The Scum Is A ***

Meng Gui took a deep breath as he gazed outside his window. He watched the citizens of the Drunken Moon City hustle and bustle on the streets. But, this liveliness is just on the surface since Ma Wen's people are still hiding among them. 

The peace that he has been keeping for decades in this small world of his is about to be gone. He doesn't want to be the second Du Xiang. He knows, like him, Du Xiang just wants to find a place where she can belong to. A place where she can be free. A place away from the prying eyes of the people around her. 

And that's the Plum Blossom City – the place where she can be whoever she wanted to be, and not to be forced, nor restrained by her family. Such a pity that in order to gain her freedom, she must pay the price at the cost of her family. Though she never knew that, but the circumstances forced her to. 

This is where he and Du Xiang differed. He has no family to tie him, restrain his actions. Instead, he was the one spurring them forward. He has no family, but he has brothers. They may not be related by blood, but they are all connected by the bond they made while growing up in the streets. Surviving each day's ordeal by staving off their hunger with a few pieces of meat buns. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, then one in the evening. No more, no less. 

They would just cover their ears and act deaf every night until dawn from the rumbling of their stomachs when one couldn't sleep because of nightmare. From being chased by dogs, or from being splashed by a scalding water because of irate shopkeepers and madams they begged for alms. 

Meng Gui heaved a sigh and turned when he heard a knock on the door. The door opened and xiao San came in, wearing a worried expression on his face which almost half looked red after he was burned when he was four years old by his stepmother who poisoned his mother to death to steal his mother's position as the main wife of their household. If Meng Gui hasn't pulled him in time, xiao San would've had his entire face look monstrous now. 

"What's wrong?" he asked and gently smiled. His voice was soft. 

"Leader…" xiao San called. 

"Don't call me that now." Meng Gui spoke. "We're the only ones here. Call me 'da ge'." He told him. 

Hearing his words, xiao San's eyes reddened. He hung his head to hide his tears. His mother and Meng Gui's mother were best friends. After Meng Gui's mother died, his own mother wanted to take Meng Gui in. But, his mother was ill and her position in the household is rocky because of the new concubine his father married. He favors that concubine so much. Although she can't bear him a son, but she still managed to steal the affection of everyone in the household. Even though they know that the concubine is secretly poisoning his mother, but no one dared to speak. They don't like his mother. 

Meng Gui roamed in the streets after his mother died. His father has long been dead. That day, xiao San's mother died and the whole household was shaken when they found her suicide letter, revealing the concubine's wicked deeds. The concubine was enraged and she took the newly-boiled water to pour on him, who was still in shock of his mother's death. Thus, he didn't retaliate nor defended himself. Fortunately, Meng Gui didn't go far from the household and he has seen what the concubine did. 

Meng Gui was enraged. After he has saved xiao San, he held the bottom of the basin. Even though the basin was also scalding, but he ignored the pain in his burning palms. He has always been fiery. Fearless, he pushed back the basin towards the concubine. And the water splashed straight to her face, then trickled down to her neck and chest. 

Her anguished and angered shrieks accompanied Meng Gui and xiao San as they ran away from the household. Starting that day, he and Meng Gui left that county and moved to another one. It was there that they met Shang He, who was still a young master of a certain scholarly family. 

"Da ge." xiao San's voice pulled Meng Gui away from his thoughts. "I have a question I wanted to ask you for a long time." He spoke. 

"What is it?" Meng Gui asked. Then, he paused. "Is it about Shang He?" he looked at him. 

Surprisingly, xiao San shook his head. "No." he answered. 

"Then, what is it about?" Meng Gui asked and he secretly sighed in relief. 

"You are the da ge. But, I'm xiao San (third/three)." xiao San said. "I want to ask, where is xiao Er?" he asked. 

Hearing the question, Meng Gui didn't react at first. Then, suddenly, he froze. "Why do you ask this?" eh asked back instead of answering. 

"I've never seen the Second." xiao San answered. "Even boss Shang… he's Ah Si (fourth)." He said. 

Meng Gui fell silent. It was obvious that he didn't want to answer xiao San. 

"Da ge." xiao San called after a while. "I have another thing to ask you." He said. 

"Ask away." Meng Gui generously spoke. Since he didn't answer xiao San's previous question, then he thinks he can answer his next question. 

"Your mother and my mother were best friends. Thus, we also became best friends and you became my only da ge." xiao San spoke with so much sentimentality. 

Meng Gui smiled, feeling nostalgic. "That's right." He spoke. 

"But – " xiao San spoke. " – I never know where did you and aunt Tao come from." He said. 

Meng Gui stiffened. 

"My mom only knows that aunt Tao was widowed and so you two came to our county." xiao San continued. 

Meng Gui listened to him until he was finished before he spoke. "Why bring this up now?" he asked. 

Xiao San raised his head and met his eyes. "Because it was only earlier that I remembered something." He answered. 

"And that is?" Meng Gui asked. 

"After we escaped from the Plum Blossom City, I remembered it." xiao San spoke. "A birthmark…" he stared at Meng Gui. 

Meng Gui's expression changed and he reflexively clutched his right arm, just beside his shoulder. When his palm felt the rough texture, his pupils shrank. His clothes were torn, and it just have to be in this part! He pressed his lips tight. 

"No need to be vigilant towards me, da ge." xiao San spoke. His voice is filled with sadness. "I was the only one who saw it, and only a little." He explained. 

"What do you want?" Meng Gui asked. His voice is filled with impatience. 

"Da ge." xiao San called. "Ah Si-ge once mentioned to me before about your birthmark. But, it was just only earlier did I remember that my mother once told me when I was young. About aunt Tao holding a golden tablet with an engraved character. Her eyes are filled with tears." He told him. 

Hearing something about his mother, Meng Gui's expression shifted and he stared at xiao San. 

"That character…" xiao San looked at Meng Gui. "Your birthmark… it's 'bai' (white), right?" he asked. 

Meng Gui's breath hitched. "Why are you asking me this?" he asked again. 

Xiao San, seeing the guarded expression on his face, shook his head. "I don't mean anything, da ge." He said. "It's just… I suddenly remembered your late father." He told him. "Could your father be, perhaps… a prince?" he asked in a low voice. 

Meng Gui held his breath and his face paled. "Xiao San!" he shouted, truly enraged. 

"Da ge!" xiao San called, no guilt on his face. "Are you really the son of a prince?!" he asked as he stared at Meng Gui in shock. Then, he remembered something. "The Qingbai Kingdom…" he muttered in a daze. 

Meng Gui stared at xiao San in disbelief. "Shut up!" he snapped and threw something at him. 

Xiao San didn't dodge and he just let the object hit him. But, even when his head bled, he didn't wince in pain. Instead, he knelt before Meng Gui. "Da ge…" he called. "Forgive me, da ge. It's just – " he bit his lip. " – my mother… my mother told me in the letter she gave me before she died… that she wished the Qingbai Kingdom didn't perish." He explained. 

Meng Gui froze and he sharply looked at xiao San. 

"Da ge…" xiao San called. "If you wish to revive the old kingdom, then, let my person be of use to you!" he said and bowed. "I want to uphold my mother's wish, and want to be of service to da ge! There's nothing else that I want in this world for – just these two things!" he said and raised his head to look at Meng Gui's stunned face. "Please… let me forever serve you!" he told him. 

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