Novel Full Chapter 633 - 278 Tihu Village_3
Chapter 633: Chapter 278 Tihu Village_3
“Where is this young man from?”
“Greetings to all elders.”
Su Mo always maintained his manners and greeted with clasped hands: “We have come from afar and just passed through your village. Seeing that it is getting late, we plan to stay overnight in this village. May I know if it is convenient for you?”
“Oh.”
Several old men looked at each other, and finally one of them, feeling slightly embarrassed, asked:
“That… will there be silver provided?”
“Of course.”
Su Mo said with a smile: “Since we are neither kin nor acquaintances, how could we stay for free in your house?”
“That’s good, that’s good.”
The old man then nodded and said: “I see your group isn’t large, why don’t you come with me? My spouse should have prepared the meal by now. It’s just simple food and drink, have a meal with us.”
After saying this, he stooped and led the way.
The remaining old men glanced at his retreating figure:
“He got ahead of us again.”
“Indeed, indeed, this old man is always quick to speak.”
Su Mo and his group couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this.
However, moments later, Su Mo’s expression changed slightly.
He scanned the village back and forth, seemingly deep in thought.
Yang Xiaoyun also seemed to notice something and furrowed her brows.
Hu Sandao moved forward to chat with the old man, mentioning that he had stayed here before, and wondered if the old man remembered?
The old man looked at him several times and shook his head: “I don’t remember, I’m old and my memory is not good.”
Hu Sandao didn’t mind and asked: “I remember there is a large house on the east side of the village with the Qi family name, are they still around?”
“…Everyone in this village has the surname Qi, but that big house on the east side, the family is long gone.
“It’s been many years.”
Hu Sandao was taken aback, unsure of what to say next.
Zhen Xiaoxiao, meanwhile, had been distinguishing smells along the way, and by this time had identified quite a few foods.
At first, it all seemed normal.
But as she continued, it started to become unreliable with mentions of soy sauce beef, roast suckling pig and the like, which somewhat confused people.
It appeared as though the food in this village was better than at the escort agency.
Su Mo and Yang Xiaoyun exchanged glances, their eyes sparkling with an indecipherable light.
Following the old man, they swiftly arrived at a courtyard.
As he pushed open the courtyard gate, they saw a middle-aged man, shirtless, chopping wood in the yard.
Upon hearing the sound of the gate, he looked up, first seeing the old man and about to call out, then saw Su Mo and his party.
He was slightly startled: “Dad… do we have guests?”
“Yes.”
The old man nodded: “Later, clean up those few rooms and let them stay. Also, tell Xiulan to add two more dishes, and go slaughter that chicken in the backyard to stew; it’s not laying eggs anymore, just right for a feast.”
“Alright.”
The middle-aged man immediately nodded: “You folks, please enter the house, I will… I will take you in.”
He was somewhat nervous, wiping his hands on his pants before hurriedly leading Su Mo and the others into the house.
The courtyard had three large houses, each with three rooms.
The central one had a kitchen, suitable both for cooking and heating, with an eight immortals table set between two stoves.
The rooms on either side were for living.
As Su Mo and his party entered, they saw an elderly woman and a younger woman busily preparing the meal, taking dishes out of the pots and setting them on the table.
Hearing footsteps, they turned around and were startled by the strangers.
The middle-aged man quickly explained the situation, and the younger woman immediately nodded and went to the backyard to slaughter the chicken.
The old lady then warmly said, “Come, have a seat first. Xiulan is quick at slaughtering chickens, but maybe… try some of these home-cooked dishes first?”
“Mom, then I’ll go chop some more wood.”
“Alright, where’s your dad?”
“Probably went to the outhouse?”
The middle-aged man talked as he went back into the yard to chop wood.
Su Mo shifted his gaze from this man to the old lady, about to speak when the old lady had already stood up:
“Eat first, don’t mind us, I’ll go tidy up the rooms for tonight.”
She then left.
The stoves on either side still held warmth, the ground underfoot was hard-packed black mud, and the table bore simple food and drink.
Su Mo and his group had not yet sat down when Zhen Xiaoxiao inhaled the aromas, reaching for the cornbread.
“Xiao Xiao.”
Yang Xiaoyun suddenly spoke, and Zhen Xiaoxiao immediately stopped.
Turned back to look at Yang Xiaoyun: “Second Master?”
However, Yang Xiaoyun’s eyes turned to Su Mo, who by then had reached the dining table, sitting down and breaking a piece of cornbread, bringing it to his nose for a smell, inspecting it, then tossed it to Zhen Xiaoxiao:
“Go ahead and eat.”
Zhen Xiaoxiao took it without ceremony, grabbing two more cornbreads and stuffing them into his mouth.
Hu Sandao finally relaxed at this moment.
From this episode, he had thought there was something wrong with the food, that there was something amiss with this village.
After Yang Xiaoyun sat down, he hurriedly took a seat, speaking:
“Qingquan Mountain is no longer far from Jifeng Mountain.
“Once at Jifeng Mountain, it will be even more convenient to reach Wusheng Hall.
“The distance between the two is less than a hundred miles.”
Su Mo nodded.
Hu Sandao couldn’t help asking again: “Chief… have you guys noticed anything? Is something off about this village?”
As he spoke, he also thought back, realizing that since entering the village everything seemed normal.
Inside the village, it was the same: several old men gathering to chat, women cooking, men chopping wood, doing chores around the house when there’s no farming to do, or strolling around the village…
Everything seemed normal.
Then he saw Su Mo shake his head: “There’s nothing off about this village.”
Hu Sandao was about to breathe a sigh of relief, only to hear Su Mo speak softly:
“It’s very much off!”
Hu Sandao immediately felt a chill, and Yang Xiaoyun spoke softly:
“I’ve felt something was off all along the way, only realizing here that… there are no children in this village.”