Chapter 7 Xiaoshuang I'm Afraid of Thunder

It suddenly rained heavily that night. There were lightning and thunder outside the house. Raindrops hit the roof with a crackling sound, waking Fu Ning up from his dream.

She opened her eyes and heard a clicking sound in the room.

She struggled to get up from the bed, lit a candle, and discovered sadly that the roof was leaking. She quickly found a wooden bucket to catch the rain.

But the sound of raindrops hitting the wooden barrel was very loud. Fu Ning, who was standing nearby, felt that he did not want to sleep anymore.

She turned her head to look at Song Jinghe's small bed and saw that his entire body was wrapped in the quilt, with even his head not showing.

Fu Ning felt strange. In such hot weather, he was wrapped too tightly. Wasn’t he afraid of getting prickly heat?

Fu Ning didn't want to care about him at first, but suddenly he remembered what the system said, telling him to seize the slightest opportunity to move the villain's heart.

The system disappeared these days. I guess it was just like it said, someone hacked into the host.

The days without the system were a bit boring for Fu Ning.

Since I can't sleep, I might as well find something fun for myself.

Fu Ning walked to Song Jinghe's bed and patted him through the quilt, "Xiao Jing, it's so loud outside, I can't sleep, chat with me for a while."

The person under the quilt did not respond.

This shouldn’t be the case. Fu Ning patted again, but there was still no response, except that the quilt seemed to be shaking slightly.

Fu Ning lifted the quilt and saw Song Jinghe's extremely pale face.

He closed his eyes tightly, clenched his teeth, hugged his body with his hands, and curled himself up into a ball.

Even when Fu Ning lifted the quilt, there was no other reaction.

What's going on? Are you sick?

Fu Ning patted his face, "Song Jinghe, wake up."

Song Jinghe then reluctantly opened his eyes and grabbed Fu Ning's hand on his face, his eyes slightly reddened, "Fu Ning, I'm scared."

Fu Ning was stunned. How could this tone and expression be so much like that of an evil god?

Thinking of the evil god she had sealed, Fu Ning felt mixed emotions. She lowered her eyes and asked, "What are you afraid of?"

Song Jinghe grabbed Fu Ning's hand and relaxed a little, "I'm afraid of thunder."

Fu Ning couldn't help but burst out laughing. He really should let the system see that the villain it feared was actually afraid of thunder.

She is not afraid of someone who was struck to death by lightning.

Fu Ning struggled to pull his hand free, found a low stool, sat on the head of Song Jinghe's bed, covered his ears with both hands, leaned close to him and asked, "How is it? Is this better?"

Song Jinghe nodded slightly.

"Don't be afraid, I'm with you."

Fu Ning felt the slightly trembling body under his palm calm down, and he knew that this trick was effective.

There was a constant sound of raindrops inside and outside the house, and from time to time there were a few loud thunders.

Fu Ning's thoughts went back to five hundred years ago, when she had comforted the young man who had not yet turned into an evil god in the same way.

The boy always showed weakness, and even his senior sister was deceived by him.

Song Jinghe now is exactly the same as he was back then.

As Fu Ning was thinking, he tilted his head and fell asleep.

Song Jinghe opened his eyes and unexpectedly saw Fu Ning's face, with the tip of his nose almost touching his own.

He leaned back in disgust, only to find the bandit sitting beside his bed, his hands covering his ears.

He suddenly remembered yesterday's lightning and thunder, and his panic disorder started.

He pushed Fu Ning's hand away, feeling a little confused. This man had actually guarded him all night.

Does this bandit really like me that much?

Fu Ning felt Song Jinghe's movement and woke up. He rubbed his numb arms and stretched. He had a very uncomfortable sleep.

She looked at Song Jinghe, who was eight feet away from her, and asked, "Are you okay?"

Song Jinghe shook his head, sat up from the wooden bed, put on his coat, put his legs on the ground, supported himself on the wheelchair handles with his hands, and put himself on the wheelchair. "You sleep for a while, I'll go make breakfast."

Fu Ning held his hand and asked, "Why are you afraid of thunder?"

Song Jinghe was silent for a moment, "It rained heavily the day my mother died."

For some reason, Fu Ning thought of the evil god again. The night that man's mother died, there were also lightning and thunder, as if it was the end of the world.

She was still in a daze when Song Jinghe had already turned his wheelchair into the yard.

"Ding Dong, I'm back. Did you miss me, boss?" The system's voice rang in her mind after a long time.

Fu Ning shook his head and put his thoughts aside for the time being, and said to the system in a cheesy way: "I miss you so much. My mind is really a bit lonely when you are not around."

The system chuckled, "Boss, you finally realize my importance."

"Tell me what news you have brought me."

"This time, I went to great lengths to hack into the host and modify my original settings. The host almost discovered it and deleted me, so I was able to bring you this precious information."

Fu Ning nodded impatiently, "Please get to the point."

"Okay." The system pretended to cry, "You don't care about me at all. The point is that you asked me about my secret realm before, and this time I can finally tell you."

"In fact, Shen Funing's secret realm is for the male protagonist to upgrade. Other cultivators who entered died or were injured, but he was the only one who obtained the immortal master's true alchemy skills. From then on, he soared to the sky and began his journey to dominate the world of cultivation."

The system continued, "Speaking of Immortal Lord Shen Funing, what is your relationship with her? Are you her descendant? Are you also a member of the Shen family?"

Fu Ning clicked her tongue twice. This system was really stupid. She was almost about to write "I am Shen Fu Ning" on its face, but it didn't believe it.

But she would not tell the system her identity directly. Five hundred years ago, she wanted to leave this world and was punished by Heaven. Five hundred years later, she who should not have lived in this world was resurrected again. She did not want to be discovered by Heaven and repeat the same mistake.

Let the system figure it out on its own.

The system was used to its host concealing his identity. It didn't hear the answer and didn't ask any further questions. As long as its host could complete the task and send it out of the small world, everything would be fine.

It performed a routine check on the host's body functions and found that everything was fine. Finally, it figured out that something was wrong.

"Host, you are not poisoned?"

Fu Ning: "What poison am I in?"

System: "Arsenic!"

"Oh, you mean arsenic." Fu Ning looked innocent, "Who would have thought that Song Jinghe actually used it to kill mice."

If the system had a physical body, it would be so angry that it would vomit blood at this moment.

After a long pause, the system remembered its job and angrily checked the villain's favorability. It was surprised to find that it had risen by ten points at once, directly to negative thirty, and it suddenly lost all its energy.

It was very surprised, "Boss, what did you do to increase the villain's favorability so much?"

Fu Ning: "Give him some motherly love."

System: Is the host's strategy direction wrong?

"Xiao Shuang, it's bad!" Ah Cai pushed the door open in a hurry, "Just now when Ah Yun was on guard, he saw soldiers surrounding the foot of the mountain, about a hundred or eighty people. Now my sister has taken a lot of people out hunting, what should we do?"

Are there any officers and soldiers? Fu Ning glanced at Song Jinghe, who had already put down the book in his hand and looked very anxious.

Fu Ning laughed in his heart. He was really good at pretending. It must be the letter he reported to the government when he went to the market.

She asked the system in her mind: "Can you check how many officers and soldiers there are?"

The system was not ambiguous about matters related to the host's safety and immediately gave the data, "There are a total of eighty-two people surrounding the mountain, and we only have thirty-five people in the village. If we really fight, our chance of winning is less than one in ten."

Fu Ning: "Okay, I understand."

She said to Acai, "Let Ayun light a fire to alert those outside. We should pack up the important things, gather everyone together, and pile up the stones that we carried to the mountain before. If these soldiers attack the mountain, we will throw stones. If they set fire, we can only abandon the village and run away."

Ah Cai nodded, and Fu Ning went out with her to gather all the people who stayed behind, about thirty people.

There was some worry on everyone's face. They had been the kings of the mountain and had been robbing people for many years. They had basically only committed small-scale robberies to meet their daily needs and had never been targeted by the government. This time, the soldiers directly surrounded the mountain, causing panic among everyone.

Ah Cai said a few words to comfort them, but her prestige was not as great as that of the village chief, and it was not enough to offset the panic in everyone's hearts.

Fu Ning stepped forward and said, "I know that many of you have reached the Qi Refining Stage. If a real fight breaks out, we are familiar with the terrain and will definitely have the upper hand."

Her tone was so certain that it immediately calmed the panic in the crowd.

System: The host has quite the intimidating aura.

After a while, Ayun, who was on guard duty, brought news that a man who looked like a scholar was going up the mountain alone and had already reached halfway up the mountain.

This looked like a posture for negotiation, Fu Ning touched his chin.

The scholar walked very slowly. Several aunts had already started chatting when he reached the village gate. Fu Ning and a few others came out to greet him.

The scholar came up and bowed in a very elegant manner, introducing himself: "I am Xu Chang, a minor official under Magistrate Yao. Not long ago, the magistrate learned that you are still living in the mountains. After all, the conditions in the mountains are difficult, so he sent me to persuade you to come down from the mountains. The main purpose is also for everyone's better life. The magistrate has promised that as long as you agree to come down from the mountains, he will guarantee to arrange satisfactory accommodation for you, so that you can all live a prosperous life."

Fu Ning said: "We are living a prosperous life now."

Xu Chang said: "A gentleman loves money, but he gets it in a proper way. Your money came from an illegal source, so you should be imprisoned. But the county magistrate is merciful and considers that you have not committed any serious mistakes, so he is willing to give you a chance to reform."

He spoke as if he came to rescue them.

Fu Ning asked, "What if we don't want to?"

Xu Chang changed his tone and said, "If you don't accept my toast, don't blame the officers and soldiers for being ruthless. We can only do our job impartially. You will all have to go to the prison for a walk."

Fu Ning sneered in his heart, "After all, it is a big deal for us to go down the mountain together. Can you give us a day to think about it?"

"Of course you can." Xu Chang rolled his eyes, "But if you really don't want to go down the mountain, I can show you a way."

"Oh? Please go ahead."

Xu Chang said: "Our Yao County Master is in his prime, and the backyard is empty. It is not difficult to protect a village. By then, everyone will live a stable life."

"Bullshit!" The straightforward aunt couldn't help but curse, "The old man is over 50 years old, but he still has a lot of tricks in his mind. Isn't he afraid of his heart rotting?"

Xu Chang sneered, "I advise you to be more respectful. Just based on your words that insult the imperial court, I have the right to send you to jail. Besides, I am just making a suggestion. If you don't like it, forget it. Don't regret it after you are in jail. What awaits you then will not be so simple. We have plenty of ways to deal with prisoners."

After saying this, Xu Chang turned around and left.

Fu Ning and others returned to the meeting room of the mountain stronghold and recounted to everyone what they had just heard. The meeting room suddenly exploded and everyone started talking at once.

"How could such a small village like ours be targeted by the government?"

"We came up because we couldn't stand the life down there. We've been building the village for so long and it's finally getting better. Why should we go back down?"

"What if we don't agree to go down the mountain and get arrested and put in jail?"

“But is life down the mountain really like that guy said?”

The system also interrupted, "Boss, according to my calculations, the best solution at the moment is to follow the government's arrangements and live down the mountain."

Fu Ning said to it, "These people made us go down the mountain, they definitely have bad intentions."

She suddenly raised her voice and interrupted everyone's discussion, "Everyone, please listen to me."

During this period, Fu Ning's elixirs and mantras have gained a lot of favor. When she speaks, everyone stops talking and listens to her.

Fu Ning said, "I know that everyone has gotten used to the life in the mountains and is unwilling to leave the mountains. They certainly don't want to go to jail. So there is only one way left. The scholar has already pointed out a way for us. Let's do as he said."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds. Ah Cai reacted and said in disbelief: "Xiao Shuang, you want us to pick someone to be the concubine of that old man? How can you say such a thing?"