The girl traveled through another world and forced the prince to take the imperial examination

The Xu family's front door opened wide, and Xiao Hei led the ox cart into the courtyard. The Xu family's house had two courtyards. The front yard was spacious, with three large, south-facing, blue-brick and tiled houses. In the center was the spacious and bright main room, flanked by side rooms. On either side of the main room were passageways leading to the backyard, and there were also side rooms on the east and west sides of the courtyard.

The Xu family had once been truly wealthy, but now they looked rather destitute. The once spacious yard was now filled with a jumble of things, with lumber of varying sizes cluttering every corner of the yard, unfinished furniture strewn about, and sawdust from planers strewn across the ground.

"Excuse me, everyone. A few days ago, a group of thugs broke into our house and beat up our head of household. My son tried to protect his father, but he was also beaten by them. Now they are both injured and lying in bed, unable to move. We are so busy taking care of them that we have no time to do the yard work."

Fang held her little grandson in her arms and said sadly, "Don't despise me, benefactor. Please come inside and sit down!"

As soon as he finished speaking, several elders walked in from the door. As soon as they entered the yard, they looked at Xiao Hei, looked him up and down, and then bowed with a smile.

"This is my benefactor, right? I am the village chief of Daxi Village. My surname is Xu and I am from the same family as Xu Yongfu."

Village chief Xu is in his fifties, with a square face and a long beard. He wears a half-worn cotton gown and has a slightly plump figure, but looks very strong.

Xiao Hei also hurriedly bowed in return: "Thank you for coming, Village Head. I don't deserve your kindness."

Fang said hurriedly, "The village chief and the uncles are here too! Come in and sit down. Our head of the family is still lying in bed, so I, a woman, am the only one who can greet you, the village chief. Please don't be offended!"

Everyone in the village knew about the Xu family's affairs, and the village chief offered some comfort. Xiao Hei wasn't one to meddle in other people's business, so he didn't want to find out what had happened to the Xu family.

He came out today not just to deliver the ox cart, but to find an excuse to inquire about the family in Donghu Village. But since the village chief was already here, he couldn't just turn around and leave, he had to be polite.

Everyone sat in the main hall, and Fang called her eldest daughter-in-law to serve tea and water to the village chief and others.

Xu Yongfu and his wife had two sons and one daughter. Their eldest son, Xu Donghai, inherited his father's carpentry skills. He married a woman surnamed Li, and after eight years of marriage, they had only one six-year-old daughter. The woman who had been afraid to open the door was Li.

The second son, Xu Dongshan, served as an apprentice in the town for several years. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked as an assistant to the accountant in a tea shop. He later settled in Daxing Town, married a woman named Xiao Li, and had a son, Manbaoer, now four years old. Now, Xiao Li is pregnant again, and the couple is too busy to take care of him, so they have no choice but to send Manbaoer to Daxi Village to be cared for by his grandparents.

Manbaoer must have been scared and refused to get down from her grandmother's arms no matter what.

"This kid is very naughty. I don't know how he escaped today."

Xiao Hei didn't expect to scare the child like this, and he felt guilty.

"Your name is Manbaoer, right? Uncle didn't mean to scare you. Uncle apologizes to you. Next time you come, I'll buy you some candy, okay?"

Xiao Hei gave Man Baoer a very gentle smile, but unexpectedly the child burst into tears again.

Uh uh uh! He really wasn't suited to teasing children. Was he really that ugly? As his master's secret guard, he never had to show his face, and even if he did, it wouldn't attract attention. Now, Miss Mu always called him "Little Black," and that old man Ma kept calling him "Blackie."

Xiao Hei is very depressed, Xiao Hei is very worried, Xiao Hei is very doubtful about life... Is he really black and ugly?

Fang coaxed the child while saying embarrassedly, "This child is shy and cries when he sees strangers. Please don't blame me, sir. May I ask your name? Are you a member of Miss Mu's family?"

Xiao Hei could only smile awkwardly and said, "My last name is Mo, just call me Mo Yu. Mu Qingcheng is my cousin."

"Oh! So you are the cousin who knows martial arts that Miss Mu mentioned?"

"Yes, it's me." Xiao Hei clasped his fists and gave everyone a martial arts salute.

The village chief had some experience. Xiao Hei was wearing Boss Zhou's old clothes, but he was tall and strong, and his innate acumen as a secret guard couldn't be hidden by his tattered clothes. The village chief only pondered his origins in his heart and didn't reveal them to the public.

When the villagers heard that he also knew martial arts, they were all very interested, especially men who naturally admired the value of martial arts.

Fang said to the villagers, "This Mr. Mo is truly remarkable. Miss Mu told me he single-handedly defeated a dozen bandits and rescued her and her brother from them. Our ox cart was also stolen by bandits, but it was this young man who rescued it. He's truly an extraordinary man!"

When the villagers heard that Xiao Hei had fought bandits before, they admired him even more: "This young man is formidable! He took on more than a dozen bandits by himself. His martial arts skills are quite impressive!"

"I heard that many of the bandits were martial arts masters, and even the soldiers couldn't handle them. You're an incredible young man, and you were able to save people from the bandits. That's incredible!"

Xiao Hei pretended not to care and said, "No, no! They are all my brothers and sisters and relatives. I can't just watch them get killed by bandits. I have to save them even if it means risking my life."

This made everyone present respect him, and they all called him "Young Hero!" Xiao Hei was praised and felt very happy.

Fang looked at the wound on Xiao Hei's face and said distressedly, "Poor child, look at the wound on your face. I'm afraid you will have to bear it for the rest of your life! I heard that Master Mo was seriously injured and was unconscious for many days. Are your injuries healed now? Why don't you lie down for a few more days?"

Xiao Hei covered the injured area on his chest. It still hurt if he exerted a little force, but for a secret guard like him, it was not considered an injury.

However, he still had to pretend in front of outsiders. He panted a few times and said, "It's okay, it's okay, I'm almost well. I'm used to running around in the martial arts world. It would be torture for me to lie in bed."

Fang said angrily, "How can you do that? You are still young. If you don't take good care of yourself, you will get sick when you are old."

Everyone echoed, "Yes! Young man, you can't be careless. The wound caused by this iron tool is difficult to heal! How can you not take it seriously?"

Xiao Hei's thoughts flashed through his mind, and he changed the subject, "I really didn't expect that in our Great Qi Kingdom, a peaceful and prosperous world, there would be such rampant bandits. This is the first time I've seen such rampant bandits in all my years of wandering the martial arts world."

A villager said, "Hey! Who says it's not true? Even though we were a poor and remote place a few years ago, there were no bandit problems here. It was all caused by the people from Lao Chen Village..."

The moment someone mentioned Laochen Village, the atmosphere immediately became tense. The timid ones hung their heads, curled up, and dared not say a word.

The bravest one was Zhang Dazhu. He said in a loud voice, "Why should I be afraid of him? This is our Daxi Village. How can they come to our village and kill people?"

Several elderly uncles and the village chief exchanged a look of solemnity. The village chief said, "The people in Lao Chen Village have been relatively restrained in recent years. They may not be the ones robbing money and killing people everywhere. Maybe it's someone else." He hinted at something.

"What?" Some villagers were unconvinced. "If they're not from Lao Chen Village, could they be from another village, using the Lao Chen Village name to become bandits?"

Xiao Hei thought to himself that the village chief and the elders clearly knew something, but they chose to remain silent, and could only cryptically remind the villagers: "The mountains have been uneasy lately. Everyone, please don't go there. Once you go in, you can't get out."