No one expected he would leave the palace. He used the excuse of going out for a walk to leave. Xiao’an thought he wanted to clear his mind and didn’t obstruct him.

So though he knew the palace would later discover his disappearance and certainly turn upside down, dispatching many people to search, he had already used his ghastly appearance and head start to leave the capital.

He bought a horse cart, got some coarse cloth clothing, specifically chose remote places to travel, moving slowly.

Thus, after traveling over half a month, he had gone south to a poor, remote area.

That place had quite a large village with over a hundred households, but was very poor.

Living off the mountain and water, they were mostly self-sufficient daily, raising some poultry, planting fields and vegetables for living. Sometimes several households would band together to hunt game in the mountains, occasionally going to market to trade for oil, salt, cloth, and tea.

He found people annoying, so he simply entered a deep mountain forest not far from the village.

After walking most of the day inside, he unexpectedly encountered miners.

It turned out this mountain had a half-dried riverbed where a jade merchant who often sent people to travel and search for mineral veins had discovered jade deposits. He sent his younger brother and some subordinates to oversee work, hiring many poor villagers from nearby to mine jade.

Along the river, dozens of men wielded iron shovels, stone picks and other tools, sweating profusely as they dug desperately. Besides sturdy men, there were also some women and elderly people.

Lian Yu watched coldly. When dark came, he walked out, planning to catch some fish and shrimp from a nearby small river for food.

Previously traveling at will, when hungry he would just buy something to barely fill his stomach, without preparing provisions. Who knew this place had previously suffered drought—water sources were empty, and fish and birds had also disappeared.

The people working along the riverbanks were greatly shocked to see him. Immediately supervisors drove him away from a distance, shouting harshly: “Where did this leper come from? Get lost!”

Others dared not approach to drive him away, fearing infection, so they threw stones and angrily cursed.

He didn’t need their expulsion—he had already hidden himself in the forest to forage.

But this search took a long time without finding anything.

Later in the night, fierce black winds brought a torrential rain that soaked him completely. He remembered there were cave dwellings near the river mines and searched for them.

“Hey you leprous beggar, stop bothering people, or we’ll beat you to death!”

Every cave dwelling he reached was already occupied—either by supervisors or mining men—all glaring at him, holding sticks to drive him away.

Even women and wives looked fierce, as if greatly taboo.

He stared at them, just standing at the cave entrance, lightly smiling as he looked at these people, thinking: these people’s first words upon seeing him weren’t asking what was wrong with him or what disease he had, but expulsion. If they had asked, he might have told them. They needn’t fear, could even rush up and kill him. But these people simply didn’t ask—

Seeing him standing at the entrance with hands behind his back, people finally felt some fear, as if his eyes were the green, vicious eyes of wolves. Someone swallowed and stepped back slightly. He looked coldly, then left in the freezing cold.

Searching all the way, he finally found one cave that seemed to have no voices, and was about to enter when he heard a trembling shout: “Who are you?”

Inside the cave was a coal oil lamp. There was a thirteen or fourteen-year-old youth with very ordinary looks, sitting on the ground eating a flatbread. Seeing him, he was so startled the bread fell to the ground.

He smiled coldly and was about to leave.

“Hey, come in—it’s pouring outside.”

Behind him came that youth’s loud voice.

He thought with cold amusement, not without sarcasm—was there someone who wasn’t afraid or disgusted by him? He wanted to see what medicine this person was selling!

He turned back.

That youth stared at him, pointing to the other side of the cave: “Hey, boy, you occupy that side. This is my territory—Chu River, Han boundary. You’re not allowed to cross the line.”

Saying this, he picked up a stone from the ground and actually drew a crooked line in the cave.

He then clapped his hands, picked up the flatbread from the ground, wiped it vigorously, and ate it in big bites. After eating, he grabbed a small wine flask beside him, gulped several mouthfuls, then wiped his lips: “Refreshing.”

Watching this, he only felt his hunger intensify. His stomach rumbled slightly, extremely clear in this empty cave dwelling.

That youth had been reaching into an oiled paper bundle on the ground for another flatbread, but hearing this, glanced at him: “Hey, aren’t you a mine worker? Why don’t they give you rations? This place is godforsaken—ahead you need to reach the village, behind you need to go deep into the mountains to find food. They send people early to the village to hire people to cook and bake bread, bringing it here at quitting time for meals. In this hot weather, dry food spoils quickly if kept too long. I didn’t bring much in. Hearing from villagers that they were working here, I found those supervisors and said starting tomorrow, I’d join the mining. They gave me food too. How did you…”

Hearing this, Lian Yu only found it amusing, saying coldly: “Do you think they’d hire a leper to work?”

“Then how did you end up here?” The youth pursed his lips. “This is just asking for trouble—there’s nothing here. You’ll starve to death.”

“Where else could someone like me go without being beaten to death?”

He sneered, slowly getting up, planning to go out and forage. He didn’t know what he wanted to do after leaving the palace, but he didn’t want to die yet—didn’t want to starve to death.

The night his mother died, he felt the entire world had collapsed, but Mother gripped his hand saying: “No matter what, you must live.”

During those years, he lived like a pig or dog. He didn’t know why she would say this—he only wanted to die with her, to leave that dirty room that saw little sunlight year-round.

Crying, he asked her why she still wanted him to live alone.

She seemed puzzled why she would say this too. She thought, and without mentioning revenge or anything, only said quietly: “Yu’er, as long as you’re alive, you’ll have days of happiness…”

Then he understood Mother’s words—it was simply a mother’s wish for her child to survive. Just being alive was enough.

He promised her.

Then she smiled and passed away with open eyes.

So now, even though he should die and accompany A Luo, he still couldn’t die.

“Hey, don’t go out—the rain’s heavy, you’ll get sick. I won’t eat anymore—here, for you.”

The youth sighed, pushing the oiled paper bundle and wine across the Chu River-Han boundary.

He was startled, coldly smiling as he pushed the things back: “I have nothing to repay you with.”