Chapter 3343 — Story
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
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."