After Ji Yuan sat down by the fire, they briefly introduced themselves to each other and roughly reported their names and hometowns.
Ji Yuan didn't dare to say that he had run all the way here, so he made the excuse that he was traveling with a group of merchants and they separated at a fork in the road because they had different destinations, and he accidentally took the wrong road afterwards.
Even the eyes were sleight of hand, making Ji Yuan's eyes look more normal. Otherwise, wouldn't it be scary for a half-blind man to run so far in the mountains
The hunters were obviously not very interested in how Ji Yuan got lost, but instead asked about the situation in Chunhui Mansion.
"Has the great master ever been on the Chunhui Mansion's big ship? We've been there twice but never got on it. And the Qianrichun in the garden shop, I heard it's a wine recipe brewed by the emperor, and it tastes as good as fairy wine!"
"Yes, yes, Mr. Da looks so elegant, he must have been on a boat and drank Qianrichun, right?"
Ji Yuan also laughed when he heard it.
"You may have made a mistake. How could the Emperor Dazhen brew the wine himself? It was only because the wine pleased the Emperor that year that he bestowed the wine with a name and a plaque."
"Oh, I see!" "That's right, the emperor wouldn't brew wine for others to drink!"
Ji Yuan waited for them to finish speaking before continuing:
"I have never been on this boat, but I have tasted Qianrichun. The taste is just like its name, sweet and pure like spring lingering on the tongue."
It's not that he didn't think about taking out the half-remaining pot of wine and letting the four people have a taste, but in this wilderness, a stranger gave wine to others. As a vigilant hunter, he couldn't drink it or not. After finally getting along with them, it would be better not to cause embarrassment.
Several people expressed their yearning for Qianrichun and the prosperous Chunhui Mansion, and also chatted with Ji Yuan about the latest developments in Chunhui Mansion.
As a country hunter, even if I had goods, I would mostly sell them in the county town. Only when there were really good years and large quantities of goods would I go to the provincial capital once or twice.
During the conversation, the chicken and rabbit meat were cooked. A hunter took out a knife and cut off a rabbit leg and handed it to Ji Yuan. After they started eating, the atmosphere on both sides became much more harmonious.
At this time, Ji Yuan took the opportunity to ask about the situation of the man named Fang Qiu, who was the one who had tried to keep him before.
"Brother Fang, I see that there are swelling and black spots under your eyes. Have you not had enough rest recently?"
In fact, several hunters were a little tired. It was impossible to sleep peacefully in the mountains. Ji Yuan was just taking advantage of the situation.
"Hey, sir, you're right. I've been having trouble sleeping lately, and even when I do fall asleep I've been having nightmares for almost a month. My mother was worried that I had offended some evil spirit, so she went to the temple to ask for a string of beads for me, but she lost it."
"He just doesn't have a wife!"
There was a hunter teasing on the side.
"Go away, what's so great about having a wife?"
"It's really amazing, hehehe!"
The hunters were obviously on good terms with each other, and they started to make noise while joking around. The man who had made fun of Fang Qiu then said that he would help him find a matchmaker.
It was only then that Ji Yuan realized that this man named Fang Qiu was only twenty years old, but he looked like he was thirty.
"Can you tell me what I saw in my nightmare? Although I am not good at interpreting dreams, I have always been interested in it."
After the commotion, Ji Yuan and the others continued to ask Fang Qiu about the matter, but the latter didn't take it seriously.
"Nightmares are just like that. They're either monsters or ghosts. Anyway, I wake up in a cold sweat and then they fade away during the day."
"Oh... I see, the dream contents are different every time?"
Hearing Ji Yuan's question, Fang Qiu also recalled it carefully.
"I have mostly forgotten, but it seems that sometimes I can see a pair of bloodshot green eyes..."
Ji Yuan frowned, noticing that when Fang Qiu talked about this, goose bumps appeared on his exposed arms.
"Brother Fang, have you ever gone to the City God Temple to worship?"
"City God Temple? Our Qingshui County is so small that we don't have a City God Temple. We only have a land temple and a Woshan Temple. I did go to the Woshan Temple to worship the Mingwang Buddha."
There is no City God Temple!
Ji Yuan frowned as well. Indeed, many small counties did not have City Gods. The reason was mostly because there had never been any great figures worthy of remembrance, and no one from the imperial court had conferred a title upon them posthumously. Also, no one in the village had taken the lead in building a City God Temple based on any virtuous elder.
Since the City God of the Underworld rarely crosses the border, counties without City Gods are mostly governed by the City God of the prefecture. The prefecture city is densely populated and full of things, and it is possible that half of the prefecture's area is occupied by such small counties. It is good for the patrol envoy to make a patrol every few days, so one can imagine how strict the management is.
The so-called Buddhist temples are actually more worrying. It is not that Buddhism is powerless, but that there are very few temples that practice true Buddhism.
This world has no celestial beings nor Buddhas. Most of the Buddha statues in the temples are the widely circulated statues of eminent monks and Vajra Kings, which are also similar to Shinto products. However, they face the same problems as conventional Shinto, and they are even more serious, because Buddhist temples have no boundaries and are spread all over the world. Even if the eminent monks and Vajra Kings have many incarnations, they are not enough.
After chatting for a long time without any result, Ji Yuan had to give up for the time being.
When night fell and everyone was asleep, Ji Yuan, who was sleeping by the fire, opened his eyes, looked at the sleepy hunter on guard, then looked at Fang Qiu who was sweating profusely. He stretched out his hand, used his magic power to gather a trace of spiritual energy, and lightly tapped Fang Qiu's forehead. The latter's expression quickly calmed down.
'It's a pity that I can't dream yet.'
. . .
The next morning, Ji Yuan followed the hunter to check several traps. Although he only caught one musk deer, it was not a complete loss.
After everything was packed up, the few of them took Ji Yuan and headed towards home. Around noon, they arrived at the fork in the road where they could see their village.
Strictly speaking, this village is still in the mountains. From a distance, there is only a road leading to the outside world. There doesn't seem to be any fields around. I don't know if all the villagers are hunters or if the fields are on the other side.
Several people stopped at the fork in the road, and Fang Qiu simply pointed the way to Ji Yuan. After all, Ji Yuan was in a hurry to go to Qingshui County.
"Mr. Ji, if you follow this road east for four or five miles, you will see the official road. Then follow the official road south and you will definitely reach Qingshui County before dark."
"Well, thank you for your care, but I want to go into the village to buy a farmer's lunch. Is it convenient?"
Ji Yuan naturally wouldn't leave just like that.
"It's not that convenient, just come to my house and eat!"
"Yes, Mr. Ji can also come to my house!" "What's the trouble? Let's go together. Isn't this deer meat just right?"
"Let's go, let's go back!"
"Okay, sorry to bother you then!"
"Hey, don't be polite. It's rare to see someone so knowledgeable here!"
Several hunters were very enthusiastic and took Ji Yuan to the village.
After entering the mountain village, Ji Yuan tried his best to observe the surroundings.
The scale of this mountain village is larger than Ji Yuan had imagined. There are residents in every corner. It is said that there are more than 200 households.
Perhaps because the area was too large and scattered, there was no village wall, but every household had a fence or earthen wall. When the four men came back from hunting, many people came out to watch the fun. Hearing that Ji Yuan was a scholar, they all greeted him enthusiastically.
The original lunch was prepared in a lively manner at the home of a hunter named Ding Xing until the afternoon, and it directly became a dinner party. The four families ate together in the hunter's yard, and the main dish was musk deer meat.
In the heated atmosphere, Ji Yuan took out his treasured aged Qianrichun. Each person drank a small cup and drank most of it. He felt sorry for it after pouring it out and continued to drink the village wine. The people who drank Qianrichun felt very proud and thought they would have more topics to brag about in the future.
By the time everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and left, it was already getting dark. Several families invited Ji Yuan to stay temporarily, so he naturally went to Fang Qiu's home, where only mother and son lived together.
As the mother and son of the Fang family walked on the dim village road, Ji Yuan lagged behind and looked at them carefully. The red light outside Fang Qiu's life fire had been covered by a layer of black air, and although his mother's life fire was weaker, there was no evil spirit.
"Meow~~~~~~~~"
A shrill cat cry sounded from the side. Ji Yuan turned his head and saw a black cat lying on the roof. It did not have any evil or aggressive aura, but was just an ordinary animal.
The Fang family is just an ordinary family in the village, and relatively speaking, it is not shabby. It has a two-bedroom main house, a side room and a firewood room, and Ji Yuan temporarily lives in the side room.
It's late at night and everyone is asleep.
"Meow~~" "Meow~~"
“Oh~~”…
Cat meows sounded, and Ji Yuan, who was already a light sleeper, opened his eyes suddenly, sat up and looked towards the main house through the half-open window.
There were at least a dozen wild cats and domestic cats squatting on the roof. They were obviously all ordinary animals, but seeing them made Ji Yuan's scalp tingle. He endured the pain and gradually opened his eyes to 70%. He actually saw that in the window of Fang Qiu's room in the main house, a small burst of gloomy green had spread without him knowing when.
"What the hell is this!"
Ji Yuan quietly sat up, stretched out his middle finger and lightly touched a drop of lamp oil on the oil lamp in the house. His magic power seeped into the oil on his fingertips, then he interlocked his middle fingers and flicked them towards the main house of the Fang family.
Whoosh~
The oil drop flew silently into the main house and hit the oil lamp inside the house.
"Boom~"
At least two dozen drops of lamp oil suddenly disappeared from the lamp and flew out of the lamp in a strange slow motion, all over the room.
Seeing that the combination of martial arts and water control was effective, Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes, turned on the fire starter and blew gently. A tiny spark lit up and was covered by his sleeve.
When Ji Yuan stretched out his left hand from his sleeve again, there was a little black ash with sparks on his hand, but due to the effect of the sleight of hand, no fire could be seen.
Since he only knew four magic skills, he naturally had to use all means to master them.
“Huh~~”
With a gentle blow, a handful of black coal ash containing sparks flew out of the side room, and after about three breaths, it dispersed into the main house of the Fang family.
Ji Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, the fire in the artistic conception alchemy furnace suddenly rose, and the grayness of his eyes seemed to flash with fire for an instant.
"Boom~~"
The main house of the Fang family was suddenly filled with flames.
“Ah~~~~~~~~”
A creepy and terrifying scream was heard, and a dark green gas entangled with flames flowed out of the window and escaped.
"Humph! It's nothing special. Do you really think this is a plan to kill me?"