Chapter 83: Martial Artists and Commoners (3)

That was not fully his fault. When he met Li Menglan she was already a Wang Family person. Bound by the rules, even if he had asked before she might not have said.

"My dad died early. Only my mom was left raising me, my little brother, and my little sister. I was the oldest then, only sixteen. My little sister was only nine. Mom had no steady work..." Li Menglan stopped there.

Wang Yue understood. If they had not been unable to live, she might never have sold herself into the Wang Family.

Wang Yue suddenly felt he and she might truly be fated.

Li Menglan’s old home was not in some broken-down place the way Wang Yue had imagined. It was a decent enough neighborhood.

That made sense. When the Wang Family took servants the price they paid was still high, enough for a family of three to live on for a long time.

From the address the messenger had given, Wang Yue parked in front of a residential building, went up with Li Menglan to the third floor of unit one, and knocked on the door of suite B.

"Who is it?" A woman’s voice came from inside, with threads of caution in it.

Hearing that voice, Li Menglan could not hold her tears. She said, choking, "Mom, it’s me. Menglan is back."

"Menglan?!" The person inside cried out. The door opened at once.

Before the two of them stood a woman in very plain clothes, hair already streaked white, many wrinkles on her face.

"Mom!" Seeing a mother far older than in her memory, Li Menglan threw her arms around her and cried.

Wang Yue could not help a quiet sigh. As far as he knew Li Menglan’s mother was only a bit over forty now, about the same age as Aunt Yan.

Aunt Yan looked like a young wife not yet thirty. The woman in front of them looked at least ten years older than her real age.

You could tell her foundation was very good. When she was young she must have been a beauty too, or she would not have given birth to a daughter as pretty as Li Menglan.

"Jie, is it really you?" A timid voice came from behind Li Menglan’s mother.

Wang Yue looked and saw a girl whose looks were nine parts like Li Menglan’s, but much younger, about fifteen or sixteen.

The girl wore a high school uniform. Young as she was, her figure had already developed quite well, at least much more mature than Wang Xin’er’s. (Wang Xin’er: Where are your manners?)

Li Menglan came back to herself, hurried to stop crying, turned, and introduced them to Wang Yue. "Third Young Master, this is my mother He Qiong. This is my little sister Li Yingying."

Wang Yue smiled and greeted them. "Hello, Aunt He."

Li Menglan went on. "Mom, this is the Wang Family’s Third Young Master."

"Third Young Master?" He Qiong jumped in fright and at once did not know where to put her hands and feet. She hurried to explain. "Third Young Master, this is all my fault. I had no way left, so I asked someone to notify Menglan. Please don’t blame her."

"Aunt He, no need for that. Sister Lan has looked after me since I was eight. She’s almost like my own sister. Her business is my business." Wang Yue waved a hand and said it mildly. "So you don’t have to treat me as an outsider. Treat me as family."

Feeling Wang Yue’s goodwill, He Qiong and Li Yingying both felt as if they were in a dream.

The Wang Family’s Third Young Master was not only high in status. He was definitely a martial artist as well.

And martial artists, in their hearts, always stood high above. Usually they would not even glance at ordinary people.

So they at once felt this young master of the Wang Family was incomparably kind and approachable.

"Mom, let’s talk inside." Li Menglan simply accepted Wang Yue’s wording. It was not that she truly had no sense of rank left. She wanted her family to know this way that she was doing well in the Wang Family.

He Qiong had been so caught up in seeing her daughter that she had forgotten to let them in. Reminded by her daughter she came to herself and hurried them inside.

Wang Yue looked around after going in. It was a small two-bedroom, one-living-room place. The furniture looked some years old and rather worn, but it was kept very clean and gave a warm feel.

"Mom, where’s Little Gang?" The moment she was in the door Li Menglan asked.

He Qiong’s face darkened. "In his room. He hurt all night. He just fell asleep this morning."

"I’ll go see him." Li Menglan walked two steps, then asked, "Which room is his?"

This little house had been bought after she left, so she did not know the layout.

"That one." He Qiong pointed.

In the room, Wang Yue, following Li Menglan in, saw "Little" Gang.

In his mind Li Menglan’s little brother should have been the thin, honest kind of boy who got bullied and did not dare make a sound.

What was this in front of him? A super strong man almost two meters tall. Even lying there, wrapped in bandages like a mummy, he looked even more burly and fierce than that Li Yuankui.

His looks were not delicate like his sisters’ either. A square face carried a martial air of its own. Even asleep his thick brows were faintly knit. Clearly the wounds still hurt.

Li Menglan did not disturb her little brother. After one look she went back to the living room and asked, worried, "How did it get this bad?"

"It’s nothing much. All surface wounds." He Qiong did not want Li Menglan to worry too much and made it sound light on purpose.

Li Yingying did not have that many thoughts. She said from the side, "What surface wounds? People nearby said Ge got knocked more than ten meters, then rolled a lot of times on the ground. Not a patch of good skin on his whole body, and fractures in many places. Keeping his life was already a miracle."

He Qiong said, "The doctor said he’ll be fine. Rest a while and he’ll be all right. Enough of that. Young Master Wang, please sit. Yingying, go pour Young Master Wang a cup of water."

Wang Yue sat in the living room. Li Yingying poured a cup, walked over with a mix of shyness and curiosity. "Third Young Master, please have some water."

"Thank you." Wang Yue took the cup and smiled. "You’re not a Wang Family person. Don’t call me Third Young Master. We look about the same age. Just call me by my name."

"That won’t do." Li Yingying hurried to wave her little hands. "From now on I’ll call you Young Master Wang."

"Fine. Are you in senior high?" Wang Yue looked at the words "Golden Mountain Third Senior High School" printed on Li Yingying’s uniform top and asked.

Seeing Wang Yue this easy, Li Yingying relaxed quite a bit. She sat in a chair to his side and answered, "Yes. First year. My ge had this happen, so I didn’t go to school today."

"How is it? Is school interesting?" Wang Yue asked. He was truly a bit curious. From childhood he had never entered a school and had never mixed with students. All of this was strange to him.

"It’s all right. Studies are a bit tight, but every day you go to class and leave class with a lot of people your age, play together, and sometimes run into interesting things. It’s not as dull as I imagined." Li Yingying said.

Wang Yue could not help a light sigh. "I kind of envy you."

"Envy me?" Li Yingying could not understand. You’re a Wang Family young master, a big shot high above. You envy me, an ordinary high school student?

Wang Yue said, "You don’t know how we spend our days. Besides eating it’s all training. Only three days a month to rest."

"Don’t you sleep?" Li Yingying asked, odd.

Wang Yue shook his head. "In the day we practice martial techniques. At night we cultivate inner arts. Where is there time to sleep? Luckily cultivating inner arts lets the brain rest fully, so we don’t get too worn out."

Hearing Wang Yue say that, Li Yingying could not help pitying him some. Besides those three rest days a month he could only do two things. That was truly duller than school.