Chapter 3343 — Story

At these thoughts, Yu Dake let out a faint sigh. "But all that is a thing of the past—no use dredging it up now."

"There seems to be a story behind that?" Wei Zhao glanced at Yu Dake. From Yu Dake's tone he caught a faint trace of sorrow. Truth be told, Wei Zhao had already vaguely gathered some of Yu Dake's history; he guessed the man had a story of his own. And now, with the road still long ahead and Yu Xiaoke saying nothing, Wei Zhao and Yu Dake had no choice but to make conversation.

"I won't hide it from you, Mr. Lin—the truth is, my family was wiped out." Yu Dake was of a mind to seek Wei Zhao's help, yet he did not know how to ask. Now that Wei Zhao had raised the matter himself, he naturally stopped concealing it. Seizing the opening, he told Wei Zhao the whole tale, hoping Wei Zhao might take pity and lend him a hand.

"What?!" Yu Xiaoke had been sleeping, but she sat bolt upright all at once, her face dreadfully pale with shock.

So it seemed Yu Xiaoke had not been asleep at all, but merely feigning it—simply unwilling to talk to Wei Zhao. But now, hearing her brother say their family had been wiped out, she could keep up the pretense no longer.

Wei Zhao, for his part, knitted his brows slightly. He had not expected Yu Dake to carry such a tragic history. "Wiped out? Then you and Xiaoke—"

"At the time I was only four. I was carrying Xiaoke out to play, and that was how we escaped the slaughter. Xiaoke was too young to remember anything, but everything that happened that day is burned into my memory." Here Yu Dake could not help but sigh. Then he went on: "This matter has always been buried in my heart. I never told Xiaoke so much. But now that we have come to this, I'll hide it no longer."

"Who did it?" Wei Zhao asked. "Was there some reason?"

"The exact reason, I'm not too clear on. It seems we offended someone. I was far too small; I can't recall the whys and wherefores. I can only just barely remember the faces of those few ringleaders." Yu Dake shook his head somewhat helplessly. "But after I grew up, I kept asking after the whereabouts of those people, and there was never any news at all. After all, our family was in the Other Domain back then, and our ties with the cultivation world here in Huaxia were not close. They had never even heard of the Yu family of the Other Domain—let alone who might have borne us a grudge..."

Wei Zhao nodded. The ancient strata held far too many grudges and passions; these were not things Wei Zhao could see into. Every age had its own experts—only their temperaments differed, some bullying the weak, others leaving well enough alone.

Just like Wei Zhao now: he would not go out of his way to bully anyone, but if someone provoked him, only then would he strike. Of course, in many cases he still gave the other party a chance—it was simply that they did not know to take it.

As for the Yu family's affair, perhaps someone had bullied the weak, or perhaps Yu Dake's family had once offended someone who should not have been offended, and so brought about their present state.

If it was the former, Wei Zhao would, if possible, choose to help—after all, his relationship with Yu Xiaoke was plain for all to see. But if it was the latter, then Wei Zhao could not be expected to thrust himself forward. Wei Zhao was not an unreasonable man; if the Yu family truly had offended others and been wiped out for it, one could only say their luck was bad.

"In the cultivation world, the weak are meat and the strong eat—such is the way of things," Wei Zhao said mildly. "Sometimes you shouldn't take it too much to heart. Take the secular Yu family, or the Hidden Zhao family—they were wiped out because of me. But you can't say I was in the wrong to go and bully them. If they hadn't provoked me, I would never have moved against them."

"Mr. Lin, I understand your meaning. But our Yu family's house precept was to find joy in helping others—that helping others is helping oneself. Young as I was, my parents taught me from childhood that one who walks the jianghu must have a chivalrous heart, that when others are in difficulty one must promptly lend a hand. How could a family like that go and bully anyone? We are utterly different from the secular Yu family or the Hidden Zhao family. They brought it on themselves—but we..." Yu Dake had of course caught Wei Zhao's implication, and hastened to explain.

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was a little surprised. He had not expected the Yu family to be like that—though it did bear some resemblance to Yu Xiaoke's temperament. Perhaps Yu Xiaoke had inherited something of the family character. Young as she had been then, some things are simply inborn.

So Wei Zhao found himself believing Yu Dake's words without quite meaning to. Besides, he did not think Yu Dake had any reason to deceive him—if the matter were truly looked into, at Wei Zhao's level he could still investigate it.

Wei Zhao's current level was different from Yu Dake's; his influence had been confined to the Hidden level, and even then limited to the Hidden You family. But Wei Zhao was different now—he was a name to be reckoned with even in the ancient strata, and he had an information broker like Ge Xian at his disposal.

"Dake, there is something I still must tell you—perhaps it is precisely because of this that your family was wiped out!" Harsh as Wei Zhao's words sounded, he had his reasons for saying them.

"Oh? Why? Did we do something wrong, then?" Yu Xiaoke was displeased. Her family had been wiped out—a deeply sorrowful thing to begin with—and for Wei Zhao to say such a thing now, was it not naked mockery?

"Yu Xiaoke, then let me ask you: why were you surrounded and attacked by a pack of fellow thieves in the first place? You stole money to do good deeds, but they didn't see it that way—they thought you had broken their guild's rules, so of course they came after you!" Wei Zhao said mildly. "Perhaps your family once went to help others, and in doing so became thorns in the eyes of those others' enemies."

"Ah!" Yu Xiaoke started. Yes—her own thinking had indeed been a little too simple. With Wei Zhao putting it that way, she understood: her family might well have erred precisely in the course of helping others.

"Mr. Lin, I understand what you mean. These are things I never considered before. Perhaps my family, in helping others, got in someone else's way, and so brought down unprovoked disaster upon themselves—one can hardly blame others for it." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Yu Dake sighed somewhat gloomily. Unwilling as he was to believe it, Wei Zhao's reasoning was very sound; perhaps that was indeed how things had stood with his family. "This matter can only be put down to our family's meddling in others' affairs." (To be continued)