Qin Yining originally thought that his hiding place was already remote and desolate enough, but he didn't expect that Xiaolian's hiding place was even further away.
The two of them held hands as they moved forward in the darkness of the forest, where the moonlight was obscured by the shadows of the trees. Xiaolian seemed to have long been accustomed to this kind of situation. She deliberately slowed down her pace and waited for Qin Yining. When they encountered a difficult place, she even took the initiative to pull him along as they climbed.
After walking like this for almost an hour, Qin Yining saw a wooden house.
The wooden house was very simple, but it was also very exquisite. It used the mortise and tenon technique to place semi-circular pieces of wood together. From the front, it looked like two huge wooden planks were placed together to form the shape of a "human" on the ground. From the side, it looked like a rectangle.
"It's a house. Uncle made it." Xiaolian's dirty little face was full of pride.
Qin Yining stroked her glossy and messy hair and said with a smile, "Uncle is a very smart and powerful person."
He was able to take a child with him and cut wood to build a house alone. Moreover, under careful observation, the entire wooden house wasn't built with a single nail, but with mortise and tenon. For a person to be able to build such an exquisite house, it was enough to prove this person's strength and wisdom.
Qin Yining pinched Xiaolian's soft little face again.
This little girl's background was probably not ordinary.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have hidden alone in the depths of the mountains with such a capable person. Moreover, that person had perished together with three soldiers from the Zhou Dynasty four hours away from here.
Qin Yining sighed.
At this time, Xiaolian had already stepped through the snow and arrived in front of the door. She lifted the animal skin covering the door and pushed it open. She blinked her big black and bright eyes and smiled as she gestured to Qin Yining to enter the house.
Qin Yining returned to his senses and immediately followed her inside.
The cabin was pitch-black, and in the blink of an eye, Xiaolian had disappeared. Then, Qin Yining heard the sound of wood rubbing against each other.
Qin Yining took out a match and blew it to light it up. He found Xiaolian squatting on the ground with her hands clasped together. She was holding a sharpened wooden stick and rubbing it against the groove of another piece of wood. There was some thin hay in the groove of that piece of wood. When she rubbed against it, sparks flew and the hay immediately flickered.
Xiaolian carefully used two wooden sticks to pick up a handful of dry grass that was still flickering with sparks and placed it under the earthen stove that was piled with firewood. The fire immediately brightened up.
Xiaolian stood up and pointed at the bonfire on the ground. "Nuannuan."
Then, her big eyes widened because she saw the match in Qin Yining's hand.
"Fire?"
Qin Yining nodded. She smiled as she closed the match and handed it to Xiaolian, "This is for you."
"For me?" Xiaolian happily took it and removed the lid.
Qin Yining taught her how to light it.
Xiaolian looked as if she had received a treasure. She carefully put the match into her clothes. When she looked at Qin Yining again, her eyes were shining with joy.
Qin Yining could tell that Xiaolian really liked her.
Such a pure and kind-hearted child was using her clearest heart to try her best to get in touch with this world that was not full of kindness.
Perhaps she had been alone in the mountains for too long and couldn't help but give her food as a sign of goodwill when she saw her own kind?
Qin Yining took Xiaolian's hand and sat down by the bonfire.
She couldn't help but feel a little fortunate that she had met Xiaolian today. If Xiaolian had been a person with evil intentions, she would have been in danger since she was so pure.
After all, the evilness of human hearts was even greater than that of wild beasts.
At this moment, Xiaolian stood up and took out a dirty quilt from a pile of things in the corner. She carried the quilt over as if she was presenting a treasure and piled it in front of Qin Yining.
"Older Sister, Nuannuan."
Looking at the dirty quilt and the child's bright eyes, Qin Yining's heart ached so much that she almost cried.
She smiled and nodded. She unfolded the quilt and pulled Xiaolian to sit beside her. She then covered the two of them with the quilt.
Xiaolian smiled happily and stretched out her dirty little hands to warm them over the bonfire.
That night, Qin Yining had a much more comfortable time than yesterday.
With this wooden house, a bonfire, a dirty quilt, and a child squeezed next to her while drooling, she slept very peacefully. She no longer had to fear that wild beasts would suddenly come and eat her.
At dawn the next day, Qin Yining woke up with a cough. She felt that her cold had worsened, but it was still within a tolerable range.
She sat up and discovered that although there were no windows in the house and only a door, it wasn't completely dark inside.
She raised her head to look at the light source and discovered that there was a bowl-sized skylight on the roof.
She looked around and didn't see Xiaolian. She didn't know where the child had gone.
However, this house was really dirty and messy! The dust on the floor was probably at least three inches thick!
Qin Yining stood up and looked around. Although there wasn't any furniture in the wooden house, there was a kang bed on the floor. However, the kang bed wasn't finished. Presumably, the "uncle" that Xiaolian mentioned had passed away before he finished the work.
In addition to the unfinished kang bed, Qin Yining also found a dirty bundle piled up in the corner.
The bundle had been opened, and several pieces of men's clothing were scattered around.
Qin Yining squatted down to examine them. She discovered that among the clothes, there was a fourth-rank military uniform from Beiji Country!
Beiji Country's military uniform was very unique. It had a bright red round collar and narrow sleeves, a leather soft armor, and a palm-wide cowhide belt.
Qin Yining's expression became serious.
It seemed that the "uncle" that Xiaolian mentioned was a fourth-rank military officer from Beiji Country.
Xiaolian's background was definitely not simple!
Qin Yining felt some admiration for this military officer who brought Xiaolian to hide in the mountains.
She didn't know how many years ago they came here, but judging from the rotten state of the corpse's clothes, he had been dead for at least three to four years. Xiaolian was nine years old now. In other words, when the uncle brought Xiaolian to hide in the mountains, Xiaolian was only five to six years old.
What kind of power could make a military officer bring a five to six year old girl to hide in the mountains, build a house, raise this child, and protect her from being hunted down?
Qin Yining put away the clothes and wrapped them back into the bundle. She then tidied up the mess in the house, took out a rag, wrapped it in the snow outside, and melted it over the fire. Then, she began to clean the house.
After repeating this several times and throwing away several pieces of rag, Qin Yining finally wiped the original color of the wooden floor.
However, after she cleaned up the dust, she found an inconspicuous gap on the floor near the corner of the wall.
She walked over in confusion and inserted a dagger into the gap to pry it open. Unexpectedly, she was able to pry open the square floorboard and find a square wooden box underneath.
Qin Yining suspiciously took out the wooden box.
The wooden box was extremely heavy, and she couldn't help but guess what was inside.
She opened the box and saw a letter written on it. The words "To be personally opened by Jinxuan" were written on the letter.
Qin Yining picked up the letter. When she saw the item underneath, she couldn't help but be surprised.
It was a large seal made of jade. The most unusual thing about the seal was that there was a coiling dragon carved on it!
Qin Yining picked up the seal that was the size of a man's fist. When she saw the words "Treasure of Beiji" carved on it, she was extremely shocked.
This was clearly an imperial seal! It was the imperial seal of Beiji Country, which had been destroyed by Da Zhou four years ago!
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