Chapter 491: Yao Qing

The entire Su Manor fell silent at the sound of these words.

Chen Ling looked at Su Zhiwei expressionlessly. "You know him?"

"Yes, our families were old acquaintances, and I watched him grow up," Su Zhiwei replied, her expression somewhat subtle. "Although they moved away later, we kept in touch. He heard I was back home on vacation and said he'd come to visit me... I didn't expect him to show up today of all days."

Yao Qing scrutinized Chen Ling, his gaze flitting between Chen Ling's cold eyes and the boning knife in his hand, his expression a mix of surprise and uncertainty.

Su Zhiwei was about to step forward and help Yao Qing up, but Chen Ling stopped her.

"To be safe, I'll confirm again."

A familiar face meant nothing; Chen Ling, the 'Master of Disguise,' knew this best, having killed countless enemies who relied on such appearances. Although he believed it highly unlikely for a 'Theater God' to appear in this era, it was always safer to be cautious when someone showed up at such a critical moment.

Holding the boning knife, Chen Ling walked directly towards Yao Qing, who was still sprawled on the ground. As he approached, alertness and fear instantly appeared in the young man's eyes, and he scrambled backward, kicking his legs.

"You... What are you doing?! I'm warning you, this is a society governed by law, you..."

Before Yao Qing could finish, Chen Ling grabbed his collar. A reddish-apricot marking slowly emerged at the corner of Chen Ling's eye...

Zhu Yan!

A mysterious crimson glow flashed in Chen Ling's pupils. The new ocular technique, gained after Chen Yan drew the marking at the corner of his eye, was now activated by Chen Ling!

Yao Qing felt a sharp pain in his mind, and a brief daze flickered in his eyes!

A fragmented 'scene' appeared before Chen Ling's eyes.

"Sissy!"

"Zhang, the Sissy!"

"Hahahaha, look! He even has little birds embroidered on his school uniform~ Only girls wear clothes like that, right?"

"Last time, I even saw him secretly embroidering in school!"

"Don't you guys know? Yao Qing's whole family does embroidery! Look at his hands, they're calloused from holding needles and thread every day."

"Girls nowadays don't even embroider, do they? Yao Qing is so effeminate! Zhang, the Sissy! Hahahaha..."

The sounds of boys' laughter and taunts reached Chen Ling's ears. His eyelashes trembled slightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

What met his gaze was a dirty, messy street corner. Several boys in school uniforms, appearing to be middle schoolers, were gathered in a circle, laughing loudly... In their center, a boy with a small braid lay on the ground, covered in dust and footprints.

"So this is the power of these eyes..." Chen Ling muttered to himself, rubbing the reddish-apricot marking at the corner of his eye.

With 'Zhu Yan' activated, Chen Ling could use his ocular technique to peer into the most deeply imprinted fragments of another person's life experiences, using their eyes as a medium.

If every person's life was a play starring themselves, then Chen Ling's eyes possessed the authority to browse through these 'life scripts.'

It was like the eyes of an 'audience member.'

Chen Ling looked around. Only this street corner was clear; the rest of the surroundings were blurry, like a haze...

"Because it's a memory, it only renders the most impactful parts?"

Chen Ling tried to touch one of the boys, but his fingertips passed through as if there was nothing there. No one noticed him; he was like an insubstantial ghost.

Indeed, no matter what happened here, he could only be an 'audience member.'

Chen Ling stopped exploring his surroundings and instead focused his gaze on the disheveled boy knocked to the ground. From his appearance, it was indeed Yao Qing, the same boy from the Su Manor entrance.

"I'm not a sissy!!" Yao Qing furiously tried to get up from the ground, but the surrounding boys forcefully pushed him back down.

"An embroiderer claiming he's not a sissy?"

"What's wrong with embroidering?! It's a skill passed down from my ancestors! I'm not a sissy!"

"Embroidery is for little girls. But you can't put it down, hahaha..."

Amidst the boisterous laughter, the boy struggled to get up from the ground, but he was trampled back down repeatedly. His face and body were covered in mud, making him look utterly miserable.

Just then, a clear, cool voice came from the side:

"What are you doing?"

The boys and Chen Ling simultaneously turned their heads to look. At the end of the previously indistinct alleyway, a scene suddenly rolled into focus: a girl with a crossbody bag and a beige hoodie stood there, frowning as she looked at them.

Su Zhiwei?

Upon seeing that face, Chen Ling's eyebrows slightly rose. Su Zhiwei, at this time, appeared to be around twenty, like a college student just back from vacation. Although her face still held a touch of youthfulness, she already possessed a unique rational demeanor.

Yao Qing, lying on the ground covered in dust, paused slightly at the sound of the voice. As he looked up at Su Zhiwei, a faint mist of grievance welled up in his eyes...

"Who is she?"

"I've seen her at my brother's school, she seems to be some rich family's young lady..."

"She's a university student, right?"

"A university student?"

The middle school boys, seeing Su Zhiwei approaching with a stern expression, immediately felt like backing off. When Su Zhiwei casually picked up a loose brick from the ground, her eyes narrowing and growing sharper, they exchanged glances and quickly turned and ran away.

Su Zhiwei walked over to Yao Qing. Seeing the boys run off, she tossed the brick into a corner and reached out to help the mud-covered Yao Qing to his feet.

"Sister Zhiwei..."

The middle school boy hadn't gone through his growth spurt yet; he was much shorter than Su Zhiwei, only reaching her chest when standing. Moreover, Yao Qing kept his head down, not daring to look at Su Zhiwei, appearing to shrink into the ground.

"You've grown taller since I was last here a year ago," Su Zhiwei said, her voice softening.

"...Taller? When we line up at school, I can only stand third."

"You'll still grow."

Su Zhiwei raised her hand, first measuring his height, then moving it to a position taller than herself. "You'll grow taller than me and become a man of integrity and strength."

"...But they all say I'm a sissy," Yao Qing said, biting his lips. He gathered his courage and looked directly into Su Zhiwei's eyes.

"Sister Zhiwei... is what I embroider really that effeminate?"

The boy's eyes were full of confusion and struggle. He stood in the midst of a hazy mist, with countless laughing figures pointing at him behind, like a lost soul in pain.

Su Zhiwei looked at him, a gentle warmth rising in her eyes. She took the boy's hand and lifted it. His slender fingertips were covered in pricked wounds and thick calluses, not like the hand of a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy, but rather rough like the palm of a middle-aged person who had done farm work for years.

"Whether something is effeminate or not isn't determined by what you do, but by whether you show will and courage while doing it."

Su Zhiwei gazed at his scarred hands, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"Don't worry about what others think. They won't understand the effort you put in... And they won't understand that someone with hands like these could never be a sissy."