Chapter 254: Good Times Do Not Last

The steward was so frightened his face turned completely white; he prepared to step forward and cover Xu Chen's mouth, but discovered his hands were covered in cow dung, so he could only hurriedly hunch over and whisper subserviently: "Little ancestor, I beg you, absolutely do not shout out loud!"

Xu Chen raised an eyebrow and said: "Originally I didn't want to say it either, but don't you keep thinking about bullying us every day. From today on, you are not allowed to hit my younger sister again, otherwise I will spill all these things out and let you suffer the consequences too!"

"Eh, alright, alright, as long as you guarantee not to talk nonsense, I won't hit or scold you two in the future. Besides, you can just pick one basket of dung each day!"

"Anything else?"

"And... and I will also double your daily meals, so your younger sister can also eat her fill!"

"That's more like it!" Xu Chen nodded with satisfaction, then shouldered his dung basket, took the little girl by the hand, and with his head held high like a victorious general, he limped over to open the cow pen, let out a few cows, and then drove the herd of cows away from the courtyard with a "giddy-up."

"How does this little brat know everything..."

Once Xu Chen had driven the herd away, the steward wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and growled in a low voice, but he soon realized his face was smeared with cow dung. He immediately became frantic and used his clothes to wipe it, only to get cow dung all over his clothes as well, and in the end, he could only jump up and down cursing like a manic patient as he left.

This was a very small rural town.

It had only a hundred or so households in total.

It was situated in a fairly flat valley, with a small river, and there were farmland on both sides of the river.

Behind the small town were rolling mountains.

Most people in the town were very poor, living in thatched huts; the only few brick-and-tile houses were the residences of the town's few wealthy families and the town officials.

Xu Chen could not remember how he came to this place; it seemed that from the time he could remember, he had been begging in the town, growing up by scrounging a bite here and a bite there. Later, when he became sensible, he was taken in by the Zhang Family to be a houseboy who herded cows and picked up dung. Although he lived in a cow shed on a pile of hay, was barely clothed, and went hungry from time to time, he had somehow grown to the age of ten without illness or disaster.

He remembered these experiences clearly, but he could not for the life of him recall who this little girl who seemed so familiar to him was.

He could not even remember when she had appeared.

Could it be that his brain was damaged from the fight yesterday?

Xu Chen felt very confused.

"Sigh, my head might have been broken from the beating. What is your name, and how long have you been here? Why can't I remember anything?" Sitting on the grass by the small river, Xu Chen asked the little girl.

The little girl knelt beside him, helping him apply herbal medicine to his injured leg, and whispered: "I don't know my own name either, but the people in town all say I was blown here by a great wind. When I fell, even my clothes were blown away, so they all call me Feng Feiyi."

"……Feng Feiyi!"

Xu Chen racked his brains.

This name was indeed vaguely familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it. It seemed like it was in a long and strange dream, but he could not match the dirty little girl before his eyes with anyone in the dream; it was as if there was a memory separated by countless lifetimes, leaving only a tiny shadow.

If the little girl hadn't said it, he would never have thought of this name.

"Right, look at my forehead. When I was blown here by the wind, it was thundering in the sky, and I got a strange scar on my forehead. If Big Brother hadn't carried me back to the cow shed, I might have died."

The little girl lifted her dirty hair, revealing a strange scar on her forehead.

It looked like a blue, twisted cross mark.

Xu Chen stared at this strange scar, a trace of confusion appearing on his face. This mark also seemed to have been seen somewhere, but no matter how he recalled, he could not remember it at all; it seemed he had also seen it in some pitch-black place in a dream.

And whenever he tried hard to recall, he would instantly feel as if countless steel needles were stabbing his soul, and he would be in such pain that his face twisted and his whole body broke out in cold sweat.

Sigh, forget it, I won't think about it. Better to finish herding the cows and pick up more cow dung.

After all, he didn't dare to spread the steward's business everywhere; at most, he could use it to scare him once. Because if it were spread, while the steward might have his legs broken and be driven out of the Zhang Family, he himself would definitely not be able to stay in the Zhang Family or even the town. After all, such a matter had too many implications.

The so-called family scandal should not be made public; the Zhang Family would definitely not want their reputation ruined. If they reported to the authorities that he was slandering them, he feared he would be the first to suffer.

Although Xu Chen was young, his life of loneliness since childhood had fostered a unique way of thinking about survival: try not to cause trouble for himself.

In the entire Qinghe Town, there were only a few wealthy families that could keep him alive, and each family had its own group of servants and houseboys. Every position was filled; after leaving the Zhang Family, it would certainly not be easy to find a better master.

As for this little girl whose origin he couldn't remember at all and who didn't even know her own background, for now, he could only keep her by his side and rely on each other for survival.

And at the thought of relying on each other, Xu Chen suddenly felt a sense of warmth and being moved.

He had been an orphan since he was little, and now that he suddenly had a younger sister, it gave him an inexplicable feeling of having suddenly grown up. It seemed he should hold up a piece of the sky for this strange younger sister, so they could live well together in the future.

Therefore, he touched the little girl's dirty hair and said: "Feiyi, from now on you will follow your big brother, but don't be foolish and provoke the steward like you just did."

The little girl gave a soft, weak "oh," then scrambled up and said: "Big Brother, you sit here and rest for a while, I'll go pick up the dung!"

Xu Chen also climbed up and said: "Let's go together, there might be wolves nearby!"

And so, the two dirty children, carrying dung baskets half their height, wandered around the riverbank and the foot of the mountain, herding cows and picking up dung. Xiaobai the little fox followed them, jumping and playing everywhere, occasionally catching butterflies and dragonflies, its giggles and laughter ringing through the mountains and fields.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and Xu Chen's headache had improved a lot.

The steward also seemed very quiet; not only did he not come to scold him again, he really gave an extra portion of food every day, and sometimes even gave a few spoonfuls of meat broth.

Xu Chen and the little girl continued to herd cows and pick up dung from early morning until late at night, and at night they would curl up together in the hay of the cow shed, hugging the little fox to sleep, watching the moon and counting the stars through the big hole in the shed roof. Life was actually peaceful and full of joy.

However, every night Xu Chen would have some incredible dreams.

Either he was cultivating to become an immortal on a mountain where no human tracks were found, or he was stepping on a Flying Sword, chasing and killing all kinds of strange black Demon Beasts across the sky.

Occasionally, in his dreams, he would go down the mountain with some senior brothers and sisters to travel, searching for all kinds of immortal herbs and Spirit Medicine to refine Spirit Pills in a large furnace.

Of course, the name Feng Feiyi would also appear, and there was also a senior sister named Zhao Xuan, a female cultivator named Lan You, and occasionally a long-legged woman with a pair of blood-red wings.

But no matter what the dream was, once he woke up, it would all vanish like smoke, and he could remember almost nothing, leaving only a tiny bit of vague memory, which then slowly turned into a blank slate.

The life of herding cows and picking up dung was plain and simple.

But with the little girl by his side day and night, Xu Chen felt his life had become fulfilling and happy.

The half-grown boys from the wealthy families in town would always mock them or even throw stones at them whenever they saw the two of them.

Naturally, Xu Chen would not indulge them; he would fight back with clods of earth or even cow dung. The little girl was even braver than him, always rushing to the front to block for Xu Chen, like a little beast protecting its master, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws as she charged forward to scratch and claw.

However, they were all just a bunch of children. The children of the so-called wealthy families in the town also spent their days rolling around in mud pits like wild children, and the adults didn't care much. The people in town were all familiar with each other, and occasionally, when a group of poor children herding cows and picking up dung saw them, they would unite to fight back.

Therefore, every day both groups of children would end up with bruised noses and swollen faces.

Occasionally, when these children from wealthy families were beaten and cried, and went back to complain, Xu Chen and the others would at most be scolded or given a few whacks with a stick, but the next day when they met, they would roll up their sleeves and get to work just the same.

In short, this was a conflict between two children from completely different social classes that began in childhood, and as they slowly grew up, they would turn into the master-servant relationship between employer and employee.

In the end, it was still these poor wretches who suffered, beaten from childhood to adulthood, destined to be beasts of burden for their whole lives.

Xu Chen had originally thought his life would just be like this, to settle down and be a hired hand for the Zhang Family for his whole life, herding cows, picking up dung, farming, and driving horses. If he were diligent enough, maybe the Zhang Family would even help arrange a marriage with some dark and thin little maid, and they would have children, and the next generation would continue to be beasts of burden just to get enough to eat.

But good times do not last.

It was raining and thundering that day, and several cows were startled and scattered; Xu Chen and the little girl had no choice but to separate and search everywhere. By the time he drove the cows he could find back to the cowshed, the rain was already pouring down in buckets, but the little girl had yet to return, and two cows were also nowhere to be seen.

Xu Chen immediately became anxious; he had originally instructed the little girl to drive two cows back ahead of him.

Now he had arrived home, and the little girl still hadn't returned.

Therefore, Xu Chen had no choice but to brave the heavy rain and go out to look for her, but after searching for over an hour, he hadn't found her even when the rain stopped.

Upon learning that two cows were lost, the head of the household flew into a rage; while arranging for everyone to go out and search, he had people tie Xu Chen up, beat him severely, and then drive him out to continue the search.

Soon it was evening, and the sun was about to set.

Qinghe Town was not large, and Xu Chen had asked everyone inside and outside the entire town several times, but no one had seen her.

Just as he was full of worry and at his wit's end, a cowherd he was on good terms with ran over to tell him that before the rain started, he seemed to have seen Feng Feiyi chasing two cows into the mountains.

Xu Chen was greatly alarmed, and disregarding the danger, he hurriedly chased into the mountains in the direction the cowherd had pointed out.

(End of this chapter)