Chapter 19 A Fleeting Moment (Part 1) A thousand regrets, the deepest regrets lie at the ends of the earth…

Yuanqian, by the time you read this letter, I don't know if I'll ever be able to come back to see you. I'm so sorry that I'm only telling you this now, at the very last moment of my life, a secret I've kept hidden for who knows how many years.

I am not Xu Yi.

So who am I? I have no surname, no name, no father, no mother, I came alone, and perhaps I will leave alone.

It's a real shame that I've been using Xu Yi as a shell for so long, so long that I've never even thought about giving myself a name.

...

"All of you, pay attention! Watch your heads!" Zheng Datou brandished his whip, lashing the stable boy hard, and pointed at his nose, cursing, "You brat, you can't even do a proper job! Did the Xu family pay you money to be such a slacker!"

Zheng Datou was the elder brother of a cousin in the Xu family. He worked in the Xu family and abused his power because of this status, acting as if he were another master. No one dared to disobey or refute him.

The stable boy was just a horse breeder, but Xu Jianchun suddenly sold all the horses in the mansion, so the stable boy naturally had nothing to do. He was then assigned to Zheng Datou's work, doing some sweeping and cleaning work in front of Xu Jianchun's study.

As the saying goes, new servants are always easy to bully. He can't fit into the established circle, doesn't get the respect he deserves, and has to take the blame for all the mistakes. The little stable boy is being treated like this now.

"Who broke the master's teacup! Speak!" Zheng Datou lashed the stable boy again with a loud crack, as if using him as a sledgehammer to plead his case. He glanced at the servants below and threatened, "Still not going to talk?"

The stable boy was left with a deep welt from the whip, but he dared not utter a sound, swallowing his pain and tears glistening in his eyes.

The servants exchanged glances and pointed in unison at the young stable boy who was trembling from the beating.

The young stable boy was still very young. The two lashes had torn his thin clothes, leaving red, swollen welts on his frail body. His round eyes were wide with astonishment, trembling whether from anger or pain, and he stammered, "It wasn't me, it wasn't me who did it..."

Without asking any questions, Zheng Datou lashed out twice more, striking the young stable boy's knees directly. The boy's knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

"Still trying to deny it! Everyone says you did it, how can you lie!" Zheng Datou was humiliated by Xu Jianchun because of this tea set, and he was now furious. When he saw the little stable boy's trembling body, he suddenly became interested.

He stomped hard on the young stable boy's frail hand, grinding it until he heard the boy's painful and desperate cries for mercy, then mercifully removed his shoe.

Zheng Datou grabbed the stable boy's chin and slapped him hard several more times with all his might until his cheeks were so swollen that they were unrecognizable and blood was seeping from his mouth and nose. Only then did he let him go with a cold snort.

"See? This is what happens when you can't do things right!"

The servants, their faces pale and terrified as they watched the stable boy's miserable state, secretly rejoiced: "Thank goodness it wasn't me."

The man was in so much pain that he couldn't speak. He had been tortured so badly that at first he could still cry out a few times to plead his case, but later the pain became too much, as if he were being torn apart by a thousand knives. He had never felt such pain before, and for a moment he wished he were dead.

Xu Yi was leaning against the window, witnessing this farce firsthand. Who would have thought that he was the one who actually broke the teacup set?

But as long as he casually threatened Zheng Datou a few times, the man actually presented him with such a perfect performance.

Xu Yi looked with interest at the horse slave lying on the ground like a corpse. The child was snotting and drooling, his face covered in saliva and blood, his cheeks so swollen that they obscured his vision, and his eyes were almost invisible.

After crying for a while, the stable boy was urged to go to work. He then stood up unsteadily, but because he couldn't see the road clearly, he fell headfirst, hitting his head on the ground with a loud thud, as if to draw back the curtain on the stable boy's miserable life.

After this scare tactic, it seemed that overnight, everyone knew that the young stable boy was a pushover who could be bullied by anyone.

The servants working in the Xu household were usually beaten and scolded by their masters, and they would just silently endure it. But since the stable boy was so timid and had no one to rely on, they naturally took out their anger on him, just like Zheng Datou.

The stable boy was an "outsider" who was detached from the group and not accepted by anyone.

He had no parents, and his only close friend, the horse groom, had been sold off. In the vast Xu family mansion, he was at the very bottom of the social hierarchy.

"Hey, go sweep the floor for me." "Go brew the master's medicine for me." "You're on night watch tonight." "Give me all your wages."...

In this way, all human affairs are the affairs of the stable boy, and all human mistakes are the mistakes of the stable boy.

At first, the little man naively thought that as long as he was diligent enough and did a good job, maybe everyone would accept him.

But that's not the case. If he does well, the reward isn't his; if he does poorly, the punishment is.

When the servants were in a good mood, they would splash his blankets wet every day and watch him fall asleep wrapped in the damp, cold blankets with a smile.

If he's in a bad mood, he'll beat, scold, and slap him at the drop of a hat. In some cases, he'll even cut off his food and force him to eat pig feed.

"I think you're just a pig, so what if you eat pig swill?" The servant lightly patted his cheek. The stable boy's face was flushed with fever. He hadn't been able to sleep or eat for several days, and he was being tortured by various means every day. He was almost losing his human form.

"No...don't do this to me..." Manu's tears flowed uncontrollably as he begged, hoping the other party would let him go.

The servant grabbed his hair, lifted the frail stable boy up, and shoved him hard into the pig feed.

"Eat?! Don't you want to eat?! Give me some food!!!"

The pig feed choked him, entering his nasal cavity and esophagus, and he felt suffocated.

The stable boy's vision went black, his head was spinning, and his whole body was numb with pain. In that instant, he thought he might as well just die. Death would end everything, and he wouldn't have to suffer inhuman torture anymore. As long as he was dead...

The man closed his eyes and stopped struggling completely.

Seeing that the stable boy wasn't moving, the servant sneered and grabbed him by the hair, lifting him up again: "What are you pretending for!"

The servant glanced over and saw that the stable boy's face was pale, his eyes were closed, and his limbs were stiff. He had a bad feeling and tremblingly reached out to check his breathing.

Silence.

"Dead, dead..." The servants were so frightened that they couldn't hold onto the stable boy, and the child's body hit the ground with a crisp sound.

He clutched his head, trembling, his eyes filled with panic, repeatedly muttering, "I killed someone, I killed someone..."

"No, no! He died on his own, he died on his own! It has nothing to do with me!!" The servant's voice was shrill, filled with the fear of accidentally killing someone.

He slumped down next to the stable boy, his eyes meeting the ashen face. He screamed in terror, scrambling away in a panic.

"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!!"

Xu Yi sat on the wall, watching the stable boy grow more and more miserable and weaker each day. He laughed so hard he couldn't stand up straight. He clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "This is so funny!"

“But you can’t just die like this.” Xu Yi jumped down from the wall, grabbed the unconscious stable boy, and patted his back hard until he shoved the pig feed out of his nose before he stopped.

Xu Yi, holding the unconscious stable boy, clicked his tongue and said, "An ordinary face and a lonely and helpless background make him perfect as my toy."

As he spoke, he scooped up the stable boy and took him back to his small courtyard.

Xu Yi had just finished telling his maids to find a doctor to examine the stable boy when Zheng Datou came to find him, saying that Xu Jianchun wanted to see him.

Xu Yi's smile vanished instantly. The light in his eyes disappeared in a flash, and he coldly replied, "I understand," no longer caring about the stable boy's life or death, and went to Xu Jianchun's study.

As soon as Xu Yi pushed open the door, an inkstone slammed into his forehead. Xu Jianchun did not stop at all, and blood streamed down Xu Yi's forehead.

Blood flowed into his eyes, but Xu Yi's expression remained unchanged. He numbly closed the door and knelt in front of the desk as usual.

"Master said you haven't made any progress lately!" Xu Jianchun roared, slamming his fist on the desk.

He was furious and pointed at Xu Yi, shouting, "I provide you with a life of luxury and the best martial arts teachers, not so you can just coast along!"

Xu Jianchun paced back and forth angrily: "Do you think our family still lives a life of luxury?! If you still can't master the Broken Goose Blade, your whole family is doomed!"

Xu Yi had been hearing these words since he was very young. In his childhood, they would inspire him, but now he just found them tiresome and utterly boring.

Seeing Xu Yi's indifferent expression, Xu Jianchun felt a sharp pain in his heart. He raised the paperweight again, wanting to smash it on Xu Yi's forehead, but in the end, his remaining rationality stopped him.

If that hits, Xu Yi's forehead will really crack open.

"Get out of here and go to the ancestral hall to reflect on your actions!"

Without saying a word, Xu Yi got up, pushed open the door in one smooth motion, and headed to the ancestral hall with full energy. Facing the ancestral hall, he knelt down with a blank expression.

A few burnt incense sticks stood before him. Xu Yi's eyes were vacant, as if he were looking at the incense sticks, or perhaps at something else entirely.

He thought listlessly that he was no different from a stable boy.

The stable boy did not die as he wished.

Many years later, whenever he recalled this day, he wished he had just died. He thought that death would end the pain and prevent him from being bullied.

The man first smelled the fragrance of medicine. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a pretty girl holding a bowl of medicine and feeding him medicine.

The stable boy was used to being bullied and was instinctively afraid of what kind of despicable thing it was. He quickly backed away and touched the bedding, which was not damp or cold.

Only then did the man belatedly take a look around the room. It wasn't luxurious, but it was warm and cozy, and was currently enveloped in the fragrance of medicine, giving it a rustic feel.

"You're awake." The girl put down the medicine bowl. "My name is Xiaoling. The young master instructed us to take care of you."

Manu's mind was a complete mess. He had never experienced such a soft and warm bed before, nor had he ever had a warm room.

The dream came so suddenly that he was stunned and pinched himself in disbelief.

It hurts so much, it's not a dream.

The stable boy woke up in pain, forcing himself to wake from his sweet dream. He was afraid that this was another way to torture him, and that soon someone would shout "Little stable boy is cheating on someone" and come to take him away.

So he cautiously asked, "Why does the young master need you to take care of me?"

Xiaoling shook her head and handed the medicine bowl to the stable boy: "How would we servants know about our master's affairs? Now that you're awake, just drink this medicine yourself."

Seeing the stable boy take the bowl, Little Bell darted away like a rabbit, pinching her nose and saying, "You stink!"

The stable boy shuddered. He knew that if anyone said such a thing, he would be beaten the next second.

The stable boy closed his eyes with a resigned air, but the pain he had imagined did not come. He slightly lifted his eyelids and saw Xiaoling carrying bucket after bucket of hot water, pouring it into a wooden tub.

Sweat beaded on the girl's forehead. Xiaoling poured out the last bucket of water, let out a long sigh, and said, "Remember to take a shower after you finish drinking." With that, she turned and left the room.

The man had never had such an amazing experience.

Before his master left, he had only experienced the evil of human nature. Everyone hated him, bullied him, and wished they could grind him to dust.

He had once thought this was his fate, that servants were such unreasonable and ugly creatures. And now, the first warmth he had ever felt in so long was from a servant.

Although it was just a bowl of medicine and a bathwater.

Tears streamed down the man's face; he could no longer hold back and burst into tears. Each tear fell into the medicine bowl, which he choked back as he drank it down in one gulp, his heart clenching with pain.

It's so bitter, so bitter. I never knew it was this bitter.