The watermelon was quite large, and it was difficult to carry, so Chu Huaixu simply put the watermelon on Song Ting's back, gently supporting it with his other hand, and scooped it out spoonful by spoonful: "What's your relationship with Xiao Wu? Why does he also have the surname Song?"
“He was abandoned by his parents when he was very young and has no surname. So did I. In the Shadow Guard, we don’t need names, only code names. And the code names aren’t fixed. As long as you kill the person with the corresponding code name, you can take their place. He is Shadow Five.”
Later, when Song Ting brought Xiao Wu out of the secret guard camp, Xiao Wu took Song Ting's surname and was directly called Song Xiao Wu.
"And what about you? Where are you ranked?"
"Shadow Three," Song heard.
"I didn't realize you were so capable, sir." Chu Huaixu praised you, whether sincerely or not, and then said, "No wonder Zhang Bingzhi dared to entrust such an important task to you."
The second half of the sentence was unmistakably sarcastic. Song Ting pursed her lips and said, "In a camp, only twenty guards can survive in the end. We killed many of our comrades."
"I went from having no ranking to Shadow 37, then to Shadow 19, and finally to Shadow 3. Every time my ranking changed, it meant I killed a comrade."
This was the first time Song Ting had told Chu Huaixu about her past. In the past, she hadn't dared to speak because of her status, and later she had no opportunity to speak, and even if she did, it would be useless, as Huaixu wouldn't want to hear it.
Even at this moment, he still wasn't sure if Huaixu was willing to listen to these things.
"Why did you stop talking?" Chu Huaixu asked.
"You want to hear it?" Song Ting asked uncertainly.
"Listen." Huaixu scooped up a spoonful of melon rind and fed it to him. "To know yourself and your enemy, I want to know when you fell into that secret guard camp, and what kind of environment could raise such a vicious dog as you."
Song Ting remained silent for a brief moment, satisfying Chu Huaixu's curiosity:
"My mother was once a famous courtesan in Chang'an named Song Shiniang. I heard that she was originally a young lady from a wealthy family, but later her family fell into poverty, and her family members either got sick or died. So she was sold into a brothel..."
Song Shiniang was beautiful and skilled in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. She quickly became a famous courtesan in Chang'an. The high-ranking officials and nobles who came to see her every day almost wore down the threshold of Yanyu Tower.
Although she was once a lady from a respectable family, Song Shiniang was very open-minded. Since she had fallen on hard times, she accepted that kind of life, spending her days welcoming and seeing off men and indulging in pleasure.
But her good fortune didn't last long; Song Shiniang soon discovered she was pregnant.
She didn't know whose child it was, but the only thing she knew was that the child couldn't be kept. So she had her maid secretly go to the pharmacy and get a contraceptive decoction.
At that time, Song Shiniang was determined to abort the child in her womb. For people like her who made a living by taking on business, it was too inconvenient to be pregnant.
When her pregnancy progresses further, she will no longer be able to accept clients, and even if she is very popular now, she will be easily replaced.
Besides, what good would it do to give birth in a place like this? Would the child have to live the same life as her?
Therefore, aborting the child is the best option.
She thought she had thought things through, but when the bowl of contraceptive soup was actually placed in front of her, she still hesitated and ultimately didn't drink it.
A single wrong decision turned her life upside down.
As her belly grew larger, the fact that she was pregnant could no longer be hidden, and the madam flew into a rage.
The pleasure quarters are never short of beauties, and as Song Shiniang had predicted, her pregnancy meant that a new woman would soon take her place.
Those patrons who once said they would give their lives for her stopped coming to see her. She couldn't get any customers, couldn't earn any money, and the madam's attitude towards her worsened day by day. She couldn't keep the maids who served her, the room she lived in, or the gold and silver jewelry she had accumulated.
The once-famous courtesan's glory has faded; only new faces are seen laughing, while the old ones are forgotten. Her days are becoming increasingly difficult, and the customers she sees each day are now those troublesome, penniless old men.
She endured cold stares and ridicule in the building; those who used to call her a sister only showed her humiliation.
Song Shiniang couldn't accept the huge difference in their lives and regretted it. She wanted to abort the child again, but it was too late.
From then on, she also hated the child she had carried for ten months, whose father was unknown.
When guests abused her, she would turn around and take it out on the children. Song Ting was often beaten so badly that she was covered in bruises.
“I hated her back then. I hated her for giving birth to me when she clearly didn’t love me. Sometimes I even wished she would die so she wouldn’t hit me anymore.”
"Later she really died. She was beaten to death by a customer. Before she died, she used all her savings to exchange for my freedom from the madam."
But Song Ting felt no gratitude whatsoever. He didn't even shed a single tear for his mother's death, and resolutely left that filthy place.
He always felt that the woman's decision to exchange her freedom for him and to give birth to him was just a passing fancy, not a genuine love for him.
He still hated her.
I hate the Misty Rain Pavilion.
I hate all the glamorous places.
He didn't even have a name there; his mother called him Dog, and everyone else called him Dog. In their eyes, he wasn't even human.
“But I was only six or seven years old at the time. After leaving that place, I had no idea where I could go or what I could do. I could only wander the streets and beg…”
That winter was particularly cold. One by one, the people who had been wandering with him died. Song Ting was also cold and hungry, and was about to give up.
Just as he was about to freeze to death, he encountered a man. The man's name was Wang Yi, the leader of the secret guard battalion that Zhang Bingzhi had secretly formed.
Wang Yi had just killed someone, and the strong smell of blood on his body could be smelled from afar. Song Ting, who was dazed from the cold, woke up because of this smell of blood.
He mustered his last bit of strength to crawl to Wang Yi's feet, grabbed the other man's leg, and begged him to save him.
Many times afterward, when Song Ting was on the verge of collapse from the infighting, Wang Yi would grab him by the neck and say:
Do you know why I didn't kick you away back then, but instead chose to pick you up?
"Because I saw a fierce determination in your eyes, like a lone wolf trapped in the desert, willing to risk everything to survive."
"Don't disappoint me, kid, or I'll make you wish you were dead. You don't want to know what that feels like."
Wang Yi had killed many people, and he was very good at judging people. Song Ting had a strong obsession with surviving, and once he adapted to life in the Dark Guard Camp, his emotions never collapsed again.
He was like a born killer, able to execute orders perfectly, and his sword could be turned against his teammates who were fighting side by side just a second before.
He was a loner and rarely interacted with other shadow guards. The only person he could talk to was Xiao Wu.
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