V2C134

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It was a normal, uneventful night when the shark child ‘died’ on the seashore of Yecheng, without anyone being aware of it. The next day, after personally examining the child’s head, the Head Steward of the Red King’s House returned to the Imperial Capital to report for duty – everything vanished as quietly as the dew evaporating on a leaf.

And in a crammed and humble courtyard, the deceased child regained consciousness.

Confused, he opened his eyes, only to close them again because of the blinding sunlight – where was this? Was he dead, or was he alive?

“Who is this fellow? Where did he come from?” Muffled words echoed in his ears, in the same childish tone, “So scrawny and dirty, he looks like a cat.”

“I don’t know. I woke up early in the morning and saw him lying here.”

“How annoying, he even occupied Xiao Yao’s bed!”

“Alas, Xiao Yao is dead and sooner or later his bed would have been used by somebody else.”

“I hate this guy… he is skinny and frail, I’m sure he won’t live for more than a few days.”

Who? Who are all these people talking? It’s so noisy… Disoriented, Sumo struggled a little, trying hard to wipe these buzzing whispers away from his ears.

“Oh… look! He’s awake!” As soon as he moved, however, that boisterous noise in his ears grew louder, as if several people were scrambling to shout, “Go and call the elder sister!”

Elder sister? The child suddenly jolted. Was it her? Was she… finally back? Yesterday in Yecheng’s palace, those court maids said she no longer wanted him, they must have been lying!

“Sister!” His body trembled violently for a moment and he sat up abruptly.

“Ayia!” He sat up so suddenly that someone who was leaning over him to check his injuries failed to retreat in time and bumped heads with him – it was a child about his age, with a cloth scarf tied around his head, emerald blue eyes and soft aqua hair, with a clear, unmistakable beauty.

Sumo couldn’t help but freeze for a moment: the person tending to him was actually a shark child?

He subconsciously raised his head and looked around, discovering that he was not in the Red King’s palace, but under some unfamiliar and rudimentary shed. He then looked around and found no sign of Zhu Yan either – all the people in this room were actually shark children about his age.

The child couldn’t help but be astonished: what on earth was this place? It looked like the house of a slave owner who specialized in selling sharks in the Eastern Market… Could it be that, after he passed out yesterday, he had been sold into slavery here by the people of the Red King’s House?

No way! Certainly not!

“Hey, you are finally awake?” The shark child rubbed his forehead and instead of getting angry over the pain, he smiled and snorted, “Is there anywhere else on your body that you feel sore?”

“…” Sumo didn’t make a sound and surveyed the surroundings in silence.

It was a humble shelter propped up in a ramshackle courtyard, the daylight overhead spilling through the ragged holes, causing both him and the shark child to be sprinkled with crumbs of golden rays of sunshine. There was a shelf set up in the open space in one corner of the courtyard, with many other children gathered there in clusters. Sumo took one look at them, then pursed his lips and his eyes darkened – they were racks of weapons, with swords and spears and halberds, neatly lined up in rows.

These children, are they learning martial arts? The slave owners of Yecheng would never allow a shark to be trained in martial arts.

Where the hell is this place? Why did he wake up here?

“My name is Yan Shi, who are you?” The boy didn’t let his silence deter him and continued to speak, “Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

“…” Sumo still didn’t answer, and his eyes lingered on him for a moment – the little shark called Yan Shi appeared to be about his own age, and his arms and legs were full of scars, yet around his neck he was not wearing the collar for slaves, and he spoke gently and affectionately, in a friendly manner.

He squinted his eyes away and propped himself up, ignoring the kid.

“Yan Shi, don’t bother with him,” a child next to him grunted and tugged at Yan Shi’s coat, giving the newcomer a blank stare, “Putting on a stinky face, who does he think he is?”

Yan Shi smiled a little, “Sister told us to look after him.”

Hearing the word sister again, Sumo shook for a moment and suddenly turned his head, finally speaking, “Who exactly is this ‘sister’ you are talking about?”

“Sister Ruyi,” Yan Shi looked at him in consternation, “she was the one who brought you back here yesterday… Have you forgotten?”

“It’s her?” Sumo was stunned and murmured, “Auntie Ru?”

“Hahaha!” Hearing those words, the child behind Yan Shi suddenly couldn’t help but laugh out loud, revealing a mouthful of neat and white teeth as he teased him, “Hey, what, you actually called her auntie? In that case, shouldn’t you be calling us little uncles?”

“…” Sumo’s eyes altered for a moment as he glared at the kid.

“What, still not convinced, huh?” The boy, however, undeterred, raised his head and exclaimed, “Want to fight? Come over and pick any weapon you like, and if you win, I’ll call you little uncle!”

“Alright, alright,” Yan Shi rushed over to round things up and pulled the boy away, frowning and complaining, “Ning Liang, don’t go around picking fights, sister will scold you – he just arrived here, his body has not even healed yet. How can he compete with you in martial arts?”

“Yuck, how can you resist not giving this stinking grumpy bastard a beating?” The kid called Ning Liang, with his short hair in a mess, nudged at Sumo as he cussed, “Look, he’s even taking over Xiao Yao’s bed! I can’t stand the sight of him!”

But before his hand could touch his chest, Sumo shoved him to the ground!

“Aiya!” Ning Liang exclaimed in shock, not expecting the scrawny kid to suddenly strike. Yet his reaction was quick, and before he could fall on his back, he whirled around sharply, pressed his palms downwards on the ground, jumped up in a carp, then leapt forward in a smooth motion and punched Sumo right in the throat, shouting angrily out of his breath, “How dare you hit me? Dirty bastard!”

That punch was swift and vicious, not at all like a fight between children, and Sumo being seriously injured, was surprisingly too slow to fend it off completely.

“That’s enough!” Just in that instant, a hand reached over and stopped the blow.

It was a delicate and slender hand, and with a squeeze of her soft fingers, she firmly gripped Ning Liang’s fist and scolded, “Ah-Liang, why are you so naughty! What if you have injured the young Lord?”

The young Lord? All the children gasped in surprise, even Sumo himself was stunned, turning his head to look at the person approaching.

The one who spoke was indeed someone he knew: Ruyi.

The ravishing flower girl, now was wearing rough clothes and had no make-up on her face; she separated the children who were wrestling in a clump with one hand, and threw them to the sides, frowning and reprimanding, looking like a young mother who was busy looking after a too large number of children.

“What young Lord?” Ning Liang glanced at Sumo and snorted, “This scrawny little creature, I could beat him to death in a minute.”

” No such talk! Unruly.” Ruyi, however, changed her usual gentle and affectionate tone and sternly reprimanded, “From today onwards, Sumo is your boss! Everyone must listen to him and protect him with their lives in case of danger – that’s an order, understand?”

What? The children looked at each other with a look of disbelief and reluctance on their faces, and no one uttered a word for a while, as countless pairs of eyes stared at Sumo in unison, making him feel a little uncomfortable.

Sumo couldn’t help but sneer, “I don’t want them to protect me.”

“Look, sister, do you hear that?” Ning Liang immediately shouted upon hearing this, “He is the one who says he doesn’t want it!”

“Alright, you guys need to stop throwing tantrums like that!” Ruyi frowned, and glanced at the group of shark children, raising her voice slightly, “Don’t you all want to join the Restoration Army? It is the natural duty of a warrior to obey orders, will you not listen to anything I say?”

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