Chapter 742

Gu Jiu Ling's BUFF this time was a bit over the top; although she stubbornly stuffed Xiao Yin and the others into her space and brought them out, in the end she was spent like a crossbow at the end of its flight.

After she struggled with her almost shattered body to crawl out of the long burial passage, she fainted outright.

Before fainting, she saw only a vast expanse of gentle grassland.

A intense green rushed at her, waves of dizziness making Gu Jiu Ling faint instantly.

At the moment she fell, Gu Jiu Ling's only worry was whether she would be eaten by wolves.

She still had several people stored in her space!

I don't know how long passed; low murmuring reached her ears, Gu Jiu Ling felt someone help her up, and cool water was poured into her mouth.

The spring water was sweet; Gu Jiu Ling instinctively grabbed the bowl brought to her lips and gulped it down.

"Miss, drink slowly, don't choke," a woman's gentle voice came from beside her.

Gu Jiu Ling opened her eyes and looked at the woman before her, unable to help but stare a moment.

The woman before her wore ethnic attire unlike that of the Central Plains, looked about forty, and appeared kind‑eyed and benevolent.

Behind her followed two youths, who stood far to the side to avoid any suspicion between men and women, watching Gu Jiu Ling with eyes full of concern.

Gu Jiu Ling looked at this family of old and young, feeling they too were on the road, guessing they had passed by and rescued her.

Gu Jiu Ling felt some doubt, after all this place is Mang Shan; even though she had climbed out of the tomb passage to the foot of Mang Shan, this spot is extremely remote, unlikely to have frequent merchant traffic.

"Miss, are you feeling better?" the woman said, lifting Gu Jiu Ling up, who hurriedly thanked her repeatedly.

"Thank you, madam, for your help."

The woman asked: "Miss, why are you alone in these wild mountains? Perhaps you've met some misfortune; alas, though the world holds many hardships, one must still try to let go."

The woman's words warmed Gu Jiu Ling's heart.

The woman regarded her as a sorrowful soul who had fled to these deep mountains to sever her ties with life.

These days she had almost gone mad searching for her children, and after wandering so long in that tomb chamber, her complexion could hardly look any better.

To outsiders she truly seemed despairing, having come here to seek death.

Gu Jiu Ling struggled to her feet and bowed to the woman.

"Madam, I have indeed suffered a calamity: my children are lost, my husband's whereabouts unknown, and for a moment I could not bear to go on."

The woman tightly grasped Gu Jiu Ling's hand and urged: "Miss, look ahead, do not entertain thoughts you ought not have; I will send one of my sons to escort you home."

Gu Jiu Ling hastily waved her hands: "No need, no need; you seem to be in a hurry to get going, and if I delay you, that would not be good."

Now I have come to terms; having died once, I won't die a second time—I will surely live well from now on. And, your family…

As Gu Jiu Ling spoke, she glanced at the woman: the woman drove an ox cart and a horse cart with her two sons, accompanied by two or three servants, clearly a modestly prosperous household.

However, the ox cart seemed to carry a coffin made of fine yang wood, its planks also somewhat thick.

Seeing that coffin, Gu Jiu Ling's heart gave a jolt—apparently the woman was in mourning.

Gu Jiu Ling hastily said: "Madam, I may have offended you with my words just now."

The woman, however, sighed, walked slowly to the ox cart, raised her hand, and took out a spirit tablet from one side of the cart.

Upon seeing the characters on the tablet, Gu Jiu Ling's face changed slightly, which she quickly concealed.

The woman lifted her hand and wiped the name on the tablet with a cloth; the three characters "Bai Xiaosheng" were written crookedly, yet each stroke was treated earnestly.

Initially, after Xiao Yin killed Bai Xiaosheng, he ordered his men to dump the body in the mass graves.

Xiao Yin hated Bai Xiaosheng to the extreme for daring to harm his wife and children; not dragging Bai Xiaosheng out to chop him up and feed the dogs was already the greatest leniency—how could he be willing to give him a proper burial?

Who would have thought that the woman before her would have hauled Bai Xiaosheng's corpse by ox cart all the way to distant Mang Shan; at this moment Gu Jiu Ling felt a tangle of emotions, unsure what to say.

She hated this person intensely; without him, how could she possibly have been separated from her children?

Even now, with both children still missing, killing Bai Xiaosheng a thousand or ten thousand times would not appease her hatred.

At this moment Bai Xiaosheng's coffin lay on that ox cart, and Gu Jiu Ling felt a sudden helplessness, as if she had nothing to say.

That woman saved her life; she couldn't possibly just overturn the coffin on the ox cart, could she?

Moreover, she is alone now; even if she had the thought, she lacks the ability.

She simply couldn't understand how the kindly-looking woman before her could be connected to the sinister, crafty Bai Xiaosheng of the jianghu.

Whoever could gather Bai Xiaosheng's remains must have some connection with him.

Gu Jiu Ling feigned indifference, glanced at the coffin on the ox cart, and asked, "I mean no offense, madam; this is from my family…"

The woman wiped away a tear and slowly said, "She isn't a blood relative, but she can be considered a benefactor."

"'At the foot of Mang Shan there once was a village, but later, for some unknown reason, it suffered a fire, and the whole village was burned to nothing.'"

"'I am a young widow from that village, with two children; that day I took the children into the mountains to dig medicinal herbs and happened to escape that fire.'"

"'Everyone in the village died; we mother and child dared not stay there, so in the end we could only bring the children out to make a living.'"

"'I never expected to meet Ah Man in Jing Cheng; Ah Man's mother had once become involved with a man who came from outside.'"

"'I didn't expect that man to deceive Ah Man's mother, taking the stolen treasures and leaving. Ah Man's mother had to give birth and raise the child alone; she treated the child poorly, venting all her resentment on him, either beating or scolding him.'"

"'I was making a living in Jing Cheng when I met Ah Man; I never thought he was still alive. He seemed considerably better off, and at that time I happened to run into a bully in Jing Cheng—after all, he was a local tyrant—I never expected Ah Man to lend me a hand.'"

The woman sighed as she spoke: "Later Ah Man did many wrong things; we don't know all the turmoil in the Imperial Court, but we feel he should be buried again in this stronghold."

The woman never revealed Bai Xiaosheng's former identity as a crown prince, always just calling him by his nickname; she still felt he was that cold-natured yet wildly grown child from the village stronghold.

Step by step he went astray; the sole good deed he did without thought of reward actually kept him from being buried in a wild dog's belly.

Gu Jiu Ling bade farewell to the woman, then took off a jade pendant from her person and placed it in the woman's hand.

"'Thank you today for saving me, madam, but I have nothing else of value to offer; take this jade.'"

"'From now on, whether in Jing Cheng or anywhere in Southern Qi, if you run into trouble or encounter difficulties, send the jade pendant to the Floating Life Pawnshop, and no matter how great the matter, someone will help you resolve it.'"

The woman froze on the spot, then carefully examined the girl before her, noticing an extraordinary bearing in her brows and eyes, unlike an ordinary person.

She couldn't help but wonder inwardly just what sort of person she had saved today.