When Cao Ran woke up, it was already dawn, and the bonfire next to him was still smoking, but there was no figure of the man from last night.

I came to the river that I passed by last night, freshened up, and washed the man's green silk handkerchief by the way.

Although she escaped, she was not familiar with Qiongdu, so she had to return along the river first.

Cao Ran was braving the scorching sun, thinking about where he was going, when the sound of horses' hooves came from behind him. I saw five or six black-clothed masked men riding fast horses, and the longbows in their hands shot at the white-clothed men in front of them one after another, and the rain of arrows swept the strong wind and fell to the ground, and the stones splashed.

The man in white was as light as a swallow, fluttering like a god, and the horse was not in a hurry.

Before Cao Ran could react, a sharp arrow suddenly shot at her chest.

In a trance, I only felt that the long arrow was whistling away, passing through the neck with a cold wind, and the man in white gently grabbed Cao Ran's waist and took her to fly more than ten meters.

"Stand still!" The man let go of Cao Ran, his voice was strong, his tone was calm, he had a silver mask on his face, only his thin lips were exposed, and his expression could not be seen clearly, but it did not look like he was being chased and killed at all.

He stomped on his left foot, and several stones flew up under his feet, and before the long sword came out, the scabbard waved, and the stones were like sharp swords with eyes, shooting down the rain of arrows coming from the opposite side and turning to the man in black on the horse. The men in black fell off their horses in pain, and the horses were frightened and neighed wildly.

The man in white stretched out his hand and gently took it, and the two stepped on the horses and galloped away in an instant.

Throwing off the man in black behind him, the two dismounted, and the man hit the horse with his scabbard, and the horse screamed in pain and galloped.

Cao Ran was shocked, the pestle was stunned in place, and the man in white, who had walked out more than ten meters, turned his back to her and said, "Don't you leave, stand there and wait for them to kill you?" ”

Cao Ran followed, twisting and turning, out of the forest.

The man stopped, turned to Cao Ran and said, "They can't catch up, don't follow me anymore." Then he walked on.

Cao Ran hurriedly chased after him, "Hey, you can't just leave." ”

The man's pace slowed down, and he said in a faint tone: "What else do you want." ”

Cao Ran cleared her throat vigorously, "They were brought in by you, and I almost lost my life, you can't leave me here, you have to send me home." ”

The man turned around suddenly, staring at Cao Ran, she lowered her head and bumped into her arms unexpectedly.

"You were originally in this barren mountain and wilderness, I saved you when you were in danger, and you didn't thank me for relying on me, what is the reason?"

Cao Ran was hit two steps on her hind legs, she was stunned at first, and then found out for a moment what kind of crooked reasoning this was, obviously he attracted a group of people to chase and kill, otherwise she still had a direction along the river, and now she didn't know the direction in this forest.

shouted at the white shadow in the distance, "I need you!" After a pause, he continued: "I need you to send me home, since you saved me, you can't let me starve to death here alone, I ...... I'm lost. ”

The white shadow stopped, his long posture was long, and when he turned his head sideways, he could only see half of the mask, and said, "Wait here for a while, don't walk around." ”

Soon, the man rode a fast horse that had just been released and appeared in front of him, and the two quickly found Weijia Village according to Cao Ran's memory description.

Cao Ran dismounted outside the village, and the heart that had been worried about looking at home in front of him finally stabilized, and said gratefully: "Thank you for saving my son today, my name is Cao Ran, if I have a fate in the future, I will definitely repay my son's kindness." ”

The man rode away, leaving a faint sentence: "No need." ”

Before Cao Ran walked into the house, she heard a group of people in the courtyard arguing: "That stinky girl set fire to a house in the house last night, if you don't hand her over, don't blame me for burning your broken house with a shake of my hand!" The person who spoke was Mama Xu from the Feng Mansion, and Mama Xu took a few family members and threw them into the room with a freshly lit firearm in her hand.

Aunt Wei pulled Chu Bo's arm and was anxiously at a loss, Chu Bo dragged his limping ankle and said angrily: "Your Feng Mansion is too deceitful, yesterday you forcibly took my daughter to be a maid, and today you came to ask for someone, Ran'er's life and death are uncertain, and you want to frame her for setting fire to Feng Mansion's house, don't you think!" Chu Bo's angry muscles burst out.

Seeing this, Cao Ran immediately ran over to support Chu Bo, "Dad, are you okay?" ”

"Ran'er, let's go, leave us alone." Chu Bo was a little surprised to see Cao Ran come back suddenly.

"The stinky girl dared to run away and tied her up for me!" Mama Xu waved her hands to summon the family behind her.

Chu Bo and Aunt Wei protected Cao Ran behind them. Seeing this, Mama Xu roared: "Call me, she has signed the deed of sale." As he spoke, he took out a contract from his arms, and several family members forced Cao Ran to press his handprint on the contract.

Cao Ran saw that Chu Bo and Aunt Wei had suffered a lot for themselves, and couldn't bear to let them be hurt again, so she tried her best to protect Chu Bo, who was being punched and kicked by the family, and convulsed, "Don't fight, I'll go with you, I'll go to be a maid, please don't fight again!" ”

When the family heard this, he stopped his fists and kicks, and Cao Ran helped Chu Bo and Aunt Wei up, "It's Ran'er who is unfilial and makes the second elder suffer, and my father and mother don't take any more risks for me." Aunt Wei had already burst into tears, "Child, we are sorry for you." The family choked up and was torn apart, and Cao Ran was taken into Cao's mansion again late at night and locked up in the firewood room again.

This night, Cao Ran was no longer afraid of this dark firewood room, but was thinking more about Yuxiu, who was locked up in the firewood room with her yesterday, whether she saved her or harmed her yesterday, and how was she okay?

The next morning, Cao Ran covered her shriveled belly and curled up in the grass to ward off the cold with what little body temperature she had. With a "bang", the door was kicked open, and the short and fat figure stabbed in the sun couldn't open his eyes, only listening to Mama Xu's voice like a broken cylinder: "If you're dead, if you're not dead, get out of here and work!" ”

Cao Ran dragged his tired and hungry body to the courtyard, and in front of him were a dozen stinking and disgusting night barrels and wooden brushes, "This is the first thing you have to do when you get up every morning, don't want to eat if you can't finish it!" The last few words Xu Mama withdrew her throat, and her voice shook people's heads buzzing.

Living in the present to know that it is not easy to survive, Cao Ran at this time deeply realized how happy it is to have food and clothing.

Cao Ran groped to find the handkerchief left by the man in the temple last night, "I can only borrow you for another use." Facing the foul-smelling night barrel, Cao Ran had already forgotten about hunger, and when she finally brushed a dozen night barrels, Cao Ran missed breakfast time, and she was already hungry without any strength.

Not far away, Mama Xu walked over with a large wooden basin of clothes, "I just finished brushing it after three poles in the morning, and I still want to eat, wash these clothes, don't want to eat if there is one piece that is not clean before noon!" Hum! ”

"If you don't give me food, I can't do it." Cao Ran seems to have exhausted all his strength, even if he hasn't eaten a good meal since he came to Fengfu two days ago to deliver food, and he has been tossing and suffering from death, where can he stand it, these few days have simply washed away his cognition of life.

Mama Xu threw a bucket of clothes in her hand in front of Cao Ran, "You think this place is for nothing to eat and drink, don't want to eat if you can't finish it!" After saying that, he didn't bother to look at it, turned around and walked away with his fat ass.

Cao Ran picked up the wooden bucket and walked weakly to the well to carry water, passing by several servants around her covered their mouths and noses and walked hurriedly, Cao Ran carried a bucket of water and walked slowly, her intuition suddenly swirled, she was dizzy and about to faint to the ground, and a pair of hands held her.

"Miss Ran'er, are you alright?" Cao Ran was in a trance and knew that it was Yuxiu's voice, and after a moment of rest, she came to her senses and saw that it was Yuxiu who was holding her with a mixture of joy and sorrow.

"I thought the girl would not escape the fire that day, but fortunately the girl is fine, otherwise I would ......" Cao Ran looked at Yuxiu and was about to cry when she was anxious, took Yuxiu's hand and smiled: "I said you would be fine, and I am alive and well, that is...... I'm just so hungry. ”

"You are the girl who saved Yuxiu? It's rare for you to be so kind-hearted. A slender and plainly dressed middle-aged woman walked out behind Yuxiu, who turned around and took out two "white fat" hot steamed buns from the food box in the servant's hand and handed them to Cao Ran.

Yuxiu helped Cao Ran up and calmed down her emotions, "This is Madame." ”

Cao Ran took the white steamed bun in his wife's hand, thanked his wife, and then devoured it.

"Eat slowly, don't choke, you can come to me if you have trouble in the house in the future." Madame has slender hands, dressed plainly but solemnly, and her elegant dress cannot hide her beautiful temperament.

For the next half a month, Cao Ran spent all the time in the firewood room, although it was cold in the firewood room, Yuxiu secretly sent her a futon to get by. In order to have a satisfying breakfast every day, Cao Ran's skills in brushing the night bucket have improved rapidly, because the stench of the night bucket on her body is at least two battles away from her.

Half a month later, Cao Ran really couldn't stand the stench on her body, and thought that she must find a way to clean herself.

After some thought, Cao Ran remembered that there was a clear pond behind the rockery that he had taken refuge in that night, although the clear pond was not big, but the pool trickled through the rockery, forming a beautiful flowing water, and the water quality was clear and should be the living water introduced from outside the house. It should not be discovered until no one sneaks over to wash at night, and the stench of day after day makes her idea more and more firm!

On this day, the sky hung with a half round of full moon, and the house had already turned off the lights and went to bed late at night, Cao Ran slipped to the clear pond behind the rockery like a thief in the faint moonlight, looked around to confirm that no one found it, and slowly took off his coat and went into the water, Cao Ran did not dare to go deep into the water, and stopped at the position where the water reached his waist. The pool water in the middle of the night is not as cold as imagined, but the skin exposed outside the water is cold, and I can't help but go straight to the body, and the smooth water is slicing through the skin, this refreshing and clean feeling is really nostalgic.

Cao Ran washed all over the skin, and after a wash, he finally remembered that he should pay attention to the action slowly, worried that it would cause too much water hitting sound to be discovered by others, thinking of this, he suddenly turned around and looked around, and suddenly turned around and saw a figure standing on the rockery behind him, dressed in white, with the corners of his clothes fluttering, and he couldn't see his demeanor.

Cao Ran was so frightened that her feet slipped and she sat down in the pool, "Ah! ......", Cao Ran didn't have time to call for help, a pair of hands that were colder than the pool water were on her lips, her waist was gently surrounded by inexplicable arms, and the whole person had already left the water, and a familiar voice came from her ears, "If you don't want to be looked at by others, shut up." ”

On the shore behind the rockery, the man in white held the wet Cao Ran, who had just been rescued from the water, in his arms, "What, I'm lost again?" The man's tone was flat, and the moonlight reflected the silver mask, and his expression could not be seen.

Cao Ran came to his senses, hurriedly ran to the shore to get dressed, took two steps towards the man angrily, and said sharply: "Hooligans! I thought you were a gentleman last time you saved me, but today you actually peeked at me taking a bath here, nasty! ”。

The man's tone was unhurried, "I was passing by, and I saw you sneaking around late at night thinking that you were looking for a short meeting, but I didn't expect to take off your clothes on the shore, hehe." ”

Cao Ran's face was red, "Then you can secretly watch behind others, you should avoid it!" ”

The man looked at the woman opposite inexplicably, and took two steps forward, "I was about to leave, it was you who fell into the water, I rescued you, I saved you, you didn't thank me, and scolded me for being lewd!" ”。

"I..., if you don't stand behind me and peek, can I fall into the water in fear! You saw me in the shower and immediately turned away, why did you watch it for so long, it's obscene! ”

The corners of the man's mouth were lightly raised, and he glanced at Cao Ran casually and sneered: "I've seen it, it's light and tasteless!" With that, he turned around and disappeared.

Cao Ran wanted to take advantage of the fact that no one had been washing off the stench on his body for half a month in the middle of the night, but he didn't expect such an embarrassing thing to happen.

After a night of analysis, I concluded that I still didn't think it through enough, but fortunately, it was not discovered by the people in the house.