Zi Yang

  No one asked how long he had struggled in the icy water before crawling onto the ice, his whole body numb with cold. The arrow shot by the nomad hit him right in the chest, but he didn't feel any pain; he only felt the last vestiges of life slowly seeping out of the wound.

  He couldn't get up at this time, all he could do was to struggle to open his eyes and watch the horse cart that Lin Ruochen was riding in being pulled away by the barbarians. He saw that Lin Ruochen was awake, but from start to finish she didn't say a word, nor did she try to resist, she was scared stupid.

  Lin Ruo's being taken away was not the last thing Mo Xun did. The last thing he did was to turn his head back with difficulty and look at his mother, an action that came from instinct, as if he had been wronged in childhood and wanted to cry and seek protection from his mother. However, what he saw after turning his head was no longer the warm smile, but the bloodstain on the ice surface and the arrow on his mother's head.

  At this time, he was already on the verge of fainting, and the great grief suddenly made him lose consciousness. Just before he lost consciousness, he saw Xiao Wu still struggling in the ice cave, trying to climb up.

  The descendants of the Huaxia people have always valued benevolence and filial piety, and Heaven also rewards those who are benevolent and filial. When his parents fell into the water, he didn't ask whether it was instinctive to jump in and rescue them. Although he ultimately failed to save his parents, his cotton clothes were soaked with icy water. At that time, the cotton clothes were filled with miscellaneous fibers, which weakened the force of the arrow. Therefore, although the single-eyed Hu man's arrow pierced the skin and entered the flesh, it did not injure the lungs.

  Mo Wu quickly regained consciousness, and before he even opened his eyes, he felt someone pulling his right hand to move quickly. There was still some light in the sky, and the feeling behind him was very smooth. All of this indicated that he hadn't been unconscious for a long time, and at this moment, he was still on the ice surface.

  "Master, we're approaching the shore, we've escaped." Little Wu noticed that Mo Xun had woken up and panted as he spoke.

  "Help me up." Mo Wen forced himself to speak, but at this moment he was too weak to lift his head and couldn't observe the situation around him.

  "Master, the arrow is still in your body, don't move." Xiao Wu's breathing was extremely heavy, it was clear that he too was exhausted, but was gritting his teeth to hold on.

  Mo Wen didn't say another word, but instead tentatively raised his left hand to grab the arrow on his chest. In a fit of grief and anger, he didn't think twice before grabbing the arrow and yanking it out with a flick of his wrist.

  Xiao Wu continued to drag Mo Wen towards the riverbank, without noticing Mo Wen's actions.

  Mo's family ran a pharmacy, so Mo naturally knew some medical skills. After pulling out the arrow, he took a deep breath and found that his breathing was smooth and unobstructed, indicating that the injury was not fatal.

  Afterwards, he tried moving his limbs and found that both arms could still move, but neither leg would obey him.

  "Xiao Wu, I've lost all feeling in my legs." Mo Wen panted heavily.

  He turned around and found that Mo Xun had already pulled out the feather arrow by himself, hastily bowed his head to check his injury, and only slightly relieved when he confirmed that he wouldn't lose his life due to it.

  "Master, I'll help you walk." Xiao Wu squatted down and supported Mo Wen up. At this time, the two men's clothes had already frozen stiff, and the cold weather required them to find a way to warm themselves up, or they would surely freeze to death.

  Mo Wen was helped up by Xiao Wu, and subconsciously looked back, then wailed in grief. His mother's body still lay on the ice, the slaughter on the other side of the river continued, and Lin Ruochen and the maids' carriage had disappeared from view.

  "Master, let's find a place to take shelter first. I'll come back after dark and carry the mistress out." Little Wu walked forward in tears.

  Don't ask, Wen Yan wiped away tears and turned around. He was very clear that crying was useless, he had to survive, only by surviving could he possibly avenge his grievances, only by surviving could he find his wife.

  At first, Mo asked almost every step of the way, but after walking a few steps, his legs gradually regained their sensation. After dozens of steps, he was able to walk slowly with Xiao Wu's support. However, after his limbs recovered, the wound began to bleed profusely, and three miles later, he fainted again.

  When he woke up, it was already deep in the night. After opening his eyes, Mo Wu didn't ask and found himself lying in a dilapidated thatched cottage. The clothes on his body were dry, and there was a layer of straw underneath him. In the center of the room was a still-burning fire pit, but Xiao Wu was not in the house.

  He didn't feel lucky to have escaped the disaster, he couldn't accept the huge change of his family being broken and gone. Last night they were all together discussing the details of the wedding, but in an instant it became like this.

  When Xiao Wu carried Mo Fu's body back, Mo Wen's sobbing immediately turned into wailing. He struggled to get up and let the grass mat go to his mother, kneeling on the ground and crying while holding the body. Xiao Wu's experience was no different from Mo Wen's. When Mo Wen cried, Xiao Wu also cried. Mo Fu is still lying here now, but his own mother is still lying at the bottom of the cold river.

  Life is often not as one wishes, and no matter what happens, one must face it. Crying can only vent emotions and cannot solve problems. In the end, Mo asked to calm down first and recover a little, and spoke to comfort Xiao Wu who was overcome with grief.

  "Master, what are we going to do from now on?" Xiao Wu wiped away his tears with his sleeve.

  He didn't answer immediately, at this time, whether it was an official or a poor citizen, they all got married first and then separated. Before getting married, the son listened to his parents completely, after getting married and before separating, the elders would let the son try to make decisions on his own, when the son could take care of himself, the parents would separate from him. And before he got married, he only did two things, one was to read books and obtain honors, the other was to learn medicine without forgetting his roots, nothing else mattered, so at this time he couldn't come up with any ideas.

  "What should we do?" Mo Xun asked, leaning sideways on the edge of the grass mat, his chest wound from the arrow making him dare not sit up straight.

  "I don't know, I'm listening to you." Xiao Wu added firewood to the bonfire, but the earthen house had no door and was not warm.

  "Where are we?" Mo Wen was also at a loss for ideas for the time being.

  "The village near the river is empty, probably because they were afraid of being attacked by the nomads and have all moved to the south." Xiao Wu sat listlessly beside the fire.

  "I'll keep watch over the fire, you sleep for a while." Mo Xun said.

  "Just looking is fine, this matter should be done by me." Little Five shook his head repeatedly.

  "I want to keep vigil for Mother." Mo Wen choked again.

  "I'll stay too." Xiaowu held back her tears and didn't cry again.

  The two of them kept yielding to each other, but Mo Wen had injuries on his body and eventually fell asleep first.

  When he woke up, the sky was already bright. Xiao Wu was not in the house again. Mo asked, looking at his mother lying on the grass mat, and knelt down to cry bitterly. He was deeply self-reproachful. His parents had just passed away, and he hadn't been able to keep vigil all night. This was unfilial.

  He had lost a lot of blood earlier, and after crying and wailing repeatedly, he felt extremely thirsty. Xiao Wu had left the boiled snow water in a broken ceramic pot beside him before leaving, but he didn't pick it up to quench his thirst.

  At dawn, Xiaohui returned with herbs and food.

  "Are you back?" Mo asked in surprise, staring at the wooden chest that stored medicinal herbs, which was a chest from their family's medicine shop.

  "You need to apply the medicine, and we also need to eat something." Little Wu was grinding herbs with a mortar.

  "Has the barbarian discovered you?" Mo asked discontentedly, thinking that Xiao Wu's actions were too reckless.

  "They're all gone, maybe they left last night." Little Wu made room with his hands to hold a bowl and drink water.

  "Is anyone else alive in the city?" Mo Wen asked again.

  "I didn't see it." Little Wu shook his head and said.

  "Xiao Wu, let's go home." Mo Wen spoke up with a suggestion, unaware of why he strongly wanted to return.

  "I also want to go back, but..." Xiaowu's words trailed off halfway.

  "I heard that the Hu people never turn back on their route, they shouldn't be coming back again." Mo Xiang said, wherever the Hu people went, it was like a pack of wolves passing through, nothing would be left behind, there's nothing to plunder, so naturally they wouldn't come again.

  "What I'm worried about isn't that. Now there are dead people everywhere in and out of the city, I'm afraid you'll be scared." said Xiao Wu.

  "It doesn't matter, besides there's nothing here anyway. We'll only have a way out if we go back." Mo Xun made the decision.

  Xiao Wu saw Mo Xiang insist on going back, and had no choice but to agree. After applying the medicine, Mo Xiang leaned on a tree branch, Xiao Wu carried Mo Furen's corpse on his back, and the two master and servant stepped on the ice to cross the river.

  Yesterday, Mo's family was the first to receive the news and were still being chased by the Hu people. Naturally, others had no chance to escape. Along the riverbank to the city gate, tens of miles away, there were dead bodies everywhere. Few corpses were intact, most were dismembered, with internal organs spilled out. The majority of the dead were old men, children, and adult males, with few young women's corpses in sight.

  Xiao Wu had returned earlier, mentally prepared. Don't ask if he had ever seen such a tragic scene before. Many of the people here were familiar to him, and every time he encountered a familiar corpse, he would involuntarily shudder.

  When they walked into the city, Mo asked was already numb and no longer felt afraid. On the way back, he kept his head down to look for wheel tracks. Yesterday, when escaping from disaster, only his family had time to harness a cart, while other villagers were on foot. In the snowy ground, there was a rut that was stained with blood and pressed into the snow, indicating that this cart was the one that took Lin Ruocheng away yesterday. Unfortunately, after entering the city, the wheel tracks were trampled by chaotic footprints and could no longer be searched for.

  Carrying the wounded for nearly twenty miles, don't ask how exhausted they were. Xiao Wu was also extremely tired from carrying the corpse on his back. After entering the city, the two of them didn't look around, but instead went straight back to Mo's pharmacy.

  When they left, the gate was wide open. Because the gate was open, the bandits did not enter to search for valuables, and the house remained in the same state as when everyone had left the day before.

  Don't ask when the threshold is crossed again, tears will fall. A home is a house where loved ones live, without loved ones, this house can no longer be called home. But people are gone, only this house where loved ones once lived can bring him some comfort and stability, so here is still home, home is still here.

  Two people walked slowly on the road, and when they returned home, the sky had already darkened. Mo Xiang didn't ask if he was injured, but caught a cold on the way. After entering the house, he fainted again. Xiao Wu placed Mo Furen's body in the main hall, then moved all the braziers from the other two houses to Mo Xiang's room and lit them with charcoal to keep him warm and drive out the chill.

  Night fell, and all around was a deathly stillness. In the inky blackness of the city, only the Mo house had this faint light...