Silence...

Among the pack of people that did not see it coming, Qing Bo was the most shocked. He didn't expect that slap at all.

It did not really hurt, but the pain from the embarrassment in his heart was indescribable.

How did she manage to hit him?

Hu Zi, in her dark, pitch black world, could only hear people arguing. But when Qing Bo dragged her siblings into it and regarded them so viciously, her heart just couldn’t take it. Her eyes might be useless but her other senses, including her hearing, were very sensitive.

She effectively found the source of Qing Bo's voice and landed a slap on his face.

For a long time, it seemed that time had stopped. Nobody moved and not a single sound could be heard.

Hu Zi suddenly stepped back and turned. She ran as fast as she could into the sea of people behind her. Still unable to grasp what had just happened, they let Hu Zi pass them easily.

Hu Ye was the first to come back to his senses. "Third Sister!" He hastily ran to catch up with her.

At this moment, the Great General's household guards finally reached where Hu Bai and Hu Cheng Se stood. "Phew, finally!" said the captain of the guards. Their bodies were huge, unlike the small childrens’, making it harder to move in the crowd.

"Guards, hurry, chase them!" Hu Bai gave an order, worried that they might get lost. Hu Ye might be able to find the way out on his own since they visited this place a few times, but the blind Hu Zi? She was afraid that it would be very difficult for her.

The guards, who just got out of the crowd current, had to go there again. Their mistress really didn't make their job easy, ah!

Hu Cheng Se immediately closed the distance between herself and Qing Bo; she reached out her hand and tugged his collar.

Before Hu Cheng Se could say anything, Qing Bo looked at her disdain-filled eyes and immediately gave up.

"I know, I went too far," Qing Bo said as if scolding himself.

At this time, Qing Guang, who had been lost in the crowd, was finally able to catch up with her brother. Hearing her brother talk in a resigned tone, she thought that she might have heard him wrong.

-----

Meanwhile, somewhere in the crowd.

Hu Zi kept running and running, no particular direction in mind, her small body making it rather easy to move in the crowded place. She shifted left and right and nearly bumped into someone multiple times, just missing them by perfect timing. The purple-eyed blind girl was so used to living in the dark that, at some point, she began to be able to tell if a person was in front of her.

Following behind her was her younger brother who was trying to keep up. But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't beat Hu Zi's lightning speed. She had the smallest but best physique out of the four Hu siblings.

Soon enough...

"We lost her! Tell the festival guards immediately, go to the exit and tell them!" said Hu Ye to the guards’ captain.

Hu Zi kept running and running until she couldn't feel her frozen feet anymore. Her light blue coat fluttered in the wind.

Run, run, keep running in an unmatchable speed.

Like an arrow drifting in the wind, Hu Zi ran while thinking deeply, her heart pounding painfully, her closed eyes desperately trying to keep the tears from falling.

She knew that she was disabled, different, and useless in this society.

Unlike her parents and her siblings, she couldn't even walk alone without getting lost, couldn’t cook without guidance, and couldn’t take care of herself. She couldn't even tell the beauty of this festival, decorated with so many colors.

She did not know what she looked like or what her coat's color was. People said that she had a unique eye color. They said that her eyes were amethyst, violet, or purple.

But what was purple?

All Hu Zi could tell was that her mother’s hands were warm, the coat she had was soft, and that there were many people around her right now.

"Ugh..." Her tears fell as she ran.

She finally came out of the crowd and ran straight into a quiet place. But the moment right after, she became surprised because she sensed that underneath her frozen feet, there was no ground…

Gasp!

-----

"Beautiful..."

Shou was about to have a good 'me time' by the lake’s shores. He had bought a bag of warm, delicious steamed buns that he planned to eat while enjoying the scenery.

In the middle of the lake, he could see some nobles letting go of lanterns from their boats, making the solemn lake look lively.

Shou walked on the sand until he found a suitable rock to sit on. He placed his steamed buns first. Just when he was about to sit down, he heard someone gasp behind him.

"Hm?" What was that?

When he was turning his head...

Ptong!

Their heads collided with each other. The impact made Shou fell butt first onto the sand before Hu Zi landed on his body.

"Ouch, agh... my head..." Shou said while he painstakingly tried to get up. When he fell, some sand got into his eyes and made him unable to see. "My eyes..."

“Hurt…” Hu Zi trembled.

"What the hell, are you blind?" He said in an annoyed tone of voice. His eyes were still closed. “Can’t you see that is a sandstone cliff? What if I was not here and you fell onto the rock behind me instead?! That would have been an instant death for you!”

“...” Hu Zi abruptly opened her blank purple eyes. “Blind?”

Finally, Shou managed to get rid of the sand in his eyes. He opened his eyes and saw Hu Zi who was sitting on top of him. “Huh? No wonder you are weightless. You are just a k-”

Suddenly, Hu Zi tugged on Shou's collar and pulled him toward her. She headbutted him again.

Ptong!

"Agh... why?!"

"That is right! So what if I'm blind?"

"Eh?" Shou didn't see that answer coming.

Because she ran so fast, her clothes were ruffled and a bit dirty. Her hair looked terrible, the hairpin that Hu Ye gave earlier was on the verge of slipping out of its place. She lost her shoes and her feet were full of blisters.

She was reduced to a sorry state.

She curled her body and grasped Shou's cloth wiping away the tears from before with them.

Shou was supporting his body with both of his arms. His elbows on the sand functioning as fulcrums.

Not knowing what to do, he just looked at Hu Zi in bewilderment.

This girl... what did she wipe with my clothes? Don't tell me... snot?