Chapter 6 (1/2)

Locating at the east end of Feiyun Village, the cottage where Lin Xun stayed for now had three rooms and a sturdy weeping willow in the courtyard. It was abandoned for years.

A thick growth of weeds covered the vegetable field on each side.

It was his first real house since he arrived at Ziyao Empire. He had planned to clean it up and make some necessary repairs first thing tomorrow.

The next morning when he opened the door, he never expected to see dozens of villagers gathering in his courtyard.

More surprisingly, most people had something in their hands, such as pheasants and hares, pots and pans. Some were weeding in the courtyard, while some stronger men were repairing the roof and walls.

Everyone was busy with something. No matter what they were doing, they voluntarily kept their voices down, as if they feared to disturb someone.

Lin Xun looked thoughtful, and then a faint smile stole over his face, seemingly he had figured out the reasons.

“Look, Brother Lin is up!”

“Fuck. I told you to keep quiet, Old Yang. Now you wake him up. Look what you have done!”

“Excuse me? How dare you blame me for this? You are the one hammering the roof. A dead pig would be awakened by you, let alone Brother Lin.”

Seeing Lin Xun, the villagers stopped whatever they were doing and rushed to him in an attempt to take up a good position.

“Uh, what is this all about?”

Taken aback by their hospitalities, Lin Xun promptly asked.

“Brother Lin, we saw you wipe out the pests in Tieshan’s spiritual land yesterday. That was truly amazing, and we were impressed…”

A burly man came out of the crowd and grinned.

Whereas a middle-aged woman interrupted him, “Cut the crap! Don’t you see Brother Lin is not interested?”

Then she looked at Lin Xun with a great smile, “Brother Lin, we all see you as one of us now. We worried it was not easy to live all by yourself, so we brought you some daily supplies.”

Other villagers nodded instantly, “Mrs. Liu is right. That’s what we are going to say. She really knows how to chat.”

Lin Xun gave out a sincere smile on his pale thin face, and cupped one hand in the other, thanking them all.

After this, the villagers continued to clean the courtyard and arrange furniture and household articles for him.

Lin Xun wanted to help but was stopped by Mrs. Liu. She brought some hot water for him to wash at first, and then served him a bowl of spiritual grain porridge and a large portion of salted beast meat as breakfast.

As he couldn’t bear to reject her hospitality, Lin Xun kindly accepted. He even called her Aunt Qiao instead of Mrs. Liu after some small talk, making her beam with delight.

When he finished the breakfast, the shabby cottage was renewed. The ground was paved with slates, smooth and clean. The vegetable field was ploughed up and sowed with spiritual seeds.

A thick layer of golden straw was laid over the roof, shining in the morning light.

Pots and pans were placed orderly in the kitchen, and beast meat and other game were hung on the walls.

Not until now was the cottage cozy enough for living.

Lin Xun looked at it with a smile, feeling somehow moved by the rustic and zealous gestures that he had never experienced.