After being a widow for half my life, I found out that my husband was not dead.

The villagers spread the news through word of mouth and soon gathered at Hongxuan's place. Liu Yunxiang glanced over and saw that they were all old people, no one was young, and no one was a child.

While Hongxuan was doing this, Liu Yunxiang sneaked away with Zijin. Changhe Village is not big and there are not many houses. The two of them searched one house at a time, starting from one end of the long street to the other. When they finally met, they both shook their heads.

"Girl, is Mr. Xue not here?" Zijin asked, scratching the back of his head.

Liu Yunxiang was also confused. Just when he didn't know what to do, he saw a figure heading outside the village. Zijin stirred up his spirit, guarded Liu Yunxiang behind him defensively, and drew out his sword.

Liu Yunxiang's thoughts changed, and he patted Zijin's hand holding the sword hilt, "Let's follow."

"what?"

"That person won't hurt us, don't be too nervous."

Liu Yunxiang took Zijin out of the village. After walking not far, he saw thousands of acres of fields as far as the eye could see, and the crops were green and growing very gratifyingly.

Looking carefully, there are two people in the field in the distance, a woman and a man. The woman is pulling weeds and the man is irrigating. At this time, it was not the man who did something wrong. The woman grabbed a handful of grass and threw it at him, while he squatted down holding his head, looking really useless.

"Girl, that man seems to be... Mr. Xue." Zi Jin said in disbelief.

Liu Yunxiang could see clearly, "It's him."

The master and the servant walked that way. The sun was warm, the breeze was blowing, and there was a fertile field next to them. Liu Yunxiang felt much lighter.

"Hey, what's growing in this land... isn't crops, it's grass!" Zi Jin was shocked.

When Liu Yunxiang heard this, he was also surprised and hurriedly came forward to take a look. She was born in the palace of a minister, so she could be considered a lady from an official family. She had never been on the ground, so she couldn't tell whether the clusters in front of Qing were crops or grass.

"Wheat should be planted in the ground. By this season, there should be ears of wheat growing on the seedlings. If you have seen ears of wheat, there is a bundle hanging at the door of our grain store." Zijin said.

Liu Yunxiang thought about it for a moment, and when he looked carefully, what he saw in front of him was not just clumps of grass. She looked around and saw that the entire field was covered with grass.

"This...these fields are all barren."

"The village is full of old people and they can't even walk unsteadily, let alone farm. These fields can only be left uncultivated."

Liu Yunxiang nodded, that was indeed the case. She looked at the two people in the distance again, "Let's take a look over there."

When they got closer, they found that the field in front of them was wheat. It was much shorter than the weeds and was growing pretty well, but there was a lot of grass in the wheat field.

The woman directed Xue Changfeng while pulling weeds: "Change the ditch quickly, the irrigation is too full, the water has washed away the ridges and flowed to the grass!"

The woman urged her urgently, and Xue Changfeng became a little panicked. As soon as the shovel was pushed down, the water scattered and rushed away like a beast out of its cage. He blocked in a panic, but he blocked this side, and that side collapsed. He blocked that side, and this side collapsed again. In a moment, he started shoveling soil everywhere in a hurry, so there were holes everywhere.

Seeing this, the woman was so angry that she threw a handful of grass at him, then grabbed the shovel and skillfully blocked the hole, while the water also flowed to the next ridge.

"You are so stupid, how did you become an official!" the woman scolded Xue Changfeng.

Xue Changfeng was a little embarrassed, "Compared with handling official duties and farming, it's too easy."

"stupid!"

"I can only blame the water for not listening to me."

The woman threw the shovel to Xue Changfeng and asked him to continue watering the ground.

"When will you let me go?" Xue Changfeng asked while pouring water.

"Just give up, marry me, and farm here for the rest of your life."

"It's illegal for you to rob civilian men!"

"Let's talk about it after you can escape."

Xue Changfeng glanced helplessly at the chains on his feet. It was obviously impossible for him to escape by himself.

Hearing the sound of footsteps at this time, Xue Changfeng raised his head. When he saw the person coming, his eyes widened at first, and then he burst into ecstasy.

"princess!"

When the woman heard this, she hurriedly turned her head. When she saw Liu Yunxiang and the others, she jumped up and took the shovel from Xue Changfeng's hand and blocked it in front.

"Who are you?" the woman asked angrily.

This woman is in her twenties and is probably the only young person in Changhe Village.

"We are here to save him!" Zijin pointed to Xue Changfeng behind her, but as soon as she finished speaking, the woman came over with a shovel. Zijin grabbed it, flew over, took the shovel, and kicked it at the same time. Opened the woman.

The woman staggered and tried to charge forward, but Xue Changfeng quickly stopped her.

"Xiu Niang, they are my friends and good people!"

The woman glared at Xue Changfeng and wanted to hit her with brute force. Xue Changfeng had no choice but to say: "They are also from the government."

When she heard this, the woman's face turned green. She thought of something and hurriedly ran to the village.

Liu Yunxiang asked Zijin to quickly break off Xue Changfeng's iron chain, "We have to go back quickly to meet Taoist Priest Hongxuan!"

After untying Xue Changfeng, the three of them ran to the village together.

Xue Changfeng talked about what happened these days while running. It turned out that that day he and Hongxuan, led by Gao Yuanwai, went to visit an old gentleman who had worked as an accountant in the government office. When he came back, he passed outside Changhe Village and felt a burst of smoke. He fainted. When he woke up, he was in the village with iron chains on his feet.

"What did they tie you up for?" Liu Yunxiang asked.

Xue Changfeng coughed dryly, "Their village is full of old people. There is only one young woman, Xiu Niang. She has already reached the age of marriage, so they want to kidnap a man. First, Xiu Niang can be her husband, and secondly, she can farm the land." . The piece of land you are looking at is the food ration for the whole village, but the old people are getting older and older and can no longer get to the ground, so the surrounding area is deserted and they need young labor."

"Why did they turn this place into a ghost village?"

Xue Changfeng sighed and said: "They can't make money and have trouble eating. But the government still wants them to pay taxes and grain, so they came up with this idea to make the government think that everyone in the village is dead and they don't dare to go into the village to check." .”

"So those who captured a lot of young adults, sucked their essence, and then made mummies, are all fake?"

"They made it up and it spread."

When they entered the village, Xiuniang had already told the old people about how they had been deceived. The old people were so excited that they surrounded Hongxuan and were about to drown him.

Liu Yunxiang hurriedly asked Zijin to knock on the courtyard door next to him, making a clanging sound.

Because of this movement, the villagers looked in their direction.

Liu Yunxiang looked at these old people and couldn't scold him. He could only threaten: "The officials are at the entrance of the village. After an hour, if we haven't gone out, they will break in and burn your village. Look. How can you white-headed ghosts still make trouble!"

As soon as these words came out, the old people looked at me and I looked at you, obviously they were really scared.

The people do not fight against the officials. This has always been the case.

Xue Changfeng stepped forward and said: "Grandpas and grandmas, we came to Yanzhou to investigate Mr. Yang Heyang's case. If you have received favor from Mr. Yang, please don't embarrass us."