Even though the little girl was covered in dirt, her eyes were akin to the stars in the night sky. They were bright and pure.
The little girl stared at Shen Lian. “Brother, are you one of the bad people who came to catch Yinyin? Please don’t eat me! Yinyin is very dirty,” she spoke in fear.
Shen Lian should have laughed, but he could not. The little girl had brows and eyes that were similar to that of Shen Ruoxi, or rather, that of him. They both had nice and exquisite features.
Shen Lian bowed and extended his hand, the little girl who was still in fear holding on to Shen Lian’s hand.
Shen Lian spoke gently to her, “Brother isn’t a bad person, and how did you get here?” It was as though his words were magical, or rather; the sharp instinct of a child told her that it was safe to trust him.
“Uncle Bai brought me here.”
“Where is he now?”
“A lot of bad people are trying to catch Yinyin, and Uncle Bai said he was going to lure them away, but he never return,” the little girl spoke. “Brother, can you go look for Uncle Bai?” She tugged on his hand as she pleaded with him.
She knew that Shen Lian was not one of the people who came to capture her.
Shen Lian brushed aside the strand of hair on her forehead, and he sighed.
******
He found out who the little girl was. Back then, Shen Ruoxi got married to Qing He Jun Wang. The richest family in the northwest, the Shen family would naturally be on the same boat as Qing He Jun Wang.
This was not Old Master Shen’s idea, as he passed away in the winter a year after Shen Lian had left. The impressive man who started from scratch and had amassed much fortune succumbed to old age. All these great achievements in his life, and yet he could not bring even half of it away.
He was not considered as a good person because not all of the Shen family’s money was clean. They were stained with blood. He could not even be considered as a good father. However, in the period of time shortly before he passed away, he frequented An Inn. He sat in the room Shen Lian used to live in, and that was where he died too.
Maybe Shen Lian was the reason why, or maybe it was Shen Lian’s mother – his daughter who died young.
Twelve years ago, Shen Ruoxi was married to Qing He Jun Wang. Seven years later, she was pregnant with the little girl, but she died in labor. She was Qing He Jun Wang’s only daughter. Due to the Shen family, Qing He Jun Wang loved Shen Ruoxi dearly, as they were his wallet.
After that, Qing He Jun Wang plotted a rebellion. When he lost, he retreated to the State of Qing. However, he did not manage to control the rebel army that rebelled along with him. Before the army even got to the State Capital of Qing, he was beheaded by his subordinate. Everyone in the Shen family shared the same fate, and the little girl who was saved by Bai Yufei was the sole survivor.
Bei Yufei was one of the few people who had insider news about the Shen family. Besides Shen Lian, the little girl was the last descendant of the Shen family.
Shen Lian found out about all these when he rescued the gravely-injured Bai Yufei. Shen Lian nursed Bai Yufei’s wound as well.
Bai Yufei could finally rest easy knowing that Shen Lian was the one who found the little girl. He knew that he did not have a chance in Celestialism, and wanted to just spend the rest of his life in peace and quiet. Hence, he decided not to stay with Shen Lian, and bade him farewell. He planned to start afresh at a new place, where he would spend the rest of his life.
The night Bai Yufei left, Shen Lian hunted down the subordinate who betrayed his master for personal gains. He was also the one who instructed the rebel army to kill off everyone in the Shen family.
What Shen Lian did, it did not make him feel better. However, killing more people who were involved in the incident would not do any good either.
The little girl’s name was Ruoxi, same as her mother, Shen Ruoxi.
Young Ruoxi did not understand why she must address Shen Lian as her uncle and insisted on addressing him as Shen Lian brother.
Uncle Bai said that so long as she stayed with to brother, no one would dare to come and capture her. However, she still missed her Lord Father, her grandfather, and her grandmother.
Uncle Bai claimed that brother was a Celestial, so she begged him to bring her to her Lord Father, because they had all gone to someplace far away that they could never return from.
However, brother said he could not do it. But was he not a Celestial? Celestials could fly like birds and they could go anywhere they wanted to.
young Ruoxi thought that the Celestial brother was a liar because he could actually fly, yet he refused to bring her to her Lord Father and the rest.
She noticed a lot of strange things about brother. He was always creating things out of thin air, even though those things were too big to be hidden on him. It was more magical than all the magic tricks that she had seen before.
Gradually, she started liking the idea of being around brother.
Back then, she could only stay in the manor or her grandfather’s home, and she did not get to see the world outside. She loved to watch magic tricks, and her Lord Father hired a group of magicians to perform for her. However, what she loved more was the excitement and the buzz of a magic show. Ever since her babysitter helped her to sneak out a year ago, she fell in love with the outside world. She loved the bustle and the noise. Back at both the manor and her grandfather’s home, the buildings were big, and yet she felt so lonely.
However, since that incident, she had never seen her babysitter again, and she was not allowed to go out, not even once.
Following brother around gave her the opportunity to meet different people every day. She could go to noisy places, and could even play without a care in the world.
Until one day, brother brought her to Shendu, allegedly the most happening place in the world.
Shendu was big and crowded. There were a lot of fun things to do, a lot of yummy food to eat, and a lot of beautiful clothes. Yet, what she loved most was Tanghulu, a type of candied fruit snack on a stick.
However, everyday brother only let her eat one stick at most.
After brother brought her to Shendu, they settled down and opened a clinic.
She knew that clinic was a place where sick people were healed and saved. However, no one came to see brother even though he had opened a clinic. She heard the uncles and aunts around saying that brother was too young to be a good healer.
She was infuriated! Brother was strong and powerful, they just did not know it.
Besides telling her lies and not letting her eat Tanghulu, there were things about brother that displeased her.
For instance, he made her study and practice writing.
She hated studying, and she did not like to write either. She thought of her Lord Father occasionally, and most of the time she was just thinking about what to eat and to play.
However, she was afraid that she will make brother angry. Though, she had never seen him getting angry the way her Lord Father did.
The words were easy to remember, she only needed one look to remember them. She could write them out too, but brother always said that she wrote them wrong.
In the end, brother did not allow her to write any other words. She was made to write the same word, “Yong” – forever – all over again by referring to the “Yong” written by brother.
She took the paper that was full of countless scribbles of “Yong” and handed it over to brother.
Shen Lian took a good look at it, and the paper disappeared.
Young Ruoxi was not surprised at all, as she had gotten used to it already.
He did not offer any compliments or criticisms, and Young Ruoxi was slightly disappointed.
Sometimes, Shen Lian thought that Young Ruoxi looked like her mother, but her brows and eyes seemed to have taken after him.
It was not just Young Ruoxi who addressed him as her brother; even outsiders thought that they were siblings.
Shen Lian could not be bothered to explain, and it was impossible to correct Young Ruoxi now, so he decided to just let things take its course.
To lessen the guilt he felt, he decided that he would raise this child, even though he had never taken care of a child before.