Chapter Fifty-Five: The Reason for the Disappearance

"Xuanzi, did you hear the sounds of fighting? Or am I just imagining things?" Yuwen Chengdu stopped, wanting to confirm what he had heard. Zhang Xuan imitated him, listening closely to the surrounding noise, but could only shake his head—he hadn’t heard anything.

After listening for a moment, Yuwen Chengdu pointed in a direction. "Over there, I think I hear the sounds of a fight. Should we go take a look? Maybe Brother Hu and Zhao Yun are there, or we could ask if anyone has seen them."

"Really? Why can’t I hear anything? Second Brother, do you have some kind of super-hearing? That’s impressive!" Zhang Xuan cupped his hand to his ear in a playful gesture and continued, "Let’s go check it out. If we’re lucky, Brother Hu and Zhao Yun are really nearby. If not, we can at least ask around. But honestly, is it disrespectful to interrupt people in the middle of a fight just to ask questions?"

Yuwen Chengdu wasn’t sure how to respond to that. His third brother’s mind really was as peculiar as he claimed—what exactly went on in that head of his? He decided not to dwell on it and simply led the way.

As they drew closer, Zhang Xuan finally began to hear the sounds of fighting from that direction. He couldn’t help but give his second brother a thumbs-up—he really was impressive to have heard it from so far away.

When they got closer, the two of them crouched behind a small mound to observe the fight and see if Yang Hu and Zhao Yun were among the combatants.

Peering from behind the slope, Zhang Xuan scrutinized the fighters, but neither Yang Hu nor Zhao Yun seemed to be there. "Second Brother, do you see Brother Hu or Zhao Yun? I don’t think either of them is in that fight," he whispered.

"I don’t see them, either. Take a look around—maybe they’re crouching nearby just like us. Look carefully, though, so we don’t miss them," Yuwen Chengdu replied, scanning the area around the fight. Soon, he spotted two figures lying on another small hill not far away. Nudging Zhang Xuan with his elbow, he pointed, "Xuanzi, look over there—aren’t those two Yang Hu and Zhao Yun? They look a lot like them. Check and see."

Zhang Xuan followed Yuwen Chengdu’s gaze and agreed, "They do look like them. Let’s sneak over and make sure. I’m really curious what those two are up to."

The two of them crawled toward the figures they suspected were Yang Hu and Zhao Yun. When they were nearly there, Yang Hu noticed them and alerted Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun glanced back, immediately lowering his head in embarrassment, as if he couldn’t face Zhang Xuan and Yuwen Chengdu.

Once Zhang Xuan reached Yang Hu, he couldn’t help but scold them. "What are you two doing? We’ve been searching for you for ages! Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused by disappearing without a word? The entire Yan family might be out looking for you! And here you are, watching a ‘show’. You’re not the type to vanish without saying anything—so what exactly drew you here?"

Zhao Yun hung his head even lower, but Yang Hu scratched his head apologetically. "Xuanzi, sorry for worrying you. I promise it won’t happen again. After we took Yuwen back to the Yan family this morning, we kept running. You and Zaixing were ahead, and I stayed with Little Yun to keep him company. On the way, Little Yun spotted a group—he might have recognized someone—and wanted to check it out. He told me and went after them. I wanted to let you and Zaixing know, but you were already out of sight. I didn’t feel comfortable letting Little Yun go alone, so I followed. I don’t know the details—you’ll have to ask him. Soon after we started following, we noticed another group tailing the first. We circled around to keep an eye on things, and by the time we caught up, the two groups were already fighting. We didn’t even see how it started. We’ve only been here a little longer than you."

Zhang Xuan noticed Zhao Yun’s gaze fixed on the fighters, and wondered—could Zhao Yun really know someone in one of those groups? But hadn’t he said he’d barely seen his own parents? Could one of them be his uncle?

"Brother Hu, are you sure Little Yun hasn’t told you anything along the way? Why didn’t you leave any markers? We’ve been searching for you for ages. If it weren’t for Second Brother’s sharp ears, we might never have found you! And thank goodness you didn’t just charge in; I don’t even want to think about what could have happened otherwise." Zhang Xuan shivered at the thought.

Yang Hu slapped his own forehead. "You’re right, I should have left signs. My mistake. Little Yun said he might know someone in the first group, but since we were following from a distance, he couldn’t be sure. We thought it was nothing and would head back soon, but then another group appeared."

Zhang Xuan turned to Zhao Yun. "Little Yun, don’t you have anything to say? What exactly happened today? And you’re not thinking of joining the fight, are you? With those skinny arms and legs of yours, you’d just be offering yourself up as a punching bag—don’t even think about it!"

"Brother Xuan, I’m sorry for worrying you," Zhao Yun replied quietly. "When we were running, I saw a group and thought I recognized someone. I wanted to catch up and see, maybe reconnect if it really was them, but I couldn’t be sure from a distance. Just when I was about to go closer, I noticed another group following the first. For safety’s sake, I stuck with Brother Hu and we detoured around. By the time we got here, the two groups were already fighting, just like Brother Hu said."

"So you still haven’t confirmed if that person is someone you know?"

"No. It’s been a long time since I saw them and the distance is too great. I can’t be sure. Brother Xuan, I’m really sorry for making you worry. When we get back, I’ll own up to everything and accept any punishment you think I deserve."

Looking at Zhao Yun’s pitiful expression, Zhang Xuan wanted to give him a stern lesson, but in the end, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.