CHAPTER 615: CHAPTER 615: WORLDS APART IN TWO LIVES

The message was sent from Central State Yuchang Prefecture to He’an Prefecture; Vice General Lan and his men were greatly shocked when they received it. That young man, who was matchless in bravery in the suppression of the river bandits, was suddenly gone.

"Is the message certain? Could there be a mistake?" Vice General Lan really couldn’t believe that Qin Er Lang had just died and anxiously questioned the soldier who had come from Yuchang Prefecture to report the death.

That soldier said: "The message is absolutely certain. Our general even had people search the mountains for several days but found no intact body... The general has already ordered that the remaining pieces of the body be burnt; I’ve brought Qin Er Lang’s ashes and a set of clothes to you, please quickly dispatch someone to take me to Qin Er Lang’s home, to give these things to his family."

He saw that Vice General Lan seemed to really care about Qin Er Lang and, fearing that he himself would be the target of anger, he added: "Not just Qin Er Lang, quite a few people died this time."

So don’t be angry.

With the conversation having reached this point, it seemed Qin Er Lang was truly dead.

With reddened eyes, Vice General Lan exclaimed, "What a pity for such promising youth; had he been able to accumulate experience, our Great Chu could have had one more general."

Although Vice General Lan was heartbroken over Qin Er Lang’s death, delivering news of death wasn’t something that he needed to personally handle.

He called over a small Section Leader and said, "Take him to Tianfu County Soldier Station; let him go back with San Lang. Tell Brother Jiang, if possible, give San Lang a few days of leave, even though there’s no intact body returning, the funeral still needs to be arranged."

"Yes." The small Section Leader complied, mounted a fast horse, and took the soldier reporting the death towards Tianfu County.

When Qin San Lang learned of Qin Er Lang’s death, he was stunned, his handsome face showing no emotion. Assuming he was too heartbroken, the small Section Leader advised, "Brother Qin, contain your sorrow. Central State is much more chaotic than it is here; soldiers often perish."

But Qin Er Lang had only left not long ago and died; this was truly unlucky.

Qin San Lang, with a sorrowful voice, replied, "What Brother Wu said is true..."

Commander Wu had not expected Qin Er Lang to die so quickly and was very heartbroken. He consoled Qin San Lang, "San Lang, don’t be too upset. Life and death are predestined; Er Lang had bad luck in this life; surely, he’ll be a fortunate person in the next, perhaps even born as the son of a prince or noble."

Commander Wu felt like he was running out of platitudes to offer for consolation, and finally, patting Qin San Lang’s shoulder, he said, "You have five days of leave. You go back and handle your brother’s funeral, then spend some time with your grandfather."

Elder Qin had a hard life. Not to mention losing his son, now another grandson had died. If he were to hear about Qin Er Lang’s death, who would know how grief-stricken he would be?

Qin San Lang nodded, "Thank you, Uncle Jiang."

Qin San Lang quickly gathered his belongings, mounted a horse from the Soldier Station, and returned to Da Feng Village with Commander Wu and the soldier.

When several families saw Qin San Lang return, they were all very happy, but upon seeing a soldier with white cloth tied around his arm and waist, they all panicked.

The white cloth around the arm and waist signified death; it was custom, a sign that someone had died.

Third Grandpa hurriedly brought Gu Dashan and Gu Jin’an to the Qin family.

As they arrived at the Qin house, they heard the soldier announcing the death say: "After many victims lost their food, not wanting to become servants, they fled to the mountains to become bandits. The general led Prefecture Soldiers into the mountains to suppress the bandits. Qin Er Lang, due to his commendable performance, became a member of the Vanguard Team. But his team was unlucky, not only encountering bandits but also a tiger. That tiger was too fierce, killing one man on the spot, and injuring two others, Qin Er Lang, in an attempt to save everyone, slashed his own arm, using his blood to attract the tiger... By the time everyone found him, he had already been eaten, leaving only a few pieces of flesh."

The soldier took off the cloth bag he was carrying on his back and handed it to Old Qin: "The flesh has already been burnt; this is the ashes, as well as a set of clothes worn by Qin Er Lang. Please build him a grave to bury him."

Regarding the compensation silver, there was none. The court was in severe deficit, hardly able to even distribute military salaries, let alone spare extra silver for the dead.

Upon hearing these words, Third Grandpa’s mind buzzed, he almost fainted, and was supported by Gu Dashan and Gu Jin’an as he came over, choking back sobs: "Er Lang, is gone?"

Elder Qin, holding Qin Er Lang’s ashes and clothes, tears fell from his eyes as he nodded and said with a sobbing tone, "It’s all fate."

Elder Qin wasn’t feigning his tears, but truly weeping. This time, whether Er Lang lives or dies, he can only rely on himself. If things don’t work out, his end will be even more tragic than dying without a complete corpse.

Third Grandpa cried out in sorrow, "How could such a fine young man just pass away like that."

Brother Qin’s life is indeed too bitter, having lost all his sons, only two grandsons remained, and now one more has died.

Wiping away his tears, he said to Elder Qin, "Brother Qin, please accept my condolences, you still have San Lang."

Elder Qin nodded and said with a bitter smile, "There’s no need for Brother Gu’s comfort... I’m used to it."

His words made everyone’s eyes red.

The soldier who came to report the death knelt down, knocked his head on the ground three times in front of Elder Qin for Qin Er Lang, then stood up to take his leave, "I can’t stay for long as I have other places to report the death. Please take care, elder."

After speaking, he mounted his horse along with Commander Wu and left the village. As they left, he felt relieved and remarked, "The Qin family is a good and honest family, they didn’t make a fuss to claim the compensation silver."

On his journey to report deaths, the two families before had all been crying and clamoring for the compensation silver, almost giving him a beating.

But Commander Wu didn’t say a word. He was annoyed that the court didn’t provide compensation silver to the families of fallen soldiers. Not even granting compensation silver, the Emperor was being too heartless and stingy; this could lead to problems.

At the end of Da Feng Village, several households had already gathered at the Qin’s, consoling Elder Qin.

Gu Jin’an, worried something might happen to Elder Qin, called for Uncle Dai to come over.

Elder Qin didn’t faint, but he did cry mournfully, looking much older. It was Luo Huiniang, however, on hearing of Qin Er Lang’s death, who actually fainted away.

After Gu Jinli revived her, Luo Huiniang wailed loudly, clutching Gu Jinli’s hand and asking, "Xiao Yu, this is fake, right? With Qin Er being so capable, how could he possibly die? It’s fake, it must be fake."

Gu Jinli responded, "Hui Niang, Qin Er Lang is not one of us. Now that he’s dead, let it go and live your own life well."

But Luo Huiniang refused to listen and continued crying heartbrokenly, disturbing Ms. Chu as well. However, Ms. Chu didn’t intervene, letting this foolish girl grieve deeply, so that she could let go of this ill-fated connection.

Luo Huiniang was Ms. Chu’s own daughter, and such small tricks couldn’t possibly be concealed from Ms. Chu. But Ms. Chu was well aware that Qin Er Lang didn’t like their families and would not marry Hui Niang, so she didn’t interfere and allowed Qin Er Lang to break Hui Niang’s heart thoroughly.

Young girls need their pride, and after being hurt a few times, they would fear and stop clinging.

...

While Luo Huiniang was crying her heart out over the death of Qin Er Lang, far away in a deep mountain forest in Central State Yuchang Prefecture, Qin Er Lang had already changed into a new set of clothes and arrived at the designated meeting point, where he met Ah Ji.

Ah Ji brought only two men with him and upon seeing Qin Er Lang, he smiled and said, "As expected of Wei Gong’s legitimate grandson, you’re even capable of killing a tiger."

Originally, their plan was for Qin Er Lang to enter the mountains to suppress bandits and then fake his death at the hands of the bandits, falling off a cliff. They hadn’t expected that a tiger would appear on the way.

Fortunately, Qin Er Lang was brave and managed to kill the fierce tiger.

Although there were some deviations from the plan, Qin Er Lang joining the soldiers at Yuchang Prefecture was already different from his previous life.