That felt like someone sprinkling salt into an open wound.
His face darkened with anger as he stormed over to Yun Jiu and, without saying a word, raised his hand and slapped him across the face.
Yun Jiu had been standing there absentmindedly. After being slapped for no apparent reason, he hurriedly came back to his senses and looked at Yun Xiaoshu in confusion.
The slap immediately attracted the attention of many people nearby.
Everyone curiously turned to look, only to see a young ge’er glaring furiously at a tall, burly man.
Some people could not help but think, Oh? It’s barely the New Year, and there’s already a love triangle unfolding.
“Yun Jiu, you really have no shame! If it weren’t for Lin Ye protecting you, a shameless ge’er like you should have been drowned in a pond and left to die!”
The people around them gasped when they heard this. They all looked at the person who had been slapped. So this tall, sturdy person was actually a ge’er?
Hearing his own younger brother curse him with such vicious words, Yun Jiu felt a dull ache in his heart. He had thought that after suffering enough pain, he would eventually become numb and nothing anyone said could hurt him anymore. But when he saw his own biological younger brother again and heard words that sounded almost like a curse, Yun Jiu still couldn’t help feeling hurt.
Seeing the sadness in Yun Jiu’s eyes only made Yun Xiaoshu’s anger burn even hotter. He hated the pitiful look on Yun Jiu’s face. He hated even more how Yun Jiu never argued with anyone, always acting as though everyone else owed him something.
Yun Xiaoshu couldn’t help raising his voice. “Stop pretending! Stop acting pitiful! You used that pathetic act to win Lin Ye’s sympathy, didn’t you? Yun Jiu, Lin Ye only feels sorry for you. Who would actually like an ugly ge’er like you?”
Apparently, simply hurling insults wasn’t enough to satisfy him. Yun Xiaoshu raised his hand again, intending to hit him.
This time, Yun Jiu caught his wrist. “Lin Ye said only he’s allowed to bully me, so you’d better not go too far. Making such a scene like this is really ugly.”
Yun Xiaoshu had never seen Yun Jiu fight back before. He was instantly furious, his eyes widening as he shouted, “Let go of me! Who gave you the right to touch me?”
Everyone else from Yunjia Village was stunned by the scene before them. Although they knew Yun Jiu had changed from how he used to be, they never expected him to actually fight back—especially against Yun Xiaoshu, the youngest and most spoiled ge’er in the Yun Dali family.
Yun Xiaohua suddenly felt that staying behind was rather interesting. Watching the two of them turn on each other actually put him in a much better mood.
Seeing that Yun Jiu still refused to let go, several other ge’ers immediately walked over. They confronted Yun Jiu aggressively. “What are you doing? He’s your younger brother! Do you have any sense of what it means to be an older brother? No matter how unpleasant the things he said were, he’s still your younger brother. How can an older brother hit his younger brother?”
“Exactly! Yun Jiu, have you no shame? You’re his older brother, yet you actually hit your own younger brother?”
The commotion attracted more and more people.
Qi Zhou had originally just come over to watch the fun. But when he saw a group of ge’ers blatantly lying through their teeth, he suddenly found the whole thing rather amusing. That little ge’er had clearly been the one to strike first. Yet after everyone started shouting, anyone who hadn’t seen what happened would really think Yun Jiu had been the one who attacked first.
Qi Zhou felt that he had certainly learned something new today. He had always been an unreasonable person himself, but he had never realized there were so many people just like him.
Qi Zhou had followed along after seeing Lin Ye. He had originally wanted to continue following Lin Ye, but there were simply too many people around, and he didn’t like squeezing through crowds. So he had stood to the side, watching with interest.
He had initially intended to wait patiently for an opportunity, but unexpectedly stumbled upon such an entertaining scene. His mood improved considerably as he watched them make a fuss.
Some people who arrived later hadn’t witnessed Yun Jiu being slapped. After hearing the other ge’ers shouting, they immediately assumed that Yun Jiu had been the one who started the fight.
Yun Jiu was already angry, and without realizing it, he tightened his grip around Yun Xiaoshu’s wrist.
Yun Xiaoshu immediately winced in pain, his eyes turning red as he cried out pitifully, “Let go! You’re hurting me!”
Seeing Yun Jiu’s tall, imposing figure and then looking at Yun Xiaoshu’s delicate, pitiful appearance, someone immediately stepped forward to defend him.
A burly man suddenly strode over and glared at Yun Jiu. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you bullying a little ge’er for no reason? Look at how big you are! If you want to fight, then come on. I’ll fight you!”
The man hadn’t heard the conversation that came before and assumed Yun Jiu was a hanzi. He rolled up his sleeves and prepared to fight him.
Yun Jiu’s face flushed red and then pale. He immediately released Yun Xiaoshu and said to the man, “I didn’t hit him. He was the one who hit me first.”
Hearing this, the man burst out laughing. He pointed at Yun Xiaoshu and said, “You’re a hanzi! So what if a little ge’er hits you a few times? It’s not like you’re going to lose a piece of flesh.”
Those who knew the truth couldn’t help laughing when they heard this. The burly man thought everyone was agreeing with him and continued laughing foolishly along with them.
A ge’er called out mockingly to the foolish man, “Idiot, he’s a ge’er too!”
But there was nothing kind in the ge’er’s tone—it was full of ridicule.
When everyone heard this, they laughed even louder.
Yun Jiu felt utterly humiliated. He lowered his head, his face turning pale. He knew they were all laughing at the way he looked.
Yun Xiaoshu pretended to lower his head and wipe away his tears, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help curling into a cold smile.
Once Lin Ye sees how foolish Yun Jiu looks, he’ll definitely feel that Yun Jiu has embarrassed him completely. I refuse to believe Lin Ye will still like Yun Jiu after this.
“Hey, now that you mention it, if you hadn’t told us he’s a ge’er, we really wouldn’t have been able to tell. He looks just like a hanzi—full of vigor.”
“I wonder whose family is lucky enough to have a ge’er like this. Having him at home must be like having an extra ox, right?”
One of the ge’ers from Yunjia Village laughed and pointed at Yun Jiu. “Haha, Auntie, you’re absolutely right. Isn’t Yun Jiu basically an ox in his own family? His Amo even said that whoever marries him will be blessed. Not only can he work as hard as an ox, but he can even give birth to little calves!”
Yun Jiu felt utterly humiliated. When he thought about Lin Ye seeing this scene later, everyone would probably turn around and laugh at Lin Ye too. The thought of Lin Ye being embarrassed made Yun Jiu angry despite himself.
Yun Jiu glanced at the ge’er who had insulted him and retorted, “Don’t go too far. Even if I’m not good-looking, that’s my business.”
The ge’er let out a cold laugh. “Your ugliness really isn’t our concern. But you shouldn’t have done something so disgusting. If you hadn’t taken advantage of the situation and forced Lin Ye into marrying an ugly freak like you, I wouldn’t even bother with you.”
“Sorry, what did you just say?”
A cold voice suddenly came from behind the ge’er. Everyone turned around and saw an exceptionally handsome young man slowly walking out from behind him.
Lin Ye was carrying quite a few things. He placed them in the carriage before looking at Yun Jiu’s face. Although it wasn’t very obvious, he could still make out a faint red mark.
“Who hit you?”
The ge’er was too frightened to answer. Everyone immediately looked toward Yun Xiaoshu, who shrank his neck and put on an aggrieved expression.
Feeling Lin Ye’s gaze on him, Yun Xiaoshu hurriedly said, “Lin Ye, I didn’t mean to. Yun Jiu was being too—”
Before Yun Xiaoshu could finish, Lin Ye abruptly cut him off.
“Yun Jiu, what did I teach you today? If someone hits you, hit them back.”
Yun Xiaoshu stared at him in disbelief. He was so much prettier than Yun Jiu—hundreds, thousands of times prettier. Yet Lin Ye was actually telling Yun Jiu to hit him?
Yun Jiu hesitated. “Forget it. I’ll let it go. I don’t want to make an issue out of it.”
As soon as Yun Jiu said this, the people from Yunjia Village immediately found themselves an easy way out.
“Exactly, exactly. No matter how wrong Yun Xiaoshu was, he’s still Yun Jiu’s younger brother. He’s young and doesn’t know any better. Lin Ye, don’t hold it against him.”
It was the same old argument again.
Lin Ye irritably tugged at his collar. It had been the same way even before the apocalypse.
Lin Ye admitted that he had been weak back then. He had been a child who desperately lacked affection. His parents were often away from home when he was young. Whenever he did get to see them, he would force himself to be sensible and obedient.
But well-behaved children usually didn’t get any candy. And even less often did they get an adult’s love.
He had a younger cousin who was several years younger than him. Once, while they were relocating to another base, they accidentally encountered a horde of zombies. The young men in the family stayed behind to hold them off and buy time for the elderly and children to escape.
Something went wrong in the chaos. A zombie suddenly lunged toward his cousin, and in a moment of panic, his cousin pushed Lin Ye in front of the zombie.
Later, his cousin apologized to him, but Lin Ye refused to speak to him after that. His cousin’s parents couldn’t help complaining that Lin Ye was being petty.
Wasn’t it only natural for an older brother to protect his younger brother?
At the time, they had even said, “He’s still young. In a life-or-death situation, it’s understandable that he lost his composure. How can you, as his older brother, hold a grudge over something like that?”
What law said an older brother was supposed to die in his younger brother’s place?
What law said a younger brother should automatically be forgiven whenever he did something wrong?
Lin Ye’s mental state had already become extremely unstable by then. Later, after they reached the base, his cousin had no one else to rely on, so he started accompanying Lin Ye whenever Lin Ye went out on missions.
His cousin liked showing off in front of girls, so he deliberately headed toward places crawling with zombies. He always assumed that as long as Lin Ye was there, nothing could happen to him.
But he hadn’t expected there to be so many zombies. Lin Ye simply didn’t have enough strength to protect him.
When his cousin became trapped in the middle of the zombie horde, he screamed at Lin Ye with a twisted expression. “Lin Ye, if you don’t get me back, my parents will never let you off! Save me! Damn it, what are you looking at? Hurry up and save me! Ah—Brother, save me! If you don’t save me, don’t even think about surviving yourself!”
His cousin’s face was covered in tears and mucus. As he screamed, both tears and mucus ran into his mouth.
Lin Ye had been in a daze at the time. His mind was filled with his cousin’s parents’ accusations and the disapproving looks of the elders.
For a moment, he felt as though he had sunk into the depths of the ocean, unable to breathe.
Then, an indescribable desire for revenge suddenly awakened inside him.
It was as though a terrifying demon had emerged from the depths of his heart and swallowed his reason in an instant.
