Chapter 101 Heading Straight to the Lair (Part 4)
The once quiet place was suddenly filled with the sound of voices, indistinct but not from one person. It sounded like the bustling noise of a market town, yet it was also indistinct, lingering in my ears, yet seemingly far away.
"Did you hear that?" Chu Jianshan asked.
Cheng Yuan asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did you hear?"
Did Cheng Yuan not hear it? Was it just for him to hear alone?
That's certainly interesting. Two people came in together, yet they only stared at him. I don't know if it was genuine bad luck or intentional. If it was intentional, what did this place want him to hear or see?
The further they went in, the louder the voices became, even giving Chu Jianshan a headache.
"Master, did you hear something?" Cheng Yuan noticed his unease immediately.
Chu Jianshan nodded and replied, "Many people are talking in my ear, but I can't hear them clearly."
He shook his head, trying to ward off these things.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the sounds actually became quieter after he made the movement, but the Flowing Sound Sword in Cheng Yuan's hand suddenly became restless, trembling as if trying to break free from Cheng Yuan's grasp.
Cheng Yuan looked ahead warily: "Master, someone is coming."
Chu Jianshan followed his gaze and indeed saw a figure running towards them in a panic.
"Brother!" came the voice of a child.
Cheng Yuan paused for two seconds, then slowly sheathed the Flowing Sound Sword.
The little girl was about five or six years old, dressed in bright red, with a radiant smile. She ran too fast to stop and bumped directly into Chu Jianshan's arms.
Chu Jianshan half-squatted down to catch her and said with a smile, "Hello."
The little girl rubbed her head, but didn't cry. She just opened her arms wide, stretching them out as if she wanted a hug.
"Ah...this." Chu Jianshan hesitated.
Seeing that the child's expression was off, she still squatted down and picked him up. Fortunately, she had held Jiang Rusheng when he was a child before, so her hands weren't too unfamiliar with him.
As soon as she was picked up, the little girl buried her head in Chu Jianshan's neck, then looked up and said sweetly, "Brother, you smell so good!"
Chu Jianshan didn't speak, but instead glanced to the other side. Sure enough, Cheng Yuan's face darkened.
"Master, let me carry you." Cheng Yuan reached out his arms, smiling kindly.
If it weren't for the fact that the Flowing Sound Sword in his hand was about to break, Chu Jianshan would have actually believed him.
Fine, I'll give him the child. He can't just be thrown out, can he?
...It's hard to say.
Just as he was about to give the child to him, the little girl became unhappy and started struggling, saying, "No!"
She refused decisively, hugging Chu Jianshan's neck even tighter: "I want this older brother to hug me!"
"How about..." Seeing that the little girl was unwilling, Chu Jianshan tried to negotiate, "How about we hug her for a while?"
"Master," Cheng Yuan's voice was somewhat cold, "it's best not to touch anything of unknown origin."
The child seemed to understand, and looked at him angrily: "Who are you calling some unknown thing!"
Cheng Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly and said provocatively, "I'm calling you."
The little girl was furious and shouted, "I'm not!"
"Not what? Not a thing?"
"right!"
Chu Jianshan suppressed a laugh and coaxed Cheng Yuan, "Alright, why get angry with a child?"
Cheng Yuan clearly didn't listen and, ignoring the child's struggles, forcibly picked him up.
"What are you doing!" the little girl screamed at the top of her lungs.
Cheng Yuan forcefully held her down to prevent her from moving, and asked in return, "What's your name?"
"I didn't call out!"
Cheng Yuan clicked his tongue: "I'm asking what your name is."
The little girl puffed up her cheeks and after a long while said, "A-Yun."
Cheng Yuan was somewhat skeptical and asked her, "Your real name?"
"Ah Yun isn't a liar!"
“Alright,” Cheng Yuan nodded, “I’ll trust you this once.”
"Ayun..." Chu Jianshan repeated the name over and over, his expression momentarily unnatural, but he quickly returned to normal.
Cheng Yuan said coldly to the struggling A-Yun, "Don't move!"
"It's you who's moving around!"
The two chatted back and forth, subtly competing with each other, for a while before Chu Jianshan slowly realized that the scene before him had changed.
The scene emerged, and the sounds gradually became clearer.
Before me lay a bustling, crowded street, seemingly no different from the outside. But what was different was the presence of numerous disaster victims, kneeling on either side of the street begging; I encountered one almost every two steps.
Chu Jianshan and Cheng Yuan exchanged a glance and realized that this was an illusion.
Cheng Yuan held the swaying child and bounced him up a little: "I never imagined that this is what would happen behind this door."
Unlike Cheng Yuan's curiosity, Chu Jianshan felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity upon seeing these things; it seemed he had been to this place before.
"Candied hawthorns! Oh! Young master, please buy a skewer for your daughter!"
A vendor handed Ayun a string of candied hawthorns. Ayun reached out to take it, but Cheng Yuan turned around and dodged, her small hand brushing past the candied hawthorns.
Ayun frowned, and said firmly, "I want to eat!"
Cheng Yuan carried him and continued walking forward: "Don't eat things from unknown sources."
Chu Jianshan followed and couldn't help but find it amusing to see Ayun's dejected look: "Didn't you just say that the one in your arms was also of unknown origin?"
Cheng Yuan lifted her up in a hug: "This one is different."
"Oh?" Chu Jianshan asked in confusion, "How is it different?"
Cheng Yuan pinched her chubby cheeks and said, "I can tell you like her quite a bit."
Chu Jianshan sighed helplessly, "Even at a time like this, you're still jealous?"
“It’s not that I’m jealous,” Cheng Yuan said, switching to holding the child in one arm and taking Chu Jianshan’s hand with the other. “It’s just that I think if we could have a child, you would like her just as much.”
Chu Jianshan paused for a moment, then said, "But looking at you like this, you don't seem to like children very much."
"That depends on who gave birth to them."
He moved closer to Chu Jianshan, whispered in his ear, and asked, "Master, will you give me a child?"
Chu Jianshan looked at him, then at the bewildered Ayun, and after a long pause, he managed to utter, "I don't understand what you're saying." Then he quickly walked away.
Cheng Yuan smiled and chased after her, not forgetting to ask A-Yun, "Where do you live? Where are your parents?"
Ayun pointed ahead: "There! My father and mother are waiting for my older brother and sister to come back."
Cheng Yuan was somewhat surprised: "You have older brothers and sisters? Then why are you allowed to run around alone?"
Ayun paused for a moment, then replied, "They haven't been home for a long time."
Cheng Yuan asked, "How long?"
"Hmm..." She stretched out her little hand and counted, then said, "I can't remember either."
"Has it been a long time?"
Ayun nodded: "It's been a very long time since Ayun has seen them."
Chu Jianshan was also somewhat surprised upon hearing this, and returned to her side to ask, "Then do you know why they left?"
Ayun shook her head again: "My mother is so stingy, she won't tell Ayun."
Chu Jianshan asked, "So you ran away to find them?"
"Yes! I've found my brother!"
"Huh? Where?"
Ayun struggled to get out of Cheng Yuan's arms, took Chu Jianshan's hand, and ran forward with a smile: "Brother, let's go home quickly!"
Chu Jianshan was both amused and exasperated, knowing that she was treating him like her brother. Afraid that she would fall, he could only let her lead him around.
They weaved through the crowds and bustling streets, finally stopping in front of a grand, imposing house. This place was different from where they had been; the sky seemed overcast, and they couldn't see anything clearly.
Therefore, Chu Jianshan did not see what surname was on the plaque hanging on the door of that household.
"Father, Mother! I've found my brother!" Ayun shouted excitedly.
The heavy door opened a crack, and a simply dressed woman walked out. She looked young from behind, but her back was slightly hunched, and a few gray hairs were hidden in her temples.
She smiled and picked up A-Yun, asking softly, "Where did you run off to again?"
"Let's go find our brother!" A-Yun hugged the man's neck, pointing at Chu Jianshan with her other hand: "Look! Brother!"
The lady's gaze met Chu Jianshan's, and for a moment both of them were stunned.
His heart began to pound wildly for no reason, and he couldn't stop it. Chu Jianshan stared intently at the person in front of him, trying to find a matching person in his memory.
"Who are you...?" The woman slowly approached him, reaching out as if to imitate his appearance.
“Oh, I was confused,” the woman said, looking down. “He is not as old as you.”
Upon recognizing her, Chu Jianshan's lips trembled slightly, as if a thousand needles were piercing his heart, and each heartbeat caused him excruciating pain.
Cheng Yuan noticed something was wrong with him and tentatively asked, "Master, what's wrong?"
Chu Jianshan seemed not to hear, and walked towards the woman on his own, asking her in a trembling voice, "How old is the person you're talking about?"
She paused, then said, "He was only eight years old when he left home, and now..."
She suddenly stopped talking, as if she couldn't remember: "Yes, how old should I be now?"
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember,” Chu Jianshan comforted her. “Then do you remember how he left home?”
The woman shook her head, her movements somewhat stiff: "I don't remember. I only remember waiting for him to come back."
"What if he never comes back?"
"Then we'll just keep waiting."
Chu Jianshan was so choked up that he could barely speak, and tears finally streamed down his face.
"Master!"
Cheng Yuan was quite frightened and hurriedly reached out to wipe away his tears, but the more she wiped, the more tears he shed.
"I'm fine," Chu Jianshan forced a smile and turned to the woman, saying, "We came in a hurry, do you think we could stay at your residence for the night?"
The woman quickly agreed, "Of course, I haven't thanked you two yet since you brought A-Yun back."
Chu Jianshan followed her into the mansion, but Cheng Yuan sensed something was amiss. Instead of going in, he grabbed the bouncy A-Yun from behind and asked her, "What's your name?"
"Didn't I tell you, Ah Yun!"
Cheng Yuan asked urgently, "Full name!"
"Why are you being so fierce..." A-Yun muttered, "My name is Chu Qingyun."
Cheng Yuan's mind went blank for a moment, as if ice water had been poured over him from head to toe.
Now I finally understand: Ayun is his younger sister, and he is the older brother who has been away from home for many years.
However, Chu Jianshan did not recognize Ayun just now, which means that when the Chu family was wiped out, Ayun was not yet grown up, or even just born.
More than twenty years have passed, and A-Yun is only five or six years old. Time in this illusion moves much slower than outside.
Chu Jianshan and Cheng Yuan declined the lady's offer to stay for a meal, since they really didn't dare to eat anything from the illusion.
Chu Jianshan was very familiar with the mansion and found his way back to his former residence. The swing by the door was still there, and the furnishings inside remained unchanged, indicating that it was regularly cleaned.
Cheng Yuan walked over and sat with him on the swing, gently swaying. The night was quiet, with only the creaking of the swing.
"Is this Master's former home?" Cheng Yuan asked softly.
Chu Jianshan smiled slightly: "I can't hide it from you."
"Why did you hide it from me?" Cheng Yuan said calmly, "Does Master think I'm not worthy to know these things?"
Chu Jianshan felt somewhat helpless, not understanding how some seemingly ordinary words could be twisted and given multiple layers of meaning in his mouth.
However, Chu Jianshan was already quite adept at handling this situation.
He raised his head slightly, turned to the side, and lightly kissed Cheng Yuan's lips.
Sure enough, Cheng Yuan was stunned the moment the kiss landed, and then he raised the corners of his mouth.
He straightened his expression and said, "Is this all the compensation?"
Chu Jianshan asked in confusion, "Isn't that enough?"
Cheng Yuan looked at him, then suddenly reached out and pulled him into his arms, pressing his warm, wet lips against his.
"I want to know everything about Master. There should be no secrets between us."
Chu Jianshan sighed: "It's not that I'm hiding anything, it's just that it's something from many years ago, and hearing about it will only cause more trouble."
Cheng Yuan said, "Then Master, just consider me an unworthy person worrying about this."
"You said it yourself, that's a mediocre person."
Cheng Yuan kissed him again: "Smart people don't get any benefits here with Master."
Chu Jianshan's eyes gleamed with a smile: "It makes it sound like I've been treating you poorly all along?"
"Isn't that right?" Cheng Yuan's tone carried a hint of barely perceptible grievance: "Master treats everyone better than he treats me."
"Really? Who are they?" Chu Jianshan asked seriously.
"If I were to list them all, there would be too many. Master would definitely think I'm being stingy."
Chu Jianshan looked like he had seen through something: "In that case, I do seem like a heartless and ungrateful person."
Cheng Yuan finally revealed his true purpose: "Then, to make amends, Master, please tell me about the past."
Chu Jianshan gently swayed on the swing, lowered his eyes and said, "If you want to hear it, you can tell me."
"When I was young, I had a pretty good life. My father was a well-known wealthy businessman, philanthropist, and had a good reputation."
“But when I was eight years old, he suddenly died of an acute illness, leaving my pregnant mother to fend for herself alone.”
"We were able to make ends meet thanks to the substantial assets left by my father. But years of drought followed by a year of floods left the crops almost completely destroyed. After the floods, plagues were inevitable, and within just a few months, many disaster victims flooded into the city."
“My mother was kind and donated almost all of her wealth, but it was still a drop in the ocean when faced with tens of thousands of disaster victims.”
"At that time, a widow with a large fortune could not possibly have a good outcome."
"So..." Cheng Yuan asked tentatively, "Was the disaster that befell the Chu family caused by those disaster victims?"
"Yes and no," Chu Jianshan said to him. "A group of bandits claimed to rob the rich to help the poor and save all the disaster victims in the world. So they killed people to silence them and stole everything. According to them, killing one person to save ten people is still a great act of kindness."
"My mother fought desperately to keep my father's last bit of property, but she was stabbed multiple times by those people, and even the infant A-Yun was not spared. The huge Chu mansion was burned to the ground."
Cheng Yuan just looked at him and listened to him talk about the past, feeling the same sadness in his heart.
He wasn't unaware of these things; it's just that Chu Jianshan had always mentioned them casually before, never going into detail. Listening to this, it seemed Chu Jianshan wasn't actually any better off than him.
Living in chaotic times, everyone faces difficulties.
Cheng Yuan asked him, "Hasn't Master taken revenge?"
Chu Jianshan said, "Of course I thought about it. Back then, I was young and impetuous, and no matter how others tried to persuade me, I wouldn't listen and insisted on going down the mountain."
"But when I came down the mountain, I found that the bandits had been wiped out long ago, and the property that was taken from the Chu family had indeed been distributed to the disaster victims. Many people survived on these things."
"I...don't know what to do for a moment."
The anger was extinguished so easily, and the overwhelming hatred had nowhere to go. Chu Qingyuan stood in front of the former Chu mansion, watching as it was transformed from ruins into a clean-up site by a group of disaster victims, where a new house was built and a new family moved in.
"That family had a daughter," Chu Jianshan still remembered the little girl's appearance after many years: "She was tiny and as cute as Ayun. She was still unsteady on her feet when she handed me her hand, with a candy hidden inside."
That candy was so sweet that it neutralized half of Chu Qingyuan's lifelong bitterness.
In front of that child, he put Mo Yang aside for the first time, and from then on never targeted ordinary people again.
“A-Yuan,” Chu Jianshan turned to look at him, his eyes pleading, “I want to take a few more glances at them before I leave.”
Cheng Yuan understood. Since they entered, they hadn't encountered any danger. It must be an ordinary scenic gate. As long as they overcame the illusion, they could get out.
Cheng Yuan agreed, "Okay, I'll accompany Master to see them a little longer."
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