and said to the tombstone, "Tang Yunlan, you vixen! You were the one who instigated the island lord to drive me out of Seven Star Island, weren't you? I've already left the island lord, why won't you let me go? You even let the island lord take my child away! What a ruthless woman! You want me to die alone and destitute in a foreign land!"

"Aunt!" Yue Ruzheng's vision went black. She even wondered if she was still trapped in an endless nightmare. "Could it really be that you led people to kill Madam Tang and cut off Little Tang's hands?!"

Mingyu stood up, supporting herself on her knees. She was slender, and her white dress fluttered like a ghost under the moon.

"Zheng'er, who told her to lure the island lord away from me? I can't see the island lord, but I can find this wicked woman." Mingyu raised her hands high, the tassels on the purple flute danced wildly in the wind like the tentacles of a monster. Her eyes shone brightly, her pale cheeks were stained with blood, and she had an indescribable bewitching beauty.

Lian Junchu felt as if he had lost his soul. He felt his body sinking deeper and deeper into the dark, sunless dungeon. The walls were damp and cold, the iron bars rough, and there wasn't a ray of light. Everything was gloomy and gray. Only his mother's frail embrace could offer him a meager warmth, but why couldn't he hold onto even this last bit of support?

Although Mingyu's face was haggard and aged, her slender eyebrows and the teardrop-shaped mole at the corner of her eye remained unchanged.

He could never forget that it was she who led her men into that small house deep in Tiantai Mountain, binding his ailing mother and him, and shoving them into a carriage. He could never forget that it was she who, with shrill shouts, snatched him from his mother's arms and dragged him out of the prison cell. The pair of steel knives, gleaming with a cold white light, danced like butterflies in her hands. He didn't know why these people were so ruthless; he didn't even know who Lian Haichao, whom they spoke of, was.

"Young man, do you know Lian Haichao?" The woman with slender eyebrows and long eyes leaned down and asked him, a strange smile on her lips.

"I don't know him..." He was forcibly pressed to the cold ground, his hands trying to struggle, but he was firmly held down by the people on both sides and could not move an inch.

The mother wept in her cell. The woman glanced at her with disgust, then chuckled, waving a finger in front of him. "You're really outrageous! You don't even recognize Hai Chao as your father? I have good news for you. In a little over two months, it will be your father's fortieth birthday. As his son, you'd better send a generous gift to show your filial piety!"

The mother clung tightly to the iron bars, shouting, "Don't tell him this! He doesn't know anything!"

"It's so noisy!" the woman roared hysterically. "Isn't he a descendant of the Lian family? I want to see how Lian Haichao's only son will inherit the Forgetful Sword!"

He would never forget the feeling of a steel knife against his shoulder. Although he didn't know what she meant, looking at the white blade, he seemed to understand what these people were going to do.

"No, don't cut off my hands!" He stood there stunned for a long time, desperately kicking his legs to break free. The woman shouted loudly, and the people around him once again pinned his legs down. He felt as if his whole body no longer belonged to him, with only those two white lights flashing before his eyes.

His cries mingled with his mother's screams, the woman's beautiful face flushed crimson. "Bastard! Bastard! Shut up! Shut up!"

With a swift movement, the blade fell, a flash of cold light and a spray of blood.

Just before he lost consciousness, he saw the woman use the tip of her knife to lift up two severed arms and let out a mad, cold laugh.

That was his arm. The arm that had been gripping the ground tightly, the arm that he could feel the cold, heat, and soreness.

Lian Junchu could no longer hold back. He suddenly slumped over, his chest throbbing with pain, barely able to breathe. Yue Ruzheng was stunned. Seeing him unable to even stand, she snapped out of her daze, trembling as she hugged him, crying frantically, "Little Tang, Little Tang, don't scare me!"

He kept his eyes tightly shut, his lips almost bleeding from being bitten. Yue Ruzheng felt his body sinking, and she used all her strength to support him, her hands tightly stroking his face, tears dripping onto her clothes.

"Open your eyes and look at me, look at me!" When she touched him, she felt that his face was as cold as if it were made of ice and snow. Yue Ruzheng's heart was torn apart, and she cried uncontrollably.