The Venomous Tongue of Zongcilang

Thank you to 'Book Friend 161216093812533 (Heartbroken and in Pain)' for the reward.

The next day, Bai Ina in the room finished dressing, hung his sword at his waist, and walked out.

"Yo, kid, you're awake!"

Zongcilang greeted with a lazy look and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to the mess hall!"

Judging by his demeanor, yesterday's battle hadn't dampened his spirits at all.

"Where's Loxi?"

Bai Ina gave a slight nod and asked.

"He's in the mess hall too..."

Zongcilang curled his lip, inwardly looking down on that weak little brat who couldn't even fight.

Bai Ina nodded and followed Zongcilang into the mess hall.

The morning mess hall was noisy, with eleven- or twelve-year-old kids clustered in groups of three or five at tables, eating and playing happily.

Bai Ina frowned at the sight—this kind of racket was still hard for him to get used to.

"Ah, Ina, you're awake!"

Just then, Loxi walked out of the kitchen carrying a rice bucket.

Bai Ina looked over at the sound and his brow furrowed.

"Don't worry!" Loxi smiled, set the bucket on the counter, and flexed his arm in a muscle pose. "I volunteered to help, and my body's recovered already. This little bit of exercise is nothing."

Hearing this, Bai Ina finally nodded.

"Pfft... Ina?"

When Zongcilang heard Loxi's address for Bai Ina, he immediately spat out the water he'd just drunk, staring at Bai Ina in surprise. "You're a girl?" He leaned in for a closer look at Bai Ina's face, then nodded. "Yeah, no Adam's apple. Never thought you'd be a girl!"

"..."

Bai Ina's mouth twitched, his expression turning dark as he glared at Zongcilang with murderous intent.

Loxi quickly interjected, "Ina's a boy!"

"But he clearly doesn't have an Adam's apple, and what boy's named 'Ina'?" Zongcilang was like a dead pig unafraid of scalding water, seemingly oblivious to Bai Ina's face, which had turned as black as a pot bottom.

Bai Ina's longsword suddenly slid from its sheath, landing right on Zongcilang's neck. He spoke word by word: "I... am only nine!"

If it weren't for his nature, he'd really want to yell—what nine-year-old boy grows an Adam's apple?

"Ohhh, I see, you're only nine!" Zongcilang's eyes flickered with mischief; he was deliberately trying to tease this seemingly emotionless kid.

"Alright, alright, Ina, grab that stack of bowls for me."

Loxi stepped in to smooth things over. He knew Bai Ina wouldn't actually cut, but just putting a blade to someone's neck was already rude, especially since they were still living under someone else's roof.

Bai Ina shot Zongcilang a fierce glare, sheathed his sword, walked over, and set the stack of large bowls on the counter in front of Loxi.

"Heh, let's eat first." Loxi smiled at Bai Ina's sulky expression. He took a bowl, filled it with rice, ladled curry over the top, and handed it to Bai Ina. "Go sit down first. I'll join you after I finish serving these younger brothers."

Bai Ina nodded, found an empty table in the mess hall, and sat down.

The arrival of this unfamiliar face drew curious looks from the other kids. But no one was too surprised—after all, every child here had been picked up off the streets by the dojo master, Kubo Yamato, and they instinctively assumed Bai Ina was just another stray like them.

A few kids even thought about going up to introduce themselves, make a friend, and say something like, "Little brother, we'll look out for you from now on..."

It had to be said, looking around the whole mess hall, Bai Ina was the youngest one there.

Fortunately, the kids were soon distracted by the tasty food, or else making Bai Ina—a kid with an adult soul—call a bunch of real kids "big brother" would have been quite the ordeal...

"Mmm, this is so good."

"Yeah, way better than what Brother Hijikata makes."

"Brother Hijikata's okay, but what Zongcilang brother makes is the worst!"

"..."

"Tch, these damn brats..."

Zongcilang sat down across from Bai Ina with a dissatisfied look, bowl in hand.

Bai Ina frowned at that, glanced around, saw no other empty seats, curled his lip, and went back to eating.

"What, you really can't stand me, Nana-chan?"

Crack—

The spoon in Bai Ina's hand bent. He gritted his teeth and kept chewing, but the grinding sound of his teeth made it seem like the food was his mortal enemy.

"Looks like little Na hasn't outgrown the teething stage yet."

A huge "well" character vein bulged on Bai Ina's forehead, his face dark as thunder. "Bastard, do I need to cut out your tongue?"

"Ah, so scary... Mama, save me!"

"..."

Bai Ina directly shoveled the remaining rice from the bowl into his mouth, then stood up and left. He really couldn't stand sitting next to that sharp-tongued bastard any longer—he couldn't cut him down, and after all, both he and Loxi had been saved by the dojo. Bai Ina would never do something as ungrateful as repaying kindness with enmity. Right now, he only regretted not putting more force into yesterday's sparring, so that bastard couldn't even speak.

"Oh, leaving already, Ina-chan—"

Bai Ina's body stiffened for a moment, then he walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

"Haha, sure enough, someone as cold as Tufang is the most fun to mess with."

Zongcilang watched Bai Ina's retreating back and said with keen interest.

"If you keep this up, Ina's really going to get mad!"

Loxi walked over, heard Zongcilang's muttering, and shook his head with a wry smile.

Zongcilang grinned at that: "No worries. I can tell that kid, cold as he is, still has a sense of human warmth." With that, he turned to Loxi and asked, "What's this? I heard from Tufang that Teacher Kubo asked you two to stay, and you refused?"

"Mm!"

Loxi nodded and said softly, "Ina doesn't like being around strangers."

"Then you should stay. What's so great about following that icy little brat? The food here is really good!"

Loxi shook his head and said with a gentle smile, "Ina isn't cold—he just doesn't know how to express his feelings. I can feel it. Ina has always been wary of this world, unwilling to trust anyone. It's like there's an invisible barrier between him and everything else."

"Tch, how sappy."

Zongcilang curled his lip, looking quite displeased, but the look he gave Loxi was noticeably friendlier.