After his deeply unsatisfying encounter with the young man at the gate, Ma Jingguo walked back into the inn, his mood volatile. Just as he came through the front door, a small, weak body was abruptly shoved and stumbled directly into him. The young man fell backward onto the rough floor.
He stayed seated, head bowed, his voice soft with immediate apology. "I'm so sorry for bumping into you," he murmured, not daring to look up at Ma Jingguo.
A casual acquaintance of Ma Jingguo—a member of his escort—immediately knelt to help the young man up. Ma Jingguo, however, found his gaze locked on the youth's face: the beautiful long eyelashes that were an uncanny echo of Mu Dishi's. For a heart-stopping moment, he thought he was staring at his lost love. The young man, startled, raised his eyes—striking phoenix eyes—to meet Ma Jingguo's own, before quickly retracting his gaze, clearly intimidated.
"What's your name?" Ma Jingguo asked, his voice unexpectedly gentle.
The young man's voice trembled with shyness and fear. "Li… Li… Howin… Li Howin," he managed.
Ma Jingguo's lips curled into a faint, possessive smile. "No one has spoken to me in this tone for a long time."
The moment was shattered by a commotion in the center of the inn where four men were viciously beating another man. Li Howin rushed toward the fray, desperation in his voice. "Don't hit him anymore!" He bravely grabbed one of the attackers' arms.
The man violently shoved Li Howin back. "Get lost! Your loser brother owes us a lot of money!" he roared.
The badly beaten victim, Li Liwei, screamed in pain. "I have no money; I have sold everything I have!" As the kicks continued, he desperately shouted his final offer. "Take Howin as your servant! He can do hard labor!"
The lead debt collector scoffed. "I don't need another mouth to feed. Your brother is too weak; he can't do anything!"
Ma Jingguo stepped forward, his eyes never leaving Li Howin. "Sell your brother to me." The debt collectors froze, turning to stare at the powerful stranger. Ma Jingguo smiled, a predator closing on his prey. "Sell your brother to me, and I will pay off your debt, and besides, I will give you these." He reached into his robe and pulled out two glinting gold ingots.
Li Liwei crawled, scrambling for the gold, his eyes burning with greed. "Yes, he is yours!"
Li Howin frowned, his eyes filled with heartbroken sadness. "Ge…"
Li Liwei met his gaze, devoid of remorse. "Either you or the children."
Ma Jingguo threw four gold ingots to the stunned debt collectors. "For his debts, these should resolve it." He then delivered a cold warning; his voice laced with the authority of the Sunset Sect. "From now on, if someone lets him enter your gambling house, Sunset Sect will destroy everyone in the gambling house." He had not just bought the boy; he had ensured the destruction of the man who sold him.
The four men grabbed the gold ingots and rushed out of the inn.
The rumbling of the carriage wheels brought Ma Jingguo back from his consuming memories to the opulent carriage where he sat across from Li Howin. He looked intently at the young man.
"Xiao Didi, do you like tofu?" Ma Jingguo asked, his voice smooth and searching.
Li Howin shook his head, looking down.
Ma Jingguo's eyes narrowed, staring at him. "Why don't you like tofu?"
Li Howin nervously bit his lip. "I… I… just don't like the taste."
Ma Jingguo sighed, his gaze drifting to the past. "There used to be a person who liked tofu, but he didn't know how to make it, so I spent several months secretly learning. I hoped that one day, I could make some for him." He gave a soft, painful laugh. "But unfortunately, he will never have the chance to eat it." He took a sip of tea. "Also, I have forgotten how to make tofu already."
He glanced at Mu Huidai. "What about you? Do you like tofu?"
Mu Huidai shook her head instantly.
"Do you miss your parents?" he asked, his tone suddenly casual.
Mu Huidai turned, her eyes wide with undisguised horror. Her voice trembled violently. "I do…"
"Are you going to visit your parents too?"
"Yes," she whimpered, bursting into tears.
Ma Jingguo frowned, annoyed. "Why do you feel the need to cry?"
Mu Huidai couldn't stop. "I'm afraid!"
Ma Jingguo ignored her tears, leaning gracefully by the window. He noticed a group of villagers walking on the road and was about to tell Mu Huidai to silence her annoying cries. But the moment he turned his head, his breath caught.
Walking handsomely beside the group, his black, silky hair dancing in the wind, was a figure he knew intimately.
"Stop!" Ma Jingguo roared.
The carriage instantly halted. Ma Jingguo scrambled out and rushed toward the villagers, Yuan Chaomei close behind him.
Inside the carriage, Li Howin quickly handed the crying girl his handkerchief. "Xiao meimei, don't be afraid…"
Mu Huidai took the cloth and wiped her eyes. "Then why does he kiss you? I'm afraid he will do to me what he did to you!"
Li Howin shook his head, explaining the painful truth. "The Chief will not... He kissed me because Chaomei jiejie said that I look like his lover."
Ma Jingguo scanned the villagers as they walked by, but the image vanished. Mu Dishi was nowhere among them.
Yuan Chaomei asked cautiously, "Chief, what's the matter?"
"Chaomei, I saw xiao shushu," Ma Jingguo insisted, his voice ringing with absolute certainty.
"Could Chief have seen it wrong?" she ventured.
"No, I can't be wrong. He is standing next to these people!" He screamed at his subordinates. "Stop them!"
Twenty armed men drew swords and stopped the bewildered villagers. Ma Jingguo and Yuan Chaomei walked back, checking every face twice. Mu Dishi was not there.
"Where are you from?" Ma Jingguo demanded of an elder.
"We are farmers and live nearby."
"Is there a person with the surname Mu with you?"
"I don't believe so."
Ma Jingguo's desperation was agonizing. "Is there any handsome guy among you? He will be shy and not speak."
The elder pondered. "Shy and refuses to speak, nope... but Ah Chen, his wife, and his little girl only came to Wu Village not long ago."
Ma Jingguo's teeth ground together. "Ah Chen… he has a wife and a little girl?"
"Yes."
Ma Jingguo clenched his fist, rage boiling over. "You lied to people that you were dead, but you went to get married and have children!"
The elder pointed back to three people trailing the group. "That's Ah Chen and his family."
Ma Jingguo's eyes narrowed into slits of murderous fury. "Mu… Dishi…" He lunged, grabbing Ah Chen's collar, ready to deliver a savage punch. But as he looked at the man's face, the fever broke. Ah Chen was not Mu Dishi. Ma Jingguo slowly loosened his collar and pushed the terrified man away.
Yuan Chaomei smoothly intervened. "I do apologize." She gave Ah Chen a silver ingot and waved her men to let the villagers pass.
Ma Jingguo stood, utterly defeated. "Chaomei, I really saw xiao shushu walking with the villagers."
Yuan Chaomei spoke gently, trying to soothe his delusion. "Chief, missing someone too much will create a mirage."
Ma Jingguo stiffened, clinging to his sanity. "I am not crazy, nor have I hallucinated." He climbed back into the carriage, which slowly drove away.
Under a tree not far from the roadside, a pale, weak, but handsome man with long eyelashes wiped blood from his pinkish lips with slender fingers. He fixed the bamboo basket to his back and slowly stood up. His black and beautiful hair dancing with the wind, he walked back to the dirt road, following the villagers back toward Wu Village.