The Chu siblings still remember clearly.
The thin figure of the young man was stretched infinitely long under the setting sun.
His back was so lonely.
With each step he took, his body would always involuntarily tilt.
Since then, they had never seen Song Zhiyi again. Now, eighteen years had passed in a flash. They had come to Haiyou City many times before, but every time Song Zhiyi would keep the city gates tightly closed. He never opened the gates, nor did he meet the siblings.
After hearing this, Viper felt rather heavy - hearted.
"Ye Ling, the female emperor, is said to be extremely ruthless."
Chu Nuan quickly explained, "It's just a rumor. It was spread by the four great families to bring down the female emperor. They blamed all the bad things on her."
Xie An said, "So, Song Zhiyi didn't want to see you for these eighteen years because you failed to protect the female emperor?"
Chu Wen and Chu Nuan nodded.
"In fact, if we siblings had been more careful and asked the female emperor in the palace back then, such a great disaster would not have happened. We siblings are responsible for the female emperor's death, and we deserve ten thousand deaths for our faults."
Xie An sighed again.
Who could have thought?
That all this was pre - planned.
The Chu siblings were not wrong, and neither was Song Zhiyi.
They all had people they cared about. It was just inevitable that things had turned out like this.
Xie An said, "Alright, I'll go and see if Lord Song will meet me."
"That's the only way. Xie An, you must never say that you know us. Song Zhiyi hates anyone related to the four great families, and he also hates us."
"Okay."
At this moment, inside Haiyou City.
Song Zhiyi was sitting on the lord's seat, listening to his subordinates report the strange events about the ancient tomb in recent days.
They said that another young man had entered the ancient tomb. But this time, it was a bit strange. Two months had passed, and no body of the young man had been found near the periphery of Haiyou City.
They also said that the Chu siblings had come with the young man.
So Song Zhiyi didn't know that the person who came was Ye Xingchen, Ye Ling's younger brother. He just thought that the young man was also from the Chu family and didn't pay much attention.
"My lord, the fruit platters are ready. Should we prepare them as usual?"
Song Zhiyi closed the memorial and rubbed his aching forehead.
He said softly, "Just keep the grapes."
Among the fruits that Sister Ling liked, grapes ranked first.
Today was the eighteenth year since Sister Ling's death.
Song Zhiyi had set up a memorial tablet in a ancestral hall in Haiyou City. Inside, there was only Ye Ling's memorial tablet.
Every time this day came, he would do nothing but carry a fruit basket filled with grapes and go to the ancestral hall, where he would stay for three days.
After his subordinate prepared the fruit basket, Song Zhiyi selected the best grapes, took a jar of fine wine, and then went to the ancestral hall alone.
Every year at this time, the area around the ancestral hall was always surrounded by guards.
The lord was in poor health and couldn't bear the cold.
Before he came, Haiyou City was full of floating corpses, and the common people suffered greatly.
It was the lord who had gradually developed Haiyou City into what it was today. It was he who had established a commercial passage between Nanguan and Haiyou City.
Although Song Zhiyi had no martial arts skills and couldn't practice spiritual power or mental power, he was a person highly respected by everyone in Haiyou City. People respected and loved him. He was the future and hope of Haiyou City.
Song Zhiyi carried the fruit basket.
He slowly pushed open the door of the ancestral hall.
Then he slowly closed it.
The huge ancestral hall was cleaned spotlessly. Inside, only one person was enshrined.
Song Zhiyi looked at the empty courtyard and walked over.
He then pushed open the inner door.
The setting inside was very warm.
If it weren't for the memorial tablet enshrined in the middle, people who came here might think it was an elegant pavilion.
There was a round table in front of the memorial tablet.
There were all kinds of books on it.
Song Zhiyi stared at the memorial tablet and was silent for a long time. It was not until his hand ached from holding the fruit basket that he came back to his senses.
With a smile on his face, he took out the bunches of grapes from the fruit basket one by one and placed them on the round table.
He gently placed the jar of fine wine beside the memorial tablet.
"Sister Ling, I've come to see you again."
The man slowly sat down beside the round table.
He peeled the grapes one by one and put them on the plate.
"Sister Ling, recently, there have been several strange things in Haiyou City. I've been dealing with them, so I didn't have time to come and see you. You mustn't blame me."
After peeling the grapes.
Song Zhiyi went to the side to wash his hands.
Then he looked at the memorial tablet and said,
"Chu Wen and Chu Nuan are here."
"I know, Sister Ling. You don't want to see us like this. I also know that we can't blame them for what happened back then."
"I'm just useless. If only I could practice spiritual power, if only I were an alchemist. In fact, I don't blame Chu Wen and Chu Nuan. I blame myself more. I blame myself for not having the ability to protect you."
"Even though I knew you died at the hands of traitors, I had no way to avenge you."
Song Zhiyi said these words self - deprecatingly.
Looking at the memorial tablet in front of him,
he felt even more incompetent.
"You said that with the common people as the foundation, you doted on them, loved them, and were willing to bear humiliation for them. You didn't care about suffering more. But it was these people you whole - heartedly cared about who hurt you so badly."
The man's fingers were long and thin, and his body was also frail.
"All - knowing and unpredictable."
If I, Song Zhiyi, hadn't been rescued by you, hadn't received your teachings, and hadn't been protected by you back then, I might have long become a pile of white bones.
The events of that year, one by one, Song Zhiyi dared not forget and could not forget.
Ye Ling liked red clothes.
Every time on the high platform, her red clothes fluttered.
Her free and easy appearance was so bright and so charming.
Song Zhiyi regarded Ye Ling as his own elder sister.
He regarded her as the only family member in this world.
Song Zhiyi had promised Ye Ling that after he took over the dilapidated Haiyou City, he would do his best to return her a vibrant Haiyou City.
Now, Haiyou City was thriving.
But Ye Ling was dead.
Song Zhiyi talked to Ye Ling for a long time.
He told Ye Ling all the interesting things that had happened in this year one by one.
He also talked about their past.
About the days they had once had.
About Ye Ling's strictness, her kindness, and her tenderness.
Song Zhiyi had been talking for a long time when suddenly the table on which the memorial tablet was placed moved. The jar of fine wine beside the memorial tablet fell with a thud and shattered on the ground.
Suddenly, the fragrance of the wine filled the air.
Song Zhiyi quickly got up.
"Who?"
There was movement under the table. After a rustling sound, a person emerged from under the table.