Chapter 95: A Gentle Breeze in the Woods [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

"You, all of you, don't come any closer—"

The little girl snapped out of her daze, her hands trembling as she clutched a harmless gold hairpin and faced the two men. Perhaps realizing this, she turned the hairpin around and pressed the tip against her chin. The tip of the hairpin had been polished, and even though it was deeply embedded in her skin, it only left a small red mark.

It's not effective for threatening people or for suicide.

Shen Tang: "I'm not going over there, you come out."

The little girl shook her head, her face deathly pale: "No!"

Tears welled up and rolled down her trembling eyes.

She blinked, trying to clear her tear-filled vision, but the tears only rolled down more profusely. The beads rolled from her round, milky cheeks to her chin, gathering before dripping down one by one. It must be admitted, the tears of a beautiful woman are indeed heart-wrenching.

Zhai Le stood aside and mocked, "Brother Shen, you've been rejected."

A woman who has suffered a great misfortune needs gentle comfort.

Speaking in a harsh tone will only scare people.

Shen Tang tilted his head and thought for a moment, then swiftly grabbed the little girl by the collar and pulled her out of the box. The little girl was stubborn; despite being terrified, she didn't give up struggling, her fingers trembling as she gripped the gold hairpin tightly.

Zhai Le leaned closer, his peach blossom eyes rippling with a smile: "Greetings, young lady. Both Brother Shen and I are good people."

The little girl gritted her teeth and endured the trembling.

She didn't believe that nonsense.

Zhai Le then asked, "Is the young lady's surname Lin?"

The little girl shrank back, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the corpses lying on the ground. Her already round eyes widened even more in shock. She didn't even care that Shen Tang and the other person were still there; she grabbed the gold hairpin and practically crawled closer.

He stared intently at the warm, soft corpse.

Those once pure eyes now held a hint of hatred. Ignoring the blood and filth, he wiped the bruises from the corpse's face with his bare hands, then used his sleeve to clean it for easier identification. Confirming it was him, he suddenly and fiercely plunged the gold hairpin into the corpse's eye socket.

Zhai Le gasped and covered his eyes with his hands.

Fueled by that burning, intense hatred, she struck the corpse a hundred times in a row, until both eye sockets were pierced by the gold hairpin and the eyeballs were churned into bloody foam. Only then did she collapse backward, utterly exhausted.

Two thugs waiting to move the body: "..."

They almost jumped up to hug each other, trembling with fear.

It took the little girl a long time to come to her senses.

She clenched her teeth, suppressing the fear that was carving an abyss in her heart. She stood up, straightened her clothes and sleeves, and with a cold expression on her round, oval face—which was clearly childish but deliberately made her look mature and composed—she took two steps forward, crossed her hands, and gave Shen Tang a deep bow.

"Thank you for avenging my Lin family of twenty-four."

Zhai Le, standing to one side, raised an eyebrow.

He clapped his hands and laughed, "Young lady, you have great courage."

The little girl's already pale face turned even paler.

Shen Tang raised her foot to kick Zhai Le.

Why are you trying to scare people?

Zhai Le jumped back: "What scares? It's clearly a compliment."

Although the details are unclear, one can guess a few things. It is truly remarkable that an eight or nine-year-old child could witness his relatives being slaughtered by his family's guards and their bodies dumped in the deep mountains, and then, by sheer luck, encounter a group of people who are neither good nor evil.

At least, their courage is commendable.

Shen Tang kicked the wooden box lid back and used it as a stool.

"Who are you from? What happened before? Do you have any other relatives? Why did you happen to hide in the wooden box?"

Zhai Le advised, "Please ask more tactfully."

Shen Tang glared at him, and for a moment he had the illusion that he was being glared at by his elder brother Zhai Huan, so he subconsciously chose to mute his microphone and keep quiet.

Zhai Le: "..."

Wait a minute, he's clearly the "elder brother"!

Seeing that Shen Tang meant no harm for the time being, the little maid relaxed her tense nerves slightly. Clutching the gold hairpin, her nails almost digging into her palm, she forced herself to answer, "My surname is Lin, and my ancestral home is Lingzhou. I was traveling south with my parents, stepmother, uncle, brothers, sisters, and a group of maids and servants to visit relatives. Who knew that on the way, the servants would harbor thieving intentions, murdering and robbing us..."

Including her, there are a total of twenty-five people.

"So many women traveling outside, and only one man is accompanying them? That's really..." Zhai Le frowned upon hearing this. In such a chaotic world, we need to guard against both external enemies and internal traitors. Sending only an elder "uncle" to escort them, along with a "brother" whose age is unknown, is too careless.

The little girl bit her lower lip, lowered her head, and her eyes were red.

Who would have thought that the guards he had served for seven or eight years would suddenly turn against him? The guard leader was highly trusted and had even saved the patriarch's life.

"...Because of her mischievousness, she was playing with her sisters and hid in a wooden box to escape danger." She often played around with her sisters and would occasionally hide in a wooden box to avoid being searched for. Her elders were worried, so they made hidden holes in her two wooden boxes to allow for ventilation. When she woke up in the wooden box, she was wondering why no one had found her yet.

Peeking out through the hole, she saw the servants raising their knives at her relatives. The elderly, women, and children were powerless to fight back, and everyone, including her seriously injured brother-in-law, perished.

All she could do was cover her mouth and swallow her sobs.

But she knew she would definitely be caught.

Increasingly desperate.

But then, things took an unexpected turn.

"Everyone else is gone... Only I am alive... Waaah..." She wiped away her tears, sniffed hard to prevent the snot from running down and staining her nose red.

She tried to swallow her emotions by pouting, but the more she tried to hold them back, the more bitter they became. Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore, and tears streamed down her face like pearls falling one after another, making her look pitiful.

Shen Tang lowered her eyes and pondered for a moment.

"Besides the relatives you're heading south to seek refuge with, do you have any other relatives you can rely on? Preferably those who are nearby..."

The little girl stood there shaking her head, looking lost. She really didn't know what to do now; she had no one left to rely on.

Zhai Le sighed, "They're so pitiful. Maybe we should take them too."

Shen Tang wanted to draw her sword and poke a few holes in him.

"What do you mean, 'take her away'? How old is she?"

Zhai Le: "...???"

He suddenly jumped up, his voice rising seven or eight octaves: "I meant for you to take her in as a maid, at least that's a way to make a living. You can find her relatives later if the opportunity arises. Brother Shen, what are you thinking? You don't mean 'take her in,' do you?"

Shen Tang: "..."

She couldn't help but cover her face.

Okay, it's her thinking that's unhealthy.

Shen Tang composed herself and coughed lightly to ease the awkwardness.

"You heard that, right? Do you want to come home with me first? Once the situation stabilizes, we can contact your other family members or go south to find your relatives. You're too young; you can't survive alone out there."

The little girl lowered her head and thought for a very long time.

He nodded vigorously, his face streaked with tears.

"Thank you, my benefactor."

However, he hesitated to speak, seemingly troubled.

Shen Tang guessed what she wanted to say and said, "Wait until dawn! It's too dangerous to search in the dark at night. Just pray that those wild beasts haven't gone mad from hunger, or that they've left behind a complete skeleton."

In this era, even eight- or nine-year-old children can be treated as adults. When a loved one dies tragically, they know to collect the remains and bury them in peace.

"Thank you, my benefactor."

The little girl bowed deeply again, filled with gratitude.

She added, "My nickname is A-Nan."

"You didn't get a name?"

The little girl remained silent.

Shen Tang: "Then shall I presume to choose one? It's not convenient to call you by your nickname. Since your surname is Lin, how about 'Feng', Lin Feng?"

Zhai Le: "Lin Feng? That's too manly."

Shen Tang rolled her eyes.

"Do you even know what 'the spirit of a hermit' means?"

"The spirit of the forest" refers to a remarkable woman who is talented, gifted, poetic, elegant, and whose abilities rival those of men.

I bought a copy of "A New Account of Tales of the World," and I found it quite interesting while flipping through it the other day.

(But the content is really hard to remember. I didn't remember any of it. I just flipped through it and got sleepy. It's a real sleep aid.)

By chance, I turned to the second volume, the chapter on virtuous women, and found the sentence, "Madam Wang has a carefree and open-minded demeanor, hence the air of a hermit; the Gu family's wife is pure and radiant, naturally a beauty of the boudoir." I thought that naming her Lin Feng would be good (although it sounds really masculine).

As for the name, I originally wanted to use "令贤" (Lingxian). It means "well-known and respected"; "贤" (Xian) means "talented." However, I found it sounded strange when put together, so I immediately searched online (I'm almost thirty, and my memory is much worse than before). "令贤" is a respectful term for someone else's wife (e.g., "令慈" (Lingci) or "令堂" (Lingtang), which are respectful terms for someone else's mother or father). I'm hesitating about whether to change it.

(End of this chapter)