As Qing Wu kept talking Peng Deng felt an emotion boiling up within him, anger!
Qing Wu had never brought dumplings or any food for him. She seemed to have worked very hard just to make the finest dumplings for Ye Lang. Peng Deng looked closer and saw a H curved in the basket which carried the dumplings.
Those weren't Qing Wu's dumplings, they were Qing Hauling's dumplings! These were the dumplings meant for him.
He couldn't look at the water anymore. He folded his fingers into a fist and sent it flying toward the water. When his fist came in contact with the water the sound of splashing echoed through the cave.
Wait, cave?
Peng Deng looked around to find that he was in a crystal cave. Wasn't he on the mountain peak?
"Do you see the truth now?" Peng Deng heard a soft and firm voice. He turned around to find the masked girl drinking tea.
Peng Deng looked very miserable. He had tears streaming down his face and his clothes were soaked in water, sticking to his thin figure. His eyes were red because of the crying, under his eyes were dark circles and eye bags.
"Look into the water and tell me what you see?"
Peng Deng wanted someone to blame but he couldn't so instead he found another way to relieve his anger.
"Why? Why?!?! Why did you take me here?!! Tell me." At that moment Peng Deng felt himself fighting with himself. His heart was against the thought of shouting at Li Jiao Lei. Was it because he gave her his loyalty?
Li Jiao Lei stood up so fast that Peng Deng almost fell into the water from the wind. Her black robe was now in flames, but it didn't turn into ashes but looked more of a dress.
"If you shout at me one more time, you will face my ruth. Look at you! Are you really from the great Peng family? You're so malnourished and stupid. Instead of polishing yourself with what you can earn, you give it a girl who will never understand your efforts.
Your brothers and sister are busy trying to find food while you're thinking of gifting your Qing Wu. What's in your pocket!?! Huh!?! I brought you here so you could see the truth, but even after seeing the truth, you're still so stupid. I took you here not for you to steal but for you to encounter the truth.
WHY DID I EVEN WASTE MY TIME ON YOU! Should I send you back to the cliff? If that's what you want, then go. Go kill yourself like the spoilt and stupid boy you are, but don't forget you gave me your loyalty."
Peng Deng had never been this scared in his life, neither had he ever been ridiculed like the way this girl did. Many people had looked down on him for so long yet none of them pushed the truth into his face. It was even more painful than watching Qing Wu with Ye Lang. Wasn't she just a girl?
"I'm sorry. I choose to follow you, but can I see my siblings one last time." Peng Deng made his decision.
"Call me master, as for your siblings. I want their loyalty too."
"That is if they give you their loyalty… master." The word master had a strange sound to it. He was used to everyone calling him a young master, but now he was calling another master.
"I promise I'll never let them sleep hungry. Now, take me to your siblings."
When Peng Deng thought about going down the mountain, he frowned in pain.
"We are already in Marjing city. Now take me."
"Yes, Master." Peng Deng was dumbfounded.
Li Jiao Lei noticed how the boy became so dull, but she was sure that he would get his mischievousness back.
…
Peng Deng and Li Jiao Lei were now in front of an old and dreary building. This was where sons and daughters of the great Peng family lived. What a pity? The building itself looked as though it could fall off at any moment.
Peng Deng felt embarrassed about the condition of the house they lived in.
.
"Is this where you live?" asked the young girl half-heartedly, with the usual graceful expression in her eyes.
Peng Deng took a deep breath. When he looked up to the house, his eyes were filled with anguish. He looked straightforwardly at the masked individual who was peering at the house in front of them and answered: "Yes, Master."
He still could not see through the mask on Li Jiao Lei's face, so he assumed that the house dissatisfied her. Li Jiao Lei kept looking at the house, Peng Deng felt uncomfortable about the matter.
"Take me in."
She said, looking at the house.
As Peng Deng led Li Jiao Lei in, he heard voices from the house.
"Peng Deng hasn't come home for a full day and night could he have gone to Qing Wu again!"
"How could he do this to us. Does he not care for us anymore?!?"
"I'm pretty sure that heartless Qing Wu is driving him to do her filthy work, again. Remember the time he wasted a hundred eggs. He threw them all at Qing Ying's courtyard, just because Qing Ying made Qing Wu angry. Luckily no one found out it was him."
"Have you noticed how the Qing family keeps giving us ten thousand gold notes every month, but the same tax collectors from the Qing family ask for more. It's as though they want to find out whether we have any money left. Peng Deng might be the oldest but his more stupid than any of us."
These voices belonged to his brothers.
Suddenly a soft voice was heard in the room.
"People are often stupid when they are in love. None of you should in love unless I say so! The Qing household is so tough, poor Qing Hauling, I can't imagine how they treat her. If only brother Peng Deng fell for Qing Hauling."
Suddenly the door was opened, they looked behind to find Peng Deng walking in.
"So you have finally chosen to come! huh!"
"Master, come in."
When the siblings heard Peng Deng say master they had only one thought in their heads.
Was he a slave?!?
A masked individual with a black robe walked in. From, the Individuals figure they instantly knew that she was a girl.
"Peng Deng, what is happening? What did you do?" Everyone in the room was panicking except Li Jiao Lei and Peng Deng.
"He tried to kill himself and I saved him, so he gave me his loyalty in exchange." Li Jiao Lei's words were heard loud and clear.
Their elder brother just tried to kill himself?
Li Jiao Lei walked to the table and tapped it. Suddenly the table became a gold mirror and in the mirror were pictures of everyone who was had ever wronged them.
The Peng family was astonished. They looked at the masked individual with bewilderment.
…
And just like that, Li Jiao Lei gained their allegiance.