Zhu Xian: Learn from the Great Ying Immortal and rebuild the Trinity School

Chapter 19: Gang up?
Xu Zhiqiu was very grateful that the mother and daughter were willing to take him in.

He was arranged to live in the west wing, and the mother and daughter were in the east room, with the two rooms separated by the central hall.

I've been running around these days and I'm feeling very weak.

He fell asleep almost as soon as he touched the pillow.

in a dream,

He returned to the Trinity Sect of his previous life and resumed his identity as a disciple of the Xuan Sect.

He looked after the lessons of the new disciples and also joked around with a few familiar brothers.

Changqing is reserved, Shuiyun likes to show off his seniority, Shanyang is mild-mannered, and Lu Jin is modest.
The eldest brother Cheng Zhen is solemn and taciturn, while the uncle seems to be traditional and old-fashioned...

Everything is exactly as I remembered, nothing has changed.

Only the Master seemed to have changed.

Those ethereal and calm eyes looked at him, but seemed to be blaming him.

"Fool, how long are you going to continue to be obsessed like this?"

The dream created by obsession suddenly began to crack.

"Master! Disciple..."

He opened his mouth, but suddenly no sound came out.

The dream began to collapse, like a burning canvas.

……

Xu Zhiqiu was awakened by the sharp pain of cutting his neck.

It was pitch black inside the house.

Only sparse moonlight faintly shines through the window paper and onto the ground.

He could barely see clearly... a bloody tip of scissors, which was getting bigger and bigger in front of his eyes.

His pupils shrank suddenly!
"No!" a cry of surprise came from a distance.

Xu Zhiqiu's body reacted instantly. He raised his hands to block, twisted his waist and turned over.

While narrowly avoiding the attack, he also completed the counterattack in one go.

He pinned the murderer to the bed.
The murderer's struggle was so weak that he could almost ignore it.

As his eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room, he could finally see the murderer.

"It's you!?"

The stab wound before he woke up had hurt his throat so much that his voice was hoarse as if mixed with sawdust.

The girl under him opened her dark eyes wide as if she wanted to glare him to death.

Xu Zhiqiu was completely puzzled.
He couldn't understand why this girl wanted to kill him now after saving him before?
Could it be that

He looked to the side - Mrs. Lu, who was standing stiffly at the door, was pale and her thin body was shaking like a sieve.

Lu instinctively wanted to rush over, but when she saw Xu Zhiqiu holding the scissors against her daughter's neck, she dared not move.

"Don't! Don't kill my daughter."

Xu Zhiqiu looked at the little girl under him.
At this time, the child's dark eyes were already filled with tears, probably because he was scared.

"The reason you kept me here overnight was so you could kill me and take my flesh while I slept?"

He couldn't help but sneer:
"But why did you let a child do it? You really don't treat me as a human being..."

He just felt bored, so he threw away the scissors and let go of the child.

The little girl got out of bed and threw herself into her mother's arms.
The mother and daughter leaned against the door, neither running nor shouting, but looking at him awkwardly.

Xu Zhiqiu tore off a piece of cloth from his body and simply treated the wound on his neck.

I have to sigh that it was a close call, if it was half an inch more it would have been the carotid artery.

If it were last time, he would have killed him.

But now, facing the orphan and widow who had just saved him, he really couldn't bear to be cruel.

Put on your clothes and prepare to leave.

Lu hurried forward to explain:
"This child is hysterical and has mistaken you for an enemy. He doesn't really want to kill you, let alone eat your flesh."

"What enemy?"

"..."

Lu's lips moved, but she didn't answer. She just said:

"I'm really sorry, but please stay for a few days so that I can apologize."

Xu Zhiqiu couldn't help but frown.

Guess in my mind:

The reason why these two women were willing to let a man of unknown origin stay overnight was, could it be that they wanted to recruit him as a 'trap'?
(Labangtao: an old custom, similar to a widow hiring a man to support the family)

After all, in this year of famine, the survival of orphans and widows is indeed a problem.

And maybe her daughter was jealous that Xu Zhiqiu was going to take her father's place, so she wanted to assassinate him to vent her anger? Following this logic, Xu Zhiqiu thought more and more that it made sense.

Looking at the girl again, I had a new understanding in my mind.

This kid is kind-hearted, but he's also just as cruel!

"Where is your husband?" Xu Zhiqiu asked knowingly.

Lu lowered his head:
"I haven't returned for two years, and I still don't know whether I'm alive or dead."

She then bowed and made a gesture of blessing, which was not a courtesy common people had.

Sincere and earnest words:
"I promise that what happened tonight will never happen again. Please stay here peacefully, brother Xu. Otherwise, if you go out now... you will have a hard time surviving."

"..."

She's right.

…………

Kaoshan Village is only this big.
It's not good to say,

If you lead a nimble dog, it will take less than a pack of cigarettes to run from one end of the village to the other.

In such a small place, if there is anything new, everyone will know about it the next day.

At the archway at the entrance of the village, a group of children were laughing and chasing each other.

A group of men and women gathered in groups of three or five, chatting about gossip.

"You know, there's a wild man coming to the Lu family!"

"I just passed by there and saw the man fetching water and chopping wood. He was very busy!"

"How dare she bring a man into her home when her man is still unsure of his fate?"

"It's been two years. Bu Si has returned a long time ago."

"It's not her fault. If I hadn't come back for two years, my wife wouldn't have been able to hold it back..."

"What are you talking about!"

An old man over 70 years old, leaning on a dry crutch, joined the crowd.

"The village chief is here!"

The villagers who had been chattering just now fell silent, and walked forward with a smile to greet them:
"Mr. Lizheng, it's so hot today. Why are you out here instead of staying at home to cool off?"

"Bah! Let me ask you, are you qualified to comment on Mr. Lu's family affairs?"

"Uh……"

Everyone was speechless.

"Shame on our ancestors!"

The old man was knocking his withered crutch against the blue bricks, making a clanging sound.

He squinted his eyes, pointed at the villagers' noses and cursed them without mercy:
"Look at you good-for-nothings. You don't do your work every day. You don't take care of the land, you don't take care of your children, and you don't respect the mountain gods... If it doesn't rain, the millet in the fields won't sprout. When autumn comes, everyone in our village will starve to death!"

He became more and more angry as he spoke, and he pounded his cane hard.
"How dare you still stand under this memorial archway that says 'Respect Heaven and Follow Ancestors'? Get the hell out of here and go home!"

No one dared to talk back, and they all dispersed in shame.

Even after driving away the villagers, the anger on the head of the village was still there.

Suddenly, his eyes moved and he caught a glimpse of a small person tiptoeing around and trying to go around.

Lao Lizheng curled his lips, pretending to be angry and said:

"Lu family girl!"

The eight-year-old girl couldn't hide her timidity on her face and remained silent as usual.

The old man had a stern face:

"You've dug up all the Houttuynia cordata on the dry riverbed, what are you going to do with it? Besides, that stuff doesn't have much medicinal effect. What if you accidentally enter the mountain again and make the mountain god angry?"

The girl was reprimanded by him, her thin cheeks showed a look of loss, and she lowered her head deeply.

"Ugh……"

Lao Lizheng sighed softly and stroked her slightly dry hair.

"It's rare that you are sensible. When the fog clears in two days, I will go into the mountain to ask the mountain god for some magical herbs to relieve your mother's pain."

Upon hearing this, the girl looked up suddenly, her lips curled up sweetly, and she walked forward and grabbed the old headman's arm.

Lao Lizheng smiled:
"My dear child, I heard that you had guests at home recently?"

"Ah."

"Then take Grandpa to have a look."

The girl was happy to lead the way.

And in the old man's cloudy eyes, there was a hint of gloom.

(End of this chapter)