"Thank you, Samurai-sama! Thank you very, very much!"
A middle-aged woman kept thanking Ogata.
This middle-aged woman is Yoshiro's wife.
Yoshiro's family is an ordinary family of three, with an ordinary wife and an ordinary daughter.
His daughter looked about 14 or 5 years old. She and her mother were supporting Yoshiro and looked at Ogata with gratitude.
"Thank you very much, Samurai-sama." With the support of his wife and daughter, Yoshiro bowed deeply towards Ogata.
It is not without reason that Yoshiro and the other three are so grateful to Ogata.
Yoshiro injured his foot and was unable to return to the village on his own strength.
If no one helps him, he will have to stay in the cold snow.
Staying in such icy snow for too long, especially at night, can easily lead to death.
After Yoshiro thanked Ogata, a hint of apology flashed in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Samurai-sama." Yoshiro said in a cautious tone, "Our family is very poor and we really can't give you anything to reward you. If you don't mind, we still have a few sweet potatoes at home..."
Before Yoshiro finished speaking, Oubon waved his hand and interrupted first:
"There's no need for a thank you gift or anything like that. I didn't send you back to the village just to get a thank you gift."
However - as soon as Ogata finished speaking, Yoshiro said urgently to him:
"Master Samurai! If you don't want to thank me, we will feel very sorry!"
After hearing Yoshiro's words, Ogata pondered for a while.
"Then let's do this."
Ogata smiled at Yoshiro.
"It's almost noon now, and I happen to be hungry."
"Just tell me if there is a store selling food nearby."
"Tell me where the shop is - consider this a thank you gift from you."
"Ah, of course there is no problem!" Yoshiro raised his hand and pointed to the north, "Samurai-sama, as long as you keep walking in this direction, after you leave the village, you can touch the sword and find a tea house."
"That tea house not only sells tea, but also snacks like glutinous rice dumplings!"
"I can't thank you enough." Ogata smiled at Yoshiro and bowed lightly, "Your thank you gift - I received it."
"Then - farewell, Yoshiro. Let's meet again in the future."
After saying that, Ogata turned around and wanted to leave.
"Master Samurai, at least tell me your name! I don't know your benefactor's name yet?"
"Benefactor...that's too exaggerated...I just did some trivial things. As for the name..."
A helpless smile appeared on Ogata's face.
"I think it's better for you not to know my name..."
Having said that, Ogata didn't stop any longer and left directly in front of Yoshiro and others.
Seeing that Ogata refused to tell them his name, Yoshiro, his wife, and daughter looked at each other with doubts on their faces.
Seeing that Ogata was unwilling to tell his name, Yoshiro and the others did not dare to force it.
The three people bowed deeply to Ogata's back.
It wasn't until Ogata completely disappeared from their sight that the three of them straightened up.
When walking out of Sihe Village, Ogata had been quietly looking at every house in Sihe Village and all the people who passed by him.
The first impression that Sihe Village left on Ogata? It was also the only impression - broken.
Every corner of Sihe Village exudes a shabby atmosphere.
Every house is dilapidated and old.
The villagers who passed by Ogata all had expressions on their faces, and their mental condition was not generally bad.
In a word - the air in Sihe Village is filled with the smell of poverty.
"It seems..."
Ogata muttered at a volume that only he could hear clearly.
"The Negishi family's oppression of the people here is really great..."
…
…
Ogata found the direction Yoshiro pointed just now and walked straight forward.
The road is still quite difficult to walk.
The road is quite narrow, barely enough for two people to walk side by side.
As he walked along this narrow road, Ogata suddenly discovered that five people were suddenly walking in front of him.
The attire of these five people is quite strange.
Without a sword, you are not a samurai.
In terms of temperament, he doesn’t look like a farmer or a town dweller living in a city.
Their appearance? And the way they walked, gave Ogata the feeling of being flowing...
However, Ogata didn't pay much attention to the five people walking towards him.
Because the road was narrow, Ogata tried his best to walk on the edge of the road, intending to pass these five people.
Just when Ogata was about to pass by these five people, Ogata didn't notice: a meaningful snicker appeared on the face of the leader of these five people, an ugly young man with a horse face.
Bang.
When Ogata was about to pass by these five people, Ogata's left half of his body collided with Ma Feng's right half, neither light nor heavy.
After the dull sound of physical collision, the horse immediately turned its head and said to Ogata apologetically:
"Samurai-sama, I'm sorry!"
"It's okay." Ogata said while gently rubbing his left shoulder.
Is the road very narrow? It is normal to accidentally bump into it, so Ogata didn't pay attention to such ordinary and trivial things.
After saying "It's okay", Obanon ignored the five people and continued to walk forward, looking for the teahouse that Yoshiro pointed to.
…
…
After walking out of this narrow path, Ogata felt suddenly enlightened.
Beyond this path is an empty snowfield.
Not far ahead, Ogata saw a wooden house with thin smoke coming out.
There is a large flag hanging on top of the wooden house, with a big Chinese character "tea" written on it.
"arrive……"
Ogata muttered excitedly and quickened his pace.
Arriving in front of this teahouse, Omoto smelled the alluring aroma of tea and food.
This tea house was built on the outskirts of the country and seemed to be specially designed to provide services to ronin like Ogata and merchants who traveled around.
Ogata looked inside and saw only a middle-aged man busy inside.
Apparently, this middle-aged man is the owner of this teahouse.
"Shopkeeper!" Ogata shouted loudly.
The shopkeeper who heard Ogata's voice followed the sound and looked at Ogata.
"Do you have glutinous rice dumplings here?"
"Yes!" the shopkeeper said cheerfully, "I have as many glutinous rice dumplings as you want!"
"Okay, bring me 5 skewers of glutinous rice dumplings first!"