Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 42 Dialectical Benevolence and Morality
The Dragon Ball contains disinfectant, medicine, and sutures. These things are very precious, and once they are used, they are gone. Naturally, they cannot be used casually on someone like Feng An, with whom there is only a slight but not much relationship.

Feng An fainted from the pain, but the young man with a high fever woke up. The first thing he did upon waking was to start cursing at the person in front of him.

Despite his weak condition and foul language, Yun Ce at least understood the phrases "彼其娘之" and "中寿，尔墓之木拱矣".

It seems like this isn't someone who likes to suffer losses, and even if they do, they'll definitely get their revenge.

Yun Ce admires people with this kind of personality, because he also likes to scold his family members, especially his ancestors.

Compared to the two men, the girls and teenagers seemed very quiet, each holding a piece of meat and slowly gnawing on it, seemingly content with their current lives and quite easygoing.

The boy who was cursing was named Liang Kun. After cursing, he glanced at the carriage, looked Yun Ce up and down, and then bowed to E Ji and said, "Please give me some food, young lord."

Among the women on the sheep-drawn cart, Eji was dressed the most simply. He was able to keenly identify the truly trustworthy one among them, which shows he was quite capable.

The sound of "Young Master" made Eji's heart flutter. She immediately took a piece of fatty mutton belly from the jar and carefully sprinkled salt on it.

Liang Kun was probably starving. He took the mutton and started gnawing on it. He finished it in a short while and didn't ask for more. Instead, he cupped his hands again and said, "Thank you for the food, young master. I will never forget it."

Eji returned the greeting and said, "It's nothing, young master, please don't worry about it."

Seeing that Liang Kun's lips were chapped, he scooped a spoonful of hot water from the earthenware pot on the wood stove and handed it to him. Liang Kun took the spoon, blew on it to cool it down a little, and then drank it down bit by bit.

After finishing his water, Liang Kun returned the spoon, looked at Feng An lying beside him, and bowed to Yun Ce, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, brother."

After speaking, he simply lay down and fell asleep, a decision that even Yun Ce found hard to accept.

Eji jumped off the sheep cart and whispered to Yun Ce, "These women don't want to go back."

Yun Ce frowned and said, "We still have a very long way to go, so we can't take them with us."

Eji frowned as well and said, "I asked around, and they have been abandoned by their master. If they go back, they will become someone else's servants again."

Yun Ce reached out and lifted E Ji's chin, saying, "Speak properly!"

Eji stamped her foot in embarrassment and said, "Fine, fine, I just want a small courtyard with a well in it. The well platform must be made of bluestone, preferably with patterns on it. It would be even better if there were a few fruit trees. There shouldn't be too many houses, three rooms in the front, three rooms on the left, and three rooms on the right. It would be best if there were also a backyard with a tall gate... Seven or eight pine trees can be planted in the courtyard, and it would be best if there was a large open space to plant bean pods... We absolutely must keep a few horses, as we don't have enough carriages... Also, we need to keep a few mares, so they can produce milk and give birth to foals..."

After Eji spent half an hour clearly explaining her dream, Yun Ce finally understood that the small courtyard Eji wanted would have to cover at least a hundred acres to accommodate all the things she was rambling about.

In fact, this simple thought had only been in her mind for less than an hour. It came to her when she was idly chatting with some girls about where they used to live.

She has a personality that cannot tolerate others being better than her, and in addition, she believes from the bottom of her heart that there is nothing in this world that can stop Yun Ce.

Since you want a yard and your husband is capable, why not ask for the best? Why can't you ask for more conditions?

Yun Ce assumed the little girl was having a fit of hysteria, so he threw her onto the sheep cart. There he saw Eji take out all the money she had on her and count it with four girls who were about half a year old, whispering to each other, though he couldn't tell what they were saying.

As darkness fell, they encountered the dog-skin group again on the road. Yun Ce used the same method to kill the king of the dog-skin group, and then the dog-skin group dispersed.

The dog skin was scattered, and several piles of bones appeared on the ground. A little girl in a light red dress suddenly saw a torn piece of cloth on the pile of bones. Without thinking, she jumped off the sheep cart, hugged the piece of cloth, and cried uncontrollably.

Eji found a small, blue bell in the pile of bones. After wiping it clean, she shook it in her hand, and it made a clear, ringing sound.

Seeing that Angie was staring at her without blinking, he regretfully gave the bell to Angie. He had heard from other girls that it was Angie's mother's keepsake. Her mother was a musician in the city lord's mansion, who was in charge of setting the tone for songs and dances by playing the chime bells.

A person who can play the chime bells and set the tone for the dance music is definitely a top performer among musicians. Chime bells are not something that ordinary people can afford. A complete set of chime bells has a total of 65 bells. The largest bell weighs 500 jin (250 kg) and the smallest bell weighs 5 jin (2.5 kg). A complete set of chime bells weighs more than 2.5 tons.

This thing is not just a musical instrument, but also a ritual object. The person who wields this set of ritual objects must be an important figure in the family. Now, this important figure has actually been fed to the dogs. It seems that the main family has reached the end of its road.

The corpses were piled up together, and it was impossible to tell which skeleton belonged to Anji's mother. So Eji got a shovel from Yun Ce and, together with the four girls, buried all the fleshless corpses.

After regaining his senses, Feng An wrote a eulogy for An Ji's mother. Although the article was empty and meaningless, at least Feng An didn't know An Ji's mother, so it was already quite remarkable that he wrote something like this.

After eating and drinking water, and sleeping for four hours, Liang Kun felt much better and his fever subsided, but he was extremely listless, staring blankly in the direction of Pingyuan City without making a sound. After burying An Ji's mother, E Ji began to cook bean porridge. Since there were many women and children, E Ji added extra meat sauce to the porridge.

Feng An washed his hands by the water source and walked over to Yun Ce, who was sharpening a crossbow bolt, and said, "The rebellion broke out suddenly, leaving no time for anyone to prepare. In an instant, loved ones were killed and families were torn apart. Everyone was filled with fear and unease. Brother, what is the reason for this?"

Yun Ce continued working with his hands and casually replied, "It's all because of unfairness."

Feng An did not answer, but Liang Kun, who was standing next to him, angrily said, "Does unfairness justify killing people?"

Yun Ce turned his head and glanced at Liang Kun, then laughed and said, "I've been treated unfairly, so why can't I kill someone? Back in the day, when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled against the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, their slogan was 'Are kings and nobles born with special privileges?' You just feel good when you hear those slogans."

You should know that my ancestor, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, was actually one of the rebels back then, because he was treated unfairly.

Now, it's the big men's turn to treat others unfairly, and they're resisting. Why can't you stand it?

Liang Kun angrily retorted, "My Liang family has always been a family of scholars and officials; when have we ever oppressed anyone?"

When the bean porridge was ready, Yun Ce received two bowls from E Ji and casually handed one to Feng An, saying to Liang Kun, "For those poor men, having money is a sin."

“That money was accumulated by generations of hard work and self-discipline from our ancestors.” Liang Kun’s anger was hard to quell.

Yun Ce, holding a bowl of porridge, said, "No, it's impossible to get rich through hard work. If that were true, the richest people would be those at the bottom of society. They get up the earliest, go to bed the latest, eat the worst food, live in the worst housing, and are also the most frugal group of people."

Instead of those people who sleep until late morning.

Besides, I've tested this in Hekou Village. Hard work can fill your stomach, but don't even think about getting rich. You should choose to forget what happened in Pingyuan City, and don't grieve for your deceased family members. Before long, such things will happen frequently on the land of the Han Dynasty. At that time, we will all be people in exile, and we will get used to it quickly.

These words, of course, could not convince Liang Kun. Fortunately, the bean porridge tasted so good that it silenced Liang Kun. So, under the bright moon, everyone slurped up the porridge.

As for Yun Ce's earlier assertion that the world was about to descend into chaos, Liang Kun and Feng An didn't take it to heart. After all, the Han Dynasty was renowned far and wide at this time, and there was no one in the world who would not follow its lead.

Pingyuan City is nothing more than a remote area where savages are causing trouble. If you run into them, consider yourself unlucky.

For ordinary people, big issues are easily forgiven, but when it comes to things that are closely related to themselves, it is difficult to be magnanimous.

The next day, while traveling, Yun Ce's sheep cart encountered a group of travelers. The man in the lead still walked with a powerful and imposing gait, even now. The others, however, could not maintain his imposing manner. They were all pale-faced and supported by sticks, looking as if they were about to collapse.

This is the result of everyone supporting one person.

As the sheep-drawn carriage slowly passed by them, the burly man at the head of the group suddenly spoke up: "Young master, could you please give up your carriage? I am willing to pay ten times the price."

Yun Ce didn't intend to pay any attention and prepared to leave in his sheep cart. When E Ji, who was sitting in the sheep cart, heard about the tenfold reward, her eyes immediately lit up.

She jumped off the sheep cart and said to the burly man, "There's an empty spot here that I can sell to you."

The burly man was momentarily speechless at Eji's words, then spoke again: "I want the whole carriage, not just a seat."

Eji shook her head and said, "The carriage is full of the injured and sick, as well as women and children. There are no extra seats for you. If you want to buy a seat, you can only buy one. I think your wife can barely stand. Why don't you buy one for her to sit on?"

Eji pointed to the woman swaying precariously in the crowd, a smile on her face. Yun Ce thought she looked a lot like those unlicensed taxi drivers on Earth.

Without hesitation, the burly man replied, "In that case, there's no need."

Seeing the strong man continue his slow journey with his family, Eji was very disappointed. In fact, Yun Ce was even more disappointed.

Once the carriage had gone some distance, Feng An said to Yun Ce, who had a disappointed look on his face, "I can understand Young Master E's disappointment, but I don't know what Brother Liu's disappointment is about?"

Liang Kun, standing nearby, chuckled coldly, "He's hoping people will rob him, so he'll have a reason to rob them."

Yun Ce raised a thumb and praised, "Brother Liang understands me best."

(End of this chapter)