The next day, Ye Lei was busy to prepare for them to go to the city. He woke up early in the morning to inform his friends that he wanted to borrow the ox cart. After all, it was impossible for Xiao Ren to walk that long to the city with his condition. He also brought the carps as payment to Liu’s father.

They still used trade system and it was much more useful compared to other currencies.

“Lei, what are you doing so early in the morning?” Ye Lei’s friend, Fang Liu, asked in suspiciousness. He was a young man around the same age as Ye Lei with ordinary face. He lived by farming in the city while his old father would drive ox card, which was usually used by ladies, to head to the city.

Ye Lei smiled. “I need to borrow your father’s ox cart.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t worry, I brought three carps. Two is in for exchange of some grains and the other one is for me to borrow the ox cart.”

Fang Liu accepted the carps and beckoned for Ye Lei to enter the house. “Why do you suddenly need it? From what I know, you rarely go to the city because you spent your time to fish all day long.”

“Well, long story.”

Fang Liu also didn’t pester Ye Lei too much. He handed two sacks of grain to Ye Lei, who put it on his shoulder easily. His physical strength was fairly good as he had been working on the river and also field for a long time.

“I’ll tell my father that you book the entire cart. I’ll be going too later.”

“Oh.”

Thinking that his rowdy friend would come along, Ye Lei sighed in his heart. He told them that he would come back after he had his breakfast and hurriedly head home. As he walked, he also calculated the grains that he brought back because he was sure that these two sacks wouldn’t be enough.

For two people, it would last for a week or more. But when Xiao Ren was added, Ye Lei was not totally sure that it would be enough.

“Big brother,” Ye Ning greeted when she saw her brother coming. She smiled when she saw the two sacks. “I already prepared the meal and also a bag for us to have lunch in the city. Will we return back by night time?”

“We should be able to return back at night,” Ye Lei replied. “Has he woken up?”

“Not yet. He’s still inside.”

“Let me check on him.”

With a large stride, Ye Lei walked into his room. He could see Xiao Ren was still lying on the bed peacefully. Knowing that the man was wounded, Ye Lei didn’t bother again and walked out to eat first. He could use the time to prepare some additional fire woods for them.

The two of them didn’t have qualms leaving their house without anyone to watch. The village was small, and they didn’t really have anything valuable here. After all, they only earned enough to eat and get by each time.

After some time, Xiao Ren woke up. He stared at the ceiling in a daze before he remembered that today the siblings told him that they wanted to head over to the city. Since that was the case, it would be better for him to also wake up early.

Creak!

Xiao Ren waved his arm lightly. He smiled slightly when he sensed that the pain was already greatly reduced. His healing ability has always been high because he continuously got injured at the frontline. It took him less time to recover compared to many other people.

“You’re awake?”

He raised his head and saw Ye Ning smiled brightly. “I already prepared breakfast. Do you need help to walk or I can bring the food here if you want?”

Xiao Ren pushed his hand on the bed and stood up slowly. His movement was slow and dull, but Ye Ning knew that Xiao Ren didn’t want to be helped by a woman. She waited while watching Xiao Ren’s movement carefully, ready to help in case he needed it.

It took him some time to reach the living room and sat on the table. The food that Ye Ning prepared was a paste. It tasted bland, but because of the additional fish meat, it was also nutritious.

“Is it good?”

Xiao Ren nodded his head. He finished his meal quickly and it was at this time Ye Lei returned with a basket filled with branches. His eyes noticed that Xiao Ren had woken up.

“Great, now we can go to the city. Old Liu must have been waiting for us.”

“You can get on brother’s back. It’s impossible for you to walk a long distance when you’re so slow like that.”

Xiao Ren could only nod helplessly. He recalled his time in the frontline when he was injured and his brothers had to help him by carrying him on his back. Those days were agonizing and getting caught up in his enemy’s plan was one of the sore spot in his mind.

Never ever would he want to let himself be so weak again.

Ye Lei crouched before him and Xiao Ren moved to his back. He could tell that Ye Lei has firm muscle.

Did fishing require muscle?

It was quite interesting as Xiao Ren didn’t know much about fisher’s work. Since Huang River’s current was fast, it was not easy for them to stop in the middle to fish, which made him curious how Ye Lei fished.

He would just ask when they returned back from the city.

As they walked out of the house, Xiao Ren took the chance to scan the surroundings. Ye Ning was following with a bag filled with food and also his money. The two siblings wouldn’t dare to leave the bag of money and that bamboo scroll inside the house in fear that someone might come and took it.

It was too valuable.

Their house was located in the midst of forest and grass area. After some walk, Xiao Ren could see the area turned more into grasslands and there were several other villagers. As a soldier, he had keen gaze, so he could detect the intent of the people who passed by them.

There was undisguised contempt.

At the same time, there was also mockery.

‘These two might not be too harmonious with the rest of the villagers.’

Xiao Ren didn’t know much about their interaction with other villagers. What he knew was that there was not even a single villager who came to visit them with kind intention. The only one who came was those bandits like people.

“That’s the gate,” Ye Ning said in cheerful tone as if the villager’s gaze didn’t bother her in the slightest bit. “The two people there are Old Fang and Fang Liu.”

Xiao Ren shifted his gaze to the front. He could see two people, one old and one young, stood there. The two of them were looking towards Ye siblings with surprise and from their gazes, Xiao Ren also concluded that at the very least, they didn’t have any malicious intent towards these two.