… Three days later…
Chu Yunsheng was sitting on top of a pumpkin, quietly circulating the energy inside his body to quench his body.
From the early stage of Yuan Tian stage three to the middle stage of Yuan Tian stage three, the cultivation method was no longer a problem. All it left now was just the dull cultivation routine.
Since last night, Chu Yunsheng had started to think about how to return the life force back to the little girl while quenching his body.
With his current ability, the seventh nail could take someone’s life force away, however, it could not transfer his life force to someone else. The monster seal talisman could transfer his life force, however, he couldn’t seal that little girl. So he was in a dilemma.
At a place not far away from him, village chief Gao was making pumpkin houses with a group of villagers. There weren’t any complicated processes when making a pumpkin house. All they did was to hollow out the dried pumpkin, and covered the hole on the wall of the pumpkin with a wooden plank, and used it as the door of the pumpkin house.
There were around two hundred people in the village. But only sixty pumpkin houses were needed. Since there were only sixty families. Looking at villagers walking in and out of the pumpkin houses, it was like a fairytale.
Chu Yunsheng also got one pumpkin house. It was the one he was currently sitting on. It took the oldest kid of the elder Yu’s family the entire evening to finally complete it.
That kid didn’t like to talk. However, he was extremely hard-working. Apart from the time he spent on eating, he was working all day long, as if he had endless energy.
Maybe the discovery of the pumpkin field made him feel hopeful for the happy life in the future. Although Chu Yunsheng had never seen him smile before, he understood the emotions hidden in those eyes. Sometimes, he felt like they were a lot like each other.
Suddenly, Chu Yunsheng heard some noises. As he opened his eyes, he saw a man who was dressed in tattered clothes heading towards a pumpkin house next to his with a girl that was around twelve years old. It seemed like they were visiting his neighbour – the elder Yu’s family.
The little girl didn’t seem to have much clothes to wear. Both of her little feet were red with cold. However, she still had to step on the freezing ground with her bare feet. Sometimes, she had to curl up her toes to withstood the freezing ground.
However, it was still very noticeable that the girl had clearly been dressed up before she came here. At least, the top half of her body was covered with a piece of clothes that seemed to be made out of some dried leaves. In terms of the bottom half of her body, she was only wearing big tattered shorts. Perhaps, they didn’t realize or maybe they just didn’t care that much, with the big short, her scarily skinny legs were strikingly obvious.
Her chapped little face had also been cleaned. Her mother even braided her withered yellow hair for the first time. It was dancing in the cold wind behind her head as the little girl walked towards the elder Yu’s house.
The little girl seemed to be a little bit nervous. Perhaps she was shy, she always kept her head down while walking. However, her skinny hands were grasping her clothes tightly, revealing the complicated feelings in her mind.
“Is elder Yu home?” the old man asked using his hoarse voice as he arrived before the pumpkin house.
He was wearing an old and torn cap that had words “automobile repair” on it. There were only two of those caps in the village, the other one belonged to village chief Gao.
According to the old man himself, the cap was made in the age of light, and it was the only thing that his father had left to him. Although no one was able to recognize the words that were written on it nowadays, it was still something he could boast about.
There was no response from inside of the pumpkin house. However, the old man didn’t seem to show any signs of impatience. Instead, he was quietly waiting outside.
Inside the pumpkin house, the senile little girl nervously peeked outside through the gaps of the wooden door. Seeing the old man notice her, she quickly ran inside and hid in the corner in panic.
The old man slightly frowned, it was almost unnoticeable.
Elder Yu had a serious injury when he was young. It had been a long time, but he still hadn’t recovered competently. His wife was also suffering from a terrible health condition. Plus there was a senile little girl in the family. Although he had a son that was very hard-working, and that kid could feed everyone in the family, it was still the poorest family in the entire village.
If it were in the old days, there was no way that the old man would be interested in talking to elder Yu. However, since the strange old man came to the village, the living condition of elder Yu’s family has improved dramatically. Nowadays, even village chief Gao himself also came to visit elder Yu very often.
As one of the “rich families” in the village, the old man, who came to visit elder Yu didn’t just depend on his “genius” son. Being able to perceive the potential of some families was the ability he also had.
Having gone through his own little secret plan in his mind one more time, the old man was happy that he was ahead of other villagers in the village. No long after he patiently waited outside the pumpkin house, he finally saw elder Yu carrying a bundle of dried rattans, walking towards the pumpkin house while coughing constantly.
Unable to bear seeing the eldest son working non-stop all day every day, elder Yu had gone out with his son earlier today. Seeing that there was someone waiting at his door, he immediately put down the bundle of rattans and quickly walked towards them.
“Elder Yu, how is your recovery going?” the old man asked. He was very satisfied with elder Yu’s flattered expression when he saw him. It meant that the discussion, later on, would be very smooth.
However, whenever he saw the clothes and the shoes that elder Yu was wearing, a strong feeling of envy just appeared in his mind.
Although the undamaged clothes didn’t suit him well, no one had this kind of clothes in the village, apart from the people in the Sword Fortress. Even village chief Gao also didn’t have any.
“Going well, going well, what brings you here today?” Elder Yu constantly bowed his head as he spoke.
“Nothing serious. Just come to visit you. Am I not welcomed?” Said the old man.
“No, no… it is just my house… if you don’t mind, please do come in…” elder Yu instantly became very nervous.
“No need, we can talk outside.” said the old man after he took a quick glance at the pumpkin house inside. Probably he didn’t want to see that “monster”.
“My wife and I had a discussion last night. Now that we are no longer having the food problem, we should think about our future. Don’t you think so? My third kid is also old enough now. It is time to find her a husband.” seeing elder Yu’s surprised face, the old man smiled.
“Elder Yu, you know my family’s situation. I lost my oldest when he was just three years old. Although the second kid was very hardworking, he will eventually leave this small village. So, my family’s future will depend on my daughter.”
“Elder brother Yang, you… you mean…” elder Yu was so surprised that he couldn’t even talk properly.
“I don’t want to beat around the bush. This is my daughter. Is she good enough for your son?” Said the old man as he slightly pushed the girl forward.
“Ah?…” Elder Yu gasped in shock. Only after a while did he finally come back from shock and say hurriedly, “of course, of course, I mean… but my son… my family is not good…”
In fact, it was not surprising that elder Yu would lose his composure. Although his oldest kid was only around fifteen years old, based on the village’s traditions, he should have been already married. However, because of his family condition, no one really wanted to marry their daughters to his oldest son.
“Don’t be like this. I have seen what that kid has been doing. He is hardworking and very filial. I have no worries about giving him my daughter.” Said the old man.
“But…” elder Yu stuttered.
“If you are not objecting it. I’ll take this as yes. Once we sort out the things in the village, we can find a good day to have a wedding ceremony.” The old man quickly said. He then said to the girl, “Dong Er, on your knees to greet your father-in-law, then this arrangement is done.”
The little girl was very nervous. As soon as she heard what her father said, she immediately knelt down. Her face was instantly blushed when she accidentally noticed that the boy they were talking about was not far from them.
“Please get up, there is no need for this, I… you are a good kid…” Elder Yu quickly said. He went through all the pockets in his clothes, hoping that he could find something to give to the girl as a gift. In the end, he could only praise the girl.
“Take this. Consider this as the engagement gift.” said Chu Yunsheng after he slid down from the top of the pumpkin house and gave the girl a bag of salt.
There weren’t many things that he could use to make up what he had done to the kids in this village. For the families that had lost their kids, they had more or less received some “compensation” from him, although none of them knew why Chu Yunsheng was doing this.
It was at this moment, Chu Yunsheng also noticed that the oldest kid of elder Yu’s family was also looking at the girl.
Seeing Chu Yunsheng was looking at him, the boy instantly blushed. He immediately lowered his head down and walked away, pretending that he was busy doing something.
Although no one knew what the oldest kid was doing, Chu Yunsheng suddenly noticed that there was a trace of a happy smile on the corner of his mouth.
