CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 86: ABANDONMENT AND BETRAYAL

Qiu Linghua was afraid that Jiang Xingye might kick her son so hard that he would be crippled, and hurriedly came over to try to hold Jiang Xingye’s leg. Jiang Xingye dared not let her touch him, took a step back and said coldly, "If you dare spew filth again, I’ll cripple Sun Laizi!"

His gaze was fierce, like a lone wolf in midnight, exuding a strong aura of hostility all over him. No one would forget that this man killed at age twelve; if his own mother hadn’t stopped him, he would have really chopped that person up. Who wouldn’t be scared!

The onlookers retreated at a safe distance, silent as cicadas in winter.

Jiang Xingye also saw the fear on Qiu Linghua’s face, which brought him back to his senses. He looked up in horror at Xu Qinghuan and naturally saw the disbelief in her eyes.

At this moment, his heart sank to the bottom. He quickly turned away, hands in pockets, head lowered, like a criminal being publicly tried, dejectedly walking toward his home.

"So terrifying!" Qiao Xinyu patted her chest, that hooligan’s glance just now carried the might of destruction, nearly scaring her soul away.

Beside her, Chen Dewen took two steps closer to Qiao Xinyu, giving a feeling of holding her under his wing for protection.

Zheng Siqi couldn’t help saying, "This person isn’t simple!"

Dai Yifeng leaned in and asked, "What do you think, compared to the most formidable person in our compound?"

The most formidable person in their compound was Lu Jiabai, the eldest son of the Lu Family’s eldest, twenty-three years old, serving as a company commander in the Yan City military district. To other kids’ parents in the compound, he naturally was the ideal child.

Zheng Siqi shook his head, "Lu Jiabai can’t compare to him."

The bloodstained aura surrounding Jiang Xingye was cultivated through countless struggles near death, not simply from grinding on the training ground.

Someone who has witnessed death numerous times and someone who merely endures hardship and trains systematically can’t be compared.

Zheng Siqi added, "Stay away from this person in the future!"

Xu Qinghuan returned silently, while Yu Xiaomin had prepared the meal.

Originally, they planned to gather some pig offal to start a stew, but with such chaos erupting, the stew wasn’t made. Yu Xiaomin prepared a dish of braised pork instead.

Once Qiao Xinyu returned, none of the three mentioned what happened earlier. After dinner, Xu Qinghuan went back to her room.

Later, Yu Xiaomin called her to take a shower. She poured water, went to the bathroom, washed briefly, and returned to her room, where she entered her space, scraped some Bone Tempering and Muscle Strengthening Pill, and ate it. Her whole body ached like someone was stripping her bones and muscles.

She tossed herself into the hot spring pool, floating above, letting the water flows rinse her body. Black grime was washed away, slowly revealing inches of skin as white as condensed jade.

She remembered the book said Jiang Xingye was detained for three months after killing someone, released with scars all over, thin and dark, back to the village where everyone called him a murderer.

In fact, the whole thing had nothing to do with him.

His mom remarried a domestic abuser. Once, she couldn’t stand the abuse and returned to tell Jiang Xingye.

Even if he didn’t receive his mom’s affection, Jiang Xingye still cared for her. Moreover, a twelve-year-old boy was full of rebellion and charged to his mother’s house to beat up the man.

The man was drunk, grabbed a knife intending to chop Jiang Xingye. Jiang Xingye endured being struck on the back with the knife, snatched it, and slashed the man multiple times, his body covered in blood.

When he was hacking the man, his mom was protecting that man all along, which provoked him into acting recklessly.

Someone in the village called the police. When the authorities arrived, his mom testified that Jiang Xingye was the first to attack, not mentioning she was the one complaining for justice, which made her son furious enough to seek justice for her.

Fortunately, Jiang Xingye was only twelve at the time, young; and his grandfather had served as a soldier, previously a battalion commander, who didn’t want to burden the country due to his poor health, hence refused the organizational arrangement and returned to farm.

Some of his comrades still held high positions, and the elderly, who never asked for favors their whole life, used some connections for his grandson.

Yet in the eyes of the world, Jiang Xingye was just a bad seed.

Despite being young, he suffered considerable abuse while detained.

Back in the village, even dogs would spit at him.

Precisely because he was young, he couldn’t bear the cold stares from the world. In a fit of anger, he fled into the mountains, never seen again.

When he emerged again, it was three to four years later.

The youthful boy of yesteryear had grown into a young man, forging a layer of armor with indifference and hostility, hiding sensitively and humbly behind it, looking coldly at the world. Any slight anxiety would make him strike back fiercely, defending himself, making others stay away.

If he had been treated unjustly since birth, he might believe the world was just like that, without sadness or feeling desolate.

But before he turned nine, when his father hadn’t sacrificed, his life wasn’t like that; he had his father’s affection, wasn’t abandoned by his mother, nor betrayed.

In the blink of an eye, he was left with only himself.

Probably never imagined in his dreams that after being abandoned, he would be backstabbed by relatives!

The world only saw the fierceness in Jiang Xingye’s eyes, yet Xu Qinghuan saw the loneliness and pain behind it. She sighed deeply, rose from the hot spring pool.

If heaven decides to assign a great mission to someone, it will inevitably first distress their minds, toughen their muscles, starve their bodies, impoverish their state, and disrupt their actions; thus, stirring and strengthening their will, augmenting what they cannot.

Every four-character phrase carries a weight of suffering that ordinary people find hard to endure.

Jiang Xingye experienced every bit of it, first-hand. As he fought through the storm, did he ever wonder if his life would still see sunny days?

Xu Qinghuan didn’t sleep well all night, had several nightmares; either being chased by demons in a deep abyss, or Jiang Xingye descending from the sky, saving her from the abyss.

Or floating above a lone grave a thousand miles away, countless hands clawing upwards from the graves trying desperately to drag her down, Jiang Xingye emerged with his sword, severing those eerie hands, rescuing her from peril.

When she awoke, the outside just dawned, with faintly visible daylight, surrounded by mist.

Xu Qinghuan only felt dizzy and wished she hadn’t slept all night.

She scraped a little Qi Replenishing Pill from her space, ate it, and her spirit improved slightly.

Yu Xiaomin had woken earlier than her, cleaning the front and back courtyards and tidying the vegetable garden. Seeing Xu Qinghuan emerging, she said, "Huanhuan, I’ll catch a few chickens to raise, what do you think?"

According to the regulations, each person can raise no more than two chickens (ducks/geese). With three people, they can raise six chickens; if done properly, they wouldn’t have to buy eggs in the future.

Xu Qinghuan didn’t oppose, as long as she didn’t have to raise them, "Sure, Xiaomin, you’re really efficient!"

"Aw, sweet-talker." Yu Xiaomin nodded toward the chair, "Your clothes were torn. I stitched them for you yesterday; see if it’s alright?"

Xu Qinghuan wore old clothes for work yesterday, hadn’t planned to wash them, just decided to throw them away.

Yu Xiaomin saw them thrown on a dustpan by the door, thought she intended to wash them, and washed them anyway. While washing, she saw a hole and patched it before going to bed.

Xu Qinghuan picked it up, smelled the fragrance of soapwort, and saw a plum blossom embroidered over the hole with rose-red thread, beautifully done.

"Xiaomin, you actually have such skills, it’s amazing!" Xu Qinghuan admired indeed; she only knew surgical stitches, couldn’t sew clothes, "Can you make clothes too?"