Yi Yao's face suddenly froze.

Those eyes that always showed timidity now dodged in panic, not daring to meet Su Muyun's gaze at all.

Su Muyun frowned, and almost subconsciously reached out and grabbed Yi Yao's slender arm.

His hands were quite strong, and his palms were rough and calloused from years of martial arts practice, which hurt Yi Yao.

"Yi Yao," he stared at her, a hint of suppressed anger in his voice, "Are you hiding something from me?"

The boy next door, whose baby face usually looked a bit youthful, was now tightly furrowed and full of seriousness.

Yi Yao was frightened by his appearance and was a little panicked.

She explained hurriedly with tears in her eyes, "Brother Mu, I...my problem has been solved, really!"

"Tell me first, what happened to Qingqing...her family? Did Jiang Erniu...did Jiang Erniu bully her again?"

Su Muyun pursed his dry lips.

He lowered his eyes, and after a moment, he said in an almost calm tone, "Jiang Erniu has taken a fancy to your friend."

After a pause, he added, "This afternoon, his mother brought several relatives from the Jiang family to the Fu family to make trouble."

"Name the names and ask the Fu family to marry Fu Qingqing to Jiang Erniu."

These words were like a thunderbolt, striking Yi Yao on the head.

Her whole body shook violently, and her little face turned pale instantly, without a trace of blood.

His lips trembled, and it took him a long time to find his own voice, which was filled with tears and despair.

"It's all...it's all my fault..."

"It's my fault... I'm the one who hurt Qingqing!"

"That's why Jiang Erniu, that beast, got entangled with her!"

Su Muyun's face suddenly darkened, darker than the bottom of a pot.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"What's this to you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

He suddenly remembered that Yi Yao was behaving abnormally today.

Why did she come up the mountain road from the west side of the village?

Isn’t Jiang Erniu’s family located at the east end of the village, near the foot of Dongshan Mountain?

Could it be...

Su Muyun's eyes suddenly became sharp, staring at Yi Yao's pale little face.

"You go to Xishan to chop firewood today..."

"Are you also hiding from Jiang Erniu?"

Everyone in the village knows that Dongshan is close and firewood is easy to collect.

The road to the West Mountain is long and the mountain is steeper. If there is nothing left to cut on the East Mountain, no one would be willing to go to the West Mountain.

So, today she would rather take a long detour to the more difficult West Mountain to chop firewood, exhausting herself to death and coming back so late?

Just to avoid that bastard Jiang Erniu? !

Su Muyun's words were like a key that opened the floodgates of fear and grievance in Yi Yao's heart.

She could no longer hold back, and tears rolled down her face like beads from a broken string.

"Wuwu...Brother Mu...what should I do..."

"Half a month ago... Jiang Erniu... he cornered me in an alley..."

Her voice was choked and intermittent.

"He...he wants to play tricks on me..."

"It was Qingqing... It was Qingqing who passed by and shouted loudly, which scared him away!"

"If it wasn't Qingqing... I... I would definitely have been taken advantage of by him... Wuwu..."

"But now he doesn't bother me anymore, he's bothering Qingqing instead..."

"Brother Mu, if something happens to Ruyu Qingqing because of me...I won't be at peace even if I die!"

She cried so hard that she could hardly breathe, and her thin shoulders shook violently.

After listening to Yi Yao's intermittent crying, Su Muyun froze.

An uncontrollable rage suddenly surged up from the bottom of his heart, burning him so much that every limb in his body trembled.

His face turned ashen in an instant, and his voice was distorted with anger.

"What did you say?! Jiang Erniu is being rude to you?!"

"Such a big thing, why didn't you tell me?!"

Yi Yao cried even harder, gasping for breath.

"I...I don't want to cause you any trouble..."

"Brother Mu, you have to hunt to support yourself, and you also have to work and take care of me and grandma. You've worked hard enough..."

"If I tell you, you will definitely stand up for me..."

"But...but Jiang Erniu's father is a village cadre...we...we can't afford to offend him...wuwuwu..."

Yi Yao's words made Su Muyun's anger seem like a bucket of ice water was poured over his head, and most of it was extinguished in an instant.

Instead, there is a dense mass of heartache and overwhelming self-blame.

How could he be angry with her?

She is the victim!

She is already pitiful enough!

After a while, Su Muyun's tense jawline gradually relaxed.

He slowly loosened his hand that had subconsciously grabbed Yi Yao's slender arm, leaving a circle of clear red marks on it, which was very glaring.

He raised his hand somewhat clumsily, and with his rough sleeve, he gently wiped Yi Yao's dirty little face from crying.

"Don't cry." Su Muyun's voice was a little hoarse, "I don't love you."

He paused, his Adam's apple rolling, and spoke with difficulty: "I'm worried about you."

"...My tone of voice was harsh just now. I'm sorry."

Yi Yao was stunned for a moment, then raised her head and looked at him with tears in her eyes.

She shook her head vigorously, her little face rubbed by his rough sleeve like a little kitten, with black and white stripes, which made her look even more pitiful.

"No... Don't blame Brother Mu, I know... Brother Mu, you are worried about me..."

"I just... I'm just sad..."

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, her tears welled up uncontrollably, as if they could never stop.

"Why...why am I so useless..."

"Even the smallest things in my daily life require you and grandma to help me..."

"Now...now I've even implicated Qingqing..."

"If something happened to Ruoqingqing because of me..."

"I...I deserve to die!"

Su Muyun pursed his cracked lips, his face gloomy.

"It's not your fault."

"It was that beast Jiang Erniu. Seeing that you and your blind grandmother were the only ones left at home, and your parents were no longer around, he dared to bully you so unscrupulously."

Yi Yao's crying gradually subsided. She rubbed her red and swollen eyes, with crystal tears still hanging on her long eyelashes, and sniffed.

"Brother Mu..." Her voice was still choked with sobs, and her voice was thick with nasal sounds. "You haven't told me yet, Qingqing... why did Qingqing come to see you?"

"Her family... want you to protect her and hire you as a bodyguard?"

According to her naive thinking, Su Muyun was the best fighter in the village. When the Fu family encountered troubles caused by such scoundrels, asking him for help was the most direct and effective way.

Su Muyun's eyes flickered, and he avoided her sight without leaving a trace.

"No." He answered briefly, his voice a little unclear.

He didn't want to involve Yi Yao any further in this matter.

She had suffered such a great shock, and knowing that Jiang Erniu's target had turned to Fu Qingqing, she must have felt even less guilty and shouldn't have worried about these complicated matters anymore.

Seeing that Yi Yao wanted to ask more questions, Su Muyun immediately changed the subject.

"Your grandma asked me to come out and look for you. It's getting dark now. Let's go home first."

"If you don't go now, she'll be worried. She might even come out in the dark to look for you."

When mentioning the only relative in the family, the worry on Yi Yao's face instantly overshadowed the curiosity.