Knowing Jin Yu's whereabouts, the villagers present could no longer stand still. Without the need for the old man in black to give orders, most of them had already hurriedly left the ancestral hall with hoes and shovels, and some even took earth|guns that they got from nowhere.
The old man in black was afraid that they would do something weird again, so he said, "I'll take you out."
He turned around and looked at the slightly younger old man behind him, "You are responsible for cleaning the ancestral hall. Lock the door after you are done."
"Village chief, don't worry." Several old men said in unison, showing a very respectful attitude towards the village chief.
Chen Ling turned around and deliberately shouted to Wu Weiwei: "Let's go, don't look around, watch your step, and walk carefully."
Wu Weiwei knew that this was not a reminder to him, so he also said loudly, "I heard it."
The old man in black was very dissatisfied with their loud noise in the ancestral hall. He glared at them fiercely, then stopped his gaze on Chen Ling alone, and asked in an inquiring manner: "Little brother, since you said that your hometown also worships the Yellow God, then can you tell me where it is specifically?"
Chen Ling made up a random place, "Have you heard of it?"
The village chief thought about it carefully, shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of it."
Chen Ling nodded disappointedly, then smiled and said, "We are not a small place, not worth mentioning, but Huang Shen's magical power is not small. If it weren't for him, we would have locust plagues every year and flash floods occasionally."
The village chief nodded and said, "Yes, our village has become much more peaceful since we started worshipping the Yellow God."
"I heard that you are the village chief?" Chen Ling stared at the old man, and waited for him to nod before saying, "This village was moved from the location of Fengling Hot Spring Club, right? Before this, you have been worshipping the Yellow God, right?"
The old man in black said, "As early as the time of our ancestors, we have already started to worship devoutly."
Chen Ling asked: "Does Yellow God have messengers? In my hometown, every sixty years, a messenger of Yellow God will appear. This person may be a local villager or a traveler who stops by. They will predict disasters for the villagers and spread the gospel. In return, Yellow God will let them live a healthy and long life in their later years."
"This..." The old man in black frowned deeply.
After a while, he shook his head and said, "No."
Chen Ling showed a surprised expression: "Really?"
The village chief glanced at the young man's face full of curiosity, and suddenly realized that he seemed to have said too much. He pursed his lips and refused: "What does it have to do with you? We will send you here, and you can walk the rest of the way by yourself."
Chen Ling was already 80% certain that the sorcerer who was in collusion with Huang's father's ghost was a foreigner and had never shown up in front of the villagers.
In the spacious courtyard, there was a row of black off-road vehicles parked.
Jiang Shengxing had already gotten out of the car with his men and was standing beside it. Just by looking at that group of tall and strong men, Chen Ling felt their aura was terrifying.
This person is not here to pick someone up, he is here to mess things up.
No wonder the village chief changed his attitude so suddenly.
Jiang Yu walked behind Chen Ling. Jiang Shengxing was very tactful. He first nodded to Chen Ling and called him Mr. Chen to show his respect for the future little ancestor.
Then, he walked up to Jiang Yu, completely ignoring the surprised looks of his subordinates, and bowed slightly, "Sir."
Jiang Yu was used to it: "Let's go."
Jiang Shengxing took the car keys from him and opened the door for him. After Chen Ling got in, he turned around and went to the driver's seat, intending to ride in the same car with the old man.
Just as the car was about to leave, Chen Ling suddenly said, "Wait, there's another person."
Jiang Shengxing didn't ask anything, just told the driver to wait.
The clouds on the horizon were bright red, and the bright colors dotted the gradually darkening sky.
Under the sky, the mountains and forests surrounding the village became increasingly dark and quiet. In the dense woods, the gaps between the trees were dark in color and so dim that nothing could be seen.
Wu Weiwei was sitting in a car behind. Seeing that it was getting later, he couldn't help but send a text message to Chen Ling: Brother Chen, I hope Jin Yu won't have an accident.
Chen Ling’s reply is: No
The village was very quiet, and in order to keep an eye on them, the old man in black deliberately left two people to guard the yard.
The two men were probably bored, so they were squatting in front of a large platform, taking out tools from their pockets to roll cigarettes by hand.
If the gold and jade were really discovered, everything would definitely not be as peaceful as it is now.
Finally, when the light of day disappeared over the horizon, Jin Yu appeared.
She didn't dare pass through the village and could only take a long detour and run out from the mountain behind. Because it was dark, her journey was not smooth and she almost fell into hunting traps several times.
Even though he was lucky enough to escape, he still had several scratches on his body.
She stopped at the edge of the yard, supported herself on her knees and took a few deep breaths, then suddenly stood up and ran madly all the way.
The two guards happened to look up and shouted, "It's Jin Yu!"
They divided the work, one rushed forward to catch people, and the other went inside to call people over.
Wu Weiwei opened the car door and found that the leading car had already started. He knew that his brother Chen must have also seen Jin Yu, so he said to the driver in front: "Brother, drive!"
The convoy started moving, but not very fast.
But the moment Wu Weiwei held Jin Yu's hand and pulled her into the car, the car accelerated.
A large group of people rushed out of the village, each holding a weapon. After all, they were old, and no matter how fierce and unreasonable they were, it was futile. They could not catch up with the fast-moving convoy.
Jin Yu and Wu Weiwei turned over and knelt on the seats, their eyes passed over the tail of the convoy and stopped at the road outside the courtyard.
Even from such a distance, I could still feel their anger.
Jin Yu heaved a sigh of relief, hugged herself as if she had survived the disaster, closed her eyes and said, "It was so thrilling, luckily I managed to escape."
The driver in front handed a bottle of water to the back.
Wu Weiwei took it, but didn't drink it himself. He handed it to Jin Yu, "Did you run into trouble on the road? Why are you so late?"
The cut on Jin Yu's body was aching slightly, but he smiled happily: "I went to the village chief's house to steal the household registration book! I came down from the mountain after stealing it."
As if offering a treasure, she pulled out a cloth bag from her waist.
The elastic cord at the mouth of the bag was untied, revealing several household registration books, bracelets, an old xun, and a pair of gold earrings.
Jin Yu pointed at them one by one and said, "These three household registration books belong to other people who escaped with us. The bracelet belongs to Auntie Afang, and the gold earrings belong to Auntie Mueller." She sighed regretfully, "If only the other things were also at the village chief's house, I would have brought them along."
Wu Weiwei comforted him, "It's okay. When this is over, we will go find them and ask for it back."
Jin Yu nodded, feeling a little sour in her nose.
If it weren't for these people, she would have been thrown into the ancestral hall to feed the monsters early tomorrow morning. She would never be able to sit in the car and chat with people like she is now, and she would never be able to see her fiancé again.
But she felt a little relieved.
Fortunately, she was brought here with her family and fiancé, otherwise her parents and husband might have fallen into this terrible quagmire together in their efforts to find and save her.
The mountain road is in very good condition, winding but flat.
It took about the same amount of time as when we came here, only two hours' drive, and the convoy returned to the hot spring resort.
The guild hall was brightly lit, especially in the middle of the valley.
The celebration banquet of Hengjiang Group was mainly held in the huge public area. There was only a small banquet in the banquet building next to it, which was used for the bosses to discuss business and exchange feelings.
After arriving, Chen Ling first went back to the detached villa in the mountains to take a shower and eat something.
Those villagers were really cruel. They refused to even give us food for such a long time. If they hadn't brought a few bottles of mineral water with them when they traveled, we would have been dehydrated by now.
After taking a shower, Jin Yu, wearing a short-sleeved suit provided by the hotel, was sitting on the sofa in the lobby.
She endured the pain and disinfected the scratches on her legs and arms.
Chen Ling walked over with half-dry hair: "Do you need help?"
"No need, it's done." Jin Yu blew on the wound and threw the cotton swab into the trash can.
She curled her eyes at the young man, her smile sincere and full of gratitude, "Thank you for today."
"You don't have to be so polite." Chen Ling glanced at the bag she placed on the sofa. He had heard about the contents of the bag from Wu Weiwei. He admired the courage and kindness of this girl.
Jin Yu followed his line of sight, looked down at the bag, and whispered, "It's so late now, and I can't get a taxi. Can I stay here for one night and leave tomorrow?"
Thinking that the cost here might be very high, she hastily added: "I will pay for your room, but I can only give it to you after I get home. They have taken my money and cell phone."
"It's free, just stay here and rest assured. I'll call a taxi for you tomorrow, or have someone take you there." Chen Ling looked at Jin Yu inquiringly.
Jin Yu was stunned for a moment, "Okay, thank you."
Chen Ling waved his hand and frowned as he thought about how to stay tonight. After thinking it over, he decided that he could only let two of them stay for one night to make room for Jin Yu.
Judging from Wu Weiwei's usual attitude towards Jiang Yu, it would definitely not be possible for the two of them to stay together. Even if it were possible, he would not want to.
Then I can only sacrifice myself.
Chen Ling: "You can stay in my room tonight. I'm going to sleep with Brother Jiang."
Jiang Yu, who was coming down from the second floor, paused when he heard this, and the corners of his lips unconsciously raised. He took a step back upstairs and turned back to the second floor.
Because I had just taken a shower, the mist in the bathroom floated out, making the room seem a little damp and with a layer of mist.
Jiang Yu stood beside the bed, supporting his chin with one hand.
A minute later, he turned around, opened the closet, took out the extra quilt that the hotel had specially prepared, and went to Wu Weiwei's room.
Wu Weiwei was squatting on the ground, taking out the remaining talisman paper from his bag to count the inventory. When he heard the knock on the door, he said without even raising his head, "Come in."
Jiang Yu walked in and put the quilt on his bed.
Wu Weiwei was stunned: "Brother Jiang, what are you doing..."
"I'm worried you'd be cold." Jiang Yu spoke in a calm tone with a serious look.
In the past, Wu Weiwei would not have dared to say too much, but it was such a hot day and there was air conditioning in the room. Even if it was cool, he would get prickly heat if he covered himself with two beds.
He struggled and said, "Brother Jiang, I'm not cold at night."
Jiang Yu's eyes became sharp, and his expressionless face was filled with chilling coldness: "You are cold."
Wu Weiwei: “…”
Okay, I'm cold.
As soon as the others left, he hurriedly picked up the quilt and stuffed it into the closet, only to find that there was already a spare one inside.
He shook his head and guessed that Brother Jiang might have some kind of quirk, such as he could only keep one quilt in the room, and would get upset, irritable, and easily angered if there were more
Thinking about it this way, Brother Chen is quite miserable. Does he have to endure having only one bed when the weather gets cold
While I was thinking, there was knock on the door again.
This time it was Chen Ling who came, and he came to ask Wu Weiwei if he had any extra quilts.
Wu Weiwei said "Ah" like a fool, "You don't have enough quilts?"
Chen Ling said, "I gave my room to Jin Yu and will sleep with Brother Jiang tonight, but there is only one quilt in his room."
Wu Weiwei slapped his thigh suddenly, so that's it!
He asked calmly, "Then you must have had some extra in that room."
Chen Ling: "But what if Jin Yu needs it?"
Wu Weiwei frowned and said in embarrassment: "I do have two beds here, but I'm afraid of the cold at night..."
"…" Chen Ling was speechless, "Are you afraid even with the air conditioner on?"
Wu Weiwei said: "Brother Chen, don't you think it would be nice to turn on the air conditioner and cover yourself with two quilts?"
Chen Ling couldn't understand this kind of pleasure, he just felt it was novel, Wu Weiwei actually had such a quirk! How miserable would his future wife be, she would have to cover herself with two quilts in the hot summer!
He walked to Jiang Yu's door with a sad face and knocked gently.
Inside, a man in a bathrobe was sitting on the sofa watching TV.
The bathrobe was the perfect size, loosely gathered, with the belt around the waist tied casually, hanging neither too loosely around the man's hips.
Chen Ling took just one glance and quickly looked away, unable to help swallowing.
The chest muscles of the old man are really strong, and the lines are amazing. Half covered by the bathrobe, the thighs are also very amazing, the muscle contours are slender and clear, and the lines of the calves are beautiful, stretching all the way to the ankles.
Realizing that his gaze was drawn back again, Chen Ling stopped talking quickly.
He pretended to wipe the sweat off his face and ran his fingers across his eyelids, isolating himself from the perfect figure like a Greek god statue not far away, and walked straight to the two-meter-wide double bed.
There were two pillows and a large quilt on the bed.
He got in, lay on the edge, with his back to the other half, and whispered, "I'm so tired today. I'm going to sleep first."
Jiang Yu muted the TV and said, "Okay."
The flickering light on the TV screen hit the man's face, making his features more distinct. His eyes were so focused that those who didn't know would think the TV program was very exciting, but in fact, the clear picture on the screen had turned into black and white snow without knowing when.
It's not just cable TV that's being disrupted, cell phones are also being disrupted.
Jiang Yu glanced at the no signal prompt that popped up automatically on his phone screen, then stood up and walked towards the bed.
He lifted the quilt and lay down in it. Chen Ling was sleeping soundly and seemed unaware of anything, but his body could feel the slightly cool temperature and he couldn't help but want to lean on him to cool down.
Jiang Yu raised his eyebrows and turned up the air conditioner temperature a few degrees. A small stove immediately rolled into his arms.
Chen Ling placed his cool hands on the man's chest, straightened his body, and pressed himself against the man perfectly, mumbling something ambiguous.
Jiang Yu wrapped his arms around his waist and pressed his body, which was already pressed close to his, into his arms.
He rested his chin on the young man's head and rubbed it, his clear eyes looking past the curtains in front of him at the mountainside in the distance shrouded in night.
In the early morning, there was a strong wind in the mountains.
Jiang Yu then withdrew his attention from the window and looked down at the young man who was about to wake up due to the strong wind and had his head buried in his chest.
He lowered his head and put his lips to his ear: "Go to bed, it's still early."
Then gently cover those ears with your hands.
The person who was startled by the whistling wind relaxed his clenched brows and fell asleep again.
When the first ray of morning sunlight passed over the hill and fell into the room, Chen Ling woke up. He turned over and found that he could not move.
When I looked down, I realized that there was an arm hooked around my waist.
Jiang Yu's body was very close to him, and their legs were somehow entangled very tightly.
Feeling something, Chen Ling's whole body stiffened. He slowly withdrew from the man's arms, supported himself with his hands on both sides of the man's pillow, raised one leg, and tried to step over.
Halfway through the action, the person below woke up.
Jiang Yu's eyes were a little hazy, as if he was not fully awake yet. He looked into the young man's eyes and said with his lips moving, "Good morning."
Chen Ling said "Good morning" in a dry voice.
Since he was already awake, there was no need to hesitate, just roll out of bed. He simply knelt and sat up, but the man suddenly changed from lying sideways to lying flat, and his thigh just hit his knee.
Chen Ling was not careful and fell down, right into the other person's arms.
Jiang Yu took the opportunity to stuff the man back into the quilt and restrained him tightly. Sensing the man's desire to escape, he said in a low voice: "Don't move."
Hearing the warning and restraint in it, Chen Ling's heart was in turmoil, but he had to move, as he had already been touched.
His face was red from the heat from the quilt. Strangely, besides wanting to escape, he actually had a secret expectation in his heart.
The hot breath from Jiang Yu went up his neck and into his clothes. Chen Ling felt a tingling sensation on his back. He swallowed a few times, feeling nervous. He couldn't help swallowing a few more times and said weakly, "Do you want to go to the bathroom?"
"No." Jiang Yu refused.
Chen Ling felt hot all over because of the man's focused gaze. He shrank his neck and subconsciously wanted to turn his face away, but unfortunately his chin was held down, so he couldn't hide.
Jiang Yu's breathing was like a silent urging, not giving the young man extra time to think, he grabbed his hand and kissed his lips.
An hour later, Chen Ling came out of the bathroom, wiping his red hands.
He glanced at the man who was leaning against the head of the bed like a well-fed big cat, and wanted to ask, "Brother, let me give you a cigarette for after-party. Your life will be incomplete without a cigarette."
Jiang Yu waved at him: "Come here."
Chen Ling curled his lips and left.
Wu Weiwei also got up very early today, not because he had enough sleep, but because he did not sleep well last night.
The whistling sound of the wind was like a swarm of locusts flying over the ground. The thick windows could not block out the noise at all, leaving him in a half-asleep state all night long.
Seeing Chen Ling coming down from upstairs, he raised his hand and greeted him weakly: "Good morning, Brother Chen."
Chen Ling was a little sensitive to the word "morning". He instantly remembered what had just happened and felt his weak fingers begin to go numb again.
"What's wrong with you?" Wu Weiwei tapped the side of his neck.
Chen Ling covered it with his backhand and stammered, "Nothing."
Wu Weiwei frowned, wanting to ask what you were talking about, but suddenly remembered that the two brothers slept in the same bed last night, sharing the same quilt...
He gave her a mean look and said, "Did you do something bad?"
Chen Ling thought, he was just a magician, it couldn't be considered a bad thing, so he pretended to be calm and shook his head, "No."
"No?" Wu Weiwei thought that Brother Chen must be embarrassed, so he adopted an elder's tone and said, "This is human nature, you understand, I understand, and everyone understands. Brother Chen, you are just too shameless. But I think Brother Jiang might like you this way."
Chen Ling took a deep breath and finally asked the question he had always wanted to ask: "...Brother, are you really straight?"
"Straight, of course I am straight!" Wu Weiwei was a little excited, almost swearing to the sky, "I used to have a crush on the neighbor girl."
Chen Ling said coldly, "And then?"
Wu Weiwei hung his head and said, "The year she was old enough to get married, my sister married a rich man."
Chen Ling was silent for a few seconds, then reached out and patted the back of his head: "There will be love, bread and milk, too, come on."
Wu Weiwei stood up and said, "I'll go call and order food."
Chen Ling nodded, curled up on the sofa, and called Li Hongyu on the landline.
Li Hongyu had to do morning lessons every day. At this moment, he had already washed up and recited scriptures for half an hour.
He glanced at the number and said to the person across the table, "Master Junior, I'm going to answer the phone."
When the screen lit up, Li Daoxuan happened to see the caller. He said, "Chen Ling? Pick up the call here. Maybe it's related to the case."
"Okay." Li Hongyu sat down again, answered the call, and turned on the speakerphone.
Chen Ling first recounted yesterday's harvest, and then asked: "Did your people find anything in the mountains?"
"Nothing." Li Hongyu's voice was a little serious. "We will continue to search the mountain today, and just in case, we have posted evil-repelling talismans and ghost-suppressing talismans in the dark places of every room in the guild hall."
Chen Ling: "Jin Yu said that there will be evil spirits on the 19th of every month, and today happens to be one of them, so be careful."
After hanging up the phone, Li Hongyu looked at his junior uncle.
Li Daoxuan said thoughtfully: "Hearing what he said, it seems that it is really Huang's father's ghost who is causing trouble."
"There is another evil way." Li Hongyu was very disgusted with those who relied on their knowledge of magic to do evil things, "Little Master, do you need to call some reinforcements?"
Li Daoxuan smiled gently and said, "You decide."
Li Hongyu: "But you are..."
Li Daoxuan gestured to him to pause: "My position as the team leader will be yours sooner or later. Once you have gained more experience and become more stable, I will give this position to you."
This was not the first time Li Hongyu had heard this. He was not very interested in the so-called team leader, but because it was said by an elder, his uncle, he did not refute or refuse in person.
Li Daoxuan glanced at his silent nephew and tapped his fingers on the table. "Let's go eat first. Call back the people who are responsible for searching the mountain at night. Let them rest for a while and then let another group of people go out."
Li Hongyu: “Yes.”
On the other end, Chen Ling hung up the phone and was about to ask Wu Weiwei what he ordered for breakfast when he suddenly saw Jin Yu coming down from the stairs.
The girl had bags under her eyes, looked a little unwell, and a little nervous.
She barely managed to fall asleep at dawn this morning, but woke up after only dozing for less than an hour. Seeing Chen Ling and Wu Weiwei in the living room, she quickly walked to the sofa and asked carefully, "Did you hear the wind last night?"
Wu Weiwei complained: "How could I not hear it? The sound was blowing from midnight to this morning and it made me unable to sleep well."
Chen Ling was too embarrassed to say that he was sleeping so soundly that he didn't hear anything, so he perfunctorily said, "I just heard a little bit." He looked at Jin Yu in confusion, "What's wrong with the wind? Is there anything strange?"
Jin Yu seemed to be afraid of something, and her voice was as quiet as a mosquito: "The wind is coming, which means the evil spirits are coming soon."
Wu Weiwei: "What happens after he comes? Is it time for Huang's father ghost to take the stage?"
Jin Yu said yes: "According to the custom of the village, after the human sacrifice this morning, the ghost of Huang Fu will be full and drunk, and will suppress the evil ghosts when they appear in the evening."
Chen Ling frowned and asked, "What kind of evil ghost have you seen?"
Jin Yu thought for a moment and said softly, "I haven't seen it, but I have heard that on the 19th day of every month at about 5:00 to 6:00 in the afternoon, the evil ghosts will make miserable screams. Oh, and there are also sounds of chains!"
There are not so many coincidences in the world.
"Is it the chains again?" Chen Ling pondered for a moment, "Could it be the same group of evil spirits that appear under the ancestral hall on the 18th of every month?"
Wu Weiwei was shocked: "Don't say it, it's really possible!"
"First, he feeds the evil ghosts with fresh blood and raw meat, allowing their bloodthirstiness and madness to reach the peak. Then, after accepting human sacrifices, he pretends to send the evil ghosts to cause trouble to prove that he is indeed protecting the villagers." Chen Ling showed a speechless expression. If this is true, this disgusting Huang's father has too many ghost tricks.
Wu Weiwei felt that this guess made sense, and Jin Yu also nodded.
"But..." She shrank her shoulders in fear and said hesitantly, "Every time the evil ghost appears, people in the village dare not go out, because anyone who goes out will be burned by the ghost fire."