Chapter Seventy-Five: News of the Holy Maiden

  Wearing a long gown, she had just walked into the village when she faintly heard seven or eight women gathered together, sitting on a pile of large stones at the bend of the village path, discussing something. From time to time, laughter came from them. One woman inadvertently saw Zuo Xiaoyao passing by and licked her lips several times before they all stopped talking without saying a word.

  It wasn't until she walked away that a thin-lipped, gaunt-faced woman raised her chin slightly towards the back of Xue Xiao Yao and said with disdain, "I really don't know what the Permits are thinking, insisting on keeping her at home and wearing men's clothes in and out every day, not following the way of women!"

  "It's just that the Xu family has always been a sensible one, how can they be so muddled about this matter? Last time I advised her, she wasn't even happy about it. Is she treating their daughter as some kind of saint or something? Ha..."

  After a few women giggled, one of them, an ordinary-looking middle-aged woman with a thick face, hesitated and said, "My brother's wife doesn't have any bad intentions. She took her in because she saw that the girl had no home to return to. Besides, the girl might really have some background, she has a lot of money on her body. Since she woke up, my brother's family has been eating white buns every day for several months, and they often go to the town to buy meat back, living a good life!"

  As soon as this was said, several women on the scene immediately showed envy in their eyes. The thin-lipped woman's mouth was sour and she said, "I also know about this. Last time I went to Mei Hua's house, I smelled the aroma of the stew from afar. San Wang was there too, he said they were stewing mountain chicken at home. Since Xu Erniang treats your family so well and always supports you, you must have benefited a lot from it?"

  Xu Erjia shook her head innocently and said, "How could that be? That's something the young lady from the other family bought for my third brother's household. How could my sister-in-law possibly take it out to give to someone?"

  "Hum, people's hearts are separated by a thin skin. Your family's third brother is really not doing things properly. We outsiders can just give up, but how come even your own brothers' household doesn't take care of you?"

  After some deliberation, one of the women wearing a green dress said, "Since those things were bought by someone's daughter with her own money, it's not right for Xu Sanjia's wife to take charge here. Besides, as far as I know, every time they made something good, they never forgot to give a share to Da Weiye and his wife. Just what I know, didn't Xu Erjie's family often 'owe' them a lot?"

  The atmosphere on the scene was slightly frozen, and the silly smile on Xu Erjia's face also couldn't hold up, and he rubbed his hands a little uncomfortably. The thin-lipped woman said, "It's just in time. It's not like we're eating at Xu Sanjia's house. That's for Lai Fu's grandfather and grandmother!"

  "What's the point of arguing about this? They're just themselves, and they have nothing to do with us. Oh right, Aunt Li, tell me more about that holy girl, did she really come from heaven?"

  "No way! I heard Winter's father say that the Holy Maiden is incredibly powerful, and during the Wind Pheasant Country Emperor's ceremony to worship Heaven, she directly descended from the sky..."

  It was clear what those women were discussing. But Zuo Xiao Yao had never bothered to keep track, no matter how far this small mountain village was from the bustling city, the customs were very simple and honest, but people who liked to meddle in other people's business were nowhere to be found, let alone gossip, or rather, being interested in other people's affairs, it could almost be said that it was human nature, this point would not change much due to the richness or poverty of living environment.

  Seeing Zuo Xiaoyao walking into the courtyard with a thoughtful expression, Fang Shi, who was sitting outside the kitchen door picking vegetables, smiled and said, "Sister, you're back early today, I haven't even had time to cook yet?"

  "Sister-in-law, don't worry too much. I'm not hungry yet, I've already eaten something in town. This is a rice cake that I bought on the way back, sister-in-law, take it and keep it well. When Da Wei and the others come back, we'll share it together!"

  "Alas! You've spent money on these things again, they're so expensive! We mountain folks are content with just having something to eat, how can we afford such luxurious items? Just put them away for now, sister, and save them for when you want to indulge!"

  "It's alright, sister-in-law knows, I'm full after eating my meal, so I won't eat anything else. Anyway, this isn't something precious, it was just bought to treat everyone for the new year!"

  Smiling, she stuffed the paper package tied with a string into Fang's hand and then walked into this newly decorated room. Fortunately, although Xu's family was poor, there were three bedrooms. After Zuo Xiao Yao moved in, 13-year-old Xu Da Wei moved to his younger brother and sister's room to sleep, so this room became hers.

  The prices here are not high, and that one pure silver hairpin was worth two taels of silver, which is enough for Xu Shi to buy a set of clothes for Zuo Xiao Yao, and she also bought some fabric and made two sets of spare clothes for Zuo Xiao Yao herself. The remaining money was enough for her to buy a set of bedding, so there's no need to use that patchwork quilt cover anymore.

  Although she didn't have high material demands, growing up in a modern society with an abundance of material wealth, Zuo Xiao Yao had never truly experienced such poverty. Under circumstances that allowed it, she still hoped to live a better life. Moreover, due to her inability to summon spiritual energy, even if she persisted in cultivating every day, she was now unable to achieve the state of "bigu" (a state where one can survive without food or water for an extended period). She needed at least two meals a day and felt especially hungry after expending too much energy while practicing martial arts. Although her cultivation was still intact and she could freely manipulate spiritual energy, even as a foundation-building stage cultivator, she couldn't completely achieve the state of "bigu", at most only being able to go without food for ten days or half a month without feeling any discomfort.

  Although she didn't want to eat too much grain, when she was preparing to go to the Sahara Desert, her cultivation only showed that she couldn't refine liquid and had prepared a lot of water and fruit by hand, but the quantity was limited after all, far from enough for three months of consumption. Now there's only a pile of cores left, and she can only reluctantly give in. Who made her not want to eat that kind of thing, a single pellet that could last a month without hunger, the Refining Pellet.

  Of course, in order to treat everyone equally, Zuo Xiao Yao didn't give herself any special treatment, so the Xu San Yi family also got to "luxuriate" for a while. Later, after secretly selling three things in town, apart from the few men's long gowns she bought for herself and the expenses at the tea houses and taverns, most of the remaining money was spent on buying books. The popular books on the mainland were mainly paper-based, but the quality of the paper was not very good, apparently due to the relatively low level of paper-making technology. So the price of paper wasn't too expensive, but the price of books was quite pricey, supposedly because the cost of printing books was too high.

  Because books are the most effective way to help her quickly understand this world, Zuo Xiaoyao buys some books about the local conditions and customs as well as history and culture of the Wind Continent every time she goes to town. Although she also wants to understand some news related to the Thunder Continent, she rarely gets satisfaction, and wherever it is mentioned, it is simply a brief mention.

  Back in the room, although she took out a book from her storage bag as usual, Zuo Xiao Yao was somewhat distracted. Today, when she went to town, all she heard were whispers about the "Holy Girl". This news was both surprising and attention-grabbing for this remote small town. However, the truth had long been old news. It was said that more than three months ago, during a ceremony at the Heavenly Court on Mount Tian Kun, where the Emperor of Feng Yun Country, adjacent to Liu He Kou Village in Feng Luan Country, was worshiping heaven, a woman suddenly descended from the sky, surrounded by layers of fiery red light. According to the Great Master, it was the Holy Girl descending into the world, a great auspicious sign!

  What happened afterwards was very melodramatic in Zuo Xiao's eyes, but it caused a great stir throughout the Fengyun country. The woman who descended from heaven was soon conferred the title of Jing'en Holy Maiden, and then a huge amount of wealth and manpower were spent to build her a magnificent and exquisite palace at the fastest speed possible. Countless people spoke of it with longing in their hearts. Although many people envied her and wished they could take her place, even more people were deeply reverent and respectful, hoping that they could become one of the attendants serving the Holy Maiden and gain some blessings by association!

  The dog's blood returns to the dog, but it doesn't affect Xue Ya's excitement in her heart. From a temporal perspective and the scene where she appeared out of thin air, she is more convinced than ever that the 'Holy Girl' might be Qin Liangyu. Unfortunately, due to the Holy Girl's identity being too prominent, enough to make people here feel jealous upon hearing it, no one knows her real name, and at the same time, no one cares about this topic.

  Although I wanted to go to Fengyuan country in person, the distance between Fengyun country and Fengyuan country is thousands of miles. From Liugangkou village, it takes at least two months to reach the capital of Fengyun country. This is also why the news that caused a sensation throughout the entire Fengxing continent three months ago has only just started to be discussed in this town.

  The journey is long and time-consuming, so it's impossible to guarantee safety on the road. Or rather, it's uncertain whether any accidents will occur along the way. With her current level of martial arts skills, which aren't even half-baked, Left Xiaoyao's rational thinking tells her that she must wait a bit longer. No matter if the woman is or isn't Qin Liangyu, from the rumors about her appearance being accompanied by red light and her ability to 'summon wind and rain', Left Xiaoyao is quite certain that the other party shouldn't have encountered the same experiences as herself. In this case, recklessly sending herself over might not necessarily lead to a reunion of old friends; it's possible that she'll even put her own life and safety at risk.

  Here, people's dining habits are two meals a day, namely upper and lower meals. The time of the lower meal is basically when people return home from work at sunset. Zuo Xiaoyao usually doesn't eat the upper meal at Xu San's house, but she has never missed the lower meal. After all, since she lives in someone else's home, it would be unreasonable if she never eats at home.

  Perhaps because she returned early today, when Mr. Xu and his sons came home, Mrs. Fang had already prepared dinner. During the meal, Zuo XiaoYao clearly felt that Mr. Xu and his sons repeatedly stole glances at her with a thoughtful expression, their faces more cautious than usual, especially when speaking to Zuo XiaoYao, this situation was even more apparent. After all, they would also talk about daily matters during meals in the past, and had necessary communication, which made it possible for her, an outsider, to get along with the Xu family without being too awkward.

  It's indeed a bit unusual today, although she was thinking to herself, Zuo Xiao Yao decided to ask proactively, and neither of the Xu San father-son duo were good at hiding things.

  As expected, she didn't have to wait for too long. Shortly after Zuo Xiao Yao got up and returned to her room, she 'heard' Xu San say to Fang Shi, who was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen: "Really, I heard that the situation is similar to when the Xiao family's daughter suddenly fell from the sky, except that the 'holy girl' had a red glow around her, while Xiao Yao had a black glow. I don't know if there's any difference between them. Do you think Xiao Yao could also be a 'holy girl'?"

  "How did you come up with so many saints? Don't talk nonsense, Xiao Jia's daughter is also a heavenly being. You didn't tell Mei Wu, did you? Look at Xiao Jia's daughter, she's always busy with something. We've received kindness from her family, we can't bring trouble to her!"

  As soon as he heard Xu San mention the 'Holy Girl', Fang Shi subconsciously stopped his movements, and when he heard Xu San's speculation, he immediately spoke in a serious tone with a very solemn expression.

  But Xu San didn't take it to heart, and with a somewhat arrogant smile said "Of course! I definitely won't go around talking about this carelessly. Da Wei was so excited that he almost let the cat out of the bag, but fortunately I stopped him in time. Who knows if this is good or bad luck? Xiao Jie is a kind person, just like you said. If we bring her any trouble, it would be unfair to her. I've also warned Da Wei not to go around talking about this carelessly outside, maybe at the time we were seeing things."

  After a slight pause, Xu Sancai continued with some expectation, "If she is indeed the holy girl from heaven, then..."

  "We can't just talk nonsense outside, Xiao Jie originally wanted to live with us because she looked up to us, and besides, she helped our whole family have a good life. Speaking of this, I get angry, the second household always thinks that Xiao Jie gave us so much money, not only does he encourage Dawei to say in front of me 'Second brother wants to do some small business, lacks capital, let's help out', and also says outside that we are taking advantage of Xiao Jie's kindness, letting them have no good fortune. When we asked the doctor to take a look at Xiao Jie's family and our household didn't have enough money, thinking of borrowing from her, how was it..."

  As soon as she heard the couple start talking about their family affairs, Zuo Xiaoyao withdrew her spiritual awareness. It turned out that Xu San and his son had witnessed how she came to this world with their own eyes, not just like what Fang Shi said, finding her fainting by the riverbank and then bringing her back home.

  But at this time, after knowing the truth, Zuo Xiao Yao not only didn't feel displeased but instead felt even more grateful for the family's caution and Fang Shi's astuteness. Otherwise, as a mysterious outsider who had suddenly appeared in this time and space, if she couldn't obtain the protection of the local master like that person from Feng Luan country who had seized the opportunity at the right moment, her fate would not be too wonderful. After all, the principle "what is contrary to normal is demonic" applies everywhere!

  It seems there are many people hoping to return to modern times, I'll reconsider it again!