Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Can ‘t Afford to Offend
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Han Zhao looked around as he walked.
After walking for a while, Aunt Tao stopped and called out to the child playing with a jumping horse in the alley, “Heiwa, let’s go home and eat.”
The child was squatting on the ground like a horse as if he was engrossed in playing and did not hear Aunt Tao call him.
“Heiwa!” Aunt Tao’s voice suddenly rose an octave. It was the complete opposite of her gentle and dignified appearance just now.
When Heiwa heard the familiar voice, he suddenly shivered and immediately straightened his body.
“Ah-” The child who was about to jump off the horse was pushed to the ground by him, causing the other children to laugh.
“I’m not playing anymore. I’m not playing anymore. My mother called me.” Heiwa ran towards Aunt Tao.
As if thinking of something, Aunt Tao turned around and looked at Han Zhao behind her with an uneasy expression.
Han Zhao smiled.
Aunt Tao smiled shyly and reached out to fiddle with the hair at her temples. Because her movements were a little big, the loose rough linen collar fell, revealing a large area of skin on her chest and the bottomless ravine. She’s not wearing any undergarments… Han Zhao glanced at her and looked away.
Aunt Tao fiddled with her collar, squatted down, and put down the wooden basin.
“You’re covered in mud again!” She took out a handkerchief and wiped Heiwa’s face counterclockwise.
“Mother… Wu… I’ll do it myself,” Heiwa hurriedly shouted and grabbed the handkerchief in his hand.
What an imposing big brother. Could this be a hero who walks the martial world… Heiwa stole a curious glance at Han Zhao and looked at the two sabers at his waist with envy.
Soon, the three of them arrived at the end of the village.
In front of Han Zhao was a large courtyard. Compared to other people’s adobe houses, the green brick and black tile houses were very eye-catching. There were also stone courtyard walls around them.
The entire village was not big. According to the number of houses, there were only about 30 families.
“Grandpa, Grandpa! There’s a guest!” Heiwa, who had been a little reserved just now, became lively once he returned home.
A wizened old man with a walking stick came out of the main room in the middle. His right pant leg was empty. He was missing a leg.
“Heiwa, run slowly. Don’t fall.” The old man revealed a benevolent smile and patted Heiwa’s head, sizing up Han Zhao.
“Greetings, sir.” Han Zhao cupped his hands in greeting.
“Father, this young master is…” Aunt Tao walked forward and explained the situation.
The old man nodded and walked to Han Zhao with his walking stick. “I’m Chen Liu, the village chief of Taoyuan Village. It’s inevitable that there will be inconvenient times when we’re outside. Little Brother, bring others into the village.”
“Thank you, sir.” Han Zhao thanked him and left the village to inform Zhang Linlu and the others.
After a while, the group arrived at Aunt Tao’s courtyard. The carriage stopped outside the courtyard.
“Gentlemen, the young and strong men in the village have all gone to join the army and fight in the war. The rest are all women and children. In order to avoid disturbing the other villagers, I can only ask everyone to make do at my house for the night.” Chen Liu looked apologetic.
Zhang Linlu cupped his fists and said, “It’s already not bad to have a place to rest. Sorry to disturb you.”
As he spoke, he instructed the martial artists to move the goods in the carriage to the courtyard and find gra.s.s to feed the horses.
Although they were just inferior horses, they were still worth ten taels of silver.
It was more expensive than ordinary martial artists.
The Chen family had five sons, so they built five huts beside the main house in the courtyard.
Chen Liu lived in the main house. Aunt Tao and Heiwa shared one room, leaving four rooms.
There were a total of 32 martial artists in the caravan. Three of them stayed in the carriage at night to look after the goods.
There were 29 people left. Among them, Xu Ling and six female martial artists had a room. There were three rooms left. Two rooms had seven people, and one room had eight people.
Han Zhao was unlucky and was a.s.signed to an eight-person room.
After everyone entered the main house, Chen Liu asked Aunt Tao and Heiwa to bring over a few long stools. Seeing that there were other martial artists standing, he apologized. “There are only so many stools at home. Sorry for neglecting everyone.”
“They’re all rough men. Don’t worry about them.” Zhang Linlu waved his hand and continued, “I want to borrow your family’s stove. I want to boil some hot water and eat with dry food. I wonder if it’s okay?”
“Of course.” Chen Liu hurriedly instructed Aunt Tao, “Aunt Tao, go boil hot water and make some pancakes and men.”
“How can I accept this!” Zhang Linlu hurriedly refused.
“Since you’re here, you’re our guest. There’s no need to stand on ceremony.” Chen Liu expressed his determination.
Zhang Linlu couldn’t refuse, so he asked the men to take out some copper coins and pay the old man for food.
After Chen Liu declined, he could only accept the money.
Seeing this, Han Zhao also took out money.
Then, Zhang Linlu asked a few female martial artists to go to the kitchen to help.
When he was outside, it was better to be careful.
After Aunt Tao went to the kitchen, Zhang Linlu did not put on any airs at all. He sat with Chen Liu and chatted about his younger days.
Han Zhao came to Zhang Linlu’s side and whispered, “Lord Zhang, I’m going out to shop.”
“Go ahead.” Zhang Linlu nodded.
Han Zhao left the courtyard and prepared to explore the village again.
Soon, he arrived at the village entrance.
The sky was gradually turning dark. When Han Zhao pa.s.sed by the alley where the children were playing jumping horses, he realized that the children were still playing.
He circled the village twice and found nothing wrong.
However, the notification should be right.
Han Zhao came to the back of the village and focused on the system interface. [Current Balance: 32 taels of gold]
Originally, he only had 21 taels of gold left. For this simulation, he changed all the remaining money on him into gold and charged it into the system.
[Collected 55 Notification Fragments. Do you want to synthesize the Trait?
Synthesize once. Consume 20 Notification Fragments, 5 taels of gold…]
“Synthesize the Trait and begin the simulation,” Han Zhao muttered in his mind.
[19 years old. You accepted Xu Ling’s request to follow the caravan to Jade Wind
City.]
[Half a month later, the caravan decided to stay in Taoyuan Village at night. After you entered the village, the speed at which the Essence Soul Bead acc.u.mulated Yin energy increased greatly.]
[Dinner was served. You ate your own food.]
[At night, you took the initiative to choose to be on night duty. You stayed vigilant at all times.]
[An accident suddenly happened. You were attacked by monsters. The other martial artists in the caravan felt their entire bodies turn cold and their strength decreased greatly.]
[Under the attack of the monsters, you suffered heavy casualties. Some martial artists even cut the legs of their companions and let them be eaten by the monsters.]
[In the end, you escaped from the village with Xu Ling at the price of light injuries.]
[You also acc.u.mulated a large amount of Yin energy in your body, but felt a little uncomfortable.]
[On the way, you encountered a green-robed girl. She shouted, “Pervert!” and drew her sword to stab. You tried your best to explain, but the other party pestered you endlessly. In a moment of desperation, you erupted with your remaining true qi and killed the girl with a single slash.]
[At the same time, a woman in white appeared and killed you with a single strike.]
[The simulation is over. You can choose one of the following.]
[1: Obtain Trait (Not Selectable)] [2: Obtained attribute points] [3: Obtain any part of the life experience.]
[Current Balance: 27 taels of gold]