Days in the Run

YiFang smiled, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Really? You don't mind? "

BaiYing nodded.

"Erm, not at all, I will try to persuade my sister to treat you better"

Hearing that, YiFang let go of his grip and looked into BaiYing's eyes for quite a long time. Didn't he know? If his sister was also one of the victims of his family massacre? Why is he talking as if she is still alive?

"Eh, Ying'er, are you waiting for your sister Yen?"

BaiYing nodded.

"Yes, luckily, when the incident happened my sister was running away, maybe she's out of town now, one day she will come home and, ... heh, she must be very sad and devastated"

BaiYing fell in silence. His eyes look afar in front. YiFang swallowed hard.

"Xiao Ying, umm, who told you that your sister was outside the city?" asked YiFang.

BaiYing turned his head, frowning.

"Em, Mother, she said that sister had already run away because she didn't want to marry the Crown Prince. She thought the Crown Prince was ugly and fat, that's why, Mother and Father asked me to replace her. Father said been looking for her almost everywhere and couldn't find her. So to save the whole family, I have no choice but to obey them. But, heh, who would have thought, in the end, my whole family had to be killed."

Tears back down BaiYing's cheeks. He lowered his head to his knee. YiFang raised his hand, wiped the tears on the kid's smooth cheeks, and stroked his head.

"Little brother, don't think about it too much, it's all over now. Don't get too sad, I'm here with you"

Bai Ying raises his head and looks at the man with his teary eyes.

"Brother, please don't leave me, I'm an orphan now. I don't have anyone else anymore. Later when you both get married please take me to live with you guys, brother"

YiFang tried to hold back his tears, he nodded as he pulled BaiYing into his arms.

"I will never leave you, never"

BaiYing saw a fresh-looking scratch on YiFang's arm, he wanted to ask but, maybe it was just an ordinary wound because he often went to the forest to hunt and fetch firewood. It's not weird if he got the wound from there. But, some strange thought appeared in BaiYing's head.

"YingYing!"

LuoXiang's loud voice was a moment before he aimed his sword at the man who was holding his body before he lost consciousness.

But, that might just be a coincidence.

"Oh yeah, Brother Fang, how did you find me? Did, you fight with that attacker? Then, did they hurt you? " asked BaiYing with his eyes wide open. He wiped his tears which made his cheeks wet.

YiFang looks slightly stuttering at BaiYing's sudden question.

"Em, yeah, I happened to pass by in front of your house and saw the house was on fire and someone carrying you while running out. I follow him. And that man might have been seriously injured. So when there was a chance, I attacked him and saved you. I'm lucky that the attacker was injured. If not, I might not be able to fight him. After that, I got the news that all the family members were killed in the house. That's, so heartbreaking. Please forgive me, for coming too late."

BaiYing pulled his lips.

"Brother Fang is not their opponent, you will die silly. But, why did those people kill my family? What do they want?"

YiFang frowned.

"Eh, yeah, are they looking for something? Are you hiding something really important in the house?"

YiFang's question made BaiYing wonder, what is so important at home?

As far as he could remember, they weren't as rich as to have rare treasures. Nothing was interesting in their home other than some pottery and jade belonging to his mother and older sister. So what were they looking for? Must be something so great to kill his entire family like that.

"What are they looking for, Brother? What's so important?"

YiFang shrugged his shoulders.

"Um, don't know, but I've heard, long ago there was an attack on the mansion that made Master Hua's second wife, uh forgive me, XiaoYing's mother lose her life. For some reason, I think maybe this has some connection to that incident. Master Hua once said that people come looking for something at home but find nothing, maybe they come back and look for it."

Looking for something? BaiYing frowned, although looking for something, what made these people do it now? Why didn't they try to search since it happened? What made them attack again now, after ten years had passed? This was very strange, and BaiYing didn't know what happened because he was so young back then.

...….

Morning comes.

The sound of the morning birds in the valley can be heard clearly. The sounds of other animals shouting at each other made the atmosphere not so quiet as if listening to them chatting. The sounds of nature comforted him.

BaiYing lay down on the divan at the porch, silently with his eyes looking far at the waterfall, another day passed.

He doesn't remember how many days had passed there but it was so boring. His body was so weak. He was just trying to reach the exit when YiFang went out to the town, and after a few steps, his feet went limp. He almost fell unconscious from being out of breath so fast, either because in the past few days he had not taken medicine for the poison he still had in his body which he needed to drink every day. Although YiFang always gave him medicine from a physician that he had to drink for his illness every morning, like the one on the table right now. The small bowl was almost empty because he had just drunk it.

It's so weird that YiFang always goes out so early every day, it's not like he goes gardening or hunting. Every time he goes out, YiFang always comes home with food from the city. What makes him always go to town every day?

For some reason, BaiYing felt something was strange.

BaiYing was still seated daydreaming on his bed when he saw YiFang emerge from the end of the road. He glanced at the fruit knife on the table, an idea popped into his head.

YiFang had just entered the grounds when he heard a voice from inside the hut.

"Akh!"

It's BaiYing's voice,

Without delay, YiFang who was panicked threw his groceries on the ground and rushed into the house.

"Xiao Ying!"

YiFang's eyes widened wide, blood dripping onto the floor emanating from BaiYing's palms.

"Ying'Er, what happened? Why did your hand bleed like this?"

The wound looked quite deep. BaiYing groaned in pain until his face turned pale. He didn't expect the scratches to be that deep. His blood keeps dripping like water, he could lose all of his blood because of this.

"Ekh, I wanted to cut the fruit, but it slipped, akh" The blood didn't stop even though YiFang had pressed it with a cloth. He panicked and looked around to find anything he could use to stop the blood. YiFang's eyes widened as he saw BaiYing's body go limp and fall back on the bed.

"Brother, my head hurts"

This is bad, thought BaiYing, he hurt himself so badly.

"Xiao Ying! Ying'er! " YiFang panicked seeing BaiYing fall unconscious, and his body fell limply like the falling leaves. He grabbed the boy's body and laid him down on the bed.

"Oh no Xiao Ying, please wait here brother will look for a physician."

After making sure BaiYing was lying properly on the bed YiFang rushed out of the hut, he ran towards the exit.

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