Chapter 11: Acting Competition
“Poor child,” the old lady grabbed her little hand and patted it comfortingly, saying with pity, “Your father is not at home, no one can help you no matter how wronged you are.

Your stepmother is so cruel that she let you go out alone on such a long journey from Kaifeng to Daming. How can you return empty-handed like this? "

The old lady's eyes became more kind, and she said with a sad face: "I am not very knowledgeable, but I have walked a lot and met a lot of people. That vicious stepmother always likes to find excuses to sell the little girl at home..."

Pan Yun trembled in her hand with a terrified expression on her face. The old lady held her hand tightly and said lovingly: "Good child, why don't you wait a while before going back? Wait until your father comes back, then you can go home. That way, no matter how angry your stepmother is, she won't dare to do anything to you."

Pan Jun's heart was beating fast, but after a moment he shook his head in embarrassment, "But my uncle's family is very angry about the debt this time, and they will definitely not take me in. I, I don't know where to go..."

Of course the old lady knew that her uncle's family would not take the child in, but any relative with a conscience would not send the child away alone.

Isn't this a deliberate gift to her?
The person is right in front of her. If she doesn't accept him, wouldn't she be letting God down?
So the old lady patted Pan Yun's hand gently and said, "Good child, if you don't mind, come with me and stay at my house for a few days. When you find out that your father has returned, you can go home again."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up slightly, and he was about to nod, but then he shook his head again as he thought of something, "No, my stepmother has a cousin who works as a steward at Kaifeng Wharf, and it was he who sent me on board. If I go back to Kaifeng but don't go home, I'm afraid I'll be too ashamed to face people in the future.

My family moved to Kaifeng from Beijing. My stepmother knows a lot of people in Kaifeng, but I don’t know any of them…”

The last bit of doubt in the old lady's heart disappeared. She was just about to ask, the child said his home was in Kaifeng, why did he speak Beijing dialect?

In her heart, she instantly completed Pan Yun's family background.

After my mother passed away, my father moved the whole family to Kaifeng to do business. He remarried in Kaifeng and handed over his daughter and home to his second wife while he went out to do business. As a result, his second wife could not tolerate the daughter born earlier...

The old lady's smile became brighter and brighter. She gently patted Pan Yun's hand and said, "Good child, don't worry. We won't go to Zhuxian Town. We are just below Jiaozhangkou."

Pan Jun looked confused, "What is that place?"

The old lady said: "That is a ferry crossing in Zhangde Prefecture, not far from Anyang. My home is in Anyang. You can come home with me and live for a while. When your father comes back in a while, I will ask my son to take you back. It is very convenient."

Pan Yun: "Can the ship stop at Jiaozhangkou?"

"Of course you can. Not only can you get off the boat, you can also get on the boat. I'll talk to the boatman later. Just follow me."

Pan Jun nodded with trust, looking at her with sparkling eyes, what a good person~~
The old lady also looked at her with a bright face, what a good girl~~
After sitting for a long time, the boat began to pull alongside. Not far ahead was a very small ferry built of wood. Five or six people stood on the shore, waving to the boat.

As soon as the boat approached, a boatman threw a rope upwards and the boat was quickly fixed. The boatman put up the step and the people waiting on the shore immediately carried their things onto the boat. Some people followed the boat, while others did not and just put down their things and left.

Seeing that Pan Yun was watching with great interest, the old lady explained: "We all have to make a living. The wages of boatmen are low, so we can only make up for it from these places. It is also convenient for poor people like us."

Pan Jun smiled but said nothing. Others were poor people, but the old lady sitting next to her was not.

She glanced at the tall man opposite her, the corners of her mouth curled slightly, and her hand stroking the black cat became more gentle.

The black cat shook its fur in her hands and continued to lie quietly in her arms, glancing at the old lady with sympathy in its glass-like eyes.

The old lady also glanced at the black cat, but didn't take it to heart.

Although it is strange to take a cat out, the girl is young and the cat seems to be very familiar with her, so it is not surprising after knowing her background.

Most likely she was afraid that her pet would be abused if left at home by her stepmother, so she took it with her wherever she went.

Along the way, the boatman would stop for a while if someone waved. Most of the time, the boats could be docked at ferries, but some did not even have ferries, so they would just sit in a small rowing boat and ferry people and things to the big ship.

Pan Jun watched along the way and figured out that for those passengers who did not buy tickets from the official authorities and pay the fees at the initial station, the fare they paid would be divided among the boatmen, and they might also have to take care of the managers above.

This ship is an official ship of the Daming Prefecture Yamen, specially prepared for the merchants and travelers of Daming Prefecture. It only stops at four official ferry ports along the way, and the fares collected are only to these four ferry ports.

Jiaozhangkou is not among these four.

It was not until noon of the next day that the boat arrived at Jiaozhangkou.

The old lady spoke to the boatman in advance, and the boat turned into the ferry when it arrived at Jiaozhangkou. As soon as it docked, the old lady held Pan Yun's hand tightly and went ashore. Behind them was a tall and strong middle-aged man, about thirty years old.

Pan Jun was dragged ashore by the old lady with a confused look on his face. After walking for a while, he realized that someone was following them. Looking back, he saw the fierce light in the middle-aged man's eyes. He hid behind the old lady timidly, "This is..."

The old lady smiled and comforted her, "This is my son. Don't be fooled by his fierce appearance, he is actually a very good person."

The middle-aged man forced a smile at her, and his face looked even more ferocious.

Pan Yun didn't seem to notice, and relaxed with a look of relief, calling out obediently, "Hello, uncle." "Okay, okay, let's go quickly," the old lady said, "It's still a long way to Anyang, we have to hurry, otherwise we won't be able to stay in the post station at night."

There is a town outside Jiaozhangkou. The two men led Pan Yun directly out of the town. Once they left the place with houses, people gradually became fewer and fewer, and the main road quickly turned into a traffic path. After walking for a while, the fields gradually disappeared, and there were only trees and weeds on both sides of the narrow path.

Seeing Pan Yun looking around, the old lady estimated the distance and decided to coax her to walk by herself, so she explained: "The small road is shorter, and we can reach the post station outside Anyang before sunset."

Pan Jun responded in a low voice. Seeing that there were dense trees and weeds here and no one was around, he moved closer to the old lady and said in an even lower voice, "Grandma, I, I need to go to the bathroom."

The old lady smiled kindly, "Good boy, don't be so restrained, I will go with you."

She threw the bag to the middle-aged man, asked him to wait by the roadside, and took Pan Yun into the woods.

Pan Yun put the cat on his shoulder and looked at the old lady with a blushing face.

The old lady understood that girls are shy, so she turned her back tactfully.

Pan Yun behaved too obediently and well-behaved. Whatever she said came true along the way. Plus, she was young, so the old lady was not on guard at all.

If it were someone else, she would never expose her back to others.

As soon as she turned around, the smile on Pan Yun's face disappeared, and a sword appeared in her hand. Without drawing the scabbard, she held it with both hands and smashed it hard at the back of the old lady's head...

The old lady turned around and stood still, unable to react at all. Her head was confused, she rolled her eyes and fell to the side.

Pan Jun reached out to take her, and gently put her on the ground. He seemed a little worried, and when he helped her fall down, he turned her over, and then hit her neck several times with his hands. The black cat felt pain just by looking at it.

Seeing how cruel she was, the black cat became even more obedient and stood on her shoulder very obediently, not moving at all.

Pan Jun walked out quietly with the knife in his hand, walked silently behind the middle-aged man who had his back to them, raised the scabbard and smashed it down.

This time she had no scruples and hit the opponent three times in a row, "bang bang bang". The opponent didn't even roll his eyes and fell down with a bang.

Pan Jun kicked the middle-aged man, and seeing that he had no reaction, he picked up the sheath of the knife and hit him on the neck and head several times. Seeing that he was unconscious, he put away the knife and began to search him.

These two people, one looks kind, but has foxy eyes, horizontal lines on the bridge of his nose, a cunning mind, and calculating eyes are glued to her, and he still wants her to trust him?
The other one had triangular eyes and a black forehead. Even though she was not good at face reading, she could tell that he was not a good person. There was a murderous aura around him and no one knew how many innocent lives he had taken.

Pan Jun searched the purses of the two men, but unfortunately they didn't have much money on them, just a few strings of copper coins and some small change.

After she collected everything, she looked at the clothes they were wearing and felt disgusted, but she still dragged the two of them together and stripped them all, leaving only their underwear.

He used the dagger he had searched from the man's body to cut his arm, and when the blood came out, he used his finger to dip it and wrote five big words on the back of the old woman's underwear: "I am a human trafficker."

After writing, the amount of bleeding decreased. She cut his arm again without any regret. This time, she took the old lady's finger, dipped it in the blood, and wrote four big words "I killed someone" on the back of the man's underwear.

Pan Jun admired his masterpiece and nodded with satisfaction.

Fortunately, there were two people on the other side. If it was just one person, she would have to use her own fingers to get stained with blood, which would be too polluting for her.

She tied the two men together to a tree and tied a knot. Then she took the remaining things on them and left.

When they reached the main road, Pan Yun carefully checked the sun and time, determined the directions of east, west, south and north, and then chose a road heading north.

As night fell, Pan Yun found some firewood, gathered his spiritual power on his fingers, drew a fire symbol in the air, and then lit the firewood.

With fire, we can not only keep warm, but also feel safe.

Pan Yun exhaled, broke off a lot of branches with large leaves and spread them on the ground, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate and practice.

The black cat moved its body and lay obediently beside her legs, half tilting its head towards the moon, absorbing the moonlight while rubbing against the spiritual energy attracted by her.

Woo woo woo, ever since it abandoned its main body and escaped from her Niwan Palace, the good days when it could grab spiritual power at will are gone forever. Now it can only steal some spiritual energy quietly.

I miss its body and its head so much.

(End of this chapter)