Chapter 293
In the village, most of the houses were made of mud and wood. Some women and children were moving around, but none of them were young and strong.
Seeing this, Liu Ming showed a thoughtful expression and continued to stay on the tree.
He stayed there for half a day. When the sky was about to turn dark, a group of muscular villagers came out from the forest in the other direction of the village. Each of them carried a crossbow in their hands, and on their bodies were some small game like rabbits and birds.
Seeing this, a large group of women and children came out of the village and welcomed their family. The laughter and joy in the crowd became louder.
Liu Ming’s expression changed as he stared at a young girl in a patched up dress who appeared to be no more than fourteen or fifteen years old.
The young girl was pulling a thirty-seven or thirty-eight year old man while chattering something. From time to time, she would use her hand to pull the prey on the burly man’s back with a happy and joyful expression.
However, in Liu Ming’s eyes, other than the young girl being slightly younger and having slightly darker skin, her facial features were similar to Zhang Xiuniang’s.
So he almost didn’t even think before confirming that this woman was Zhang Xiuniang who was addicted to the illusory world.
Liu Ming stood motionlessly on the tree and watched as the woman followed the burly man and another middle-aged woman back into the village with a face full of smiles. After she entered a slightly larger house in the middle of the village, Liu Ming couldn’t help but wrinkle his eyebrows.
Judging from Zhang’s current situation, it was obvious that this was the worst situation that everyone had expected. She was completely immersed in an illusory world.
To awaken Zhang Xiuniang was an extremely difficult thing to do.
And according to Martial Uncle Yan and the others, common methods cannot awaken Zhang Xiu Niang in such a situation.
He had to combine multiple methods.
Liu Ming thought like this and his eyes flashed a few times, but he still decided to make contact with her before he thought of a plan.
With a movement of his body, he jumped down from the large tree. After a few flashes, he disappeared into the nearby forest.
The next morning, a youth wearing a shabby leather robe with a slightly pale complexion suddenly appeared at the road entrance outside the village.
When the villagers saw this stranger, they naturally stopped him and brought him to the village elders to interrogate him.
This seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man claimed that he had lost his memory. He simply didn’t remember his name or background, and didn’t know why he was here.
The young man’s reply naturally made the people in the village not believe him at all. They also called the village’s only doctor to inspect him.
The old doctor easily discovered a large black and purple blister on the back of the youth’s head. So, this youth’s head might have been severely injured, and there was indeed a high chance of him losing his memory.
As a result, the elders in the village couldn’t help but be dumbfounded.
The villagers were a little dumbfounded. After some discussion, they decided to allocate an abandoned house and let the young man stay in the village for the time being.
Fortunately, apart from his head injuries, the young man was healthy. He should be able to support himself and not be a burden to the village.
So the nameless young man stayed in the village and like the other young villagers, he went hunting during the day.
After a few days, the villagers were surprised to discover that this nameless young man was actually a good hunter. Not only was he surprisingly strong, but the self-made hunting bow in his hand was extremely accurate. Almost every day, he returned with a bountiful harvest that even the best hunters in the village could not match.
As for the nameless young man, after leaving behind enough prey for himself to eat, the rest of the food was distributed to the other people in the village.
Under these circumstances, even though the young man had yet to regain his memory, the rest of the villagers couldn’t help but treat him kindly. After another month or so, the village completely accepted the young man.
Zhang Ya was originally the best hunter in the village, Zhang Xiong’s only daughter. It was said that her mother was the village’s number one beauty back then, and her father spent three days and three nights hunting a huge, 300-pound wild boar as a betrothal gift before he married her back to his family.
Zhang Xiong and his wife doted on their only child and as she grew older, she became even more beautiful than her mother.
Since two years ago, many families had sent matchmakers to the Zhang Family to discuss the marriage, even including a large family in a town hundreds of miles away.
But Zhang Xiong and his wife were reluctant to let their beloved daughter get married so early, so they all tactfully refused.
Thus, after another two years, Zhang Ya was already fifteen years old. If she did not get married, she would become an old lady, so Zhang Xiong and his wife would no longer dare to delay their daughter’s marriage.
However, as the head of the family, Zhang Xiong proposed a condition. One had to take out prey like the huge wild boar as a betrothal gift in order to marry his daughter.
Such conditions disheartened many of the young people who thought they were brave and strong.
How could the villagers not know how powerful a huge wild boar was?
Even the most outstanding hunters will avoid this ferocious animal. Who would dare to hunt them?
It had to be known that with Zhang Xiong’s skill, he was able to get it only because the boar was injured.
Moreover, there weren’t many boars. Normally, they would be in the deepest part of the forest, where there were countless Vicious Beasts. Normal people wouldn’t dare to venture too deep into the forest.
Thus, after a few young men in the village returned with serious injuries due to hunting huge wild boars, no one dared to try again.
In this way, Zhang Ya naturally stayed in her family, unable to immediately find a suitable person for her.
Zhang Ya did not mind at all. She would do some farm work during the day and help Mrs. Zhang to sew up her clothes at night.
On this day, Zhang Xiong and the others went hunting in the mountains. His wife realized that her home was short of water, so she asked her daughter to go to the old well in the center of the village to get some well water.
Zhang Ya agreed without any hesitation and walked out of the house with a wooden barrel in her hand.
After a while, she slowly carried a bucket of well water and walked along the village path towards her home.
This bucket was too heavy for her. After a short walk, her forehead began to sweat and her footsteps became heavy.
Suddenly, she stepped on a round rock and her feet slipped. Immediately, she let out a cry and was about to fall down.
At this time, a light wind flashed in front of her and a tall figure appeared in a flash. A young man grabbed the handle of the water bucket with one hand and hugged her delicate body with the other.
“I …I’m fine! Ah, Big Brother Liu! You didn’t go hunting today?”
Zhang Ya’s face was red with embarrassment. She could clearly see that the person in front of her was the young man who had lost his memory the previous year.
However, After living in the village for several months, the nameless youth was still unable to recover his memories. He gave himself a new name, “Liu Ming”.
“No. I still some prey I caught a few days ago.”
Liu Ming looked at the red-faced young lady and said with a smile before letting go of his hands.
“Yes, you don’t need to hunt every day.” Zhang Ya put down the water bucket. After taking two light breaths, she glanced at Liu Ming and said.
“I heard that several aunties in the village seem to be matchmaking for you these days.”
To Zhang Ya, this is the only young man in the village who could meet the requirements of Zhang Xiong and was also good looking, her parents had naturally repeatedly mentioned the possibility of her getting married with him. And she also kind of liked him.
“Hehe, if I want to marry someone, I will only marry a girl like you. I don’t think I can marry anyone else.”
Liu Ming said with a faint smile.
“Pei, who said I was going to marry you?”
The girl’s cheeks flushed red. She picked up the water bucket and was about to leave.
Liu Ming stepped aside and the young girl walked past him.
“Miss Zhang, you said that you often dreamed of a snow-white long sword before. I wonder if you have dreamed of such a thing in the past few days?”
Liu Ming suddenly asked.
“A snow-white long sword! Well, not in the last few days. By the way, Big Brother Liu, The stories you’ve told me recently about the gods are rather interesting. Can you tell me more when you are free?” The girl turned around and replied with some interest.
“Didn’t you lose your memory? Why do you still remember these stories?”
"I don’t know why, but I remember them.”
“I will tell more if you like.” Liu Ming’s eyes flashed and he replied with a smile.
Zhang Xiuniang felt extremely happy. After expressing her thanks, she once again took the water bucket and left.
“It didn’t work. I’m in trouble!.”
Liu Ming looked at the departing back of the young girl and muttered to himself.
During the year that he stayed in the village, he had used seven or eight different methods to try and awaken the hidden memories of her. However, but the most effective time was to let her have a few dreams related to cultivation.
It seemed that ordinary methods weren’t enough. He would have to take some extreme measures.