Dimensional Bookstore

The sun had already set on the edge of the riverbank in the west, and the sky was mired in a turbid mixture of day and night. The late-returning crows made hoarse calls and disappeared into the quiet and deep forest in the distance. The hazy night cast a shadow on the forest, which looked as terrifying and gloomy as a beast with bared fangs and claws.

Sophia's face was pale, and she still stumbled towards the forest despite her fear.

This forest was called the Devil's Forest by the locals. Her mother said that there were man-eating demons living in the forest, so Sophia, like other children in the village, had never dared to step into the forest since she was a child.

But Sophia had no way out.

"You can't run away, you monster! Bastard!"

"Burn that evil witch!"

"Go to hell, witch! God will never forgive you!"

Angry curses chased after her, and it was hard to imagine that the people who said these words were the villagers who usually treated her kindly.

Some of them were uncles from the neighborhood who farmed with her father, some were aunts at the entrance of the village who washed clothes with her mother, and even Linda's best friend Malena.

But now they were chasing her ferociously, wishing to crush her to ashes.

Since her father passed away, her and her mother's life has become more difficult. The successive years of famine have left the land barren for several years. In order to feed her, her mother can only entertain the men in the village at night. Her mother is very hard-working, sometimes even having to entertain more than a dozen people a night. She is too young now, only nine years old. When she is older, she can help her mother, and her mother won't have to be so tired.

However, before that day came, the women in the village suddenly rushed into her house and tied up her mother and her. They said that her mother was a wanton and evil witch who cast a spell to kill her husband and also bewitched the men in the village, and she was the witch's daughter and the future evil witch, so they should all be tried and burned to purify!

She was stunned!

They lied!

Her mother didn't kill her father! Dad died of illness! And Mom is so kind and gentle, how could she be a witch!

They are all a group of bad women! They want to harm Mom!

She wanted to refute, but those people blocked her mouth, and then she saw those people taking away the crying and struggling Mom.

Finally, Uncle Jack, who often visited Mom, secretly helped her untie the rope and asked her to run as far as possible.

She didn't want to, she wanted to find Mom!

Uncle Jack said that it was Mom who asked her to find a place to hide first, and she would come to find her after a few days.

Uncle Jack used to help Mom with work, and he was Mom's good friend, so Sophia decided to believe him.

She ran out, but was soon discovered by the villagers, who chased her closely.

She was too young and would be caught by them soon. She promised Mom to hide and wait for her, how sad Mom would be if she couldn't find her.

So she gritted her teeth, ignored Mom's previous warnings, and ran towards the terrible forest.

The moment she stepped into the forest, she thought: She is so small and doesn't have much meat on her body. If Mr. Devil is hungry, he can eat the people behind him. They have more meat and are more evil.

※

The tree man who was talking to Le Jing suddenly fell silent. He tilted his ear as if listening to something.

"What's wrong?" Le Jing asked.

"A human... is coming in." The tree man listened for a while and said seriously: "The tree over there... told me that a group of humans... are chasing a... human cub."

"Oh, they call... that child... a witch, and that girl... has no... magic power." The tree man said contemptuously: "They... are always so... stupid, saying they want to... burn witches, but in the end... most of the people... sent to the gallows by them... are... ordinary people... without magic power."

Le Jing frowned in disgust: "Can you tell me where she is?"

"You want... to save her?" The tree man looked at him disapprovingly, "Maybe it's... a trap, humans are... very cunning."

Le Jing smiled helplessly, looking at the tree man's eyes like a clear blue sky, clean and clear: "After all, it's an innocent life. My conscience can't stand watching it die."

Even if this is no longer his world, the ignorance and madness of humans are the same. He, who is familiar with history, knows too well the fate of this poor girl who was caught. If she simply admitted her identity as a "witch", it would be fine. The judge would "mercifully" sentence her to death by burning or hanging. If she did not admit it, what awaited her was inhumane torture until she admitted it.

This was a dark era in human civilization. Under the instigation of public opinion, everyone tore off their rationality, exposed their ugly and hideous bestiality, and persecuted their compatriots inhumanely. Such things are by no means isolated in the history of human civilization, but have been staged one after another. There was the Yangzhou Ten Days and Jiading Three Massacres in the Qing Dynasty①, and Hitler's genocide policy, and so on.

No wonder some people lamented that humans are the only race in nature that kills each other.

Since Le Jing is the only sober person in this crazy era, he must take responsibility. If he chooses to stand idly by, then what is the difference between him and those crazy and cruel humans?

So he wants to save her.

※

Sophia curled up in the bushes and shivered. The noisy voices were getting closer and closer to her. She even heard dogs barking! She had just accidentally fallen and twisted her foot. Now she couldn't walk anymore.

She hugged her knees tightly, tears of fear welling up in her eyes.

She knew what would happen to a captured witch, she had seen it with her own eyes. She was a beautiful woman, and to be honest, Sophia could not tell the difference between this "witch" and an ordinary person. But the pastor of the church said she was an evil witch, and then burned her at the stake in public. Sophia can still remember the crackling of the flames and the screams and cries of the woman, which became her nightmare for countless nights.

She had not had time to grow up, and she did not want to die.

Finally, the voices were getting closer and closer, and she closed her eyes in fear, waiting for the great misfortune that was about to befall her.

At this moment, she felt something cold and soft wrapped around her, just like the rope that had tied her before.

She opened her eyes in fear and subconsciously wanted to scream, but several soft green "ropes" immediately blocked her mouth tightly, making her unable to make any sound.

The "rope" seemed to be alive. Before the adults found her, it pulled her to the tree fork above. The dense leaves blocked her tightly and successfully blocked the sight of those people.

The dog wandered around the bushes where she had just stopped for a long time, but finally found nothing. Sophia heard the dog owner scold a few times and walked away with the dog.

Sophia squatted on the tree fork, still a little confused. She now found that it was not the rope that tied her up, but the vines.

Sophia had never heard of the vines swimming like long snakes before.

Could it be a trick of the devil?

In a daze, the vines sent her back to the ground, and a white jade-like hand with slender fingers stretched out in front of Sophia, "Are you okay?"

The voice was warm and clear, and it was indescribably beautiful.

Sophia raised her head in shock while sitting on the ground, and what came into her sight was an oriental man with black hair and black eyes.

His facial features were delicate and exquisite, his skin was so white that it seemed to glow, his teeth were white and neat, there was no callus on his hands, he was slender and graceful, and he was obviously a superior person. Even the most powerful lords did not look as noble as him! Sophia dared to say that he must be a greater figure than the lord.

But such a great man stretched out his hand to her and asked her kindly, "Are you okay?"

Sophia did not dare to hand over her dirty hand. She climbed up flattered and stammered, "I, I'm fine, thank you, sir."

The great man laughed, like ice water melting, flowing through the deep canyon, meeting the flowers, and blooming a spring, "Don't call me sir, I'm not a great person. My name is Le Jing, an oriental who came here to travel." He squatted down, aligned his eyes with Sophia, and stretched out his hand to her again, "Can this young lady tell me your name?" His attitude was cherished, as if she was not a farmer's daughter, but a lady from a noble family.

"My name is Sophia." Sophia answered in a low voice. She hesitated for a moment, and nervously handed her dirty hand to the adult tentatively, ready for him to avoid her with disgust.

Unexpectedly, the adult calmly took the dusty and scarred little hand, kissed her hand without changing his expression, and looked at her with pity: "Nice to meet you, Miss Sophia."

Sophia's face slowly turned red, and she even heard the sound of her heart beating.

In her short life, it was the first time that someone treated her with such pity.

A small "dream" suddenly appeared in her little head.

She is 9 years old this year, and she can get married in 3 years. It would be great if she could become the mistress of this adult at that time.

The author has something to say:

①The three massacres of Jiading in Yangzhou in the ten days: the "feat" of massacres when the Qing army entered the pass. I am a die-hard Qinghei, and I believe in the wise sayings of Qidian men's channel, travel to the Qing Dynasty without rebellion, chrysanthemum drill electric drill:-)

In the Middle Ages, the legal age of marriage for women was 12 years old, and for men was 14 years old:-)

If you want to know about life in the Middle Ages, I recommend you to read Qidian article "A Time-Traveling Girl Worse than Beasts". The time of the time-traveling girl is hundreds of years earlier than the time set in this article, but the living standards of farmers have not improved much [spreading hands]

Forget about the beautiful fantasy of knights and castles in the Middle Ages. If there is a time travel, I would rather travel to China than to a foreign country. Life there is really not human. No wonder Chinese people have always believed that foreign barbarians are uncivilized since ancient times_(:з”∠)_