177: Chapter 177 Cui'er is Humiliated

To be precise, her clothes had been torn to shreds, scattered on the ground around her, reduced to strips of cloth.

Her body was covered in wounds.

It was unclear what had whipped her, but there were marks, one after another, extending from her shoulders to her waist.

They extended from her thighs down to her calves, overlapping new wounds with old ones.

Some had already scabbed over, while others were still oozing blood.

It was not just these marks.

Her neck, collarbone, chest, waist, and inner thighs were covered in bruises.

In some places, the skin had even been bitten through, forming dark red scabs.

Those were not marks left by one or two people.

Cuier's hair was spread messily on the ground, matted with blood and dirt, sticking together in strands.

Her face had been struck; her left cheek was swollen high, and there was a split at the corner of her mouth, where the blood had already dried, forming a dark red line.

There were rope burn marks on her wrists, where the skin had been chafed away, revealing the tender pink flesh beneath.

She was curled up there like a broken ragdoll, tossed casually into a corner.

Ye Yun stood at the doorway, watching this scene.

There was no expression on his face.

No anger, no pity, no disgust.

He simply walked over calmly, crouched down, and reached out to check the side of Cuier's neck.

There was still a pulse.

It was very weak, but still beating.

Ye Yun withdrew his hand and swept his gaze over her body.

Those wounds looked terrifying, but most were just superficial.

Although there were many whip marks, they hadn't damaged her muscles or bones.

The swelling on her face would subside, the split on her lip would heal, and the marks on her body would slowly fade away.

It was just that the things left behind after those marks faded would likely never be erased for a lifetime.

Ye Yun took a Medicinal Pill from his System space, pried open Cuier's mouth, and stuffed it inside.

The Medicinal Pill melted upon contact, flowing down her throat.

A moment later, Cuier's breathing became noticeably steadier, and the swelling on her face subsided a little.

After a few more breaths, her eyelashes fluttered gently, and she slowly opened her eyes.

They were large eyes, which should have been beautiful, but at this moment, they were as hollow as two dried-up wells.

Her gaze fell on Ye Yun's face, first with confusion, then with fear.

She recoiled violently, wrapping her arms around her naked body, curling up even tighter, shivering all over.

Incoherent sounds came from her mouth, sounding like pleas for mercy, or perhaps weeping.

Ye Yun did not move.

He maintained his crouching posture, watching Cuier, his voice calm.

"It's me."

Cuier's body stiffened for a moment.

She raised her head, using those hollow eyes to look carefully at Ye Yun's face.

Then, a glimmer of light gradually emerged in those eyes, very faint.

Like a candle flame about to go out that had been flickered by the wind, brightening for an instant.

"Young... Young Master Ye?"

Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible, as if she hadn't had water in a long time.

Ye Yun nodded.

Tears instantly welled up in Cuier's eyes.

She struggled to climb up to kowtow to Ye Yun, but her body was too weak; she fell back down after propping herself up halfway.

She could only lie on the ground, her forehead pressed against the floor, her shoulders shaking violently.

"Young Master... please, Young Master, save my Young Miss... she is locked in the backyard... the people of the Wu Family are all animals... please, Young Master..."

Her voice was intermittent, mixed with choking sobs and coughing.

Ye Yun waited until she finished speaking before opening his mouth.

"I have already rescued your Young Miss."

Cuier's crying stopped abruptly.

She raised her head, looking at Ye Yun through tear-blurred eyes, her lips trembling.

"Re... really?"

"Really."

Cuier stared at him blankly, and after a long while, a smile gradually appeared on her face.

That smile, on her face full of scars and tears, looked exceptionally ugly, yet also exceptionally real.

She tried to kowtow again, but Ye Yun reached out to stop her.

"Young Master... Young Master, are you injured? There are so many people in the Wu Family, and that Wu Zhen..."

Her gaze scanned Ye Yun's body, and seeing the bloodstains on his robes, her expression became nervous again.

"It's someone else's blood."

Ye Yun stood up and took a set of clean clothes from his System space.

They were his own robes, gray and folded neatly.

He handed them to Cuier.

"Put them on."

Cuier took the robes, only then realizing suddenly that she was wearing nothing at all.

Her cheeks instantly turned bright red, and she hurriedly spread the robes with her hands to cover her body, lowering her head, not daring to look at Ye Yun.

"Tha... thank you, Young Master."

Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Ye Yun turned around, with his back to her, and walked to the window.

Behind him came the rustling sound of dressing, mixed with a few suppressed groans; she had probably touched her wounds.

After a long while, the rustling stopped.

"Young Master... I'm ready."

Ye Yun turned around.

Cuier was wearing his oversized gray robe; the robe was too big for her.

It hung loosely on her body, with the sleeves extending far past her hands, covering them.

The collar was too wide, revealing a stretch of scarred collarbone and shoulder, so she had to clutch the collar with her hand to keep it from slipping down.

Her hair was still messy, and her face still bore injuries.

But after putting on clean clothes, she finally didn't look as broken as she had just moments ago.

She stood there, head bowed, her earlobes red, not daring to look at Ye Yun.

"Let's go."

Ye Yun turned and walked out the door.

Cuier quickly followed, but after two steps, she tripped and nearly fell, steadying herself only by gripping the doorframe.

Her legs were injured, and she limped as she walked, but she gritted her teeth and tried hard to keep up with Ye Yun's pace.

The two walked one after the other, passing through Wu Hao's courtyard, through the desolate little garden, and through the covered veranda, heading out.

Cuier followed behind Ye Yun with her head down, but as she walked, she suddenly felt her foot step on something sticky.

She looked down.

It was a pool of blood.

It was half-dried, dark red, and had seeped across a large area of the blue brick floor.

She subconsciously looked ahead, following the trail of blood.

Then she saw the corpses.

The first one.

The second one.

The third one.

They were strewn about, lying under the veranda, in the courtyard, and on the steps.

Some had caved-in chests, some had shattered skulls, and some had been pierced through the throat by a sword.

The further they walked, the more corpses there were.

In the open space of the front courtyard, dozens of corpses lay densely packed.

Like mown wheat, they carpeted the entire courtyard in layers.

Fresh blood had dyed the entire blue brick floor dark red.

The air was filled with a thick scent of blood, mixed with the cool wind of late autumn, piercing straight into her nose.

Cuier's footsteps stopped.

She stood under the veranda, staring blankly at the scene before her, her pupils dilating bit by bit.

She recognized a few of the faces.

The one with the caved-in chest was the head of the Wu Family's guards, who had once stood outside the door laughing when she was dragged into Wu Hao's room.

The one pierced through the throat by a sword was a collateral descendant of the Wu Family.

He had once blocked her at the entrance of the woodshed, pinching her chin and saying, "You look quite pretty."

They were all dead.