Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

"Why didn't you die sooner?"

"It's all because of the mistakes you made that I'm suffering like this!"

Those who surrounded the old man and threw garbage at him continued to hurl abuse without stopping.

But in their eyes, there was no malice or pleasure, but rather a strange grief and indignation.

"What are they doing? Why are they... treating an old man like this?"

A hint of pity appeared in Leike's eyes. She turned her head and asked a Bo Ren person who was watching.

"This old man..."

The man glanced at Leike and shook his head, "He is the father of that human traitor, Severn."

"Severn's father?!"

"Yes, I've known this old man for a long time. He's really a good person, but..."

"His kindness led him to make the wrong choice one day.

That Severn was originally an orphan. One day, when he was about to starve to death, he was adopted by this old tailor and helped with the tailoring work.

A long time ago, Severn always liked to deceive people. He was hated by many neighbors, and gradually, no one wanted to hire him for tailoring work.

But I didn't expect that he would become like this later..."

The Bo Ren man sighed as he spoke:

"These people surrounding him weren't bad people before. It's just that their families were killed by the giants commanded by Severn.

They can only vent their pain on this old tailor.

But this is understandable, after all, that's what they think... If he hadn't adopted Severn back then, wouldn't this have happened today?"

After the Bo Ren man finished speaking, he sighed and turned to leave.

After the Bo Ren man left, the bullying, or rather, the venting on the old tailor continued.

Leike looked unbearable, but she didn't know what to say. Should she say...?

Put down the hatred?

The child's mistake has nothing to do with the old tailor who was his teacher?

"Can't stand it anymore? Then let's go. We should find a place to live."

Poro looked up at the slightly complicated expression in the girl's eyes and said.

But just as the group was about to leave—

A man who looked irritable walked out of the crowd. His eyes were bloodshot, and he dragged a long axe as he walked forward.

He walked to the old man lying on the ground, and raised the long axe in his hand high!

At this moment, everyone was stunned.

The man, filled with anger, aimed the long axe in his hand at the defenseless old man on the ground, and was about to chop down with force!

"Wait!"

Leike opened her eyes wide and finally stepped forward—

She raised her hand and pushed away the man, and the axe handle that had already been swung halfway!

The axe blade was deflected and hit heavily beside the old tailor. Broken stone chips flew in all directions!

But part of the axe tip still cut open the old man's shoulder.

Blood splattered out, and the old tailor groaned in pain, but his cloudy eyes looked at the blood gushing from his shoulder.

There was no light, as if he had already given up on something.

The man wanted to raise the axe and chop again, but he didn't expect that this girl in the red cloak had strength greater than his own, despite her seemingly slender arms.

Leike pressed down on the axe handle, and the man could no longer exert any strength!

His face turned red, and he had no choice but to give up, his red eyes staring fixedly at Leike.

"Who are you? This old man made his own mistakes, he deserves to die, why are you meddling?"

Leike bit her lip and said in a low voice:

"I can feel your anger, the pain of losing loved ones, you can vent, but... is killing someone a bit too much?"

Several people who were originally scolding the old tailor also stopped what they were doing. They looked at the bloody long axe and also became a little silent.

They wanted to vent their dissatisfaction, but...

No one wanted to actually kill someone.

At this time, one of them glanced at the old man on the ground, looked at Leike, and his tone softened a little:

"Little girl, you don't look like a Bo Ren person. You don't quite understand what we're doing.

This old man is the father of the human traitor Severn—

He deserves to be punished for raising such a son!"

The man holding the long axe also said with red eyes, "If this old thing hadn't adopted that demon in the first place—would such a thing have happened?!"

As he said that, he wanted to raise the axe again.

But several other Bo Ren people also reached out and stopped the somewhat furious man.

Although their hearts were filled with resentment and sorrow, they also understood that the real culprit was the inhuman Severn.

And this old tailor had always been a well-regarded good person before adopting Severn—

Although he is guilty, his crime does not warrant death.

"Forget it, it's not good to kill someone for this kind of thing."

The Bo Ren people who were trying to mediate said, coldly glanced at the old man on the ground,

"Old thing, for the sake of this foreign girl, I'll spare you today to heal your wounds."

The anger in the eyes of the other Bo Ren people around gradually disappeared, replaced by a strange sorrow.

They lowered their heads, their faces gray and without any emotion, and turned and left.

No one spoke out to insult or continue to inflict violence.

They just silently turned around and dispersed elsewhere.

They were indeed not mobs or villains, just some... ordinary people who had become somewhat twisted due to pressure and pain.

Watching the onlookers gradually disperse, Leike helped the old tailor up from the ground.

The huge wound on the old tailor's shoulder was still bleeding.

Half of his sleeve had been dyed blood red.

No one cared about him. Given the old man's age, if he continued to bleed like this, he would probably die from blood loss soon, right?

"Old sir, let's apply some of this medicine to your wound first."

After thinking about it, Leike took out a piece of ointment and handed it to the old tailor.

The old tailor stood up tremblingly, took the ointment, and applied it to his shoulder. On the exposed, thin skin, there were still many bluish-purple bruises.

Obviously, he had suffered a lot of torture before this.

He glanced at Leike with his cloudy, sorrowful eyes, lowered his head, and said in a trembling voice:

"Th-thank you, little girl.

They have been doing this to me for a long time. Don't worry about me, I don't blame them. They are also pitiful victims.

If doing these things to me can make them feel better, then it's nothing.

If I had just died... perhaps it would have been better..."

As the old tailor spoke, cloudy tears welled up in his eyes again.

After a long time, the sorrow in his eyes gradually disappeared.

The old tailor calmed himself down, looked Leike and the others up and down, stopped his gaze on the luggage they were carrying, thought for a while, and said:

"Little girl, from what you just said, you... are from elsewhere?"

"Yes, we just arrived in this city today and haven't had time to find a place to live."

Leike nodded and said.

"I see..."

The old tailor thought for a while and said, "Recently, because of the influence of my wicked son, the accommodation conditions in this city may have become a bit poor.

If you don't mind, you can stay at my house for a while tonight..."

"Really?"

Leike's eyes lit up, "Thank you, old sir."

...

The old tailor's house was a two-story building.

After the group arrived here, they were shocked by the scene in front of them. A sign with the name of the tailor shop, which should have been hanging on the wall, had fallen to the side and been smashed to pieces.

The ground was littered with garbage, and the stench was unbearable.

The walls were also written with many curse words in the Bo Ren language. Obviously, many people had vented their grievances in front of this house.

"I'm sorry, recently the outside of my house... has become a bit dirty."

A trace of guilt flashed in the old man's eyes, "The inside is still fine, of course, if you mind..."

"It's okay."

Leike waved her hand and said, "We won't be staying for long."

The old tailor's house was still very clean. Although the Bo Ren people were angry, fortunately, they hadn't done anything like breaking into the house and destroying things.

In the evening, the old tailor made a large table of extremely sumptuous dishes, and this table of dishes was definitely expensive for ordinary people.

Leike and the others originally wanted to help, but the old tailor strongly refused.

The food was very fragrant. While eating, Poro and the others also looked at the furnishings in the old tailor's house. There were many different colors of cloth and some exquisite clothes hanging on the wall.

And on the wooden shelf in the corner, there was a blank picture frame.

Poro's gaze swept over the stove on the side, where there was still a handful of dust-covered ashes, the remnants of burnt paper objects.

"Old sir, can you tell us about Severn... that is, your adopted son?"

Leike looked at the old tailor across the table and suddenly said.

A trace of surprise flashed in the old tailor's eyes, and his expression became a little depressed. He trembled and took a breath, looking at Leike and saying:

"You... want to hear it?"

"Is it okay?"

"There's nothing I can't tell you about."

The old man was silent for a while, and slowly opened his mouth and said, "The first time I met Severn, he was just a dirty street child, about seven or eight years old...

At that time, he came to my house to steal something and was discovered by me.

He cried and said that he was nimble, diligent, and could do many things, begging me to take him in.

He also told me that if he failed and went back, he would be beaten to death by the theft gang.

I had no wife or children, so I adopted him."

"Was he controlled by a theft gang when he was a child?"

Leike widened her eyes, revealing a hint of surprise.

"No, he wasn't."

To her surprise, the old tailor shook his head, "I later learned that there was no theft gang in our area at all.

But that didn't matter, after all, he was just a child—

That's what I thought, I wanted to teach him my craft and let him inherit my shop, and just continue steadily like that...

But he was always lazy. When I blamed him, he always made up many lies to deceive me.

I only discovered the problems with most of the lies a long time later, but by then, I couldn't pursue the matter anymore.

But after he became an adult, he became even worse.

He deceived many customers. I didn't know about it until an old customer complained to me!

That time, I was very angry. I questioned him why he did this—

But he answered it as a matter of course—"

The old tailor paused, as if suppressing some anger in his heart, and finally answered, "He said, if you can get paid with words, why bother working so hard?!"

The old man became agitated again as he said this, "You tell me, I have been working hard and steadily for so many years—why would I have such an adopted son?!"

After the old tailor finished speaking, he gasped sharply, slowing down his emotions again, "I think... only shameless people would repeatedly do such things.

Later, the conflicts between him and me became more and more intense. I wanted to make him feel ashamed, so I exposed his lies in front of others again and again.

Until one day—he boasted in front of the neighbors that he had beaten seven to death with one punch..."

The old tailor's expression became a little self-reproachful,

"Before he could finish saying what he had beaten to death, I publicly ridiculed him saying...

Beaten seven to death? A liar like you probably can't even kill a bug. If you tell too many lies, do you really think you can kill seven people?

If you can kill a giant, even a princess can marry you—do you have that strength?"

The old tailor's expression became even more sorrowful as he said this,

"At that time, everyone laughed at him. He replied: What if I can really kill seven people, seven hundred people, seven thousand people? What if I can really kill a giant?

After saying these things, he left, without taking anything, and never came back."

The old tailor trembled his lips, and said the things that happened after with difficulty,

"After that, news came that he had single-handedly killed a giant and was named the Chosen Hero of Bo Ren. His Majesty wanted to make him a Duke and even marry the princess to him...

But many people knew his true identity.

How could strength built on lies really be achieved?

So, before long, his lies were exposed. His Majesty the King was furious and wanted to kill him, but he escaped.

After that...

News came that he colluded with giants, slaughtered several villages and towns, killing many, many innocent people..."

The old tailor clenched his fists, as if he wanted to strangle himself to death!

His last sentence was accompanied by a long sigh:

"If I hadn't adopted him in the first place, would... would such a thing have happened?"