He patted his forehead.

He must have lost his mind, actually placing hope in a child barely over a year old.

Grabbing the little girl by the collar like a chick, he lifted her up.

“Yuanxi!” Mu Liuyun clung to the window, watching in horror.

This scene felt eerily familiar.

Flashes of images flickered through her mind, but she couldn’t grasp them.

Ye Zhi scowled, “What are you yelling for? That little girl is reckless. If she stays, we all die.”

She had no intention of being dragged to death by that child.

“But like this, isn’t it the same as being dead?”

This place was far from the imperial city, with few households along the way.

No one would help them. How could they possibly fight off those people outside?

Outside the courtyard, Jiang Yuanxi held a bowl in one hand and dried meat in the other.

She was eating heartily.

The hard dried meat softened after soaking in hot goat’s milk for a while.

Jiang Yuanxi took out sugar and biscuits from her pocket and tossed them in as well.

She stirred it all together into a thick porridge and slurped it down.

Watching the little girl eat so happily, Qin San suddenly felt an empty pit in his stomach.

He went inside, rummaged around, and came back with a jug of wine, sitting down beside Jiang Yuanxi.

Taking a swig, he looked up at the moon, his eyes filled with melancholy.

If he had chosen to stay home and take care of his mother instead of walking this path, perhaps he would have had such an adorable daughter by now.

As he was lost in thought, someone passed by.

“Old Qin, since when do you have the leisure to find milk for a little brat?”

Jianzhen glanced at Jiang Yuanxi and sneered, “Don’t tell me you like this kind?”

The women captured here—they would sometimes pick one or two to relieve their desires, but Qin San never touched them.

Except for this little girl.

Not only did he bring her out, but he even spent money in the neighboring village to buy a milk goat.

“Get lost!” Qin San kicked him. “She’s barely over a year old. What, let her starve? Then wouldn’t my money be wasted?”

“Wang Pozi must be losing her mind, bringing back more and more trouble.”

“Just a few days ago, she sent me a half-dead little bald monk.”

Qin San had carried the little monk through the pouring rain, desperately searching for a doctor to save him.

Thinking about it made him furious.

Jianzhen swallowed his anger and patted Qin San’s shoulder. “Well, you are the ‘great kind-hearted man’ around here.”

He emphasized those words—whether it was mockery or comfort, it was hard to tell.

“If you ask me, these little wretches, dead or alive, who cares? There will always be more coming in.”

Jianzhen slung an arm around Qin San.

“I saw a few fine-looking women today. Let’s go have some fun.”

Qin San brushed his hand away in disgust. “I’m not going.”

Jianzhen’s face darkened at the rejection.

“I’m giving you face, and you actually think you’re somebody? Know your place.”

Spitting on the ground, Jianzhen stormed off.

Jiang Yuanxi turned to look at Qin San, her pitch-black eyes unwavering.

“Why won’t you go?”

Qin San took a hard gulp of wine.

“I don’t commit such wicked—” Mid-sentence, he realized something. “Why am I even explaining this to a clueless baby?”

“Eat up. Once I leave, you won’t get another meal.”

Just then, Jianzhen yanked open a door, dragging out a woman.

“Please, let me go! Let me go!”

He slapped her across the face, cursing as he pulled her by the hair and disappeared.

The woman’s screams echoed through the corridors, mingling with the muffled sobs of the other captive women.

Qin San’s normally indifferent eyes flickered with something else, but he quickly buried it.

Jiang Yuanxi let out a small burp.

Seeing this, Qin San decided to take her back.

“Brat, this way—you’re going the wrong way.”

Jiang Yuanxi remained still, staring at him.

“But you, you want to go that way.”

She pointed in the direction Jianzhen had gone.

Qin San’s pupils flickered, then he sighed in defeat. “You can’t save them.”

Jiang Yuanxi patted her little chest. “I’m a princess. I can!”

Qin San burst into laughter. “You? A princess?”

“If you’re a princess, then I must’ve nursed a princess myself! You little liar, getting more convincing by the second.”

Jiang Yuanxi glanced at the now-clean bowl she had licked spotless.

Isn’t that exactly what happened?

She looked up seriously. “You can save her.”

Qin San scoffed. “What a joke. If I could save them, they wouldn’t be locked up in the first place.”

“Brat, don’t forget, I’m on the same side as that man.”

Jiang Yuanxi trailed behind him.

“Saving a life earns you—” She counted on her fingers. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven levels of bunny points.”

Qin San kept walking.

“Your mother, your brothers, your sister, your nephews.”

“And your sister is one of them.”

“Shut up!” Qin San finally snapped.

“What else do you know?!” He gritted his teeth.

Damn, this girl was sharp.

Jiang Yuanxi gazed up at the stars. “That woman is your future wife.”

“What?!” Qin San’s voice boomed through the courtyard, startling the captive women into fresh tears.

Jiang Yuanxi pointed. “If you don’t go now, it’ll be too late.”

Qin San finally moved.

“Dammit, brat, if you’re lying to me, I’ll haunt you even after death!”

“You bastard, Jianzhen! I’ll split your damn skull open!”

…

He stormed off, cursing all the way.

Moments later, Qin San returned, carrying a woman in his arms.

Her face was pale, and she clung to his clothes, sobbing.

His sharp blade dripped with blood.

Blood also stained their clothes.

Qin San set her down and draped his coat over her.

Then, he returned inside to clean up the corpses and blood.

Jiang Yuanxi grinned as she watched the red thread of fate connecting the two.

She approached the rescued woman.

“Sister, your life was saved by him.”

The little girl’s soft voice brought Li Lan back to reality.

She nodded.

She had been captured on her first day here, almost losing everything.

If not for this man, she wouldn’t have the courage to live.

Qin San, having finished cleaning, placed the two of them in the same room.

Li Lan tripped over his robe, and as Qin San reached out to steady her, she flinched away in fear.

Qin San froze, then let out a bitter laugh.

He had hoped for too much.

With his current status, how could he possibly deserve a woman like her?