A long sigh, and Aotian ca to sowhat understand the people of this village. They were not unwelcoming to outsiders; their indifference was rely a form of self-preservation.
"Creak..."
The door opened again, and the little girl ran out. She was carrying a large bundle of dry firewood.
Apparently, she knew that a small basin of charcoal wouldn't last until dawn. Perhaps their family hadn't prepared enough charcoal, so she used dry firewood as a substitute.
As the saying goes, offering help in a ti of need is better than adding flowers to brocade.
The little girl's mindset at this mont was precisely a symbol of the village, wasn't it?
"Thank you..."
"You're welco..."
"Eh..."
The girl's voice was clear and crisp, mixed with childishness, and her cheeks were shyly adorable. Her eyes were impeccably clear, so bright that even in a dim environnt, they couldn't be hidden.
"You, what are you doing?"
Being suddenly held back, the girl looked timidly at Aotian.
"Thank you for bringing warmth. I have sothing here for you. It's very delicious, and I hope you'll accept it."
With limited belongings, Aotian took out so sesa cakes from a bag and handed them to the little girl.
The little girl had never seen such a thing before. The aroma of sesa made her involuntarily swallow her saliva.
"For ?"
"Yes. They're very delicious," Aotian said, taking so from another bag and biting into them.
"Thank you. One piece is enough for ."
"No worries, share them with your family."
"Okay." The little girl happily took the sesa cakes and ran back.
The life they wanted was simple and ordinary, if not for that disaster decades ago...
"Creak..."
The door opened again.
"Didn't I tell you? Don't eat things from strangers or bring them back ho."
"Bang."
The speaker was the elder sister from today. Soone whom Aotian might call "sister" surely had to be older than Aotian. The girl followed her out, looking from a distance at the discarded sesa cakes before giving one last glance at Aotian and reluctantly going back inside.
Yes, if it weren't for that disaster, they would have been happier. This place would have been a paradise.
He walked over slowly, picked up the sesa cakes wrapped in a plastic bag from the ground, and returned to the shelter.
He threw away the rain-soaked plastic bag and rewrapped the cakes in another plastic bag...
They were too kind, so kind that they couldn't distinguish between good and evil, so to protect themselves, they simply needed to reject anything foreign.
It was clear that the little girl bringing him charcoal was the elder sister's idea, yet she refused the sesa cakes. Isn't this the perfect explanation?
Fortunately, with the small basin of charcoal and those firewoods, Aotian barely managed to endure the night.
In the morning, he planned to return the basin. Incidentally, he wanted to borrow so water to rinse his mouth, then have so sesa cakes for breakfast.
Unexpectedly, this household had opened their door early, with quite a few people coming in and out, making the small doorway a bit congested.
Seeing the people waiting outside the door, Aotian was slightly taken aback and then chuckled inwardly: So, they're my fellow comrades.
Comrades, as it implies, Aotian was a physician, and the people blocking the door seed to have varying degrees of illness. Most of them were elderly.
It now seed that borrowing so water would have to wait a while.
"Move, quick, move! The buffalo has gone mad! Get out of the way!"
At that mont, a piercing shout resounded. Everyone turned to look in response. Sure enough, a mighty buffalo was rampaging through the village for so unknown reason.
Although warnings were shouted, a few passersby failed to dodge in ti and were directly knocked down, sustaining serious injuries.
The elder sister heard the commotion outside and, along with other villagers seeking dical attention, ca out to see what was happening.
The buffalo seed to deliberately head towards the crowd, dashing toward the group gathered here.
Most of those standing here were elderly; any collision could result in death or severe injury.
In this critical mont, Aotian hesitated no longer and threw the basin in his hand directly at the buffalo's head.
With a loud "thud," the buffalo's speed indeed slowed, but it still showed no signs of stopping...
"Beast, stop!"
Aotian took steps forward, quickly rushed over, bypassed the buffalo, picked up the reins from the ground, steadied his stance, and tried to forcefully hold the buffalo in place.
However, the buffalo's strength was too great, and a hissing sound ca from the friction between Aotian's feet and the ground. Still, it charged towards the group.
"Argh, ah..." With a furious shout, Aotian leaped up, firmly stomping his feet into the ground, creating two depressions on the surface. Only then was the buffalo's montum fully neutralized.
But this wasn't the end; although the buffalo had stopped, its massive body continued to struggle against the restraint on its nose.
"Quick, everyone, get out of the way! Aotian's too old to hold on much longer."
The people wanted to move, but unfortunately, their actions were very slow, completely opposite to Aotian, who was over eighty.
"Can't help it. Whose buffalo is this, I apologize in advance."
With these words, Aotian forcefully pulled the buffalo's head in his direction.
As the buffalo seed to realize the root cause of its entanglent, it accelerated toward Aotian.
Just as people were about to cry out in alarm, Aotian waved his hand and a brief flash of cold light pierced through the buffalo's forehead. Then, with a fierce slap on the forehead...
"Bang."
"Boom."
Under the astonished eyes of everyone, the gigantic buffalo was knocked to the ground by a single strike.
"Huff, huff, huff..." Aotian took deep breaths, squatted beside the buffalo, and patted it gently a few tis: "Sorry, I didn't want to kill you, but if I didn't, many would have died because of you."
The buffalo's eyes flickered slightly as if finding release at that mont, and then... it was lifeless.
As he steadied his breathing, Aotian imdiately stood up again and quickly walked over to those who had been knocked down. Without a word, he reached out to check them, locating their injuries.
If there were no major issues, he moved on to the next one; if he found fractures, he imdiately set them.
Everyone present, including the eldest sister, looked in shock at this agile and sharp-witted elder. Had he really surpassed eighty years of age?..
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