Chapter 218 - The Disheartened

Chapter 218: Chapter 205: The Disheartened"Lu Hong, Lu Hong, look what Grandpa brought back?!" In the rural fields, an eight-year-old girl hopped and skipped around to come up behind a one-armed man.

The one-armed man slowly turned around, his legs and feet seeming a bit unsteady, as he grinned foolishly at the girl.

"Look, Grandpa brought a roast chicken back. Eat some first, Lu Hong. Grandpa went to town to do business, and he definitely won’t let you eat when he gets back." The girl held up the roast chicken, unable to hide her reluctance and desire in her eyes.

The one-armed man shook his head and pushed the roast chicken back to her, gesturing for her to eat it herself.

"Have some, Lu Hong. Aren’t you tired of buns every day?" The girl forcefully tore off a chicken leg and tried hard to bring it to the one-armed man’s mouth.

Seeing his adamant refusal, the one-armed man finally reluctantly bit into the chicken leg, then rubbed the girl’s head, grinning foolishly.

"Weiwei! You stole food for this fool again, didn’t you?!" At that moment, the old man stood on the path by the fields and yelled, "I’ll beat you to death!"

"Ah~~! Grandpa’s going to kill someone!" The girl laughed heartily and then ran off with the roast chicken tucked under her arm.

The old man chased after her, but the one-armed man stepped half a step forward to block his path.

"Humph! You freeloading fool, out of the way!" the old man shouted angrily. The one-armed man pretended not to hear, buying Weiwei some time.

The old man, in clean clothes, was unwilling to step into the muddy water of the field. Although the one-armed man was physically disabled, the old man was ultimately too old and couldn’t push him aside.

When Weiwei had run far away, the one-armed man finally moved aside.

"She’s out of sight!" The old man pointed at the one-armed man’s nose and scolded, "If Weiwei goes missing, I’ll kill you!" After speaking, the old man chased after the direction the girl had run.

Facing the old man’s scolding, the one-armed man just laughed. Having dealt with this old man for over two years, he knew his character well—a typical sharp tongue but soft heart.

He guessed that the old man had intentionally let Weiwei bring the roast chicken. Otherwise, how could the old man from the upper town have come back so quickly?

Two years...

The one-armed man looked up at the bright sun, his eyes filled with emptiness.

He was Lu Hong. Two years ago, he fell into the sea and was seriously injured and unconscious, but fortunately, the sea washed him ashore. At that time, the old man was scavenging with his granddaughter. Initially, the old man did not want to save Lu Hong, considering him disabled, but he couldn’t resist his granddaughter’s kindness and eventually took him home.

The old man was a Planar Traveler, a very special and rare profession. Typically, Planar Travelers are wealthy because they have a unique ability to cross planes without the need for a high level, enabling trade connections—this business acumen, apart from Second Transition Late Stage Spatial Mages, is unmatched by practically any other profession.

However, the old man was sharp-tongued and had not done well in business when he was young. His son and daughter-in-law had died early, leaving only his granddaughter, whom the old man supported by scavenging across various planes.

If lucky, the old man could make a small profit. If not, he and his granddaughter would need to tighten their belts and survive on coarse buns. Sometimes, they couldn’t even afford buns. For instance, when he saved Lu Hong, the old man was old and could only travel between planes once a month. Saving Lu Hong meant he couldn’t bring back more goods, for which the old man scolded Lu Hong a lot during the first year.

But now, things were better. With Lu Hong cultivating fallow fields, the family had some basic guaranteed income, and the old man’s regular scavenging work often skipped days.

Two years...

Lu Hong closed his eyes. For the past two years, he hadn’t slept well for a single night, haunted by continual visions of his brothers’ violent deaths. Therefore, he remained silent, and outsiders thought he was mute. Whenever asked about his past, Lu Hong just shook his head, never mentioning it.

As the sun set in the west, Lu Hong limped back with a hoe to the thatched cottage. Despite its simplicity, it provided him some solace in his despair.

At this time, the old man had already steamed the buns, and most of the roast chicken snatched back from Weiwei was placed in a bowl. It seemed they weren’t just feeding the grandfather and granddaughter tonight but also Lu Hong.

"What are you looking at!" the old man glanced at Lu Hong and said, "Hurry up and wash your hands to eat!"

After quickly cleaning the mud off himself, Weiwei handed over two of the biggest buns, "Lu Hong, here!"

Lu Hong smiled and nodded, taking the buns from Weiwei’s hands and starting to eat, not even looking at the chicken in the bowl.

The old man watched carefully and then tore the chicken into small pieces, "How can you be so foolish? If there’s chicken, eat it! Or do I need to feed you?!"

Lu Hong laughed and shook his head, indicating he wasn’t going to eat.

The old man pursed his lips and said, "Eat some. Most of the grain you planted this year was sold for money. This is what you deserve."

"Yes, Lu Hong, just eat. Grandpa swapped for quite some money this time, enough for us to buy a few new clothes."

Persuaded by Weiwei, Lu Hong finally took a small piece and put it in his mouth.

The old man somehow produced a jar of wine, "Come! Today we’re celebrating a little festival, join me for a drink."

"No refusals!" the old man sternly ordered and then Weiwei brought over two worn-out wine glasses.

The old man filled a glass and gulped down the wine. Soon his face flushed, and he muttered to himself, "In the past, it was always the child’s father who drank with me..."

Knowing that the old man was recalling sad memories, Lu Hong clinked glasses with him.

The old man looked up and laughed at Lu Hong, "That’s better!"

After a few glasses, the old man’s mouth, like a door off its hinges, spilled out a jumble of words.

An old man with his young granddaughter indeed had it tough.

Although Weiwei was young, she always saw the hard work her grandfather put in. She never minded his nagging. Instead, she listened intently to him along with Lu Hong. When they reached the parts about former mischievous pranks, she laughed heartily along.

In less than an hour, more than half of a pot of old wine had entered the other person’s stomach.

"Erlang!" The old man, with blurred eyes, hesitated reaching out to Lu Hong repeatedly, "I..."

Lu Hong tilted his head, puzzled by the old man’s demeanor.

"It’s my fault," the old man choked up. "If I hadn’t been broke, at least your legs could have been saved, and you wouldn’t struggle even to walk..."

Hearing the words buried in the old man’s heart, Weiwei too had tears in her eyes. "Brother, it’s we who owe you."

Lu Hong smiled and patted little Weiwei’s head, then dipping his finger in water, he wrote on the table, "I have never blamed you."

The old man gazed for a long while, eventually collapsing onto the table, overwhelmed by the alcohol.

Lu Hong picked up the old man single-handedly and took him back to the inner room.

"Erlang brother, I’m also sleepy, you should go to sleep early too!" Weiwei, very sensible, covered the old man with a blanket and went straight to sleep herself.

Lu Hong walked outside, leaned against a haystack, and gazed at the gradually darkening night sky, numerous images flashing through his mind.

With a lame leg and a broken arm, he was completely disabled and could no longer wield the giant double-edged sword. He didn’t know how the empire’s battles were going now, whether the Snowy Region had been repelled after two years.

But all of this was unrelated to him now; he was just a disabled man. The injuries sustained during the fierce battle in Nativas had never healed, ruining his foundation. His vitality had long been depleted, probably not even matching a First Transition.

Lu Hong had not considered returning to the empire, even though he knew that Nono, Danni, and Lando would be desperately searching for him. But what use was there in returning in this condition? It would be better for his loved ones to think he had died two years ago, fallen from the cliffs at Quhai Camp.

Gazing at the gradually brightening moon in the sky, Lu Hong’s expression was sorrowful.

Nono, are you alright?

"Not good!"

"Not good!"

"Not good!"

Nono stood in the Central Army Tent, her military attire exceptionally valiant.

She flung out one military report after another. "Can’t you come up with a decent strategy?!"

"We are incompetent, please forgive us, Your Majesty!"

A group of Ministers of Military Affairs trembled on the ground, not daring to say anything more than kowtowing.

Since Lu Hong had been persecuted by Hu Buping, Nono became isolated and helpless in the court, only then realizing who was really in charge in the entire North Territory. Less than half a year later, Nono changed her approach, continuously fostering her influence in the court, and by that same year, she reached the northern battlefield to lead the troops and supervise the war herself.

Without her doing so, Hanguguan Pass would likely have been broken through by the Snowy Region’s army long ago.

Two years of war in the North Territory increased Nono’s prestige in the army to new heights. With the ongoing conflict in the Endless Forest, Konstantin couldn’t spare the time to deal with her, and the Shahar family patriarch naturally wouldn’t obstruct the queen’s growth either.

With no one to hinder her, Nono gradually became a qualified queen, her dissenting voices growing increasingly rare.

As for Hu Buping, while Nono was restrained by the patriarch from acting against him, Danni was different. Following a letter from Konstantin, she arrived at Quhai City with boundless fury, and in front of tens of thousands of soldiers, she beat him severely. If not for the intervention of the sixteen Shahar family’s retainers, Hu Buping would have been crippled long ago.

"Are you sure you want to protect him?" Danni’s tone was low. It had been a long time since she last lost her temper, causing others to forget her fiery side.

"Tower Master, this man is a subject of our empire. Even if he has done wrong, he should be dealt with by our own legal system. Please, Tower Master, do not overstep."

"Hmph!" Considering the greater good of the empire, Danni chose to restrain herself.

But Lando wasn’t so easy to deal with. Danni allowed her space, and for the first time since their religious order was established, they temporarily lifted the pursuit of the Hell faction, giving Lando ample time to prepare.

After three months of surveillance, Lando finally got her chance and broke all of Hu Buping’s limbs.

Hu Pofu, carrying his father, sought treatment from military doctors, but no one dared to treat him. In every major city they passed, no healing profession dared to treat him. After delay upon delay, Hu Buping missed his chance for recovery and became completely disabled.

Of course, those who orchestrated this were not Lando and Danni alone. Only the Great Emperor and the queen could have had such an influence over the empire.

Under the joint efforts of Danni, Lando, Konstantin, and Nono, Hu Buping finally received his just desserts for his past crimes.

"After all, he did it all for his son," the patriarch sighed lowly upon hearing the tragic news of Hu Buping. "Can a father be blamed?"

A shadow behind him sneered coldly, "Wasn’t it all your manipulation?"

"He agreed to it himself," he replied, sipping his tea, his expression unchanging.