Tried to trick me into raising a cat again

A huge stone stands on the left and right sides of the entrance of Fenghu Village. Behind the stone grows two thick big trees. The trunk of the big tree is very thick, and the huge crown is spread out. It is roughly estimated that it can last a hundred years.

Chu Zhou's spirit improved a lot, he asked Zhang Ren to put him down, and carefully looked at everything around him.

Fenghu Village is surrounded by mountains and rivers. A thin river passes by in front of the village and winds its way to the distance. The houses in the village are built facing the water and backed by mountains. Although they are deep in the mountains, they don’t feel cold at all, but warm and pleasant. , like a secluded paradise.

The four of them walked into the village, passing through the stones and big trees at the entrance of the village, they could see the houses built next to each other. The houses were all of the same style. The two-story small earthen buildings with white walls and gray tiles looked clean and tidy. .

Four strangers broke in, alerting the busy villagers. They surrounded them vigilantly and stood in front of them.

"Who are you? How did you get in?" An old man asked first.

Zhang Ren and Xie Qi looked at each other, took a step forward, calmed down and replied: "We came back with friends to visit relatives."

The old man glanced at them unkindly, "Visiting relatives? We never marry outsiders in our village."

Chu Zhou, who was behind Zhang Ren, took a step forward, raised his chin slightly, and looked at the old man, "Village Chief, do you still remember me?"

The old man, the village head, looked at him suspiciously, and suddenly laughed for a long time, "So it's Xiao Zhou, you're back."

He greeted the people behind him with an extremely excited expression, "Chu Zhou is back, come out quickly, everyone."

"Since you were lost, your mother's health will not be good. Come back, come back, come back and see her." The village head excitedly held his hand, the old skin drooped and wrinkled together, like A piece of dried orange peel.

Chu Zhou retracted his hand unnaturally, pursed his lips and said, "I'll go see my mother first, my friend will be staying at our house for a while."

The old village chief said yes repeatedly, and told him that the village would be lively and lively when he saw Wanren, so he must come.

Chu Zhou agreed casually, and led the people towards the direction he remembered.

The old village chief led the villagers behind and watched them leave, with the same excited and joyful smile on his face.

After walking away, Qu Yanning whispered to Xie Qi, "Why do I think this place is weird?"

The scenery of Fenghu Village is beautiful, and the villagers are warm and friendly, but Qu Yanning inexplicably feels that there is a strange and uncomfortable atmosphere here.

Xie Qi said with a smile, "What are you talking about?"

Qu Yanning carefully recalled what he saw along the way, and slowly said: "The villagers are weird, so many villagers came out just now, but they were all middle-aged and old people, but I didn't see young people or children." It stands to reason that such a village should not lack children.

Xie Qi looked at him with a smile, "Is there any more?"

"Also..." Qu Yanning thought carefully, "The attitude of these people is also weird. Their attitude towards Chu Zhou is too warm."

"Well, not bad." Xie Qi gave him an encouraging look, "Is there any more?"

Qu Yanning bit her lower lip and thought for a while, then said no more.

Xie Qi chuckled, reached out and patted his head, and pointed to the house in front of him, "Look here, is there any problem?"

Qu Yanning looked at it carefully for a while, and wondered: "The direction of the houses here...why do they all face east and west?" Also, the houses are too close to each other, and the adjacent alleys can barely pass through at the same time Two people, the sun can't shine in, and the alley is dark and humid.

"Here we are." Chu Zhou said.

Xie Qi whispered to Qu Yanning, "I'll tell you later."

Chu Zhou swallowed nervously, then knocked on the door softly.

"Who is it?" A gentle female voice came from the room, followed by the sound of footsteps, the door opened, and behind the door was a woman who looked only in her 20s and no more than 30 years old.

The woman has a slender figure, willow-leaf eyebrows, peach-blossom eyes, and an exquisite nose. Her facial features are overhanging, but the combination makes people feel very comfortable. She has a gentle feeling of a Jiangnan water town.But the same facial features were placed on Chu Zhou's face, but there was a dazzling beauty.

The three of them secretly speculated about Chu Zhou's relationship with the woman, but they didn't expect Chu Zhou to call his mother in a trembling voice.

Zhang Ren: "..."

Qu Yanning: "..."

The woman looked blankly at Chu Zhou who was taller than him, and sighed for a long time, with a relieved expression and some other emotions, "You are back... come in."

Follow the woman in, the small building is very clean, the first floor is the main room, a portrait of a man is hung on the wall facing the gate, there are incense burners on the left and right sides of the portrait, a few sticks of incense are inserted in the incense burner, and the green smoke curls up Diffuse, dissipate in the air if there seems to be nothing.

There was an Eight Immortals table in the middle of the main room. The woman pulled the chairs away and asked them to sit down. Then she went to the kitchen to get a kettle and cups, and poured hot water for them one by one.

Chu Zhou held the cup and sipped absently. The woman sat down next to him after she finished her work.He reached out and touched Chu Zhou's face, with nostalgia in his eyes, "In the blink of an eye, you have grown so big."

Chu Zhou lowered his eyes. After returning to the village, his spirit became better and better, and his face became more rosy. Now that he saw his biological mother, he turned pale again, "I heard from the village chief that you are sick."

Zhuang Meng raised her hand and brushed the broken hair behind her ears, and said softly, "It's nothing, it's just an old problem."

Chu Zhou took another sip of tea, swirled and swallowed a lot of questions he wanted to ask, and finally could only say in a low voice, "Well, then pay attention to your body."

Zhuang Meng was very happy, and couldn't help but patted Chu Zhou's head again, and focused his eyes on him, "Have you eaten yet? I just made cornbread the day before yesterday. It was your favorite food when you were young."

Chu Zhou shook his head and said he didn't eat.

Zhuang Meng then let out a happy hey, let them sit for a while, and happily went to the kitchen to prepare meals.

When the people left, Qu Yanning whispered, "Zhou Zhou, your mother is so young, I almost thought it was your sister just now."

Chu Zhou's eyelids trembled, he smiled unnaturally, and said, "Maybe the village supports people. My mother was a tweed in the village when she was young."

Xie Qi turned his head and glanced at Zhuang Meng's busy back, then averted his gaze lightly.

The food prepared was very rich. Although it was not as good as the food outside, it could be seen that Zhuang Meng prepared it with care.

Porridge, corn tortillas, and four stir-fried vegetables were placed in front of Chu Zhou. Everyone could see that she was trying to please Chu Zhou.

"Mom, you should sit down and eat too." Chu Zhou held the chopsticks and said to Zhuang Meng standing beside him.

Zhuang Meng wiped his hands on the apron, sat down next to him, and everyone moved their chopsticks. The only sounds during the banquet were the clattering of bowls and chopsticks and Zhuang Meng telling Chu Zhou to eat more.

After eating, Chu Zhou took the initiative to help Zhuang Meng clean up the dishes. The mother and son stood side by side by the pool. Zhuang Meng scooped a ladle of water from the bucket and poured it in. When he was about to wash the dishes, Chu Zhou held his hand.

"Let me come, your hands are prone to frostbite in winter." He naturally took the water ladle, took another spoonful of water, and slowly started to wash the dishes.

Zhuang Meng stared at her blankly, turned around and left after a while, and when he came back, his eyes were a little red.

It was dark early in winter, and there were four more people in the family. Zhuang Meng cleaned up the rooms upstairs and downstairs, and cleared out three vacant rooms. Qu Yanning and Xie Qi shared a room, and Chu Zhou and Zhang Ren shared a room each.The room was not big, and it smelled like earth, but the quilt on the bed was brand new and looked fluffy.

Zhuang Meng took Chu Zhou's hand at the door and chattered, "It's dark at night, the toilet is far away from home, and a urinal is placed under the bed. The kettle is under the table, and it's all hot water I just boiled..."

Chu Zhou stood patiently at the door and listened to her finish. Zhuang Meng finally smiled in satisfaction, patted his head, and went downstairs with the kerosene lamp.

Chu Zhou kept watching Zhuang Meng's figure go downstairs before turning back his gaze. When he turned around, Zhang Ren leaned against the door and looked at him, "I didn't expect this age to be so backward." living primitive life.

Chu Zhou smiled helplessly, "The village has always been like this, the traffic is too inconvenient, and he refuses to communicate with the outside world."

Zhang Ren still wanted to say something, but when he saw the exhaustion in his eyes, he stopped talking, and said to him in a gentle voice, "I'm tired today, go to bed early."

Chu Zhou nodded to him, closed the door and went back to the room.Qu Yanning in the opposite room was still in high spirits.

Qu Yanning sat on the bed wearing a sweater, and counted with Xie Qi what was wrong today.

Xie Qi sat cross-legged across from him, and slowly moved the beads in his hands. Every time Qu Yanning said one more word, the smile in his eyes increased.

"Yes, the observation is very detailed."

Xie Qi looked at him gently, "But why did this happen, do you know the reason?"

Qu Yanning shook her head ignorantly, saying she didn't know.

Xie Qi twiddled the beads unhurriedly, with a very calm expression on his face, "Fenghu Village is located near the mountains and rivers, and is located in Fengmen. It was originally a blessed place to increase blessings and longevity, but now..."

"What's the matter now?" Qu Yanning asked anxiously.

Xie Qi went on to say: "The villagers don't believe in gods, they believe in ghosts and gods, and the houses are built against the wind and water, which ruins this blessed land."

"Don't believe in gods, believe in ghosts and gods..." Qu Yanning repeated this sentence lightly, suddenly remembering the time when the man called the gods to the porcelain doll, "Then what will happen here?"

Xie Qi said softly, "Didn't you already see part of it?"

Qu Yanning was taken aback for a moment, a little confused, "The village looks pretty good now."

Xie Qi shook his head, but stopped talking, blew out the candles on the table, and said in a warm voice: "Go to bed early, you will understand after watching too much."

Qu Yanning let out an oh, and got into the quilt, surrounded by a warm body and a faint scent.He rubbed the soft pillow and fell into a deep sleep.

The village was very quiet at night, the moon half-hanging in the sky gave off a pale light, with a hint of red on the edge.

In the narrow alley, a slender figure walked quickly, and then stopped in front of a house. The villagers went to bed early, and everyone had already fallen asleep at this time.

The figure swayed slightly, then climbed up the rough wall, entered the room through the window, there was a faint rustling sound in the room, after a while, the figure reappeared, with a bulge on its back sac objects.

The figure walked quickly with the things on its back, and within a few steps, it reached the small forest that Qu Yanning and the others passed by during the day.

There is no wind in the woods, but the leaves rustle, as if cheering.

The figure walked into the woods, hummed a few words softly, and suddenly a few children ran out of the dark woods, and the children happily surrounded the figure, calling mother crisply.

The figures took off the things on their backs, patted the children's heads one by one, and said in a warm voice, "Eat."

The children cheered and started eating in a circle.

While eating, he had to look up at the figure, and a younger child puffed up his cheeks and asked, "Mother, are you happy that brother is back?"

The figure said she was happy, she didn't know what to think of, and sighed.

The child hugged her arm coquettishly, and stammered, "Then, can we go and play with brother?"

The figure pinched his face and said no, "Brother has never seen you before, so he will be frightened."

The child pursed his mouth in disappointment and said okay.

The figure patted his head, said to eat quickly, then got up, and quietly returned to the village.

……

Xie Qi pushed open the wooden window and looked directly at the figure downstairs.

The figure's face was exposed under the moonlight, Xie Qi squinted his eyes, and his pupils reflected golden light under the moonlight.

"You haven't slept so late?"

Xie Qi said, "I am anxious."

The figure smiled and said, "It's dark outside and the road is not easy to walk, so you just make do with it in the house, the urinal is under the bed."

Xie Qi said yes, and then closed the window.

Qu Yanning beside him turned over, without the heat source around him, he shrank into a ball a little afraid of the cold, even his face was shrunk into the quilt, like a little hamster balled up.

Xie Qi lay down next to him again, poked his fingers on his cheek, and chuckled, "Stupid."

-

Before dawn, there were voices outside the house, Qu Yanning opened his eyes in a daze, and Xie Qi beside him was leaning on the bed and reading a book quietly.

From Qu Yanning's perspective, one could see his bright red lips and long, thick black eyelashes.

Qu Yanning blushed a little for some reason, he shrank himself into the quilt and rubbed himself, and greeted Xie Qi in a muffled voice, "Morning, Second Lord."

Xie Qi looked at the bulging quilt with a smile, and said good morning to him.

Stuffed in the quilt for a while, Qu Yanning suffocated himself until his face was flushed, he poked his head out and took a deep breath, but he didn't dare to look at Xie Qi's face again.

Xie Qi put down his book and got up, and put on his coat—when everyone else was wearing cotton jackets, he was also wearing a slightly thicker coat.

"Is the second master not cold?" Qu Yanning sat up and put on a sweater with difficulty.

Xie Qi curled the corner of his mouth, saying that he was not cold.

Qu Yanning let out a sigh of envy, and put on woolen trousers with difficulty.

It was very warm in the village during the day, but Qu Yanning always felt that there was a lingering chill in his bones, so he wore extra clothes.

Seeing him wrapping himself up like a ball, Xie Qi narrowed his eyes slightly, took off the bead string in his left hand, and slowly twisted it.

The two packed up and went downstairs. Chu Zhou and Zhang Ren had already got up, and Zhang Ren was helping Zhuang Meng pour a large bucket of water into the large water tank.The village does not have contact with the outside world, and naturally there is no running water. Every household relies on manpower to fetch water from the small river in front of the village and store it in a large tank.

The big water tank was half full, Zhang Ren walked out with a shoulder pole, and returned with two buckets full of water after a while.

Qu Yanning looked at the extraordinarily attentive Zhang Ren with complicated emotions, no matter how he looked at him, he looked like a silly son-in-law who flattered his mother-in-law.

Chu Zhou took the pole away for him, put it in a corner beside him, and repeatedly asked him to rest.

Zhang Ren waved his hand indifferently, and picked up a few buckets of water, which was not considered heavy work.

Zhuang Meng drove them to the main room with a smile, and started to work on breakfast in the kitchen. The breakfast was poached eggs, and the eggs were eggs laid by native chickens raised in the village. Zhuang Meng saved a lot, and now it just came in handy.When the water in the pot boiled, crack the shell of the small native eggs, a layer of white egg white quickly appeared around the yellow egg yolk, Zhuang Meng carefully watched the heat, and scooped up the poached egg before the egg yolk was completely solidified. Serve it up, add half a bowl of water, sprinkle with a spoonful of sugar, and you have a bowl of hot breakfast.

Chu Zhou and Qu Yanning helped put the bowl on the table.Five people sat around the Eight Immortals table and slowly ate breakfast. The sunlight outside the house shone in with warmth.

The warm sugar water dispelled the chill, and Qu Yanning stretched his arms and legs.He suggested going out for a walk, and the others agreed. Zhuang Meng was afraid that they would break a taboo, so he pulled them and told them softly, "Don't go in the house that faces north and south in the middle of the village."

"Is there anything special about that room?" Qu Yanning asked.

Zhuang Meng pursed her hair, with a hint of a smile on her lips, "That room is lived by a sorceress, and gods are enshrined in it."

Qu Yanning snorted, "What kind of god do you worship in the village?"

Zhuang Meng adjusted Chu Zhou's collar, and replied softly, "It's the gods, you just don't want to go there."

The four nodded and walked towards the alley together.

There are many houses in the village, and it seems that they should be a large population, but they walked around the alley for a long time, and they didn't hear any movement in a few houses. It was quiet everywhere, if it wasn't for the morning. When they heard the voices of busy people saying that this is an uninhabited village, they also believed it.

After walking around for a while, the door of a house in front of them suddenly opened, and a man who was fully wrapped up bowed his body and poked his head out. When he saw them, he said something loudly in dialect, and then slammed closed the door.

Qu Yanning smelled the very faint smell again, and he looked at Xie Qi with disbelief.

Xie Qi happened to look down at him, the two looked at each other, then quickly looked away, Xie Qi asked softly, "What did you see?"

Qu Yanning said: "No, I just smelled a bad smell, the same smell as that of the previous villager."

Xie Qi said: "Try to gather the Qi in the dantian and look at your eyes."

"?" Qu Yanning looked at Ye Ye in a daze, and asked stammeringly, "Why, how did you get together?"

Xie Qi approached him, and tapped his finger on his abdomen, "This is the dantian," and then moved up gently, pointing his warm fingers on his eyes, "Gather the Qi here."

Qu Yanning: "???"

Xie Qi patted his head, "It's just a feeling, it's your talent, you have to learn to feel it and use it."

According to what he said, Qu Yanning tried hard to hold his breath, his face turned red, and he didn't realize the magic of gathering qi into his eyes.

Chu Zhou and Zhang Ren next to each other had complicated expressions, as if they were watching the scene of a cult.

Turning around in the intricate alleys, the four people went out, and more people came out of the alleys. Occasionally, villagers passing by saw them, and their attitudes were very enthusiastic. Especially when they saw Chu Zhou, they would boast that the gods would like it you.

Zhang Ren frowned, and asked Chu Zhou in confusion, "What do you mean the gods will definitely like you?" Such a compliment always feels weird.

Chu Zhou looked into the distance, smiled, and said that it was just a custom here, "People in the village are proud to be loved by the gods."