The footsteps outside the hut suddenly stopped.
Wan Jinlan held the chain tightly, his face solemn and ready for battle.
An old voice came.
"Who is in my house?"
Xiao Feng picked up his wet robe, looked at Wan Jinlan reassuringly, and then walked out.
The long knife in his hand was pressed tightly against the side of his leg.
"My wife and I were injured by thieves and found refuge here on a cold night. If the host is willing to take us in, I will pay a reward. If not, my wife and I will leave immediately."
Xiao Feng couldn't see clearly what the old man opposite him was holding in his hand, but his intuition told him that it was a dangerous weapon.
Lu Yuan was silent for a while before he said, "Leave immediately after daybreak."
Seeing the old man turn and leave, Xiao Feng relaxed and felt ashamed of occupying the old man's nest. "It's cold and chilly, does the master have anywhere else to go?"
Lu Yuan ignored him and walked towards the mountains with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Xiao Feng frowned and turned back into the hut.
Wan Jinlan had already put on all his wet clothes and was ready to leave at any time.
Xiao Feng said, "It's alright for now. I'll go get some water and take care of the wound. I estimate it will be dawn in two hours, so we should leave before dawn."
Wan Jinlan took off his wet clothes again and whispered, "What he just said was standard official language."
This man from the mountains speaks very standard Mandarin.
Moreover, why did he directly give the thatched hut to the two of them?
The two of them couldn't pursue the matter too much. The most important thing now was to recover their strength as quickly as possible and avoid the next pursuit.
If the news gets back to Kyoto, their future situation will become even more difficult.
Xiao Feng walked outside with the wooden bucket for nearly an incense stick of time before he found a ditch. When he carried the water back, his body was almost frozen.
Wan Jinlan used the firelight to pour all the items in the bag onto the stone bed. The wound medicine and other items were sealed and could still be used.
Winter clothes become extremely heavy after getting wet, and it is impossible to dry them in just two hours.
Although they were exhausted, they still had to apply medicine to each other, dry their clothes, and finally drink the boiled water that was not clean.
Wan Jinlan only roasted the inner clothes of the two men, and simply threw the bloodstained outer robe into the brazier.
By the light of the fire, Wan Jinlan found the brown rice in the rice jar, and put it into a ceramic pot to cook it, bringing out the aroma of food.
This was the first hot meal the two had eaten since their exile.
After sharing the brown rice porridge in the earthenware pot, the two put on their slightly thin clothes. Wan Jinlan left twenty taels of silver and placed it in the bedding on the stone bed, which could be seen as soon as it was opened.
It was still dark, but the two of them did not plan to stay here any longer.
Seeing that her clothes were too thin and her face had turned pale, Xiao Feng simply took off another layer of his clothes.
The road conditions were not good along the way, and Wan Jinlan could feel that Xiao Feng was doing his best to take care of her.
Just as Wan Jinlan was about to refuse, he pointed above the straw hut and asked, "Is that animal skin hanging there?"
Xiao Feng looked back, reached out and touched it, and it was true.
When he took off the animal skin, a black and heavy object fell to the ground.
The embers in the brazier illuminated the object in its entirety.
Wan Jinlan asked hesitantly, "Is this a mechanical crossbow? Why is it different from a mechanical crossbow?"
Xiao Feng remembered what the old man had held in his hand before, and held it in his hand, but he hesitated to press it to test its power.
There was a glimmer of fire in Wan Jinlan's eyes.
Xiao Feng put the things into the backpack along with the small change.
There were three wolf skins in total. Xiao Feng cut the wolf skins with a long knife. In the end, the two people were wrapped in a shabby manner, like savages living in the mountains.
After cleaning up all traces, the two of them, in tacit understanding, left the hut under the cover of night and went into the mountains.
The blisters on my feet were pricked, and walking in wet deerskin boots was extremely unbearable. Although the wounds on my body had been treated, the pain was more obvious than before.
After a sleepless night and resting for less than two hours, Wan Jinlan felt dizzy and dazed. The coldness in her bones had not been dispelled, causing many fine bumps on her body.
The two men had no intention of leaving. The appearance of that crossbow-like object in such a desolate mountain and wilderness would always arouse people's curiosity.
As the sky gradually brightened, the two of them huddled together in the leeward side of the cold wind to keep warm. Xiao Feng felt her forehead and frowned, "You have a fever."
Looking around, the terrain here gradually became clear.
From halfway down the mountain, they could see a village nestled at the foot of the towering mountains. Smoke was already rising from some of the houses. The thatched cottage where the two had stayed the previous night was quite a distance from the village.
The two of them had no passes to prove their identities and could not enter the city. Xiao Feng was worried that if Wan Jinlan did not get enough rest and treatment, something serious would happen.
If there was no other way, he could only go to the village to find a doctor.
When Xiao Feng stood up, Wan Jinlan grabbed him and said, "He went back."
Looking from here, I saw an old man in gray clothes entering the thatched hut.
After a while, the old man came out of the house again. He was carrying a small bag on his back and walked into the mountains with his head down.
Wan Jinlan felt that this old man was very mysterious.
The old man was not a fast walker, and the two men were lagging far behind him.
After following for a mile through the mountains, the old man suddenly stopped.
When Wan Jinlan thought that the two of them were exposed, eight people dressed like ordinary farmers appeared in front of them, seven men and one woman. Although the woman was dressed like a farmer, her figure and temperament showed that she was not an ordinary country woman.
"Uncle, if you want to leave, we won't stop you, but aren't you going too far by bringing outsiders here?"
The woman's voice reached the ears of Wan Jinlan and Xiao Feng. They looked at each other but had no intention of leaving.
The current distance is just right for escaping.
Although the old man Lu Yuan was a bit hunched, his words were firm.
He just snorted coldly, "Get out of the way. Considering that we are of the same clan, I may spare your lives."
The eight people seemed to be very afraid of what Lu Yuan had in his hand, and they all retreated to the side unwillingly.
However, things did not go as smoothly as Lu Yuan expected. Many people appeared in the dense forest ahead to block the road.
The old man Lu Yuan looked very calm. He turned around and looked in the direction of Wan Jinlan and Xiao Feng with sharp eyes. "If you two can help me escape today, I can give you what I have in my hand."
Under the gaze of the two men, Lu Yuan shot at the person who attacked him.
"Bang"
The loud noise caused the birds in the forest to scatter.
The man fell to the ground instantly, holding his chest, and black blood flowed from the place where smoke was coming out.
“It didn’t explode.”
The eight people were very surprised and felt that Old Man Lu's talent in equipment was truly enviable.
"Come on, if you die, the compensation will be double." The woman said in a cruel voice.
A few people wanted to see how many times it would take to hit the thing in Old Man Lu's hand before it exploded.
Wan Jinlan and Xiao Feng looked at each other, and their surprise was needless to say. They had never seen a mechanical crossbow with such great destructive power. No, it was not appropriate to call it a mechanical crossbow now. It should be a firearm.
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