"Yongning Town, what? What is that place?"
“A place where the folk customs are simple and hospitable. Believe me, once you have been there, you will never forget it :)”
Recalling the conversation with the mysterious "Puppeteer" at the monster guild gathering in my mind, I saw an illusory scene floating in the sky, like a deep and mysterious whirlpool of stars. When Xie Huaying's feet landed on the ground, she was already standing on the ground. The gate of a small town.
Xie Huaying raised her head in surprise, looked at the town shrouded in the hot sun, and murmured.
The coordinates and the one-time teleportation rune left to her by the "puppet master" are really extraordinary, even though in order to trade this coordinate from the other party, almost all the funds she owned except the Dinghua Group shares were taken away. No matter how you look at it, it's worth it in exchange for a precious opportunity to gain extraordinary power.
Sure enough, it is good to have a good relationship with the referrer!
Secretly praising her wit in her heart, Xie Huaying looked at the small town in front of her that was shrouded in the sunshine, and a smile appeared on her face.
As long as she thinks of the plan in her heart, which will cause the entire business to be confused because of her, and make Shang Han feel heartache, she will feel the pleasure of revenge in her heart. This is the fundamental reason why a pampered young lady like Xie Huaying can barely bear her temper and is so eager to pursue extraordinary power.
"—Yongning Town, here I come!"
·
Perhaps? Because it was still early in the morning, and there were not many people on the street. When Xie Huaying stepped into this small town, she could only see neat rows of houses on both sides of the street, and a few sporadic ones. Stores that are open.
And the most eye-catching nature is the towering church in the center. Even if you look up from a long distance, you can see the steeple of the church standing out of a large building. It stands in the morning light and shines through. Out of the sacred air.
This made Xie Huaying's sense of anticipation even stronger. A place like a church is always reminiscent of mystery, could it be... the clues to the extraordinary power are there
After thinking about it, she quietly walked to an open grocery store by the side of the road, reached out and patted the counter: "Is anyone there?"
This grocery store is extremely cramped, and because of the backlight, the store is dim. On the two rows of containers against the wall, many goods are piled up in a disorderly manner, and the dust and flying insects floating in the air can be vaguely seen.
Xie Huaying patted the counter several times and called out a few more times, but no one came out to respond.
"… no one there?"
A little disappointed, she turned to leave.
At this time, a head suddenly popped out from under the empty counter, and a big lump of messy hair brushed against the back of Xie Huaying's hand. Xie Huaying almost subconsciously withdrew her hand, and made a sound at the same time. scream.
But her hand was grabbed by a hand that stretched out suddenly, and it was buckled on the counter all at once.
This made her screaming even more piercing.
"Little girl, are you looking for me?"
The head opened its mouth to speak? The voice was a little hoarse.
At the same time as he was speaking, that head had been completely drilled out, and the neck and upper body connected to it also protruded from under the counter, leaning forward. Under the messy hair was an old bark-like face. The left eye was cloudy and dim, and the right eye was slightly shimmering. He was looking at Xie Huaying intently, as if he was trying to see her face clearly.
Xie Huaying was still immersed in panic, and she didn't recover, so that the whole person seemed particularly collapsed.
The old man let go of his hand and looked at her strangely.
Xie Huaying withdrew her hand like an electric shock, and forced a smile: "Yes, yes..."
Although her complexion was not good, Xie Huaying did not forget her purpose. She wanted to find someone to inquire about the situation in Yongning Town, first to find a place to live in, and then slowly looking for adventures, so she tried her best to stretch her smile, Said softly: "Is that so? I have traveled from afar. Today is the first time I come to Yongning Town. I want to..."
She only spoke half of what she said, and the old man whose eyes were dull and muddy, and who seemed to have stepped half of his foot into the coffin, seemed to have been injected with a dose of stimulant, and suddenly glowed with the same This? A spirit that doesn't match his age, those? Pairs of half-blind eyes fixed on Xie Huaying.
She finally saw clearly that this was a strange girl she had never seen before, not a little girl she knew in the town.
Then, her eyes almost lit up, as if a miser had seen gold and silver.
"—Are you? A foreigner, a foreigner who just arrived today?" The old man's voice was sharp with excitement.
"Yes? Yes, I'm here..."
Xie Huaying was taken aback by her attitude and hesitated to answer. Before she could say the reason she had made up, the old man had already slapped the counter with a slap.
"Good! Good! Our Yongning Town has always been hospitable and welcomes guests from afar, little girl, you can rest assured to stay here, everyone will treat you well..."
The old man had a bright smile on his face.
Xie Huaying was caught? He laughed a little hairy. Under the strange enthusiasm, he was instinctively defensive, and couldn't help but waved his hands again and again. I don't know? What should I say
"Aunt An said that's right, our Yongning Town is the most hospitable, if you need anything, you can come to us, little girl, don't delay..."
At this time, another voice came from behind, and Xie Huaying turned her head to look, and saw that many people had already appeared at the door of the grocery store, and they were probably attracted by her scream just now. And the one who spoke was an old lady with an old face, clean clothes, and a head of silver-white hair combed neatly.
While talking, the old lady has already skillfully stepped forward to grab Xie Huaying's hand, and asked about her identity in a very natural way in a friendly tone: "little girl, what's your name?" ? What name..."
Xie Huaying wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of that eccentric grocery store owner, so she followed him out without any resistance, and answered the other party's questions with the reasons she made up long ago, with a generous attitude.
When she got out of the grocery store, she realized that there were already many people on the street that was empty before, and the doors of each house were opened, and she could feel one after another curious eyes passing through the door. And the windows cast themselves upon themselves.
In just a few moments, many people gathered around Xie Huaying, all of them were full of smiles and very enthusiastic. Especially the old lady who claimed to be the proprietress of the tailor in the shop.
The other party not only curiously asked Xie Huaying a lot of things, but in the end, they heard that Xie Huaying had just arrived in Yongning Town today and had no place to stay, and even took the initiative to invite Xie Huaying to live at her home.
Hearing what she said? Others rushed to express their willingness to invite Xie Huaying to live in their home temporarily.
Xie Huaying was still hesitating, and the old lady who looked quite temperament said again: "... I have a daughter at home, who is a few years younger than you. She is introverted. I've been bored at home and don't have any playmates on weekdays, if I know that I can meet a new friend, I think she must be very happy."
Saying that, she looked at Xie Huaying with a smile.
Under the expectant eyes of the other party, Xie Huaying finally nodded. Compared with the eccentric grocery store owner and the enthusiastic but overly vulgar town residents around, this polite old lady is the person Xie Huaying likes the most.
Seeing that she agreed, the smile on the face of the old lady who claimed to be able to call her "Aunt Zhen" became bigger obviously. The others let out a sigh of undisguised regret.
"???" Xie Huaying asked with a full head.
Until she was taken by Aunt Zhen to her house for a temporary settlement, she could feel the reluctant eyes of those people behind her, and she could also feel that there were always people in the rooms along the way. Looking towards her.
This kind of feeling made Xie Huaying suspect that she was a certain big star who was walking on the red carpet. As she walked forward, countless people saluted her.
Seeing her embarrassed face, Aunt Zhen seemed to have guessed the reason, so she smiled apologetically: "Xiao Xie, they are just so surprised. Don't take it to heart."
"Our Yongning Town is too remote. If we want to come to the town, we have to go through the dangerous wilderness. Outsiders rarely come, and local residents dare not go out... In fact, we have not seen outsiders for a long, long time. , so everyone is inevitably too enthusiastic. Thank you, please don't mind!" Aunt Zhen explained in a gentle and peaceful voice, "It's rare to meet a foreigner like you, everyone? Share the enthusiasm accumulated over the years The brain poured out, didn't scare you, did it?"
Hearing what she said, Xie Huaying finally realized.
"So it's like this..." Before, she really felt that these people's attitudes were weird and abnormal, but now she understood the reason, and she couldn't help but suddenly realized and nodded, and a thought quietly emerged in her heart.
...never met a stranger before, so seeing herself is overly enthusiastic... so she can
Thinking about it this way, the subtle embarrassment and discomfort in Xie Huaying's heart, the faint uneasiness that she hadn't even noticed, melted away like ice and snow.
Suddenly her eyes flickered.
…
In the tailor shop at the east end of the town, Xie Huaying met Aunt Zhen's husband. The old man looked three points older than he really was, and his clothes and hair were also well-groomed, like a decent man.
"Rose, there's a guest at home!" There is a wooden staircase in the tailor's shop, leading faintly to the attic on the second floor. Aunt Zhen yelled towards the staircase, emphatically, "It's a lady from a foreign country. My big sister."
thump, thump, thump...
A burst of hurried footsteps sounded, and in Xie Huaying's curious eyes, a girl who looked twelve or thirteen years old and wore a little white dress seemed to float down the stairs and suddenly appeared in front of her.
The girl's bright eyes were fixed on Xie Huaying's body, with curiosity, inquiry, and thought: "That's her?"
This is a good-looking girl with bright and big eyes and flushed cheeks, full of vigor and vitality at this age. But I don't know why, under the gaze of this girl, Xie Huaying couldn't help but feel an indescribable strange feeling in her heart.
Before she could figure out what that feeling was, the girl in front of her tilted her head, stretched out a hand to her, and spread her palm upwards.
She stood in the shadow of the stairs, her white skirt fluctuated in the wind because of the intense running just now, but there was a sweet smile on her face.
"Hi, I'm? Rose."