Lin Zaozao turned around and looked at Dashan standing aside, asking in a low voice, "Dashan, do we have any snacks like sweets or candies at home?"
"Little Master, we don't have snacks or candies, but I collected some wild fruits this morning."
"Are the wild fruits sour?"
"No, they're sweet."
"Okay, bring me some."
"Alright, Little Master."
As Dashan brought the fruits, Lin Zaozao looked at the small wild fruits in the palm of her hand. They were red and tiny.
Lin Zaozao carefully picked up one fruit and put it in her mouth to taste. Mmm! It wasn't a fruit bomb; it was sweet.
After that, Lin Zaozao stuffed the remaining half of the fruit into her mouth and bent down to look at the sniffling and tearful little kids by her feet. She spoke gently, "Little brothers, if you stop crying, Sister will give you some fruits to eat."
Saying that, Lin Zaozao waved the red fruit in her hand in front of the little kids.
Seeing the fruits in Lin Zaozao's hand, the little kids stopped crying for a moment and stared at the fruits, drooling.
Seeing that the little kids had stopped crying, Lin Zaozao couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. They were so noisy.
"Little brothers, if you want to eat the fruits, just be honest and tell me, is Sister's outfit pretty?"
The kids glanced at the fruits in Lin Zaozao's hand and shook their heads in unison.
Lin Zaozao: "..."
After a moment of silence, Lin Zaozao gritted her teeth and said again, "Little brothers, as long as you say Sister is a beautiful lady, Sister will give you the fruits to eat, okay?"
But as soon as Lin Zaozao finished speaking, the little kids sitting on the ground started crying again.
What's worse, while crying, they cursed and moved closer to their parents.
"Daddy, the ugly monster is so scary!"
"Help! I don't want to eat fruits anymore. Daddy, this fat monster is so fat!"
"I won't eat fruits anymore. This fat monster must have eaten many children."
"Wow, so scary!"
"How can there be such a fat monster! She's so fat, she must like eating children!"
"..."
Listening to the kids' insults, Lin Zaozao's forehead turned almost black. But when she saw a child crawling towards her in the opposite direction, wearing gray clothes, her eyes narrowed involuntarily.
Damn it, the cat's out of the bag!
She thought she had misjudged the feeling of being a little peach blossom!
But she didn't expect that among these children that Xiao Taohua said had murderous intent, there would really be one who stood out.
When the child in gray clothes crawled to Lin Zaozao's feet, she quickly grabbed him with a playful look in her eyes.
He knew his plan had failed.
So he pulled out a sharp knife from his sleeve and swiftly slashed toward Lin Zaozao's neck.
It was at that moment when he reached out his hand that Xiao Taohua swiftly knocked the knife out of his grasp and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up.
The sudden turn of events startled the crowd outside the fence. Weren't they here to seek the help of Lin Zaozao, the great immortal physician? Why would someone want to take his life?
If Lin Zaozao were to die, would they all still have a chance at survival? Clearly, the person who wanted to kill Lin Zaozao also wished for their demise.
After giving a reassuring look to the people gathered outside the fence, Lin Zaozao turned to Xiao Taohua.
"Xiao Taohua, be careful. Don't squeeze him to death. After all, he is just a child."
"Zaozao, don't be deceived by his appearance. He's not a child. He must be at least twenty years old."
"A twenty-year-old wearing crotchless pants like a little brat?"
Lin Zaozao stared at the young man being held in Xiao Taohua's hand, unable to believe what she was seeing.
From any angle, the person being held by Xiao Taohua looked like a child.
"Little Master, he is a little medicine man cultivated in a jar."
Dashan stood by Lin Zaozao's side and said coldly.
"What do you mean by a medicine man cultivated in a jar?" Lin Zaozao asked, puzzled.
"Little Master, there is a cult in the martial world that specializes in adopting homeless children and using them to refine human-shaped killing weapons. The person before us is one of the assassins they have cultivated."
"But why would they want to kill me?"
"Little Master, the source of this epidemic originated from the border town of Fengshuo Country. It spread rapidly, and now many people in Canglan Country have also been infected.
The key to treating the epidemic lies with you. If you were to die, both Canglan Country and Fengshuo Country would be plunged into an endless war because of this epidemic."
As Dashan explained, Lin Zaozao felt her head swimming with disbelief.
Heavens above, she was just an ordinary village woman, how did she get involved with matters of national importance?
And most importantly, why were those bastards pointing their fingers at her? She was just a helpless and pitiful woman from the countryside.
"Xiao Taohua, don't kill him for now. Lock him up, and we'll deal with him later tonight."
"Alright, Zaozao."
Xiao Taohua waved her hand at the little medicine man, who immediately collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"Xiao Taohua, what did you do to him?"
"It's just a sleeping drug."
Xiao Taohua wiped her hands with some disdain and turned to Lin Zaozao with a serious expression.
"Zaozao, don't meddle in the affairs of the little medicine man. Trust me, I will take care of him."
"Alright, alright, I trust you!"
Lin Zaozao turned her head and quickly called upon the system in her mind.
【Dog System!!!】
【Host, please use polite language. Be careful, or the system will impose humane punishment on you.】
【Punishment? What a joke! Doggone system, are you trying to trick me by making me deal with this epidemic? Instead of being grateful for my efforts, people are thinking of killing me!】
【Host, this system is also following orders from higher-ups to ensure the smooth operation of this world.
But rest assured, Host, this system can vouch for its own reputation, and you will not suffer any harm during the epidemic.】
【System, do you have a reputation?】
【Of course, I do. This system is an honest child. How could it not have a reputation?】
【Hmph! System, can I just throw that level-five antidote pill directly into the well and let people drink the water?】
【No, Host. You must complete the task one-on-one. If someone monopolizes the well water, this system will automatically consider the Host's mission a failure, and you and your husband will be held accountable.】
【Oh, for heaven's sake! System, as compensation, can you at least tell me which one of my husbands will perish in this epidemic?】
【Host, for the sake of this worthless life of the system, I cannot disclose that information.】
Seeing the system retreat from her mind, Lin Zaozao felt that she had wasted her breath asking it.
Why was her system so unreliable? Not only was it capricious, but it was also casual when assigning tasks.
Regaining her composure, Lin Zaozao patted Dashan's shoulder and said weakly,
"Dashan, fetch the water. This little master is going to perform a divine dance."
"Yes, Little Master."
After Dashan brought the water into the courtyard, Lin Zaozao put on her peculiar divine dance costume and began to perform as a fake deity.
But this time, Lin Zaozao felt that apart from being a bit out of breath, her movements during the divine dance were flawless and smooth.
Indeed, the more she engaged in these supernatural activities, the more skilled she became. This time, not a single word stumbled as she finished the dance.
"Come, everyone! You can drink this divine elixir of mine."
Lin Zaozao shouted loudly to the crowd and started distributing the antidote to those suffering from the epidemic.
"But, Great Deity Lin, we don't have ten taels of gold," a ragged man said timidly.
"Forget about the money. This great deity's mission is to rescue the people from the water and fire.
We are engaged in high-end, classy activities. How can we keep asking for money? Continuously demanding money would make this great deity look tacky, wouldn't it?"
After saying that, Lin Zaozao handed the water with the antidote to the man.
Once he finished drinking, Lin Zaozao started calling out to others.
"Next, next! Hey, don't push. Women on the left, men on the right. Anyone who dares to push, get the hell out of here, got it?"
The previously crowded crowd obediently formed two lines upon hearing Lin Zaozao's roaring voice, waiting for her to distribute the medicine.
"Alright, now that everyone is lined up, let's take the medicine in order!"
Lin Zaozao waved to the people in the neatly lined queue and began distributing medicine for everyone.
But just as she had been dispensing the antidote for a while, a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out from the back of the crowd and pounced on Lin Zaozao. However, Dashan swiftly slapped them away.
Facing the menacing soldiers, Lin Zaozao was momentarily bewildered.
What was going on?
These soldiers hadn't come yesterday, so why were they here today? Moreover, they didn't seem like they came to ask her for medicine!
"Village woman Lin Xiaohua, you sold counterfeit medicine yesterday and swindled over a hundred thousand taels of gold from the crowd. Now, by order of the government, I have come to apprehend you," said the tall and burly official, holding a wanted poster from the government, standing sternly before her, ready to have her captured.
"Hey! Wait a moment, Mr. Official. Since you've come to arrest me, could you show me the wanted poster in your hand? Honestly, I've grown up all this time and haven't seen what a government wanted poster looks like," Lin Zaozao said, making the imposing official visibly stunned. Was this Lin Daxian (a respectful term for Taoist priests) some kind of fool?
When facing a government arrest, shouldn't she be begging for mercy? Yet her current concern was the appearance of the government wanted poster.
Though the official didn't understand Lin Zaozao's thought process, he still handed her the wanted poster.
Taking the wanted poster, Lin Zaozao adjusted the hairpin about to fall from her head and then earnestly began reading it.
After a moment, Lin Zaozao involuntarily furrowed her brows. She looked up and asked the official seriously, "Mr. Official, is this wanted poster really written by the official himself?"
"Yes! Why? Is there something wrong?" The official leaned closer, looking at her earnestly.
"Mr. Official, the content is indeed correct. However, why are there so many misspelled words on the poster? Look at this character, it has an extra stroke. And this character, the radical is incorrect. Oh, right, and this character, the pronunciation is different, it's clearly a misspelled word!"
Lin Zaozao's words made the official visibly stunned. He took the wanted poster from Lin Zaozao's hand, carefully read it again, and indeed, there were quite a few misspelled words.
But when the official carefully read the wanted poster again, he finally understood why there were so many misspelled words. The handwriting on it clearly wasn't the official's; it was the handwriting of his young master.
His young master, really! Didn't he contract the plague yesterday? Where did he find the energy to secretly replace the official's wanted poster?
Could it be... the official himself allowed it?
If the official allowed it, then his intention was for him to bring people here just to make a show, rather than actually arresting the beautifully dressed Lin Daxian before him.
Brother Guancha's face was filled with perplexity as he reluctantly folded the wanted poster in his hands and turned his gaze towards Lin Daxian, who looked like a broom in disguise.
For a moment, he didn't know what to do.
