A northerly wind blows in the oak woods, and the assassin's body will rot away with the fallen leaves in the forest next spring when the snow melts, turning into a handful of fertile dirt, and perhaps before that time it will be eaten clean by the hungry forest beasts, and even the bones will be taken back into their nests.

Surdak rode his horse through the mountains for most of the day, until he was sure that there was no stalker behind him, and then he found the trail that led to the outside of the mountain pass, and made his way through the snow.

The distance, which could have been covered in a day, was not until late at night, when Surdak had crossed the mountain pass.

Standing at the pass of the mountain, Surdak could clearly see the jungle of crosses on the top of the mountain, the bones of the robbers and their torn clothes swaying in the north wind.

It wasn't until the village of Wall, hidden in the ravine, appeared in Surdak's sight that a warm current suddenly flowed through his body.

The village of Wall was quiet on a snowy night, the dead tree at the entrance of the village was whining in the wind, the whistling sound was mixed with the clanging of wooden planks, many footprints were left under the dead trees, and a long snow wall, castle and snow slide were piled up in the open space next to the dead trees. Many of the houses are dark, and the people of the village are used to going to bed early in the winter.

The native dogs of the village spotted the stranger and let out a series of barks, but when they rushed out of the village in groups, and saw the familiar figure in the snow, they became flattering and lowered their heads, wagged their tails, and leaned over with broken steps, and let out a soft whimper from their mouths, and the ham, frozen fish, and frozen meat that Surdak had brought back would not be thrown to them casually.

Greeted into the village by a group of village dogs, the ravine was covered with a thick layer of snow, Surdak looked up, a semicircular embankment appeared in the upper reaches of the ravine, the first-class reservoir was completed before the winter as scheduled, Surdak led the horse along the road in the village, when passing the village central square, twenty carriages were neatly parked next to the carpentry workshop, the snow at the entrance of the carpentry workshop was swept clean, it seems that in winter, this workshop still did not stop, Through the wooden fence, you can see the unfinished waterwheel inside the workshop.

The house where Selena lived was also pitch black, and there were three snowmen piled up at the door, and the tallest snowman among them also had a shield made of snow and a long sword made of twigs standing next to him, Surdak stopped for a moment, and then continued to walk up, and walked to the front of his yard, Surdak saw the newly built red thatched cowshed through the courtyard wall, and the cow was quietly chewing in the cowshed, probably feeling the movement outside the wall, and making a low sound.

The courtyard door was locked from the inside, and Surdak easily pried open the courtyard door, led the horse in, and carried the snow-covered Guborai horse into the cowshed. Moo', expressing his dissatisfaction to Surdak, Surdak didn't pay attention to it at all, but silently unsaddled the Guborai horse, and then untied the quilt covering the horse's back and the blanket that wrapped the horse's legs one by one, brought a bucket of water from the kitchen tank to drink the horse, and picked up a large huddle of hay in the stone trough beside him, which should have been prepared by Rita for tomorrow morning, and the cow next to him protested dissatisfied.

Surdak heard the door of the main house being pushed open, and when he turned around, he saw Rita standing in the courtyard with a wooden stick in a daze, followed by Natasha in a single garment.

"Duck, how did you come back from the city of Highlandsa with such a heavy snow?"

Rita didn't think much about it at all, she directly threw away the stick in her hand, and regardless of the low temperature at night, she ran to Surdak in a single dress and gave him a big hug, Surdak even had snow on his hair and eyebrows, and the whole person was like a snow beast on a snowy mountain, his whole body was white, and he didn't know how Rita recognized himself at a glance.

Feeling a hot breath rushing up, Surdak hurriedly caught it, and then bumped into Natasha's gentle gaze standing behind.

"It's too cold outside, let's go inside and say." Surdak put his hands on Rita's tight, soft shoulders, lifted her away from his arms, and said to two women standing in the snow in single clothes.

Only then did Rita feel the cold, clasping her hands in front of her chest, covering the clear outline of her linen shirt, and her pretty face was a little red.

However, a pair of big blue eyes still asked with great concern, "What happened?" How to walk on a mountain trail in this weather? ”

The expression on her face was like that of his brother, and Surdak couldn't help but touch the top of her head.

Surdak stretched out his other hand and took Natasha and said as he walked into the house, "Nothing happened, everything is fine, a magician in the city needs to buy some sulfur mines, and I came back this time to get sulfur mines." ”

Walking into the house, Surdak finally felt a trace of warmth, Rita lit a candle in the narrow living room, the living room was still the same furnishings as before, Surdak took off his cloak, and was just about to sit down to catch his breath, when he saw the door of old Sheila's room open, and old Sheila staggered out of the room.

Surdak walked over and hugged old Sheila, who was a little weak in her legs, so she pulled Surdak to sit down on a chair by the fireplace, and ordered: "Rita, go and boil some hot water, take a hot bath to drive away the cold." ”

Then he said to Natasha, who was standing behind, "Natasha, you light the fireplace again, hang a scone, there is some chestnut rice porridge left over from last night, and Duck needs to drink some hot one." ”

The ashes in the fireplace were still a little warm, and Natasha took some wheat straw from outside to ignite some pine towers in the stove, and the flames burned at once, and hung a baked wheat cake by the stove, and hung a small pot on the fire, and the chestnut rice porridge inside quickly became hot.

Surdak rubbed his hands together and said to the tired old Sheila, "Go and rest, I'll eat something and go to bed." ”

"I'm old, I don't sleep so much, sit down and tell me about the city......" Old Sheila smiled faintly at Surdak and said slowly.

Natasha brought out a blanket for Sheila Sr. and put it on her lap, and Sheila Sr. casually asked Surdak about life in the city of Highlandsa.

"Where to stay...... I now live in the student dormitory of the Knight Academy, where the conditions are very good, a single room, and a terrace ......" Surdak said honestly, but obviously the old Sheila didn't understand what the dormitory building was, and couldn't imagine what the terrace looked like, but listening to Surdak describe the appearance of the academy in a colorful voice, the old Sheila had a faint smile in her eyes.

She seemed to think that in a few years, little Peter would probably be able to study at the Knight Academy and live in a spacious and warm dormitory, which was probably the old Sheila's greatest wish.

"The cafeteria at the college offers three meals a day, white bread and broth every day...... Surdak continues.

Very few people in the village of Wall can eat white bread, the fine wheat flour used to make white bread is very different from the whole wheat flour, you need to remove the husk and grind off the wheat bran and germ on the surface of the wheat grains, and the remaining wheat grains are carefully selected and then refined again to obtain fine wheat flour, grinding this kind of wheat flour is simply a waste of grain, no one in Wall Village will do this, but this does not mean that they don't know white bread, hearing Surdak say that the academy's cafeteria will serve broth every day, Rita next to her couldn't help but swallow.

Surdak told old Sheila about joining the Hylantha City Guard Battalion, which was an honor that Wall Village had never had, and when she heard that Surdak's life in Highlandsa City was so comfortable, Old Sheila's spirit gradually eased up, she couldn't help but feel a little sleepy, lifted the blanket and stood up slowly, she didn't want anything to happen to her body, at least not before Little Peter entered the Knight Academy.

Before going to bed, old Sheila said to Surdak: "Your house has never had a fire, it is as cold as an ice cellar, soak in a hot bath and slowly get tired, so sleep here tonight!" ”

"Okay." Surdak was hugging a small pot and eating hot chestnut rice porridge.

Rita also brought over a plate of thinly sliced raw ham, and Surdak tore off a piece of burnt and crispy scones, thinking that it was really good to eat with this kind of food.

With all this done, Rita yawned and went to bed, knowing that she needed to give Natasha and Surdak a little time.

Surdak was gobbling up scones, Natasha's eyes were extremely focused in the candlelight, she sat on a small stool beside her, her elbows were on her knees, and she was quietly watching Surdak with her chin in one hand, since the man in front of her appeared in her life, her life was constantly changing, the cold north wind no longer poured into the room through the cracks in the roof, and she didn't have to go to bed hungry every day to save a few grains all winter, and probably tomorrow spring she didn't have to go to the tidal flats to dig grass roots, The current life should be given by the goddess! What's not to be satisfied with?

After eating, Surdak got into the warm wooden barrel, the chill in his body was completely dispelled, Natasha walked in with a clean and loose linen pajamas, Surdak looked up and tried to pull Natasha's hand, but she escaped like a fawn.

Wait until Surdak has taken a hot shower, wears thin pajamas and wipes his wet hair, and returns to the living room.

Natasha poured out all the water in the barrel, otherwise the bucket would be broken by the ice when the water froze tomorrow morning.

In the living room, there was only a red charcoal fire left in the fireplace, and the most comfortable chaise longue next to it was covered with a thick quilt, and Surdak roasted the warm fire, and lay down on the chaise longue, Natasha was busy with all this, and then blew out the remaining candles in the living room, and was about to go back to the room lightly.

"Or else...... Talk to me for a while. ”

In the dimly lit living room, Surdak whispered.

Natasha stopped, her gentle face flushed slightly, but she still walked slowly to Surdak's side, and sat down on another chair by the fireplace, the red fire reflected her beautiful face, and her blue eyes became a little deep, Surdak leaned over, reached out and rubbed her curly blonde hair, and wrapped her in the quilt.

"How cold it is to sit like this! Would you like to lie down with me for a while......"

Natasha didn't know how she was squeezed into the cramped recliner with Surdak, as if under a spell, her mind was empty, only a pair of resolute eyes and some stubble in front of her, Natasha leaned out as much as she could, so as not to take up too much space and make Surdak lie down uncomfortable, but then a pair of big hands hugged her tightly in her arms.

Without waiting for Natasha to struggle, Surdak whispered, "Don't move, just hold it for a while......"

……

Natasha woke up when she heard the door open.

She couldn't even remember when she fell asleep, and when she opened her eyes, it was dawn, and looking at the clothes scattered around the fireplace, Natasha just wanted to escape the scene as soon as possible.

In a panic, she propped up her body from the arms of the sleeping Surdak, her body was empty, Natasha was almost crying, and her pajamas and other things were gone, just in time to meet the narrow smile of Rita who had just gotten up and walked out of the room, and quickly retracted the cup, and was worried about waking up Surdak, so she got up lightly, hugged her clothes, and ran quickly from Rita into the inner room with a red face.

'It's good to be Rita, it's nothing, it's not the first time......

Natasha hypnotized herself.

……

Surdak was woken up by a scream of excitement, he didn't know how long it had been since he slept so soundly, usually even in his sleep, he kept swimming in the sea of knowledge, and felt the nodes in his body constantly being lit up, and rarely slept until he woke up naturally.

"Dad, so I'm not dreaming!"

Little Peter got into Surdak's bed in his pajamas, his little feet were cold, he stared at Surdak who had not fully woken up, rubbed his face vigorously and yelled, Surdak hurriedly stopped Little Peter to prevent him from kicking the quilt off.

"Peter, you should let him sleep a little longer, he didn't come back until late yesterday......"

Natasha came over with a well-dressed apron and a glass of warm water, and first gave little Peter a sip of water, and poured the rest into Surdak's mouth.

"I came back last night, and you didn't wake me up!" Little Peter looked at Natasha with some anger.

But then Rita pinched her ears and pulled her out of Surdak's bed.

Little Peter protested loudly and begged for mercy in a low voice......

……

Surdak pushed the door and walked into the old village chief's house, where the old village chief's family was eating breakfast around the table, which was full of people, and even his dog, Kara, was curled up and hidden under the table.

When Charlie saw Surdak, he quickly stood up and asked with wide eyes and surprise, "Dark, how did you come back from Highlandsa City?" ”

The old village chief also looked at Surdak suspiciously, but he was much calmer than his son Charlie, and asked Surdak, "Have you had breakfast?" If you don't have one, let's eat some ......."