Ouyang Ye stopped behind a tree not far from the village entrance, following the woman in the brown skirt. The woman in the brown skirt glanced at the women washing clothes by the well in the distance, then at Ouyang Ye, who had stopped behind her. Feeling particularly nervous, she said, "Can you go ahead?"
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Ye withdrew his gaze from the village name, looked down at the woman in the brown skirt, and then, without a word, walked past her.
Seeing this, the woman in the brown skirt breathed a sigh of relief, lowered her head, and cautiously followed Ouyang Ye's footsteps.
Ouyang Ye then stopped in front of the women and said, "Hello, I'd like to ask you a question." As he spoke, he glanced down at the puddles of water on the ground.
Immediately, one of the women, hearing Ouyang Ye's words, raised her face and asked, "Who are you?" She shook her wet hands twice in front of her.
Ouyang Ye replied politely, "I'm a merchant passing through here. I've come to..."
However, before Ouyang Ye could finish speaking, the first woman shifted her gaze to the woman in the brown skirt behind him and exclaimed, "Why, it's you!" With that, she shot to her feet.
Hearing the unfriendly question from the first woman, the woman in the brown skirt involuntarily took two steps back, not daring to speak, and buried her head.
The next second, the other women also raised their heads, looking at the woman in the brown skirt with fierce eyes.
The woman in the brown skirt deeply felt their gazes and became increasingly nervous.
At the same time, Ouyang Ye looked at them one by one, then turned to look at the woman in the brown skirt and said, "Do you have any other men here? I have something I wish to say to them." As he spoke, he finally fixed his gaze on the first woman.
Hearing Ouyang Ye's words, the first woman glared fiercely at the woman in the brown skirt and said, "You're in league with her, aren't you?" She then shifted her gaze to Ouyang Ye.
Ouyang Ye looked calmly at the first woman and smiled faintly. "With her tattered clothes, do you think," he looked down at his own relatively neat attire, and smiled again, "I look like I'm in league with her?"
"Where are you from?" the first woman's tone softened.
The woman in the brown skirt, hearing that the first woman was no longer bothering her, could not help but breathe a sigh of relief and began to trust Ouyang Ye.
Ouyang Ye replied, "Where I come from is not important, but," he said, his face full of gentleness, "I'm here looking for someone."
"Looking for someone?" the first woman repeated, let out a cold laugh, and wiped her half-dry hands on her clothes. "Then I must disappoint you. We only have these few families here, and our men have all gone into the mountains to hunt. So, no matter how many questions you ask us, we can only answer that we don't know." She shook her head slightly.
"Into the mountains?" Ouyang Ye repeated, focusing on the key information.
The first woman nodded. "Yes, into the mountains."
"Isn't it this way?" Ouyang Ye felt a flicker of hope.
Seeing that Ouyang Ye didn't seem like a bad person, the first woman stopped being evasive. She glanced around and then turned to point in a direction behind her. "It's that way. However, I heard my man say that people often get lost there." She looked back at Ouyang Ye. "But our men, to protect us, basically never bring those people over. I think you might find the person you're looking for over there."
However, the first woman's reply also served as a reminder to Ouyang Ye. Following her finger, Ouyang Ye glanced at the mountains in that direction. Then, he thought about the wind direction that day and felt a surge of hope. "Thank you," he said, looking at the woman in the brown skirt behind him. "Come with me."
Hearing Ouyang Ye's words, the first woman's eyes lit up. "You mean you're going to take her with you?" she asked, her eyes full of excitement.
Ouyang Ye heard this and looked at the woman's tattered cloth shoes, the dirt on her face, and her ragged clothes. He said, "You really want me to take her away?" As he spoke, he glanced back at them.
Upon hearing Ouyang Ye's words, they all stood up.
Then, the second woman said, "Hurry up and take her away. My man is curious about her appearance all the time. If she weren't crazy," she felt only crisis, "my man would have left me long ago." She choked up as she spoke.
The third woman said tearfully, "I don't know where this vixen crawled out from. Please take her away quickly, we'd be eternally grateful." She nodded slightly.
The fourth woman, while soothing the child on her back, said, "My man doesn't have any feelings for this woman. It's just my child; every time they see her, they get scared. Please take her away quickly, thank goodness."
"Yes, take her away," the other women chimed in.
Ouyang Ye listened to these women's pleas, accusations, and complaints, then looked at the woman in the brown skirt behind him, who could no longer lift her head. After a moment's thought, he said, "Since you want her to leave, I will satisfy you."
As Ouyang Ye spoke, their eyes all lit up. Before they could even speak, Ouyang Ye added two words: "However."
They became nervous.
Following that, the first woman asked, "What do you mean by that?" She looked at her sisters as well.
Ouyang Ye replied, "I'm a person who cares about appearances. If I take her out like this, I'll feel ashamed. So, before that, find her a set of clothes and shoes. Oh, and boil some water for her to wash up." He simply couldn't stand how dirty the woman in the brown skirt was.
"This..." The first woman gave a dry laugh. "Won't that be a waste of time?"
"I have plenty of time. If you don't do as I say," Ouyang Ye turned sideways to look at the woman in the brown skirt, "I won't take her." He then turned back to look at them.
They were speechless. However, in order to get rid of the woman in the brown skirt, half of them agreed to Ouyang Ye's request. Thus, in less than half an hour, the woman in the brown skirt was completely transformed.
"Alright," the first woman returned with the woman in the brown skirt to Ouyang Ye.
Ouyang Ye glanced at the woman in the brown skirt, who had her hair tied up and was wearing a woman's dress, and said faintly, "Alright, let's go."
Hearing Ouyang Ye's words, the first woman smiled and said, "Then thank you very much."
Ouyang Ye replied, "You're welcome." He then walked ahead.
After they had gone some distance, the women all laughed. The first woman said, "That vixen is finally gone. I wonder how my man will manage now."
"Exactly. I said that woman looked extraordinary. See, I was right," said the third woman, shaking her head.
Following the lead of the first and third women, the other women began to speak ill of the woman in the brown skirt.