323 Bloody Bread (2/2)

The beggars surrounded Long Qing with weapons in their hands and shouted, but no one dared to stop him because he was so calm and had no expression on his face. His madness scared them off.

Long Qing did not stop even though the beggar had died after being kicked several times. He kept punching his face so many times that the face was smashed even though his fists were weak. The blood coming out from that face washed that damaged eyeball out of its eye socket.

The expression on Long Qing's face turned strange and his eyes were so lax without any light or shadow in them.

He rode on the dead beggar's body and cried out, ”The bread was so hard that it had to be swallowed with cabbage soup. Don't you know that? Why did you eat it without the soup? Why did you have to follow me? You ate my bread and I had nothing to eat. No one could give me bread anymore.”

His crying resounded all over the temple and he sounded crazy.

The beggars who were not brave enough to watch this had all gone by now, while the others unwilling to leave their shelters were hiding in the corners. They stared at the madman and someone pleaded with him, ”Listen, listen, we drank the soup, but the bread was kept because it was too hard.”

Long Qing heard this and looked at him, asking, ”Where is it now?”

The beggar pointed at the dead man under Long Qing and said, ”On his body.”

Long Qing started to search the body and, finally, found that half bread. He stared at it and suddenly immersed the bread into the blood on the ground and asked, ”Is it softer if it's soaked in blood?”

No one dared to answer him. They watched him put that bloody bread into his mouth. They were terrified but they also felt a little strange. They could not help thinking that could they live better lives if they followed this crazy man.

But what they did not know was that it was not important for Long Qing even if he would be a beggar-prince in the future because, in the past, he had been a real prince.

...

...

Recently, people in Tuyang City, which was located on the northeast frontier of the Tang, were a little tense. It had become worse after the thousands of armored cavalry came back from the Wilderness. Even the wolf packs on Min Mountain were scared and did not howl at night.

It was all because of the army in the city. People had heard that the Military Ministry in Chang'an had interrogated the general about his military orders. They wanted to know why he did not report for this important military operation and they wanted an answer now. But they received nothing from the General's Mansion since General Xiahou had been sick and the grand red doors had not opened for a long time as well.

One day, when the doors were open, the people knew that something important was about to happen next. They were wondering who would be coming out soon.

A decrepit horse carriage slowly ran into the city under the gaze of the people.

While the carriage was about to fall apart at any time, the horse in front of the carriage was so gallant, huge, and cute when it was shaking its body. People in the frontier had seen so many horses but not one like this. They were all curious about what kind of person would drive a carriage with such a fine horse.

In the carriage, Ning Que pulled up a corner of the curtain and saw a beggar under the city wall. He thought for a moment and said, ”We never intended to be beggars no matter how difficult our lives were.”

The Eldest Brother looked at him and asked curiously, ”Why not?”

Ning Que looked at the broken bowl in front of that beggar and said, ”Because food obtained through begging is easy to be stolen and always tastes bad. I would rather steal.”

Mo Shanshan did not get his point and thought seriously, ”Are thieves and robbers more understandable and sympathetic than beggars?”

”That's the point.”

Ning Que let the curtain down, looked at her, and said, ”Understanding and empathy are so useless. You have to turn these emotions down if you want to stay alive in this dangerous world. I always consider those people as the biggest losers who, once in trouble, would feel lonely and desperate. They only could cry and hurt their own people.”