"Why are you guys staring at me weirdly? Never seen someone as handsome as me?" Ash chuckled, his gaze swept across the crowd.
The bystander's expression showed a mix of fear, surprise, awe, and confusion as they looked at him.
"Big Brother Ash, you're so cool." Xiao Mei praised Ash excitedly, her eyes glimmering brightly as she looked at Ash with full admiration.
Ignoring the others' reaction, Ash patted Xiao Mei softly with a smile. "Xiao Mei is not scared?"
Ash actually had forgotten that there was Xiao Mei, an innocent little girl at the scene. Fortunately, when he remembered about it and looked over, he didn't see a terrified expression on her face and instead saw an excited expression.
"Mei Mei is not scared." Xiao Mei shook her head innocently, then continued with a sad expression as if she was about to cry. "Mei Mei is used to seeing people close to her die."
Ash was surprised by the words that came out of her mouth, thinking to himself. 'What has this little girl gone through that much for her to say something like this?'
"Hey, don't be sad. Okay?" Ash petted her head, trying to console when he saw her saddened expression.
He then continued with a smile. "How about we go somewhere to eat something delicious until we're full?"
"Really?" Xiao Mei's sad expression suddenly disappeared, replaced by an overjoyed expression in an instant.
"Of course. We will go to—"
Before Ash could finish his sentence, Aetherion interrupted him.
"Let her choose the place." Aetherion tapped his shoulder once and said seriously.
Ash knitted his eyebrows for a second, thinking what was Aetherion up to for requesting something like this.
"Alright then, Xiao Mei will be the one who chooses the place, okay?" Ash asked.
"Okayyy! Xiao Mei knows the best restaurant with cheap prices in Baiye City." Xiao Mei gave a thumbs up as if telling him to not worry about it.
But then she remembered something and asked Ash, "Can we go back home first? We need to give the medicine we found to brother Hao first."
"Of course, can we follow you along? I want to meet the brother Hao that you've talked about." Ash asked with a smile.
"That would be the best." Xiao Mei giggled happily.
Subsequently, they walked toward the gate but when they arrived right in front of the gate, the people from the Bai family greeted them and asked if they wanted to have a feast at their manor instead.
However, Ash declined them immediately since he couldn't be bothered with them and knew that their true intentions was to suck his ass up.
After going to a slum area and walking deeper inside, they arrived in front of a rundown small house made out of wood that most of them had rotted away.
"Brother Hao!" Xiao Mei shouted while running cutely toward the house.
As she opened the door slowly, Xiao Mei said excitedly. "I'm home! I also bring new friends that are going to buy us a lot of rice and flour, brother Hao!"
"Mei Mei, be careful! Don't trust others easily." A 14 year old boy tried to sit down with a struggle.
"Where's grandpa Lu?" Hao patted Xiao Mei with a smile.
"Brother Hao, don't move around and just lay down." Xiao Mei said with a worried expression, trying to help him to lay down but he refused.
"What do you mean by bringing new friends along? Xiao Mei, I've told you to be careful with strangers because there are too many bad people in the outside world." Hao looked at her seriously.
"I know, but they seem to be good people and they are also extremely strong!" Xiao Mei explained quickly.
Just as Xiao Mei and Hao were chatting, the old man bowed politely in front of the door, stretching out his hand as he wanted Ash and the others to go inside first. "Sir, I'm sorry for making you visit such a place."
"You don't need to be so polite like this." Ash helped the old man to stand up with a smile.
The moment Ash stepped inside the house, he saw Xiao Mei move cutely as she tried to imitate Li Jiao's when he made his move in killing the people from the Qiu family.
When Hao noticed Ash and the others' presence, he immediately became wary and picked Xiao Mei up, putting her behind him and glared at them.
Ash smiled kindly when he looked at this scene. However, the smile suddenly disappeared and turned to a solemn expression as he noticed Hao's situation.
His whole body was filled with bruises, scars, and wounds as if he had gone through such a long torture.
"Aeth, heal him!" A voice that was a commanding one rather than a request came out of Ash's mouth this time.
Looking at Hao's condition, his heart really stopped beating for a second as he had never expected someone could be this cruel to a teenager.
"Wait." Aetherion waved his hand and walked slowly to Hao with a serious expression.
Ash knitted his eyebrows for a second but when he noticed Aetherion's expression, he decided to let Aetherion do whatever he wanted because he was also curious what he was up to.
"Lend me your hand." Aeth opened his palm, stretching it out toward Hao.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to you." Aetherion smiled kindly, then continued after pausing for a second when he saw that Hao was still being to him. "How about this? I'll heal you and give you anything you want as a price for letting me examine your body for a bit?"
"Brother Hao, just agree with him!" Xiao Mei excitedly urged him from behind without touching him since she was afraid of hurting him more.
"Not enough? I'll add another condition then. If it's as I expected it to be, I'll help you to become so strong that no one would be able to bully you and your little sister in the future." Aetherion smiled.
"Really? Can you help me become stronger?" Hao's vigilance was replaced by a curious yet excited expression.
"Of course!" Aetherion chuckled in response.
"How strong are you?" Hao raised an eyebrow.
"Me? Strong enough that no one of the same rank could be my opponent." Aetherion replied with a smile.
"Brother Hao, that swordsman killed the young master, the patriarch, and the ancestor of the Qiu family!" Xiao Mei chimed in excitedly.
"What?!" Hao was stunned, then immediately banged his head on the wooden bed as hard as he could. "Sir, I'm sorry! Please forgive my rudeness. It is all my fault, my little sister and grandpa Lu don't have anything to do with it."
"As I said, you don't need to worry about anything since we're not here with ill intentions." Aetherion helped him to get up and waved his hand, restoring the wound on his forehead instantly.
…