Above the stars

Lu Zhiyong put a bottle of ice-cold champagne on the table and said with a smile: "You two, father and daughter, have a good chat. We haven't seen each other for so many years. It's a rare opportunity to sit down and drink together and chat."

Hey, why do these words sound so familiar?

Oh, I just told Tang Bandit, but he didn't agree.

Then he said: "Today is a good day. I took out the imperial champagne that I have collected for several years. I paired the champagne with the roast lamb and gave you a few cloves of garlic that I grew myself. Let me tell you, this way of eating is simply delicious. Absolutely, I wouldn’t even give it to a god. You two drink it first. The mutton is ready, and I’ll cut it for you.”

After saying that, he turned around and went to work.

Lu Whisper picked up the champagne bottle from the ice bucket, pulled out the cork with a bang, poured the old man a glass, and then poured himself a glass.

Without putting down the bottle, he picked up the champagne and drank it.

Then, he poured himself another glass and drank again.

The old man sat aside and watched, without picking up the wine in front of him or making a sound to dissuade him.

He knew she needed to calm down.

If I don’t drink two ounces more, I’m afraid I won’t be able to say a lot of things.

They are father and daughter. They should have been the closest people in the world, but now they feel so strange sitting together.

He didn't know Lu Private Language, and all the information he knew was through Internet searches and Lu Zhiyong's narration during this period.

What can a rough guy like Lu Zhiyong know? What I see are only superficial things.

What is going on in her mind? What does she really care about?

Lu Xiyu didn't understand her father either. She blamed him, hated him, but also hoped for him and missed him.

This is an extremely complicated and contradictory psychology. The contradiction is that at this moment she is sitting in front of him, still thinking about whether it is right for her to see him and why she should see him?

It wasn't until Lu Whisper drank his third glass of wine that he stopped for a moment.

Her face glowed red, and her eyes were not as sharp and cold as before. With a hint of grievance and confusion, she looked at the old man and asked, "Why are you coming back? Aren't you dead? They all said you died."

The old man then picked up the champagne glass in front of him, looked at the tiny bubbles that kept popping up in the glass, and said in a deep voice: "I am dead. I originally wanted you to treat me like a dead person. In this way , but you will live a little easier."

"Huh, is this your explanation? Is it the reason you gave to those of us who have been waiting for you for more than ten years?"

"This is not an explanation. The reason why I left. I can't explain it until now." The old man looked ashamed. He had long regarded himself as a dead person and had no goodwill towards the world.

However, when he faced his biological daughter, he still felt a touch of softness.

Just as she said, she had been waiting for herself for so many years, and had been looking for herself for so many years, and now he suddenly appeared in front of her, with no explanation and no reason to leave.

How can one be willing to do this?

Is this too bullying?

Lu Whisper was not angry at all. He picked up the wine glass again and drank down the champagne in it.

"I knew it earlier." Lu whispered: "If I could come up with a reason to explain, I wouldn't force you to this level without saying anything. It would be much better than just lying about a reason."

"I'm sorry," said the old man aloud.

"I'm sorry?" Lu privately sneered and said, "These three words are so light, what's the meaning?"

"Besides this, I can't do anything else or even let the outside world know that I'm still alive."

Lu privately looked at the old man and asked, "I don't care about this either. After all these years, do I still have any extravagant expectations for you?"

"."

"I just want to know what is the relationship between Bandit Tang and you?" Lu whispered, staring into the old man's eyes and asked.

The old man picked up the champagne and took a sip. It was sour in his mouth and he couldn't feel the slightest bit of sweetness.

I don’t know if this is the taste of wine or the taste of life.

"Did you introduce him to Luban Mountain on purpose?" the old man asked.

"Yes, otherwise, how could I let you show up?" Lu Wuyu did not deny it. He glanced at the old man and said, "If it was just me who forced my second uncle, you would never come out to see me, right?"

"."

The old man did not answer the question.

Because what Lu Xiyu said was true, if the Tang bandits had not followed him and entered the Luban formation, he would never have come out to see Lu Xiyu.

What's the benefit of seeing it?

Since it already makes people feel hopeless, why give people a glimmer of hope?

What he did was originally a shameful thing, why did he need to drag innocent people like them into the water?

"When I found out that an outsider could use "Useless Heart", I became suspicious of his identity."

"Moreover, the things he makes are very similar to yours. He likes to add a safety catch to the power unit."

"No one except the Lu family will use the "useless heart" technology. People who know how to use the "Useless Heart" technique don't have the habit of making safety bolts, so when I saw that wooden bird, I knew you were back."

"The strange thing is that he is also very curious about me. I can see that he is trying to get close to me. He has tried to get information about you from me several times."

"I can understand that you lied to me. You don't want me to know that you are back, and I can accept it. But, aren't you a gang? Are you not together? What is your relationship? What do you want to do?"

"Can you promise me something?" The old man looked at Lu Whisper and asked aloud.

"Isn't it ridiculous? You didn't give me any reason, explanation, or promise. And then you said sorry in exchange for me doing something for you?" Lu Xiyu was really annoyed by the old man.

"Just pretend you've never seen me, just pretend you've never seen Tang Bandit." The old man pleaded seriously.

"You also answer me a question." Lu whispered: "You answer my question, and I will promise you this."

"You ask."

"Is Bandit Tang my brother?" Lu asked quietly in a private voice.

When the old man disappeared, he also took her younger brother with him.

Now that the old man is back, Tang Bandit has appeared. Isn't his identity ready to be revealed?

"Yes." The old man replied crisply.

".You lied. If he was my brother, why did you hide your relationship?"

"Because I am not liked by the royal family." The old man said loudly: "I don't want him to suffer this fate with me and take such a big risk."

"No." Lu whispered shaking his head and said, "You want him to marry the princess. Do you want to avenge the Tang family?"

The old man looked at Lu Whisper with a surprised look on his face and asked, "How do you know?"

"You are hiding in the second uncle's yard and you are not coming out. Tang Bandit has a close relationship with Zhong Yuxiuxue. Do you want to disintegrate the royal family from within?"

"Yes." The old man nodded and admitted, "There has to be something to do. So, no matter what, you must keep this secret for me. Don't let anyone know that he has a relationship with our family."

"I understand." Lu Wu nodded and said, "I will get along with him according to the normal relationship between classmates."

"Well, naturally, just like usual."

"But, have you ever thought about what if the mission fails? What if the royal family discovers his relationship with our family? What will he do? How will you protect him?"

"It depends on human effort, there must be a way."

"No matter what." Lu Whisper looked at the old man with firm eyes and said, "No matter what method or means you use, you have to keep him alive. I only have one younger brother."

"We will work hard," said the old man.

He will work hard, and he has to work hard.

Revenge was originally a double-edged sword.

If you want to hurt someone, how can you not get hurt?

Lu Zhiyong came over with a plate of chopped barbecue. Seeing that a large bottle of champagne had been drunk, he complained: "You two drank too fast, didn't you? I didn't even cut a plate of meat, so you just drank it." Finished a bottle of wine? Didn't leave some for me?"

"You have hidden so much good wine, bring out a few more bottles, don't be stingy." Lu whispered.

"Yeah, get a few more bottles." The old man also echoed. "The meat has just been served, how can it be done without wine?"

Seeing his daughter and Lu Zhiyong playing around, the old man also had a rare smile on his face.

This was the life he dreamed of, but unfortunately, he could only push it away with his own hands.

The further you push, the better.

"Okay, okay, I'll get two more bottles. I'll have enough meat and wine tonight." Lu Zhiyong said with a smile.

The eldest brother was able to sit and drink and chat with his daughter, and he was also happy for his eldest brother and niece.

Who doesn’t want to live happily together as a family?

It's a pity that the eldest brother chose the most difficult path.

——

When Tang Bandit returned, Xiaopang was busy in the kitchen.

He was in a hurry and his face was full of oily smoke.

Tang Bandit stood at the door of the kitchen, looking at Xiaopang's clumsy appearance, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Ah, brother, are you back?" Xiaopang turned around, looked at Tang Bandit and said, "I'm cooking. I thought that my eldest brother hasn't come back yet, something must have delayed him, so I thought of cooking the meal first. You can have something hot when you come back.”

"It's blurry." Bandit Tang said.

"What's wrong?"

"The egg in the pot is mush."

Only then did Xiaopang realize that the eggs he was frying in the pot had been burned to black charcoal.

"Oh," the little fat man quickly picked up the pot from the stove and said, "Don't be afraid, I'll eat the mushy one, and I'll fry it for you."

"I'll do it," Tang Bandit said.

He took the frying pan from Xiaopang's hand, poured the battered egg into the trash can, and asked, "Why not use a cooking robot?"

"Didn't you say that the food cooked by the robot doesn't have any smoke? I didn't think it tasted good either. So I thought about trying it myself. Seeing how easy it was for my brother to make it, I tried it myself and found that it wasn't the case at all."

"There are specialties in the arts," Tang Bandi said. "How many years have I been cooking? How many have you only cooked?"

He quickly fried a few eggs, then put down a large pot of noodles and said, "Eat something simple tonight."

"It's okay, it's okay, it's both face and egg, it's not simple at all." Xiaopang said cheerfully.

He likes to eat noodles and he likes to eat fried eggs, which is not easy at all for him.

Tang Bandit and Xiao Pang each had a bowl of noodles, mixed with Lao Gan Daddy's chili sauce, and ate them happily.

Tang Bandit didn't eat the omelette. After finishing a bowl of noodles, he said to Xiaopang, "I have something else to do. Please wash the bowl."

"Okay." Xiaopang was stuffing a fried egg into his mouth and said vaguely: "Brother, you don't want to eat? You haven't eaten the egg yet?"

"I'm full." Tang Bandit said.

How could he have any appetite?

The reason why he insists on eating a bowl of noodles is because he knows that if he doesn't eat at all, Xiaopang himself won't be able to eat it.

He didn't want Fatty to worry.

Such a big thing happened, and his identity was so complicated, he didn't know how to tell Xiaopang.

"Oh. Then I ate everything?"

"Eat everything." Tang Bandit said, got up and walked upstairs.

Xiaopang looked at Tang Bandit's back, stopped chewing, and had a thoughtful expression on his face.

Tang Bandit returned to his room, locked the door, and took out a gelatin smart disc from his pocket.

It was something the old man gave him to give him time to look at if he wanted to.

For some unknown reason, ordinary people can no longer search for the burning video of that year on the empire’s Starlink network.

I heard that through some special channels, it can be found on servers or websites in other countries, but Tang Bandit does not have such technology.

He knew what was inside, and he was repelled in his heart.

He didn't want to look, and he didn't dare to look.

But he knew he had to see it.

This kind of emotion cannot be resisted by human beings.

He inserted the CD into the computer port, and then a multi-dimensional projected video screen appeared in front of him.

Under the pitch-black sky, a huge high platform was built.

On the high platform, there are metal cages one after another.

There are people in each cage, one small one, three or five large ones.

He saw Tang Li, the man the old man said was his father.

He is tall, with a strong back and broad waist, a big and broad face, and sword-shaped eyebrows at his temples. He looks like he has a very upright and tough character.

"Nothing like me at all." Tang Bandit thought in his heart.

The eyes were large, cloudy, and the pupils were filled with bloodshot eyes.

His hands and feet were chained, and he looked desperately at the woman next to him.

The woman's face was haggard, but she still couldn't hide her former beauty. She held a baby in her arms, and she held him tightly, as if she was pouring all her affection and love into him.

It was a strange feeling that Tang Bandit had never seen this woman before.

He used to be only interested in Tang Li and wanted to see what the general who could be regarded as an "idol" by Phoenix looked like.

However, when he saw her, he felt an inexplicable throbbing in his heart.

He felt warm and familiar, and every cell in his body was awakened.

Look at her, look at that heartbroken face as pale as paper

His heart was filled with grief, anger, grievance, and heartache.

"mom"

Tang Bandit read softly.

This word was so unfamiliar that he felt ashamed when he shouted it out.

However, when he shouted it out, he found that he suddenly stepped into that role.

The fire started, and they struggled and screamed in the blazing fire, but they couldn't make any sound.

The only one who could cry was the child.

"Wow"

The child cried heartbrokenly.

The flames were burning brightly, and their bodies moved desperately towards the middle, wanting to get closer to each other, even closer.

"This man is my dad."

"This woman is my mother."

"This person should be me."

——

If this was a group of strangers and someone else's story, Bandit Tang would just read it.

What does the suffering of others have to do with yourself?

After all, I can’t digest so much suffering.

How can there be so much empathy in the world?

However, when he knew his true identity, when he knew that the man was his father, that woman was his mother, and that child was buried in the fire on his behalf.

He watched helplessly as his parents and family were devoured by fire and eventually turned into ashes.

They were so close, as if they were within reach.

The video is over.

Tang Bandit played it a second time.

The third time.

Then he sat there with a dull expression and vacant eyes.

A tear slowly flowed down his cheek.

"dad"

"mom"