Chu Qingmeng stood up, cupped her hands in a salute to the woman, and said, "Madam, what happened that day was truly a helpless measure. If I hadn't taken action, and those provisions had been seized, how many more days could you all have survived? I had to save the people of the entire city, not just one person or a single family. Please forgive me, Madam."
With that, ignoring the woman's stunned expression, she turned and walked toward the city. Mo Liujin supported her, noticing her expressionless face, and was just about to speak when Chu Qingmeng suddenly stopped. With a blank, lifeless gaze, she murmured, "A-Jin, look—he wanted to kill me, but he was not in the wrong, because I killed his father, so he was right to want to take revenge for his father. His father wanted to live, wanted his whole family to live, so he seized grain, which was not wrong either. Yet killing his father was not wrong for me, either; I had to look at the big picture and save the people of the entire city. For those who wanted to seize grain, I had to make an example of a few to suppress the disaster victims. I also wanted to find a way to serve both sides, but... look, this must be the retribution for me killing his father."
One of Chu Qingmeng's hands touched her lower abdomen, but she felt a coolness on her face. Raising her hand to touch her cheek, she realized she was crying. Crying? So she still had tears left, after all. Letting out a bitter laugh, she fell straight forward.
Chapter 44