Ye Xuan’s eyes snapped open, and he pushed open the door to his training room.
"Ling’Er, what’s the matter?"
"Xuan, someone is looking for you outside," she said.
"Looking for me? Is the Zhang Family here to offer their tribute?"
By his estimation, the five-day deadline was almost up. Had the Zhang Family finally arrived?
Ye Ling’Er shook her head. "No, it’s not the Zhang Family. They still haven’t come to pay tribute, and who knows if they ever will."
"Huh? Then who’s looking for me?"
"I don’t really know how to explain it. You’d better go out and see for yourself."
Ye Xuan frowned and followed Ye Ling’Er to the front courtyard.
In the front courtyard.
Members of the Ye Family had surrounded a frail, emaciated woman. Some of the younger children looked visibly frightened.
One child blurted out, "She’s so scary! How can there be such an ugly woman in the world?"
"Yeah, she looks terrifying. Dad, is she the man-eating witch from the stories? Let’s stone her to death!"
A few children picked up pebbles from the ground and hurled them at the woman. She didn’t dodge; she merely covered her face with her hands. Her face was horrifyingly disfigured, looking as though it had been severely burned in her childhood. The only clear feature she possessed was a pair of large, dark eyes. Those eyes were pure and flawless.
"How rude!" Ye Zeyun glared at the younger generation before turning to the woman. "Miss, did you write this note?"
Ye Zeyun held a piece of paper in his hand. The note contained five words.
"Is Ye Xuan’s home here?"
Before the woman could respond, Wen Shanghua interjected from the side. "Old Patriarch, she wrote it. I brought her here immediately after seeing her note. Also, she can’t answer you. She’s a mute."
"A mute?" Ye Zeyun shook his head.
This woman was not only disfigured but also incapable of speech. In this dog-eat-dog world, merely staying alive would be an exhausting, humiliating ordeal for someone like her. People always enjoyed preying on the weak, as if bullying others somehow proved their own superiority. Even children were no exception.
"Since you’re mute, you should still be able to understand me, right? Let me ask you: do you know Ye Xuan? Nod if you do," Ye Zeyun said.
Hearing this, the woman nodded vigorously. She then picked up a twig and began writing on the dirt.
"Do you know Ye Xuan?"
Seeing these words, the Ye Family exchanged bewildered glances. So this woman really did know the Lord of the Family. But looking the way she did, how could she possibly be acquainted with the Patriarch? Could it be that the Patriarch was the one who disfigured her?
No, that couldn’t be right. The Patriarch’s character was impeccable; he never abused his power to bully the weak.
"Ye Xuan is my grandson, and he is the current Patriarch of the Ye Family. What is your relationship with him?" Ye Zeyun asked.
At those words, tears suddenly welled up in the woman’s large eyes, and she broke down into violent sobs. Between her cries, she continued writing on the ground. The characters were crooked and shaky, but Ye Zeyun could still make them out.
"Mr. Xuan... is dead."
These four words left the entire Ye Family completely stunned.
Ye Xuan was dead? How could they not know about this? Perhaps the Ye Xuan this woman spoke of wasn’t the Ye Xuan of their Ye Family, but merely someone sharing the same name.
While the Ye Family murmured in confusion, Ye Xuan arrived at the front courtyard with Ye Ling’Er.
"Xuan, that’s the woman. Do you know her?" Ye Ling’Er asked.
Ye Xuan turned his head to look, his pupils suddenly contracting. This figure... it was so familiar.
"Hua?" he called out subconsciously.
The weeping woman stiffened as if struck by lightning. That voice—she knew it all too well. It was Mr. Xuan. She whipped her head around and, sure enough, saw Ye Xuan standing there.
The woman rubbed her eyes. Once she was certain it was truly him, she was overwhelmed with frantic disbelief.
"AWUU... WAH! @#*&..."
She made guttural noises, though it was impossible to tell if she was trying to speak. After all, no one could understand the babbling of a mute. Yet Ye Xuan understood her perfectly. She was asking if it was really him and if he had survived.
Ye Xuan nodded and said, "I’m not dead. I’m alive. Why are you here?"
The woman gestured wildly with her hands. As she signed, Ye Xuan’s expression shifted to one of sheer shock. The way he looked at her was filled with heartache and deep emotion.
The surrounding Ye Family members were utterly baffled.
Ye Ling’Er couldn’t help but ask, "Xuan, who is she?"
Ye Xuan let out a heavy breath. "She’s basically my servant. I call her Hua. I saved her eleven years ago."
Eleven years ago, Ye Xuan had followed an Elder down the mountain for a trial to wipe out a group of ruthless bandits. This was done to give the younger generation real combat experience. That was when he first met Hua.
At the time, Hua’s horrifying appearance had actually frightened the bandits. In response, they tied her to a pillar. They spat on her, urinated on her, and then set a fire, intending to burn her alive. Back then, Hua was the same age as Ye Xuan. She had thought her death was certain, but Ye Xuan and his group descended from the heavens.
Ye Xuan, in particular, had erupted with Spiritual Light and charged straight into the flames to pull her out. Hua remembered that scene vividly even now.
...
"Don’t be afraid. You’re safe now."
The young Ye Xuan untied the ropes binding Hua and carried her out of the fire. When he got a clear look at her face, even he was startled.
Why was this face so hideous? Had someone carved it up with a knife, or was she badly burned?
Hua didn’t speak. Her large, dark eyes darted away, too terrified to meet Ye Xuan’s gaze. She was terrified that her appearance would scare him. Sensing her insecurity, Ye Xuan offered her a gentle smile.
The young Hua was completely dumbfounded. She would remember that smile for the rest of her life. Though the fourteen-year-old Ye Xuan wasn’t particularly handsome, his smile was a ray of warm light that illuminated her bleak, miserable existence. Ever since the tragedy that ruined her life, she had never seen anyone smile at her like that. Any smiles directed her way had only ever been mocking sneers.
"Xuan, why did you save her? Look at her face! Someone who looks like that lives a life worse than a dog. It would’ve been better to just let her burn."
Meng Dieyi’s voice rang out from the side. Even at fourteen, Meng Dieyi already possessed nation-toppling beauty.
Ye Xuan smiled and replied, "No matter how lowly a person is, they still have the right to live. Even a puddle of mud can look up at the stars if it lifts its head."
"Ugh, I can never win an argument with you. But aren’t you going to let her go? Why are you holding an ugly monster? Also, make sure you take a bath the second we get back, or I won’t let you hug me anymore."
"Oh."
Ye Xuan set Hua down.
"You can go now. Everything is fine."
But Hua didn’t leave. Instead, she picked up a discarded sword from the ground, handed it to Ye Xuan, and then tilted her head up, squeezing her eyes shut.
Meng Dieyi gasped in surprise. "Xuan, she wants you to kill her! I told you so—saving her was a waste of time."
Ye Xuan frowned, asking softly, "Do you want to die?"
Hua gritted her teeth. She looked unwilling to accept her fate, yet she still nodded.