After more than two hours of jolting, Lu Zhiyao finally saw the place Shen Xing mentioned. Just as Shen Xing said, the village is rooted on the edge of the mountain, and the houses in the village are also scattered, so if it is If you pass by here without paying attention, you will never realize that this is a village with hundreds of people living in it.
It was getting dark, so Lu Zhiyao couldn't knock on doors door-to-door to ask for help. Parking the carriage in a relatively safe place, Lu Zhiyao took out the dry food and milk he had prepared and fed the two. After the baby's belly was ready, he asked Shen Xing to pick up some branches nearby, lit the fire, hugged Liuli, who was wrapped in a thick quilt, and sat side by side with Shen Xing.
Beside the blazing fire, they didn't feel very cold. Shen Xing looked around, his little face finally showing the novelty and excitement that should belong to his age.
"Zhiyao, are we going to live here in the future?" He turned his head and asked Lu Zhiyao in a low voice.
"Well, I have to stay here for a while. Liuli is still young and can't mess with her anymore."
"Then I can go up the mountain to hunt for you to eat!" Shen Xing said to Lu Zhiyao seriously, which comforted Lu Zhiyao.
Lu Zhiyao talked to Shen Xing in a low voice, and the little man in his arms gradually fell asleep.
Suddenly, Lu Zhiyao felt the sound of people's footsteps approaching, and looked coldly. After a while, a man in black appeared in front of them with several followers.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
The leading man was stunned for a moment when he discovered that the person here was a young woman with two children, and then loudly questioned Lu Zhiyao.
Lu Zhiyao looked at the man who was talking to her. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and he was very confident in his speech. Although the fabric of his clothes was not of the best quality, it was reasonable and should be considered good in a place like this. .
Lu Zhiyao frowned, then stood up slowly, and replied softly: "I have no home, and I took my brother and daughter to live here. It's getting late, so I can't go into the village to disturb them, so I have to spend the night here." , I don’t want to, but I still bothered you.”
As soon as Lu Zhiyao finished speaking, the men did not show any surprise. On the contrary, their eyes turned pitiful.
Qingming Country is a country that advocates martial arts. A woman can practice martial arts and her martial arts level will determine her future status. This is what Lu Zhiyao learned when he and Lin Yinan came here last time. And it is nothing for a woman to be divorced. It was a strange thing, so Lu Zhiyao said it deliberately and let them think about it as they pleased.
"Nonsense!" The man in black scolded Lu Zhiyao loudly, "Don't you know where this place is?"
He winked, and the followers around him immediately put out the fire raised by Lu Zhiyao.
Lu Zhiyao glared at him slightly angrily, but received a stronger glare in return.
"You are clearly putting yourself in the tiger's mouth! You don't know anything and you still dare to lead your child around. It's really outrageous!"
Lu Zhiyao was scolded for no reason, but fortunately, the man in black finally relented after training and took them back to his residence, so Lu Zhiyao stopped arguing with him.
The man's home is not small, and it can be seen that it is the richest in this area. Why he was attracted to his fire, Lu Zhiyao didn't know. He could find a shelter for his two children. It was already good to sleep. Lu Zhiyao sat on the chair and waited for Shen Xing to fall asleep before putting on a coat and lying on the table. He remained vigilant and stayed up until dawn, half asleep and half awake.
Lu Zhiyao walked out of the room and happened to bump into the man in black from last night. He had already changed out of the black clothes. When he saw Lu Zhiyao, there was still a bit of arrogance and disdain in his eyes. With a cold snort, he Asked: "Didn't you sleep well?"
Lu Zhiyao saw the hostility in the other party's eyes and was a little curious. If he couldn't stand him, why did he bring them back last night?
"Slept well, thank you for your concern."
"Hmph, you don't know anything and you still dare to wander around at night. It's true that stupid people are lucky. If you are rescued by me, you will be lucky."
Lu Zhiyao looked at the man's arrogant expression with a slight smile and asked, "I still don't know what to call my savior?"
"Gu Yuan." The man heard someone calling him outside and left in a hurry. He told Lu Zhiyao to have a good rest and talk to him when he came back.
Lu Zhiyao saw something wrong with his face when he left. He wanted to follow him to find out what was going on, but then he thought that he had just arrived here and planned to stay for a long time, so it was better to do less than to do more. Waiting and seeing what happens was the best choice. .
Shen Xing woke up soon. Liuli was still young and her schedule was uncertain. She might wake up or fall asleep, so Lu Zhiyao could only stay by her side.
Something big happened in the village. It was Shen Xing who told Lu Zhiyao after he ran out and came back.
"Zhiyao! It's not good!" Shen Xing opened the door out of breath, ran to Lu Zhiyao, and whispered in a panic: "Someone was killed!"
"Killed?" Lu Zhiyao remembered Gu Yuan's strange look when he left, stood up and said to Shen Xing, "You stay here with Liuli, I'll go out and take a look."
Something like this happened to her just after she arrived. She didn't know if it would affect her plan to live here permanently, so Lu Zhiyao decided to quietly take a look at what was going on.
But when Lu Zhiyao found the villagers, including Gu Yuan, and understood the reasons for people's deaths, she realized that things were not at all what she thought.
That man was bitten to death by wild beasts, and at this time there was only a pile of white bones left on his body, which had been eaten away.
Lu Zhiyuan felt a little uncomfortable when she saw the scene from a distance. She was also glad that Shen Xing hurried back to tell her without figuring out what happened. Otherwise, if a child saw such a scene, he would definitely have nightmares in the future.
Lu Zhiyao returned to Gu Yuan's home and waited for half an hour before seeing Gu Yuan come back with a sullen face.
Lu Zhiyao stopped him and asked straight to the point: "I heard that someone died in the village? What's going on?"
"How did you know?" Gu Yuan looked at her doubtfully, "Did you see it?"
Lu Zhiyao shook his head and replied: "My brother Tanwan ran out. I don't know who he heard from, so he came back and told me. Now he is hiding in the room and dare not come out."
Gu Yuan didn't think much when he heard what Lu Zhiyao said. He sighed and said, "Follow me."
Gu Yuan took Lu Zhiyao into a room and asked her when she planned to leave and where she wanted to go. After hearing Lu Zhiyao say that she wanted to live here for a few months, Gu Yuan was silent for a moment and whispered. : "This is not a place for you to live."
"Why?" Lu Zhiyao asked in confusion: "We won't stay here to disturb you forever. I still have some money with me. Is there an unoccupied house in the village that we can borrow for a while?"
"That's not the problem." Gu Yuan frowned and looked at Lu Zhiyao, who wanted to use money to solve the problem, and told her the truth.
Just as Lu Zhiyao thought when he saw it, the man was indeed bitten to death by a wild beast. Wild beasts in the mountains often appear in this area, bite people to death and eat them. This kind of thing has happened in several villages near the mountains.
It has happened in Zhongdu. But the last time someone died here because of those beasts was a year ago. Almost twenty people died that time, which made the residents of the village very scared. Recently, it was discovered that there were
Only when there are traces of wild beasts will they send people to patrol the edges of the village day and night. This is why Gu Yuan discovered Lu Zhiyao and others last night.
Lu Zhiyao didn't speak for a while after listening to Gu Yuan's words. At this time, she should behave like an ordinary woman and feel scared.
"What kind of beast... can be so ferocious? Has no one ever gone into the mountains to hunt it?"
Gu Yuan laughed at Lu Zhiyao's question, "It would be nice if things were as simple as you said. No one has ever seen what that animal looks like. They just heard that it seems to be white. And those who have gone into the mountains to look for it
No one came back alive. There are many mountains nearby, all connected together. Walking along these mountains, you can even pass two or three towns. What is inside the mountains and what is on the other side of the mountains?
People know it, so it’s not that easy to catch those elusive beasts. That’s why I said it’s not safe for you to live here with your two children.”
"But I have nowhere else to go." Lu Zhiyao slowly lowered his head and said pitifully: "My daughter and brother are still young. If we encounter that beast while on the road, then we..."
Facts have proved that although Gu Yuan is fierce and has a loud voice when talking to people, he is really a good person. Even Lu Zhiyao felt sour because of his hypocrisy, but those few tears she squeezed out,
But it really made Gu Yuan relent and agreed to let her live in his home.
"Isn't this inappropriate?" Lu Zhiyao wiped away his hard-earned tears, looked at Gu Yuan and said, "I am an outsider living here with my children..."
"I'm not married yet, there's no one else at home, and I don't often stay at home, so there's nothing wrong with it. Just stay here."
Gu Yuan was very free and easy, and told Lu Zhiyao to stay. Lu Zhiyao refuted him several times and refused. In the end, Lu Zhiyao had to say that he would give him money to thank him.
From some of Gu Yuan's words, Lu Zhiyao could tell that he was a businessman and had his business in a town not far from here, so he didn't come back to live here often. This time, he came back also because of the beast.
. And Lu Zhiyao likes to deal with businessmen. For profiteers like Chu Ziqian, as long as the price is negotiated, he will do whatever he is asked to do.
"Are you rich?" Gu Yuan smiled sarcastically after hearing Lu Zhiyao's words and asked her, "How much wealth can a woman who is unwanted by a man have?"
Lu Zhiyao had good intentions, but he was ridiculed like this. Gritting his teeth and looking at Gu Yuan's leaving figure, Lu Zhiyao took a deep breath and decided that even if he wanted to get money from him in the future, there would be no way.
