Xie Lian suddenly remembered something, letting out a soft "hmm."
That face wrapped in countless bandages unavoidably reminded him of the child he met three years ago. But he couldn't be sure. Pessimistically, he thought, after that young boy escaped alone from Mount Tai Cang, could he truly survive for three more years?
At this moment, the youth approached, stood on tiptoe, and replaced the flowers in the hands of the clay statue with a fresh bunch of his own. Xie Lian was sitting on the shrine, watching clearly. The new flowers were more delicate, plump, and fresh, with a richer fragrance. They must have been freshly picked. Could it be that he visited this unremarkable temple every day to replace the flowers in the left hand of this clay statue with a fresh bunch?
Moreover, after offering the flowers, the young boy stood before the clay statue of the Crown Prince, clapped his hands together in prayer, silently wishing without indiscriminately kneeling as others did. Truly, he had taken Xie Lian's words to heart.
Three years have passed. Many believers had worshipped Xie Lian, from high officials and dignitaries to current celebrities and prodigies. Yet, the one who made Xie Lian truly feel sincere was such a twelve or thirteen-year-old child. And one who was poorly dressed, unable to even enter magnificent golden temples, and could only come to this grassroots shrine to pray.
This was truly indescribable.
At this moment, there were splashes of water at the entrance, where a group of children, carrying umbrellas, ran by laughing and playing. Initially, Xie Lian thought they were merely passing through, but to his surprise, after running past, they turned back as if discovering something extraordinary, clapping and saying, "Wow! The ugly monster got kicked out again!"
These children were about the same age as the little believer in the shrine but were taller and seemed well-fed by their parents. Perhaps because the festival was nearing, they wore new clothes and shoes. They played at the entrance, stepping in water, their laughter innocent and lively, not carrying a shred of malice.
As if "ugly monster" wasn't an insult, and without realizing their words were hurtful, they just found it fun to shout. The young boy clenched his fists but they were too small to intimidate anyone. Outside, they still jeered, "Ugly monster sleeping in the temple again today.
Be careful your mother doesn't beat you when you get home!"
Xie Lian frowned. The eye visible through the bandages on the boy swelled with red veins, and he raised his fist, shouting in anger, "I have no home!! I have no mother! She is not my mother! Get out! Get out! I'll beat you if you shout again!!!"
The group of children mocked fearlessly, one of them sticking out his tongue and saying, "If you dare hit us, we'll tell your dad and let him punish you."
One smirked, "Yeah, you have no mom, because your mom discarded you. You've got no home either, everyone in your family dislikes you. That's why you can only stay in this broken temple..."
At this point, the young boy suddenly screamed and dashed forward.
Though small in stature, he had an impressive aura, his shouted aggression made some kids want to flee. However, the one grappling with him shouted, "What are we afraid of? We have more people!" So they all came back, grabbing and hitting him. Xie Lian couldn't stand seeing it anymore. With a flick of his wrist, an inexplicable force in the air separated the two groups of children. Then, a mighty splash on the ground sent a wave of water, flipping the group of kids head over heels.
They were, after all, children. To be inexplicably tossed about and drink muddy water from the ground, with their new clothes becoming dirtier than the one they laughed at, turned their laughs into tears. Bewildered, they collected their umbrellas and ran off sobbing.
Xie Lian shook his head. He, a Martial God capable of cutting down demons and protecting peace, was intervening in such childish disputes for the first time. Even though he drove off the troublemakers, he didn't feel any sense of accomplishment. He turned back to look at the boy, and was slightly stunned.
In the chaos, the bandage on the boy's head had been half-pulled off, revealing a face covered in bruises and welts, clearly not caused by the recent brawl. Before Xie Lian could take a closer look, the boy rewrapped his bandage silently, hugging his knees, and sat next to the feet of the clay statue.
Xie Lian came to this Crown Prince Temple intending to summon Feng Xin and Mu Qing to discuss serious matters, but encountering this child intrigued him, and he couldn't help but care. After sending the summons, he squatted and watched the boy. After a while, a growl came from the boy's stomach. On the altar, there were some fruits and snacks. Though they looked withered and unappetizing, they were better than nothing. Xie Lian picked out a fruit, gently tossing it onto the boy.
Startled, the boy immediately held his head and curled up defensively as if expecting more stones to fall. After a long time, seeing only a fruit and no one else, he hesitated, picked up the fruit, wiped it, and put it back on the offering plate, preferring to go hungry than touch the offering.
He went to the entrance, glancing outside at the heavy rain, seemingly wishing to go out for food but changed his mind due to the rain and returned to huddle at the base of the clay statue to sleep.
At this moment, Feng Xin and Mu Qing arrived. Emerging from the back of the temple, Feng Xin complained, “Your Highness, where did you find such a tiny Crown Prince Temple? Why conduct orders here?” Looking down, he nearly stepped on something and exclaimed, “What the hell, why is there a child?!”
Mu Qing looked down, inspecting for a moment, and asked immediately, “Your Highness, is this the kid who ran down from Mount Tai Cang three years ago?”
Xie Lian shook his head, “Can't be sure. Don't know his name or what he actually looks like.”
The three gathered around the oblivious child, talked for a bit, and the boy turned over, wiping his face, and ended up smudging blood around his mouth and nose. Seeing this, Xie Lian felt he couldn't let him continue laying there and said, "Let’s have him leave first. It's getting dark, and this temple is not a good place to spend the night."
Feng Xin replied, "If he has nowhere to go, he might have to stay here for the night."
Xie Lian said, "He has a home, just maybe not a good one. But this temple isn't ideal either, let him leave first so we can find him some food. Besides, he’s injured."
Mu Qing, however, said, "Your Highness, forgive my directness, but we can’t deal with such small matters now. Did you summon us to make some decision?"
Within the Heavenly Court, no official pays attention to every prayer from the believers. Knowing there are countless devotees, dealing with each minor request could be maddening, thus sometimes they would turn a blind eye or pretend not to have heard some trivial or nuanced prayers, sparing much hassle. However, Xie Lian was perhaps too young, too energetic, not yet ready to accept such flexible approaches. He pondered, then grabbing an umbrella gifted by a passerby, he stepped outside the little temple.
Xie Lian gently opened the umbrella, rain droplets drumming on its surface. Hearing the sound as though someone approached, the boy moved slightly but laid back down realizing it was of no concern to him. Xie Lian placed the open umbrella at the entrance. The boy seemed curious that the sound persisted, got up to look, and saw a single red umbrella laid out on the rainy ground like a lone red flower and was momentarily stunned.
Seeing the boy rush over to grab the umbrella, Mu Qing said, "Your Highness, this should suffice. Reveal too much and it just complicates things."
Before Xie Lian could respond, the boy dashed back and shouted behind them, "Crown Prince!"
The three were startled, turning back. The boy, hugging the umbrella, eyes red with excitement, looked up at the clay statue asking, "Is it you, Crown Prince?!"
Feng Xin didn't know Xie Lian had already intervened earlier, chased away a group of children, and tossed the fruit, surprised, "This kid is rather clever, he found out?"
Mu Qing, seeming to foresee where this was heading, glanced at Xie Lian.
The boy said, "If you are here, answer me!"
While sitting atop the high divine altar, Xie Lian heard countless pleas to show divine presence every day. Any sound repeated often becomes numbing. Yet, whenever he heard such a cry, he couldn't help but take notice, become attentive. Mu Qing advised, "Your Highness, pay no mind."
Xie Lian remained silent. The boy's grip on the umbrella tightened, resolve in his eyes, and he said, "I'm in so much pain! Every day I wish to die, every day I wish to kill everyone in the world before killing myself! I live in such pain!"
A twelve or thirteen-year-old loudly declaring such words was laughable and pitiful to the extreme. Yet inside that small body, there was something explosive, fueling his anger and shouts.
Feng Xin frowned, "What's wrong with him? Who says things like 'kill everyone' at his age?"
Mu Qing said nonchalantly, "He's just too young. Once he grows up, he'll see that what he's experiencing now is nothing."
Pausing, he looked at Xie Lian, "There are too many people suffering in this world. Take the drought in Yong'an, no Yong'an resident isn’t suffering more than this. Your Highness needn't concern yourself. Just do what needs to be done."
Xie Lian gently said, "Maybe so."
One person's suffering to another might indeed just be a trivial annoyance.
The boy looked up at him, his red eye intense but without tears, holding onto the umbrella, reaching out to grab the clay statue's garment, and demanded, "Why do I even live in this world? What's the point of being alive?"
Silent for a while, no one responded. The boy seemed to have expected this outcome, lowering his head slowly.
Unexpectedly, a voice broke the silence, speaking from above, "If you don’t know how to keep living, then live for me."
Beside him, Feng Xin and Mu Qing hadn't anticipated him truly responding, let alone with such words, widened their eyes, "Your Highness?!"
The boy jolted his head upwards yet saw no one, only hearing the gentle and ethereal voice coming from the clay statue:
"The question you ask, I don't know how to answer. But if you don't know the meaning of staying alive, then why not make me the reason for now."
Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s faces turned pale, each reaching to cover Xie Lian’s mouth, exclaiming, "Stop talking Your Highness! You're breaking the rules! Breaking the rules!"
Before being muffled, Xie Lian hurriedly added, "Thank you for the flowers! They are beautiful, I like them very much!"