The old lady who came to extort money left, taking two pounds of roasted chestnuts with her.
Jiang Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, then tiptoed behind her fourth and fifth brothers, just in time to hear the last words of their voices.
"Let's do it now," Changyan said.
"Okay...okay," Wen Zhiyun said tremblingly.
As luck would have it, the conversation ended the moment she got close.
Jiang Sheng's eyes widened, and she pouted aggrievedly, "Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother, do you two have little secrets you're keeping from me? Fourth Brother, have you forgotten that I shared some steamed buns with you? Fifth Brother, I was the one who fed you vegetable porridge when your fever just broke, you two... Waaah."
That affected crying, I don't know where it came from.
The long banquet was both laughable and lamentable, leaving one with no other choice.
Wen Zhiyun, however, was easily swayed by this approach and immediately became conflicted. "Xiao Wu, how about we take your younger sister with us?"
Jiang Sheng's eyes immediately lit up, and she stopped whining and acting coy.
Half an hour later.
The clinic was temporarily handed over to Xiaozhu to manage. Jiang Sheng and his two siblings, along with two martial arts practitioners, Jiang San and Jiang Si, drove out of Fengjing.
This was the first time the siblings had left the bustling inner city of Fengjing.
Jiang Sheng rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the small window, idly tossing chestnuts into her mouth while staring at the receding scenery.
Two young boys sat beside her, engrossed in peeling chestnuts. Just as they were cleaned and placed in a handkerchief, a chubby little hand reached out and took them.
As she ate, Jiang Sheng sat up straight and sighed in disappointment, "I thought Fengjing was so prosperous, but I didn't expect the area outside the city to be similar to Anshui County."
Especially between the villages, the middle-aged women whispering and eating sunflower seeds, the elderly men and women basking in the sun with their eyes closed, the groups of black, yellow and white dogs, and the wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys, all resembled the Shili Pu Village in her memory.
For a moment, Jiang Sheng felt as if she had returned to the past, as a five or six-year-old child, carrying rotten vegetable leaves she had picked up, staggering along the village entrance.
Uncle Zhao sat on a flatbed cart by the door, smoking a pipe and spitting phlegm, occasionally exchanging a few words with his busy family members in the yard.
Aunt Zhang sat at the entrance of the Zhou family's house sewing insoles. Her beautiful face was bruised and swollen. As the men in the yard shouted at her, she pricked her hand with the needle several times.
Jiang Sheng carried the rotten vegetable leaves back to the dilapidated temple. The Buddha statue was as broken as ever. Inside, there was only straw and salvaged pots and pans. There was no brother, no money, and no one waiting for her to come home with a smile.
It's so cold! The coat I found is big and bulky, dirty and with several holes. No matter how I tuck it in, the wind will still get in, making my limbs feel icy cold.
Outside, the laughter of the large beggars could be heard again, as if they were asking her, "Little Jiang Sheng, what good things have you found? You want some to share. If you don't behave, you'll get a beating."
She was a little scared, so she hid the rotten vegetable leaves in the gaps in the straw and curled up behind the Buddha statue, praying that she would not be discovered and that no one would come.
"Jiang Sheng..."
“Jiang Sheng…”
Two urgent calls rang in her ears, and someone snuggled up to her, holding her hand in their palm, desperately trying to give her warmth.
The scenery outside continued to rush past, only now it had changed from villages to long ditches and countless withered reeds.
Jiang Sheng came to her senses and realized that her fourth and fifth brothers had sat down at some point, their faces full of worry.
She tilted her head in confusion, then noticed that her cheek felt cold, as if someone had peed on her face.
"Little sister, what's wrong?" Wen Zhiyun asked, her voice choked with emotion. "Why are your hands suddenly ice cold, and why aren't you responding no matter how I call you?"
Chang Yan pursed his lips. "Don't cry, don't be afraid, your brother is here."
The dazed and ethereal feeling from before was dispelled, and Jiang Sheng truly felt that she had grown up, had an older brother, family, money, and warmth.
I'm no longer afraid of being bullied by the big beggar.
Jiang Sheng nuzzled her head against her fourth brother's shoulder, then took a chestnut from her fifth brother's palm, put it in her mouth, and let the sweetness and fragrance envelop her.
It turns out that the so-called prosperity only refers to the city walls and the core areas.
As I traveled further and saw more, I learned that Fengjing also had villages, large tracts of farmland, and radishes and cabbages planted in front of people's doors. Children would play and frolic on the ridges of the fields, accompanied by a few cats and dogs.
"Fifth Young Master, we've already traveled dozens of miles from Fengjing, are we still going?" Jiang San asked from the carriage shaft.
Chang Yan remained unfazed. "Keep going. Stop when you see a temple."
Jiang Sangao responded loudly and continued to whip his horse forward.
After about two cups of tea's time, the large village finally turned into a small hill, on which stood a solitary, dilapidated temple.
If it weren't for the long banquet mentioning it, everyone would think it was an empty temple, the kind that only beggars and homeless children would occasionally visit.
But when they hid the carriage and crept up on it, they discovered that several female benefactors were living inside.
Oh no, I mean, a few beautiful young ladies.
From twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old to eighteen or nineteen, the range includes those who are well-proportioned, tall, slender, and voluptuous.
They lived in this dilapidated temple, washing clothes, tilling the land, sowing seeds, arranging pastries, or dancing gracefully, turning the small, run-down temple into a paradise.
Jiang San and Jiang Si stared wide-eyed.
It was only after Changyan coughed that the two of them came back to their senses, chanting Amitabha Buddha and lowering their eyelashes.
"So many beautiful women." Jiang Sheng leaned against the wall, her big eyes wide. "But why do they live in a dilapidated temple? There's no village or shop in sight. How do they survive on just that little bit of food?"
Good question, good thinking.
Who knew little Jiang Sheng had a brain?
Chang Yan smiled slightly and lifted her off Jiang Si's neck. "Just wait and see."
With just that one sentence, the group waited for an hour.
Just as Jiang Sheng was about to fall asleep standing up, a commotion finally came from the entrance of the dilapidated temple.
The tallest of them all, Jiang Si, obediently squatted down again, allowing the girl to peer over the wall and get a better look.
Chang Yan and Wen Zhiyun carefully peeked out from behind the bricks.
A carriage was parked outside. The person stepped forward and knocked on the door three times slowly.
The girls who were playing in the dilapidated temple all fell silent and watched the gate cautiously.
Then the person outside knocked twice more, paused for a moment, and then knocked heavily once more.
It's definitely a code.
The girls smiled again and rushed to the door one by one. The eldest one lowered the bolt, revealing a man in a brocade robe with a round head and a round belly.
"Your Highness, you've finally arrived!" the youngest, slender girl said coquettishly. "I've missed you so much."
"Your Highness, I miss you so much I can't eat." The plump woman refused to back down.
The two older girls didn't say anything. After bowing, they rushed to the carriage and brought out a wide array of supplies, including everything from food to drink.
The two young people, after cuddling for a while, also went to help, and quickly emptied the carriage.
The only coachman who followed them discreetly hid in a corner to wait, leaving the man in the brocade robe to be intimate with the four beautiful women.
Jiang Sheng had never seen such a sensual scene before. Her big eyes widened in surprise, and her small mouth opened involuntarily, as if glistening saliva was spreading.
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