Chapter 58: Don’t Blame Grandma
“Haha, this kid is quite wary, huh? Looks like Lady Liu’s words earlier scared him.”
“I want to go to the wilderness with you.”
As Wu Dahai finished speaking, the boy’s tightly pressed lips suddenly moved slightly, and the voice as soft as a mosquito directly left Yu Luo stunned. Even Ye Jiamei beside him was shocked!
“You… you can talk?!”
Hearing Ye Jiamei’s surprised and slightly joyful voice, the boy turned to look at her. His bright eyes were as beautiful as stars in the night sky, blinking so adorably that Ye Jiamei’s heart almost melted.
Ye Jiamei reached out and pulled the boy into her arms. “It’s good that you can talk. But do you even know what the wilderness is like? There are so many of us, and we don’t even know how many will actually make it there alive. You’re so young, you could have a better future. Why are you so foolish to follow us?”
“Exactly! He may look pretty, but even if he isn’t mute, he’s still a fool!”
From the other side, Yu Yingying quickly forgot her earlier fear and couldn’t resist making sarcastic remarks, her words as sharp as ever.
The boy glanced at Yu Yingying but didn’t say anything, closing his mouth again in silence.
“Sigh, let’s just see if we can find some simple villagers on the way. This boy does look quite good, and it would be better for him to grow up in a village.”
In the end, Wu Dahai didn’t bother with the boy anymore and went off to chat with the other guards.
They still had half a day of walking ahead, so during this rest, everyone tried to save their strength.
But ever since they found out the boy could talk, Yu Luo’s family couldn’t stay calm and were too excited to rest.
The three of them surrounded the boy, bombarding him with questions:
“What’s your name?”
“How old are you?”
“Why did you follow us? Are you alone in the town? I gave you some silver, so why didn’t you buy food instead of chasing us with an empty stomach?”
Facing this flurry of questions, the boy looked at them quietly, his lips tightly sealed, refusing to say a word.
“Sigh, why is this kid so unwilling to talk? Since you came all the way from the town to find us, why don’t you just tell us what’s going on?”
Ye Jiamei wasn’t as patient as Yu Haojie. Seeing the boy’s stubborn silence, she couldn’t help but get annoyed.
“My name is Ming Ye. I’m twelve years old and have no family.”
The boy spoke again, and the words left Ye Jiamei, who had been about to scold him, speechless.
She looked at Ming Ye with disbelief, furrowing her brows as if she couldn’t believe what he said.
Not just Ye Jiamei—Yu Luo and Yu Haojie also couldn’t believe it.
After all, the boy looked at most ten years old due to his small and skinny frame.
“Ah, maybe he’s just malnourished. That’s why he’s so small. But twelve years old? Well, that makes him a half-grown lad. In a few more years, he could hold his own. Not bad, not bad.”
Seeing his wife and children’s disbelief, Yu Haojie quickly spoke up to break the silence.
“Sigh, so skinny! He must have been half-starved most of the time to be this small. Ming Ye, is it? Don’t worry, Auntie will give you some silver notes. You can hide them under your shoes. Even if you get adopted, hide it well. If they don’t treat you well, at least you’ll have some money to fall back on, understand?”
With her usual generosity, Ye Jiamei pulled out two silver notes and discreetly stuffed them into Ming Ye’s hands.
“My mom’s right. Better safe than sorry. It’s good to have some silver with you. But don’t hide it all in one place. When you settle down, make sure to stash it in different spots.”
Ming Ye’s eyes widened as he stared at the family of three, his pitch-black eyes shining like gemstones. Though he didn’t say anything, they could all see the gratitude in his eyes.
By evening, they had completed their fifty-mile trek, even surpassing it. But since they had taken the small paths, they hadn’t come across any villages. So, for that night, Ming Ye was still with them.
Thanks to Ye Jiamei’s medicine, Ming Ye’s fever subsided and did not return throughout the night.
That night, everyone crowded together again, safely making it through.
The next morning, Yu Luo could clearly sense a strange atmosphere. Although everyone was busy, their faces were clouded with worry. They all knew that by day’s end, they would reach Pingyang City—meaning they were getting closer to the wilderness.
“Yu Haojie, have you seen Ming Ye?!”
Ye Jiamei was the last to wake up. When she came out and saw Yu Luo putting on her coat, she noticed that the boy was nowhere to be found.
“I saw him in the bedding just a while ago when I went to gather firewood. Where could he have gone in such a short time?”
Yu Haojie stopped what he was doing and looked around, but there was no sign of Ming Ye.
The surrounding convicts were busy washing up and making breakfast, seemingly indifferent to the disappearance of the boy who had appeared in their lives just yesterday.
“Good riddance, I say! Look at how worried you two are. He was just a burden anyway. Now you won’t have to find someone to take him in.”
Liu Lan, busy making breakfast with her sister-in-law Zhang Fen, commented nonchalantly when she saw the couple’s anxious faces.
But Ye Jiamei didn’t listen and continued searching nearby, but the boy was nowhere to be found.
By the time the convoy resumed its journey, and despite looking everywhere, Yu Luo’s family couldn’t find him. They could only give up.
Around noon, as everyone quietly ate and rested, a sudden scream broke the silence, followed by a girl’s sobbing voice, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Grandma! What are you doing? Why are you doing this to me?!”
When everyone’s eyes fell on Yu Xiangxiang, who was pinned to the ground by Mu Chunfang, her face covered in blood, they were all stunned.
Reacting quickly, the second branch of the Yu family rushed forward to snatch the knife from Mu Chunfang’s hands and press a cloth to the wound on Yu Xiangxiang’s face.
But the wound was deep, and bright red blood continued to seep through Yu Shanhai’s fingers, staining Yu Xiangxiang’s clothes!
“Don’t blame Grandma for being cruel. Grandma is protecting you! If those guards really defile you, your purity will be gone, and that would bring shame to our Yu family!”
Hearing Mu Chunfang’s words, everyone was utterly shocked.
Especially Yu Luo and Ye Jiamei, who could hardly believe their ears.
