Chapter 672 Gu Li Comes To The Cave
Sitting on the stone now, Li Rui looked at the people they have found inside the cave. They were still inside the cave.
Looking at almost fifty people, she could tell that they looked happy that they have been found. However, they didn't want Youxio to face any severe punishment.
In response to Xi Ying's question as to why would they care for that? What they had said had touched her heart.
"They are not bad people."
As if they wanted to convince her and Xi Ying, a few of them stepped forward to tell them how a man would come every few days to give them enough food for the next few days.
They have a big stock of firewood inside the cave and they could cook whenever they wanted.
They had blankets and many other things that were necessary to survive.
According to them, the man had even brought a physician to help a pregnant woman during her delivery.
Li Rui blinked as she looked at the woman having a baby in her arms.
She looked happy. The woman told her that she was sure that her child would not have survived if she had been living in the Manor she had been living in when she was pregnant.
Her husband had many wives and she, for the first time had gotten pregnant after so many years. She had survived many attempts where they tried to kill her and her child.
The man who brought her was also hired by one of the wives to kill her and her child.
However, she was happy that he had brought her here.
She was just happy that her child was born safely and she was alive to see his face.
There were many other people who shared their stories with her and Xi Ying. One of them was a son from a rich family who had survived through many attempts of his scheming cousins to kill him.
He was also happy to be here.
Though a few of them held grudges that they have been brought away from where they had been living, they were happy that they were alive, well-fed, and clothed.
Because many of them didn't know for how long they would have survived. And after living together for so many years, they have formed a bond with each other.
Li Rui didn't know if she was overseeing but she could even feel that the woman with a child in her arms shared some kind of special bond with one of the men inside the cave and he didn't look bad.
He had not left her side since the moment she and Xi Ying had stepped inside the cave.
The man…Li Rui was sure that it must have been her Senior Brother, Gu Li.
"Rui"
She raised her head when she heard Xi Ying calling her.
"What are you thinking?"
Xi Ying asked gently as he put the hair falling on her forehead behind her ear.
"Master would be happy if he would come to know that Senior Brother didn't do anything wrong."
Xi Ying hummed as he smiled.
She cared for everyone …perhaps him as well.
"What do you think we should do?"
He asked her wanting to know what she will say.
As the prime minister of the Empire, his heart and mind were actually not ready to leave so many people inside the cave.
Regardless of whatever they have been provided here, leaving freely under an open sky was a different thing and it was something that everyone deserved.
Had this not been the reason that he had been angry at Zhao Wang Lei whose merciless attempts to kill his wife had made her stay inside the confine of Li Manor?
Gu Li didn't do anything wrong.
Xi Ying understood.
If these people didn't want any punishment for him, then he also didn't have any problem.
Only a victim had the right to decide if the one who did wrong to him should be punished or not.
Before in his eyes, Gu Li had done many wrong things and that's why he had told the latter that Xi Manor's gates would only be open to him if he will not come to him with hands full of red blood that will be of innocent people.
However, should he leave them here?
He wondered silently.
"Ying…"
Li Rui held Xi Ying's hand and looked at him thoughtfully before she opened her mouth to speak. However, before she could complete her words, they heard a voice and everyone's eyes fell on the entrance of the cave.
There stood Gu Li with shock-filled eyes which widened with surprise when he saw Li Rui and Gu Li inside the cave.
His face was covered with a black mask. Like the one, she had seen on his face before. However, this time she could recognize him at one glance.
"Rui…"
Gu Li whispered in a breathless voice while Li Rui also had a very serious face as she stood up from the stone she had been sitting on with Xi Ying's help.
.
.
.
The three of them were out of the cave a few moments later.
They were standing at enough distance from the cave that no one inside should be able to hear their voices.
"Senior Brother…"
Li Rui sighed as she looked at Gu Li's lowered head. She had seen that his eyes were still red. It was obvious that he was still very hurt by the old master's words.
"You should have told Master everything."
Gu Li sighed helplessly as he raised his head and whispered
"I wanted to. He was too angry to hear me. Also…Rong Ting was there…"
"No one knows about this…"
Li Rui asked him with a frown on her forehead.
"No"
Gu Li shook his head and his eyes were cold as he looked at nothing in particular. He seemed to be remembering those times.
That was the most difficult time for his Youxio.
Many people had already left when he had come up with this way of collecting the money.
He was seeing his Youxio getting destroyed with every passing day.