Chapter 10: Beggar

He tried to stand up, but found his right leg completely numb, as if it were broken; his face changed drastically, and he immediately saw the clothes on his body, with his mouth twitching.

It was a light gray garment, similar to a beggar's clothes, with holes of various sizes all over it; the larger holes had been simply patched with strips of different-colored cloth.

The beggar's outfit was completely filthy, and on his feet were a pair of torn straw sandals; without a mirror, Su Chen knew his face couldn't be any better—it was surely covered in black mud.

"System, is this the so-called first-time protection?" Su Chen couldn't help but ask the system in his mind with a hint of annoyance.

However, he received no reply from the system; instead, a few surprised childish voices came from afar.

"Huh, why is there a beggar here?"

"Haha, smelly beggar"

Five children aged between five and eight discovered Su Chen; they ran over, surprised and excited, chattering about him as they went.

Several children approached Su Chen and began asking him questions all at once.

"Hey, smelly beggar, where did you come from?"

Su Chen frowned slightly; he had no time to deal with these children, instead pondering why he had been transmigrated here—he had come to become stronger and to bring back some cultivation techniques and resources for Blue Star.

Seeing Su Chen ignore them, the children looked at each other, some at a loss.

One slightly taller child, his face showing some anger, stepped forward and kicked Su Chen's leg directly.

Although the child was young, his strike was indeed extremely vicious, clearly using all his strength.

Su Chen couldn't dodge; he instantly felt a sharp pain in his leg, coldly glared at the child, braced his hands on the ground, and tried to stand up.

The child was clearly startled by Su Chen's icy gaze; seeing Su Chen about to rise, he panicked and ran backward, shouting, "The beggar is going to hit someone! The beggar is going to hit someone!"

The other children, seeing this, also scattered in a hurry.

Su Chen naturally wouldn't quarrel with the children, nor could he really strike them; his goal was simply to make that child leave.

He was concentrating on why the system had arranged this identity for him; the system said that, due to this being his first transmigration, it had granted him some protection, yet giving him a beggar's identity after the transmigration seemed extremely strange, but this appeared to be the best solution in the system.

Just as Su Chen was deep in thought, those children returned again, holding rotten vegetable leaves, small twigs, and the like.

Su Chen immediately sensed something was wrong, but his right leg remained numb while his left leg shot with pain, making any attempt to stand up futile.

"Smelly beggar, go die!"

"Dead beggar, let you scare people"

……

The children cursed and mocked, throwing the rotten, foul-smelling vegetable leaves in their hands at Su Chen; he struggled to dodge his upper body, but still got hit by some leaves.

Su Chen's eyes grew icier; he was about to teach those children a lesson—although his legs couldn't move, his first-layer Condense Qi cultivation was genuine.

Just as he was about to act, a woman in her twenties with an ordinary appearance, leading a boy about five or six years old, came running toward them.

Seeing this, the woman immediately scolded the children: "How can you bully someone? Hurry home, or I'll tell your parents!"

The children, upon seeing the woman and wanting to tattle to their parents, scattered in an instant.

Seeing this, Su Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief,

and the woman walked to about a zhang away from Su Chen, then apologized: "Sorry, they're just children who don't know better; please don't take it to heart."

Su Chen raised his head to look at her, then shifted his gaze to the curious boy staring at him, gave a slight nod, and said nothing.

The woman seemed to have thought of something, gave Su Chen a slight nod, and hastily pulled the child away.

About half an incense stick's time later, Su Chen leaned on the haystack behind him with both hands and stood up.

At that moment, the woman hurried over to Su Chen's side again; behind her followed a plain-looking but extremely honest man, who was holding the child and gave Su Chen a smile.

The woman held two steamed corn buns, stepped forward and handed them to Su Chen, a little embarrassed as she said: "At home, this is all we have left; if you don't mind, please eat them."

While Su Chen was still dazed, the woman and her two companions chatted and laughed as they turned to leave.

Su Chen hesitated a moment, then, with a slightly hoarse voice, said: "Thank you; may I know your names?"

Hearing this, both turned back and smiled at Su Chen; the honest man, seemingly not good with words, looked at the woman. She pretended not to notice and said: "This is my husband Zhao Lin, and my son Zhao Xin,"

While speaking, she affectionately glanced at the child; the boy's name had been given by a teacher, who said he lacked metal in the Five Elements; as for my name, it's not pleasant to hear, my surname is Li…

Having said that, she felt a bit embarrassed, turned her head, smiled at Su Chen, and left.

Su Chen looked at the steamed corn bun in his hand, and a strange feeling rose in his heart.

Although it was only a brief moment, Su Chen clearly saw the clothes on the woman and the man.

Although their clothes looked cleaner and neater than Su Chen's, the patched areas were no fewer than his, which sufficiently showed their hardship.

Yet they were still willing to share their meager food with him; he watched the trio's receding figures, dazed for a long while. After a long time, he came to, sat back down on the ground, and took a bite of the steamed corn bun.

……

After an hour, an elderly man about sixty years old arrived; his hair was white, yet he was spirited, looking like a transcendent expert.

However, he hunched his body, constantly scanning the village children; he held a bronze mirror, flashing it toward each child in turn, then shook his head helplessly each time, looking quite disappointed.

The old man's strange appearance frightened many children into retreating repeatedly, causing his transcendent aura to vanish completely and even adding a hint of lecherousness.

On his left side stood a graceful maiden in a plain long dress, about fourteen years old; her eyes shone with liveliness, and a few freckles on her right cheek added a touch of playfulness.

The maiden, seeing the old man like that, also blushed, secretly tugged at him a few times; noticing he didn't notice, she let go of his hand, stamped her feet hard on the spot, and seeing he still walked forward unaware, she immediately hurried after him, fuming.