As Su Yaoqi turned his head at the sound, he saw a young woman in a green dress ascend the steps. Her eyes were covered with white silk, and she leaned on a blind cane, which clicked sharply on the ground with each step.
Without needing to ask, Su Yaoqi knew who had arrived from her earlier call.
He pressed his lips together, remaining silent.
The person was Su Yu. Hearing no response, she probed with another call, "Little Four, are you there?"
The mountain was silent, devoid of birds or insects, making the sound of her blind cane probing the way particularly jarring.
At this mont, the baby in Xiao Tao’s arms wailed aloud.
Su Yu halted, standing still without moving forward.
She could not see, but she could feel that Little Four must be nearby.
The baby’s cry just now was weak, unlike a full-term child.
Su Yu thought of the Young Madam who was resting at the outer estate.
"Little Four, you’re here, right? Will you just answer ?"
Su Yaoqi closed his eyes, then opened them again, the blood vessels in his eyes more pronounced than before.
He gestured to Xiao Tao to take the child inside, then walked up to Su Yu, standing for a long mont before finding his voice, "Why?"
"Little..."
"Why are you still alive?"
"I..."
"Why are you still alive!"
The first question was filled with restrained emotion.
The latter question was a furious roar.
As he shouted, he grabbed her arm.
Su Yu could feel his hands trembling, his grip so strong it seed it could tear her arm off.
"Wasn’t I good to you? Did I ever harm you? Why would you repay like this? Even if the Su Family owed you, there’s a cause for every grievance and a debtor for every debt; why did you kill everyone? They were all innocent!"
Tears rolled down his cheeks as Su Yaoqi slowly released her hands, his entire body collapsing, "Big sister, you deceived Little Four so painfully."
Listening to his painful sobs, Su Yu’s lips felt sealed with wax; she couldn’t utter a word.
Su Yaoqi squatted on the ground crying for a while, then stood up to drive her away, "Go. Go! From this day forth, I never want to see you again!"
"Little Four, I’m sorry."
The words Su Yu had prepared remained unspoken. She gripped her blind cane tightly, turned away, and the snow-white silk covering her eyes was soaked with tears.
She groped her way back to the foot of the mountain, where a scruffy little beggar sat on a nearby stone slab. Upon seeing Su Yu, the beggar spat out the grass in his mouth, "Didn’t you say you had family in there? You’re done so soon?"
Su Yu stood erect, her green dress fluttering in the wind. After a long silence, she said hoarsely, "Never again, there’s no need to et again."
A non-answer.
The words were clearly ant for herself.
The little beggar scratched his head, "What are you talking about?"
Su Yu asked him, "Do you want to hear a story?"
The little beggar stood up to support her down the mountain. With her eyes blind, Su Yu moved slowly, telling the story smoothly as they went.
"In Guangnan Prefecture, there was a prominent family with twin flowers. The elder sister was gentle and the younger sister was lively. This pair of twins had been close and amicable since childhood, to the point where, if they dressed alike, even their parents found it hard to tell them apart.
When she was sixteen, the elder sister got engaged. On the eve of her wedding, she personally went to the embroidery workshop to fetch her wedding gown, only to be mistakenly captured by the local official and presented to an imperial envoy from the Capital.
The elder sister was forced to serve him and when she escaped, the news beca widely known. The groom’s family then broke off the engagent, and her parents blad her for ruining the family’s reputation, berating and beating her, determined to disown her and expel her from the family.
The elder sister was in despair, hanging herself with white silk from the beam, wishing to end her miserable life.
Luckily, her younger sister discovered her in ti, stopping her and, with earnest and heartfelt words, cald her down.
That night, the younger sister drugged the elder sister to sleep, carried her to her own room, and took her place, accepting the elder sister’s punishnt by being banished from the family.
Once out of the family, she vanished without a trace. No one knew where she’d gone or what she’d faced, whether she was dead or alive.
The younger sister had acted with the best intentions, wishing for her elder sister to live well in her stead. But who could have guessed that two months later, the elder sister was discovered to be pregnant.
The parents finally learned the truth, and were furious beyond asure.
This ti, without the need to be driven away by the parents, the sister, pregnant, left ho and headed north. She carried a naive hope, hoping that the man would take responsibility for her. But upon arriving in the Capital, she found that he held a high position, and his principal wife was a lady from an illustrious family. She didn’t even have the status to beco his concubine, let alone have a legitimate position.
The sister was holess and could only stay in the Capital, renting a rundown courtyard in the slums. Soon after, she gave birth to a daughter.
In the Capital, the sister had no one to rely on. Her only daughter beca her hope. During the day, she set up a stall to earn a little money. At night, she sat under the lamp sewing clothes and washing for her daughter, coaxing her to sleep.
Although it was tough, at least it gave her a tiny taste of sweetness.
She thought that life with her daughter could always go on like this.
But in this world, there are always people who like to find superiority by stepping on others’ wounds, even if everyone lives in the slums. They have to distinguish between different ranks.
The sister, having no man by her side, gradually led to the child being mocked, spat upon, and insulted at will.
The sister knew she had no power to fight against others and could only endure in silence.
But by doing so, it not only failed to settle the matter but instead provoked those n in the alley who coveted her beauty to make moves.
They threatened her using her child, demanding that she serve them.
The sister refused, so they abused the little girl who had just learned to walk.
To protect her child, the sister had no choice but to give in to those n.
So things, once a crack opens, can never return to how they were before.
In the following years, whenever they wished, the sister had to drop whatever she was doing to serve them.
Gradually, the sister fell ill, but she didn’t tell anyone, not even those n knew.
Once the girl returned ho and saw soone bullying her mother, in a fit of anger, she picked up a brick and smashed it on the back of the man’s head, killing him on the spot.
The sister was terrified by her and feared the arrival of the governnt officials, sitting by the bed and crying all night.
The next day, she resolutely sold her daughter into a brothel because of her severe illness, she didn’t have many days left and soon died.
When the girl woke up, she learned that she had been sold by her biological mother, and she cried so much that it seed her heart and intestines were breaking.
The little beggar listened with fury, "And then? Were those worse-than-beasts n just let off like that?"
"And then..." Su Yu dragged out her words, "After many years, the girl saw her mother again."
"No, no." The little beggar shook his head, "You clearly said earlier that the little girl’s biological mother had died from illness, how could she have a mother..."
At this point, the little beggar’s voice abruptly stopped, as if he had thought of sothing, "Could it be, the younger sister ca back?"
Su Yu neither confird nor denied it.
Finally hearing sothing exciting, the little beggar urged her, "Quickly tell , did the younger sister save her niece, did she avenge her elder sister?"
Su Yu’s voice was hoarse and gloomy, "The younger sister had more abilities than the elder sister. She was skillful, and not only did she kill those n to avenge her sister, but she also erased all the girl’s mories from the brothel, then took the girl to her biological father’s family and forcibly recognized kinship."
"Wow, the younger sister is amazing." The little beggar sincerely praised.
"Yes, she’s incredible." Underneath the snow-white ribbon covering her eyes, Su Yu was already in tears, "So in the end, the younger sister killed more than 300 people of that man’s entire clan, to comfort her sister’s spirit in heaven."
"What an infuriating story!" The little beggar huffed, "If the elder sister back then had the courage to force her way to recognize kin like the younger sister, she wouldn’t have suffered so much later. Oh yes, after the revenge, where did the younger sister and that little girl go?"
Su Yu’s lips stiffened, "I don’t know, maybe they both died in that massacre."
"Killed the culprit, yet they didn’t end up well either, sigh, it makes so angry."
The little beggar complained as he kicked the fallen leaves on the steps.
Su Yu listened to the gradually clear chirping of birds around, and asked him, "Now that the story is finished, have we reached the foot of the mountain?"
The little beggar looked up, and indeed, "How do you know?"
Su Yu replied, "Without using eyes to see people or things, the mind becos clearer."
This puzzled the little beggar, the two sat on the grass at the foot of the mountain to rest, the little beggar picking lice, asked Su Yu, "You can’t see, where do you plan to go in the future?"
"The world is my ho." Su Yu said calmly, "I’ll go wherever the road takes ."
The little beggar glanced at her waist ornant, and looked again, "My Ah Huang can guide you, if you give that Jade Pendant, I’ll give you Ah Huang, and let it guide you around the world in the future."
Ah Huang was a clever dog raised by the little beggar.
Su Yu raised her hand, groped for a while at her waist, then tore off the ornant and handed it out, "If you like it, I’ll give it to you, Ah Huang has been with you for years, I won’t take it from you."
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