"Someone else is coming, someone else is coming." Just after turning past a hill, excited cheers came from up ahead.
"There are people ahead." Mu Cheng’s spirits lifted as he also cheered and ran forward.
Apart from the Yang brothers, they hadn’t seen any other trialists along the way. Mu Cheng had been worried that they were all dead, inevitably feeling a bit of sadness for others’ misfortune. Now seeing other people, and alive at that, how could he not be overjoyed?
Mu Hanyan and the other one followed suit.
Up ahead, the valley widened from narrow to broad, revealing a spacious basin. On the side close to the mountain walls, hundreds of young swordsmen had gathered, using the terrain to construct a camp, and together they built a wall out of huge rocks, resembling a small fortress. The one who had seen Mu Cheng was a young swordsman on lookout atop the wall.
Hearing his cheers, other swordsmen also came pouring over, all looking amiable from a distance at the sight of Mu Hanyan and the others.
But as they got closer, the smiles on their faces cooled.
"Brothers, please open the gates and let us in," Mu Cheng hadn’t noticed the others’ indifference and shouted excitedly.
Worried and frightened for days on end without proper sleep, he now just wanted to enter the fortress and have a good sleep.
"Hold on, are you people from the Mu Family of Heishi City?" A young swordsman on the city wall asked coldly.
"Yes, I am Mu Cheng of the Heishi City’s Mu Family, what’s wrong?" It was only then that Mu Cheng sensed something amiss, his smile gradually fading as he asked with confusion.
"Brother Qu had ordered that everyone else may enter, but not the people of the Mu Family," the man said expressionlessly.
"Why?" Mu Cheng asked, puzzled.
"Because Mu Hanyan of the Mu Family has used her power to bully others, she’s despicable and shameless, has committed all sorts of bad deeds in Heishi City, and insulted the dignity of us swordsmen. We disdain to associate with such people," Qu Fengting’s voice came with disdain, answering for him.
"You... you’re talking nonsense, those are just rumors, they shouldn’t be taken seriously," Mu Cheng, with a face flushed red, defended Mu Hanyan.
After spending so many days with Mu Hanyan, his prejudices against her had faded more and more.
Sometimes, unable to sleep at night due to fear and alarm, if he thought about it carefully, in fact, Mu Hanyan hadn’t done anything egregiously wrong in those years. Most family members indulged in eating, drinking, and merriment. And in terms of squandering wealth, how many family members didn’t do that? Even when dealing with Yuan Tianbo and Fourth Miss Zhao’s cases, it was their own fault. Mu Cheng was the one who would have been at a loss if Mu Hanyan, after sleeping for days and waking up with a changed temperament, becoming much shrewder than before. He didn’t even know how Mu Hanyan got her notorious reputation as a playboy.
The more Mu Cheng thought, the more he felt his past exclusion of Mu Hanyan was unreasonable, and he felt ashamed for his past behavior. Hearing Qu Fengting slander Mu Hanyan filled him with righteous indignation.
"Hmph! Whether I’m talking nonsense, justice will prevail. I believe many here have heard of Eldest Young Master Mu’s ’good reputation,’ why not let them judge," Qu Fengting said sarcastically. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel~fire~net
"Do we still need to judge what kind of person Mu Hanyan is? In Heishi City, who doesn’t know her reputation? Brother Qu, why bother with him, just chase them away," Qu Fengting had just finished speaking when a lackey behind him spoke disdainfully.
"That’s right, I heard she used to be called Mu Baijia, then Mu Wanku, and recently people started calling her Mu Siyi. It is said she likes to tear other girls’ clothes, tsk tsk, such people are simply a disgrace to us swordsmen," another person chimed in with self-righteous indignation, yet their eyes were filled with envy. Mu Cheng felt sickened inside. Such hypocrites! Hell, even knowing the other was a man, Mu Cheng inwardly cursed these people as hypocrites!