Xiao Ren felt vexed that he still couldn't speak. He decided to just shook his head as if saying that it was not Ye Ning's fault.
Ye Ning smiled when she saw the expression on Xiao Ren's face. "It's fine. Brother always protect me too because there are some people who wants to take me. Maybe I should have escaped far away so that I won't be a burden to Brother."
Hearing that, Xiao Ren frowned even deeper. He reached out his hand to beside Ye Ning's face so that she would look at him. Slowly, he mouthed out, 'You're not a burden.'
Seeing the desperate yet annoyed expression on Xiao Ren, Ye Ning could tell that he truly wanted to speak to her if only it was possible. Yet because he had lost his voice, and she couldn't read, he had no other choice but to use this method to convey whatever he wanted to say to her.
A smile made its way to Ye Ning's lips. "Alright, I'm not a burden."
Xiao Ren nodded seriously.
"Shall we return back now?"
Xiao Ren nodded again.
As Xiao Ren backed away, Ye Ning clenched the edge of her shirt. She felt really glad that she was able to meet with Xiao Ren who would also help her even though they didn't have any relationship before this.
She was thankful that her brother was naturally kind by nature.
After that short incident, the two of them were no longer in the mood to walk around. Xiao Ren still wanted to meet with Commander Bei and tried to figure out what had happened, but he wouldn't want to bring Ye Ning around with him. In fact, the meeting with his old comrade might even result in bloodbath.
There was no way he wanted to involve a soft girl like Ye Ning in that kind of matter.
"You have returned?" Jun asked with a smile when he saw the two of them. "Do you have fun?"
Ye Ning nodded. "Yes! Xiao Ren bought a sword and we also eat noodles in Restaurant…. Eh, wait, I don't know the name of the restaurant."
The restaurant had a plate that spelled the name of the restaurant but as someone who couldn't read, Ye Ning didn't know what the words meant.
Jun chuckled. "It's good that you have fun. You should go inside, your brother is back."
"Ah, Brother is back?" Ye Ning's face turned pale. She knew that her brother never liked to see her going out because it was dangerous. Without waiting for Xiao Ren, she quickly stormed inside to explain to her brother about her outing today.
Jun looked at Xiao Ren then to the sword. He faintly recalled the time when Xiao Ren emanated that deadly aura and gulped down. With a sword beside Xiao Ren, he felt that the man before him was even scarier than before.
"Did you have fun, Mister Xiao?"
Xiao Ren nodded. He walked inside and headed to his quarter. On the way, he could hear the voice of Ye Lei reprimanding his little sister for acting out of impulse and went to the street without telling him anything.
"You dummy! What do you think you're doing going out to the street just like that? Do you know that there are a lot of bad guys out there?"
"But… Xiao Ren is protecting me," Ye Ning defended himself.
Ye Lei's face darkened. "Still no! If you get kidnaped by a bad guy, what do you think I could do to save you? Stay here and behave, alright?"
"…Yes."
Xiao Ren walked into the room and saw Ye Lei. The latter's clothes were messy and there were sign of fatigue. It seemed that for the past few days, Ye Lei was working hard to find some jobs to do in the city in order to be able to earn money. Whilst it might not be that much, it was already more than plenty for him.
Raising his head, Ye Lei's gaze met with Xiao Ren. He sighed. "Xiao Ren, please don't bring my sister out. If you want to go out, I'll go with you."
"Brother!"
"Ning'er, you don't know any sense of danger."
Xiao Ren arched his eyebrows and shook his head lightly. He wanted to reassure them that it was fine, yet he couldn't find the correct gesture for him to show it to them. In the end, he turned around and looked at Jun, who was not far from them.
"Is there anything…?" Jun asked and saw Xiao Ren's writing gesture. It seemed that Xiao Ren wished to communicate through writing.
"I'll get some bamboo strips along with brush and ink."
Ye Lei looked at Xiao Ren and sighed. He also felt bad to get enraged at a man who couldn't even speak to defend himself. Having so many things coming at him all at once was very tiring. It was not usual for him to face these things because he was used to the village and the people there.
It didn't take long for Jun to return back with the equipment. He placed them down on the table and Xiao Ren took the brush then began to write on the bamboo strip. His writing was a bit messy, yet it was readable.
Xiao Ren looked at Jun and it was then Jun understood that Xiao Ren wished for him to read it aloud for Ye Lei and Ye Ning. He sighed.
"There's no need to worry. Ye Ning is safe with me around."
Ye Lei's eyes widened. He looked at Xiao Ren with suspiciousness. "Do you think I'll let you protect my sister? I don't want…"
Jun continued to read the sentences that Xiao Ren wrote on the bamboo strips. "Staying inside forever is not good for her because she'll never have any chance to see the world outside. Did you know that she's… smiling so happily when she went out?"
Reading the sentences, Jun felt like crying. Why did he had to be involved in these three's problem, ah? Either one of these two siblings should hurry and learn how to read and write so that they would be able to read the letters.
But then again, seeing how smooth Xiao Ren wrote everything and also the large vocabulary he had, Jun fell into deep contemplation. He felt that Xiao Ren's identity was getting more and more mysterious as time passed.
"Happy?" Ye Lei was stunned. He turned his head to the side and looked at his sister with uncertain light in his eyes. "Is that… true, Ning'er?"
Ye Ning lowered her eyes and bit her lower lips. She never wanted to trouble her brother because back in the village, it was hard for her to get out without attracting any troubles from the nearby villagers. Yet, she also knew that it was also impossible for her to hide this from him forever.
In the end, she replied in soft voice, "Yes."