For a moment, Lìngxiāo let himself sink totally into the soft arms which had gone rough over time. They were all criminals. But still children. He didn't know what past they carried—real or fake—their life and happiness mattered.
It was strange to see Chóng Fēi react this way, though he had expected something else. At least silent distance, which wouldn't be something too deep. Yet he had just..faded that aching side in him by those tight hugs. His eyes felt watery but no tears fell as he focused on their soft breathing, faint smiles, and that faint scent of their hair.
The moment stretched longer before he composed himself fully and broke the hug. The purest soft smile was at his lips, his eyes down to the kids with gentle strokes. He didn't miss any of them too attentively.
"You're welcome, children. But also..thank you too." He said softly to them. His eyes were so warm that it felt like a candle glowing.
The children's eyes shone in joy and appreciation like an overflowing lake.
"You're welcome more ten times, gēge!"
"You're so sweet!"
"Be my zhù fù too!"
"No, be mine!"
The children demanded in the most painfully tender way. He felt like he really was going to adopt them all, while he had affordable money to carry himself only.
He couldn't say yes nor no.
So he stayed silent but warm. His legs were squeezed together like they would really make his legs into a siren tail. Mostly young girls were clinging to him. They looked up at him with big eyes, a few even raising hands towards him to lift them. One even had soft tears like she would cry if he rejected her.
He noticed her over all the others first.
Her eyes gripped his attention. She even looked like she had so many things to tell him. The trust could be felt deeply from her too as from others. He felt both fond and deeply guilty without doing any injustice with them.
'She is so little for this suffering. I feel sorry for her. Sorry for everyone here.'
"You want me to lift you?" He hushed a faint, fond chuckle and took one of the little girls carefully into his arms.
The girl who was barely twelve wrapped her arms around his neck, almost hiding into his neck within a few locks of his hair like a bird that found the safest nest. Her eyes shut softly.
"It is alright. You do not have to be shy around me." He gently cupped the back of her head, adjusting his hold. His grasp was too gentle, like any father handling. "What could be your name?"
The girl didn't answer.
She just stayed as she was. Lìngxiāo also didn't press. If she was nervous but still had reached out so bravely, he should give her some moments.
But he couldn't ignore how light-weight she felt at this age. Trembling. As if traumatized more than others here.
Something unsettled within him. Just building. His gaze was steady over the girl through his loose strands of hair. The way she rested..it felt like it was the first time she found any man this humble, gentle, and..safe.
His mind clicked him back to the guards at the gate too.
Why did they not really like Chóng Fēi coming here too? Because he was the heir and they needed to serve him, and it felt like they were stray dogs? Who knows what history they shared and how Chóng Fēi really behaved with them. There really was something more than ghosts or execution here.
He could guess easily.
The children had nobody to protect them. Nobody to rely on. What if they were being abused not only in the torturous way..but in a sexual way too?
Mainly, all prisons had been strongly under restriction to protect children even if they were prisoners. It was forbidden to abuse them more than so beating—still after crossing twenty years even.
But never sexually.
What if something exactly like that was happening behind Chóng Fēi's back, and that's why they hated him so much, to vibe step in because he might probably not let them go with the matter easily? But he couldn't also blame anyone without any evidence. He would need to talk with the children openly with Chóng Fēi's help.
The men here didn't look mentally calm too. They might do something else behind their back if they left any traces here.
Lìngxiāo's eyes sharpened. Just silently, like the rims of his eyes turned from moonlight to blades.
Before he could dive deep into the matter,
His gaze met with Chóng Fēi's.
He didn't say anything. But Chóng Fēi was casual till now, gentle and unreadable for now. He was still warm with the children for meeting them after so long. He went to a bell attached to the wall and shook it lightly.
It meant for the guards and the chief to now come out.
The children kept their respectful distance now, as if they never hugged them, as the guards started to come out from the other chambers. The prison filled with silence again.
Which was like the feeling of nobody existed more than them were gone.
Lìngxiāo was about to put down the girl he was holding. But she didn't go down. Her legs around his waist and arms around his neck were too tight. Almost desperate perhaps.
"Little lady? Are you really alright?" He whispered softly, trying not to scare her—if she was scared.
The girl just nodded and stayed like that. She didn't speak a single word like she had no ability. Her face was pale as any rice paper or worse—corpse.
"I see.." He muttered more to himself than hearing in dull thoughts, and found Chóng Fēi also tracking their moves.
"Keep her in your arms then. We will move to the chamber where that child is." Chóng Fēi said calmly, the earlier tremble of his voice completely gone like it was just dry dust he dusted away.
Lìngxiāo nodded and followed, walking. "If you do not have any problem, Gōngzǐ."
"Since she wishes to stay with you longer, I am not going to force her." He replied to Lìngxiāo. His voice dropping a little softer, thoughtful.
The kids were now guided to another hall—the one where the parents would come, and others would need to wait. Chóng Fēi waved them from behind—low at his back as if his hands were folded behind, composed as they moved forward.
The children also exchanged the waves like sharing a secret.
When the crowd was gone, they were much farther, and the few guards were following them beside towards that room. Lìngxiāo wondered if he should ask about the matter earlier. Or about the girl he was feeling wrong more than the other unhealthy children were.
But before any of that, for some reason, Chóng Fēi's eyes sharpened over the child in his arms. "Wait a minute."
The guards paused beside them, as if almost stumbled by their sudden change of attention. Some blinked, some shared glances with others.
Even a few looked suspiciously quiet.
Lìngxiāo looked at them, his own gaze analyzing quietly over them. Smile frozen into a darker shade—but not completely yet.
'My suspension is growing by each second.'
Lìngxiāo paused. "Yes, Gōngzǐ?"
"Hand me the girl a bit." He said, his tone suddenly serious. Filled with authority again. He said really lower. Private and serious. "I saw something..over her neck.."
'At neck..'
Lìngxiāo felt his nerves tighten at Chóng Fēi's words. He handed her without question.
The girl hesitated before going to Chóng Fēi's arms. Chóng Fēi whispered something to the child. She nodded just faintly. Then he tilted just a little hem of her robe from the neck and lifted her hair gently—only as much as he could see.
Something made him go still as ice. His gaze fell over Lìngxiāo sharply.
Lìngxiāo held his gaze. He also whispered really faintly. "Have you—"
"Harsh bites.." Chóng Fēi bit the words into sharp hisses before Lìngxiāo finished his question. "A lot of them. As if animals bitten. But..those clearly belongs from humans."
Lìngxiāo's breath caught faintly as it was confirmed what was happening here.
'They have..raped her??'