Chapter 1 Hatred
Oh oh oh!
The fierce and unparalleled cold wind howled across the sky and earth. With the backdrop of the vast environment, the howling cold wind between heaven and earth was like the roaring divine wind. The withered and yellow grass in this late autumn was disturbed by the strong wind and turned into flying powder.

"Little bastard, why don't you go out and collect firewood?"

In such a cold season, even an adult would not want to go out easily. However, in a village on the plain, angry and contemptuous scolding was heard.

Bang!
Along with scolding, a boy who was obviously four or five years old but looked only three years old, wearing a coarse linen shirt that barely covered his body and was almost useless in this cold weather, was kicked out of a thatched hut by a man in his early thirties. The boy's body flew through the air and finally hit the fence surrounding the thatched hut.

The young body fell heavily to the ground, and in the sunlight that had not yet faded, a face appeared, which was pale and thin due to long-term malnutrition, but still handsome.

[You bastards, I will definitely kill you and make your entire family die! ]

The boy who was brutally beaten lowered his jade-like black eyes, and when his gaze was cast on the ground, it seemed as if he wanted to burn the frozen earth. Deep-rooted hatred was churning inside, and he swore secretly in his heart.

"Little bastard, since you're not dead yet, why don't you go collect firewood!"

From the thatched house made of straw and wood, a middle-aged woman in coarse cloth and thorn hairpin walked out. Although she was somewhat beautiful, her beauty had been wiped out by the hard times. She was only thirty years old, but she looked more than forty years old. The middle-aged woman was afraid that her husband would really beat the "little bastard" to death, so she ran out to see what was going on.

The middle-aged woman stood on the threshold and saw that the limbs of the "little bastard" were still twitching, and she shouted impatiently.

"understood."

The child, who was about four or five years old, lowered his head to hide the hatred in his eyes which was as high as a mountain and as deep as the sea. When he raised his head again, there was no light in his eyes. He only responded woodenly and dully, and walked towards the outside of the fence with his short legs.

This was a small mountain village in the wilderness. There were more than 30 families living in the village. Although this family made quite a commotion, the other families did not react. This was because they had seen similar scenes countless times, and even the children who were naive were used to it.

boom!
The boy, who had been abused and tortured since childhood, walked out with his head down. Unexpectedly, the half-closed wooden door was suddenly opened from the outside, and the boy bumped into someone. Before the boy could react, he was kicked hard, knocking him to the ground. When he felt a sharp pain in his chest, a cursing voice sounded:

"Little bastard, who told you to block the way?"

The boy, who had no status in this family and didn't even have a name, looked up and saw a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old with a round face and long hair tied up with a wooden hairpin. His clothes were more than ten times better than his tattered clothes and had patterns embroidered on the lapels. He stepped over him.

"Father, mother."

The boy, about fourteen or fifteen years old, with a face full of vitality, ran towards the couple happily.

"Baoer."

"Bao'er, weren't you going to propose to Ah Hua? Why are you back so soon?"

……

When the middle-aged man and woman saw the boy, who was about fourteen or fifteen years old, their faces blossomed with sincere smiles that they had never seen in front of the boy before. Their eyes were filled with unshakable pity. Obviously, the boy was old enough to join the army at this age, but in their eyes, he was still a child who had not grown up.

The family of three formed the most harmonious picture. As for the boy who was kicked against the wooden door, he was like a puppy guarding the house.

"father."

There are only about 30 households in the village, and the nearest village is more than 10 miles away. In addition, there are many ferocious beasts such as tigers, wild boars, and bears in the wild. Due to these two factors, once the children in the village reach a certain age, they usually marry each other, and rarely marry outside the village.

The young man ran up to the man and said excitedly, "Ahua's family agreed to my proposal."

"That's great." Upon hearing this, the woman clapped her hands and laughed, "My Bao'er is getting married too. Tomorrow, I'll ask your father to take our heirloom to the pawnshop in the city to pawn it, and buy you some more things."

Originally, the proposal of marriage should be made by the parents. However, this family has become rich in recent years, and the proposed marriage target - Ah Hua's family is one of the poorest families in the village. Therefore, the boy called "Bao Er" only needs to say it himself, and Ah Hua's family will not refuse at all.

When the boy heard the word "heirloom", a hint of resentment flashed across his eyes.

[What heirloom? That's mine. You two bastards are even going to pawn this last thing!]

At this moment, the hatred and anger in the boy's heart were like a river about to burst its banks, or even like a volcano about to erupt. However, he did not shout these words out loud, because countless past experiences had taught him that he was just a beast in this family and had no right to show his teeth.

"Cui'er, let's do this." The man said carelessly, "Our family heirloom is very valuable. In addition to arranging a wedding for Bao'er, we can also keep some. Then, we can buy a few acres of land!"

"There is also a bridal sedan. Prepare another one!"

"Cloth, meat, wedding candy, ..."

……

Out of concern for their beloved son Baoer, the couple immediately began to discuss what kind of wedding they should prepare so that Baoer would have no regrets in this one and only wedding in his life. "Li Er, we will come to help too."

"Sister-in-law Li, after you buy the cloth, we will help you cut it."

"Brother Li, we brothers will come to help when the time comes."

"Sister Ahua, congratulations, you are finally getting married."

……

The small mountain village is only this big, and the villagers know each other well. If it was just the boy who was despised as a "little bastard" who was beaten, no one would interfere. However, when this family wanted to arrange a wedding for "Bao'er", the neighbors got wind of it. The uncles and elders wanted to arrange the wedding with the man named "Li Er"; the aunts and uncles of similar age took over the responsibility of making clothes and cooking. And the boys and girls who grew up playing with Li Er and Ah Hua took on some trivial matters.

In an instant, the small mountain village, which had been quiet for a long time, became noisy because of Li Er's family's wedding, and almost everyone was discussing how they could help in this upcoming wedding.

[Damn it, everyone in this village deserves to die! ]

What was out of place with this picture of a family was the boy who had already gotten up from the ground and was walking out of the village. His tender ears were listening to the noises coming from all around him, and almost everyone on the road ignored him. When he looked around, he saw that even some two or three-year-old children were being pulled away by their elders, as if they were some kind of dirty thing.

All of this, like a series of merciless arrows, pierced the boy's heart and brought him great pain. At that moment, the boy wanted to pick up a knife and kill all the living things in this village where he had lived since he was a child, but which brought him no warmth, only pain and torture.

"sure!"

"It's great that you can come."

"When the time comes, you'll have to drink a few more glasses!"

……

Faced with these enthusiastic villagers, Mr. and Mrs. Li were still happy and responded to everyone's questions enthusiastically.

"Dad, don't forget to buy some rabbits when the time comes." The boy named Li Bao was looking at him with envy. He felt a little proud, but he soon remembered something and reminded his father, "Ahua's family likes to eat rabbit meat!"

"I know. Rabbits are indispensable." Li Er responded casually. He glanced around and found that the child they called 'little bastard' had not left the village yet. He shouted from a distance, "Little bastard, don't forget to catch a few rabbits. If you don't catch any, you won't have any food tomorrow!"

"Yes."

It was already a terrible thing to ask a four or five-year-old child to leave the village to collect firewood in such cold weather where he might encounter wolves and tigers at any time, not to mention asking him to set traps to catch wild rabbits, which are famous for their agility. However, no one in the village objected, and everyone's face showed an expression of natural justice.

The first boy who was about to walk out of the village in a few feet stopped in his tracks. He did not hear even a word of dissuasion. He only felt that this village was like an icy iceberg. On his cute face, which turned its back to everyone, endless sadness floated. He responded calmly.

Then, the boy disappeared in front of everyone.

"Li Er, you let this little bastard go out to collect firewood and hunt rabbits in this weather, what if..." After the boy left the village, an old woman in her fifties or sixties said worriedly.

"Aunt Zhang," the wife of the Li family said to the old woman, "Could it be that you are feeling sorry for this little bastard? You know, he is a Qin person!"

Qin people!

As soon as these two words were spoken, the lively atmosphere in the village stagnated, and was replaced by endless depression. The faces of men and women over the age of 20 all showed a heart-pounding hatred.

Although Qin and Zhao were of the same clan, the royal families of both countries were of the Ying surname, and both were descendants of Fei Lian, a minister of King Zhou of Shang in the late Shang Dynasty. However, after eight hundred years, the blood relationship between the two countries was at most a mouthful of mosquito blood. Moreover, since the establishment of Zhao State, Qin and Zhao had frequent wars. Especially more than 20 years ago, Bai Qi, the Wu'an Jun of Qin State, slaughtered 400,000 Zhao troops in Changping. It can be said that everyone in Zhao State was in mourning, and every family had a male who died tragically.

Since then, Qin and Zhao had an irreconcilable hatred. Since the Battle of Changping, Qin and Zhao had fought frequently. Although this place was hundreds of miles away from the real border of Zhao, every time there was a war, the Qin army would rush to the vicinity, slaughtering people and destroying crops.

Hatred also rose in Aunt Zhang's eyes. "I don't feel sorry for a little bastard from Qin. I just want to remind you. If he dies, won't your family lose a strong man in the future?"

"That's true."

"Aunt Zhang is right. There are no cows in our village. I think we should just let him be a cow when he is a few years older."

"It would be better to send him to the battlefield in the future and let this Qin bastard kill Qin people!"

……

The people in the village all had a deep hatred for the Qin people, and most of them expressed their opinions following Aunt Zhang's words. In their words, they did not regard the boy as a human being at all, but just a beast.

(End of this chapter)