"If worse comes to worst, I’ll give you silver," the man said. As he spoke, he reached for his money pouch, but after a while, he found nothing and muttered to himself, "Where’s my silver? Where’s my silver? How can I not have any silver?"
"Hmph, so you’re going to give me silver? If you don’t have any, I’ll beat you," Yang Chuxia snorted.
"I don’t have silver," the man admitted, spreading his hands. "Well, you can hit me then."
"Pff..." Yang Chuxia was somewhat speechless. What kind of person was this? But if he said to hit him, wouldn’t it be a disservice not to?
As Yang Chuxia started to hit the man, he reflexively dodged. Judging by his evasive speed, Yang Chuxia figured that this person was not a simple man, skilled and apparently quite honest-faced.
"Didn’t you say I could hit you? Why are you dodging?" Yang Chuxia asked.
"Instinctual reaction," the man replied candidly.
"Which village are you from?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Chuxia stopped her movements. "You don’t know? You don’t even know which village you’re from?"
"I don’t know," the man said with a distressed scratch of his head. "I’m guessing I’m not from around here, but I also don’t know where I’m from."
"Do you have any family?"
The man shook his head. "I don’t know."
What the...? This man’s gaze didn’t seem dishonest, could he have amnesia?
"Why are you here, then?"
"I woke up here," the man said as usual. Then he hesitated, "I was hungry, so I was picking your broad beans."
Yang Chuxia squinted at the man, who showed no discomfort under her scrutiny.
Only after Yang Chuxia withdrew her gaze did the man say, "I’ll watch the beans for you; you give me beans to eat. Deal?"
"You have nowhere else to go, do you?" Yang Chuxia thought for a moment before asking.
Upon hearing that, the man nodded.
"Well, alright. You see this? This entire field of beans and the peanuts next to it all belong to my family," Yang Chuxia pointed to the surroundings and said, "You watch them and make sure no one comes to steal the beans. I’ll provide you three meals a day."
"You also need to build me a small shelter," the man added.
Yang Chuxia hesitated for a moment, feeling that the man actually wanted to watch the beans at night? However, it seemed like a good idea, as other people might really come to pick the beans when they were ripe.
"Okay! I’ll have someone help you later," Yang Chuxia thought for a moment and asked, "What’s your name?"
"How would I know?" The man asked, perplexed.
Both Yang Chuxia and Yang Dachuan were also puzzled. Yang Chuxia was okay with it, knowing that the man might have amnesia, but Yang Dachuan thought he was quite silly not knowing his own name.
The man looked to be about thirty years old. Yang Chuxia thought for a moment and said, "Then I’ll call you Old Mu."
"Whatever," the man didn’t care about what he was called.
Yang Chuxia noticed his eyes staring straight at her beans, and the ground too, probably hungry. She opened her prepared meal, then heard the man swallow his saliva.
"You can eat with my dad," but just as Yang Chuxia finished speaking, she realized there was only one pair of chopsticks.
Yang Dachuan quickly said, "Let Brother Mu eat first. I’ll eat at home later."
Hearing this, the man didn’t stand on ceremony and began to wolf down his food. Yang Chuxia watched from the side, feeling more and more that this man was not a simple character.