"So, you know something, don't you? I saw your dad go over there just a bit before you appeared"
The three children all close to each-other in age were walking together down a different road than the one the gathering of adults was, after a while Huo Da asked Shu He a question.
"Hm?" He continued to act like he didn't know, ideally he'd lose them since he didn't think it was a good idea for them to see what they were trying to see, they're still children after all.
"You wouldn't have come here if you didn't have an idea, you never come out with us anymore unless you find something interesting." Cao Meili said as well.
Shu He couldn't help but sigh from being read like a book. 'Were all children this observant?' he asked himself but internally shook his head before speaking.
"Apparently someone died." But this led to a confused expression growing on the other children's face as they looked at each-other.
"But that isn't unusual, right?" "Yeah…" The orange haired boy said to the girl, a slight look of realisation crossed Shu He's mind.
'Right, they've probably experienced people they know dying or people close to them here and there, just like me, they're not any different; It just feels slightly uncomfortable that it was kids saying that'.
"I overheard some stuff; I think they said it was a murder." He decided not to hide it.
"No wonder my grandfather wouldn't tell me anything…" Cao Meili said with a 'Ah' "Well, I'm done here then, I don't really want to see it" She said before walking off.
Meanwhile, Huo Da was strangely quiet, Shu He realised this and took a look at his face, it was slightly pale.
"Huh? What's wrong?" He couldn't help but ask.
After being spoken to, Huo Da snapped out of it "Ah! Nothing!" he tried to hide his face quickly while it regained some colour.
"Huo Da? Are you still going" Cao Meili, who had taken a few steps looked back and asked.
"… Yeah" He replied, causing Cao Meili to shrug. "Fine, I'm going home." As she continued on back.
'Well, I got rid of one of them, she never told me what idea she had though.' Shu He thought before he started walking again.
"H-hey wait up!" Huo Da yelled, before running ahead to catch up to the departed Shu He.
---
"We're gonna go under here?" Huo Da stared at the hole underneath a house.
"I mean, we definitely won't be seen" Shu He explained.
He had considered climbing on top of the houses and going over them that way, but the likelihood of being spotted was high, luckily the houses in this area were build on mud, so they were using elevated foundations, there was basically a crawlspace underneath the housing creating a small network they could go under, unlike the houses near the fields or in lesser populated areas the ones in the residential area were all built close together.
"It's really dirty though, they never clean underneath there" He complained.
"You get dirty every day, what difference does this make?" Shu He said, confused.
"This is this, that is that!" Huo Da angrily replied.
"Wait, are you scared of the dark? No, you don't like small spaces?" Seeing Huo Da's change in expression from angry to trying to hide something, he knew he hit the spot.
"Pft, well I won't force you, but I'm going either way" Shu He got on all fours and began crawling through the small hole in fencing.
And no too long after he entered, Huo Da gave in to being left out and got down to being crawling in as well.
After a minute or two, the air between them seemed to fill with silence save for the sounds of occasional chatter breeching the fence and walls of the crawlspace, Shu He had no intentions of speaking since he was much more curious about the event they're going to see, whereas Huo Da was sightly shivering and looking about in the dim light as they went along.
"There won't be rats down here, right?" He whispered to Shu He with a bit of hope.
"Maybe? They like dark and damp spaces after all" He casually answered, not intending to scare him, unfortunately he did and Huo Da froze in place.
"W-where are they?" His eyes darting around like crazy.
Shu He looked back and sighed "I was just guessing, I didn't say they were here"
"Wha- Don't scare my like that!" He said with an almost white sheet as a face.
"You know, for someone who acts strong you're easily scared."
"S-shut it! Who doesn't have something their scared of!" Huo Da shouted back before scampering along on his knees at a faster pace.
'Well, that's true' Shu He thought to himself, in his mind the picture of his hospital bed, the people that looked after him day by day, seemingly caring less and less; He felt useless, like a caged pet people pitied, it was something he would never want to happen again.
"Ah, we're almost there" He said, perking up his ears; He could hear a large amount of speaking and chatter, at one point there was a bit of chuckling.
'Why are they laughing?' He found that incredibly odd, but after a few minutes it was followed by a shout he could barely make out, it was Elder Cao telling everyone to go back to work.
'They're leaving? Is it over?' just as he was thinking that, he made it to a bit of fencing bordering the small courtyard where the well was, he quickly huddled up in a place covered by shadows and peeked through, he could see three figures near the well in the courtyard.
'Father! He's there with Elder Cao and Dai Niu… but I don't see anything else?' The three of them were standing directly between him and the well, so he couldn't make out anything important.
"Do you see anything?" Huo Da who finally made his way to where spoke.
"Sssssssh!" As Shu He was focusing, Huo Da's voice almost made him jump out of his skin forcing him to shush him.
"Oh, right" He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"Your dad… the geezer and the bull? Wasn't it a murder? Where's the body?" He questioned.
'Good question, were we too late, did they move the body?' Shu He thought, he couldn't hear anything else, so he decided to move again.
"I'm going to get closer" He went for another gap in the fence and left.
"You'll get caught!"
"It'll be fine" He crawled his way behind some carts and barrels that were conveniently left about, slowly but surely they managed to make their way a few tens of meters from the well, enough to listen in properly.
"So, what do you think did it?"
'Wha?!' Caught by surprise, Shu He stopped and immediately did his best to hear what was being said.
'Do they know who did it?' This was one of the things he wanted to learn the most.
Behind him, Huo Da was also listening intently.
"I don't want to believe it but…"
Shu He dead locked on to his father's words 'Is it someone I know?'
"It's likely a cultivator".
However, what left his father's mouth didn't just surprise him, rather he entirely froze.
On the other hand, Huo Da seemed slightly disappointed, as he relaxed his back against the crate he was behind.
The following words said by them all passed through the pairs ears and out the other, for one reason or another.
The mention of the city, calling people in, Shu Li's suggestion all went by without a reaction from the two.
After a while, all that was left was Shu Li as he stared towards the horizon, and a few minutes after that even he left.
Silence descended upon the scene.
"Shu Li, do you know about my parents?" Huo Da
"…" There was no reply.
"I don't know much about them either, but I don't have any now, I don't remember them either; My dad… isn't my dad, he only told me recently but he said he found me hidden in a bush, closed up in a casket when I was younger along a off-road during one of his trade routes"
He remembered the story his dad told him.
"He said, the moment he saw me he felt like he had gained a son, he was getting old so when he made it to Green-Gate he sold off his luggage and decided to settle down with me"
He stared at the ground, he had no memories of these events, he was still a baby after all.
"Just a while ago, when you said there was a murder, I felt like I saw something."
His eyes became distance.
"Shadowy figures, yelling and then… red".
"Do you think my parents were murdered as well?" He asked, not moving his vision from the ground.
There was still no reply, before long he stood up, he didn't say anything and walked off.
It was still minutes after that Shu He seemed to unfreeze.
He laid back and took a deep breath, he did hear what Huo Da said, however.
'Sorry, Huo Da' He apologised in his mind.
He released the air from his lungs, and as he did the stagnation from his body seemed to disappear.
In his mind, there was only one word consuming his thoughts.
'Cultivator'!