Chapter 65: Scene 7: First Encounter

Ruan Chao was stunned.

His eyes were fixed on the other person, unwilling to move away at all.

He had never seen such beautiful eyes.

The shape is like peach petals, the tail of the eye is curved upward, and there are faint golden lines in the pupil.

The young man was dressed in a spotless white robe, with a long sword at his waist and dark gold cloud patterns embroidered on his cuffs to prove his identity.

He lowered his eyelashes and stared at Ruan Chao with a cold expression.

There was no emotion in his eyes, as if he was looking at some insignificant ant.

Ruan Chao curled his fingers and lowered his head.

A hand suddenly stretched out in front of him.

The palms are white, the finger bones are slender, and there are thin threads on the fingertips.

"I'll pull you up."

The boy's voice was like ice and snow, cold and desolate, but very pleasant to the ear.

Ruan Chao shook his hand subconsciously.

By comparison, he realized that his palms were extremely dirty. Not only were they covered with dust, but the wounds on the palms were also constantly oozing blood.

In just a moment of shaking hands, the back of the boy's hand was stained with his blood.

Ruan Chao instinctively wanted to pull his hand back.

The young man gripped it tighter, pulled him, and pulled him up from the ground.

"I'm sorry, I bumped into you, are you hurt anywhere?"

Ruan Chao shook his head and stammered.

"It's OK."

How could it be the teenager who hit him? He was clearly running across the street and accidentally bumped into the other person.

"But your hand is bleeding..."

The person behind him had caught up with him. The tall and strong man grabbed his arm with a ferocious expression.

"You're such a good runner! You've circled me so many times!" The man pulled him hard, trying to pull him to his side, glaring at him fiercely, "Come back with me now!"

Nguyen Chao somehow found the strength to break free from his restraints.

He threw himself into the arms of the strange boy, and the slender arms tightly hugged his waist, as if he was grabbing the last straw.

His tears suddenly flowed out, and he cried quickly and fiercely.

"Brother, brother, save me, wuwuwuwu, I don't know him, I don't want to... don't want to go with him!"

The man's eyes flashed with panic, and he tried his best to suppress the anger in his eyes, "What are you howling about? Isn't it just that I didn't buy that candied haws as you wished? You little ungrateful bastard actually doesn't even recognize your father!"

He pulled Ruan Chao's wrist, secretly increasing his strength, with a hint of threat, "Come home with me, your mother is making sweet cakes for you at home, if you don't come back, you won't get any."

"Let him go."

An unmistakable, cold voice sounded overhead.

The man frowned, thinking that this strange young man was meddling in his affairs. He did not take the other party's words to heart, still pulling Ruan Chao, bending down, and wanting to pick him up directly.

The next moment, he felt an unbearable pain in his wrist bones, as if the bones were shattered by the surge of spiritual power. He cried out in pain and instinctively loosened his palm.

Ruan Chao took advantage of the situation and hid behind the young man.

Two dirty little hands tightly grasped the jade belt around his waist.

"Brother..." His brother called out more and more fluently, trying to suppress his tears, and clearly and logically stated the man's true purpose, "He wanted to capture me and sell me to Chunfeng Tower for 50,000 high-quality spirit stones... He also said that I was born to serve men and was a lowly furnace."

After hearing Ruan Chao's words, the boy's expression became even colder. "...Chunfeng Tower?" He obviously knew where that place was. He looked at the man with a cold gaze, and there was a hint of murderous intent.

The man rolled over on the ground, holding his wrists and wailing.

The people around scattered, not daring to come closer. They could only watch the excitement from a distance and discuss in low voices.

The boy looked around and saw several equally tall and strong men hiding in the crowd and behind the stalls. When they saw him looking at them, they looked away guiltily.

The man seemed to be a leader. Seeing that they had been exposed, he did not intend to continue playing tricks and waved to the back.

"Come on, come on together, and bring the cauldron back to me! If anything goes wrong, our lives won't be enough to pay for it!"

Those people obeyed the order and rushed towards the two men with weapons without much hesitation.

Ruan Chao buried his face in the boy's back and said in a trembling voice: "Brother, I'm scared."

"Don't... don't be afraid." The boy seemed to have never comforted anyone before, and his tone was stuttering and stiff.

The bullied pretty girl clung to him closely, seeking his help and begging for his protection... Chu Xinglan clenched the sword in his hand, and the desire to protect her reached its peak.

He said, "I will not let them bully you while I am here."

A warm hand blocked Nguyen Chao's sight.

"Close your eyes and don't look."

Ruan Chao closed his eyes obediently.

He heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

The footsteps, chaotic breathing, and roars of those people all stopped abruptly.

Everything is quiet.

Ruan Chao did not smell any blood, but only a cold scent like ice and snow, which was the unique smell of the young boy.

He didn't blink, but asked in a low voice: "Brother, did you throw them all away and kill them?"

"No, I'm still alive."

But it's no different from being dead.

The boy casually glanced at the people lying on the ground.

Their bodies showed signs of being burned by flames, and their clothes were burnt into tatters, barely covering up their ugly bodies.

His innate spiritual fire has already penetrated into their bones and will not disappear until everything is burned to ashes.

Two days? Or three days?

Not even a trace of these people will be left.

…

The young man's name is Chu Xinglan. He is the young master of the Chu family and a well-known genius in the entire cultivation world.

At the young age of twelve, his cultivation had already reached the peak of foundation building. Looking across the Nine Provinces and Four Realms, no one could match him.

This kind of incredible speed of cultivation has not been seen in thousands of years. If one can maintain the current state, it should not be difficult to achieve enlightenment and ascend to heaven.

Therefore, the Chu family attached great importance to this young master. Even if he brought back a pretty little girl from the market, no one dared to say anything.

Chu Xinglan had asked Ruan Chao where his family lived and where his parents and relatives were.

Nguyen Chao was determined to stay with him, so naturally he was unwilling to tell the truth.

He said that all his parents and relatives had died, and he was the only one left at home. He was an orphan and had nowhere to go. Otherwise, he would not have been caught by those bad guys...

If Chu Xinglan asked more questions.

Nguyen Chao began to cry.

She cried so hard that tears welled up in her eyes and the tip of her nose was red. Strings of tears kept falling down like beads from a broken string. She looked so miserable and pitiful.

As soon as he started crying, Chu Xinglan was completely at a loss as to what to do with him.

I can only lower my posture and coax him.

"Don't cry, don't cry, I won't ask anymore."

Ruan Chao raised his tear-soaked, wet eyes and looked at him, sobbing softly.

Chu Xinglan frantically took out a paper-wrapped candied haws from his storage ring, a box of cakes of different flavors, a few toys that children would like, and an exquisitely shaped little rabbit lantern...

"I bought these at the market. They are all for you."

Ruan Chao was stunned for a moment and took it.

There were so many things that he couldn't put them in his arms, so he had to put them on the table next to him.

"Thank you, brother."

"…You're welcome."

Chu Xinglan opened the pastry box, took out a piece of pear blossom pastry, and placed it in Ruan Chao's palm.

He weighed his words carefully, "Since you have no family, just stay at my house with peace of mind."

"I will take good care of you and treat you as..."

The boy's eyes flickered across Ruan Chao's pink skirt, and he continued, "I will treat you like a sister."

…

Chu Xinglan was determined to keep his promise and took great care of Nguyen Chao. Even though he was only two years older than Nguyen Chao, he did everything for him, including combing Nguyen Chao's hair.

Ruan Chao lived a fairy-like life in the Chu family for a long time.

There are delicious meals that make people swallow their tongues, and beautiful dresses that look like fairy costumes... Although compared to the dress, Ruan Chao would rather wear the white robe that Chu Xinglan is wearing, with a jade belt around the waist, which makes him look handsome and unrestrained.

Nguyen Chao was very clear that he was a boy.

But when he was in the lower world, the master of the house gave him many instructions, threats and intimidation, telling him not to reveal his gender, otherwise everyone would bully him, humiliate him, trample on him, and crush him, and he would have no hope of survival.

Male hearths are far less valuable than female hearths. No matter how beautiful they are, few people are interested in them.

After all, not everyone is bisexual and can attack people of the same sex.

In order to get the best price, the head of the Nguyen family would of course insist that Nguyen Chao was a girl.

But the Nguyen Dynasty didn't know.

He listened to the threats from his master day and night and was very scared and terrified.

He lost his parents when he was young and grew up entirely on his own. Occasionally he would go to school and eavesdrop on a few words, but he could not understand their meaning.

It's easy to be bluffed by the other party.

He thought that only by dressing up as a girl could he be taken seriously and liked by others.

He also thought that Chu Xinglan was nice to him because she wanted to have a younger sister.

He kept his secret tremblingly, not daring to let Chu Xinglan know his true gender.

Until one day the Chu family held a banquet.

Countless beautiful girls stood in the courtyard and under the flowers and trees. Even from a long distance, I could smell their fragrance and hear their sweet voices.

Nguyen Chao looked around curiously.

Chu Xinglan frowned slightly.

He probably already knew the true purpose of this banquet.

Whether it was his father, mother, or the elders who held the core power of the family who made this decision, he felt extremely disgusted and disgusted.

He originally wanted to turn around and leave.

But Ruan Chao, who was originally holding his sleeve and following him closely, disappeared.

He searched around and found his figure in the corner of the courtyard.

He was as agile as a cat stealing fish. In the blink of an eye, he trotted all the way to the place where the food was placed.

Because I was too short, I could only stand on tiptoe to get the cakes on the table.

After finally getting enough of a piece, I stuffed it into my mouth immediately, eating so much that the corners of my mouth were covered with pastry crumbs.

After eating one piece, he still felt unsatisfied, so he took another one, and finally put the whole plate in his arms.

Chu Xinglan felt both angry and amused.

He shook his head and wanted to catch the Nguyen Dynasty brand cat back, but was stopped halfway.

It was his father, the head of the Chu family, Chu Yao.

The man is over 40 years old, but he still looks like a man in his early twenties, with fair skin and handsome features.

He narrowed his eyes and showed a kind smile that didn't match his face: "Xinglan, do you have a girl you like?"

"These girls all come from famous noble families in the upper realm. Marrying any one of them will be of great benefit to our family."

Chu Xinglan had no expression on his face: "No."

Chu Yao's expression froze slightly, and he looked at him as if he was looking at an ignorant child.

Chu Xinglan felt the pressure unique to the Yuanying period.

He gripped the sword tightly in his hand and tried to resist.

He curled his lips and smiled, "Father, if you like her, why don't you go up and express your feelings? You are the head of the Chu family, so your status is naturally more noble and respectable than your son's."

"Nonsense!" Chu Yao waved his sleeves, his face angry. "Is this something you can say to your father?"

Chu Xinglan lowered his head obediently, but his back remained straight.

Chu Yao calmed down and put on a fatherly face again, saying earnestly: "It's just an engagement, it doesn't mean you will definitely marry them in the future."

"Your uncle is missing while traveling, your eldest uncle was injured by a monster and is still lying in bed with no one knowing whether he is alive or dead. None of your brothers who joined the Guiyuan Sect have entered the inner sect, and the young people who can take on responsibilities are either dead or injured..."

"The current situation of the Chu family is like a castle in the air built on a cliff. It looks great on the surface, but if you are not careful, you will fall down and be smashed to pieces."

"As the young master of the Chu family, shouldn't you do your part for the Chu family?"