Chapter 489: Gao Zhijian's Background

In Niuxin Village, Gao Zhijian’s fingers, like cast iron plows, effortlessly carved through the solid rammed earth, leaving a trail of marks.

"What are you drawing?" Chun Xiaoman asked, her brows furrowed as she watched Gao Zhijian squatting on the ground. "Why don't you write instead? I've been learning some characters at the private school recently."

Gao Zhijian glanced at her, shook his head, and continued drawing.

"Hey! What do you mean by that? Are you looking down on me?" Chun Xiaoman reached out and pushed him hard.

Feeling her hand on him, Gao Zhijian pursed his lips, stifling a laugh, and shook his head, resuming his drawing.

"Is this a snake? Were you a snake oil salesman in the past?"

"Dragon!" Gao Zhijian grumbled.

As his fingers moved, a massive coiled dragon appeared before Chun Xiaoman. Then, his fingers quickly added details, drawing a sitting figure beneath the dragon.

"Emperor!" Gao Zhijian declared, pointing at the figure, then drew huge piles of gold ingots next to it.

Afterward, he drew several small figures alongside the emperor. When he drew the last one, he slapped himself hard on the chest. "Me!"

"You're the emperor's son?!" Chun Xiaoman's eyes widened in surprise.

But in response to her question, Gao Zhijian nodded, then shook his head vigorously. "No... no... no... I don't know!"

"How can you not know again? What exactly is going on?"

"P-p-p-perhaps... it's... it's fake!"

"Didn't you say this was your past? How is it fake again? By the way, have you told Senior Brother Li about any of this? What does he think?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Gao Zhijian hesitated for a moment. After glancing at Chun Xiaoman, he used his finger to draw a larger figure next to the smaller one representing himself.

The adult's face appeared to be covered by something, obscuring its features, and it had three swords on its back.

When Gao Zhijian bit his finger and stained the Taoist figure's robes red with blood, Chun Xiaoman immediately understood what he was trying to convey.

"Is this Senior Brother Li?" There were few people in the world who wore red Taoist robes, so she recognized him at a glance.

Gao Zhijian nodded vigorously, then used his finger to draw a large character for "five" on his own head.

"I know this character," she said, "it's the 'five' from 'one, two, three, four, five.' It's the simplest one. So, you were five years old that year?"

Gao Zhijian nodded vigorously, then pointed to the sword on the back of the figure of Li Huowang on the ground. He then forcefully drew a line, completely crossing out the small figure representing himself.

"Uh... Senior Brother Li killed you? Killed five-year-old you?"

As Chun Xiaoman said this, even she became hesitant.

"Mm-hm." Seeing Gao Zhijian actually nod, Chun Xiaoman immediately felt her head spin.

"You were killed by Senior Brother Li, so how are you still alive now? And he killed you when you were a child?"

"P-p-p-perhaps... it's fake!" Saying this, he drew another small figure representing himself, this one with armor drawn on it and a cart beneath it.

Then Gao Zhijian drew a group of people surrounding him, stabbing him with spears.

"You... died again? I don't understand anymore."

"Confused..." Gao Zhijian vigorously patted his head. "Confused!" His movements grew rougher.

Then Gao Zhijian drew several more ways he died: by drowning, by burning, and even by hanging.

Finally, he stopped drawing people altogether. Instead, he took out charcoal and drew clumps of black things. As more and more black circles appeared on the ground, a hint of fear gradually emerged in Gao Zhijian's eyes, and the fear deepened with each new circle.

Finally, when his robust and muscular arm drew a large black circle, completely covering everything, Gao Zhijian seemed terrified by what he had drawn. He suddenly jumped up and retreated several steps.

"Gao Zhijian... are you alright? Should I find a doctor to check on you?"

As Gao Zhijian wiped cold sweat from his face, a streak of black was also smeared across it.

He gently shook his head, then carefully walked over, picked up a clump of earth, and stepped on it, using his foot to thoroughly compact the black areas.

Next, he used the charcoal to draw a small figure representing himself on the back of his hand. Then, using that hand, he dug away the compacted earth, pushing aside the black areas, finally revealing the huge piles of ingots he had drawn earlier. "Money!"

From the bottom of that pile of gold ingots, he drew a line directly to Chun Xiaoman's feet. "Take!"

"No, no, no, wait a moment," Chun Xiaoman said. "This isn't about money anymore. Draw more carefully. I'm feeling a bit confused." Chun Xiaoman felt her own mind getting muddled by Gao Zhijian.

"His meaning is very clear."

A voice came from the doorway. The two turned their heads and saw Zhao Wu, leaning on a crutch.

From the scene, it seemed he had witnessed everything Gao Zhijian had drawn.

Zhao Wu walked up to the two, looking at the chaotic drawings before him. After a moment of thought, he said, "According to his drawings, Gao Zhijian must have been a high-ranking official or a noble in the past, so his family would have been rich."

"Those various ways of dying probably represent the risks associated with that status," Zhao Wu continued. "But if we truly reach a desperate situation where we've exhausted all our resources, he's willing to take the risk to use his past identity to help us find a way out."

After saying this, Zhao Wu turned to Gao Zhijian and asked with a serious expression, "I assume that's what you mean?"

Gao Zhijian froze for a moment, then unceremoniously shook his head decisively. "I... I... I'm... the Emp... Emp... Emperor!"

A hint of helplessness appeared on Zhao Wu's face. "You're the Emperor? And then Senior Brother Li killed five-year-old you? Then you came back to life? And then you died again? And finally, you were captured by Daoist Danyang?"

"Where in Daliang is there a five-year-old emperor? If you're going to make things up, at least make them believable."

"And the reason you didn't tell Senior Brother Li about your past is precisely because this story is inconsistent, isn't it? If you were five, how old was Senior Brother Li? He wasn't even older than you."

Zhao Wu's words made Gao Zhijian's expression turn painful. He vigorously patted his head, and after a few pats, his open palm turned into a clenched fist. "Confused... confused!!"

"Hey, Gao Zhijian, don't do that!" Chun Xiaoman quickly grabbed him. "Once the effects of this natural disaster pass, the Lu Family Troupe can still go out and earn money. You don't need to worry about money!"

Gao Zhijian gradually calmed down. He gave a complex look at the two people who didn't believe his story, then clenched his fists and turned to leave.

"When Senior Brother Li returns, should we tell him about his crazy talk?" Zhao Wu said, leaning on his crutch.

Looking at Gao Zhijian's departing back, Chun Xiaoman, with a somewhat complex expression, nodded.

"I think it's better to tell him," she replied. "He's more knowledgeable than us; perhaps he might know something about Gao Zhijian's past."