Chapter 35 – Sura’s Story (III)
Sura, distressed, said, “Yin Zhu, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. But since you have already given so many things, can you give one last item? I want the ring. You can keep all the contents, but give the ring to .” As he said this, he pointed at the silver ring on Ye Yin Zhu’s hand.
Ye Yin Zhu said, shocked, “It’s not that I’m unwilling to part with it, but this was given to by Grandfather Qin. I…”
Sura practically begged, “I don’t need the space ring’s storage function, nor do I want any of its contents. I just want the ring.”
Ye Yin Zhu hesitated for a mont. He looked at the strong yearning in Sura’s eyes and helplessly said, “Alright. I really can’t do anything about you. Fortunately, you promised to support for the rest of your life. If it was soone else, I really wouldn’t be willing to give it away. I’ll undo the spiritual bond so that you can use it imdiately.” As he said this, he manipulated so of his already-recovered spiritual force, transferring the contents of the silver ring to the sapphire space ring. He then handed over the silver ring to Sura.
“Help place it on my ring finger.” Sura stretched out his right hand.
Ye Yin Zhu wasn’t suspicious of him at all. He automatically slid it onto Sura’s finger. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, Sura abruptly flipped Ye Yin Zhu’s hand over and gripped his wrist. Ye Yin Zhu felt sothing cool and slightly heavy slide into the palm of his hand.
He withdrew his hand and looked at his palm. Ye Yin Zhu discovered that Sura had pressed a silver coin into his hand. The silver coin appeared to be a sowhat special. A regular silver coin would display a magical six-pointed star engraving, as was commonly used on the continent, but this silver coin seed to be a bit worn. The design on top had beco very indistinct. The silver coin even had so corrosion and lacked any luster.
“Sura, why did you give a coin?” Ye Yin Zhu asked in puzzlent.
Sura looked at the silver coin he placed in Ye Yin Zhu’s hand. At this very mont, his eyes brimd with a content light. “Yin Zhu, thank you. Consider this us exchanging gifts with one another. You have given too many things. In return, I’m giving you this. As long as you have this silver coin, I can tell a story for you to hear, okay?” As if relieved from a burden, Sura’s body seed to beco more relaxed. Idiot, this is exchanging keepsakes! Don’t you realize that this silver coin is extrely important to ?
Ye Yin Zhu nodded, asking, “And the story has sothing to do with you?”
Sura didn’t reply. He walked up to Ye Yin Zhu and sat down beside him.
“There was a woman who made a living by scavenging through garbage. One day, she picked up so worn out tal to sell off on her way ho. When she turned into an empty alley, a hoodlum popped out. This hoodlum held a knife within his hand, and he pressed this knife against the woman’s chest. He maliciously ordered the woman to hand over all the money she had on her. The woman was terrified and stood there motionless. The hoodlum began to search her body. When he searched through the woman’s pocket, he found a shabby pouch. Within the pouch was her money. The hoodlum grabbed that pouch, turned away from the woman, and left. At that mont, the woman reacted. She imdiately threw herself forward, and with lightning-speed, she seized the pouch. The hoodlum used the knife to prod at the woman, threatening her to let go. The woman, however, clenched the money pouch tightly with both hands, not relinquishing her grip no matter what. The woman unwaveringly held onto the bag and called for help like her life depended on it. Her call for help disturbed the residents of the alley, and those who heard her shout rushed over and cooperated in arresting the hoodlum.
“Everyone helped the woman by detaining the hoodlum and taking him to the nearby city jail. A city guard greeted them. After interrogation, the hoodlum pleaded guilty to mugging. That woman stood there trembling, drops of cold sweat covering her face.
“The city guard then comforted her. ‘You don’t need to be afraid.’
“The woman replied, ‘I’m in a lot of pain. He broke my fingers.’
“As she said this, she lifted her right hand. The people realized that her right forefinger drooped down flabbily.
“She would rather let her finger bei broken than relinquish her grip on her purse. Clearly, the contents of the purse were important to her. The city guard opened the money pouch, and everyone present was imdiately stupefied. There wasn’t a lot in that pouch, only a silver coin. Many of them believed that a single silver coin was truly and excessively not worth breaking a finger or becoming a criminal.
“The city guard was perplexed. How strong was this woman to not give up on this ager silver coin even after experiencing the acute pain of breaking a finger?
“The woman was given basic treatnt later before she walked ho alone. She walked to a fruit stand with enticing fruit and carefully picked so. She used her silver coin to buy a pear, an apple, a tangerine, a banana, a stick of sugarcane, a strawberry… She bought each fruit sold at the fruit stand until there was nothing left of her silver coin. People who knew of her recent experience were baffled. Could it be that she unhesitantly sacrificed her finger to save a single silver coin, only to unexpectedly use it to buy so tasty fruit?
“The woman carried the bag of fruit and left the city to head straight towards the public cetery on the outskirts. She walked towards a new grave in a secluded spot. The woman stood in front of the new grave for a long ti, her face seemingly graced with a satisfied smile. Afterwards, she leaned the bag on the gravestone and murmured to herself, ‘Child, mama let you down. Mama has no skill and couldn’t do anything to cure your disease. I unexpectedly let you depart the world so early, after just eight years. Do you still rember? When you left, ma asked you what your most cherished desire was. You said, ‘I never ate any fresh fruit. If I could eat even one fresh fruit, it would be perfect.’ Ma was ashad; she actually was unable to fulfill your last wish. In order to treat your illness, our family no longer had the money to even buy a single fruit. But, child, yesterday, mama was finally able to pay back the debt from borrowing money to treat your illness in full. Plus, mama still had a silver coin left over today. Child, ma can buy fruit. Can you see? Ma has a tangerine, a pear, an apple, and even a banana… all fresh. All of them, ma spent money to buy you all these fresh fruit, all of them not even slightly mushy. Ma carefully picked them one by one for you to eat. Child, can you taste it…’”
After he told this story, tears were already streaming down Sura’s cheeks. Ye Yin Zhu stared at the slightly worn silver coin in his hand. He suddenly felt that this silver coin was very heavy.
Sura continued. “That woman, she was my mama. The eight year-old boy who died was my younger twin brother. That day, I had followed mama from beginning to end. I regret, I regret that I didn’t have the power to protect mama, that I didn’t have the money to help my younger brother treat his illness. From that day on, I fell in love with money. I vowed that I must give mama a life of luxury. That day was also the first day I stole sothing. The silver coin in your hand is the very sa silver coin that mama poured countless blood and sweat into earning to buy my younger brother fruit. If mama knew I had stolen things, she would’ve definitely gotten very, very angry with , but I absolutely couldn’t allow the culmination of her hard work, that silver coin, end up in the hands of others. Since that year, I’ve always had this silver coin on , constantly using it to remind . This is mama’s love.”
“What happened next? Your mother?” Ye Yin Zhu asked inquisitively.
Sura’s eyes held distress. “I tried very hard; I tried very hard to beco more powerful. Everyday, I would practice as if my life depended on it. I would go out to steal a few coins before returning. I would use every possible thod to make sure mama didn’t beco suspicious. But mama was really, very exhausted. When I was 13 years-old, she had fallen ill from constantly overworking herself and passed away. Although I had gone crazy and begun stealing money heavily to give her treatnt for her illness, but——she still died. When she was faced with death, mama told who my father was. It’s because of him. If it wasn’t for that bastard, mama wouldn’t have beco like this. I vowed in front of mama’s grave that inevitably there will be a day where I will seize back everything that belongs to and take revenge for my mama and younger brother.”
Wrapping his arm around Sura’s shoulder, Ye Yin Zhu, choked with emotion, said, “Sura, don’t cry. Regardless of what happens, I will stand beside you. Your business is my business. But this silver coin is really too precious. I…”
Sura abruptly lifted his head and tearfully said, “Don’t tell you cannot accept it. When I stole it, I made a resolution. If there was a day where I could find soone who was as good as mama, I would give him this silver coin. And you are that person I’ve been looking for.”
Ye Yin Zhu once again looked at the silver coin in his hand. At this very mont, in his heart, this silver coin’s value had already risen boundlessly. This was no longer a silver coin; instead, this was Sura’s trust and affections for him. Any divine device would never be as precious as this silver coin.
“Alright, I accept. I will definitely take care of it properly.” Ye Yin Zhu didn’t imdiately place the silver coin in his space ring. Instead, he concealed it in his shirt, placing it so it rested against his skin——close to his heart.
Sura wiped the tears off his face. “Several years have already passed. Every ti I think about them, I can’t help but cry. Yin Zhu, am I too weak?”
Ye Yin Zhu wiped the tears at the corner of his own eyes and said, “How can that be? Am I not also crying alongside you? Sura, who is your father? He and your mother…”
Sura’s complexion changed slightly. “He was a great nobleman. At that ti, mother was rely his maid. When mother was on the verge of leaving his mansion with the intention of living a new life, that night, he raped her. Mother left that place sorrowed and humiliated, but a few months later, she discovered and my younger brother. Don’t ask who he is. I won’t tell you. This is sothing I must settle on my own.”
“Yin Zhu, Sura, let’s go. Have you finished packing?” Xiang Luan’s voice ca from outside the room.
Ye Yin Zhu and Sura glanced at each other. The mood gone, Sura grabbed Ye Yin Zhu’s Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar Zither beside him and handed it to Yin Zhu. He said, “Your zither didn’t break, but the bow strings have all snapped.”
That day, when the song finished, Ye Yin Zhu’s mind had nearly been driven to the brink of insanity. In the end, he still hadn’t been able to completely control the zither song, which lead to the sound waves going out of control and the bow strings of Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar snapping. One should know that these were seven strings made of dragon tendons! Wanting to re-string the zither wouldn’t be easy to do.
Ye Yin Zhu sowhat helplessly accepted the Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar Zither and said, “I have no choice but to think of so way to fix it later. We need to go.”
Sura masked his emotions well. When they left the room, the sorrow on his face had already completely disappeared.
The reinforcents dispatched from Sacred Heart City consisted of ten thousand Heavy Cavalry and thirty thousand infantry, a formidable troop arrangent. At this mont, they were already outside Konya City, ready and waiting to set off. The five hundred Dragon Cavalry that had lost their mounts only had one task: to protect the prince and prince by their Highnesses’ side.
Ye Yin Zhu appeared, and all the troops imdiately beca quiet. Everyone stared at him, their gazes becoming slightly different. The Dragon Cavalry Knights’ gazes had plenty of fear and anger in them, while the students of Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts had, for the most part, admiration in them. After all, these were children of nobility that didn’t see the deaths of tad dragons to be very significant. At the very least, Ye Yin Zhu had helped saved their lives.
“Idol, quickly get on,” Fisichella called out to Ye Yin Zhu.
Ye Yin Zhu helplessly said, “Your Highness the prince, you shouldn’t continue calling that.”
Fisichella chuckled mischievously and said, “I also don’t want to, but I can’t help it! Idol, you were truly, incredibly aweso. Get on first; then we can talk.”
Ye Yin Zhu and Sura got in the carriage together. This first carriage certainly had very little occupants. Naturally, this was because Xiang Luan and Fisichella’s identities. Inside the carriage, before Ye Yin Zhu and Sura had joined, there was Xiang Luan, Hai Yang, and Fisichella. This luxurious, spacious carriage seed to have more than enough space to spare.
“Idol, this ti, you can claim a lot of credit for yourself for the enemy’s defeat. Our side’s losses only amounted to a thousand tad dragons and five hundred Falcon Dragon Cavalry. And even though the opponent’s Behemoths can’t be described as seriously injured, we annihilated close to forty thousand troops of the army. From what I see, you don’t even need to go back to school this ti; you can imdiately beco a Court Mage.”
Xiang Luan lifted her hand and rapped Fisichella’s head. “What nonsense are you saying? Yin Zhu is still young; naturally, he will return to school. Though, I am verily looking forward to seeing what Imperial Father will bestow upon him; I wonder what it will be?”
Fisichella rubbed his head and softly said to himself, “With you to say good words on his behalf, can sothing bad even be bestowed?”
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