This is what a fairy should be like

After entering the village, the woman's home was not far away. After walking about a few hundred steps into the village, the group arrived at a courtyard with two thatched houses.

The weather was already very cold, and it was even more so in this village near the mountains. The north wind blew all the way down, and the woman was shivering with cold when she arrived at her doorstep.

There is a dead tree in front of the house. Paper spirit-calling banners are hung on the frosted branches. They are swaying left and right in the night wind, making it look a little eerie.

"My dear heroes, this is my residence. Come in!"

The woman opened the gate, invited the four men in, then opened the door and went into the house together. At this point, the woman no longer cared about other people's gossip.

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The house was not big, and the interior was made of ordinary rammed earth, with only a straw mat spread next to the table. After Lu Jing entered the room, he saw the oil lamp on the table and subconsciously wanted to take the flint next to it to light the lamp, but was hurriedly stopped by the woman.

"My hero, please don't light the lamp, this night is not peaceful"

"good!"

Lu Jing responded and did not insist. The three people who came in behind and heard the conversation did not have any objections. They sat down on the nearby stools and wooden bars beside the table.

The woman was deeply moved when she saw the three men carefully put down the children they were carrying or hugging and hold them on their legs.

The three children were full when they came back. They felt safe with the other two and were warmed by the blood and body temperature of the other two. They had already fallen asleep.

"Sister-in-law, where does the child sleep?"

"Just put it on the bed in the inner room. I'll go get you some water. It's inconvenient to light a fire right now, so just make do with it."

"Oh, okay!"

The woman bowed to the four men, then walked out of the house and went to the kitchen, as if she didn't care at all that there were four outsiders in her house.

Lu Jing and others first put the child on the bed in the inner room, took off his shoes and pulled up the quilt, and then came out one after another.

It would be most appropriate to describe this room as bare and empty, which was considered quite poor even among ordinary people's homes. The four men sat around a square table, talking in low voices while waiting for the girl to come back.

"There's something strange about this village. Could it be the monster that Master is looking for?" "It's hard to say!"

"Hush"

The woman outside came in carrying a clay pot and a stack of bowls. She first closed the door, then put the clay bowls on the table and poured water for the four people one by one.

"My four heroes, I have nothing to offer you, just some cold water that has been boiled during the day."

After pouring the water, the woman handed the bowl of water to each person one by one, and the four of them thanked her after taking the bowl of water.

Afterwards, the woman put down the pottery jar and sat at the table. After the four of them finished drinking the water, the scene was silent for a while.

Yang Tianlei looked at Lu Cheng. Normally, he was the talkative one, but at this moment, Lu Cheng was unable to speak. Finally, it was Lu Jing who asked.

"I wonder what plans sister-in-law has for the future?"

"I am a woman, what else can I plan? I just want to survive. I will send my three children to Shanglu City to see if there are any rich families who will take them in as slaves. It is better than starving to death with me."

At the grave in the mountains, the four men already knew the woman's situation. Her husband had died of illness, and they had spent all their family's money but were unable to save him. Now she had suddenly lost hope in life.

While the woman was speaking, she was actually observing the reactions of the four people. Although it was dim, she could still see a little bit. She seemed to have thought of something, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and forced a smile to face the four people.

"Please forgive me, my family is limited by our conditions. We don't have any extra guest rooms, let alone extra bedding. I can only give you one quilt. As for the beds."

"Oh, sister-in-law, don't bother, I'll be fine waiting here!" "Yes, yes, don't bother, when we are in the mountains, it will be nice to have a flat place to sleep!"

"That's right, that's right. We can just do it on the floor of the living room. We have straw mats here. It's much better than in the mountains. There's also a house to keep out the wind and rain!"

"We don't need blankets either. We warriors have hot bodies. If we cover ourselves with blankets, we'll sweat and won't be able to sleep!"

The four of them explained repeatedly, mainly because they had just seen in the house that there were only two quilts on a bunk bed made of mud and stones, which was not enough for four adults and children.

As they were talking, someone took out some silver from his bag and put it on the table.

"We will pay for the night, please accept it, sister-in-law."

The woman covered her mouth slightly, then stood up, stepped back a few steps, and knelt down facing the four people in front of the table.

"I know that the four heroes are good people. Can you take the three children away? I'll be willing to work like a slave for them."

"No way!" "Please get up quickly."

Lu Jing and others were shocked and rushed over to support her. They no longer cared about the taboos between men and women and lifted the woman up. But she wanted to kneel down again, so they could only support her.

"No, sister-in-law!" "We are people of the martial arts world, and we have important things to do. How can we carry this burden with us? Uh, that's not what I meant."

"Sister-in-law, please don't do this."

The woman struggled to get free but couldn't. She went from crying silently to sobbing, and the man holding her couldn't help but let go of his hand. Then the woman collapsed to the ground.

It was not right for the four of them to offer their help, nor was it right for them not to offer their help. If there were outsiders present who were unaware of the situation, they would have thought that it was a robber bullying a decent woman.

After a moment, the woman stood up, bowed to the four men, and without saying anything else, she wiped her tears and went into the inner room, leaving the four men outside at a loss.

"well"

After a long time, Lu Jing finally sighed, followed by the other three sighs, some lightly and some heavily.

"This is a hell of a world."

The reason for this sigh is that the few people who travel the world know how difficult the world is today, and the situation of this family is by no means an isolated case.

In comparison, although Wuling County had been plagued by monsters for a while and bandits would occasionally appear, it could still be considered a paradise.

"What now?"

He Yuchen asked again. He had asked this question several times today. The people around him were a little helpless and knew what he was asking.

"You can't really take the child with you, can you?" "But if you make the child a slave, there will be no turning back!"

This is not hiring a domestic slave in the general sense. Children like this one are really selling themselves into slavery. Once they are put into slavery, it is very difficult to get out.

However, the four of them didn't have a good solution.

"How about raising some money to buy him some land?"

"The money should be enough, but they are an orphan and a widow, can they keep it? There are always gossips about widows. Look at the neighbors here, no one went to call them home when it got dark, it seems that they are not kind-hearted."

The relationship between neighbors is sometimes very realistic.

There was silence again.

No mistake, just one song, one post, one content, one look!

"How about helping him find a reliable woman to marry? I think she's not too old."

As soon as Lu Cheng said this, the other three people all looked at him.

"I think what you said is the most unreliable. We are strangers in this place and you are acting as matchmakers?" "Who should I marry again? For you?"

"No, no, I have to marry a virgin girl in the future. I mean, find a suitable one, a suitable one. Isn't this a common thing?"

"We can't stay here for long!"

"Yeah, and she remarried with three kids? Four more mouths to feed? She was probably sold again!"

The woman who entered the inner room did not actually rest either. She sat by the bed, looking at her sleeping child, while listening to the noises outside.

The whispered conversation between the four martial artists was clearly audible in such a quiet night, but the woman seemed to have become numb and had no reaction to those unintentional hurtful words.

At this time, the woman's body trembled slightly because she felt someone holding her hand.

"Mom, I don't want to be sold. I don't want to be sold. I can help you with work, a lot of work."

It was the oldest girl, about ten years old. She had woken up at some point and couldn't help but hold her mother's hand tightly. Her little face in the dim light was filled with fear.

The four men outside immediately fell silent. They had also heard the noise inside and each of them sat there frowning.

Outside the thatched hut, a Confucian scholar with a wooden sword behind his back had been standing outside the courtyard for a while. It was Zhuang Lin who had returned from heaven.

At this moment, looking at the desolate courtyard, looking at the soul-calling flags fluttering in the north wind, and listening to the noises in the hall and the inner room, even Zhuang Lin couldn't help but sigh.

After this sigh, the dark clouds in the sky shifted, and the moon gradually appeared. The moonlight shone in front of the house, seeming to dispel some of the accumulated grayness, and also revealed the quinoa stalks with dead leaves, which is a kind of life-saving vegetation for the poor when they are helpless.

Even though Zhuang Lin had seen poverty and had a certain understanding of the background of this era, and even learned about more difficult times from the Internet and books, he was essentially a person who grew up in a relatively comfortable environment.

Seeing people struggling at the bottom of society, especially after seeing Yin Kuangzhi and his friends taking a boat trip not long ago, Zhuang Lin was deeply touched!

It can be said that the luck is declining and gradually entering a state of desolation.

"The frosty branches are broken by the north wind, the moonlight is moving in the cold anvil in the thatched house, the child cries with a hoarse throat, the rice is gone and the weak quinoa is cooked in the firewood door"

The sound of poetry entered the room, and the four people who were feeling depressed in the hall suddenly became spirited.

"Master!" "The Master is here!"

"Open the door!"

The four of them stood up one after another and rushed to the door of the living room. They opened the wooden door and looked out. Who else could it be but the Master standing outside the gate?

"Master!" "Master, you are here!"

The four of them came out of the house one after another and arrived at the gate of the courtyard. The woman in the inner room also heard the noise and came out involuntarily. She leaned against the door of the hall and looked outside. When she saw the plain-clothed figure bathed in the moonlight, she looked like a person from another world.

Zhuang Lin nodded slightly to the four people in front of him, and then bowed to the woman in front of the door.

“Excuse me!”

A clear and peaceful voice came, and the woman woke up as if from a dream.

"This, this is the Master that the heroes are talking about, please come in."

Zhuang Lin nodded again, and followed the excited Lu Jing and the other three into the yard and then into the hall. The woman seemed to want to clean the house, but was stopped by Zhuang Lin again.

"You don't have to do this, sister-in-law. It's getting late. You should go and get some rest!"

"Well, please make yourselves at ease."

The woman felt embarrassed in front of this Confucian gentleman and did not stay any longer.

Zhuang Lin looked towards the inner room again. A little girl was secretly looking outside. When she saw her mother coming back, she hid back.

"Master, the situation of this family"

Hearing Lu Jing's words, Zhuang Lin withdrew his gaze and smiled.

"Zhuang can't save everyone in the world, but saving this family shouldn't be a problem!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhuang Lin's heart moved slightly. He turned back to look at the direction of the inner room. The luck of this family has begun to brighten.