The God of War Who Protects the Nation: Starting with Saving a Mother and Daughter in Distress

"Brother Qin, you don't need to draw lots! Don't say I'm not taking care of you; seeing how tall and imposing you are, I'll just arrange the best for you!"

Zhao Erhu gripped Qin An's wrist, a fake smile plastered on his face, but his eyes concealed a sinister glint.

Qin An's heart sank; the other party clearly wanted to settle a personal score.

Before he could react, Zhao Erhu suddenly turned around and pointed at the down-and-out woman in the crowd of women who was carrying twin girls.

"That woman has given birth before, and even twins, which means she's in good health; she'll be perfect for carrying on your family line!"

Upon hearing this, the training ground fell completely silent.

All eyes turned to the woman.

She was dressed in a plain-colored ruqun that had been washed to a pale color. Although her face looked pale, she could not hide her gentle and graceful temperament. However, at this moment, as Zhao Erhu pointed at her, her body trembled like a candle in the wind.

The two little girls in his arms were so frightened that they huddled together in fear.

"Zhao, this...this isn't appropriate, is it?" an immigrant muttered quietly.

Everyone could keep an eye on her; the woman was a convicted official's family member who had been exiled, and she had two children with her, making her a complete burden.

Zhao Erhu's eyes widened: "Perfect! Qin An is strong and healthy, supporting three women is a piece of cake!"

He deliberately emphasized the word "three," his tone revealing no trace of sarcasm.

Everyone present knew that Qin An was so thin he was skin and bones, and his pockets were emptier than his face. He could barely support himself, let alone have a family to support.

Because of Zhao Erhu's tyranny, no one dared to refute him anymore, and they all looked at him with pity.

Qin An clenched his fists, wanting to punch that ugly face of the other person.

Wasn't it because he interrupted Chen Han's covetousness on the way here?

They actually held a grudge all along.

They had been harassed all along, going hungry for three days and nine meals a day, yet they still wouldn't give up.

At this moment, it was clear that the other party was trying to kill him.

But if he dared to resist under the watchful eyes of everyone, he would likely be charged with "disobeying imperial orders" on the spot.

After all, this was the imperial court's policy to encourage childbirth, and the other party did indeed have such a small amount of power.

The only person who could stop him, the village head, seemed to be sleepwalking.

Clearly, he wouldn't stand up for someone as unrelated as Qin An.

"I'll take it!" Qin An's Adam's apple bobbed as he uttered the two words, his voice hoarse yet carrying a stubbornness.

Such a marriage between an older woman and a younger man is indeed somewhat humiliating, and it is evident that after experiencing modern life, Qin An couldn't help but harbor a hint of ambition.

He was unwilling to remain subservient to others for too long.

Since the allocation was inevitable anyway, a woman with such experience might be more suitable for me than a country bumpkin.

Upon hearing this, the woman looked up at him abruptly, a flash of surprise in her eyes, followed by deep disappointment.

The boy in front of me was so much younger than me, so thin that a gust of wind could blow him over. He didn't seem like the kind of person who could support a family.

She opened her mouth, as if to say something.

But when he thought about his own situation, he finally lowered his head and accepted this absurd arrangement.

……

After the commotion, Qin An finally led the mother and her two daughters back to their residence in silence.

The thatched hut he was assigned was on the very edge of the village, with walls as thin as paper and a missing corner on the roof, making a whistling sound when the wind blew.

"This...this is our home?" The two little girls clung to the door frame, their big eyes wide open.

Inside the house, besides a wooden bed that was about to fall apart, there was only a wooden barrel and some pottery jars; there weren't even any decent tables and chairs.

The woman leaned against the door frame, her face pale.

Born into an official family, she was exiled but never imagined that she would one day live in such a dilapidated place.

"With these conditions, can we really support ourselves?"

She felt a sudden wave of despair.

The two little girls, though a little disappointed, quickly adapted, looking at Qin An with curiosity and unease in their eyes.

Li Yuan knew exactly what they were thinking, and was so embarrassed that he didn't know what to say.

For a moment, the atmosphere became a little tense.

"Father?" the youngest daughter suddenly spoke, her voice bright and clear. "You'll be our father from now on? Will you protect us?"

Qin An paused, then turned to look at her.

The little girl had her hair in two buns, her face was dirty, but her eyes shone like stars.

He thought of his modern family in his dream, and his throat tightened.

Seeing the expectant look on their faces, he couldn't bear to disappoint them, so he nodded: "My name is Qin An, and from now on... I will protect you."

The youngest daughter immediately cheered, "Yay! We finally have a daddy!"

Although the eldest daughter didn't say much, she couldn't help but relax, relieved that things had finally stabilized.

Seeing her two daughters' reaction, the woman's eyes reddened, knowing that they had suffered during this time and longed to find someone to rely on.

She knew that things had come to this point and could not be changed, so she chose to accept her fate and curtsied, saying, "This servant, Yang Yuyan, greets...greets...her...husband!"

Her voice was soft and her demeanor gentle, but there was always a lingering sorrow between her brows.

Then, she gave a brief introduction to the three people's situations.

The eldest daughter is named Cai Yan, and the youngest daughter is named Cai Zhen; both are nine years old this year.

Because women in this world tend to marry relatively young, Yang Yuyan herself is actually not very old, only twenty-five.

In modern society, this would be considered the prime of youth, but in this world, she could be a grandmother in a few years.

After understanding the situation, Qin An took a closer look at them.

Although Yang Yuyan looked weathered, she was still a beautiful woman with a voluptuous figure. However, she had suffered a lot during this period, and she looked haggard and much older.

The older sister, Cai Yan, stood quietly, her eyes revealing a maturity beyond her years.

The younger sister, Cai Zhen, was much more lively and had already begun to curiously examine the furnishings in the room.

Qin An nodded, said nothing more, picked up the broken broom in the corner and began to sweep: "You guys sit down first, I'll tidy up."

It wasn't a problem when I was alone, but now that a new person has come to live with us, I really can't stand it anymore.

He cleaned up the cobweb-covered corners, the piles of dust, and the unknown insects under the bed.

Yang Yuyan wanted to help, but she couldn't even hold the broom properly. She clumsily knocked over the pottery jar and immediately blushed.

Cai Yan quickly stepped forward to help wipe the table, but pricked her hand with a splinter. The pain made her eyes red, but she didn't dare to make a sound.

Cai Zhen wanted to help add firewood, but she almost burned her own skirt.

Qin An saw this but said nothing.

After working until mealtime, he scooped out some brown rice and poured it into a clay pot, added a full pot of water, and cooked it into a thin porridge so thin that you could see your reflection in it.

The already limited food rations were quickly depleted.

"Let's fill our stomachs first." Qin An placed the earthenware pot on the ground and scooped out all the rice grains with a broken bowl.

Yang Yuyan looked at the almost transparent porridge, then at Qin An's chapped lips, and wanted to say something, but in the end she took it and divided it among her two daughters first.

As evening fell, Qin An brought back a bundle of dry branches and started a fire to boil water for the mother and her two daughters.

Amidst the steam, Yang Yuyan and her daughters were washing and cleaning in the inner room, their voices hushed up.

Qin An, meanwhile, was outside, hastily wiping his body with cold water.

Fortunately, although it's almost autumn, it's not that cold yet, so it's not a problem.

Inside the room, Yang Yuyan looked at her two daughters' clean and pretty faces, and her eyes welled up with tears.

She washed away the grime, revealing her originally fair skin, but it made her look unwell.

"He...is not a bad person." She stroked her daughter's head, feeling a little more at ease, but still filled with fear about the future.

She had just seen it too; with Qin An's meager rations, it wouldn't last more than a few days.

As night fell, the thatched hut was shrouded in darkness, with only the embers in the stove providing a faint glow.

Qin An gave the wooden plank bed to the mother and her two daughters, and spread a layer of dry straw on the ground for himself.

The bed creaked and groaned, and Yang Yuyan couldn't fall asleep no matter what she did.

The two daughters were squeezed inside, clearly exhausted.

She stared at the hole in the roof, through which moonlight streamed in, illuminating the thin figure on the ground.

Qin An didn't sleep either; he was thinking about how to survive.

"Zhao Erhu will definitely not let me off the hook. He might even sabotage me during the next grain distribution. Things in the fields don't grow overnight. Maybe I should go to the mountains to look for something, but that's not a long-term solution..."

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and after an unknown amount of time, Qin An finally felt drowsy.

Just as he was getting a little dazed, the hay beside him stirred.

Suddenly opening his eyes and turning his head, he saw that Yang Yuyan had climbed off the bed at some point, crawled into his straw mat, and pressed herself against his back.

Upon realizing that Qin An had woken up, Yang Yuyan's body visibly tensed up.

But after glancing at her two daughters on the bed, she still pressed herself even closer without hesitation.

"Husband..." Yang Yuyan's voice trembled, choked with sobs, "I know you're wronged, but... but I have no choice..."

She knew Qin An was forced, and she also knew that she was a burden with two children and was much older than him.

But she had no choice; for her daughter's sake, she had to grasp at this lifeline.

Although Qin An was poor, her brief time together had already shown her that he was a down-to-earth and hardworking honest man.

With such a man around, my mother and I, along with our three daughters, at least have a tiny bit of hope.

For this, she didn't hesitate to swallow her pride and went all out.

Qin An didn't speak; at this moment, he was completely immersed in the soft touch behind him.

From his modern memories, he already knew about matters between men and women, but this body was experiencing such intimate contact with a woman for the first time.

Seeing that Qin An did not respond for a long time, Yang Yuyan bit her lip and reached out her hand with trembling hands...

Her movements were resolute, as if she were performing a ritual.

As a mature woman, once she has made up her mind, she will naturally not be as reserved as a young girl.

Qin An was stunned. His blood rushed to his head, and he suddenly flipped over, looking down at Yang Yuyan from his superior position.

The moonlight outlined her voluptuous figure, her plain inner garment hanging loosely, revealing her fair skin.

Although the woman before him was down on her luck, she possessed the unique charm of a mature woman. The beauty mark at the corner of her eye was faintly visible in the moonlight, carrying a kind of broken beauty.

This was a beauty he had never seen in over a decade, yet now she allowed him to do whatever he pleased.

Qin An felt a burning sensation all over his body, his reason being consumed by instinct.

The rustling of the dry grass masked the suppressed sounds of the two.

Yang Yuyan closed her eyes and took the initiative to guide the other person, tears sliding down her cheeks.

For their own fate, and for this absurd night that may be the only way out.

Qin An, meanwhile, felt an unprecedented surge of emotion amidst the chaos.

The world doesn't seem so cold anymore.

Just as he felt relieved, a cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind.

[Host has completed their coming-of-age ceremony and meets the binding requirements...]

[Binding to the God of Slaughter System... Binding successful!]

[New player gift pack has been distributed. Would you like to open it now?]