Shameless Lin Xiaohe!

"Old Man Jiang."

Shi Lei lowered his head slightly, his voice so soft it was nearly scattered by the wind.

He felt somewhat embarrassed, unwilling to let others—especially this silent old man who seemed able to see through all the ways of the world—witness his current battered, wretched state.

Yet the manners carved into his bones and his respect for elders still made him halt his stumbling steps. Facing Jiang Ye by the gate, he cupped his hands in a slight salute.

On that face mottled with bruises and swollen out of shape, he forced out an expression uglier than tears.

Seeing this, even Jiang Ye, who had seen all the warmth and coldness of human life, let out a rare sigh. "Boy Shi, you're hurt this badly, and you still came to practice boxing?"

Jiang Ye's voice remained low and hoarse, yet it seemed to carry an indescribable heaviness that it usually lacked.

He did not ask why Shi Lei had been injured.

Shi Lei's body stiffened almost imperceptibly, then he forced himself to relax.

He tugged at the corner of his split lips, trying to put on an indifferent expression, but the motion pulled at his wounds. The pain made him suck in a sharp breath. He could only lower his gaze to stare at the mud-stained tips of his shoes, his voice faint yet stubborn.

"They're just superficial wounds. They shouldn't affect my boxing practice..."

He did not dare meet Jiang Ye's eyes, as though afraid that those aged eyes, capable of seeing through everything, would reveal pity or doubt.

Jiang Ye said nothing more and merely watched him quietly for several seconds.

That gaze was not sharp, yet it weighed heavily upon him, as if it could measure how much of the boy's words was bravado and how much was unwillingness to yield.

In the end.

Jiang Ye only shook his head very slightly, lowered his eyes again, and waved a hand. His voice returned to its usual calmness.

"Go on. Don't overdo it."

Shi Lei answered softly, then kept his head lowered and stepped through the gate, one step at a time, into the Inner Courtyard.

Jiang Ye's gaze followed that staggering yet stubborn figure until he disappeared behind the screen wall.

The instant Shi Lei stepped into the Outer Courtyard, it was like a massive stone crashing into a lake, setting off enormous waves.

"My god! Junior Brother Shi Lei is here!"

"How did he get hurt so badly?!"

"So he really did clash with the Wild Wolf Gang!"

"Those people really are vicious and ruthless..."

The Outer Courtyard disciples instantly erupted. Astonished, sympathetic, horrified cries rose one after another.

Gazes, some open and some furtive, stuck to Shi Lei's body. More than a few people turned their meaningful eyes in unison toward the other side—

There, Lin Xiaohe stood shoulder to shoulder with Hu Tian, their arms nearly touching as they discussed the details of a boxing stance in an intimate posture.

Shi Lei's gaze also slowly followed the unspoken direction of everyone's eyes.

When he clearly saw Lin Xiaohe and Hu Tian standing almost nestled together, his body—which had not completely bent even amid excruciating pain and humiliation—suddenly shuddered, as if struck savagely by an invisible sledgehammer. It seemed as if all his wounds split open at once, sending sharp pain through him.

Meanwhile, when Lin Xiaohe saw Shi Lei enter with his face covered in bruises, her delicate brows furrowed, as though she had seen a plague god.

Her expression changed several times. She quickly leaned close to Hu Tian's ear and whispered a few words, then strode swiftly toward Shi Lei.

"Lin..."

Shi Lei tugged at the corner of his split lips, and his hoarse voice had only managed to utter one word.

"Senior Brother Shi Lei!"

Lin Xiaohe's shrill voice cut him off without the slightest courtesy. Her volume rose, filled with hurried blame and an eagerness to distance herself from him.

"Senior Brother Shi Lei, do you even know how badly you've dragged our family down these past two days?!"

Shi Lei's pupils abruptly contracted, and he froze in place.

"You went around showing off your ferocity and fighting those Wild Wolf Gang people, injuring several of them!"

Lin Xiaohe spoke rapidly, her finger nearly jabbing into Shi Lei's chest before she drew it back as though disgusted by the dirt.

"You had a good time fighting, then ran off after you were done! You left behind a complete mess!"

"They immediately came looking for our family, blocking our door and demanding medical fees and medicine money! They nearly drained the little savings we had!"

"Do you know what my parents have been through these past two days?!"

Every word was a blade, every sentence pierced the heart.

Shi Lei's body began to tremble violently, not from the pain of his injuries.

It was because a chill colder and more piercing than any fist or kick spread from his heart to every limb and bone in an instant.

He stared fixedly at the face before him. Just two days ago, it had smiled sweetly at him, full of dependence. Now it was filled with evasion, accusation, and cruelty.

"Damn... Lin Xiaohe is just too..."

"Wasn't she the one crying and begging Shi Lei to help her?"

"Shi Lei stood up for her, fought the Wild Wolf Gang, came back hurt like this, and now he's somehow the culprit?"

"This... this skill of turning on someone and denying everything is truly something else!"

"The world is really like this. Good people really can't survive..."

The surrounding disciples were dumbfounded, scarcely able to believe their ears.

Many of them had personally heard and witnessed how Lin Xiaohe had clung to Shi Lei and pleaded pitifully for help.

Now, this shameless reversal of black and white, this tearing down of the bridge after crossing the river, was enough to make their teeth ache with hatred.

For a time, scornful, furious, incredulous gazes fell upon Lin Xiaohe as though they had substance.

Yet those murmurs were ultimately kept very low.

Everyone's eyes swept over Hu Tian behind Lin Xiaohe. Seeing his arrogant expression as he watched coldly from the side, remembering his "superior bone structure" talent and Zhang Xu's faintly visible shadow behind him, they swallowed their indignation before it could leave their mouths.

Seeking gain and avoiding harm was human instinct.

Everyone also feared that one careless word would invite retaliation from this woman.

"You..."

A rasping sound came from Shi Lei's throat, as though a clot of blood were blocking it. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot as he glared at Lin Xiaohe. A thousand words filled his heart, yet he could not utter a single one.

Lin Xiaohe's heart jolted when she saw the despairing, terrifying look in his eyes, but an even stronger surge of anger and resolve quickly rose within her.

She sneered, her voice becoming ever clearer and harsher.

"Junior Brother Shi Lei, please don't come near me or speak to me again. I'm afraid Junior Brother Hu Tian will misunderstand!"

Having said that.

As though shaking off something filthy, she abruptly turned around. A gentle smile instantly bloomed on her face, and like a sparrow returning to its nest, she lightly and swiftly returned to Hu Tian's side. She even instinctively moved behind him a little, seeking shelter.

"Heh... hehehe..."

Shi Lei looked at her retreating back and suddenly let out a low, broken, miserable laugh.

There was no anger in that laughter, only boundless desolation and self-mockery.

"Shi Lei, right?"

Hu Tian spoke at just the right moment, his voice carrying a cold superiority that he had deliberately learned to imitate.

He lightly took the small hand Lin Xiaohe had offered him, as though declaring his ownership. His eyes slanted toward the utterly miserable Shi Lei.

"You heard what Senior Sister Lin said, didn't you? Stay away from her from now on! Otherwise..."

He paused, lifting his chin slightly. "I won't be polite with you."

After Zhang Xu's "baptism" last night, Hu Tian had already drawn a clear line between himself and these "ordinary" Outer Courtyard disciples struggling at the bottom.

Especially after hearing Lin Xiaohe say that Shi Lei merely had mediocre bone structure, even the last trace of courtesy he held for a senior brother had vanished without a trace.

He called him by name, his tone arrogant and unrestrained.

He had completely forgotten that, like Shi Lei, he too came from a poor rural background.

Just yesterday, he had still been a country boy with timidity and restraint written all over his face.

The ways of the world turned; only one's own heart knew warmth from cold.

Shi Lei said nothing more. He did not even look at that intimately posed pair again.

He merely turned around slowly and walked, one step at a time, toward the farthest corner of the Outer Courtyard.

His back was lonely and absolute, like an injured beast abandoned by a wolf pack in the wilderness, walking alone toward a dead end.

Outside the gate.

Jiang Ye, who had heard every word, shook his head slightly.

"Alas..."

Another sigh.

The wind before the gate seemed to have grown colder.