Someone was watching him?
Xie Fan raised his head blankly.
But after looking around, he still couldn't find the source of the gaze. At that moment, the village chief and the villagers were all solemnly discussing the tour group's arrival tomorrow. No one was paying any attention to him at all.
Even the terrified, sweat-drenched face he had just seen on that villager seemed to have been nothing more than an illusion.
Was he simply too nervous?
Xie Fan rubbed his temple and looked at Sun Zhou again. The tall villager's expression was numb and calm now, without the slightest trace of the fear he'd shown just moments ago.
When he noticed Xie Fan looking over, their eyes met. Sun Zhou instinctively tugged at the corners of his mouth and gave him a friendly smile before turning back toward the village chief as though nothing had happened, as if that little incident of violating a taboo had never existed.
It seemed he really was just too nervous.
Xie Fan imperceptibly breathed a sigh of relief. Ever since noticing the village chief's legs, he'd been jumping at every little thing, his head filled with all kinds of horror scenarios.
Fortunately, nothing had happened.
Still, after all this time, no one seemed to have noticed that he was different from the original A-Xie. Xie Fan pursed his lips and couldn't help wondering: Could they look very similar?
Or perhaps the original character had such little presence in the novel that no one actually knew what he looked like?
Having somehow gotten past the thing that worried him most, Xie Fan finally had the presence of mind to listen to what the village chief was saying.
The protagonist group was coming under the guise of a tour group and would arrive in the village tomorrow morning. The village chief had already arranged their accommodations in advance, putting them in the guesthouse next door to his own home.
It was also the best place to stay in the entire village.
Xie Fan glanced at the standalone building beside them. Even from the outside, it looked much better than his own dilapidated wooden house. There was even a mature peach tree by the entrance, laden with large, sweet-looking peaches.
Xie Fan forcibly dragged his gaze away, utterly speechless at himself. How could he possibly get hungry in such a tense situation?
Was he some kind of glutton who'd throw his life away for a peach?!
Xie Fan swallowed. By the time he came back to his senses, the village chief had already finished making the arrangements.
"All right. Tomorrow, A-Qi will leave the village on time to meet them."
"Everyone just needs to be careful. Nothing will happen."
"Then, the idol..." The middle-aged woman who had pulled Xiao Yao away earlier hesitated.
The village chief glanced sideways at her. "It's fine. Just lock the doors to the main rooms."
"All right." The woman hurriedly nodded to show that she understood.
Xie Fan was completely baffled by what he was hearing. What idol? What main room?
What did the idol have to do with locking the main room?
He had left in such a hurry that he'd paid absolutely no attention to his own main room. Only after hearing his neighbor mention it did he realize that he'd completely overlooked the place.
No. He absolutely had to take a look when he got back tonight. Otherwise, there was no way he'd be able to rest easy.
While he was still thinking about it, the village chief finished arranging everything and announced that the meeting was over.
The night surrounding the village threshing ground was pitch-black. The village chief pressed his hands against the wheelchair and, holding a candle, turned and wheeled himself back inside.
Xie Fan frowned. He had the strange feeling that after the candles began dispersing, the weeds around them seemed to change slightly.
He quickly followed behind the crowd, staying close to the candlelight the entire way and making sure he didn't become separated from the other villagers. Only when he reached the vicinity of his little wooden house did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He was finally back.
"Bye, Brother A-Xie."
Xiao Yao, walking with her parents, nodded at him.
Xie Fan hesitated before imitating her and waving, only to hear the couple ahead of him tug Xiao Yao along while scolding her.
"Why are you talking to him?"
"That guy hasn't had a candle for an entire month. Who knows..."
Because they had lowered their voices, Xie Fan could only vaguely make out a little of what they said.
Candles?
Candles again?
What exactly were these candles for?
He instinctively looked around. After the candles were lit, the village did seem somewhat less dark, but... judging from what Xiao Yao's parents had said, things apparently weren't that simple.
The original novel's descriptions of the village had always been vague, leaving Xie Fan completely confused. Only after Xiao Yao's figure disappeared from sight did he turn around and prepare to head upstairs.
But in the next second, a hand landed on his shoulder, startling him.
"Sorry, did I scare you?"
The voice behind him sounded surprised, as though the speaker hadn't expected to frighten him either.
"I just saw you spacing out, so I gave you a pat."
Xie Fan: ...
Wasn't getting patted like that while spacing out even scarier?!
His soul had practically flown out of his body!
He took a deep breath, confirmed that the thing behind him was a person, and turned around. A tall young man stood opposite him, looking at him with an honest expression.
"I'm Sun Zhou."
The young man, whose facial features were somewhat indistinct to Xie Fan, smiled. Only then did Xie Fan remember that this was the villager who had questioned the village chief during the meeting at the threshing ground and violated that taboo.
What was he doing here?
Xie Fan didn't think he was particularly close to him. He'd only glanced at him once at the threshing ground.
He cautiously took a step backward without speaking.
Sun Zhou seemed not to notice his wariness at all and looked innocently at Xie Fan.
"During the meeting just now, I saw you staring at the peaches across the way."
"I brought you one."
Xie Fan raised his head blankly and saw Sun Zhou pull a large, bright-red peach out of his pocket. It looked exactly like the peaches growing outside the guesthouse beside the village chief's home.
Wait, he'd seen him sneaking looks at the peach tree?
Someone had actually witnessed something that embarrassing!
Xie Fan's toes practically curled into the ground from embarrassment. Then he suddenly realized something and secretly glanced at Sun Zhou.
He hadn't accidentally broken character and gotten caught, had he?
Sun Zhou looked at him in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"Is this one not very good?"
Xie Fan: ...
Great. This guy hadn't noticed anything.
"No."
After struggling for ages to come up with that one response, Sun Zhou stuffed the peach into his hand in the very next second.
"That's good."
"I thought I'd have to get you another one."
For some inexplicable reason, Xie Fan had the feeling that this guy treated the village chief's peach tree like some random wild tree growing by the roadside.
Other than the village chief himself, who would normally dare pick peaches from outside the guesthouse?
This guy really had guts.
Well, that made sense. If he weren't bold, he wouldn't have dared to be the first person to question the village chief either.
The thought had barely flashed through Xie Fan's mind when, as though afraid Xie Fan might refuse, the tall young man blinked and quickly ran off into the darkness, leaving Xie Fan standing there dumbfounded.
Wait, he was just leaving like that?
He'd somehow acquired a peach for absolutely no reason?
Xie Fan stared blankly at the peach in his hand. After hesitating for a moment, he could only accept it for now.
After all, he really was hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since noon. His stomach was completely empty and had even begun to ache from hunger.
Taking a deep breath, Xie Fan carried the peach back upstairs, gave it a quick wash, then lowered his head and took a bite.
The fresh sweetness of the fruit instantly filled his mouth, surprising him.
It was actually even better than he'd imagined?
Unlike the peaches sold in the city, the ones grown here in the village had a more natural flavor and an especially good texture. No wonder those absurdly privileged rich young masters in the original novel had gone after the peaches on their very first day here.
The thought flashed through his mind and disappeared. Only after Xie Fan finished the entire peach did his stomach finally feel a little better, the unpleasant acidic ache at last fading away.
His gaze shifted around the wooden house. He had just begun thinking about what he'd intended to do after coming back when drowsiness suddenly washed over him.
Xie Fan: ...
Other people got sleepy from carbs. Did he get sleepy from peaches?
Help, why did he get drowsy the second his stomach was full?
The sleepiness he'd originally intended to fight grew increasingly overwhelming. Xie Fan only had enough time to cover his eyes before collapsing onto the bamboo bed in the next second.
What he failed to notice was that from the instant he lost consciousness, the entire wooden house gradually fell silent.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Several tiny spider-like creatures that looked as though they had only just hatched crawled out from the locust tree outside the window. With faint rustling sounds, they slipped through the cracks around the doors and windows and burrowed into the wooden boards.
Meanwhile, the half-closed wooden door leading to the main room was caught by the wind and swayed slightly with a "creak," before everything fell completely silent once again.
At the village chief's house in the center of the village:
The village chief had just been about to replenish the incense when he suddenly noticed that the incense in the burner before him had inexplicably begun burning more slowly. His movements paused slightly.
"Uncle, why aren't you asleep yet?"
At the doorway, A-Qi finished wiping down a chair and turned to ask him.
"It's nothing."
The village chief shook his head and put away the incense in his hand.
It had been many years since he'd last seen something like this. When the incense in the burner burned slowly, it meant that one was currently in a good mood.
His fingers curled slightly. The village chief's cloudy gaze shifted toward the eerie idol behind the table. After hesitating, he couldn't help wondering: Could that one be in a good mood because those outsiders were entering the village tomorrow?
After considering it for a while and tidying the offering table again, the village chief finally had A-Qi push him out of the main room.
"By the way, observe them carefully tomorrow. See whether there's anyone special among the tour group."
A-Qi froze. "You mean...?"
The village chief thought for a moment. "I don't know either."
"But this is the first time outsiders have been allowed into the mountain, and today, that one... seems to be in a good mood. There must be a reason."
It couldn't possibly be in a good mood for absolutely no reason, could it?
Discussing the deity was taboo, so the village chief immediately stopped himself there and shook his head.
"All right. You still have to go out tomorrow. Get some rest early."
A-Qi nodded. He glanced toward the main room and committed the village chief's words to memory.
...
The moment the rooster began crowing, A-Qi left the village to meet the newcomers.
Their village had no means of transportation. Everyone traveled on foot, but fortunately, generations of them had lived here, and people from the mountains were accustomed to it.
Besides, given Xican Village's location, vehicles couldn't have reached it in the first place.
The guide those people had hired had also walked from Sanyin Town to this section of the mountain trail.
"What kind of shitty place is this?"
After making his way through the forest, He Cheng threw his trekking pole onto the ground.
"We've been walking for four hours and we're still not there?"
"Was this village built at the bottom of some ravine or something?" The rich young master in fashionable outdoor clothing couldn't help glaring at the guide, his tone irritable. "You didn't take us down the wrong path, did you?"
The guide himself wasn't entirely certain. Several years ago, he'd come here with his father, who traveled through the mountains selling goods, but he'd only visited once, so his memories weren't particularly clear.
After all, the village hidden deep in the mountains had virtually no contact with the outside world. Only on very rare occasions did the villagers buy things from traveling mountain merchants like them.
If he hadn't seen this group offering a high price online for a guide, Zhao Yinian wouldn't even have remembered that such a place existed.
He gave an awkward laugh, glanced around, and immediately tried to salvage the situation.
"Ahem, I don't think so. I remember when I came here a few years ago, it seemed to be around this area."
"You don't think so?"
This time, even Pei Jing, who had been walking ahead with an expressionless face the entire time, turned around and frowned.
Zhao Yinian jumped and hurriedly pointed ahead.
"Not 'I don't think so.'"
"It's right there. Keep going a little farther and there's a weird-looking boulder up ahead!"
"It's fine. Let's keep going."
They had already come this far, and it was too late to turn back now. Tan Qingxian handed Shen Xun a bottle of water, nodded, and continued forward.
After walking another three kilometers or so, the air in the forest grew increasingly stifling. Just when the group was beginning to find it unbearable, they finally heard the guide's excited voice.
"I remembered correctly! That's the rock!"
Pei Jing followed the direction the guide was pointing and, sure enough, spotted half of an oddly shaped boulder among the lush wild grass. It was a full three meters tall and stood diagonally across the mountain trail.
He examined it and was just about to walk over when a figure suddenly emerged from behind the boulder.
They hadn't seen a single person during their entire journey into the mountains, so the sudden appearance of a human figure startled all of them.
He Cheng instinctively put a hand near his waist, only to hear the guide speak.
"Wait, I think he's here to meet us."
"A-Qi."
"The one we contacted by letter before."
Only then did He Cheng's gaze relax slightly.
When the mist ahead thinned a little, they finally saw that the man before them walked with a limp. He wore neat, practical cloth clothing and nodded when he saw them.
"It's inconvenient for me to walk, so I could only come this far to meet you."
"Let's go."
He Cheng: ...
If walking was inconvenient for him, couldn't they have sent someone who didn't have trouble walking to meet them?
This village wasn't populated entirely by the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, was it?
He raised an eyebrow and glanced toward Tan Qingxian. Seeing that the other man's expression hadn't changed, He Cheng curled his lip and followed the man leading the way.
"I heard the scenery in your village is beautiful?"
"It's all right."
A-Qi didn't turn around, merely answering indifferently.
He Cheng laughed. The members of their group came from privileged backgrounds. What kind of scenery hadn't they seen before? They had absolutely no expectations whatsoever for whatever sights this limping man was talking about.
If Shen Xun hadn't decided to come here to sketch, none of them would ever have traveled all this way to climb mountains in this godforsaken place.
Shen Xun, walking in the middle of the group, seemed genuinely interested in the surroundings. His gaze settled on the trees ahead.
"Those trees must be very old, right?"
The deeper they ventured into the mountain forest, the thicker the mist became. Even so, towering ancient trees could still be seen through the hazy mountain fog. Yet their shapes were twisted and sinister, and beneath the darkened sky, the sight of them caused an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
A-Qi stopped and glanced at him.
"They're several hundred years old."
"I don't know their exact age."
"Whoa, then they really are ancient."
He Cheng responded out of sheer boredom, completely uninterested in the trees along the roadside.
Pei Jing, however, also turned to look at the trees after hearing their conversation.
They hadn't followed A-Qi's route for much longer when the village finally came into view.
He Cheng brushed the dirt off himself. "Right now, all I want is somewhere with hot water so I can take a shower."
After walking for so long, the cleanliness-obsessed young master had reached the limit of what he could tolerate.
A-Qi said, "We can heat water in the village."
"But first, you need to meet the village chief and register." After a pause, he added, "The guesthouse is right next door to the village chief's house."
"Tch. What a hassle."
He Cheng complained but forcibly kept his patience. It was only their first day here, and even he didn't want to start a conflict with the villagers.
As the outsiders came down the mountainside, villagers who had never seen outsiders before couldn't help stopping to stare. Even after the group had walked past, they continued turning around curiously to look at them.
Xie Fan was still sleeping groggily against the bamboo bed when he suddenly heard a series of "thump, thump, thump" from someone bouncing around nearby.
"Brother A-Xie, Brother A-Xie."
"Wake up! The tour group is here!"
Xie Fan jolted awake. The instant he opened his eyes, he saw the blurry face of a little girl.
It took him a moment to react.
"Xiao Yao?"
"Yeah."
Xiao Yao, her hair in braids, grinned at him.
"Brother A-Xie, the sun is almost setting. You slept really late."
Xie Fan followed her gaze and looked outside.
She was right.
!!!
Wait, he'd slept for...
That long?
Xie Fan couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right, but before he could think about it any further, Xiao Yao grabbed his arm.
"Brother A-Xie, let's go look at the outsiders."