Falling into the mortal world

Grandma Lan went straight to the Lan family ancestral graveyard, where generations of Lan family ancestors were buried. Soon, in a secluded spot, Grandma Lan found the grave of Grandpa Lan's first wife.

She had a gut feeling that Old Man Lan must have been here. Sure enough, the grave had obviously been cleaned up and there were offerings in front of it, indicating that someone had worshipped there. Old Lady Lan angrily kicked over the offerings in front of the grave.

The old man really did come. Old Mrs. Lan was heartbroken and tears streamed down her face. She cried so hard that she had a lot of tears and snot.

Grandma Lan never imagined that this person was right under her feet.

They searched around the grave again, but still couldn't find him. "Old man, where have you gone? Let's go home! I'll never scold you again, just come back!" Old Mrs. Lan cried and shouted. After searching the entire area, there wasn't even a trace of him.

Unable to find anyone, Old Lady Lan could only stagger down the mountain. Unexpectedly, she tripped and fell on the way down, breaking her leg and becoming paralyzed in bed ever since.

From then on, the neighbors heard Old Lady Lan cursing every day.

It goes without saying that life is hard for an elderly person who is paralyzed in bed.

None of the Lan family members wanted to serve Old Madam Lan. If it weren't for the fact that Old Madam Lan had some money, they probably wouldn't even have food to eat.

A person who was arrogant and domineering all day long suddenly becomes a disabled person with limited mobility. The difference is like heaven and earth.

Old Mrs. Lan lived a miserable life every day. She was always cursing Old Mr. Lan, her children, and the eldest son's family. In short, she cursed everyone she could.

The filial impiety of her children was not what pained Old Lady Lan the most; what she resented most was Old Man Lan. She never expected that in her old age, Old Man Lan would abandon her.

The Lan family, who were the ones who were scolded, are already in Lan City.

The current prosperity of Blue City has made it out of step with the outside world.

Lan Qingqing stood on the highest mountaintop and looked into the distance. In the distance, she could vaguely see thick smoke billowing. How many innocent people would be displaced by the war? Feng Caidie said sadly.

Yes, Lan Qingqing also felt a bit emotional.

I wonder how long this quiet place will last; it probably won't be peaceful for very long.

Liu Jun conquered the entire Hongcheng in just two months, and now Hongcheng has become a living hell.

When the Liu army occupied Hongcheng, they began to massacre the city. Men, the elderly, children, and the useless were all killed. Women with some beauty were taken into the army to serve as prostitutes.

Although the nearby villagers were not massacred, they suffered greatly. The men were taken away to reinforce the city walls, while the women and children were used to grow food to supply the army. After all, food is always of paramount importance. If they killed everyone, who would cultivate the land and supply them with food?

Any girl in the village with even a little bit of beauty couldn't escape his clutches. If Liu Jun took a fancy to a girl, he would take her without hesitation.

Even if the defiled girls were prepared to die, they dared not die. If they lost their children, their parents and siblings would also perish. The imperial army was defeated in several battles against the rebel army.

Lihua Village…

Liu Jun failed to catch anyone in Lihua Village despite several attempts, simply because the villagers had hidden in the cellars beforehand.

Boss, this village is really strange. Every house looks like it has been lived in, but we just can't find anyone. We've practically turned this mountain upside down, but we still haven't found a single person.

In this village, we found a lame old woman. This old woman insisted that the villagers were in the village and that they would come back as soon as they left.

The old woman even told our men where they were hiding in the cave, but our men still couldn't catch a single one alive.

This old woman is Granny Lan. In the previous times when the enemy came, the Lan family members were only concerned with their own escape and naturally did not pay attention to Granny Lan, who had a limp.

Once or twice, Grandma Lan gritted her teeth and kept quiet for the sake of her family. She always thought that the villagers were still hiding in the cave in the mountain, which was relatively secluded and safe to hide in if they encountered danger.

Liu Jun saw that there was only a lame old woman in the village, and he was too lazy to even draw his sword. After all, a lame old woman with no one to take care of her could only live for a few days.

As soon as the rebel army left, the villagers cautiously emerged from the cellars. But as soon as one group of rebels left, another group would follow.

These roving armies also went to the villages to plunder, since even a small amount is still something, so they organized themselves to plunder the villages.

At first, Old Lady Lan would try to cover for her, since her sons and grandsons were among those hiding. But when her sons and grandsons stopped caring about her life or death, she began to have the mentality of dragging everyone down with her. For example, this time when another band of soldiers came to the village to wreak havoc, Old Lady Lan took the initiative to explain the situation in the village.

Upon hearing this, Liu Jun, the leader, could no longer sit still. Especially after learning that there were many young women and wives in the village who had not yet been harmed, his heart was pounding like a cat's claws, and his mind naturally began to stir.

In the surrounding villages, where are the pretty girls? Every young woman and married woman has been ruined and turned into something unrecognizable.

They had long since given up on those girls; they'd slept with them all and found them boring. So when they heard this old woman say that, they naturally wanted to find everyone in the village.

This place not only has young women and wives, but also a group of strong laborers to work with, which is a great achievement.

But after searching around, they found nothing. Enraged, the leading soldier grabbed Old Lady Lan and beat her severely. He felt that killing the old woman like this would be too lenient, so he decided to sever her tendons and let her starve to death. He thought that the feeling of waiting to die would be more satisfying, with no one to hear his cries for help.

Grandma Lan screamed in pain, but no one answered her.

Unable to find anyone in the village, Liu Jun sent two men to guard it. The others then began to move on to other villages.

After guarding the village for two days without finding anyone, the two guerrillas guarding the village went straight back.

Before leaving, they set the village ablaze, burning it to the ground so that even those who hid would be burned to death.

There was a vent in the cellar that allowed people to see outside. After discovering that everyone outside had left, the village chief led the villagers out. They were the only villagers in the area who had not been harmed.

They took turns keeping watch in the shadows, and would hide as soon as they spotted any strangers. The Lan family's cellar was also well-built; even though the outer houses were burned beyond recognition, the cellar remained very well hidden and no one discovered it.

When they came out, most of the houses in the village were burned to the ground. Old Lady Lan was carried out of her house by her children and grandchildren. Fortunately, the fire did not spread to Old Lady Lan's house.

With their houses gone, they no longer had any reason to stay in the village.

Hiding is no longer an option, as this army sends people over every few days.

They needed to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible, so the village chief held a brief meeting with everyone. Then they all went home to prepare.

Villagers from all over the country had begun to flee early on. At this time, Pear Blossom Village was also preparing to embark on the road of escape. Just as the villagers were about to leave, someone discovered Old Man Lan's coffin. Some villagers planned to pay their respects to their deceased relatives before leaving, since they might never be able to return after leaving.

The heavy rains of the past few days washed away the soil covering Old Man Lan's coffin, exposing it. The coffin was buried next to the grave of Old Man Lan's ex-wife, Madam Yuan, without a tombstone, which puzzled the villagers. After all, everyone in the village knows when someone dies.

The villagers called the village chief, who came over to check and what he saw was alarming.