Village 001

  In the late afternoon, the quiet streets suddenly became lively. People who went out to work began to carry their tools back home, and those who knew each other would chat happily for a couple of sentences. In the small village ahead, wisps of smoke also started rising slowly, forming white clouds that drifted into the high sky.

  Just at this quiet and peaceful moment, a horseshoe sound suddenly came from afar. Several people who sensed the movement were stunned for a moment, then turned their heads to look back, and immediately changed their faces, frantically running towards the village while shouting loudly: "Bandits are coming, bandits are coming..."

  This sudden and loud noise broke the tranquility of the village, and in an instant, many people ran out of the village, including old men, young adults, women, and children... They all looked at the direction of the village entrance with terror, some even dragged their family members to flee in another direction, while others trembled with fear, and some locked their doors as if they wanted to shut everything outside.

  But they underestimated the madness of the bandits, who rode into the village on horseback and went on a wild killing spree, cutting down anyone they saw.

  Soon, blood stained the streets red.

  Among the thieves, the leader, a burly man with a ferocious and crazy face, held up his large knife and shouted fiercely: "Brothers, kill...!" It seemed that he came here just for the sake of killing, unreasonable killing!

  The villagers were frightened by the sight of such crazy thieves, and they started to climb over the wall and run away. However, those thieves seemed to have gone mad, riding high-headed horses, chasing after them, and then slashing with their knives. The bright red blood flowers were a beautiful color, but against the thieves' smiles, it turned into the color of hell.

  On the small road, villagers were running around in a mess, crying and shouting non-stop. Some were purely frightened, while others worried about their children, like a young woman who hugged her little son tightly and ran to the front desperately. Seeing this, you would hardly believe that such a seemingly weak woman could run faster than those strong men.

  But their running didn't last long, as the sound of horseshoes came from behind. The horseshoe sound made them run even more frantically, but no matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun the tall horses. So they were caught up, and you see that white blade flashing with a curved light, bursting out with blood flowers, and in an instant, a life was laid there, and the crimson blood began to stain the earth.

  "Don't..."

  "Please, everyone, just bypass us..."

  Cries and wails of mercy intertwined, forming a heart-wrenching sound that seemed so weak and powerless amidst the thieves' maniacal laughter.

  A flash of knife light, a splash of blood on the child's face, he widened his eyes, as if he didn't dare to believe. With a crash, his mother fell to the ground, and he also fell there, just right, he was pressed under his mother, and the thief seemed to have not noticed him, just walked past, chasing after the people in front of him, continuing to slaughter.

  Under his mother's body, the little boy seemed to have forgotten everything around him. His wide eyes stared blankly at the wound on his mother's neck. That one streak of dark red color seemed to be reflected in his heart.

  "Beast!"

  A loud shout rose from the front, this loud shout stopped the crazy laughter of the thieves and also stopped the crying voices, only a faint sobbing sound continued.

  Suddenly, the thudding footsteps came from ahead. The footsteps were very loud, making it hard to believe they were human footsteps.

  The loud shout brought the young boy back to his senses, and he naturally looked forward. There, a man in his thirties or forties with a large head, a wispy mustache, and a comical appearance walked towards him carrying a medicine basket. When he saw the corpses all over the ground, a flash of anger crossed his face. Next, under the boy's shocked gaze, he took a light step forward, but this step made him leap into the sky, landing among the bandits. Then, in what seemed like an instant, those bandits flew out one by one and fell to the ground, making no sound.

  "What... is this?" The young child said something that surprised people, then fainted and fell to the ground. The child's voice attracted the big man, who looked at the child with a hint of surprise, walked over, and saw the child lying on the ground unconscious.

  The big man slightly furrowed his brow, picked up the little child and walked to those who were still alive, asking: "Does this little one still have any relatives?"

  “N-no...” an old man stuttered, seemingly still shaken by the fear that had just gripped him. The big man's brow furrowed again at this, and then he heard the sound of horse hooves from behind. This sound only made the big man angrier, his eyes flashing as he turned around.

  "Hmph, just what I needed to get rid of this annoyance..." Seeing that the newcomer was a bandit, the big man tossed the little boy into the medicine cart behind him and took a large stride forward, standing in front of the bandit. When one of the bandits swung his sword at him, the big man didn't dodge or evade; he simply stretched out his left hand and grabbed the bandit's sword, then slapped the horse's head with his right palm. This slap seemed to have little force behind it, but it stopped the galloping horse in its tracks, sending the rider flying off.

  Then he swiftly moved like a leopard among several big horses, and those bandits were all knocked off their horses by him, lying on the ground with unknown life or death.

  The Great Han smiled slightly and then walked away with big strides. Behind him, the villagers looked at the bandit's body, their eyes turning red one by one. Suddenly, a man stood up, picked up the long knife beside him, and chopped the bandit's corpse with a crazy face while shouting loudly. Others saw this and immediately joined in chopping the corpse to vent their hatred.

  For these, the big man was not paying attention, and he didn't see them either. Looking ahead, the big man's speed was very fast, and in a short while, he had walked out of thousands of meters and arrived at a mountain valley. In the valley, there was a simple thatched hut, and the yard of the thatched hut was filled with shelves, on which various medicinal materials were laid out to dry. Seeing these, and thinking back to the medicine basket on the big man's back, it could be known that this big man was a doctor.

  "Madam, I'm back!" The man shouted loudly outside the door, then carried a small child from behind and walked in. At this time, a woman came out of the thatched cottage. She was very tall, at least one head taller than the man, and extremely thin, looking like a bamboo pole. But what you can't imagine is that such a frail woman has a rough temperament. As soon as she saw the man, she shouted loudly: "You damned ghost, why are you back so late? Don't you know that I don't know how to cook?"

  The man heard this, and a smile immediately appeared on his face. He carefully said: "Madam, this time it was an accident. When I came back, I saw that Zhaojia Village had been robbed by thieves, so I lent them a hand. Look at this child, he is from that village..."

  The woman nodded upon hearing this, but as soon as she saw the child, her expression changed and she said: "You bastard, you say, is this kid born outside of our marriage? Look at him, he even has a mole just like yours..."

  "Madam, this is a miscarriage of justice...!" The man was startled and immediately explained: "Madam, you know I just came back recently, how could I have had a child with someone else? And look at the child, he's so well-behaved, what does he resemble me in? I think the child looks more like you, Madam. Why don't you just take him in as your own?"

  "You're right!" The woman was delighted to hear that she looked good, and then carefully examined the child in his arms. The child was very cute, especially with a chubby face that made people want to pinch it. However, the blood on the child's clothes made one frown. "Damn, this kid's parents are both dead..."

  The short man nodded immediately and said, "Yes, at that time I saw him pitifully, so I brought him back. Madam, since we don't have children of our own, it's just right to adopt him. What do you think?"

  "You're right, this kid is really good-looking. When he grows up, he'll definitely inherit my looks and become a beauty just like me!" The woman seemed delighted, she dodged the child and hugged him in her arms, but her words were truly embarrassing, as if she had completely forgotten that the child in her arms was a boy.

  The child felt uncomfortable in the thin, bony arms of the woman and woke up. At first glance, he saw two extreme things, which scared him so much that he shouted out loud, if not in the woman's arms, he would have jumped up.

  The child's cry also let the man and woman know that he was awake. Immediately, both of them had a smile on their faces and said: "Little friend, what are you crying about?"

  "What's wrong?" The child was slightly stunned, then widened his eyes and looked around in horror. The man saw his expression and knew he had remembered what happened earlier, sighed and said: "Child, your mother is already dead, don't be sad!"

  He's dead!

  Listening to Hanzi's words, the little boy's bright eyes dimmed in an instant, and tears began to flow down his chubby cheeks. What had just happened was like a dream, but now he woke up, everything was real, he couldn't accept it, really couldn't accept it.

  "Wow......" The child suddenly burst into loud wailing, burying his face in the woman's bosom, his eyes overflowing with tears like water without end, instantly soaking her collar.

  The child's sudden crying startled the two, but soon the woman gently patted the child's back and softly comforted: "Good boy, cry, cry, it's okay once you've cried!"

  She didn't know how long she cried, the child gradually stopped making a sound. The woman looked carefully and found that the child had fallen asleep. She let out a slight sigh of relief. This kid really knew how to cry, this one cry lasted almost half an hour, it was truly unbelievable.

  "Shut up! Don't mention this again. We've adopted this child, and I think you should take him as your apprentice!"

  "Ah..." The man was slightly stunned for a moment, but as soon as he saw the woman's expression, he immediately understood her intention and hastily nodded in agreement.

  If at first the woman still wanted to adopt the child, but the child's heartbreaking crying just now made her give up this idea. She knew that no one could replace the position of that woman in the child's heart. So, she let her husband take the child as an apprentice, giving him a good family and a good future. This was all they could do.

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