After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The young men parted ways, and their reunion was marked by brothers turning against each other, a fight to the death. Let alone Lu Yun, anyone in his shoes would find it heartbreaking.

"Perhaps he is not your younger brother Alu, but..."

Instead, an assassin? How would an assassin know that Lu Yun has a younger brother named Alu?

Looking into Lu Yun's lifeless eyes, Lu Zhiyuan couldn't continue her story. From the villa to the Marquis's mansion, and then to the palace, she had spent many years with Lu Yun without knowing that he had a younger brother named Alu who looked just like him. How could outsiders possibly know?

"What I mean is, you have no way of confirming that he is your brother Alu? There are many people in the world who look alike. His appearance may just be a trap, used to ambush you and me."

"I thought about it when I was in the cave, and the answer was absolutely impossible." A dense, throbbing pain throbbed in his chest, unsure whether it was from the physical injury or the heartbreak. He adjusted his posture slightly, half-sitting on the ground, looking up at the sky; everything was pitch black. He was blind, yet long-forgotten images surfaced in his mind.

His and Alu's home was destroyed by the flood, and their lives were saved by their parents at the cost of their lives. The last thing his mother said to him before she was swept away was: "Take care of Alu, take care of your younger brother. No matter what, you must live, live well."

He held Alu and stayed on the roof for three whole days.

As the floodwaters receded, ruins lay everywhere, and corpses littered the landscape—human, sheep, chicken, duck, rabbit, and even pig bodies. They searched the mud for a day but found no trace of their parents' remains, so they gave up and went to the city.

My parents said that there are many noble people in the capital, and if you stay close to them, you won't starve.

After walking for seven days, they ate wild fruits when they were hungry and asked nearby families for water when they were thirsty. Kind people would also give them some dry food. After walking for eight days without sleep, they finally arrived at the legendary capital city, a place of great wealth and prosperity.

Thin and pale, and young, he couldn't find work and had to compete with beggars on the street for space. At first, he was always bullied, and at his worst, he was forced to sit in a cesspool full of dog excrement and beaten. Ah Lu always protected him, afraid that his only brother would be beaten to death.

After being beaten so many times, they learned to fight. Not only did they seize a decent territory, but they also learned to snatch food from dogs. They were fierce, and the wild dogs guarding their food were even fiercer. There was no way around it; compared to dogs, humans were always more important.

A-Lu's injuries were inflicted while saving him.

He angered the dog by snatching the meat bun from its mouth, and the dog and he started fighting. When Alu saw that he had been bitten by the dog, he rushed to help him, but the dog bit his wrist tightly.

Ah Lu screamed as the dog was bitten. In desperation, he used his begging bowl to beat the stray dog's head until it bled profusely.

The stray dog ​​was dead, its mouth still tightly clenched, impossible to pry open. A-Lu rolled on the ground in pain, constantly calling for his brother. The wound was deep enough to expose bone, and the bleeding was unstoppable. Just then, the steward of the other courtyard passed by, and in a moment of impulse, rushed over.

He'd do anything as long as A-Lu is saved.

Lu Yun smiled as he spoke: "The adult world is far more complicated than the children's world. At that time, all I wanted was for A-Lu to survive. I didn't think about why the butler was there or why he stayed there."

Lu Zhiyuan was examining Lu Yun's eyes when she heard this and asked, "Why?"

“The rich have a game. They observe the beggars in the city, select the fiercest and most ruthless ones, take them away, lock them in cages, give them fine clothes and food, and let them fight and bite like wild dogs. They call this a pastime. Ah Lu and I are the ones the steward values.”

"The Marquis's residence also does such things?"

“No, it’s not the Marquis’s residence,” Lu Yun said. “The Marquis of Pingnan has been away from the capital for a long time. The old lady is only thinking about spending money and competing with others, while the madam is wholeheartedly working to ensure the livelihood of the Marquis’s residence. How would they know that such things happen in the capital? The steward is Ji Wanwan’s man. Ji Wanwan is backed by the Prince of Yong’an, who has connections with many forces in the capital. The slaves and beggars were all ordered by Ji Wanwan, who instructed the steward to find them for those residences in need.”

"You and Alu were not sent away by the steward."

"It's because of Miss." Lu Yun grasped Lu Zhiyuan's hand: "It was Miss's words that allowed Alu and me to stay in the villa, and it was Miss's words that saved Alu's hand and his life."

Lu Yun was referring to the original owner of the body.

The day he and Alu were taken back to the villa happened to coincide with the arrival of Xie's third young master, who was also Lu Zhiyuan's maternal uncle, visiting relatives. The steward dared not offend him and had someone invite the original owner of this body out. The original owner was a kind-hearted girl who had been bullied. Seeing that Alu was seriously injured, she hurriedly asked the steward to invite the doctor from the estate to treat him.

If the Third Young Master hadn't come, the original owner's words might not have been effective.

With the Third Young Master present, the steward dared not hesitate.

Besides the doctor, the original owner also had someone bring a bunch of blood-nourishing medicines from the storeroom. Thanks to the doctor's superb medical skills and those ridiculously expensive tonics, A-Lu recovered day by day.

Young Master Xie had met him and Alu before, and Miss Xie also knew them. The steward dared not have any further thoughts about them, so he kept them in the separate courtyard.

"In that case, you should thank my uncle."

“It was Miss. If it weren’t for Miss, Young Master Xie wouldn’t have come to Chaoyun Villa. Even if he had, he wouldn’t have cared about our lives. If Young Master Xie didn’t care, how could the steward have taken us seriously? It was Miss who called the doctor, and it was Miss who asked A-Lu to get the medicine. Without Miss, we wouldn’t exist. A-Lu may have forgotten, but Lu Yun dares not forget. Lu Yun once said that he would be Miss’s person in life and Miss’s ghost in death.”

"Tell me the truth, was Alu really sold because he was disobedient?"

“I dare not deceive you, Miss.” Lu Yun covered her wound. “A-Lu is indeed unruly! He doesn’t want to take up a knife, he doesn’t want to become a tool for the steward to kill, and the steward cannot tolerate him.”

"It's not selling, it's killing. He knew the butler's secret, and the butler wanted to kill him to silence him."

Lu Yun's eyes darkened, and he remained silent, head down.

"When did you find out?" Lu Zhiyuan didn't blame him. After all, he was just a teenager seven years ago. He knew the dangers of the world, but he didn't expect it to be this dangerous.

He was the older brother; if he had known beforehand that the steward intended to kill A-Lu, he would have fought to the death to protect him. Because of guilt, he was caught off guard when they recognized each other. Also because of guilt, he was heartbroken by A-Lu and pushed into the cave without complaint. If he hadn't been worried about Lu Zhiyuan, he would have died quietly in the cave, just as A-Lu had hoped.

Lu Yun turned his head: "I know that A-Lu was locked up, and I went to see him a few times in secret. The last time I went, A-Lu was not there. I asked the steward, and he said that he was sold because he was disobedient. At that time, I was just a servant and had nothing. I didn't dare to question the steward at all. All I could do was submit and then use the steward and the villa to find A-Lu's whereabouts."

Lu Yun searched for a long time and finally found the person the steward had mentioned. The man looked impatient and said that A-Lu was dead and told him to look for him in the mass grave. He was unwilling to give up and made inquiries everywhere, but A-Lu was nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead. Gradually, he accepted the fact that A-Lu was dead.