"Ivan, do you know what I'm thinking now?"

Following the vast marching army like a dragon, Gejil felt like a puppet without thoughts being controlled by someone, as if every step he took was full of dullness.

"Don't ask me such stupid questions."

Ivan raised the torch expressionlessly, and said without looking at the other person.

“Now I just want to go home—”

Gejil seemed to be indifferent to the other party's reaction, and a man suddenly muttered to himself.

"I have a very ordinary family. My father is a farmer and my mother is a needleworker. They only have me and one child. I think you know that for families like ours, having more children will be a burden. Parents think that their ability can only raise one child at most, so I have no so-called brothers and sisters..."

His voice was very small and weak.

But Ivan beside him heard it very clearly.

"Although my parents are countrymen, they hope that when I grow up, I can embark on another path of success. So they squandered their means and supported me to go to the best school and enjoy the best education, because they believed that knowledge can change a person's life. If everything goes smoothly in the future, I will now be a teacher in my hometown college, or the manager of the nobles' house..."

"But the future is often full of twists and turns. Maybe I really don't have the talent to study. No matter how hard I try, I failed every academic assessment. At that time, I was young, and I really felt that the whole world had become dark because I felt that I had felt ashamed of my parents' eager expectations for many years. Every time I went home and saw my parents who were increasingly old and haggard in my work for many years, my heart was very sour and sour. Many times I couldn't suppress my tears and vent my pain in my heart..."

"My parents are gentle and kind people. Even if they know the bad situation on me, they don't scold me severely. Instead, they give me more compassion and encouragement. Later, I could no longer face the guilt and torture of my heart, so I chose to leave my hometown because I want to break out my future to repay them..."

Gejil paused and looked into the distance with his eyes blankly, and that direction was the capital.

"When I was fifteen years old, I followed the caravan to the capital alone. At that time, I believed that only the capital could pursue my dreams."

"At that time, I was penniless, so I found many jobs to survive, such as washing dishes, washing dishes, carrying warehouses, dumping manure... In short, as long as I could survive, I would do whatever I would do, perhaps the reward of hard work. In just a few years, I had a certain amount of savings, and from that time on, I became no longer content with the status quo."

"At that time, I had a good friend. He was a businessman, shrewd, honest, diligent... In short, he was like a mentor on my life path, teaching me a lot of human nature. However, after a business failure, his life fell into the abyss instantly. It was very miserable and down. Almost all relatives and friends were far away from him because those people were afraid that he would borrow money."

"But I didn't, because he was my friend, my best friend."

"During that time, I was helping him with his life. Whenever I saw his depressed and depressed appearance, I felt the impermanence of the world... But one day, he suddenly came to me with a refreshing spirit, because he successfully contacted a big deal through a business partner in the past. As long as he could successfully complete the big deal, he could immediately revive his previous life, and his only hope was that I could give him all the investment and help..."

"It's strange that I actually agreed to his investment at that time, maybe because I felt the other party's sincerity, maybe because I was restless in my heart, maybe... the benefits of that big deal really make people unable to resist the temptation."

"What kind of deal is that?"

Ivan, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke.

"smuggling--"

Gejil said silently.

Ivan frowned. He didn't expect that the child in front of him had such a past.

He naturally knew the charge of smuggling. Once captured by the Kingdom Inspection Team, he might be the fate of going to the guillotine. However, the temptation behind smuggling is enough to make people lose their minds, but I don’t know how many people have stepped on the road of no return on this abyss cliff.

"That was my desperate life gambling. Once I failed, I would end up in the same situation as my business friend, and the results of years of hard work were gone; but if I succeed, the future I had dreamed of will be within reach... In order to ensure the reality of the business and to prevent accidents in my investment, I investigated and verified many aspects of problems, such as the businessman who dominated the smuggling."

Gegil continued.

"Speaking of this, the smuggling merchant is really like a legend. I heard from his original collaborator that he was just a very ordinary merchant a long time ago. From when he started, he suddenly opened up a smuggling road to the Osasu barbarians and achieved great success. It seemed that a man named Lao Xiake gave him help... I don't know who the man named Lao Xiake was, but I was relieved that my investment was not in vain, but I just didn't expect-"

"The transaction failed?" Ivan said.

“Yes, or not.”

“How to say it?”

"Because my business friend got all my property and ran away." Gejil said bitterly: "It's not the transaction that makes me fail, but the friend."

"It seems that he has given you a very important life lesson."

"Yes." Gejil said sadly: "But it didn't take long before I saw him again."

"His conscience has been discovered?"

"no."

"What is that?"

"Because when I saw him again, I was in front of the guillotine."

"What's going on?"

"After he deceived me, all the money disappeared, he actually started a trade with the smuggling merchant. However, this time, the smuggling accident was accidentally captured by the Kingdom Inspection Team."

"Haha--in some way he actually saved you." Ivan laughed in gloom.

"Yes, think about it carefully. If he had not deceived my money but smuggled together, I might have ended my life on the guillotine now, perhaps because of the glory that came from the aftermath of the disaster, I would have forgiven him at that time."

Gejil's expression showed a long sigh of vicissitudes of his age.

"I haven't been home for many years. I don't know whether my father and mother are healthy, whether the fields at home are well harvested, and whether their lives are still safe... Until today I realized that my future is not the wealth and glory I once pursued, but living like my parents..."

"I want to go home."

After hearing this, Ivan remained silent for a long time. He knew that the complicated sudden change he experienced tonight might have allowed the child in front of him to see what he really wanted in his heart.

He didn't know why he chose to join the army's recruitment, but he knew that his heart never belonged here.

"Gejer, live well and live tonight."

He patted the other party on the shoulder, looking at his numb and drooping look and was about to speak, the sudden stop of the progress of the army immediately diverted his attention.

What happened ahead?

...

What was indeed happening ahead, because someone stopped the direction of the army's advance.
Chapter completed!