Eighty: Ink Shall Be Your Name

"I... I... I'm sorry, I..."

Ming Tian helped the girl to her feet.

Perhaps because it was the first time anyone had treated her so gently, she seemed at a complete loss. From time to time, broken apologies and pleas for mercy slipped from her lips.

When he guided her toward the bed, she clearly resisted.

To Ming Tian, the inn bed was no more than a plank of wood, but to her, it must have seemed no different from a celestial couch.

She kept retreating, never daring to come near it.

"Little one, don't be afraid. We're not bad people." Seeing the poor state the girl was in, An Luo also tried to force out a reassuring smile, revealing a set of yellowed teeth.

The moment the girl saw that, she was so frightened that she quickly broke free of Ming Tian's arm and hid behind the table, daring only to露出 half her head as she trembled and stared at An Luo.

Uh... maybe you should stop smiling. It's horrifying. I know you're a good person, but every time you grin you look like some kind of filthy predator, do you realize that?

"An Luo, you should go outside. You've scared her..."

At those words, An Luo's smile froze.

He looked at Ming Tian, a little wronged, then at the girl, who immediately tucked the rest of her head back behind the table.

Glancing at his reflection in the bronze mirror, An Luo tried to smile the way he had just done, and the moment he saw his own face, he nearly cried.

Yes, a two-hundred-pound slab of muscle actually burst into tears.

As he headed for the door, he muttered, "Why do I have to be so ugly?"

The closed door gave a creak, and then came the sound of An Luo wailing in tears.

After he left, the room was finally left with only the little girl and Ming Tian.

"Come out."

Ming Tian called softly, then waited in silence.

Sure enough, after a long while, the girl seemed to gather all her courage before inching out from behind the table.

"I'm sorry... please don't punish me." Those seemed to be the only words she knew.

Head bowed, she only then noticed that she had been changed into clean clothes, and for a moment she was at a complete loss.

The clothes were just old garments Xiao Xinzhu had worn before. They had originally been meant to be thrown away, but for her, they were almost too fine.

She looked at Ming Tian nervously and uncertainly, as if trying to make sense of the situation.

Ming Tian smiled at her, then sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him. "Come on. If you're too scared to sleep, surely you can at least sit here?"

At that, the girl looked at Ming Tian in terror, then at the two pinkish stains on the bed where her tears had fallen. She hesitated, stepping forward little by little.

Still uneasy, she sat down with only half her body on the bed.

Ming Tian studied her.

She was terribly thin. Forget the gaunt, ghoul-like limbs; even the loose clothes could not conceal the narrow, bony waist that was perhaps not even as thick as Ming Tian's thigh.

She looked less like a living person than a skeleton dressed in skin.

Taking up the porridge from the bedside table, Ming Tian scooped out a spoonful and held it out to her. "Here, eat."

The girl stared blankly at the glistening porridge in the spoon and did not dare lean in. Yet her nose kept twitching; the fragrance was simply too hard to resist.

"Mister, are you... are you trying to kill me?" As she spoke, her whole body began to shake.

That left Ming Tian utterly stunned.

"Wh... what? Kill you?"

Had this girl's brain also been broken? How had offering her food led her to the conclusion that he wanted to kill her?

She lowered her head, too frightened to answer, but her eyes never left the porridge.

"Eat. It won't taste good once it gets cold." Ming Tian pushed the spoon a little closer.

After a long hesitation, as if she had made some tremendous decision, the girl closed her eyes and, with the expression of someone walking to her death, took the spoon into her mouth.

With that first bite, her expression changed.

Ming Tian was quite confident in his cooking. After all, his time in the kitchen had only sharpened his skills further.

This thick porridge, even without seasoning, was better than anything the common folk would normally eat.

The girl had never tasted anything so delicious. The resigned look of one facing death instantly melted away, and on that face so long eaten by fear, comfort appeared for the first time.

"Is it good?" Ming Tian asked as gently as he could.

She still seemed somewhat afraid, but she nodded timidly, her gaze flickering again and again toward the large bowl of porridge in Ming Tian's hands.

"Then eat more."

He put the spoon back into the bowl and handed it to her whole.

At that, the girl looked up at Ming Tian in astonishment.

"This... this is really... for me?"

It seemed she could hardly believe that this man before her was giving her the entire bowl of such delicious porridge.

As if doubting that she was dreaming, she did not even dare reach out to take it.

Ming Tian said nothing, only smiling and nodding.

It had to be said that, since arriving in this world, the one thing Ming Tian had truly found fortunate was that his body had turned out to be tall, handsome, and bright-eyed. Sometimes, appearance alone could make it far easier for him to win another person's trust.

At last, the girl gathered her courage and accepted the bowl, her eyes darting back and forth between the porridge and Ming Tian.

After much hesitation, and with her stomach gurgling loudly, she could restrain herself no longer.

One mouthful, then two, then three.

Ming Tian had chopped the ingredients very finely, and the thick porridge had been simmered over a slow flame for three hours. It could be swallowed directly without chewing.

The girl shoved the wooden spoon hard into the bowl she hugged to her chest and greedily poured the porridge into her stomach.

If the porridge had not been allowed to cool to the right temperature during that earlier interval, she would surely have burned her mouth with such frantic eating.

Rather than eating, it was more like swallowing.

As she ate, her expression began to change as well, shifting from happiness into something like bliss.

When the last mouthful was gone, she held the empty bowl and let out a breath. At last, a hint of human color appeared in her face.

She looked up at Ming Tian, then at the bowl in her hands, and in that instant, the dam broke.

It was as if she had escaped from hell in sheer joy, and yet it was also as if she were grieving for her own fate.

Having received Ming Tian's kindness and been treated like a human being, something she had endured for so long finally collapsed.

She went almost frantic, tearing at her hair with both hands. Her fine fingers tangled in the strands, making a faint rustling sound. The bowl and spoon rolled off the bed and onto the floor.

Had she gone mad? Was it madness born from everything she had suffered?

Seeing her like that, Ming Tian leaned forward and gently embraced her.

It was not the sort of embrace he had shared with Xiao Xinzhu, one born of romantic love between man and woman. It was like a father holding his child, free of any lewd thought, filled only with boundless warmth.

Her body stiffened at once, but that tenderness, something she had never known before, quickly melted the rigidity from her frame.

"It's all right... It's all right now. You're safe."

Again and again, Ming Tian repeated those words as though reciting an incantation, patting her back gently, soothing her like a crying child.

The girl sniffled, and little by little she began to understand what Ming Tian meant.

At last, the flood broke completely. She let out a heart-rending wail and buried her face against Ming Tian's chest, crying as though her heart were being torn apart.

She was still only a child. Who knew what sort of hell she had struggled through before this?

Ming Tian simply let her cry in his arms. Perhaps this was the only way she knew how to release the anguish within her.

A long time passed. By the time his chest was soaked through with her tears, she finally managed to quiet down.

Ming Tian lowered his head and gently stroked her hair, greasy and a little filthy, and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"

The girl lifted her head. In her tear-rimmed eyes, there was no longer the slightest trace of doubt. After a long bout of sobbing, she drew in a breath and answered in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

"I... I don't have a name... I was born a two-legged sheep... They... they called me... Number Fifty-Three."

Number Fifty-Three? That was certainly blunt enough.

"In that case, I'll give you one."

Ming Tian thought for a moment, then made up his mind. "An Luo found you, so your surname will be An. As for the place, if it was the little alley, it was all dark and gloomy... dark? ink? All right. From now on, your name will be An Mo'er."

"An... Mo'er?"

The girl looked up and blinked several times. Joy bloomed wildly across her face. "An Mo'er... I have a name?! Thank you for giving me my name, sir!"

...