Chapter 1970

Meanwhile.

On the imperial road, the carriages of the Duke of Dingguo's residence moved forward, surrounded by elite guards.

Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was extremely strange.

"Brother, is your skin sensitive? That's a novel term. Let your younger brother touch it? See what it feels like? What's going on?"

As he spoke, his claw reached out.

Gao Yang's face darkened.

This Gao Changwen was going too far!

These words had little destructive power but were extremely insulting!

Slap!

Gao Yang slapped away Gao Changwen's reaching hand, his eyes like knives: "Get lost! Touch me again, and I'll chop off your claws and feed them to the dogs!"

Gao Changwen shrank his head in fear and muttered, "If you don't want me to touch, then don't let me touch, why be so fierce..."

"Pfft!"

Shangguan Wan'er and Chu Qingluan finally couldn't help it and laughed out loud at the same time.

Gao Yang's face grew even darker.

He gritted his teeth and secretly swore in his heart.

This hatred and humiliation, he, Gao Yang, would surely wash away fiercely one day!

Otherwise, everyone's constitution is different; if he, Gao Yang, carried this reputation, he would truly never be able to hold his head high for the rest of his life!

Creak.

The carriage wheels rolled along the imperial road toward Ping'an Manor, eighty miles from Changancheng.

The further they moved away from Changancheng, away from the bustle of the city, and into the rural areas on the outskirts of the capital, the more desolate it became.

Gradually, the relaxed atmosphere inside the carriage dissipated.

On both sides of the imperial road, there were no longer fields of golden, bountiful crops waiting to be harvested; instead, there were large stretches of barren land overgrown with weeds.

Occasionally, one could see ragged, sallow-faced farmers hunched over in the cold wind, numbly rummaging for twigs left in the fields.

There were even groups of refugees, dragging their families along, stumbling toward Changancheng. They tightened their thin, tattered clothes and looked at the luxurious carriage with envious eyes.

The smile on Shangguan Wan'er's face disappeared. She furrowed her delicate brows and looked out the window, worried: "This year's autumn chill has come early and fiercely. It's only the tenth month, and it's already this cold. If heavy snow falls again by the winter solstice..."

Shangguan Wan'er dared not think further and sighed deeply, "I don't know how many poor families will not survive this long winter."

Chu Qingluan also fell silent.

Compared to Da Qian, the Great Chu was no better off, especially since their one hundred thousand iron cavalry had set out only to return in defeat, having also paid a large sum of silver—this was adding injury to injury.

Under the heavy pressure of the Chu Emperor, officials everywhere would surely exert all their strength to fulfill their quotas.

And there was only one way to do that: make the people suffer.

This winter, for the common people at the bottom of both kingdoms, would be hell.

Even Gao Changwen, who was usually thick-skinned and carefree, fell silent at this moment.

He looked at a woman by the roadside holding a withered, thin infant, shivering; the crying of the infant in her arms was so weak it was almost inaudible.

He opened his mouth, felt the loose silver in his pocket, and threw it all at the woman: "Take it, go buy some thick clothes, and take the child home!"

The woman's eyes lit up; she scrambled over, grabbed the silver on the ground, clutched it tightly in her palm, and kowtowed frantically toward the carriage.

"Thank you, Young Master, for your reward!"

"Thank you, Young Master, for your reward!"

The woman kowtowed, one time after another.

And every time, it was from the bottom of her heart, kowtowing extremely heavily. Soon, the woman's forehead was bright red, and blood stained her bangs.

To her, this silver was life!

The life to survive... the life to keep her child alive!

This scene hit Gao Changwen's heart like a heavy hammer.

He looked at the blood on the woman's forehead and the extreme humility and gratitude in her eyes, feeling only a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat.

Shangguan Wan'er and Chu Qingluan also felt heavy-hearted and silently lowered the carriage curtain.

Gao Yang remained calm, his eyes without a ripple, but he said to Gao Changwen, "You can save one person, but can you save the people of the world?"

Gao Changwen felt a blockage in his heart and said dully, "Since I saw it, I'll help if I can, just to find peace of mind."

He muttered, "I'm just a poison master, not the world's number one poison strategist like my brother, can't I be soft-hearted?"

Gao Yang: "..."

He said expressionlessly: "This kindness of yours may not be helping her; perhaps you are harming her." ===== CHAPTER 1972 =====