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Guobei County is adjacent to Yuncheng. Although the journey is not far away, it is still quite a distance. Jiang Chen and Wang Erlang went down the mountain and first went to Erlang's house to pick up the horses. Then they turned to Guobei County and traveled until evening. At that time, they came to a village. At this time, the sun had set and the sky was dark. However, Wang Erlang had no intention of leading Jiang Chen into the village to rest. Instead, he frowned and said, "Why did you come here?"
"What?" Looking at the village that was gradually shrouded in darkness, Jiang Chen couldn't help but smile and asked, "What's wrong here?"
Wang Erlang said: "This is a deserted village because the land in the village was already barren. Later, because the rivers dried up and there was little rain, there was no harvest. There was famine for several years, and most of the people in the village moved away. Later, there were rumors that it was haunted, and even passers-by were unwilling to enter to rest, so a few years ago, the village was nothing but an empty shell."
"Empty shell? Not necessarily?" As Jiang Chen spoke, he pointed at a hut not far from the village entrance: "Look, isn't there someone there?"
Wang Erlang looked in the direction of Jiang Chen's finger, and sure enough, there was a small farmyard there. In a hut in the courtyard, there were some faint lights.
"This?" He usually goes to Guobei County, back and forth, and passes by this place a lot of times, but it's all during the day, and he has never visited the village. He really doesn't know, he thinks this is already a deserted village. There are still people in the village: "Did you hear that this place was already a deserted village a few years ago? How can there be still people here?"
"I want to know the reason. Can't we find out if we go in and take a look?" Jiang Chen chuckled and immediately urged his horse forward, with Wang Erlang following closely behind.
The two of them quickly entered the village. When they came to the small courtyard, they each dismounted. Wang Erlang stepped forward and knocked on the courtyard door lightly, shouting: "Is the master's home there? Xiaosheng and his friends were passing by here. Seeing that it was getting late, they wanted to I wonder if I can stay overnight?"
After a while, a soft "squeak" was heard. The door to the courtyard room opened, and a trembling old man came out. He looked to be in his late seventies, but his body was still strong. He was carrying a Holding a dilapidated oil lamp and not using a cane, he entered the courtyard, opened the courtyard door, and used the dim light of the oil lamp to look at the appearance of Wang Erlang and Jiang Chen. When he saw two young men who looked like scholars, he quickly said: : "It turns out that the two young masters are here. As long as you don't dislike the simple and shabby little old man's house, just come in and rest."
"Sorry to bother you." Jiang Chen and Wang Erlang responded, and then followed the old man inside. Entering the room, it was indeed very simple. In the huge main room of the living room, there were only a wooden bed, a table, and a few long strips. There was a stool and a few old tea bowls, but it was still clean.
"You two gentlemen, please take a seat. The little old man's home is so simple that it makes the guests laugh." Entering the house, the old man warmly greeted Jiang Chen and Wang Erlang to sit down, poured a cup of tea for each of them, and sighed: " However, in the early years, Xiao Lao'er's village suffered from constant natural disasters, including drought, floods and famine. People in the village were walking around and dying. There was only Xiao Lao'er left alive, all alone. Oh, how pitiful!"
Hearing this, Jiang Chen couldn't help but sigh in his heart: So, is it because he was lonely and wanted someone to talk to that he didn't eat the two of him immediately? As a cultivator in the realm of the Yang God, how could he not feel the rich death energy in this room
However, Wang Erlang is just an ordinary person after all. Hearing the old man's words, he couldn't help but feel sympathy and hurriedly said: "My father-in-law, I am grateful to you for taking care of me tonight. When we leave at dawn, we will definitely pay you heavily!"
"Ah, you are leaving at dawn!" The old man may have been alone for a long time, and his words were full of reluctance. He turned and walked to the kitchen next door, saying: "After a long day's journey, I believe you guys I'm hungry too, and I happened to kill a two-legged sheep a few days ago, and there's still a lot of meat left. Although it's not a good thing, it can be used to make up for your loss."
"Two-legged sheep? Are there still two-legged sheep in this world?" Wang Erlang was confused, but he still responded politely: "Thank you very much, father-in-law."
"No thank you, no thank you." The old man waved his hands repeatedly, and walked into the kitchen next door tremblingly. He picked up a knife from the stove and sharpened it. I don't know how long the knife had been there, and it had already become rusty. , the old man did not have much strength, and it was very difficult to sharpen the knife. The sound of "Zhi la Zhi la" was harsh. In this silent night, it made people feel particularly frightened.
Wang Erlang subconsciously tightened the tea bowl in his hand, but Jiang Chen seemed to be enjoying himself, as if he had no sympathy at all, and just watched the old man working hard in the kitchen.
"Old man—" Finally, Wang Erlang couldn't help it anymore. He shouted, put down the tea bowl in his hand, and was about to get up and go to the kitchen to help. However, he never thought that at this moment, Jiang Chen suddenly stretched out his hand and pressed it on him. On his shoulders, he felt as if a huge mountain was pressing on his shoulders, and he unconsciously sat on the stool again.
"Taoist Master Zhiqiu, why are you doing this?" Wang Erlang couldn't help but frown and asked.
"For no reason, I just want you to sit here peacefully." Jiang Chen said with a smile, "If you don't want to listen to me, why, don't you want to save your friend's life?"
"This?" Wang Erlang couldn't help but said, "I just wanted to help my husband because I saw how hard it was for me to work alone. What does this have to do with saving my friend's life?"
"Of course it does matter." The smile on Jiang Chen's face became even thicker. He looked at Wang Erlang with a bit of fun on his face and said jokingly: "If you are alive, you can naturally take me to rescue you. My friend, if you die and I am left alone, I have no intention of running to Guobei County to save a stranger who does not know good and evil."
Wang Erlang couldn't help being stunned when he heard this, and asked with a bit of stupidity: "Taoist Master Zhiqiu, what do you mean by saying this?"
"It's not interesting. Just listen to me and sit down. Don't drink tea, don't eat meat, and don't touch the things here. Soon, you'll know what's going on." Jiang Chen looked around and said nothing to him. There was no intention of responding to Wang Erlang's question immediately.
Out of trust and respect for Jiang Chen, although he had doubts in his heart, Wang Erlang followed his words and sat quietly in his seat.
In the kitchen, the old man was busy. At this moment, he had sharpened his knife and was chopping meat on the chopping board. He was cooking under the stove and boiling a pot of water. He put the chopped meat into the pot. After a while, the water It's boiling, the meat is cooked, and it emits a burst of fragrance.
"Gulu!" Although he was full at noon, Wang Erlang was already hungry after traveling all afternoon. At the first smell of meat, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
Soon, the old man roughly cut the cooked meat into pieces, put them in bowls, and placed them on the table, including two sheep feet, one sheep head, and a portion of sheep intestines. The old man didn’t know what to use. Using some technique, the meat exudes a strong fragrance, which can't help but tease people's taste glands.
"Eat, eat, don't be dumbfounded, eat quickly." The old man urged Jiang Chen and Wang Erlang, with an attentive smile on his face.
"This-" Wang Erlang swallowed repeatedly. Although he remembered Jiang Chen's words, the meat on the table was too fragrant, and he was too hungry. Unconsciously, he had already grabbed it. Chopsticks.
"Huh?" After a deep groan, Jiang Chen glanced at him with a warning look and said angrily: "What? I can't hold it anymore. Don't forget what I told you just now."
"You can't drink tea, you can't eat meat, and you can't touch things here." Wang Erlang responded honestly, but he was just holding back, with a look of pain on his face.
The old man asked strangely: "What this young master said makes people feel very strange. Why can't you eat meat, drink tea, or even move things around?"
Wang Erlang also asked strangely: "Yes, why?"
"Because—" Jiang Chen paused for a moment, then said with a half-smile, "The food and drink here are not something a living person can afford."
"Joke!" the old man snorted: "If a living person can't bear it, how can it be used by a dead person?"
"Yes, it's for dead people." Jiang Chen's eyes, with a touch of inexplicable indifference, stared at the old man, "Why, father-in-law, you have been dead for a long time, so long that you have even forgotten yourself. Are you already dead?"