Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 850 Forever
The master used a long knife to support his body.

The war ended much faster than he had anticipated.

The fighting stopped, and the Second Cave Master slashed open Fu Dongshan's throat with his sword, letting him utter a final whimper, and then silence fell all around.

The three remaining guards surrounded their master, their hands trembling as they gripped their weapons.

The landlord looked up.

Wang Yan and Xie Yuyan arrived at the scene.

The sun finally withdrew its last rays, and the night the landlord had been longing for was about to arrive, but he had no chance to escape.

“I will give you money,” the owner finally said. “I have a lot of money at sea, and I can give it to you.”

"And there are the maritime trade routes... I've planted many spies everywhere, enough to save you at least ten years of road construction, as long as you spare my life."

“If you are not at ease, you can keep me here to do things. I have two young children here, and you can use them as leverage.”

Wang Yan and Xie Yuyan remained silent, standing side by side with remarkably similar expressions in their eyes—calm and unwavering, as if they hadn't taken his words to heart.

Enraged by the two men, the master said with a dark look in his eyes, "Serving the Liang court is nothing more than being a dog for the Liang family. How is the Liang family any different from me?"

"They indulge officials and oppress the people just the same. What have those officials who claim to be benevolent done? They've just fostered corrupt officials like Xie Yizhi."

"Which dynasty didn't drink human blood and eat human flesh? Constantly waging war, how many lives were killed in the struggle for power?"

"In the end, it's just that the imperial court gives you more benefits."

The landlord pointed at Wang Yan: "Isn't it for the sake of the Wang family's inheritance and prestige?"

After saying this, he looked at Xie Yuyan and said, "You're the same. You just want to replace me. You talk a lot about benevolence and morality, but you do the same things as me."

Xie Yuyan wasn't paying close attention to what her master was saying. What flashed before her eyes were scenes from decades later, with the Liang royal family and officials fleeing south in the face of the Northern Qi army...

The trouble originated in Northern Qi and Daliang, but even more so in the Dong family and their people.

“I know…”

Xie Yuyan finally said, "The imperial court is riddled with problems, and the people always have a dilapidated roof over their heads, but... there are always people who want to repair it."

"The dynasty had corrupt officials, but it also had county magistrates who swore oaths at the City God Temple to 'pacify the people and control the floods,' prefects who risked their lives to open granaries to relieve the people, and censors who dared to speak frankly and without reservation..."

"Even the officials you bribed may have a plaque above their heads that reads 'Treat the people as brothers and all things as companions.' They may be corrupt, but they still have a shred of reverence left. They dare not tear off their masks and expose their ugliness to the world."

"But you are different."

“You can do whatever you want in the shadows without any restraint.”

"Perhaps someone will always lift the tiles, and the roof will never be fixed, but they still have a foothold on this land, while you don't even want that, you only want to scrape the gold and silver from the cellar."

Therefore, the employer deserves to die even more.

Today's events are all debts they owed. She owes them, and the debts owed to the landlord and the Liang royal family are the same. Sooner or later, they will have to tear up the debt contracts and return them to those innocent people.

The master was speechless for a moment. He just stared at Xie Yuyan and was surprised to find that every time Xie Yuyan spoke a sentence, she would feel much more relaxed, as if she had unloaded the heavy burden on her shoulders.

But those things were suffocating him.

He watched Wang Yan step forward, fear gripping him tightly, unable to break free. Wang Yan slowly raised the long sword in his hand, its sharp edge making the landlord tremble. However, before Wang Yan's sword could fall, the landlord felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned around and saw that his two children had somehow picked up a sharp spike used by the islanders and were stabbing him viciously.

The man was wearing armor, so he wasn't seriously injured. Seeing this, the two children continued to exert force. Although they were trembling with fear, their faces were flushed red. They knew they couldn't let their father get too hurt, but neither of them dared to give up.

The man moved, grasped the spikes, and released the two men.

The two children fell to the ground and looked at Wang Yan in unison: "My lord, spare us! My lord, spare us! Our mother was kidnapped by this villain. She had no choice but to give birth to us. We didn't want to stay with him, but we couldn't escape..."

“There are many children like us. We are treated like servants by him and there is no father-son relationship between us. We beg the court to show leniency and spare our lives.”

Before Wang Yan could speak, the landlord revealed a sarcastic smile. He actually looked at his child with admiration. It seemed that he hadn't left nothing behind in his life. At least he still had these ungrateful, selfish, and indifferent blood relatives who only cared about their own interests.

Even the imperial court wanted to find and kill them all, but that wasn't easy.

The master's thoughts ended there. Wang Yan's blade had already slashed down, not directly slicing at his neck, but instead cleaving his shoulder bone and flesh apart.

The landlord let out a miserable cry.

The next cut fell.

Wang Yan was ultimately not a torturer who enjoyed torturing people; he simply wanted his master to pay a price and to instill fear in those who followed him.

At the last moment, Wang Yan finally beheaded his master.

With the owner gone, all that's left is to clean up the mess.

Wang Yan and Xie Yuyan walked outside. Xie Yuyan felt light on her feet, as she had already done everything she wanted to do.

Wang Yan gazed into her eyes and brows, and the somber and profound look that had always been hidden within seemed to have been blown away by the wind. Suddenly, Wang Yan's gaze sharpened, and he stopped in his tracks.

After Xie Yuyan noticed, he turned his head and asked silently.

As darkness fell and everything became increasingly blurry, Wang Yan couldn't be sure if he could see clearly. He raised his hand and placed it on the corner of her right eyebrow.

I gently brushed it with my fingertip, removing the soot, and the small red mole became even more vibrant.

"When..." Wang Yan said, "when did a red mole appear?"

"A red mole?" Xie Yuyan couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. In her previous life, she had a cinnabar mole at the corner of her eyebrow. After being reborn here, she was certain that the corner of her eye on this body was clean and there was nothing there.

Wang Yan was always afraid that one day he would open his eyes and find Xie Wenjing instead of Xie Yuyan, as if it were all a dream that he would suddenly wake up from and vanish like smoke.

But now, looking at this mole, his heart suddenly felt much calmer.

Xie Yuyan took Wang Yan's hand and clung to it, her slender fingers gently caressing his fingers, as if slowly soothing the last trace of anxiety in his heart.

Xie Yuyan smiled and said, "It's a good omen. I've paid off all my debts. I'm no longer the Xie Yuyan of the past, nor the Xie Wenjing of today. From now on, I will only live for myself and the people I care about."

Wang Yan nodded, his eyes seeming to ripple with a gentle, watery warmth that enveloped her entirely.

No, Xie Yuyan gripped Wang Yan's hand tightly. She still owed someone a debt, a debt that had bound him to a lifelong promise to her. And this was something she would have to repay with her entire life.

She wanted to give him a lively and bustling home, a place where he could find joy and worry about daily necessities, grandchildren, and other family matters.

The forest may confine them for a time, but they will confine each other... forever.

(End of this chapter)