It was obvious that Yue Bai truly liked children. Yang Xue couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.
But there were still two little girls. They didn't want to go home and didn't even know where their homes were.
Fearing that Yang Xue would drive them away, the two ten - year - old girls were extremely diligent. They followed Yang Xue around in the kitchen, offering to help with whatever they could. They would even scramble to do any task that they were capable of.
The names of these two girls were rather unpleasant. One was called Gou'er and the other was called Huidan, which showed that they were clearly not favored at home.
"Please don't drive us away, sister. We've done a lot of rough work and we're very hard - working. As long as you're willing to teach us, we'll learn anything. We just need a mouthful of food. We don't want to go home, and we don't want to beg," the slightly older girl said, starting to shed tears.
"Sister, I don't want to beg either. Please don't drive us away," the other, a bit more shy, was already a sobbing mess.
Yang Xue quickly put down the kitchen knife in her hand, squatted down, and wiped their tears away. She felt heart - broken.
"Don't cry, don't cry. I won't leave you behind. As long as I have something to eat, I'll never treat you badly." She pulled the two children into her arms. "How about I give you new names? Duoduo and Fangfang, okay?"
"Okay," the older one nodded. "I'll be Fangfang, and my sister can be Duoduo."
She even knew to give the nicer name to her younger sister. Yang Xue ruffled Fangfang's hair. "Even if I have to leave in the future, I'll find a good family to adopt you."
"Okay," Duoduo nodded vigorously, sobbing silently as she wiped away her tears with her hands one after another.
Yang Xue felt extremely heart - sore. How could anyone be so cruel as to abandon such lovely children?
If they couldn't raise them, why did they give birth to them in the first place?
Yang Xue originally thought that in the Land of Women, since there was no preference for sons over daughters, and since all were girls and there were no husbands forcing women to give birth to boys, such problems wouldn't exist.
Who would have thought that some poor women, in order to change their own fates, would keep giving birth one after another. They would sell their children to wealthy families who didn't want to have children themselves, just to make some extra money.
If one of the children became successful, they could even change the fate of the whole family and rise to the ranks of the wealthy.
Yang Xue took the two little girls with her. To avoid making Boss Hua unhappy, she主动 told Boss Hua that she would go to work on time every day to cook without asking for any pay, and hoped that the two children could stay with her for the time being.
Boss Hua readily agreed, but just advised her to find a place for the children as soon as possible.
After all, she could tell that Yang Xue definitely wouldn't stay here for long. Yang Xue and that man from last night would surely have their own children in the future, and she definitely wouldn't keep such big children with her.
Yang Xue wasn't in a hurry. Calculating the time and distance, it would still be several months before the Tang Monk and his disciples arrived in the Land of Women. She could stay here for the time being and focus on her cultivation.
It was said that after she saved those children, her cultivation level had risen again. On the night when Sun Wukong confessed his love to her, she had successfully advanced from the late stage of the Soul - Traveling Realm to the Body - Tempering Realm.
Cultivation in the Body - Tempering Realm would be relatively slow. She needed to spend a great deal of time tempering her body over and over again to get rid of the limitations of her physical body and her original form.
But at the same time, she was a bit panicked. Although the thousand - year - old fox Yue Bai was only at the mid - stage of the Great Vehicle Realm and still had some time to go before the Tribulation Transcendence and Ascension, she was only a little over five hundred years old.
Among the demon race, it was extremely rare for someone of her age to reach the Body - Tempering Realm.
However, compared to Sun Wukong, she was still far from being outstanding.
Thinking about her current situation, Yang Xue decided to speed up her cultivation. Her eyelids had been twitching a lot recently.
Those people from the Western Regions wouldn't let her go easily. Especially after they found out that she wasn't as easy to deal with as they thought, they would surely eliminate the potential threat.
At night, Yang Xue didn't plan to sleep. She sat on the bed, meditating and cultivating, tempering this body of hers.
...
Sun Wukong wouldn't show up in front of Yang Xue for a while. He had noticed that the Western Heaven seemed to be suspicious of him. The number of immortals secretly protecting the Tang Monk had increased, and there were even a few Golden Immortals among them. This was abnormal.
He found an opportunity to let his soul travel to the sky and secretly inquired in the Heavenly Court. Only then did he learn that there had been a big commotion in the Western Heaven recently. They suspected that he had a close relationship with the White Bone Spirit, and had sent many people to keep an eye on him.
They even went to question Zhu Bajie and Sha Seng when Sun Wukong went out to beg for food, asking if Sun Wukong had any suspicious behavior recently.
Fortunately, although Zhu Bajie was often unreliable, he was quite loyal this time and didn't betray him.
"Wukong, have you made up your mind?" The Tang Monk was sitting in meditation on a tree stump, under the star - dotted night sky.
It was hot these days, and they hadn't found a village family willing to take them in for the night, so they were camping in the forest.
Under normal circumstances, those immortals and soldiers secretly protecting them wouldn't really camp in the forest with them.
Sun Wukong was lying on a tree branch, staring blankly at the sky above.
"Master, what do you mean by that?" Sun Wukong pretended to be confused. Although he had long expected that the Tang Monk was intelligent and his abnormal behavior before must have caught his attention.
"You've been to many places recently, and now you've suddenly become quiet and don't go out at night. Is it because of Miss Bai?"
"No. What does it have to do with Miss Bai?" Sun Wukong continued to play dumb and refused to admit it no matter what.
"Even Bajie knows that you, this monkey, have fallen in love. Now that you're so calm, you must have confessed your feelings. You've been smiling foolishly these days and even have the leisure to pick flowers and enjoy the moon. You must..." The Tang Monk chattered on, analyzing everything logically.
"Master, stop talking," Sun Wukong was afraid of this monk. He not only loved to nag but also had extremely strong observation skills. "I admit it, okay? I've revealed my true feelings, and the girl didn't reject me. I'm very happy now."
"Really?" The Tang Monk put down the Buddhist beads in his hand and said seriously, "The Dharma - protecting Arhats came to ask yesterday if you went to other places every day. It seems that they're still looking for Miss Bai's whereabouts."
"That's right. I was hiding above the clouds before and found someone following me closely. Clearly, they're watching my every move. I won't go to see her easily from now on." Sun Wukong didn't hide anything and looked serious. "But I have one thing I don't understand. Why do they want to kill her so badly?"
"Amitabha," the Tang Monk put his hands together. "I'm also very puzzled. Our Buddha is merciful. Why doesn't he let go of a woman who has sincerely repented and is determined to do good? Although the White Bone Spirit did evil in the past, she has laid down her butcher's knife."
"Damn this Buddhist scriptures pilgrimage!" Sun Wukong slapped his hand down, breaking a tree branch. He said angrily, "Tang Monk, if one day you find that the Buddha you believe in doesn't save people, what will you choose to do?"
"Amitabha," the Tang Monk closed his eyes and defended painfully, "Our Buddha is merciful. Don't speak nonsense."
"Humph!" Sun Wukong leaned against the tree trunk and sneered. "A few days ago, I went to the Heavenly Court to look for the Supreme Lord Lao Jun. Do you know what I heard?"
... The Tang Monk remained silent.
"Brother Sha breaking the glass lamp back then was actually a trap. The purpose was to make him fall to the mortal world so that he could escort you to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures one day!" Sun Wukong gritted his teeth. "And that stupid Bajie, there was nothing wrong with him admiring the Goddess of the Moon. He did such a ridiculous thing back then because someone had tampered with his wine!"