After two days of eating raw tomatoes and carrots, I was really tired of it. Besides, the village chief should have something to say, so I had to go on this trip.
Wang Lan and Xie Ying followed behind, each riding an electric scooter.
Most of the space on the tricycle was occupied by spinach. Meng Yao felt that she was almost surrounded by the pile of spinach. She took a deep sniff and the air was full of the smell of spinach.
The village chief's house is one of the best in the whole village. It is a two-story villa with a flower garden in front, and it looks very fashionable.
The village chief explained: "My son is a designer. He designed this house. It's really nice."
Meng Yao nodded.
Afterwards, the two of them, under the guidance of Xie Ying, gave their clothes a simple wash, but the dirt on their clothes still needed to be washed carefully.
Then the three of them went downstairs again.
Xie Ying served them some fruit and greeted them warmly: "Just treat this place as your own home. Don't be polite."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
The village chief also came downstairs, holding an old-fashioned pipe in his hand, which looked quite old. He sat down on the sofa.
"You guys have been eating raw food lately, right?"
Meng Yao nodded slowly.
The village chief smiled kindly and said, "You probably don't cook very often, but you still have to eat hot food. It's not good to eat raw food all the time. Your aunt is cooking in the kitchen. Do you two want to learn from her? At least you can change your taste for the next two days."
In Meng Yao's view, the village chief was like the person driving the mission.
Meng Yao would hardly refuse the village chief's proposal until she got the result she wanted.
"good."
Meng Yao is really not interested in cooking.
She has a bad habit of being extremely perfunctory about things she doesn't like.
After cutting two handfuls of vegetables, Meng Yao gradually lost her patience and her initial calmness.
Han Mei took in her reaction and took the kitchen knife from her hand: "Senior Meng Yao, I see you are tired after a day's work, why don't you find a place to sit down."
Meng Yao had already handed it over obediently, and said politely: "Isn't this bad?"
A rare smile appeared on his face: "I prefer cooking."
Meng Yao was now completely relieved. She just moved a small stool and watched the two of them cook from a distance.
Han Mei was obviously a novice as well, which could be seen from the way he cut the vegetables and his nervousness when cooking.
A crackling sound was heard, and Han Mei suddenly dodged back, frowning his handsome eyebrows.
"Ouch, did you get splashed?" Wang Lan put down the seasoning in her hand and walked over.
Han Mei shook her head: "I'm fine."
"Before putting the vegetables in, you must control the moisture, otherwise it will be terrible!"
After thinking for a while, Han Mei nodded slowly, looking like he was learning something.
Han Mei's body stiffened when he heard the sound of fast footsteps behind him.
Meng Yao's eyes swept over him, and her voice was filled with concern: "Are you okay?"
“… I’m fine.”
He felt as if his whole body was strangely light.
Meng Yao returned to her own little bench and encouraged him before leaving: "Come on, I think you can do it!"
Like how old are you this year, why do you want to be an actor, what do your parents do for a living...
Finally, five dishes and one soup were served on the table, many of which were thanks to Han Mei.
The village chief opened two bottles of wine, but in the end only the village chief drank some. Meng Yao and Han Mei did not drink.
After having a good meal and a few drinks, we finally got down to business.
"I originally thought that you wouldn't be able to do this job of picking spinach for long, but I really didn't expect you to do such a great job. You've been tired after a day's work. Thank you for your hard work. I'll ask your aunt to take you home later. I've packed some vegetables and meat for you. I hope you don't mind. Also..."
Xie Ying handed over a box, and the village chief took it and handed it to Meng Yao: "I see that your clothes are all dirty, and I feel really bad. Here are two new sets of clothes. Although they are not famous brands, they can at least last for two days."
"Thank you so much, Village Chief."
It was already eight o'clock in the evening when she returned home, and Meng Yao first unpacked her clothes.
She fumbled in her pockets and finally found what she was looking for.
Han Mei came over and asked in confusion: "Senior Meng Yao, what are you doing?"
"Look." Meng Yao spread out his palm, and there was a stone in his palm.
The stone looks plain and there's nothing special about it.
"Stone?"
Meng Yao held the stone and looked at it, then nodded slowly: "It was found in the clothes. Perhaps this is what the village chief really wants to give."
Han Mei took the stone from Meng Yao and said, "Such stones can be found everywhere. Could it be a return stone?"
"no."
Meng Yao's expression was a little complicated. "If the stone given by the village chief is the return stone, then the journey should have ended now. After all, our purpose of coming here is to find the return stone. Maybe if we think about it from another angle, it would be too easy to get the return stone by completing only one task. This is not in line with the program team's style of doing things."
Han Mei frowned slightly. "If not, then what is the meaning of the stone the village chief gave us? And the pebble given by the child named Shitou yesterday... Does it mean that people in Shitou Village like to give stones as gifts to others?"
"That's hard to say. But this stone should have other uses. Let's put it together with the pebble for now."
Han Mei took out a small iron box from the drawer and placed the stone given by the village chief carefully inside.
He sat down on the bench: "I feel like I have no idea..."
Meng Yao pondered and said, "So far, we have obtained a lot of information, but we still can't connect them into a big clue."
Meng Yao got a headache when she thought of this. Why did she participate in this brain-burning program? The last episode was not as good as the previous one. Compared with consuming brain power, Meng Yao is better at consuming physical energy.
Meng Yao rubbed his forehead and said, "Don't put too much psychological burden on yourself. Aren't there other guests? If we can't do it, we still have them. If you feel tired, just slack off. The most important thing is to live happily."
"You can't stay any longer?"
Han Mei opened her lips and said, "I didn't... I just occasionally wonder, Senior Meng Yao, you..."
He looked over and asked, "Are you disgusted with it already?"
"Disgusted? I guess I do... But everything here is really good. It would be nice if we could skip these brain-burning parts."
Han Mei responded slowly, not knowing what he was thinking.
*
In just a few days, Meng Qingqing and Li Jin almost turned the village upside down.
But the results are never satisfactory.
(End of this chapter)