To save someone is not to save their heart, and to ferry someone is not to ferry their world.
Xu An's expression grew colder. She no longer looked at the woman's bruised and battered body, but shifted her gaze back to the man.
At this moment, the man was still looking at Xu An with a lecherous gaze, as if testing her, or perhaps trying to curry favor.
"Little girl, it's really cold outside. Why don't you bring your man over to stay? Although we're remote, don't underestimate us. Our fishing village is said to be the only place with electricity right now. Where else will you find a place with power?"
"The house is small, but we can still manage to fix up a separate room for you." As he spoke, he licked his lips and looked at Xu An with a lewd expression. "It'll be convenient for you two to do your thing. We also have electric blankets, so you can hug your wife warmly, it's wonderful."
Xu An's annoyance deepened, and her hands, hidden in her pockets, had already touched a dagger.
The killing intent in her eyes was unconcealed.
Just then, the woman suddenly appeared between the two, holding a quilt, interrupting Xu An's surging, almost overflowing killing intent.
The man inexplicably felt a chill down his spine. He thought it was the cold wind outside. He looked at his wife who had suddenly appeared between him and Xu An.
A nameless rage surged within him.
He had originally thought his wife was at least a beauty in this fishing village.
But after seeing Xu An, the man realized what it meant to be worlds apart.
He remembered that when he went to the city to work, a big boss had said that people like them were country bumpkins.
Even if there was something good in front of them, they wouldn't have the guts to touch it.
In front of real beauties, people like them were not even as good as the mud on the ground.
The man was unconvinced.
But he didn't dare to offend the big boss, so he could only spend the least amount of money and find the cheapest "people" to vent his inner darkness and unwillingness.
When he had saved enough money, he returned to his hometown and got in touch with a group of human traffickers.
He spent money to buy a "beauty" from the city.
He heard that this beauty was even a college student. All these external conditions greatly satisfied the man's jealous and ugly heart.
He satisfied his perverse and ugly desires with sticks and belts.
The man thought, even if I myself am "mud," so what?
I want to pluck the high-soaring flowers of this world. Since mud is not worthy of flowers,
then I will break the flowers.
But the moment he met Xu An, the man realized that when a flower is broken and falls into the mud, it becomes lowly dust like himself.
Someone as clean and beautiful as Xu An is a flower placed on an altar.
The man seemed to have finally found the missing piece in his heart.
So, in front of his wife, he began to try every means to keep Xu An.
Attempting to touch this "flower" again.
The woman looked at Xu An vigilantly, her eyes full of caution. This caution came from her feminine intuition.
She had a premonition that her man was looking at the woman in front of him. It was a kind of repulsion between the same sex, a strange magnetic field.
Facing the man's lecherousness and the woman's inexplicable hostility,
Xu An felt speechless and almost wanted to laugh.
At this moment, a sentence unceremoniously entered her mind.
"Pitiable people must have their hateful aspects."
It was fortunate that she had just wanted to help this woman escape from her suffering.
But now, she saw that not only did they not consider this suffering, but they were even happy in it.
Not only that, but they also thought Xu An wanted to snatch her man.
Xu An didn't waste any more time. She took out four bags of compressed biscuits and two packs of instant noodles.
"This is all. Do you want to exchange it? If not, I'll find someone else. There aren't only your villagers here, are there? I think these supplies are enough for me to exchange for two quilts."
After all, it was the second year of the apocalypse. Most ordinary households still had many quilts and bedding. But fast food like the instant noodles and compressed biscuits in Xu An's hands was still quite rare for these fishing villages that relied on the sea for a living.
Seeing Xu An's unyielding attitude, the man also felt a surge of anger. He happened to see his wife bringing the quilt over.
He vented his anger on his wife, kicking her.
"Hurry up and give the quilts to her, you jinx! What are you standing there for!"
The woman stumbled from the kick, but her long-term abuse had made her submissive, so she couldn't muster any resistance. She just handed the quilt in her hands to Xu An.
She casually took the food from Xu An's hands.
Then, she timidly walked into the inner room. Immediately, a child's loud cheer could be heard, "Quick, cook noodles for me! I want noodles!"
Then, the woman's gentle voice followed, "Okay, Mom will cook for you now."
Xu An, after receiving the quilt, did not relax her furrowed brow. She weighed the quilt in her hands, wanting to say something but ultimately held back.
The man, however, oblivious to her feelings, looked at Xu An and said, "Beauty, where is your car? Do you really not want to come and stay for the night? We won't charge you rent."
"No need."
Seeing Xu An's refusal, the man then said, "Then tell me where your car is, and I'll deliver the quilts to you. Such large quilts, how can you, a woman, carry them in such heavy snow?"
As he spoke, he reached out to take the quilt in Xu An's hands.
But Xu An dodged him with a flash.
"No need, I can do it myself."
After saying that, she turned and left.
She hadn't walked far when she heard the man's angry shouting and the loud slam of a door behind her.
After confirming that there was no one around, Xu An, carrying the quilts, flashed into her space.
Ze Yuan looked at Xu An, who had entered the space still holding two ridiculous quilts.
"What are you doing?"
Xu An's furrowed brow finally relaxed.
"There's something wrong with these quilts. They look heavy, but they're not pure cotton at all. The inside of the quilts is wet, which is why they're so heavy. You can't use quilts like this at all."
"Don't say that in this icy and snowy weather, wearing such quilts will directly cause you to catch a cold from the dampness. Even in normal weather, wearing such quilts will lead to cold invading your body."
But Ze Yuan also knew that this was a fishing village, so he said, "But this is a fishing village, and it's close to the sea. It's normal for quilts to be damp, isn't it? You can't say they're intentionally trying to harm you."
Xu An listened to Ze Yuan's words without any extra expression on her face, merely stating the facts she had seen.
"But that man, and the woman he beat with his fists and kicks, are also wearing cotton clothes."
Ze Yuan asked somewhat confusedly, "So what?"
Xu An said coldly, "They are wearing cotton clothes, but they are all dry and comfortable."
At this point, Ze Yuan understood the meaning behind Xu An's words.