Chapter Eighty-Five: Why Human Hearts Are So Changeable

A soft gurgle escaped the pretty girl seated dazedly on the stone bench as she shyly rubbed her little stomach, and she could not help recalling what Luo Changning had once said to her: of course I would never forget such a lovely little Xuee. You will always be my friend, my little sister Xuee.

It was only many years later that Ma Xuee understood Luo Changning to be the moonlight of her life.

And she, like a moth flying into flame, would go to his side no matter what.

Even if those fierce flames seared her, she would not care.

Ma Xuee drifted through more than half a month in such a daze before she finally faced the truth: in that little courtyard of the Su family, there was no longer the Luo Changning who called her little sister Xuee, or little girl.

The smile returned to her face, and she also resumed her lively days of bickering with the great silly bear over food.

Yet only Ma Xuee herself knew how deeply she missed that young boy named Luo Changning beneath the calm surface.

And Chen Lin, finally freed from the sea of suffering, also began to follow Luo Changning’s instructions, wandering every day through the places where beggars and orphans were most numerous, helping him search for promising souls worth cultivating.

Of course, potential alone was not enough. Character and disposition came first.

If a beggar child endured the scorn of others every day, went hungry and wore threadbare clothes, yet still did not lose dignity and still retained a trace of backbone, then even if that child had nothing else to offer for the moment, Chen Lin would take notice.

After all, Chen Lin himself had grown up in a brothel from childhood. Of those born lowly yet still possessing a fierce spirit, he admired most of all.

Because Chen Lin held Luo Changning in absolute reverence, he carried out every task assigned to him with all his might, going out even on rainy days to search for candidates.

After some time, he had indeed found several dozen promising beggar children and settled them in a house that Luo Changning had specially purchased.

Following the guidance of Xiang Yinglong, he even hired several martial arts teachers and literacy tutors to give lessons to those children in the house.

Why, then, did Chen Lin seek instruction from Xiang Yinglong rather than Ma Qingyun? For one thing, Ma Qingyun was elusive, always impossible to find. For another, Chen Lin still felt faintly put off by him. And with Ma Qingyun’s perpetual cold face and air of keeping strangers at a distance, why would he ever go to ask his advice?

Only when money was needed would he force himself to go up to Ma Qingyun and ask for it.

As for Chen Lin himself, though he had seen all kinds of men and women, from every place and every direction, he had not the slightest eye for choosing martial instructors and literacy tutors.

After all, he had made almost no progress in either field; he knew scarcely a few characters and at most a handful of crude tricks, enough only to flip a few somersaults.

At first, when Chen Lin found those beggar children, they looked at him with suspicious eyes, as though they could not believe there was someone in this world so kind as to feed and house them for free. Some even thought he was a child trafficker, planning to sell them off to some filthy place.

In the end, though, because Chen Lin kept going to talk with them, never once minding their lowliness or filth, and even bought them steaming meat buns to eat, the defenses in those children’s hearts gradually opened.

Their guard lowered little by little, and half-believing, half-doubting, they followed Chen Lin to the large house.

After some time, with good food and drink every day, they no longer had to live the life of hunger, tattered clothes, and a cold, broken temple. The beggar children were deeply grateful to Chen Lin, and later, when he also brought them martial arts teachers and literacy tutors, they finally settled down there in complete peace of mind.

Of course, the good food and drink in the children’s mouths did not mean lavish feasts of fish and meat, only ordinary home-cooked dishes.

But for beggar children who survived on others’ leftover scraps and hard labor, being able to eat white rice and meat buns was already a tremendous happiness, a life they had once not even dared to imagine.

Thus, those beggar children spread the news, telling their former companions that there was no need to remain wary of Chen Lin, and that they could come and live in the house with complete confidence.

Once the news spread, naturally many idle beggars with crooked intentions came to freeload off free food and lodging.

But Chen Lin was not some fool without judgment or discernment. Those beggars with ill intentions were all kicked out without ceremony.

Because of this, those with bad designs even grabbed Chen Lin and beat him together, leaving him unable to get out of bed for three days. But later, Xiang Yinglong intervened and helped Chen Lin vent that grievance. The beggars then learned that Chen Lin was under the protection of the young master of the Luoyang Martial Hall, and naturally no longer dared to trouble him.

They could only watch with envy, jealousy, and resentment as those little beggars fortunate enough to live in the house, yet there was nothing they could do.

Of course, although Chen Lin had brought martial arts teachers and literacy tutors into the house, he had not bought servants to handle the chores. Splitting firewood, carrying water, cooking, washing clothes, and cleaning the courtyard all had to be divided among the beggar children themselves; they were not truly being served like pampered masters.

Chen Lin himself also treasured this rare opportunity and was among those who studied with the greatest devotion. He even hoped that after Luo Changning returned, he would have enough standing to remain by his side and become one of his trusted right and left hands.

Of course, at this moment Chen Lin did not know that the gap between him and Luo Changning would only grow wider, and that he would never catch up to Luo Changning’s pace.

And Luo Changning’s return to Qingyang County would dazzle everyone who saw him.

Even so, seeing Chen Lin grow step by step through his own efforts, Luo Changning still kept him close at his side.

This would later make Chen Lin endlessly grateful, grateful that he had not chosen to leave, but had stayed to help Luo Changning. Otherwise, he would have forever missed the chance to follow a man capable of reaching the summit.

Of course, that was all a matter for later.

One after another, beggar children and orphans were brought into the house by Chen Lin, and naturally there were also those whom he drove out.

Those expelled were not cast out because they lacked the ability to learn, but because they were wavering in will, and once they had tasted better days, had grown lazy and unwilling to strive. Not to mention the fact that some among them had become greedy and learned to scheme and cut corners.

Chen Lin had good judgment, but even he could not avoid seeing some people wrongly, and human hearts are ever changeable.

Some people can preserve their backbone and kindness only when they are in poverty and hardship; once wealth and comfort arrive, they begin to crave more, to covet more things that do not belong to them.

That is what the elders often say: they can share hardship, but not prosperity.