Su Jingyang slept on the floor of the shop at night, and felt that the story he heard from Liang Lu was simply incredible!

That person was named Ling Li, and was approaching 21 years old this year. He was abandoned by his family when he was a child and was quickly adopted by an old hunter in the town who had no family. Because Ling Li was a duo, a lot of rumors sprouted up in town about him after he grew up and spread like wildfire. The neighbors had broken mouths¹ and spit all over the place, saying that the two were like father and son on the surface, but at home they were actually in that kind of relationship everyday.

Lao Choukuai (the stepfather) was a taciturn person, and Ling Li had a cold personality. In short, both of them turned a deaf ear to those rumors and never came out to respond. For some reason, when Ling Li was sixteen years old, he got together with the son of a family surnamed Liu in the town. The man's name was Liu Yue. Apart from a gambling addiction, he was a talented person and was very smart, making people feel satisfied.

Although the Liu family's conditions were not good, they had heard rumors about the incest of Ling Li. They were very distressed about the fact the that their son was too close to Ling Li. Liu Yue's father, Lei Ting, was furious and tried to break them up. Liu Yue's mother was even more cruel and forced them to sever contact with each other.

After a few months of squabbling like this, Liu Yue, desperate and angry, even made an appointment with Ling Li to commit suicide together. Unexpectedly, the anxious Lius broke in only to find the two people just as the reports they received, Liu Yue had drunk the poisoned wine and fallen to death, but Ling Li seemed to have lost his soul, sitting with Liu Yue's already stiff corpse, but still alive!

The old hunter had his eyes closed and his face full of silence.

Liu Yue's parents cried very loudly at the time, and then quickly accursed Ling Li and Lao Choukuai, saying that they deliberately murdered their son.

This town was big but also small. As soon as the Ling Li incident happened, the Liu parents cried to whoever they met, beating their thighs, weeping, and howling, that Ling Li killed their son. The incident soon spread to everyone, and there was an uproar. Everyone expressed their sympathy for Liu Yue, an innocent infatuated person, and condemned Ling Li's despicable behavior. There was a lot of discussion in the streets.

The Liu parents hated Ling Li and Lao Choukuai, and continued to sue them. Later, Lao Choukuai took the charge alone, saying that he was responsible for the poisoning of Liu Yue, before the verdict had yet to come down, he committed suicide in prison.

The Liu parents eyes were red with hatred, and robbed the ashes of Lao Choukuai from Lingli, and scattered them in the sewage ditch to be washed away², so that Ling Li couldn't even catch any ashes in the end. The Liu parents were not reconciled with the fact that Ling Li went unpunished, so they blocked the door of his house every day, straining their lungs and yelling at him. There are also other troublemakers. They are not sympathetic to the Liu predicament at all, but purely join in for the excitement and fun. Anyway, everyone felt that Ling Li was simply hateful, and didn't deserve any kindness, so his house was painted with scribbles and curses everyday. There were also children who, under the guidance of others and coin, made rhymes and shouted loudly every day near Ling Li's home.

Before long, Ling Li had a bad reputation, he had an obscene relationship with his stepfather, and even killed the "young and promising" Liu Yue. Later, the old man confessed and died, but he still shamelessly remained unscathed from his crimes. Most of the town described him as a stray and a vicious person. They would spit contemptuously, cursing at the end: "What a ruthless bitch!"

It was unknown how Ling Li survived. After that, he didn't show up in public for nearly half a year. Many people thought that he had died inside, until one day the neighbor heard the cry of a baby next door. Only then did they find out that Ling Li actually gave birth to a child!

It has only been half a year since Li Yue's death, he must've been pregnant before! The Liu parents immediately moved when they got wind of it, and seemed to believe that the child was of their own. With an uproar, they brought a few very enthusiastic physical helpers to break into Ling Li's home and grabbed the child without any explanation.

Ling Li had just given birth and was weak, he was tied down to a chair, and could only watch them take the child away.

Ling Li went to Liu's house every day and demanded the child like crazy. Servants from the Liu family watched and hald their fort. Although he was hysterical and desperate, he was ultimately weak, and even when tried his best to fight back, he just got hurt and the child was not successfully taken away.

Ling Li finally gave up, and even bluntly said that the child was not Liu Yue's at all. After the Liu parents raised the child for a few months, the child's eyebrows gradually opened up. The child was unlike Ling Li and Liu Yue. They had suspicions. As soon as they heard what Ling Li said, Liu mother suddenly felt that Ling Li had insulted their family with a bastard seed, her heart was filled with anger and she smashed the child to the ground!

Ling Li finally succeeded in taking the child away, and the child survived, but the boy who was originally handsome and lovely now had a broken head, and became an idiot ever since.

People from the Liu family later said everywhere that the child was the seed of Ling Li and Lao Choukuai. Lao Choukuai wanted to save the child, so he helped Ling Li cover up the crime.

Some people believed it, but most didn't believe it. Why? Because not everyone blind, and many people had seen the child. Although the child was a little slow, his appearance was still extremely delicate and beautiful, the old hunter had an extremely ordinary appearance, even if it really was his child, they would not look like a jade-carved child.

However, no one said a word for Ling Li, because this only further confirmed the fact that only Ling Li's appearance is reserved but his morals were loose. No one sympathized with him at all.

At that time, the Liu parents were still making a lot of noise, so the people in the town couldn't forget the old incidents from time to time over the years, so that even though five years have passed, Ling Li still failed to free himself from the pillar of humiliation, as soon as he walked the streets, everyone will either point and whisper or avoid him like plague, basically no one wanted to talk to him.

But this way, he resisted his infamy and occasionally took his idiot child to town³.

Su Jingyang heard the story and found it hard to believe, although he only exchanged a few words with Ling Li, he felt that Ling Li was not as the others say.

Su Jingyang also asked Liang Lu, why Ling Li didn't just take the child out of here. Liang Lu thought for a while and then said: "Probably, because the ashes of the old hunter have grown into this land, so he can't leave."

Su Jingyang, who could sleep peacefully even in the ruined temple, could not bring himself to fall asleep on the shop floor this time. He thought about Ling Li, with a slightly dazed expression; when he asked Ling Li that day about his continous soft coughs, Ling Li's small bowl of porridge that day, and Ling Li's steady tone of voice: "Don't take it to heart, they targeted me on purpose."

The more Su Jingyang thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt, and his heart in his chest became heavy.

_______

Notes:

1- Saying the same things over and over again

2- It's said that the soul is contained in the ashes, and that the soul can't leave the place where their ashes were scattered unless their ashes were compiled again.

3- Take with six three pinches of salt

____

PastTimer: Part 1 of chap 4, double update!!