Chapter 4: Bai Family

The process of destroying the Tian family wasn't actually "kill everyone in one night", despite what Ling Hongyun wanted it to be. That would actually be too easy on the two parties. Instead, it was like poison. Continuing to spread and spread inside something and not stopping, the poisoned little thing not realizing until it's too late.

It was absolutely delightful to see them slowly fall apart without realizing it and scrambling to straighten everything out when it was too late.

It was a good thing that this world was based on strength. The stronger you are, the more people make it a good thing to not question anything.

A flaw in that thinking was that they dismiss logistics.

It was almost stupid how easy it was to get the one in charge of logistics to turn tail and mess everything up. The woman—Xue Fei—had been all too happy to leave everything to Tian Leiji.

It was also from her that Leiji had learnt about the horrible sexism in this world. It was to the point that left the former Lightning Empress gaping at the utterly, horribly—just. Men. Humans in general. Justice would have been furious, so horribly furious and everyone else would have helped her. Lightning could hear all the ear-grating screams already.

Taking a break from all that, Bai Shaoxue had invited them—well, more of just Tian Lanbing and Ling Hongyun, but Tian Leiji had went together with them anyways—to his family's own place.

The first thing that Leiji noticed was that it was…small. Not necessarily, but the Tian household was bigger. Wasn't it usually the stronger family that has the bigger house? What, did the emperor live in a shack or something? That would be weird.

Or maybe it was just the Tian that were weird.

Yeah, that was probably it.

(Tian Leiji had no idea how right she was.)

This was surreal. Haunting, harrowing, terrifying, all of that packed into one child that should not, by any means, be here and frankly?

The knowledge that he was in the vicinity of the protagonist was absolutely, amazingly frightening. Especially when said protagonist was not a sunshine and rainbows protagonist but a blood and torture protagonist! Internalize the screaming, he tells himself; internalize it before everyone else thinks he has gone insane.

But seeing the protagonist as a still innocent and cute child—who was for some reason not at all injured, wasn't he supposed to be recovering from being hit by Tian Yulong at this time?—was actually quite underwhelming.

He was just…a child. Granted, he had silver hair and yellow eyes that looked way too mature for his age, but still. Just a child.

Seeing the protagonist up close like this, he couldn't help but feel like he rediscovered that this was all real and that this was the person destined to take over the world out of pure spite and hatred. Someone who, in the future, would be unstable and insane enough to resort to extreme self-harm for closure and—

It was not his place to say or know these things.

He only had one mission, that was to survive.

Nothing else. Nothing else, and so he should not interfere with the plot anymore. He really, really shouldn't if he wants to complete the mission. Problem was, there was a child who was being abused—

(He should not interfere anymore, but he would, if only to pay those long gone morals another visit.)

There was a pause, Leiji looked at the door that had been swung open, then at the child who had opened it, making eye contact with him. She could swear that there was a flash of recognition in them before he slowly started to close the door.

Shaoxue exclaimed before he could completely shut it close though, "Feifei! Come here and play with us!"

'Feifei' reopens the door he was closing and nodded at Bai Shaoxue, a carefully blank expression rested upon his face. He looks even more similar to Shaoxue when looking at the two of them side by side, the biggest difference being their expressions, one with an innocent and cheerful one and the other having a deliberately blank one that looked more like a pout on his childish face.

"This is Third Brother!"

'Third Brother' continued for Bai Shaoxue, "My name is Bai Qiafei."

"My name is…Tian Leiji," Tian Leiji introduced hesitating ever so slightly on the Tian. She should change it to Lu, so she and her mother could match. Tian Lanbing introduced herself and invited Bai Qiafei, Ling Hongyun very pointedly grumpy and not saying anything.

Bai Qiafei honestly just sat there and watched over them rather than play or do anything, he was lucky if Leiji was asked, because the two children were dragging her and Hongyun around.

Shaoxue and Hongyun were quite cute together actually. When they grew up and ever talked about these times, it would be a very "fluff" moment.

It was a "well kept secret" in her past world that the Lightning Empress loved reading and watching, as they call it in Sky's area of governance, "shounenai" and the only reason any of them knew was because they got gutsy enough to barge into her room while she was watching it on the very big and very conspicuous hologram projector with a big container of cookies in one hand and a mug of what seemed to be steaming hot melted caramel.

It was quite amusing, their reactions, that the mortification of being barged into while only half-dressed and in an utter mess was ignored.

It was after that fiasco ended that Sky and Earth finally got the guts to come out and say that they were dating even though everyone, absolutely everyone knew it, then Creation proposed to Star and Moon threw a tantrum that absolutely destroyed the building they were in while challenging and somehow winning against Creation for daring to propose to his brother.

Which was amazing because Creation was in the mid-ranks while Moon was last in terms of strength.

Truly, the power of family was unparalleled.

It was only soon after that that Lightning had been invited to a group that apparently had a bunch of people who talked about the relationships and who to get together.

Honestly, Lightning couldn't have wished for a better pseudo-family.

Bai Xiaoxue was from the Bai Family, aka the family that was interested in the Tian after their recent distress. All this made family shenanigans made her wonder just where Ling Hongyun's parents were and why they were letting a young child wander around, but he could also just be a homeless one…

Though, whenever Tian Leiji remembered the quite nice and probably expensive robes—those were dirtied and torn so much until they couldn't be mended anymore, Tian Leiji would never forget it because Lu Yanhei had complained about that—that Ling Hongyun had worn when they first met and eventually until followed him back, he couldn't help but think that Ling's family probably either hated him or were very, very eccentric.

It was also from Bai Qiafei that she learned that same-gender marriage was generally unacceptable unless you were a demonic arts practitioner and that if you even think that it was a little bit alright then people would isolate you. It was apparently only tolerable if the person was strong enough or had a lot of authority.

Really, there was something about the Bai family that was apparently not very normal either, if her mother's very subtle but clear to Tian Leiji's avoidance of them. Was there a history between them or something?

Ling Hongyun barged into her room unreservedly, not pausing at all. It was a normal thing by now and for some reason mother did not instill the politeness into him the same way she did to her. Now that Leiji thought about it, there were many things that mother did with a reason that Leiji simply did not know and has never thought to ask, always assuming that mother would tell her someday.

He had a snarl on his face, leaning on the door as if afraid that something would break in like he just did.

"Little boy," he all but says calmly, gesturing wildly in an uncharacteristic manner. That, of course, is what makes Tian Leiji pause in doing up her hair. Her eyes catch onto a small embroidered 'Jin' that seems to be painted over with something black to make it match with the rest of the ribbon, as if hiding it.

She tilts her head to Hongyun and asks without words, "What is it?"

He keeps gesturing and can't seem to find the words to say, a pout finding its way onto his face as he slows down and starts to calmly think about it.

Ling Hongyun makes a confused expression and inclines his head towards Tian Leiji, shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "What should I do?"

Tian Leiji asks with words this time, not minding at all that they might as well have some kind of telepathic connection at this point. The person she was closest to in this world after her second mother was Ling Hongyun and something about mother's bond felt, it felt wrong. Lu Yanhei loved her, yes, but it was sometimes hard to know that the child you gave birth to was the result of something bad.

"What do you want to know?" she asks freely. She has a whole lifetime's worth of memories and Ling Hongyun's main concern sometimes was just get stronger, not to mention the biggest thing that would be on his mind other than being a battle maniac would be—"Feelings," he hissed liked the word was a disease.

Ah.

So that was what it is.

Ling Hongyun has always been someone who moved by logic and instincts sometimes, and his logic when dealing with people were just generally, "fight me". However, Bai Shaoxue is too weak for him and thus he does not know how to deal with it.

In short, he does not know how to deal with children.

"You like him." She was sure about that. "Fond, attached. Like with me, but gentler."

Tian paused for a moment before emphasizing again. "Gentler."

Ling harrumphed and left the room with sweep of his robes. Tian sighed and continued putting her hair up. The boy was merely confused, knowing logically that he should like females but also liking males.

Hongyun stopped at the sight of the dangerous one, nodding at her. The little one was truly lucky to have someone such as her as a parent, not that he was unlucky to have his own parents, but to each their own.

She looked at him curiously and smiled in that way.

That, of course, is why Ling Hongyun would never understand the reason little boy insists on protecting this dangerous one when it is so very obvious that it was the other way around. There is a reason why it is the parents that protect their children, not the other way around like little boy is trying to do. He was still too naïve, inexperienced.

That was fine for now.

(Because for now did not mean forever, and this trend will break one day.)

Tian Lanbing complained, "Father and mother no longer spend as much time together with me anymore."

Tian Leiji could only raise a brow and offer condolences, apologizing in her heart for making use of a naïve child even if it was not intentional. This would bite him in the ass sometime in the future he just knew it!

Lanbing was a darling and probably wouldn't understand it completely, but they should tell her about this anyway.

Now with the Tian family, after she destroyed their logistivcs, all their businesses either stagnated or went bankrupt entirely, though it was odd that only after the very last one drop that they had the mind to worry, some even panicking, for a reason or two Tian did not know, they all seemed pretty calm even after that. Which meant they were either that idiotic or had a good backing.

It was only when he dropped a poison into the old master's meal and he fell ill and died shortly after did they panic. The young master was taken care of too, in the same way and they all rightfully blamed Leiji.

It was true. Though the Tian were very biased against Tian Leiji, her mother and the other boy she brought back, they were just normal nobles to the servants.

After that was Tian Yulong, the women and their children all scattering to their own families, the other masters of the house leaving to for whatever that Tian Leiji did not care. The only two remaining Tian in the manor was Leiji herself and Lanbing. From hearsay though, they apparently had an older step-sister who ran away and was roaming around doing odd jobs somehow escaping the usual sexism that plagued this world.

It felt familiar to Leiji, she filed away the name Tian Languang for any further thought.

(Is that you, Light? Balance? Death? Q?)

It was when she heard rumors of several familiar people being chased around by some powerful strangers that she looked at Ling Hongyun and verified that his parents were probably just really strange. Then again, she had no say in it either, her second mother let a seven-year old destroy a family.

Were all parents in this world that weird? But there was also Tian Yulong, clearly it wasn't like that. Whatever.

There were four graves in the backyard of the courtyard Leiji and Yanhei has lived in their entire lives, they were new and obviously important enough. Currently, even though the Tian's businesses had failed, they had enough savings to last them a while unless they decide to break the entire house or something.

All the graves had the surname Lu, Tian Leiji bowed to the non-existent remnants of her mother's family and promises with the world as a witness, "I'll protect her."