"Is the wine here? What are you still doing? I don't keep freeloaders here."
A basket flew from mid-air with such earth-shattering momentum that she was so frightened that she quickly reached out to catch it with both hands.
Is this old woman really in her seventies or eighties? Why is her skill and strength comparable to that of the village men working in the fields every day?
Xiao Nan hugged the basket back, thinking that someone was still living under someone else's roof and he really couldn't neglect him.
"May I ask, Senior, what do you need me to do?"
The old woman pointed outside rudely.
"The firewood next to the stove has gotten damp. Go get some more. I'm afraid it's going to rain tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so we need enough for two or three days."
Xiao Nanhui nodded, not daring to delay, and glared at Ding Weixiang again before walking out with the straw basket on his back.
The road around the stone house to the back mountain was half-hidden in the weeds and bushes. She was too lazy to remember the way and didn't want to walk too far, but she was worried that the firewood she could get nearby would not meet the requirements of the picky old woman, so she had to walk deeper.
She walked and collected firewood along the way. After half an incense stick of time, the originally dense forest and bushes suddenly became sparse. She looked down and found that someone had deliberately cut down and trimmed them.
The dead branches scattered on the ground crackled underfoot. She took a few more steps carefully, only to find herself in a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood a solitary, medium-sized earthen slope. Atop it sat a half-withered tree trunk, seemingly too old to sprout any branches. The surrounding soil, however, seemed soft, clearly someone had been tending to it.
When she saw the pear blossoms outside that bloomed until July and August, she thought that there was nothing that could not be grown in this valley. Now it seems that this is not the case.
Or maybe you planted willows unintentionally but they grew into a shade, or you cultivated flowers intentionally but they didn't bloom.
Her curiosity was aroused, and she walked forward a few steps. Something flashed under the half-dead tree. She was stunned and then realized something.
It was a sword half-stuck in the soil, its hilt narrow, looking from a distance like a branch from a dead tree.
This turned out to be a sword tomb.
Suddenly, an old voice sounded behind her, with undisguised anger in the voice.
"Who let you in here?!"
Xiao Nanhui turned around in surprise and saw the old woman walking towards him angrily, her steps moving at an alarming speed.
She instinctively stepped away, but the man simply stopped by the sword tomb and carefully examined the plum tree. It was obvious who was taking care of this place.
Xiao Nanhui came back to his senses from his surprise and spoke carefully.
"Senior, are you remembering the owner of this sword?"
The old woman instantly stopped sighing and glared at her fiercely.
"I am the master of this sword."
Xiao Nanhui was stunned for a moment, and then could only laugh dryly.
"I see." She couldn't bring herself to ask about the sword anymore, so she could only talk about something else nearby. "A friend of mine in Que City has many plum trees planted at home. He once told me during a casual chat that plum trees must survive the winter in order to grow lushly and bloom. It's springtime all year round here, so I'm afraid it's not a suitable place to grow plum trees. Perhaps you could try somewhere else, Senior."
The old woman suddenly looked at her with sharp eyes.
"What is your relationship with the Mei family?"
This time it was Xiao Nanhui's turn to be stunned.
She subconsciously wanted to talk about Pingxian, but felt it was a bit complicated, so she simply talked about Su Pingchuan.
"My friend's mother is from the Mei family, and he was my colleague in the military. When we were young..." Thinking of the past, she couldn't help but smile, "We had some kind of fate when we were young."
She had just said it casually, but she didn't expect the other party to be interested in something else.
"Since we are colleagues, have you ever had any private discussions?"
The scene of someone wearing underwear, waving a branch, and yelling at her emerged in Xiao Nanhui's mind. He barely controlled his expression and spoke seriously.
"We did have a sparring match once, but something went wrong halfway through, so we had to end up in a draw."
The old woman snorted coldly, wondering if she noticed the half-truth in her words.
"So what do you think of his swordsmanship?"
Xiao Nanhui pondered for a moment and recalled the scene in detail.
"He's too pure and strange, but not upright enough. Jian is only one man against you, and he's a general who wants to go to the battlefield and fight against ten thousand enemies. His approach is a bit stingy."
As soon as she said all this, she felt something was wrong. She looked up and saw the other person staring at her, and the uneasiness in her heart became even more obvious.
However, for some reason, the old woman suddenly looked away.
"Is it true that everyone who has been to the battlefield is as stupid and dull as you, unable to read the signs?"
The other person seemed to be speaking to her, but it also seemed as if he was simply talking to himself, facing the bare sword tomb. Although the words were harsh, the tone did not convey disgust or disdain, but rather a hint of a sigh.
Only then did she notice that the other person's gray hair made her look older than her actual age. Her face only looked a little fierce because of her tense expression, but she didn't look very old at all.
"The spear represents the courage of the masses, while the sword represents the courage of a single individual. There's no definitive answer as to which is superior. If they ever clash, the outcome is uncertain."
Only a warrior could comprehend these words. If she had previously wavered in her doubts, now she was almost certain that this old woman was no ordinary village woman, and might even be a master of exceptional caliber.
"Excuse me, senior, do you know Pingchuan..."
"Bad disciple!"
Before she could finish her words, she was yelled at by the other party, leaving him confused.
"I made an exception and accepted him as my disciple, painstakingly teaching him for five years, yet he never told me there were so many things to learn about plum trees!" The old woman grumbled as she walked down the slope, practically crushing a branch as thick as her forearm with one foot. "He's really just like his mother, so ungrateful!"
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