Once Mu Feng finally spoke, it was as though he had shrugged the heavy burden off his heart. Even his words came more naturally.
"My surname wasn't originally Mu. It was Chen. Mu is my maternal grandparents' surname."
That single sentence laid bare the most deeply concealed part of the matter.
Within his lineage, Mu Feng had been someone of no importance, an existence they could take or leave.
No, it was more than that. None of them had ever thought anything of him as their descendant.
It had reached the point where he had abandoned even his ancestral surname and taken his mother's instead.
That alone showed how unjustly Mu Feng had been treated by his own lineage.
"Are you still attached to that lineage?"
Listening to Mu Feng, Yang Qing looked at him calmly.
Some people were like that: they spoke of their loathing, yet cared deeply in their hearts.
If Mu Feng was the same, Yang Qing and the others would know where to draw the line.
"My surname is Mu, not Chen," Mu Feng added, his expression resolute.
Yang Qing freed one hand and patted Mu Feng's shoulder. "Good. With those words, I understand."
Yang Qing lowered his head to look at the tiny figure still cradled in his arms and said gently, "Once we've laid Jiangli to rest, we'll go to Xiangyang City."
Mu Feng's heart had still been wavering, but upon hearing Yang Qing's words, he suddenly felt at peace.
"All right. I'll follow your arrangements, Young Master."
That was right. He was no longer the solitary man he had been ten years ago.
He now had friends beside him, brothers, and formidable martial skills. Did he still need to care about those people with their ugly hearts?
Although all his years of effort