Aqing was silent for a moment, lowered her eyes and said, "But he is a Samurai. There are no good Samurais, we shouldn't stay here!"
"That's not wrong, Samurais are all bastards, but... he seems different." Aman hesitated for a moment, glanced at the fields and whispered, "Someone like me was caught... uh, saved by him, and he actually believed what I said, he didn't kill me. It's a bit odd, no matter what a thief and a lowlife like me say, he should have killed me directly, speaking to us should be beneath him.
But he didn't, he even treated my wounds, gave me new clothes, fed me chicken, let me sleep in the dirt seat, spoke to me politely, as if he considered me to be like him... He doesn't quite seem like a Samurai, at least not like the usual ones. It should be fine to stay for a few days."
Aqing said nothing, quietly and silently protesting, clearly not agreeing with what she said, yet not wanting to argue back, expressing her dissatisfaction this way, while Aman didn't care if she was happy or not. Seeing she was out of ideas, she waved her hand and decided, "Alright, alright, I have never read people wrong! Besides, the old man isn't here, so I call the shots. I say stay a few more days, so we stay a few more days!"
Then she turned her head towards the fields and shouted, "Since my sister came so late, could you give her something to eat and let her stay here for a few days?"
After all, she was also working as a Blind Mage, half a beggar, thick-skinned, with no psychological burden in asking for food, and the field didn't mind either, casually agreeing.
Originally, he was planning to let Aman recover before letting her leave, he was supposed to provide food anyway, now adding a sister didn't matter, as he wasn't short on a few kilos of rice.
Compared to the "intelligence" Aman provided, spending a bit more rice was nothing.
...
Aqing was forced to stay, having worked hard to save her sister, only to find her sister's greed had flared up, wanting to eat more rice meals, insisting that the stranger they just met was a good person, refusing to leave with a thick skin, leaving her no choice but to temporarily stay here as well. Fortunately, the two of them were just kids (in the field's eyes, kids), they didn't take up much space, and sleeping in the same bed wasn't crowded, the dirt seat could accommodate them.
More than twenty minutes later, the fields managed to cook a pot of watery rice porridge, and also boiled an egg to let Aman put on her black eye, yet Aman took the peeled egg and instantly put it in her mouth, fearing the field might snatch it back, but before she could even straighten her neck to swallow, she hesitated for a moment and spit out half of it into Aqing's bowl reluctantly, leaving the field speechless — the people of this era went crazy at the sight of food, which was really unbearable.
Aqing sat alone with the little marmoset in a dark corner by the fire, sipping the porridge slowly with an expression that was somewhat aloof and wary, occasionally meeting the field's gaze accidentally, her eyes cold, quickly averting them, without any intention of communicating with him, somewhat like a proud and aloof delicate little crane, refusing to interact with ordinary mortals.
The field even perceived a subtle sense of hostility in that gaze, a bit puzzled yet unsure, so he didn't insist on showing hospitality, didn't eager to refill her porridge with a wooden spoon, seeing she was uncomfortable with him here, and since there was nothing else for him to do here, he politely said he would first return to the dirt seat to rest.
Sure enough, after he left, Aqing seemed to relax a bit, began to refill her porridge, and occasionally spoke to Aman. Of course, for the most part, it was Aman chattering on, regardless of what Aman said, she merely stared at the fireplace, drank her hot porridge quietly listening.
The field slowly closed his eyes in this soft murmuring, half asleep and half awake, suddenly remembered something, jolted up and asked Aman, "By the way, do you have any other younger siblings?"
If there are, quickly call them over together, at worst he could buy another stone of rice, he didn't mind spending money, but don't surprise him with back-to-back attempts on his life night after night, his heart couldn't take this sort of stress — it was lucky this time that Aman happened to sleep outside, otherwise, he would have likely woken up with a blade against his neck, at the very least shortening his life by three days, and if the next one threw a shuriken at him from afar to kill him first, then who could he possibly argue with?
"No more, no more!" Aman was slurping the porridge, seemingly insatiable, muttered, "It's just the two of us here in Haidong County, you can sleep well, no one else will disturb you."
"That's good!"
The field was relieved, tucked in the blanket for the silly son, lay down, closed his eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.