The Ghost of Fog
Chapters 20. Hao Yu

It was still in the same place, in the back courtyard of the Xiao family leader's residence. Lin Tian was sitting cross-legged on a flat rock to increase his inner energy by means of breathing techniques and absorbing the pure air from the environment, this is what is commonly referred to as meditation.

It had been half an hour for Lin Tian to sit motionless like that. After Xiao Lian was summoned by her mother on the pretext of preparing for the meeting later that night, she was confused about where to go and what to do. If he was in this kind of situation, Lin Tian would usually read the 'favorite' book that he always carried with him wherever this young man went. But because he did not want to get dizzy and stressed, Lin Tian finally preferred to meditate.

Suddenly Lin Tian's earlobes twitched as he heard a voice approaching from a distance. While meditating like now it should automatically turn off Lin Tian's entire senses so that he could concentrate, but it was another story for a high-headed swordsman like this young man. For those who were already high-headed, his sensitivity to the surrounding situation was so sharp that they were able to meditate in a state of complete alert like Lin Tian was doing now.

The voice heard by this young man was the sound of the footsteps of someone he suspected was walking on a thick mass of grass. Lin Tian could surmise this because the senses of his audience caught a voice that read "Srekk..srekk.." the exact same as the sound of grass that would sound like that when stepped on.

After all around the place where Lin Tian was currently meditating was indeed overgrown with a lot of thick grass that seemed to be deliberately treated to add to the beauty of the place.

Since Lin Tian did not sense any threat or malicious intent from the person, he chose to ignore it and refocus on his meditation. He thought that the person might just be a gardener who wanted to tidy up the grasses there.

The sound of footsteps was getting closer which made it even more clear. Inevitably, Lin Tian's concentration broke because according to his premonition this person was indeed deliberately about to approach him which he himself did not know what his purpose was. Finally Lin Tian ended his meditation and opened his eyes. When his eyes were completely opened, this young man was shocked to see a man who looked twenty-five years old already standing right in front of him.

He was surprised because according to his hearing, the person should still be about ten meters away from where he was sitting. But right when he opened his eyes, it turned out that the person was already standing before him while looking at him attentively. Lin Tian knew that this person standing before him had quite a high level of knowledge, this was evidenced by his sudden rapid movements from a distance of ten meters already moving in front of him with an equally fast time when Lin Tian opened his eyelids.

But only a split second did Lin Tian display his shocked expression, after which this young man returned a flat expression as he had at times.

"Did I surprise you?" The man asked with a smile.

"Little." Lin Tian replied briefly.

The look on the face of that person suddenly changed hearing Lin Tian's reply, from the previous friendly smile turned into a bitter smile. This guy is cold, sirkirnya.

"Who are you? What's the matter with you being with me that surprises me like that?"

"I'm sorry, don't you remember me?" The man asked back.

Hearing this question, Lin Tian watched the person even more closely. He wore a blue robe with embroidered images of a silver eagle on his right shoulder until his second. On his back hung a machete whose hilt was red. His face is quite handsome with thick and sharp eyebrows, a sharp nose and eyeballs are quite unique, red. His tall body firmly imagined a great power. But the man has only one hand, the right hand.

"Oh...are you the bodyguard who almost died in the forest with Miss and Madam?" Finally Lin Tian realized this person before him and immediately raised an unfiltered question first.

That person's smile grew even more bitter and unsightly after hearing the words "almost dead" from Lin Tian's mouth.

Lin Tian let out such harsh words not intending to insult or belittle the person. But he has not met for a long time with others who make his style of speech and manners reduced far compared to the previous. He could still say courteously to Xiao Li and his family was because this young man was the personal bodyguard of a young Miss, he said, so that he has memorized by the way of speech and manners that must be addressed to high-ranking people like them.

But Lin Tian was still not used to adjusting to ordinary people. So that he only said what he felt and thought.

"Yes you're right, I was a bodyguard that you helped. I'm here to thank you and all of you for discussing something that I think is quite important.'

After saying so, the man immediately sat down next to Lin Tian and continued his words. "You're Lin Tian, right? Introduce my name Hao Yu, here I was entrusted by the leader to be the bodyguard of young Miss Xiao Lian."

"Oh..then, what important thing do you want to talk to me about." Reply Lin Tian without looking towards Hao Yu.

"Actually I don't know if you've learned of this news or not, but right now I'm going to discuss the matter between the Xiao family and the Hu family." Seriously said.

"You mean about the peculiarity of the meeting held by Hu's family?" Replied Lin Tian who could already guess what Hao Yu said.

"Of course, I've known it since I first came to this place. That time when I was having breakfast with Mr. Xiao Li, he told me everything."

"Good then. Lin Tian, I beg of you to leave here immediately. Don't get me wrong, I didn't throw you out but I'm worried about you. Lin Tian, you are just an outsider here, you should not be involved or even risk the consequences of this matter. I'm worried about your safety and your family's." Hao Yu said with a worried look.

Lin Tian listened carefully to all the words that Hao Yu had said. But this young man suddenly laughed when he heard Hao Yu's last words.

"Huhaha....!! The family? Which family? I have nothing left and live alone in this world. Worried about my family? Don't worry, 'cause they've all gone out there leaving me alone. Ahahaha!!!"

Hao Yu smashed his eyes in shock at Lin Tian's words. Don't have a family? are they all dead? So thought Hao Yu wondering.

Lin Tian was laughing, but Hao Yu realized that his laughter was only to hide the sadness and loneliness in his heart. Clearly visible from Lin Tian's wide smile and laughter, that smile was not a smile of happiness but a smile of compulsion behind disappointment. And that voice is not the sound of laughter but the sound of laughter that aims to entertain yourself in order to forget for a moment all the bitterness of life experienced in the past.

Hao Yu understood all of that because he had already experienced it. In the past, he had been left behind by a lover who had been in a relationship with him for five years. At that time, Hao Yu was already about to marry the girl, but just one day before the wedding was held, the girl went somewhere with all her possessions.

The girl left only a letter stating that she had left with the new lover who had impregnated her. In the letter also explained that all this time the girl did not love Hao Yu but rather loved her possessions.

Destroyed already Hao Yu's heart, it was never thought that the one he had loved for many years was a cheap woman who did not know the heart. Due to depression and frustration, Hao Yu's attitude became broken and he became a heavy drunk. His parents even got sickly seeing Hao Yu's attitude at that time. The disease even made them die after three months Hao Yu left his lover.

The more damaged Hao Yu's attitude. Driven by disappointment and regret, Hao Yu finally decided to commit suicide by jumping from the top of a ravine. But before he flew into the abyss, that was when Xiao Li came to his aid and resuscitated him. From then on Hao Yu became a bodyguard of the young Miss of the Xiao family, Xiao Lian.

"You said you were Miss Xiao Lian's bodyguard, right?" Lin Tian asked after stopping his laughter.

"true." Replied Hao Yu briefly who was still feeling concerned about Lin Tian's fate.

"Thank God that you can still sacrifice your hand to save your non-life. As for me, my young lady even once almost stabbed her own neck as a result of my weakness." Lin Tian spoke calmly as he glanced towards Hao Yu.

"You...also a guard of my spears?" Hao Yu asked in astonishment at hearing this reality.

"Yes. But the family I served in has been wiped out, leaving only me and my young Miss whom I do not currently know of."

"Enough about the past. Now I also want to say something that's been stuck in my mind." Said Lin Tian cutting Hao Yu who had already opened his mouth about to say something.

"I'm a little surprised by all this. That time Madam and Miss returned from the Hu family meeting during the day, but the next day the news of the merger of the two families had already spread while Mr. Xiao Li himself said that this matter was a secret matter." Continue Lin Tian.

"You mean?" Hao Yu asked, he was astonished by himself why he had only realized now about this oddity.

Lin Tian was silent for a moment before finally answering. "There are only two possibilities. First, there was a person from the Hu family who was assigned to spread this news. And the second one..." Lin Tian paused for a moment to take a breath.

Hao Yu's face paled as he could already guess what Lin Tian was going to say next.

"...There was a traitor in this Xiao family, and that person was most likely one among all the people who had managed to survive the Hu family meeting. Do not rule out the possibility if the person is the Madam or your own Non."

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