The woman's first words made it clear to Ye Wen that he'd been wrongly accused. It seemed the villagers had mistaken him for a debt collector, some kind of villain come knocking at their door."I don't look that threatening," he muttered to himself.

He was about to explain when the woman stumbled forward unsteadily. Her body wavered dangerously close to collapse before Ye Wen instinctively caught her arm. "I'm here with a message," he explained, steadying her.

Before he could finish speaking, a high-pitched child's voice rang out from behind him - clearly too young for such venomous intent. A wooden object whistled through the air toward his legs.

Without turning around, Ye Wen leapt upward and backward in one fluid motion to evade the blow. His internal energy training had reached new levels of proficiency these past few days, allowing him to execute this evasive maneuver with elegant precision.

Unfortunately, he'd neglected to consider the cramped interior space. Despite ducking at the last moment, his head still collided spectacularly with the low ceiling beam above.

Rubbing his throbbing scalp, Ye Wen finally got a good look at his assailant - a filth-covered child of about five or six years old. The boy's bright eyes were striking despite his disheveled appearance, though his expression was currently twisted in anger and suspicion. "This must be the woman's son," Ye Wen mused.

The mother's haggard features were no surprise to him now. Years of hardship aged common folk quickly; if she didn't mention her actual age, he'd never guess she could still be her sister's younger sibling. Her child being so young suddenly made perfect sense when considering the woman's weathered appearance.

As the boy clutched his mother protectively and growled defiantly, "Don't you dare hurt my mama," Ye Wen felt a strange admiration for the child's ferocity. The kid might be small in stature but possessed an alarming intensity - if Ye Wen had shown any real threat toward his mother, this pint-sized warrior would certainly charge headfirst into battle.

He wasn't here to play villain and had no patience for being constantly misinterpreted. Especially since this misunderstanding had already cost him a painful bump on the head. "If this continues, who knows what other disasters might follow," he thought grimly.

Since leaving his mountain monastery, strange misfortunes seemed to dog his steps. First there was the matter with Master Xu Xian. Delivering a simple courier mission should have been straightforward - yet he'd accidentally uncovered that their supposed charge was actually orchestrating an escape plan. Now they had to guard someone who could vanish at any moment, particularly dangerous since the target excelled in martial arts and especially acrobatics. Worse still, no one else knew about this precarious situation.

Then there were these villagers, who mistook him for some kind of debt collector. The child had attacked with a thick wooden stick - nearly as big around as his own arm! If that strike had connected properly, even from such a small opponent, it could have been quite painful.

"I'm not your enemy," Ye Wen repeated more firmly this time, pulling the letter from his robes to show them. "I'm just delivering a message."

The child remained suspicious until finally the mother asked, "You're from Shushan County? Delivering my sister's letter?"

Quickly nodding and extending the letter, Ye Wen watched with amusement as the boy suddenly sprang forward to snatch it away, still maintaining his defensive stance.

When the woman finally accepted the message and began reading, she sighed heavily after verifying its origin. "No wonder my sister was so worried - I haven't written in ages," she admitted before coughing weakly. Ye Wen caught sight of blood speckling her lips as she hastily wiped it away.

The temperature contrast between inside and outside was negligible within these drafty walls. He could feel cold air filtering through multiple gaps despite standing just a few steps from the fireplace. The woman's thin, threadbare clothing only deepened his concern - this family appeared even more destitute than the old woman had described.

When the coughing fit worsened, the boy abandoned his vigilance completely to console his mother. He produced a small cloth pouch and carefully unwrapped it to reveal a half-warm steamed bun. "Eat something, Mama," he urged gently.

But the sight of food triggered immediate suspicion in the woman. "Where did this come from?" she demanded sharply. Of course they couldn't afford bread - even coarse grain buns were beyond their means. Her child was too young to earn money anyway. The only possible explanation was theft.

The boy's eyes welled up instantly at her rebuke. "But you haven't eaten in three days, Mama," he pleaded tearfully as his mother began gasping for breath, her complexion darkening ominously.

With alarming speed, Ye Wen rushed forward and applied several measured strikes to her back while channeling internal energy toward her chest through the Shaolin Heart Sutra technique. Within moments, she expelled a torrent of blackened phlegm that left a pungent stench in its wake.

"Are you all right, Mama? What's wrong?" The boy continued sobbing over his mother even as Ye Wen assessed the woman's condition - her body was already like an oil lamp with no remaining fuel. Her vitals were so weak they might as well have been those of a corpse.

Though most would have succumbed to such a state, this woman had somehow clung stubbornly to life... all for the sake of this child sobbing pitifully in the corner. Ye Wen exhaled wearily. Even with his martial arts expertise, there was nothing he could do here. Time and medical knowledge were both in short supply.

"Earlier you mentioned belonging to my sister's sect," the woman said suddenly after collecting herself. "You're the master of your order?"

"I'm the head of Shushan Sect," Ye Wen confirmed solemnly.

The woman nodded. She didn't know what a martial sect entailed, but she understood that someone holding such authority would be capable of providing for her child. Given her sister's positive reports about life in the sect, food and shelter were at least assured.

Grabbing her son by the arm, she commanded him to kneel before Ye Wen in formal greeting. Whether it was his internal energy or a final surge of vitality, the boy jumped slightly but quickly complied with three respectful kowtows. "Respectful greetings to the Sect Master," he declared solemnly.

Seeing this display, the woman finally smiled. She knew her child had been accepted into their care now. "The boy is quite mischievous and doesn't know how to work properly," she warned tearfully. "I only ask that you provide him with basic sustenance in exchange for simple tasks."

Ye Wen nodded understandingly. He sensed the mother's unspoken plea - just a chance for her child to survive. "Leave it to me," he promised gently.

The boy, realizing what was happening, began wailing uncontrollably as he clung to his mother. "Don't abandon me, Mama! I'll never steal again!" He flung the bun aside in desperation before finally collapsing against her.

With a final sigh, Ye Wen released his grip and carefully arranged the woman's body for rest. Turning back to the weeping child, he said softly, "Your mother needs quiet now. Let her sleep undisturbed."