This Is Happiness

"You... you..." Hearing Yi Yun's arrogant words, the young man's face turned green with anger. He said furiously, "This is grain bestowed by the Brocade Dragon Guard, how could you... how could you..."

Before the boy could finish speaking, Yi Yun smiled.

Sun Jingrui also laughed.

The other Brocade Dragon Guard soldiers also burst into laughter; it was a merciless mockery.

"This silly kid is something else," Sun Jingrui said with a smile.

The boy was stunned; he finally realized that he had just said something ridiculous.

Yi Yun's smile vanished, and he said coldly, "If you want to share the food, fine, but you'll have to eat all the cow dung that was thrown into my sister's house back then, and then we'll give it to you."

The children who had followed the boy in throwing cow dung back then turned pale. "Your houses were burned down, and the cow dung... the cow dung was burned too!"

"That's what a child said."

Yi Yun glanced at the child impatiently, "There's plenty of manure in the village, you can find it anywhere."

"You... you..." The boy gritted his teeth. He realized that Yi Yun had come to play him today!

He never intended to distribute food to them in the first place, and then he publicly humiliated him!

He was filled with resentment, and his gaze towards Yi Yun was filled with endless malice.

He knew he couldn't beat Yi Yun, so he cursed Yi Yun and Yi Yun's whole family in his heart.

Yi Yun frowned, but before he could speak, Liu Tie had already leaped up.

"You son of a bitch, what are you glaring at me for! Gouge your eyes out!"

Liu Tie punched the boy in the face, swelling his eye. Then, Liu Tie grabbed the boy's hair and punched him again, making his nose bleed.

Liu Tie was absolutely ruthless. This boy was even a little older than Tao Yunxiao; why should he show him any mercy? People in the village marry young; a fifteen-year-old boy should be getting married in another year or two.

Liu Tie punched and kicked the boy relentlessly until he screamed in agony, crying for his parents! The boy's grandfather, a Clan Elder of the Lian Clan, watched with a livid face, but dared not stop Liu Tie.

What goes around comes around. This boy was once the village's notorious bully. He led a group of henchmen, swaggering around and beating up any children who dared to defy him. Some little girls were taken advantage of and bullied terribly, with no one to turn to for help.

Yi Yun ignored all of this. He suddenly realized that sometimes, having a lackey wasn't so bad.

Seeing that everything was mostly settled, Yi Yun jumped onto the Unicorn Giant Rhinoceros and said to Liu Tie, "Keep an eye on the grain. I'll be back in half an hour to distribute it!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Tie was overjoyed. This was the first time Yi Yun had given him an order!

Sometimes people are just like that, so eager to be lackeys. Liu Tie was one of them. He immediately patted his chest and guaranteed that he would definitely complete the task.

Yi Yun greeted Sun Jingrui and then rode away on his Unicorn Giant Rhinoceros.

His destination, of course, was the back mountain; he was going to pick up Jiang Xiaorou!

For some reason, as Yi Yun prepared to go to the back mountain, he suddenly felt uneasy, and this unease made Yi Yun frown...

He pulled on the reins and sped up!

The Unicorn Giant Rhinoceros kicked up a cloud of dust as it rushed towards the back mountain of the Lian Clan!

Witnessing Yi Yun leave, the people of the Tao Clan had extremely complicated feelings, especially those villagers from the Lian Clan who had previously mocked Yi Yun or bullied Jiang Xiaorou; their faces were extremely ugly at this moment.

They had been hoping that Yi Yun wouldn't remember these things, but now it seems that Yi Yun remembers them all clearly, one by one!

The grain transported by the Brocade Dragon Guard this time was not only for the relief of the Lian Clan, but also for Yi Yun to settle old scores.

Lian Clan, back mountain--

The weather in the mountains is always colder than in the village. It was already deep winter, and apart from the swiftly flowing East River, the mountain springs behind the Lian Clan had frozen over. The ground was covered with thick fallen leaves, like a carpet.

But among these fallen leaves, there are also tall, evergreen trees that grow so lushly that they block out the blue sky.

Hidden in a secluded evergreen tree, someone built a simple treehouse. Although the wind was howling outside, the treehouse was warm as spring, because the bones of the Crimson Scale Beast were there, constantly emitting rich fire energy.

Inside the treehouse, a fifteen-year-old girl, barefoot, sat by the window, her small hands supporting her pointed chin, gazing absently out of the treehouse...

This is the sixteenth day...

Sixteen days have passed since Yi Yun left. Jiang Xiaorou counts the days one by one, wondering how Yi Yun is doing now.

These days, Jiang Xiaorou hasn't had much to do, and Yi Yun has told her to try not to go out. She usually stays in the treehouse.

After all, whether it's wild beasts or members of the Lian Clan's Warrior Reserve Camp, it would be extremely dangerous if Jiang Xiaorou were to run into them.

So all Jiang Xiaorou can do every day is watch over them.

She sat in the wooden cabin, gazing at the small patch of sky outside the window, looking at the ancient trees that were hundreds of years old, and at the unchanging boulders in the mountains.

Sunrise and sunset, clouds drifting and gathering—every morning Jiang Xiaorou watches as a thin layer of frost forms on the boulder. By noon, the frost melts into vapor, and at night, moonlight casts a silvery glow upon the stone...

Jiang Xiaorou could only wait, and keep waiting.

Day after day, she sat alone, anxiously waiting, which sometimes caused Jiang Xiaorou to have bad dreams, waking her up suddenly.

It's noon...

A rare ray of warm winter sunlight pierced through the gaps in the woods and shone on Jiang Xiaorou's face.

Under the sunlight, Jiang Xiaorou's smooth hair shimmered with a faint golden light.

Suddenly, with a soft sound, a squirrel darted up into the treehouse and stopped at the window.

Upon seeing the fluffy squirrel, Jiang Xiaorou surprisingly showed a slight smile.

This is a companion she discovered by chance. In recent years, due to overhunting, there are very few animals left in the mountains behind the Lian Clan.

With this little companion by her side, Jiang Xiaorou felt much less lonely. She fed the little guy grains and corn, and it would always come begging for food.

Jiang Xiaorou sprinkled some corn kernels down, then wrapped her long, slender legs around her arms and quietly watched the little one eat.

The little guy ate very quickly, his cheeks puffing out, but he was very alert, occasionally raising his head to look around.

Looking at this adorable little guy, Jiang Xiaorou finally felt a little relieved.

"Yun'er's election should be over by now."

Jiang Xiaorou sighed softly, then looked out the window again, "I wonder how his results are... Yun'er's strength has improved a lot these days, but the Divine Kingdom Grand Selection is full of experts. There are dozens of them just from the small tribes near the Tao Clan. Each one is no smaller than the Lian Clan... and the Tao Clan itself is a behemoth..."

Jiang Xiaorou was very worried about Yi Yun. She didn't expect Yi Yun to pass the election so that she could get rich.

Rather, she knew that Lian Chengyu was very likely to become Brocade Dragon Guard, and if Yi Yun did not become Brocade Dragon Guard, he would lose the protection of the Brocade Dragon Guard and might be assassinated by Lian Chengyu!

At that time, Yi Yun will be in danger.

Jiang Xiaorou was always worried when she thought about this.

Although Jiang Xiaorou grew up in the Great Wilderness, she did not believe in gods. However, for the past ten days or so, she had been praying for Yi Yun every moment, hoping for a miracle and for Yi Yun to truly pass the election.

These kinds of days are actually very hard to get through.

Just as Jiang Xiaorou was slightly lost in thought, suddenly, the little guy who was munching on corn kernels put down its favorite food from its paws, stood up, and looked around warily. It stopped chewing what was in its mouth, its cheeks were still bulging, and its dark little eyes were full of vigilance.

Jiang Xiaorou's heart skipped a beat. What's wrong?

She listened intently and heard a deafening rumble, as if some giant wild beast was running through the mountains.

The little squirrel was terrified. It darted behind Jiang Xiaorou in a flash. Over the past few days, the little squirrel had come to trust Jiang Xiaorou quite a bit.

Jiang Xiaorou stood up, and the sound grew louder and louder, clearly indicating that the Giant Beast was approaching.

"Could it be...?"

Jiang Xiaorou's heart skipped a beat. She quickly went to the window and looked out. She saw that many trees in the woods were shaking violently, clearly indicating that a huge creature was approaching.

Jiang Xiaorou held her breath.

After about ten breaths, Jiang Xiaorou finally saw a Giant Beast, two stories high, emerge from the layers of forest and appear before her.

She saw a spirited young man standing on the broad back of the Giant Beast. Amidst the lush forest, the young man's eyes shone like bright stars, and he was handsome and dashing! His fresh and extraordinary features clearly formed a face that Jiang Xiaorou was very familiar with.

"Yun... Yun'er?"

Jiang Xiaorou could hardly believe that the young man in front of her was Yi Yun!?

"Sister Xiaorou!"

After so many days apart, seeing Jiang Xiaorou again filled Yi Yun with mixed emotions. He was overjoyed to see Jiang Xiaorou Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou, as he had been terrified that something might have happened to her.

There is a terrible kind of pain in this world: when you achieve the ultimate success, the only person who could share that success with you is no longer there.

That was an extreme kind of loneliness.

In this world, Yi Yun only has Jiang Xiaorou as family, and only Jiang Xiaorou Yi Yun share his success and joy with him.

Yi Yun hoped that Jiang Xiaorou could always watch over him, watch him become National Scholar, then a marquis and prime minister, and even Human Race Sage!

For some reason, when Yi Yun rode the Giant Beast towards the back mountain today, he suddenly felt uneasy. He was worried that something had happened to Jiang Xiaorou. It wasn't until he saw Jiang Xiaorou that he was able to suppress this feeling.

However, Yi Yun still felt uneasy.

He leaped onto the treehouse, making it shake violently. Then, without a word, Yi Yun hugged Jiang Xiaorou tightly.

It seemed as if letting go would mean losing Jiang Xiaorou.

"Sister Xiaorou, I'm back!"

Yi Yun's nose stung with tears; he didn't know why he had felt that way just now.

Regardless of where that feeling came from, Yi Yun vowed that he would protect Jiang Xiaorou for the rest of his life.

Nestled in Yi Yun's arms, Jiang Xiaorou's beautiful eyes were already filled with tears. "Yun'er, it's so good that you're back, so good that you're back..."

Holding Yi Yun in her arms, Jiang Xiaorou felt nothing but contentment. (To be continued~^~)