“Just one flatbread and one jug of wine—I can still afford that.”

The youth snorted and waved his hand.

The cave dwelling had originally been arranged by the mining crew with some straw matting for several people per cave to spend the night, avoiding the waste of energy and time returning to the village. He pulled out an outer garment from his traveling bundle to spread on the straw, lying down to watch him eat and drink. A pair of black eyes stared at Lian Yu slowly finishing his flatbread, couldn’t help grumbling: “If I’d known I’d share with you, I’d have given you that dirty half that fell on the ground.”

Lian Yu was chewing the bread when he heard this and spat it out.

The youth gloated, laughing until his whole body shook.

Lian Yu pushed the small half-jug of wine back to him.

The youth’s eyes lit up as he licked his lips: “Don’t you like wine?”

Lian Yu said flatly: “I don’t eat things others have eaten.”

Perhaps he’d suffered too much in those years, eating leftovers and cold scraps every meal—he’d now developed a cleanliness obsession.

The youth had just taken a sip of wine when he heard this and also spat it out, pointing at him trembling: “Damn, you dare dislike that I drank from it? You should be grateful to have wine to drink.”

Lian Yu ignored him, pillowing his hands behind his head and lying down to sleep, not caring about the cold, hard ground—he’d experienced this thousands of times years ago.

With closed eyes, he heard the youth calling softly: “Hey, little beggar, where did you come from? What are your plans? I see the sores on your face do look somewhat like leprosy, but not entirely. Like this—get up and let me see. I know some medicine. Leprosy can’t be cured, but if it’s something else, it might be treatable. But don’t cross the boundary, or I’ll beat you. Hey, I’m talking to you!”

They were just passing strangers who’d never met—why was he being kind? Looking at this boy’s lively features, he was definitely not someone who’d take losses easily. Lian Yu smiled coldly and ignored him.

Gripping the jade pendant in his hand, he slowly thought of A Luo.

That youth, getting no response, seemed to also lie down to sleep.

The rain outside gradually stopped. He actually couldn’t sleep at all—A Luo’s smiling face and her blood-covered, agonized expression kept swaying before his eyes—

His entire heart ached as if being wrung.

On such mountain nights with a slight chill in the air, all senses became particularly clear. He had failed A Luo, and he vaguely understood in his heart that the killer was most likely his mother, Xiao’an.

But could he kill her to avenge A Luo?

Now he could kill anyone without blinking, but this woman…

He still remembered that day she brought him back to her quarters, not minding the filth, having palace servants bring water to personally wash his body…

When his mother died, she became like his mother.

He suddenly clenched his teeth.

At this moment, his ear twitched slightly. His hearing was extremely acute—he heard that youth creeping out, then the sound of him quietly returning. A light breeze also swept toward him. Damn, that boy actually dared poke him with a stick? His gaze darkened as he was about to strike and break that branch, but then reconsidered. Suddenly leaping up, he pounced toward him.

“Ah—” That youth was indeed startled by him, gripping the branch as he fell on his bottom to the ground.

“Dead beggar, you scared me to death!” He cursed as he got up from the ground, looking at him with some terror.

“You attacked me first—who can you blame?” he said with slight mockery.

The youth angrily said: “You wouldn’t respond when I talked to you, and I didn’t dare touch you, so I had to use this method to get you up. I wanted to look at your face and hands and feet.”

“Oh, we don’t know each other—why are you kind to me? I already said I have nothing to repay you with.”

Lian Yu’s heart sank as he smiled coldly.

“Ah, you’re infuriating! Why are you like this, always thinking I want something from you? Can’t I just be kind without expecting anything back?”

The youth jumped up and bared his teeth at him—thin lips, pink tongue, small white teeth gleaming sharp and fierce under the weak lamplight.

Lian Yu suddenly imagined being bitten by him—a slightly sour, itchy feeling rose from his abdomen, his muscles involuntarily tensing slightly.

He was after all two or three years older than this youth. Not annoyed, he only said flatly: “No. My foster mother raised me because I could help her consolidate her position in the family in the future. My brothers follow me because when Father took us hunting, they broke away from guards chasing tigers and leopards into dark places and met danger—I risked my life to save them from fierce beasts’ claws and fangs. My servants respect me because I selected them from many slaves and gave them new life. There was someone who was kind to me without asking why or expecting anything back, but she’s already dead. Later, I failed in family succession struggles and was driven from home.”

He fabricated this last sentence, thinking that if he failed, this would be the outcome anyway.

Driving his cart through many counties, along the way some looked down on him, some tried to cheat him of his money, and occasionally some pitied him. But pity was just saying “how pitiful” and giving him some rice and grain before saying and doing nothing more. This disease was repulsive, wasn’t it?

The youth’s face had wrinkled into a ball, glaring at him angrily. Now he looked at him seriously, relaxed his brow, muttered something quietly, and finally lay down to sleep.

Nothing more to say? Lian Yu’s eyes held mockery as he also slowly lay down.

Almost until dawn, hearing that youth’s clothes rustling as he got up, did he close his eyes.

He dozed lightly for an hour or two before waking.

He discovered several lines of characters scratched into the ground with stones.

“Little beggar, I’m going to work. If you come out for air or whatever, never tell anyone you stayed in the same cave with me, or I’ll be driven away.”

Lian Yu felt that disgusted, mocking feeling in his heart grow stronger. He slowly left the cave dwelling and walked for a while, seeing that mineral river.

People were all there digging and washing stone materials. That youth was among them. Unlike the village men and boys with rolled-up sleeves and bare backs, he didn’t roll up sleeves or pants. His hair bun had a few loose strands hanging down, cheeks slightly puffed, seemingly struggling as he gritted his teeth. His wheat-colored small face was covered with sweat as he gripped a stone pick tightly, chiseling away. Looking at his small frame, the pile of stone materials beside him was no less than others’.

His clothing material wasn’t poor, and judging by his appearance and speech, he should have some background. Why did he need to do hard labor here for this bit of silver?

But others’ affairs were none of his business. Lian Yu smiled self-mockingly and walked toward the deep forest.

As that youth had said, only in the deep forest were there prey. Even using his superior lightness skills, it took nearly two hours to find where birds and beasts appeared—no wonder he’d found nothing to hunt near that river mine last night.

He caught a rabbit to roast and eat, then cleansed himself in a small lake in the forest before returning.

By the time he returned to the previous cave dwelling, it was already dark.

That youth was indeed no longer there.

Just as he’d guessed.

He naturally had to avoid him, didn’t he? There were over ten cave dwellings here—perhaps none were empty, all occupied, but he could enter any one. He took out a fire starter to light the oil lamp, pillowed his hands behind his head, and lay down casually. Closing his eyes, his mind was empty and vacant. Since leaving the palace, all his thoughts had been emptied—he didn’t want to think, because thinking brought pain. No tears came—his eyes were so dry they felt like cracking.

“Little beggar, time to eat…”

A weak voice suddenly woke him from half-sleep. He couldn’t help feeling angry. Looking up, he saw that youth crouching at the cave entrance, his robe hem bundling something. Under the dim light, valley winds rustled gently outside the cave.

That child had a pale cast to his face, frowning as if somewhat uncomfortable.

He was slightly startled, slowly got up, and in his tattered clothes walked to stop several steps before him. Wasn’t he afraid his disease would affect him? He maintained distance, squinting to examine him this way.

The youth looked at him somewhat resentfully, hugging his robe hem as he sat down on the ground, piling the contents onto the ground.

Two jugs of wine, two oil paper bundles.

Lian Yu was somewhat surprised. From what he’d observed during the day, each meal only provided one small jug of wine and one oil paper bundle, which might contain rice or flatbread.

Seeing that child staring at him with round eyes, he still asked coldly: “Where did you get these things?”

The youth tilted his head: “I helped the supervisors with some polishing work tonight—those miners can’t do it, but I’m skilled. I asked them for an extra portion of food. When I came out, I didn’t bring enough money, and got separated from my companions. Now it’s so hard just to get something to eat—what a sin. Here.”

His voice was somewhat listless. When he saw him trembling as he handed over one portion with both hands, Lian Yu’s jaw tightened slightly.

“These hands aren’t obeying—overexertion, I’m exhausted. Take it quickly. Haven’t you eaten all day? Aren’t you hungry? I couldn’t manage lunch for you—you understand, I needed strength to work. Alright, eat up.”

The youth spoke without caring about him anymore, sitting on the ground and taking the small wine jug to gulp down more wine.

His hands still shook badly, with several cracked bloody marks on his palms from polishing stone materials.

Lian Yu frowned and suddenly reached out to grasp his hand. The youth was startled, staring at him blankly as the wine jug fell, but Lian Yu nimbly caught it.