It wasn't until he stepped out of the doorway that Qian Wanjin released his nose, not forgetting to pat himself all over in an attempt to get rid of the smell that stained his clothes.
Fortunately, they didn't linger long. If he stayed a second longer, he would have thrown up.
He wanted to launch his complaints, but when he looked back and saw Liu Yusheng's face, the words that reached his mouth changed. "Erm, don't feel too bad about it. I have plenty of men under me. Even if I dig up the ground, I'll find him for you, so don't cry. Besides, it's been so long. Maybe, he really has gone home."
"I hope so too." Liu Yusheng curled her lips, trying to squeeze out a smile, unsuccessfully.
"Come on, don't smile, if you don't want to. It's worse than crying."
Upon hearing this, Liu Yusheng no longer tried to disguise it. She lifted her face up to the grey sky and tried to pour back the tears that were about to spill out of her eyes.
Without the warm sun, the temperature at the end of spring felt as cold as winter.
"Ah! This lunatic hit someone again! Quick, hold him down! Let's beat him up together!" A scream burst out from the corner of the ruined temple, accompanied by curses, and followed by the sound of punches and kicks.
"What's so precious about this junk? It's just a rotten headband someone threw away. So what if I want to take it? Get your hands off me!"
"Get me a rock! Isn't he clutching it tightly? I don't believe a rock won't break his hand open!"
Liu Yusheng paused getting on the carriage and turned her head over to that corner.
She didn't know why, her heartbeat suddenly quickened. She instinctively turned that way, but Qian Wanjin pulled her back.
"The strong always prey on the weak. This kind of thing is out of our control. Lucky Nannan, don't be nosy. We aren't in the same world as them."
After a pause, he gave the guard behind him a wink. "Go deal with it and disperse those people.���
That way, she could feel at ease.
At a corner that Liu Yusheng couldn't see, a group of little beggars formed a circle and kept kicking and beating the person sprawled on the ground.
Their fists and feet landed on the flesh, making dull noises, but the person on the ground seemed to feel no pain, and remained silent.
Until someone brought a rock and smashed his hand, ripping away the red headband he was clutching. His eyes, which had been vacant and dull, suddenly surged intensely, bursting like a vengeful ferocious beast. He picked the rock and slammed it on the head of the beggar, who snatched the headband, at lightning speed, so fast others hardly saw it.
Silence.
Bright red blood gushed out of the beggar's head before the shocked beggars around him let out a scream.
"Murder… Murderer!"
Chaos ensued. The people stared at the said murderer in hatred and fear, as if seeing a ghost. However, he treated them like air.
He carefully cupped the lost and found red headband over his heart, and shrank back into the corner, his eyes returning to empty lifelessness once more. Only his lips moved amidst the chaos and noise, almost silently.
A corner away, Liu Yusheng, who was about to get on the carriage again, suddenly stiffened, her blood almost flowing backwards.
She freed herself from Qian Wanjin's support and ran to the corner, regardless of stumbling several times.
She heard.
In the midst of the chaotic noise, a faint gentle breeze called: Shengsheng.
In this time and space, there was only one person who called her that way, with such gentleness.
"Lucky Nannan! Liu Yusheng!" Qian Wanjin watched as the little child rushed towards the mess, and stomped his feet.
Didn't she even know what danger was? With that puny body, running over there was purely courting death!
What a…He really owed her!
"Go after her and protect her!" He ordered, chasing right after her himself.
Liu Yusheng bypassed the dilapidated wall that blocked her view, and saw the scene there.
The frightened beggars were enraged even more. They didn't dare to go closer to the man shrinking in the corner. Instead, they picked up the stones scattered on the ground and continuously stoned the man.
Soon, the head and face of the teenager in the corner was bleeding.
"Stop it… All of you, stop it!" Liu Yusheng yelled, staring unblinkingly at the beaten, but completely unresponsive teenager. At the moment of clarity, her vision completely blurred.
Her feet felt like lead, so heavy that she could barely move.
She wept and gasped for breath, and with every breath, pain lashed at her heart.
That boy, the gentle boy in her memory, was completely changed.
He had ragged and dirty clothes, untidy and tangled hair, and a face covered with hideous scars.
Plus a pair of hollow, deathly still eyes.
In those eyes, there were no more bright stars, no midsummer night sky, no soul.
Alone, he has been alone.
Isolated and without help, alone.
Changed beyond recognition, alone.
"Brother Axiu." She shouted softly, trying to smile at him, and when she did, tears flowed into her mouth, bitter and salty.
He ignored her, as if he hadn't heard her, and didn't move.
"Brother Axiu, I've come to take you home." Crouching down in front of him, Liu Yusheng smiled, stretching out a trembling hand. "Let's go home."
Her hand just closed in, but before she could touch him, the boy's eyes fluttered suddenly, viciously pushing Liu Yusheng away. His other hand covered the red headband in his palm tighter, afraid of it being snatched away. Then he turned his back defensively.
When Qian Wanjin arrived, what he witnessed was Liu Yusheng being pushed down.
"Nannan!" He exclaimed. He quickly ran forward, grabbed the boy, and raged at him in the corner, "How ungrateful! Do you have any idea how much work she put into finding you?!"
Unfortunately, the boy didn't respond at all, as if he didn't know them.
"Lucky Nannan, let's go! Since he's ungrateful, it's not worth the while currying favor with him!" Qian Wanjin exhaled and dragged Liu Yusheng away. "Besides, his face is all ruined. Maybe you've mistaken him for someone else!"
"Don't tell me it's only half of his face that's ruined, even if his whole face is ruined, I'd recognize him at once!" Liu Yusheng shook his hand off again and returned to Axiu. "I'm taking him home!"
"He doesn't even recognize you!" Qian Wangjin was about to die of anger! Who was he doing this for? Wasn't it for her own good?
"It's not that he doesn't recognize me, he is…" He couldn't recognize anyone anymore. Liu Yusheng wiped away her tears and looked at the young man near her, dirty and bony. What kind of suffering had he endured in these three years? How much had he suffered?
She didn't even dare to think about it, and when she did, her heart ached immeasurably.
Her eyes fell on the headband clutched tightly in the palm of the boy's hand. The original bright red had faded, caught in the palm of his hand for years. It was greasy and shiny from sweat stains, but he guarded it like a treasure.
Liu Yusheng smiled stiflingly, tears sliding down her cheeks once again, hot and scalding.
Even if he didn't recognize her anymore, he still subconsciously wouldn't let anyone hurt her.
His instinct.