"Old Lake, how far is this place from the Medicine Pampa Residence you mentioned?"

Ming Fan, who followed Lao Hu's advice, decided to go to the vicinity of Yaopingju and wait for Yan Yunxiao to return to Xuanqingmen together.

Lao Hu, who was familiar with the terrain, took a general look at the vicinity, and replied, "There is a small village nearby, let's take a rest there first, Third Young Master." ”

Under the leadership of Lao Hu, Ming Fan came to a village with only a dozen households.

"Who are you?" Before they could enter the village, an old man with a slightly darkened complexion stopped them and asked in an unkind tone.

"Hello uncle, we are passing by the neighborhood and want to enter the village to rest. ”

In the face of Ming Fan's polite words, this old man was always in the same direction,

"Go away, bad guys, stay away from our village!"

Regarding the old man's accusation, Ming Fan was puzzled, "Boss, calm down first!"

The old man's voice trembled, with both anger and a hint of fear, "You bad people who have plagued the village, I will fight with you!" After speaking, he raised the crutch in his hand and smashed it at Ming Fan.

"Uncle, is there any misunderstanding in this?" Ming Fan caught the crutches thrown by the old man and hurriedly explained.

"Hmph, what misunderstanding can there be! Even if I die today, I won't let you continue to plague the village!"

"Plugs?"

"Hmm, who are you, how do you know my nickname?" the old man was surprised, his childhood nickname had not been mentioned for a long time.

Ming Fan looked back at Lao Hu in surprise and asked the same, "Yes, why do you know his nickname?"

Lao Hu walked up to the villagers and smiled kindly, "Don't you recognize me?"

"You?" the old man looked at the appearance of the person in front of him, familiar.... But there is a hint of strangeness.

"Don't remember?"

That's right, decades have passed in a blink of an eye, and the little brother who was shouting to go to Boshan with him is now old.

At this moment, another young girl in the village came out and shouted, "Grandpa!"

The old man named Bolt saw his granddaughter running over, and hurriedly shouted, "Girl, don't come here!"

The girl blocked the old man with her weak body, staring at Ming Fan and Lao Hu deadly, "Who are you and what are you doing in the village?!"

"Hello little girl, we are just passing by, and your grandfather may have mistaken us for bad people. ”

Perhaps because of the convincing reason for her honest face, the young girl, after listening to Lao Hu's explanation, looked at the two of them, and found that both their clothing and appearance and temperament were different from the robbers of the village.

After a moment of contemplation, the girl took the two into the village.

Walking in the village, looking at the simple thatched hut, Ming Fan seemed to have returned to "Mingjia Village." ”

The village is almost still the same as it is in his memory, but the old faces in the village are no longer there, and Lao Hu can't help but feel a little sad in his heart.

The girl took Ming Fan and Lao Hu to her family's thatched hut and said, "You can rest at my house for a while, and leave our village as soon as you are done." ”

Ming Fan felt that the people in this small village seemed to be very tired of outsiders, so he had to nod his head and agree.

"Hey, brother, you haven't said why you know my nickname?"

The old man, who was called a "bolt", moved a stool and came to the old lake.

Hearing the bolt call his name, Lao Hu couldn't help laughing, and said in his heart, "I used to call myself the boss, but now I call myself my brother..."

Looking at the sideburns with gray hair, Lao Hu sighed, "The reason why I know your name is 'Bolt' is because I came to this village a long time ago. ”

"You've been here before?" the plug said in surprise.

Lao Hu nodded, "I.... When I was young, I wandered in Beiwulin for many years, and I came to this village by chance. ”

Suddenly, Lao Hu found a bronze scimitar in a corner of the thatched hut, and his eyes changed suddenly.

"Bolt, that cutlass in the corner, where did you find it?"

As soon as he heard Lao Hu asking about the scimitar, the bolt's attitude changed back to the way he had when he was at the entrance of the village, and he snorted coldly, "Hmph! show the fox's tail, and say that you are not in the same group of bandits as before!"

The atmosphere that was relatively harmonious before suddenly became a little nervous, and at this time, the granddaughter of the bolt hurriedly came over, and said in a dissatisfied tone, "I let you come in to rest, not to let you stimulate my grandfather, if you have a good rest, leave quickly." ”

"I'm sorry, little girl, we didn't mean to offend, but your grandfather and him?" Lao Hu also sensed that something was wrong with the bolt's mental state.

After the girl comforted her a few times, the bolt's mood calmed down, and the girl said sadly about Lao Hu's question, "Since my parents were kidnapped by that group of bandits, grandpa has become insane. ”

"Bandits?"

"Abducted?"

Ming Fan and Lao Hu asked in unison, "Girl, can you tell me in detail?"

"It was about a year or so ago that a group of bandits suddenly appeared, and no one knew their identities, only that they were arresting people in the vicinity, and all men and women were taken away. The girl sat down beside the bolt, soothing her grandfather while telling Ming Fan and the others about the bandits.

"Finally, one day, they came to our village and forcibly took away all the young men and women in the village, including my parents, and I remember that day my mother hid me, so that I was lucky not to be arrested, and since that day, I have not seen my parents again, and I don't even know their life and death, and my grandfather has been hit too hard because of this incident, and from time to time there will be insanity. ”

"So that's the case...."Ming Fan looked at the old man's bolt, and felt compassion in his heart, and took out a bottle of medicine pill from Qiankun's bag, "Girl, this bottle of pill has the effect of calming the mind and calming the mind, you can stay, maybe it will help your grandfather's condition." ”

The girl looked at Ming Fan in surprise, "Where did you take out the medicine bottle just now?"

"By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves yet. Ming Fan remembered that they had not stated their identities since they entered the village, so he said, "My name is Ming Fan, this is Lao Hu, and we are from Xuanqing Gate." ”

"Xuanqing Gate?"

Considering the popularity of Xuanqingmen, it is normal for the girl in the Northern Martial Arts in front of her not to know, Ming Fan explained with a smile, "Xuanqingmen is a cultivation sect in the Central Plains. ”

"Xiuzhen?"

"It seems that this girl doesn't seem to know about Xiuzhen, so it's a bit troublesome to explain...."Ming Fan scratched his head a little embarrassed.

But fortunately, Lao Hu changed the topic in time and asked, "Little girl, what do you call it?"

"You can call me Shulan. ”

"Shulan, do you know why those bandits took away the young men and women in the village?"

"I've heard villagers from other villages mention that the bandits took the young men and women of the village as if they were digging a ditch. ”

"Dig a ditch?" Lao Hu frowned, pondering carefully.

Just when Lao Hu was puzzled, Ming Fan got up and moved his muscles and bones, and said, "Lao Hu, don't think about it, you can know everything at a glance." ”

"Ha, what the third young master said is right. Lao Hu also stood up with a smile, looked at Shu Lan, and asked, "Miss Shu Lan, do you know where those bandits arrested the people in the village?"