Chapter 161: The Old Village Wife

Convinced that he was not mistaken, Gu Dan collected the dry food Lin Xiaoyi had prepared for them and patted Xun Ke, who was still in a daze.

"Someone."

"Um?"

Xun Ke was stunned. How could people live in such a dilapidated village?

His eyes followed the direction of Gu Dan's finger.

There really is someone there.

It was autumn, and the weather was getting colder, but that person was in tattered clothes, with their clothes almost turned into strips of cloth hanging on her body. The autumn rain was very cold, and she couldn't help but shiver as it fell on her body. There seemed to be something wrong with her hands and feet, and she stumbled when she walked, with a huge arc, almost sliding forward along the ground, looking a bit funny.

The two of them hurried forward.

The closer you get, the clearer it is. It's a woman, or to be more precise, an old woman. However, to describe her appearance as unkempt would be an exaggeration. Her body had an almost black sheen, and her hands and feet were unnaturally bent. From the distance you were still quite a distance away, an unbearable stench hit you in the face.

She was extremely skinny, with loose skin clinging to her scrawny body, making the tattered clothes look somewhat bulky. Only her bulging belly protruded forward in a completely disproportionate manner to her skinny body, like a pregnant woman who was several months pregnant.

Xun Ke stared at her in the rain for a while before he called out uncertainly, "Aunt Cheng?"

The old woman moved forward a few more steps, and turned her head very slowly as if she had just heard a sound.

At this time, Gu Dan finally saw that one of her eyes had gone blind, and was staring blankly and motionless. The other eye was shriveled like a withered, peeled grape, and the pupil was almost shrunk to the size of a needle tip.

"who?"

Her face was facing the two men, but she couldn't see anything around her. Her hoarse voice seemed to be squeezed out from her heart and lungs, unclear and hard to hear. Her voice was filled with a strong rural accent, as if she hadn't spoken in a long time.

"It's you!"

Xun Ke wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Fortunately, Gu Dan reacted quickly. He took out the warm clothes he had prepared from his bag and put them on Aunt Cheng first. Then he said without question, "Let's talk inside first."

The two of them helped Aunt Cheng to Xun Ke's former home. Aunt Cheng looked a little resistant - but she had no strength, and the slight struggle was barely noticeable.

"Aunt Cheng, I'm Xun Ke! The kid from the Xun family came to your house to pick dates before! Do you still remember? I, Da Niu, Er Niu and the others."

Xun Ke also started talking, "Why are you still here? Where are the other people in the village?"

Coming under the eaves and temporarily sheltered from the wind and rain, Gu Dan used his true energy to sweep the surrounding open space, and dismantled the only remaining wooden table in Xun Ke's house and lit it into a fire.

He then took out the clean straw that the two of them had used earlier and spread it on the ground, and asked Aunt Cheng to sit down and warm themselves by the fire.

"Xun Ke. Xun Ke."

Aunt Cheng kept repeating the name, her stiff face showing a thoughtful look. Her reactions were slow, and even her thoughts were slow.

Xun Ke looked at Gu Dan anxiously.

Mr. Gu is a doctor, although this identity seems insignificant.

Gu Dan nodded slightly, and with a wave of his hand, a continuous green light fell on Aunt Cheng.

The internal energy of Qingmu Huasheng Jue seemed not as effective as before - as soon as the green light fell on her body, Aunt Cheng's body began to twitch involuntarily, and an unbearable roar came from her throat.

"Ugh!"

She vomited violently, and dim yellow saliva came out along with large pieces of beige and some dark white stuff, and a strong earthy smell hit her face.

Aunt Cheng's belly, which was originally bulging as if she had been pregnant for a long time, shrank rapidly as she vomited.

"Is this Guanyin soil?"

Gu Dan already understood.

Guanyin soil is the last choice for the people who have no food to eat in the year of disaster.

It is really a kind of soil. Eating it will give people a strong sense of fullness and satiety, but it cannot be absorbed and digested by the human body. It is not real food. Eating too much of it will cause many diseases. The most common one is that it cannot be excreted, and all of it accumulates in the stomach, which can suffocate people to death.

That's why Aunt Cheng's belly became so swollen.

The internal energy of Qingmu Huasheng Jue was replenishing the body that was like a dry desert at a very fast speed. Naturally, the Guanyin soil became a real foreign object and was rejected by the body at the first time.

After a long while, Aunt Cheng finally managed to stop the nausea. However, her internal energy, which had always seemed to be invincible, was somewhat deflated for the first time. One of her eyes was still staring blankly, and it was completely damaged. Even the internal energy of Qingmu Huasheng Jue could not cure it.

But the other eye finally revealed a crystal light, no longer looking dry and dull, and the originally blurry world became clear and bright again.

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Even the originally unnaturally bent hands and feet had their bending reduced a lot - the years of bending had completely twisted the bones, and the internal energy of the Qingmu Huasheng Jue could not completely heal them.

"Aunt Cheng, it's me. I'm Xun Ke! Can you tell?"

Xun Ke tried to wave his hands in front of her without showing any disdain, "Why are you here alone?"

"It's Xun Ke. It's Xun Ke!"

Her reaction was finally much faster. She stared at Xun Ke with her only remaining eye for a while, then a smile appeared on her face. "You're back! When did you come back? Why didn't you tell Aunt Cheng?"

"Just got back."

Xun Ke helped her to another place near the fire.

"Just got back? Oh, yes. The autumn harvest is over and everyone is free. It's time to come back."

The old woman's logic was barely clear. At least she knew that it was autumn now. But it was obvious that she lived here alone, otherwise it would be difficult for her to be in this state, to the point where she needed to eat Guanyin soil.

"Come, sit down first. It's raining outside. It's easy to catch a cold. Let's warm ourselves by the fire first."

The stools had long disappeared, and the ground was covered with clean straw, which made it warm sitting around the fire.

The old woman seemed hesitant, with an embarrassed look on her face, and she said tremblingly: "Some time ago, my house was robbed! I wanted to come to your house to borrow a light, but I couldn't find anyone, so I went back. I was worried about what would happen if you came back at that time. I'm glad that you are okay!"

"What did you do just now?"

Xun Ke nodded, his nose felt a little sore, but he still forced a smile and asked softly.

"Ah, isn't it the autumn harvest? I went to see the harvested wheat. You know, my husband is the most careless, and there are always some wheat ears left in the field. If you don't pick them up, others will pick them up! Let me tell you, Daniu's family members are not good at work. I saw that his fields were full of weeds, which was a pity. Those were all good fields. I did my duty as a human being, so I didn't go to his fields to pick up weeds. But this year, my husband cleaned up the fields quite well, and there were no wheat ears left. It happened to rain, so I came back."

(End of this chapter)