Bamboo horse is a world-weary male protagonist

"Can you take me as an apprentice?" Ignoring Hong Yue's exaggerated laugh, He Chengyuan asked seriously with deep eyes.

The pitch-black night enveloped the earth, the shattered corpses of Wang Taoda and the elder Taishang exuded a stench of blood, and the man covered in black chains was laughing up to the sky.

Cold, bloody, bizarre.

The boy turned his head slightly to look in Gu Xi's direction, and seeing the child's small body slumped on the ground, he felt as if a fire was burning in his heart.

Lowering his eyes, accepting his emotions, he asked again: "Can you accept me as an apprentice?"

His face was expressionless and his voice was hoarse and indifferent.

He had never repeated a sentence so many times.

But becoming stronger was too important to him.

So even if it needs to be repeated a hundred times or ten thousand times, he will not give up.

But Hong Yue was still laughing, until tears rolled down his cheeks.

Amidst the boy's persistent and repeated questioning, he finally stopped, raised the back of his hand to wipe away his tears, looked at He Chengyuan, and sighed faintly.

"I won't accept you as a disciple."

Hong Yue refused.

He shook his head, with some amusement in his tone: "Taking you as an apprentice, how is this possible? It's too outrageous. I feel like I'm joking just by saying it."

"However, I really didn't expect you to become like this."

Hong Yue looked at He Chengyuan quietly.

It was the same as when he looked at He Chengyuan before.

It seems that they have known each other for a long time, experienced a lot together, and finally reunited here after too long years and obstacles.

"Based on our relationship, accepting you as my apprentice is really..."

Hong Yue curled his lips into a smile, stretched out his hand, put his index finger and thumb together in a circle, then let it go, and flicked it on He Chengyuan's forehead.

"Find the truth of the world, this is not a difficult task for you."

After speaking, he looked at Gu Xi's direction again.

After seeing the child's chubby face, he thought of something, and laughed out loud.

He Chengyuan didn't dodge, and let the man's fingers touch his forehead.

The moment the skin touched, a lot of piercing noises suddenly appeared in the originally dead environment.

Mountains, rivers, and even the air flowing in mid-air turned a viscous and chaotic gray-black.

He saw that the chains wrapped around the man were not pure black chains.

The locks are complicated and the chains are rough, not black tungsten iron, but densely packed words.

Heavy, dirty, twisted.

Difficult to break free.

What would you most like to do?

What do you most want to change?

What is it that you are willing to give anything for?

A voice kept asking him in his ear.

want to become stronger...

Want to change fate...

want to……

Looking in Gu Xi's direction, He Chengyuan moved his fingers subconsciously, as if trying to catch something.

However, there was the ear-piercing friction sound when the iron chains collided, and my fingers touched a cold and hard |foreign|object|.

Lowering his head, he saw that he was also covered with the same chains as the man.

Invisible shackles!

Opening his eyes suddenly, Hong Yue disappeared, and the world returned to normal.

What appeared in front of him was Wang Mi's flustered and worried face.

***

Wang Mi waited nearby for a long time but did not find any movement from Gu Xi. He felt a little panicked. He wanted to find the child but found himself beating the wall back and forth at the foot of the mountain.

It wasn't until a strangely dressed man showed him a way, that he found Gu Xi and the others, and rushed back to Qianqingzong's camp with the three children as quickly as possible.

There was no injury on Gu Xi's body, and she woke up soon.

But Yunzhu and He Chengyuan were seriously injured and had to be treated as soon as possible.

Shang Xue was worried that Gu Xi would make trouble, so he was not allowed to enter the house, and could only sit outside, staring at the moon in a daze.

Shang Xue originally asked him to go back to his room to sleep, but he fought against Shang Xue with his small body, like a stubborn bull, and refused to enter his room no matter what.

Shang Xue had no choice but to let him sit outside the room by himself.

This is the second time that Gu Xi sat outside the room and waited for He Chengyuan to heal and come out.

The last time He Chengyuan was beaten up by Zhao San on the street, he happened to pass by Wang Mi, and then rescued He Chengyuan who was seriously injured and dying.

Listening to the slightly noisy voices in the room, Gu Xi's tears welled up in her eyes, she bit her lip, and tried her best not to cry out.

He didn't understand why there were so many big villains who liked to bully others in this world?

He didn't even understand why these villains always bullied He Chengyuan?

The strange voice about He Chengyuan that came out of his head from time to time has never sounded since the big white mouse came.

But Gu Xi still vaguely remembered what that voice had said to him.

That voice said that He Chengyuan had to suffer a lot, and endured a lot of pain, and said a lot of terrible things, so terrible that he couldn't remember them.

But... He Chengyuan obviously doesn't like these...

If you don't like it, you can't...

How can there be such unreasonable things in this world...

The more Gu Xi thought about it, the sadder she became, and she couldn't help crying, and while crying, she rubbed her eyes with her sleeve, almost scratching the skin around her eyes, and she didn't know it.

Several adults worked hard for most of the night, and finally brought the injuries of the two children under control.

As soon as the door opened a small crack, Gu Xi immediately jumped up and ran in.

He had been sitting outside for too long, and his legs were numb. When he entered the room, he couldn't stand still and fell to the ground with a slap. The short legs came to the bedside of He Chengyuan and Yunzhu.

Seeing that his eyes were swollen from crying and the circles around his eyes were red, the adults were reluctant to stop him.

"Doudou," Shang Xue said softly, "It's too late, don't disturb your Fourth Senior Brother and He Chengyuan's rest, listen to your mother, go back to sleep quickly."

"Don't sleep."

"I won't give you monthly money if you don't sleep well."

"No wow now."

Shang Xue: "..."

It seems that because of the insistence on bringing He Chengyuan back, she really didn't give Doudou monthly money recently.

"Mother, I can't sleep," Gu Xi lay on the side of the bed, hiccupping from crying as he looked at He Chengyuan, who was pale and closed his eyes.

Shang Xue sighed, and walked over to help him pat his back: "Don't cry, Doudou, He Chengyuan is fine."

Gu Xi wiped away her tears and clenched her small fists: "The people in Taixi Pavilion are good or bad."

Shang Xue held her breath in her heart, and she couldn't help raising her tone when she heard the words: "Well, it's really bad."

"I don't know who helped you guys. If it wasn't for that person, it was, it was..."

She was afraid in her heart, and covered her chest: "What kind of skill is it to bully children? A scumbag of one kind will die early and be reborn early."

Yun Zhu was awake all the time, when she heard Shang Xue say this, she immediately yelled and explained: "Master, I'm not being bullied!"

"If someone hadn't suddenly stepped in, I would have killed Wang Taoda with my own hands."

"Honestly, you will!" Shang Xue turned around and punched Yunzhu's head with a fist: "You still want to kill Wang Taoda, I think you are the one who deserves to be beaten the most!"

"Do you know that you have just established your foundation?"

"You still dare to play prestige in front of the late stage of the fusion, I think you think your life is too long!"

Knowing that Master Mistress was so angry because she was worried about herself, Yun Zhu deviated from her usual idleness, and instead of joking back, she honestly shrank her head and listened to Shang Xue's lecture.

Listening to Shang Xue admonishing Yunzhu, Gu Xi raised her head, with tears hanging on her eyelashes: "Mother, why do people from Taixi Pavilion bully He Chengyuan?"

Shang Xue was in a fit of anger, when she heard Gu Xi asking him, she casually replied: "I have no backing for bullying him!"

"Backer?" Gu Xi was a little confused: "What is a backer?"

"...The backing is," this question really stopped Shang Xue from asking.

She didn't want to tell the child about the messy power constraints between adults, and she didn't want the child to be exposed to interests that he shouldn't know at such a young age.

She just wants her child to grow up happily and carefree.

Annoyed that she couldn't choose what to say, Shang Xue bent down and reached out to help Gu Xi wipe her face: "Doudou, don't worry about that, go back to sleep with mother."

Gu Xi's temper came up, she tilted her small head, avoiding Shang Xue's hand, her small mouth was pouted: "I won't leave unless mother tells me."

Shang Xue had nothing to do with him, so she knelt down and looked at the child at eye level: "Okay, then mother will explain to you what a backer is."

She racked her brains, bit the bullet, and tried her best to explain to her young son with some simple and easy-to-understand words: "Doudou also met those bad guys, right? Why don't you think those bad guys didn't bully you?"

Gu Xi was stunned when he heard the words, and stared blankly at Shang Xue, lost in thought.

...Yeah, he also met bad guys at the time.

Why didn't those bad guys bully him?

"Because Doudou has a mother, a father, you, Uncle Wang, and many brothers and sisters of Qianqingzong who love and protect you, so those bad guys dare not bully you."

Gu Xi seemed to understand, but nodded slowly.

He thought for a while, and finally realized the meaning of Shang Xue's words, and anxiously held Shang Xue's hand: "Then mother, father, Uncle Wang, and the brothers and sisters of Qianqingzong all don't love He Chengyuan. , are you unwilling to protect He Chengyuan?"

"Don't you all love him?"

"Why?"

Gu Xi raised her small face and looked at Shang Xue pitifully, until Shang Xue's heart almost melted.

He asked so seriously, and his eyes were full of trust and expectation for her, so that Shang Xue couldn't say any deceitful words at all.

"Doudou, do you know what love is?" Shang Xue's tone was a bit heavy.

"Mother loves Doudou very much. If it is Doudou who is lying here injured, mother just thinks about that scene and feels very painful in her heart. There is no way to stand here and talk."

Shang Xue held Gu Xi in her arms: "Where is Doudou?"

"Does Doudou love mother? If mother is injured and lies here, will Doudou be very sad?"

"Yes!" The child nodded without hesitation: "Doudou loves mother very much, and will be very sad."

Shang Xue's eyes were moist.

She heard from Yunzhu that He Chengyuan would rather be beaten to death than tell about Qian Qingzong.

I also heard that even though he saw Gu Xi trying to save him, the child was determined not to let go, insisting that he didn't know Gu Xi and didn't know about Qian Qingzong's affairs.

She is grateful to him.

I also admire him very much.

He is even willing to thank him with the most lucrative reward.

However, she couldn't fall in love with a child who had no blood relationship and just met him not long ago.

The boy on the bed had his eyes closed tightly and his face was pale.

His face was still covered with traces of being abused, and his thin and emaciated chest had extremely weak ups and downs.

He seemed to have been abandoned by this world, lying there quietly, even the sound of breathing was so low that it was almost inaudible.

Gu Xi's tears welled up and stained her eyelashes, hanging heavily.

He broke free from Shang Xue's embrace and walked to He Chengyuan's bedside.

The boy's worry-free and pure heart was filled with an unprecedented sense of loss and worry.

For the first time, he realized from his mother's words that he could live such a happy life not because of his bravery.

Just because there are too many people around him to protect him and love him.

But He Chengyuan was different.

He Chengyuan has no father, no mother, and no senior brothers or sisters who can protect him.

He Chengyuan has only one friend, himself.

Only one friend.

The more I thought about it, the more sad I became, and the tears fell like beads with a broken thread.

The small, soft, innocent and ignorant boy like a white orchid bud, sobbing in a low voice, leaned his head gently on He Chengyuan's scarred neck.

"Mother said, they don't love you."

The more Gu Xi talked, the more uncomfortable she felt, very sad.

Like treating a treasure, he gently put He Chengyuan's scarred hand in his arms to protect it, and his soft words were innocent but sincere:

"I love you."

"When I grow up, I will protect you."