He was so angry that he was about to go up and argue with her, but Qiao Xueying pulled him aside and stepped forward with a slight smile, saying, "Hello, brother. My brother and I encountered bandits a few days ago and fled all the way. We finally managed to get rid of them. We dared not enter your village to bother you, but we lost our luggage during our escape and are now hungry and thirsty. I wonder if we could have some water to drink?"
The burly man was immediately drawn to her pretty face. Hearing her words, he noticed that half of her dress was soaked with blood, which made him feel even more sorry for her. He quickly said, "These bandits are hateful. They hurt the young girl like this. Come in and rest. We'll prepare some water and food for you, and we'll have a doctor prescribe some herbal medicine for you."
Soon a group of people surrounded her and walked towards the village. As Qiao Xueying was leaving, she turned back and winked at him playfully, looking extremely smug.
Excuse me?
What's wrong with these villagers? When I tried to speak to them in a friendly manner, they treated me like a thief and chased me away. But Qiao Xueying, who was covered in blood and didn't look like a law-abiding citizen, was treated with kindness and concern by them.
Is this a world that judges people by their appearance?
But in what way is my face worse than hers?
After thinking it over, Zu'an could only conclude that it was because Qiao Xueying was a woman. Humph, these villagers look simple and honest, but they are all lecherous old men!
She followed behind them with a sour expression, watching the group of people serve Qiao Xueying tea and water, and even find an old doctor to prescribe medicine for her.
Zuan muttered to himself, "That idiot Xue'er accepts everything without hesitation. Isn't she afraid they'll poison the water?"
Fortunately, Qiao Xueying wasn't completely absorbed in the moment. While thanking the villagers, she took the opportunity to inquire about the place: "Brother Chen, what kind of place is this?"
By now, she already knew the burly man's surname. It has to be said that women have a natural advantage in some things.
“This is Chenjia Village in Dongjun,” the burly man replied.
"Dongjun?" Qiao Xueying was taken aback. In her memory, there didn't seem to be a place called Dongjun in the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Zu An frowned, because he knew that the seal placed by Qin Shi Huang was definitely not for the territory of the Great Zhou, but for the territory of the Great Qin. He vaguely remembered that the Qin state did have a Dongjun, which was roughly located in the northeastern part of Henan Province and the western part of Shandong Province.
What exactly is the nature of this Heavenly Seal?
He had been carefully observing from the side. The vast majority of these villagers were ordinary people, and even the few cultivators were pitifully weak. How could they be worthy of being the gatekeeper boss of the Heavenly Seal?
“Miss Qiao, you should rest for a while and then leave quickly. After all, your origins are unknown, and our village dares not take you in. If anything happens, our entire village will be implicated,” the burly man named Chen Wei replied.
“Collective punishment…” Zu An murmured to himself. The laws of the Qin Dynasty were harsh, and the system of collective punishment was frequently used. Basically, all farmers were bound to their own land and could not go out. People like them were either nobles or fugitives. If they were nobles, it would be fine, but if they were fugitives, if the government found out, the people in the village might be punished and executed for not reporting them in time. So how could they dare to take in strangers?
"Thank you, Brother Chen, and thank you all, uncles and aunts." Not wanting to make things difficult for them, Qiao Xueying chatted for a while longer before leaving Chenjia Village.
As she left the village, Qiao Xueying waved to the villagers and asked in confusion, "What exactly is this Heavenly Seal? I have absolutely no idea."
“I don’t understand either.” Zuan shook his head.
Qiao Xueying suggested, "Why don't we search around again and see where these roads lead?"
“It’s pointless,” Zuan said in a deep voice. “Have you forgotten about the seal on man? Back then, we tried to enter the city, but we couldn’t get in no matter what we tried. Now that we’ve been teleported to this village, the key to the seal must be in this village.”
Qiao Xueying bit her lip. She knew this all too well, but subconsciously she didn't want it to be like this: "Then what do we do now? We can't even get into the village?"
Zuan rolled his eyes: "Are you stupid? Just sneak in and investigate after dark."
Qiao Xueying didn't refute, but just sighed deeply: "These people have been very kind to me. I hope I won't become their enemy."
"The Chu family treated you quite well, yet you still turned against them so easily," Zu An scoffed.
Qiao Xueying immediately got annoyed: "Are you ever going to stop? Why have you been talking so rudely since just now?"
"Really? I was just stating the facts." Zuan shrugged and turned his head away awkwardly.
Qiao Xueying suddenly laughed: "I understand. You must feel unbalanced because you see how nice they are to me but they ignore you, right?"
"Nonsense, why would I care about that?" Zuan turned around and left. "Let's take a walk around and check the terrain around the village. The sun is about to set."
He wasn't too worried about the time issue. During his two previous attempts to break through the formation, he had already discovered that time flowed differently inside the seal than in the outside world. As long as he didn't linger too long here, he should have enough time.
"Just as I remembered, he's still that petty man!" Qiao Xueying skipped and hopped behind him, teasing him with a smile, and suddenly felt much better.
---
That should be two updates for today.
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