"Where was I wrong?"
Wang Hao asked curiously.
"Why did this world have to be born from a film or television drama? Why couldn't some of this world's threads of fate have been projected into other worlds, resonated with certain people, and then been written into novels or made into films and dramas?"
Xiao Mengmeng smiled as she spoke, her tone growing sharply more emphatic toward the end. She warned him gravely, "Uncle, films and dramas are just films and dramas. They could never evolve into a world. Remember that clearly."
Xiao Mengmeng was quite solemn about this, because it was one of the fundamental truths of the myriad heavens and worlds, and differed greatly from what films and dramas portrayed.
If Wang Hao were to act based on the plots shown in films and dramas in the future, he would inevitably suffer a great loss.
"Is that so? I'll remember. Thanks for the reminder!"
Wang Hao nodded thoughtfully, then solemnly thanked the little loli.
This really was a crucial point!
"Hm? Why are you shaking?"
Wang Hao suddenly turned his gaze to the farm woman driving the ox cart. At the entrance to the town, he had happened to run into her as she was heading to Chaoyang City to deliver vegetables to a restaurant, and he had asked her for a ride.
He just didn't understand why she was suddenly trembling so violently. Could she have epilepsy?
Wang Hao would have been better off keeping quiet. As soon as he spoke, the farm woman was so frightened that she jumped off the cart and fell to her knees. She put her swaddled child down beside her, kowtowed, and tearfully begged for mercy.
"Sir, I'm willing to serve you. I'll do whatever you ask, but please don't hurt my child!"
The farm woman was truly frightened. She hadn't wanted to give this fellow a ride back at the town entrance. After all, his build was far too terrifying. If he harbored ill intentions, a woman like her would have no way to resist him.
But cowed by his enormous build, she hadn't dared refuse and could only agree.
She had spent the whole journey on tenterhooks, terrified that the fellow's beastly blood would boil and he would defile her, or even hurt her child.
Sure enough, what she feared came to pass. The farm woman, who had been keeping a wary eye on Wang Hao all along, noticed his expression suddenly changing rapidly, until he wore an excited, agitated, lustful look.
He's definitely going to make a move on me!
It doesn't matter if I'm defiled; I'll just treat it as being bitten by a dog. But nothing must happen to my child!
"..."
"Haha... Uncle, the auntie's already throwing herself at you, so why don't you give in to her?"
The farm woman's words and actions left Wang Hao with black lines all over his forehead, while the little loli in the system space rolled around laughing. In the end, she even curled up clutching her stomach, evidently laughing hard enough to give herself cramps.
"Shut up!"
After angrily scolding the little loli in his mind, Wang Hao looked at the farm woman kneeling on the ground, her arms covered in corded muscle and her waist as huge as a barrel. With black lines all over his forehead, he snapped,
"What nonsense are you spouting? Is my taste that bad? I like fair-skinned beauties with pretty faces. I'm not interested in you. Get back up here and drive. Keep blabbering and I'll slaughter your ox for meat."
In ancient times, oxen were valuable. In ordinary farming households, they even held a higher place than family members. After all, they were a major source of labor for plowing fields and an important guarantee of survival. Threatening the ox was sure to have a sufficiently intimidating effect.
"Don't kill my ox. I'll get us moving right away."
Sure enough, the moment she heard Wang Hao was going to kill her ox, the farm woman forgot her fear. She hurriedly picked up her child, climbed onto the cart, and headed for Chaoyang City. Even so, she remained quite wary of Wang Hao, evidently still not quite believing him.
"..."
Wang Hao naturally noticed her wariness. He rolled his eyes and paid it no further attention, but the good mood he had gained from obtaining Luck Points had been utterly ruined.
In a foul mood, Wang Hao pulled over the hemp cloth the woman used to cover the vegetables and draped it over himself, both to keep the blazing sun off and to prevent others from seeing him and giving away his whereabouts.
After all, his burly build was far too conspicuous.
The two remained silent throughout the journey, and when the sun was nearly overhead, they finally reached Chaoyang City.
At the city gate, the farm woman reluctantly took out ten copper coins and handed them to a soldier. But instead of putting them in the cashbox beside him, he slipped them into his own pocket. After sizing up the honest-looking farm woman, he said, "The entry fee's gone up. Give me ten more copper coins."
"Didn't the person who just went in pay only ten copper coins too?"
The farm woman stared in surprise and pointed at the person ahead who had already entered the city.
She had seen with her own eyes that he had paid only ten copper coins to get in.
How had it become twenty copper coins when it was her turn?
"If I say it's gone up, it's gone up. What's with all the nonsense? If you don't want to enter the city, then get lost."
The gate guard grew impatient. The other guards nearby looked over with mocking expressions, evidently long accustomed to such things.
They had agreed on it long ago. After their shift, they would split the extra money equally and spend it on drink, so naturally none of them would say anything.
Of course, they were also good judges of people and knew whom they could afford to provoke and whom they couldn't.
An honest-looking farm woman like this was the perfect target for extortion, and there would be no trouble afterward.
"Sir, I only brought ten copper coins with me. I don't have any more. Please let me through! I'll kneel before you!"
The anxious, flustered farm woman started to kneel before the guard as she spoke.
She wasn't stupid and naturally understood that the guard was extorting her.
As an ordinary commoner, she truly couldn't afford to offend someone like him. If she could, she would have been willing to pay another ten copper coins.
After all, her family had an agreement with a restaurant in the city to deliver fresh vegetables every day. If she couldn't enter the city today and angered the restaurant's shopkeeper, her family would lose this livelihood.
That would be far too great a loss!
But the problem was that she had brought only ten copper coins on this trip. After all, that had long been the stipulated entry fee for Chaoyang City, unchanged for decades, and as a woman traveling alone, she naturally wouldn't carry extra money.
Now, other than setting aside her so-called dignity and kneeling to beg him, she had no other recourse.
But just as the farm woman was about to kneel, a thick, powerful hand caught her and helped her up. A burly figure had appeared beside her at some point.
Who else could it be but Wang Hao?
"Cousin, what happened? Why has it come to you kneeling?"
After helping the farm woman up, Wang Hao stepped forward and stomped down with a burst of force, crushing a stone paving slab three feet square beneath his foot.
He clenched his fists, producing a series of crisp cracks from his knuckles. Looking down at the gate guard, who had been scared stiff, he said coldly, "I hear the entry fee has gone up. Is there an official notice? Bring it out and let me see. Or I could go ask at the city yamen."
How could he fail to see through their little trick?
If he hadn't seen it, that would have been one thing, but now that he had, he would never turn a blind eye.
After all, he too had come from the countryside back on Earth and naturally understood the hardships farmers faced. Even farmers in the new century had it hard, let alone those in ancient times.
Although the farm woman's behavior on the road had left him quite depressed, the maternal love she had shown also earned his admiration.
She would rather sacrifice her own chastity to keep her child safe. Such noble maternal love was priceless.
He wasn't stingy about lending a hand to someone like her.
"Smack!"
Looking up at Wang Hao's towering, intimidating physique, the guard swallowed, hurriedly slapped himself, and said with an ingratiating smile, "Sir, this lowly one had lard clouding his heart. Please forgive me. I'll return the lady's money at once."
The guard pulled the ten copper coins from his pocket and was about to return them to the farm woman, but Wang Hao stopped him.
"No need. We're law-abiding citizens. Since the entry fee is a rule set by the yamen, we won't pay one coin less, but we won't pay one coin more either."
Wang Hao wouldn't let them break the rules to help the farm woman. After all, he was only playing the part of her relative for the moment and couldn't look after her forever. If he went too far and something happened, he would only bring harm to her family.
"You're right, sir, you're right!"
The guard hurriedly nodded and agreed with an ingratiating smile, though the corners of his eyes kept twitching.
The other gate guards nearby couldn't help twitching as well. They glanced at the stone slab Wang Hao had crushed underfoot and exchanged speechless looks.
You call yourself a law-abiding citizen?
"What's your name?"
Seeing that the guard knew when to yield, Wang Hao had no intention of pursuing the matter further. His expression turned cold as he asked the man's name.
"This lowly one is called Zhang Gui!"
The guard hesitated, but when he saw Wang Hao's icy eyes, he steeled himself and answered.
"And you?"
"I'm Li Gouwa!"
"Wang Daquan!"
Wang Hao turned and questioned the other gate guards one by one. They hesitated, but in the end, they steeled themselves and gave their names.
"Cousin, remember their names and faces. If anything like this happens again, send word to me. I'll come straight back from the capital and take care of it for you."
Finally, Wang Hao gave the fellows a stern threat, bringing the incident to a satisfactory conclusion.
Even if they tried to investigate afterward, they wouldn't find anything. At most, they would take him for a distant cousin of the farm woman.
And distant relatives like cousins were quite difficult to trace. He believed these fellows lacked the ability and the will to investigate thoroughly.
On top of that, his demand wasn't very great, giving them even less reason to do so. That way, the effect of his warning would last.
"Oh! I'll remember!"
The farm woman, who had been standing there in a daze, hurriedly nodded to show she understood.
She wasn't foolish either. She could see that Wang Hao was kindly helping her, so naturally she wouldn't be stupid enough to give him away.
"Cousin, drive on into the city. I'll get some more sleep!"
Wang Hao said no more. After calling out to the farm woman, he returned to the ox cart, leaned against the large vegetable basket, and covered himself with the hemp cloth to continue resting.
Of course, resting was just an excuse. His real aim was to avoid exposing himself, since his build was far too distinctive.
He didn't want to leave clues for that woman Dongfang Bai to find him, so it was better to keep a low profile.
If the gate guard hadn't gone too far and held up the ox cart there, he wouldn't even have shown himself.
After the farm woman drove the ox cart through the city gate, the guards looked at one another, all wearing expressions of dismay. But they also secretly breathed a sigh of relief and resolved never to provoke the farm woman again.
After all, she had memorized their names and faces. If they provoked her again, they would surely be wiped out.
A little money wasn't worth taking that risk.
"Sir, thank you for your help. Let me kowtow to you!"
After driving the ox cart into a secluded alley, the farm woman hurriedly climbed down. Holding her child, she prepared to kowtow to Wang Hao in thanks. It was the only way she could express her gratitude.
"Stop! That's the kind of kowtow you give the dead!"
Wang Hao, who had just jumped off the cart, got a fright and hurriedly helped her up.
In Chinese culture, kowtowing was governed by particular customs. There were different kinds for different occasions, and the kind the farm woman was performing was strictly for ancestors and the dead.
How could a living man like him accept that?
His words left the farm woman deeply embarrassed, standing there unsure whether to kneel or remain standing.
"You don't need to thank me. What I did just now was no more than lifting a hand!"
He waved dismissively. He really hadn't taken the matter to heart; it was just a minor episode in his life.
As he spoke, Wang Hao glanced at the baby in the farm woman's arms. The child's hair was dry and yellow, and the baby was terribly thin. His heart inexplicably ached. After a moment's thought, he took a small cloth pouch from his clothes and tossed it to her.
"Look at the state you've raised your child to! I have a few pieces of cane sugar here. Take them home and boil some sugar water for the child. I can't stand people like you who let their children grow thin."
With that, Wang Hao paid the farm woman no further attention and strode away, soon leaving the alley.
The farm woman held the little cloth pouch Wang Hao had tossed her and opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. When she opened the pouch and looked inside, however, she was dumbfounded.
There was no cane sugar inside. Instead, there were more than ten pieces of broken silver, probably more than five taels in all.
To her, this was an inconceivable fortune. Her family worked hard for a whole year and earned at most half a tael of silver, with scarcely a few coins left after paying for food, clothing, and other necessities.
And now she had received more than five taels of silver all at once.
After coming to her senses, the farm woman hurried to the end of the alley, but Wang Hao was nowhere to be seen.
She stood there in a daze for a long while before kneeling with tears in her eyes and giving three resounding kowtows in the direction Wang Hao had gone. She also planned to set up a longevity tablet for him when she got home and make offerings to it every day.