Chapter 547
Chapter 547 Recompense
The flickering torches occasionally emitted a soft crackling noise, drawing the attention of everyone present to the small copper coin at the center. The expansive grassland was eerily quiet, with the rapid heartbeats of the Turkic women and children almost audible. Even the Great Hua cavalrymen, holding the torches aloft, couldn't help but hold their breaths, their gaze fixed intently on the gently rolling coin.
Finally, the copper coin fell onto the lush grass, bounced a few times, rolled forward, and gradually came to a stop. It hesitated for a moment, then slowly fell on one side.
Hu Bugui stared intently at the coin, not daring to blink. After a long pause, he softly exclaimed, "It's heads! Could this really be fate?" His expression was a complex mix of emotions; he seemed somewhat resentful, yet also somewhat relieved.
The Turkic women and children erupted in jubilant celebration, hugging each other, dancing, and shouting for joy, their faces awash with tears. The children in their arms, too young to understand their mothers' elation, nonetheless sensed the mood and grinned, reaching out their tiny hands to wipe away the tears on their mothers' faces.
Lin Wanrong stood silently, his gaze lowered, his back turned to the scene. He uttered not a word, showing neither sorrow nor joy. No one could tell what he was thinking, except for the tension revealed in his tightly clenched fists.
After a moment of frenzied celebration, the Turkic women and children quieted down, gradually coming to their senses. They realized that the man who held their fate in his hands, a grim-faced invader, remained silent. The veins on his tightly clenched fists were protruding, indicating the internal struggle he was going through.
What would the coin toss matter? If this man from Great Hua merely shook his head, the fate of over three thousand women and children would still be a massacre. Countless eyes—of Turkic women, children, filled with either hope or hatred—remained fixed on Lin Wanrong's unmoving figure, awaiting his final decision.
"How about we toss again? Best two out of three?" Gao Qiu whispered to Lin Wanrong, audible only to the three of them.