Chapter 490
Chapter 490
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 490
>Chapter Title: Gao Zhijian's Background
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Chapter 490: Gao Zhijian's Background
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> Inside Oxheart Village, Gao Zhijian's iron-forged fingers plowed through the hard-packed earth like an iron plow, leaving deep furrows behind.
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> “What are you drawing?” Chun Xiaoman frowned as she looked at Gao Zhijian squatting on the ground. “Why don’t you just write words instead? I’ve been learning some characters at the private school lately.”
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> Gao Zhijian glanced at her and shook his head before continuing to draw.
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> “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean? Are you looking down on me?” Chun Xiaoman reached out and shoved him hard.
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> Feeling the hand pressing down on him, Gao Zhijian pursed his lips to stifle a laugh and shook his head, then kept his head down drawing.
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> “Is this a snake? Were you a snake oil salesman before?”
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> “Dragon!” Gao Zhijian rumbled.
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> As his finger slid along, a massive coiling dragon appeared before Chun Xiaoman. Then his fingers quickly added details, drawing a person sitting beneath the dragon.
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> “Emperor!” Gao Zhijian pointed at the figure and said, then drew piles and piles of gold ingots around him.
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> Next, he drew little figures lined up beside the man. When Gao Zhijian drew one at the very end, he slapped his palm hard against his own chest. “Me!”
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> “You’re the emperor’s son?!” Chun Xiaoman’s eyes went wide.
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> But in response to her question, Gao Zhijian nodded, then vigorously shook his head. “No no... no... don’t know!”
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> “How can you not know? What’s really going on here?”
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> “Might... might... might... maybe... it’s fake!”
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> “Isn’t this your past? How can it be fake? Have you told Senior Brother Li about this? What does he think?”
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> “Nope.”
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> “Why not?”
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> Gao Zhijian hesitated for a moment, glanced at Chun Xiaoman, then drew a grown-up figure next to the little figure representing himself.
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> The grown-up’s face seemed covered by something, impossible to make out, and there were three swords strapped to his back.
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> When Gao Zhijian bit his finger and used his blood to dye the figure’s robes red, Chun Xiaoman instantly understood what he meant.
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> “That’s Senior Brother Li?” There weren’t many people in the world who wore red Daoist robes—she recognized it immediately.
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> Gao Zhijian nodded vigorously, then used his finger to write a big “Five” on his own head.
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> “I know that character—it’s the ‘five’ from one, two, three, four, five. The simplest one. So you were five years old that year?”
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> Gao Zhijian nodded hard, then pointed at the sword on Li Huowang’s back on the ground, before slashing hard and crossing out the little figure representing himself.
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> “Uh... Senior Brother Li killed you? Killed you at five years old?” Even as Chun Xiaoman said it, she started doubting herself.
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> “Mm.” Seeing Gao Zhijian nod, Chun Xiaoman felt her mind go blank.
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> “Senior Brother Li killed you, so how are you still alive now? And he killed your five-year-old self?”
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> “Might... might... maybe it’s fake!” As he spoke, he drew a new little figure representing himself, this one clad in armor and sitting in a carriage.
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> Then Gao Zhijian drew a crowd of people surrounding him, thrusting long spears at him.
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> “You died again? I don’t get it anymore.”
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> “Chaos...” Gao Zhijian slapped his head hard. “Chaos!” His movements grew rougher.
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> Then Gao Zhijian drew several more ways for himself to die—drowned, burned alive, even hanged.
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> Finally, he stopped drawing people altogether and used charcoal to sketch out clumps of black stuff. Seeing the black circles on the ground, a hint of fear crept into Gao Zhijian’s eyes. As the black circles multiplied, so did the terror in his gaze.
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> At last, when his round, sturdy, thick arm drew a massive black circle that engulfed everything, Gao Zhijian seemed frightened by his own drawing. He leaped to his feet and stumbled back several steps.
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> “Gao Zhijian, are you okay? Should we fetch a physician to take a look?”
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> As Gao Zhijian wiped the cold sweat from his brow, he smeared a streak of black across his face.
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> He shook his head gently, carefully stepped forward, scooped up a clump of dirt, and stomped down to pack the black marks solid.
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> Then he used charcoal to draw a little figure representing himself on the back of his hand. With that hand symbolizing himself, he dug through the packed earth, shoving aside the black until he uncovered the huge piles of gold ingots from before. “Money!”
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> He drew a straight line from the bottom of the gold ingot pile right to Chun Xiaoman’s feet. “Take!”
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> “No no no, hold on a second. This isn’t about money anymore. Draw it more carefully—I feel like my head’s spinning.” Chun Xiaoman felt her thoughts as jumbled as Gao Zhijian’s.
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> “His meaning is clear enough.” A voice came from the doorway. They turned to see Zhao Wu leaning on his crutch.
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> From the looks of it, he’d seen everything Gao Zhijian had drawn.
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> Zhao Wu walked up to them and studied the mess on the ground. After a moment’s thought, he spoke. “From what he’s drawn, Gao Zhijian was definitely from some high-ranking official family in the past—no doubt about that. They had more silver than they knew what to do with.”
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> “All those different ways of dying represent the dangers of that identity. But if we’re truly backed into a corner with no other options, he’s willing to take the risk and use his past status to find us a way out.”
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> After Zhao Wu finished, he turned to Gao Zhijian with a serious expression. “That’s what you meant, right?”
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> Gao Zhijian paused, then unceremoniously shook his head. “I... I’m the em... em... emperor!”
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> Zhao Wu’s face showed a hint of helplessness. “You’re the emperor? Then Senior Brother Li killed you at five? And then you came back to life? Died again? And finally got nabbed by Danyangzi?”
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> “There’s no five-year-old emperor in Great Liang. If you’re going to make up stories, at least make them believable.”
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> “And you never told Senior Brother Li before because this story doesn’t hold together—it’s full of contradictions. You were five, so how old was he? He’s not even older than you.”
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> Zhao Wu’s words twisted Gao Zhijian’s face in agony. He pounded his head hard, and soon his slapping palm turned into a fist. “Chaos!! Chaos!!”
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> “Hey, Gao Zhijian, don’t do that!” Chun Xiaoman quickly grabbed him. “Once this heavenly disaster blows over, the Lv Family Troupe can go out and earn money again. You don’t need to worry about the cash!”
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> Gao Zhijian gradually calmed down. He gave the two people who didn’t believe his story a complicated look, clenched his fists, and turned to leave.
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> “Should we tell Senior Brother Li about his ravings when he gets back?” Zhao Wu asked, leaning on his crutch.
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> Watching Gao Zhijian’s retreating back, Chun Xiaoman nodded with a complicated expression.
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> “I think we should. He’s seen more of the world than us—maybe he can figure out something about Gao Zhijian’s background.”
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> (End of chapter)