Yan Jiaojiao had never seen this little boy before, yet he seemed to have made himself at home in the Yan residence and even mentioned Mama Chen.
This was enough to make one’s imagination run wild.
Yan Jiaojiao had no choice but to ask him, "Who is Mama Chen to you?"
The little boy blinked his innocent eyes. "Mama Chen is Mama Chen."
Well, that was a waste of a question.
Yan Jiaojiao adjusted her approach and asked again, "Then what is your mother's name? You mentioned your father just now, so who is your father?"
The little boy looked crestfallen. "I don't have a mother. I don't know my father's name either. I rarely see him. Only Auntie and Mama Chen keep me company."
She suspected that if she asked him the auntie’s name, he wouldn't know either, but the answer was already becoming clear.
Yan Jiaojiao suddenly recalled the door sealed by a barrier in the dark chamber.
"So, do you usually stay by yourself?" Yan Jiaojiao asked him.
"Yes. When I made mistakes before, I wasn't allowed to play outside, so I stayed in my little room. Recently, I've been behaving well, so Mama Chen finally let me come out to live."
It was just as she suspected. Yan Jiaojiao understood that after she escaped the dark chamber, Chen Wenyu had not only sealed the entrance but also moved everything from inside.
This child was one of them.
Thinking of a child being kept locked up in that deep, dark chamber for years, Yan Jiaojiao couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.
However, while she could understand Chen Wenyu imprisoning her stepmother, Song Zhi, why would she keep a child locked up for so long? If he were truly an illegitimate child, wouldn't he be raised somewhere outside?
Then she thought of the boy's astonishing talent. Could Chen Wenyu be secretly grooming a genius?
Yan Jiaojiao couldn't help but ask, "When you are alone in your room, do you cultivate techniques all day?"
"What is cultivating techniques? Mama Chen says I should practice a lot and make balls a lot to be a good child." The little boy suddenly smiled, very proud of what he did. "I can make a big ball in about ten days now."
Yan Jiaojiao frowned, looking at the boy's rather frail body, and a bad feeling arose in her heart. "Make what kind of big ball? Can you demonstrate it for me?"
The little boy, being naturally simple, tilted his head and thought for a second or two before agreeing, "Then I can only make a tiny bit for you. Making this hurts a little."
After speaking, the little boy solemnly raised his hand. After a moment, he furrowed his brow in discomfort. A spirit thread, shimmering with a faint light, gradually emerged from his raised wrist and slowly flowed into his fingertips. Then, with a soft "pop," the spiritual energy detached from his fingertips and condensed in the air, forming a tiny white sphere, about the size of a sesame seed.
This was pure spiritual energy!
Yan Jiaojiao suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
This detached spiritual energy could be directly absorbed by others, eliminating the need for circulation and conversion. It was, in essence, a shortcut to rapid spiritual cultivation.
However, for the person who detached the spiritual energy, the process of extracting absorbed spiritual energy from the body was extremely painful and damaging, taking a very long time—it was practically a cruel torture!
What had Chen Wenyu done to a child of four or five years old!
He was so young, his small body completely reduced to a cauldron for supplying spiritual energy!
The little boy carefully caught the detached spiritual energy ball, showed it to Yan Jiaojiao, and then began to tuck it into his clothes. "Here, this is the ball I make every day. I can only make this much right now, but I'll still take it back for Auntie."
He knew the difficulty of detaching spiritual energy, which was why he wouldn't discard even a sesame-sized spiritual energy ball.
Yan Jiaojiao's heart ached fiercely, wishing she could kill Chen Wenyu on the spot. Truly not human!
Yan Jiaojiao gritted her teeth, squatted down, and looked at the little boy earnestly. She gently took his hand and pulled him closer. "Come with me."
The little boy blinked in surprise. "Go where?"
"You haven't been outside before, have you? There are so many toys and delicious foods outside. I'll take you to play and take good care of you, okay?" Yan Jiaojiao didn't know how to explain his unfortunate situation to the boy, so she could only try to coax him away.
The little boy's eyes brightened, then he tried to pull his hand back. "No, Mama Chen said if I run around, Father and Auntie will abandon me. Besides, I have to make a ball tomorrow."
He was truly brainwashed.
Yan Jiaojiao could only patiently persuade him, "Doesn't making that ball hurt? It's very damaging to your body. They aren't treating you well. Treating you well means making you comfortable and happy. Do you understand?"
The little boy paused, as if confused. "I'm happy. When I make a big ball, everyone praises me as a good child, and I'm very happy."
Yan Jiaojiao suddenly understood why Chen Wenyu had kept the little boy confined.
How could a naive and ignorant child, raised under such twisted education, distinguish right from wrong? It would be much easier and simpler to do terrible things to him.
Even the original owner, as the eldest daughter of the Yan family, was manipulated and used as a tool for years. Without that status, the original owner would probably have met the same fate as this little boy!
It was no wonder that Chen Wenyu and her daughter had made those outrageous demands on her time and again. They had probably never treated the original owner or the little boy as human beings!
The pain of Yan Jiaojiao’s good bones being gouged out and her inner dan destroyed seemed to resurface in her body's memory, making her very uncomfortable.
Just then, there was a rustling sound at the gate of the courtyard. Yan Jiaojiao noticed it almost immediately.
Not good, someone must have found them.
Yan Jiaojiao said no more, scooped up the little boy, and coaxed him with a smile, "It's okay if you don't want to go. You're right. Can you tell me your name?"
The little boy said, "My name is Tong'er."
He didn't even have a proper name. Yan Jiaojiao felt another wave of heartache. "Tong'er, let's play a game. Don't make a sound, okay? Watch me carry you away."
The little boy was delighted to hear this and cooperated by covering his mouth with his hands.
Yan Jiaojiao used her spiritual energy, lightly leaping onto the treetops. With leaps and bounds, she disappeared from the courtyard.
Returning to her own courtyard in a few steps, Yan Jiaojiao set Tong'er down in the room and gave him some pastries she had bought last time to eat at the table.
Seeing him happily eating, Yan Jiaojiao felt worried again.
She had impulsively brought him back; how should she house him now?
He was someone Chen Wenyu had gone to great lengths to hide. If they knew he was missing now, they would probably come looking for him immediately.
"This is delicious!" Tong'er had already finished all the pastries in front of him, looking up at Yan Jiaojiao with his bright, watery eyes, full of satisfaction.
Those dark, lustrous eyes reminded Yan Jiaojiao of another pair of identical eyes.
She had an idea! Yan Jiaojiao stood up!