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Suning thought about it.

I really need a place to stay right now.

Moreover, this outfit is too eye-catching. Wherever I go, I'll be surrounded by people like a monkey in a play. I need to change my clothes, get a new pair of shoes, and find out where I am and what era this is.

The system has thrown me here, so there must be a task for me; I just don't know when it will trigger.

Before that, I have to survive and live like a person of this era.

"Then I'll have to trouble you." Su Ning nodded.

The man rubbed his hands together with joy, all fear vanishing from his face and replaced by delight. "No trouble at all! Young master, you're too kind! Come, come, let's pack up first, and then we'll be on our way."

The woman had calmed down by then, and most of the fear on her face had faded, revealing the warmth of a virtuous woman.

She tugged at Su Ning's sleeve, then quickly let go...

There was blood on the sleeve, and she rubbed some on her hand onto the clothes. "Young master, your clothes are all dirty. I'll wash them for you when we get home. Although my husband, Lao Fan, is a butcher and we're not rich, please don't hesitate to ask for an extra pair of chopsticks."

"Thank you, sister-in-law." Su Ning smiled.

"Oh, no need to thank me!" Sister-in-law Fan waved her hand, her voice crisp and bright. "If it weren't for you, my husband and I would be dead here today. You have no idea, that big yellow-toothed guy..."

She pointed to the bandit on the ground whom Su Ning had killed first, "When he raised his knife, my legs went weak. I thought, 'That's it, I'm going to die here today.' Who knew you would descend from the sky like a chivalrous hero in a storybook, and in a few swift moves, you took care of them all!"

As Sister-in-law Fan spoke, she became more and more excited, gesturing with both hands as if she had witnessed something incredible.

Fan Erniu glared at his wife: "Alright, alright, say less and hurry up and pack your things."

"What's wrong with me saying something?" Sister-in-law Fan rolled her eyes at him. "I'm just happy! You heartless wretch, if it weren't for the young master, your head would be gone by now, and you're still yelling at people like that."

Fan Erniu was speechless for a moment after being rebuked by his wife. He opened his mouth but couldn't say anything, so he could only lower his head and help the carriage.

Sister-in-law Fan snorted smugly and turned to Su Ning, saying, "Little Master, don't mind him. That's just how he is. He may not know how to talk, but he's warm-hearted than anyone else."

Su Ning smiled and nodded. This couple was quite interesting.

There are still many valuables on the mountain path.

The things the bandits had stolen were scattered and overturned, covering the ground.

Several brave villagers had already run back, picked up their bundles, and dragged their families away without looking back, as if bandits were still chasing them.

No one dared to linger, and no one came over to thank Suning.

A man picked up a copper basin from the ground, grabbed it, and ran away. There was still half a basin of millet left in the basin, which he spilled all the way.

A woman was pulling a child who was clutching a rag doll, and the child was staggering as she was dragged along.

Suning didn't care.

Whether those people live or die is none of my business.

I am neither a bodhisattva who saves people from suffering nor a chivalrous knight-errant.

He killed someone because he instinctively moved when the bandit raised his knife.

As for who he saved, who ran away, and who left without even a thank you, he really didn't care.

Su Ning casually pulled off the bandit leader's cotton-padded coat and shoes, then haphazardly put them on himself, and finally put on a snow hat that looked decent.

Sure enough, Suning was no longer so conspicuous at this time, and his short hair was hidden by his snow hat.

Since he killed all these bandits by himself, the spoils on their bodies were his.

As for the survivors taking their own profits, Suning did not stop them.

Soon, Su Ning had searched through all the bandit corpses, and the gold and silver he had collected was a considerable fortune.

Finally, Su Ning took a liking to the Tang Dynasty-style broadsword in the hands of the bandit leader and took it back for himself without any hesitation.

Fan Erniu and his wife were very quick and efficient. They righted the overturned carriage and gathered the scattered boxes together.

The wooden frame of the carriage had a crack, so Fan Erniu found a rope to tie it up, patted it, and thought it could hold up for a while.

The box contained a small amount of pork, offal, a few pig bones, and two jars of braised pig's head meat, all wrapped tightly in oiled paper.

This is the goods they delivered to other towns this morning. The customers didn't keep all of them; they only took some pork. They took the silver and ran into bandits on their way back.

As Fan Erniu tidied up, he talked to Su Ning, as if he wanted to pour out all the things he had been holding back. "Little master, my name is Fan Erniu, and this is my wife. Her surname is Meng, and her name is Meng Lihua. The neighbors all call her Sister-in-law Fan. We run a butcher shop in Xigu Lane, Lin'an Town. It's not big, but it's been open for seven or eight years. Everyone in town knows us. Our meat is good, and the scales are accurate. We never shortchange you."

Su Ning nodded, "Second Brother Fan."

"Oh, oh! I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it." Fan Erniu quickly waved his hand, "Just call me Lao Fan. With your skills, I can't accept the title of Second Brother."

Su Ning smiled and said, "Then it'll be Lao Fan."

"Okay! Alright." Fan Erniu grinned, revealing a set of not-so-straight teeth.

Then he carried a box to the car, patted the snow off his hands, and looked at Su Ning's feet, which were already wearing shoes. "Young man, your feet... weren't they cold just now?"

Suning looked down and realized it really wasn't cold at all.

With the cultivation level of a Taiyi Loose Immortal, this bit of cold air is really nothing to him. Even if he stood naked in the snow for a whole day, he wouldn't freeze to death.

"good."

Fan Erniu couldn't help but gasp; this young man was truly extraordinary.

However, thinking about how disgusting it would be for Su Ning to wear clothes and shoes pulled from a dead body, Fan Erniu patted his chest and assured him, "When we get to town, I'll buy you a new pair of cotton shoes. There's a shoemaker named Zhang in our town; he's skilled and his prices are fair. A pair of cotton shoes costs fifty copper coins, and they'll definitely keep you warm."

"No need, I'll buy it myself." Su Ning patted the bundle at her waist.

He had already taken a lot of things from the bandits, including copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins, all of which were in his bundle.

Fan Erniu glanced at the bundle but didn't dare ask any more questions.

The young man looked kind, but he had witnessed the killing with his own eyes.

Fan Erniu swallowed hard and nodded. "Okay, okay, whatever."

After getting ready, Fan Erniu drove the carriage, carrying Su Ning and his sister-in-law, southwards to the place Su Ning had just discovered with her divine sense.

The horse was an old horse, its coat grayish, and its ribs so thin that they were all bony, but it pulled the cart quite steadily, moving forward at a leisurely pace, its hooves leaving a trail of deep hoofprints in the snow.

The snow is still falling, and it's getting heavier and heavier.

Snowflakes fell densely from the sky, like someone tearing cotton from the heavens, one after another, endlessly.

The wind picked up and howled, swirling snowflakes and pelting people's faces.

Although the bandit leader wasn't particularly strong, his attire was quite impressive, especially his fine Tang-style sword. The carriage creaked and groaned as it rolled forward through the snow.

The wheels rolled over the snow, making a rhythmic sound that mingled with the sound of horses' hooves, like a monotonous song.

The pine trees on both sides of the road receded one after another, their dark trunks covered with snow. Occasionally, a branch could not bear the weight, and with a whoosh, all the snow fell and hit the ground, raising a cloud of white mist.

Sister-in-law Fan is a talkative person.

Not long after the carriage left, she started talking non-stop, as if she had a lot to say and had to pour it all out, "Little master, what's your surname?"

"His surname is Su, and his given name is Ning."

"Su Ning? What a good name." Sister-in-law Fan murmured twice, as if savoring the meaning of the two characters. "Is Su the Su of Suzhou? Is Ning the Ning of Anning?"

"Correct."

"That sounds lovely. I have two daughters, the older one is named Fan Changyu, and the younger one is named Fan Changning. Changning, Changning, it's quite similar to your name, both have the character 'Ning' in them." Sister-in-law Fan laughed, revealing two dimples on her round face. "Isn't that a coincidence?"

Su Ning smiled and said, "It is quite a coincidence."

Fan Erniu, driving the carriage ahead, added without turning his head, "My eldest daughter, Changyu, is fifteen this year, and Changning is six. They're both at home. They'll definitely be happy if you go. Changning loves listening to stories; if you have time, tell her a couple, and she'll be happy for days."

"Old Fan spoils the kids the most." Sister-in-law Fan complained, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face. "Changyu is alright, she's a grown girl now and knows how to help with chores. But Changning is a naughty girl, always running around like a boy."

"..."

"Young master, you said you were cultivating with your master on the mountain. What were you cultivating? Martial arts?"

"Fix a little bit of everything," Su Ning said vaguely.

"Your master must be very skilled, right?"

"Yes, that's impressive."

"More powerful than you?"

Su Ning thought for a moment, "He's much better than me."

"So, where do you plan to go after you come down the mountain?" Sister-in-law Fan asked. "Are you going to stay with any relatives?"

“No,” Su Ning said. “I’m just going to wander around and see what’s going on. My master used to say that it’s better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. I’ve been on the mountain for twenty years, so it’s time for me to come down and see what the world is like.”

"Twenty years?" Sister-in-law Fan's eyes widened. "How old are you this year?"

"twenty two."

"So you started practicing cultivation when you were two years old?" Sister-in-law Fan exclaimed in surprise. "No wonder you're so amazing. My Changyu was still wetting the bed at two years old."

Suning couldn't help but laugh.

At the age of two, he was also peeing and playing in the mud back in his hometown in Shandong. He had no interest in any kind of spiritual practice.

But he couldn't say that, so he could only nod vaguely.

Fan Erniu, who had been listening for a while, couldn't help but chime in, "Young master, if you have nowhere to go, why don't you stay in Lin'an Town? Our town isn't big, but it's not small either, with several hundred households. It has everything: grain shops, cloth shops, restaurants, inns, clinics, private schools—everything you could need. If you don't mind, you can stay at our place until spring!"

“Yes, yes,” Sister-in-law Fan chimed in, “Why are you running around outside all alone in the dead of winter? You’ll freeze to death. Our house may not be big, but there’s still room for you. Changyu and Changning can share a room, and Lao Fan and I can share another. We can even set up a bed in the main room. You can make do with it; it’s better than staying outside.”

"How could I possibly accept this?"

"What's there to be embarrassed about! You're our family's savior."

"This……"

"Besides, you just came down from the mountain, so you must not have a household registration or travel permit, right? I happen to know Chief Constable Wang in town. I'll ask him to get you a household registration and travel permit later, so you can avoid a lot of trouble when you travel."

Su Ning thought for a moment, "Then let's stay for a few days and talk about it after the snow stops."

"Alright, alright!" Sister-in-law Fan clapped her hands happily. "That's a good deal! Don't sneak off in the middle of the night. Let me tell you, although our family isn't rich, we have plenty of food. Old Fan is a butcher, so we never lack meat. Can you eat meat while you're cultivating?"

"can."

"It's good to be able to eat meat!" Sister-in-law Fan smiled from ear to ear. "I'll make you braised pork tomorrow. My braised pork skills are absolutely top-notch. Old Fan's braised pig's head meat is unmatched in the entire Lin'an Town. You'll have to try it sometime, I guarantee you'll want more."

Fan Erniu chuckled twice, said nothing, but cracked the whip of the cart louder than before.

Su Ning leaned against the car, listening to Sister-in-law Fan's rambling on about things in town...

Who got married? Who had a baby? Whose dog killed whose chicken? Whose daughter-in-law argued with her mother-in-law?

They were all trivial matters, but when she told them, they came out so vividly, like a storyteller.

As Su Ning listened, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

The snow was still falling, and the world was covered in a white blanket.

The carriage creaked and groaned as it moved forward, crushing the snow, the wind, and the twilight of the day.

We're almost at Lin'an Town.

Su Ning closed her eyes, feeling the swaying rhythm of the carriage.

The wind blew in through the holes in his cotton-padded coat, chilly, but he felt surprisingly calm.

The system didn't ring, no task came, and I had no idea why I was on this snow-covered mountain road.

But now, sitting in this dilapidated carriage, wrapped in a cotton-padded coat pulled from the bandit leader's body, wearing cotton-padded shoes pulled from the bandit leader's feet, and with a relatively clean snow hat on his head, listening to a talkative woman gossiping about everyday matters, Su Ning actually felt...

Okay.

It's better than being alone in that space-time world.

As the carriage rounded a bend, the outlines of several houses came into view, dark and indistinct in the snow.

Smoke rose from the rooftops, grayish-white in color, and was quickly dispersed by the wind.

The sound of dogs barking drifted over, distant and muffled.

"We're here!" Sister-in-law Fan exclaimed happily. "Young man, look, that's Lin'an Town!"

Su Ning opened her eyes and looked at the blurry outline in front of her.

Snowflakes landed on his eyelashes, feeling cool.

He blinked, trying to shake off the chill.

We've arrived at Lin'an Town.

...(End of this chapter)