The group of eight people, including the little girl on horseback, looked at each other in bewilderment when they saw this situation.
It was obvious to everyone that there were not many people living in this village, and the person who lit the fire was just a passerby.
"Alas! It's still a deserted village..."
"He's alone. Isn't he afraid of taking this path?"
"Maybe there are companions in there." "It doesn't look like there are any..."
When the few people saw that Ji Yuan was alone, they talked to each other for a while. One of the young and strong men in the lead said to the man with white stubble next to him.
"Uncle, I've looked around. There aren't any good houses nearby. The mansion that guy lives in is the only one that's relatively intact. There's a well in front of the house. Should we go over and talk to him..."
The second uncle mentioned by the man frowned and looked in the direction where Ji Yuan was. They were still about ten feet away from that side. At this time when the sky was getting dark, in a creepy deserted village, the other person looked at them without any fear.
"I think we should find another place to rest. It's better for us to avoid provoking someone who dares to travel alone and live in such a deserted village."
After hearing what the man said, the people nearby looked at each other and had no objections. They led their horses to a location to the side. After all, the village was not small, and although it was deserted, they should still be able to find a suitable place.
Ji Yuan stood at the door, opened it a little wider, and looked at these people who seemed to have no intention of coming over.
"Boom..."
The thunder rumbled again. Ji Yuan looked up at the sky, sniffed the mist, and put the words he was about to say in his heart.
“Hua La La…”
The rain started falling as soon as it started. Although it wasn't as heavy as a downpour, it was definitely not a drizzle either.
"Oh no! Hurry up! Go over there to hide from the rain! Go over there to hide from the rain! You'll catch a cold if you get wet!"
"Hurry, run to the fire!" "Lead the horse, lead the horse."
At the moment, the team was in a very awkward position. The houses around a village path were all dilapidated and could not even accommodate two people. What's more, they had horses. Looking for a house in the rain was definitely a bad idea. They could only run to the spacious mansion where Ji Yuan was.
The first ones were the second master and the burly man. Before they even got close to the big house, they shouted towards Ji Yuan over there.
"My friend, it's raining heavily. Can you let us squeeze together here to avoid the rain?"
"Can you please give me some convenience?"
Ji Yuan showed his sincerity with practical actions. He quickly opened the door and responded loudly.
"Please come in quickly. It's only early spring now. It would be bad if you get wet and fall ill in this wilderness."
"Thank you, thank you very much, friend!"
The second master ran while clasping his hands, and came ahead with a few other men in the lead. The rain was getting heavier, so everyone quickened their pace and hurried into the big house.
After the last horse was brought in, Ji Yuan at the door closed the door a little more. However, in order to avoid making these people nervous, he left a gap about as wide as a fist.
Everyone in the room jumped and moved, clapping their hands up and down, trying to shake off the water drops on their bodies before they seep into their clothes.
After a while, the team had finished packing. At this moment, the rain was pouring down outside. The second master, as the little girl called him, straightened his clothes, approached Ji Yuan who was sitting at the corner of the side door, and bowed.
"Thank you very much for your generous help, sir. I am Han Ming, and these are all my juniors."
Seeing that Ji Yuan was dressed quite elegantly, Han Ming tried to behave more reasonably. Ji Yuan looked at this man who was about fifty years old and bowed in return.
"My last name is Ji. This house is abandoned and ownerless. Anyone can come and rest here. I can't say I'm helping you. You don't have to be polite..."
Having said this, Ji Yuan pointed to the firewood he had collected in the corner.
"The firewood outside is probably all wet. I can't use all of it. You've all been caught in the rain, so you can take some and make a fire inside to warm yourself."
Ji Yuan didn't say anything about sharing a fire. Firstly, his fire was near the corner of the door, so it was spacious for one or two people, but there would not be enough space for more people. Secondly, he had to at least show some vigilance towards strangers. This was not for show, but to make these people feel more at ease.
Sure enough, after hearing Ji Yuan's words, Han Ming did not refute. After bowing again to express his gratitude, he called on another person to help move the firewood. The firewood for starting the fire was naturally taken from Ji Yuan's fire pile.
Soon, a fire was lit inside the big house, and a group of people gathered around it to warm themselves.
Apart from helping them light the fire and fetch firewood at the beginning, Ji Yuan didn't pay much attention to them afterwards. He showed a proper distance and sat alone in the corner of the door, baking pancakes and reading a book.
Facts have proved that Ji Yuan's behavior can make that group of people feel more at ease. He can clearly hear that the laughter over there seems to be a lot of relaxation.
However, Ji Yuan's main attention was not on them. He would basically look outside through the crack in the door after reading for a while, and his eyes seemed to be looking for something through the hazy rain curtain in the dark night.
'What is this strange smell, and why has it gone away?'
Ji Yuan was thinking about this and turned a page of the book in his hand. He smelled a scent again, but this time it was the burnt aroma of a pancake.
"Second Master, that great master is just a show-off. He must be a complete nobody. I just secretly saw that his book is just blank pages without any words on it. He was still flipping through it..."
"Don't talk nonsense, little kid." "I didn't say anything nonsense..."
Although the sound over there was small, it naturally could not escape Ji Yuan's sharp ears.
Ji Yuan pretended not to hear, picked up the wooden stick stuck on the leg of the stool, took out the softened biscuit from it, tore off a piece and put it in his mouth to chew.
"I see you're staring outside. What are you looking at?"
A voice came from the side, Ji Yuan turned around and saw Han Ming walking over wearing a bamboo hat, as if he was about to go out.
"Nothing. This place is desolate. I'm afraid there might be wild animals. So I'm keeping an eye out."
"oh."
Han Ming responded, opened the door, walked to the eaves, and picked up an iron bucket pot that had been placed outside. The rain water in it had already filled the pot.
Although there is a well outside, it is more convenient to use rainwater in this situation.
When Han Ming brought in the pot, he subconsciously looked at the book that Ji Yuan had placed next to the stool. It was now closed, and he couldn't tell whether there were any words inside. However, the place on the blue cover where the title of the book should have been written was indeed blank.
When Han Ming was carrying the pot, closing the door and preparing to go back, Ji Yuan suddenly asked.
"Mr. Han, I have a question that I would like to ask you. Why is this place so deserted all the way here?"
Han Ming winked inside, handed the pot to a man who came over, and then started chatting with Ji Yuan at the door.
"Mr. Ji must have rarely taken this path, right? In the early years of the war with Dazhen, all the men near Nanyuan Road were conscripted into the army, and the yin was more than the yang everywhere. Later, there were some banditry for a long time, and it was rumored that there were some unclean things, so many people from Nanyuan Road went north. But this kind of world... Oh!"
Han Ming also expressed his feelings when he said this.
"I also received a message to pick someone up this time. After walking along Nanyuan Road, I found that the situation here is indeed a bit exaggerated. Mr. Shiji, why are you alone in a place like this? This is very dangerous!"
Ji Yuan swallowed the biscuit he was chewing and looked outside.
"I am not from the Zuyue country. I went north with the intention of traveling and seeing the world."
Not from Zuyue? Going north
Han Ming was stunned for a moment and asked.
"Could it be that you are a Dazhen person?"
Ji Yuan smiled.
"Yes, Ji can indeed be considered a great man."
"Oh... Sir, you are from Dazhen, which is rare. How is it in Dazhen? I heard that except for the princes and nobles, every family is hungry."
Ji Yuan turned and looked at Han Ming.
"Where did you hear that?"
"Well, that's what they say."
Yes, very strong, Ji Yuan thought about it and said it.
"Dazhen is okay, not that bad. The relationship between Zuyue and Dazhen is not harmonious, so it is inevitable..."
His voice suddenly stopped here, Ji Yuan looked outside again and sniffed the smell again.
He didn't smell anything, but he did hear some faint sounds. However, they were too far away even for his hearing, and the heavy rain interfered with the sound, so it seemed like an auditory hallucination.
"Mr. Han, you should all go to bed early tonight. It's best not to go out casually. Ji dares to venture out alone, so he must have some special skills. In my opinion, this place is not peaceful."
"Well, thank you Mr. Ji for the reminder."
Han Ming saw that Ji Yuan didn't want to talk anymore, so he went back to the campfire.
Communication between people is sometimes very peculiar. With some people, even if you have only said a few words to them, you can feel whether the other person is sincere. Obviously, Ji Yuan left a very good impression on Han Ming.
. . .
About seven or eight miles away from the deserted village, two groups of people were fighting in the rainy night.
On one side, more than a dozen people were wearing tight clothes, while on the other side, some were wearing straw raincoats, some were wearing broken helmets and armor, and the weapons in their hands were also a variety of swords, spears, swords and halberds.
The sound of weapons clashing and screams were heard everywhere.
A rider holding a lance was riding back and forth on his horse around the periphery, shouting.
"If you chop off a head, you'll get a whole roasted leg of lamb. If you kill two people, you'll get half a lamb. Brothers, don't let them get away!"
“Go ahead!” “Kill… my mutton!” “Kill…”
“Dang…” “Dang…”
The weapons of three or five bandits were blocked by long sticks, and another strong man attacked with his palms.
“Hahahaha… come and get it if you have a chance, drink!”
A sturdy man wearing a turban roared like thunder and suddenly hit a bandit.
“Bang…” With a loud bang, the opponent was knocked back seven or eight feet, lying on the ground, struggling and unable to stand up.
"Catch the leader first!" "Okay!"
Two strong-armed men coordinated with each other to block the surrounding weapons and rushed towards the riders in the distance. Immediately, several people jumped out to block their way.
One of the gangsters was grabbed by the clothes by the strong man again, and he became a shield for the other party, swinging his hands to block the knives and axes beside him, but there were too many attackers around, and the strong man could not advance any further.
“Ah…” “Yue Rong!”
"Go and help!"
The sharp scream of the woman behind was particularly obvious in the noise, and the other martial artists in tight-fitting clothes who heard the sound gathered towards their companions.
A group of warriors gathered together, fighting and retreating. Everyone was panting, and many of them were injured.
There were a large number of bandits on the periphery, estimated to be around one or two hundred in number, and many of them were riding horses.
"Luckily it was raining, so the enemy's crossbows were less effective. Otherwise, the situation would be even worse!"
As one of them spoke, he snatched the bandit's spear and threw it at a leader rider in the distance, but the other party dodged it. It was obvious that he also had martial arts skills.
"It's not much better now, drink!"
"Dangdang...Puff..."
"Be careful to the left!" "Bang..."
There was endless fighting on this side.
On the other side, many injured bandits were dragged to the rear by their companions, enduring the pain and bandaging each other, but their attention was still on the interior of the siege.
"These people are really tough today!" "Humph, they won't be able to hold out for long."
"Hehehe, those women will be made to suffer soon!"
"It has to be chopped into pieces..."
Many of the wounded were still in a mood to talk.
One of the gangsters had his arm sprained and his leg broken. He had just had his bones straightened and was lying on the ground with a look of pain on his face.
"Huh...huh...huh..."
A strange sound like hoarse gasping came from the side. The injured bandit opened his eyes and turned to look to his left, but suddenly saw a terrifying head. The eyes seemed rotten, the skin was like a dead tree, only the head was exposed, and the body seemed to be buried underground.
The gangster's face suddenly turned pale.
"Yes... uh... uh..."
Before the bandit could even roar in fear, Neb's sharp, yellow, dirty mouth bit into his neck...