‘Ye Ning and Ye Lei.’
Their name sounded unfamiliar for Xiao Ren. Well, in the first place, he was not totally sure where he was. Based on the direction of Huang River, he should be heading to the north because of the shape.
In that case, he should be near his previous post and also the soldiers under him. He was away to the capital city, so he had entrusted his lieutenant to be the one to lead for the time being. Hopefully, the capital city would be too busy to pick new commander to lead the soldiers.
Ugh.
Xiao Ren moved his body and groaned internally once more. He still felt his body hurt so much even with just little movement. When he was in the river, he must have bumped onto some trashes.
“Here we go.”
Looking up, he could see Ye Ning walked inside with a bowl of porridge and also spoon. The shape of the bowl was crudely made, which made it uneven. However, Xiao Ren didn’t want to pay much attention to it.
He was already grateful to be able to eat.
Ye Ning noticed the concern in Xiao Ren’s eyes and smiled. “You don’t have to worry about the price. My brother trade the fishes he caught with grain, which allowed us to have enough. There are farmers living not far from here.”
Xiao Ren nodded.
“Come here, let me help you eat.”
Xiao Ren: “…” can I eat by myself?
However, he noticed that his hand felt hurt when he moved it around. He could only open his mouth helplessly as Ye Ning scooped the porridge and helped him eat. The taste was bland, but it was the most delicious meal Xiao Ren tasted over the past few months.
The cuisine in palace just made him want to throw up because of how extravagant they were.
“How is it?”
Xiao Ren smiled. He wanted to say that it was good, but his voice hadn’t returned back to himself. There was no way he would be able to say anything.
Ye Ning seemed to understand what he wanted to say because she beamed. It took him some time before he managed to finish the entire bowl of porridge. Afterwards, Ye Ning walked out of the house to tend her vegetable garden.
Lying on the bed, Xiao Ren started to analyze his current condition. Right now, he was in no shape to return back and probably would need to wait for a few days before his wounds closed. His eyes darted around the room where he stayed.
It was small as it could only fit a bed, a cupboard, a crude table and a chair plus some space to walk. His items were still on the edge of the room, but Xiao Ren was not in a hurry to check it. Aside from his sword that he lost during battle, the rest should be intact.
Well, there might be some parts that was lost in the river too.
He was not sure.
Xiao Ren closed his eyes as he thought about what his plan would be. But before he could think of anything, he had already drifted into dreamland.
…
Bang!
The loud sound woke Xiao Ren up. He furrowed his brows and moved his body. It still felt painful, but he was a commander, so he still could move around. Inching to the door, he noticed that it was heading to the living room or maybe kitchen?
The living room and kitchen was joined together because Xiao Ren could see the table and chairs in the middle along with the fireplace at the edge of the room. There was another room on the side, which should be heading to small bedroom. There were two other doors in the room. One should be heading outside because Xiao Ren could see light from there while the other one was unknown.
‘Come on, you’re a man. This is just little pain.’
Xiao Ren partially dragged his tired and aching body to the front door. He leaned on the wall and looked out from the slightly open door. It might not good to pry into other people’s business, but he was just an outsider.
It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to appear in front of them.
“What’s with the small carps? Do you think that we can eat these small fish, Ye Lei?” A large man asked with annoyance.
He was nearly two meters tall with his muscle built greatly. His figure alone was more than enough to scare people off. Behind him, there were two people who has firm build and muscle line. They were also looking at Ye Lei and Ye Ning as if they were looking at trashes.
Ye Lei frowned. “This is all I got from fishing today.”
“Just this? It’s not enough!”
“I’ll go fishing again later,” Ye Lei said unhurriedly. He had long gotten used with these people coming here to claim some fishes from him. Even if he wanted to fight back, he was unable to because of his inability to fight.
The large man spit on the ground. “Do you think that fishes will come just because you want them to come? Remember, you still owe me fifteen large carps!”
“That’s too much!” Ye Lei protested.
“Is it?”
The large man stepped forward as his hand swung a wooden stool. Xiao Ren was unable to see the weapon clearly, but he thought that it might be shovel or something like that.
Ye Lei gnashed his teeth. “I’ll prepare them when you come next week.”
“Good.”
The two men behind the large man also nodded. One of them then remarked, “If you still can’t prepare more fishes, you can just trade with the villagers. I’m sure many would want your sister.”
Ye Lei glared at the two men menacingly. As if he would let them get his sister!
The large man snorted. “Time to go boys, we still have a lot of places to go. Bring the fishes along!”
“Yes, Boss!”
The two men didn’t even wait for another instruction as they began to put the fishes that Ye Lei had inside the basket that they brought. From their delighted expression, it was clear that they were very happy.
Soon, the basket that Ye Lei had was devoid of any fishes as the two of them had took them all.
“Work hard.”
“Get lost!” Ye Lei whispered under his breath. If only it was possible, he wanted to take a stick and beat them up. However, he was unable to fight back and could only watch as they took the fishes.
The three men soon left in a distance.
He turned his head to the side. “Ye Ning, it’s fine. You can get out from the outhouse.”
…
