"You're lying."
Hearing this, Feng Qishi frowned and turned to Lu Hua. "How am I lying?"
Lu Hua: "You're clearly not human, how could you possibly have family?"
Feng Qishi: "..."
Lu Hua snorted, "It seems I've hit the mark."
Feng Qishi didn't bother to explain his situation to Lu Hua.
What's more, he thought, even if he did explain, given her sheltered background, she might not believe him.
So, he turned back to the messy, dilapidated wall and said, "Think whatever you want. I can only say, it's a pity, you're not right."
"How could a free-spirited immortal like you understand our pain?"
Feng Qishi tilted his head and asked, "Have you ever been lost?"
"..." Lu Hua thought for a moment and said, "I got lost when I was a child, so what?"
Hearing Lu Hua's reply, Feng Qishi couldn't help but think of Mu Anxiao, who, after getting lost, never returned home and lived a life of hardship.
Then, he asked again, "Did your family look for you?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"Just answer."
Sensing Feng Qishi's heavy tone, Lu Hua's eyes darkened. "I distinctly remember, that day I got lost, walking alone in the woods. There was nothing there, the sky was dark, and I curled up by a tree, crying until I had no tears left, only sobs. That day, I was truly scared."
"How old were you that year?"
"Ten."
"You got lost when you were ten?"
"I was playing with friends from the village and got separated."
"How did you get home in the end?"
At this moment, Feng Qishi suddenly felt that Lu Hua was much luckier than Mu Anxiao.
Lu Hua thought for a moment and continued, "I fell asleep that day, and when I woke up, I saw many adults holding torches. Mother saw me and cried, crying hysterically." She hugged herself. "Then she grabbed me, and her body was warm, but her tears were cold."
"Was the forest near your home?" Feng Qishi leaned slightly towards Lu Hua.
Lu Hua slowly lowered her hand, looked up at Feng Qishi, and said, "Not close. I walked for several days to reach that forest. I don't know how my parents found me."
"What was your father's reaction?"
"My father," Lu Hua lowered her eyes and thought, recalling the tears in her father's eyes when she had killed him. She pouted, "I saw my father cry for me twice."
"Twice?"
Lu Hua choked back a sob. "Once was when I got lost, and the other time was..." Her eyes were filled with tears. "...the time I killed him."
"Your parents loved you very much. If..."
"They didn't love me," Lu Hua shook her head, crying.
Feng Qishi insisted, "Your parents loved you very much. Your family loved you." He stood up.
However, Lu Hua didn't want to accept this reality. She covered her ears, shook her head repeatedly, and cried, "They hated me. They didn't love me, they didn't love me."
Feng Qishi clenched his fists and turned to Lu Hua. "Never mind me, Mu Anxiao is even more miserable than you. She got lost, and no one looked for her. She wandered alone until now. Honestly, you are much luckier than her."
Lu Hua: "..." After Feng Qishi said this, she slowly lowered her hands, looked up at him, and asked softly, "What did you say?"
"I said, Mu Anxiao also got lost, but unlike you, her family didn't look for her. She hasn't seen her family since she left. Do you understand the fear she felt in her heart?"
"I was very scared that day."
"If you were her, I think," Feng Qishi sneered, "you wouldn't be as strong as she is."
Lu Hua: "..."
Feng Qishi: "Wipe your tears. What's the use of crying?" He turned his back.
Lu Hua obediently wiped her tears and said, "I'll be good."
Feng Qishi: "You've had a hard time too."
Lu Hua: "..." She lowered her head.
A quarter of an hour later.
Mu Anxiao returned, pulling the five women with her.
"Shen Fengzi, I'm back."
Hearing this, Feng Qishi stood up, looked at Mu Anxiao with relief, and asked, "Are you injured?" He walked up to Mu Anxiao and examined her face.
Mu Anxiao frowned, "There's nothing on my face, what are you looking at?"
"I want to look," Feng Qishi said, then turned to Lu Hua, who had stood up.
Lu Hua said, "Mu Anxiao, you're back."
Hearing Lu Hua's gentle question, Mu Anxiao looked puzzled. "So gentle?" She handed the silver rope in her hand to Feng Qishi.
Feng Qishi took the silver rope and looked at the five women glaring at him fiercely. "Why are you glaring at me?"
The fifth woman gritted her teeth and said, "Men, none of them are good."
Feng Qishi: "..." His mouth twitched, and he turned to Mu Anxiao. "What's their deal?"
Mu Anxiao walked up to the blue light, glanced at Lu Hua, who looked at her with sympathy, and said sideways, "Allow me to introduce, these are the five procurers who gave me a bad reputation."
Hearing this, the five women uniformly shifted their gaze to Mu Anxiao.
Feng Qishi realized, "Oh, it's them. They don't look that old." He glanced at each of them.
The fourth woman said angrily, "You rude man, how can you be so impolite?"
Feng Qishi: "How am I impolite?"
The fourth woman glanced down at her hands, tightly bound by the silver rope, and said, "A grown man tying up a woman's hands, do you think that's polite?"
Feng Qishi: "..." He ignored the fourth woman and said to Mu Anxiao, "Mu Shazi, I didn't expect your silver rope to have branches." He glanced at their hands bound by the silver rope.
Mu Anxiao, in front of Lu Hua, picked up a leather water pouch, drank some water, and said, "Of course. I only learned this technique after I came here." She looked at Lu Hua and asked, "Hey, what's your name?"
Lu Hua: "..." She just stared quietly at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao's mouth twitched. "I'm asking you, your name is..."
Feng Qishi interrupted, "Her name is Lu Hua."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao lowered the water pouch she had brought to her lips, turned to Feng Qishi, and said, "You've talked a lot."
"Yes, a lot. I also happened to mention your past."
"What past do I have?" Mu Anxiao walked closer to Feng Qishi.
Feng Qishi glanced at Lu Hua and said, "Your past of getting lost as a child and never returning home."
"..." Mu Anxiao frowned and clicked her tongue. "Shen Fengzi, your mouth is too long. Why would you say such embarrassing things? Aren't you tired of it?"
Then, Lu Hua asked, "You got lost, and your parents didn't look for you, don't you resent them?"