Just dirt
Zhang Wang's eyes felt wet, his vision cloudy as the illusion dissipated.
All this time, his father had fought tooth and nail to the very last moment to save a poor village girl. All the while he believed that help would come and answer his call, that Hou Ruyen was not too far and would heed to his summons as she had promised him.
But she never did.
The accusations that had sent her on trial had all been true, so why was Zhang Wang such an idiot back then not to believe in them? His head must have been floating high up in the clouds. He couldn't remember many details from that time, parts of his memory had shut him out, protecting him from the traumas that unfolded then.
Hurriedly, he wiped his eyes of any residual wetness. Just the dirt, he told himself.