71 Was He Dreaming?
Su Ying undid Xiao Jin’s robe, which had been cut to shreds by weapons, and cleansed anew the wounds she had bandaged simply during the day. Although the bleeding had stopped, it would be difficult to recover without stitching the wounds up because the openings were rather large.
Su Ying used wound-closing plasters on the smaller wounds and used a needle and thread to delicately stitch up the bigger ones.
After treating Xiao Jin’s injuries, Su Ying took off her clothes and stood in front of the 360-degree mirror with no blind spots to check her own body.
Although she could fight, she wasn’t an impregnable fortress. Injuries were inevitable, but fortunately, the wounds weren’t on her vital parts and only needed some simple medical treatment.
After treating the injuries on her body, Su Ying brought Xiao Jin out of the interspatial store. She then lay down beside the two children and closed her eyes.
The next morning, Su Ying was awoken by the noise outside her carriage.
She raised her eyes and met Xiao Jin’s deep, dark eyes.
Su Ying’s eyebrows twitched a few times. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Xiao Jin’s dark, obsidian-like eyes darkened slightly. He would never let Su Ying know that he had actually seen her stark naked in his dream.
However, for some reason, even though it was a dream, he felt that it was exceptionally real.
Xiao Jin shook his head and looked away.
“It’s already bright outside.”
Su Ying murmured a reply, got up, and jumped off the carriage. She saw that many people had gathered not far from the empty space where they were camping.
Those people surrounded Su Ying and her group, gawking and pointing at the group like they were monkeys.
However, those people didn’t dare to approach them rashly because they saw that they had a large number of people and a pack of wolves.
Su Ying washed her face and walked over to the gawking people.
Those people were quite bold. They didn’t run away when Su Ying walked toward them. They just stood in the same spot and watched her.
“Mister, is there any place to build a house here?”
The old man whom Su Ying spoke to sized her up and asked instead of answering, “Are you guys new exiles?”
Su Ying nodded. “Yes.”
“There’s an open space, but you need to pay.”
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. “What about those who can’t pay?”
The old man laughed. “If you can’t pay, then it’ll depend on your ability. If you can defeat the other party, no one will dare to say no to you.”
“Based on what you said, Tiger Base doesn’t have any rules to speak of, and fists do all the talking?”
“You’re not wrong to say that.”
“That’s good.” Su Ying didn’t have any silver, but her fists were still tough enough.
After inquiring, Su Ying returned to the carriage. “You guys wait for me here. I’ll look around nearby and see if I can find a suitable plot of empty land.”
Aunt Zhao and the others had heard the old man’s words just now. They felt that this place was not as safe as they had imagined. “Mistress, you should bring two people with you.”
“No need. I’ll be back soon.” With that, she mounted the horse and galloped away.
She wanted to see if the Tiger Base’s terrain was suitable for long-term residence. If it was suitable, she planned to settle down here temporarily.
Su Ying rode her horse through the streets. These streets were created through the constant traffic over time, and the ground beneath her feet comprised yellow mud that had turned gray. There were many houses on both sides. When those people saw Su Ying gallop over, they only stopped to take one glance at her before turning around and going back into their houses.
Su Ying had thought that the base camp wasn’t big, but her horse had been galloping for almost two hours and she still hadn’t seen the edge of the base camp. She could only pull someone aside to ask for information.
“Aunt, where is the edge of this place? Can I go out to the back of the mountain?” Su Ying asked, pointing at the mountain in the background.
The middle-aged woman glanced at Su Ying and said slowly, “Miss, you must be new.”
“Yes.”
“If you want to find a place to stay, just keep going forward. There’s a large open space there.”
“Alright, thank you.”
That middle-aged woman watched as Su Ying galloped away, and a strange smile appeared on her face.
Su Ying rode in the direction that the middle-aged woman had pointed, and after another 15 minutes, she finally saw the empty space the middle-aged woman mentioned.
This empty space was against a mountain, but it was still quite a distance from the foot of the mountain. The terrain was very flat, and the view was very wide.
There were houses built on both sides of the open space, but this open space was empty.
That was odd. Logically speaking, the open space in front of her was more suitable for building houses than the surrounding space, but no one came to occupy it.
Su Ying nudged her horse forward and arrived at a three-story wooden building.
The wooden building wasn’t small, yet one couldn’t see the top of the building over the fence.
Su Ying dismounted from her horse when she arrived at the wooden building. She could vaguely see a figure moving in the courtyard. “Is anyone there?”
“Who is it?”
After a while, the door of the wooden building was opened from the inside. A charming woman in a vermillion dress and red lipstick walked out.
She opened the door and her coy eyes scrutinized Su Ying from head to toe. She then smiled and said, “Where did this pretty lady come from? It really makes one envious.”
“I would like to ask you something, Miss.”
The woman gave a soft laugh. “Little Miss, you want to ask if you can stay in that empty space at the side, right?”
“Yes.”
“That empty space is not occupied by anyone. If you want to use it, you are most welcome to use it. I live next door to you. If you need anything, you can come to me. My name is Mei Niang.”
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. This was the first person who offered to help ever since she came to this place.
“Thank you.”
After Su Ying finished speaking, she mounted her horse and decided to settle down in this area.
Mei Niang looked at Su Ying’s back profile as she left, and turned around to walk in. The moment she entered, a big, burly woman raised her head and said, “Another new one?”
Mei Niang giggled. “That’s right. A young and pretty lady. Her skin is so tender. I’m really looking forward to her arrival. Hehe!”
Su Ying returned to the place where her group had made camp the night before.
“Mother is back.”
The younger toddler Ling immediately got up from the ground and dashed toward Su Ying.
Su Ying pulled up the reins and dismounted from the horse.
“Mother.”
Su Ying squatted down and picked up Ling. “Have you had breakfast?”
Ling nodded obediently. “I’ve eaten. We had egg pancakes which Grandpa Hea made this morning.”
“Mother hasn’t eaten yet. Go. Get Mother an egg pancake.”
“Alright.”
Ling wriggled her little body down from Su Ying’s arms and ran to get the egg pancake.
When she saw that Su Ying had returned, Aunt Zhao and the rest crowded around her.
“Mistress, how is it? Have you found a place to stay?”
“I found it. It’s a very large open space. We’ll go there in a while.”
“Good, good.”
After Su Ying finished eating, she led everyone to the empty space.
As her group had many people and even a pack of wolves, they attracted a lot of onlookers on the way.
“Mistress, do you think the people living here were all exiled?”
Su Ying nodded after some thought. “I think so.” Otherwise, wouldn’t it be better for a normal person to beg in their own country than to come to this godforsaken place?