The two walked around the village. The village wasn't very big, with only a few dozen households scattered around.

As they finished their rounds, night fell, and the men who had been working in the fields went home. Laughter and cheerful voices drifted from the rooms, though some families were experiencing hardship. Arguments could be heard from afar, along with sighs and lamentations. It was clear without asking that these families were facing considerable difficulties.

From any perspective, this village is a very typical ancient village.

Zuan and Qiao Xueying found an opportunity to sneak in, but after listening to many houses, they found no problems or clues.

"Hey, there's a strange sound coming from that house?" Qiao Xueying tugged at Zu An's sleeve, indicating that they should go to another house.

The two arrived at the window and finally understood what the strange sound was: heavy breathing mixed with the creaking of the bed and some vulgar slang spoken between a man and a woman...

Qiao Xueying blushed instantly and spat out, "Doing this so early in the morning, you're really shameless."

Zu An laughed: "You, who have always lived in a wealthy family, naturally do not know the suffering of these people at the bottom. Many families are very poor and cannot even afford to light an oil lamp at night. What else would they do if they did not do this?"

Qiao Xueying covered her ears: "You talk like you know so much about this. Okay, okay, stop listening and go to another place."

"This situation reminds me of a riddle. How about I ask you a question?" Zu An's expression was a little strange.

"What question? Tell me about it." Qiao Xueying naturally didn't want to admit that she wasn't smart enough. Anyway, she was a bit bored, so listening to her question would help ease the awkwardness from just now.

"The city's divine physician Ji invented a drug that men can't handle when women take it, and women can't handle when men take it. So, if both men and women take it, who will be unable to handle it first?" Zu An said with a wicked grin.

Qiao Xueying's face flushed red instantly, and she muttered, "That old man surnamed Ji is really disrespectful to his elders. He's a disgrace to being a renowned doctor. Instead of thinking about saving lives, he's coming up with all this nonsense!"

Zuan laughed: "You can criticize Ji Dengtu when you get back to Brightmoon City. Right now, I'm asking you for the answer."

"How would I know the answer to such a nonsensical question?" Qiao Xueying turned away abruptly, her face turning even redder.

"You're probably thinking about whether the man or the woman will give up first, haha. Let me just tell you the answer: the bed will definitely give up first." Zu'an laughed.

Qiao Xueying bit her lip: "If you dare to tell Miss Chu these vulgar jokes, she will most likely kick you out of the Chu family."

“She might kick other people out, but she definitely won’t kick me out,” Zuan replied.

"I don't know where you get your confidence from." Qiao Xueying snorted, ignored him, and continued to look for other clues.

Zuan shrugged and hurriedly followed.

After a while, the two of them tracked down to the village chief's house, which was the place where Chen Wei had been before. His father was the village chief.

As the village chief, his family was obviously wealthier, at least able to afford oil lamps at night. The two figures were reflected on the window, clearly talking by the window.

All that could be heard was Chen's father saying in an extremely frightened and terrified voice, "Mars is guarding the heart, a great calamity is coming, a great calamity is coming!"

Chen Wei, however, disagreed: "Father, the conjunction of Mars and Antares is just an ancient legend, which has been twisted and misinterpreted by some unscrupulous people. It doesn't represent any disaster at all."

“You’re too young, you don’t understand… When everyone in the world believes something, even a lie becomes true, and disaster will come even if there is none,” Chen’s father said, shaking his head.

Chen Wei snorted: "Even if the conjunction of Mars and Antares is really as the legend says, the emperor will be the one to suffer. What does it have to do with us ordinary people? The death of that tyrant is a cause for celebration."

"Shut up! Are you out of your mind!" Chen's father was terrified and hurriedly covered his son's mouth. "If someone hears this and reports it, it could be a disaster that wipes out nine generations of your family."

Chen Wei snorted sullenly: "I didn't say anything wrong. Every time Mars appears in conjunction with Antares, it's a headache for those emperors and nobles. What does it have to do with us common people?"

"I hope so, I hope so," Mr. Chen said, his voice filled with worry.

The two lost interest in chatting and quickly turned off the lights and went to sleep.

"What exactly does 'Mars guarding the heart' mean?" Zu An was completely confused and was about to ask Qiao Xueying when he noticed that she was looking up at the sky, staring blankly.

"What's wrong?" Zu'an also looked up at the sky, but saw only a sky full of stars and nothing unusual.

Thinking about the air and light pollution caused by urbanization in my previous life, it's been so many years since I've seen a sky full of stars like this.

Qiao Xueying looked worried and pointed to a certain spot in the sky, saying, "Do you see those two very bright stars?"

Following the direction of her finger, Zuan indeed saw two stars that were significantly brighter than the others.

Qiao Xueying explained, "The star in the upper left corner is Mars, which is generally recognized as representing disaster and death. It is an ominous and ominous star. Now there are three stars in the lower right corner. Those three stars form the Heart constellation of the Twenty-Eight Mansions. The largest and brightest star in the very center represents the emperor, and the two on the sides represent the crown prince and the common people. Now Mars is stationed in the Heart constellation, next to the star that represents the emperor. This is the most dangerous celestial phenomenon in the history of astrology - Mars guarding the Heart."

"Celestial phenomena?" Zu'an scoffed. "You actually believe in such superstitious things?"

Having been influenced by science in his previous life, how could he possibly believe these things? However, as he spoke, he suddenly thought of his keyboard system and the various aspects of cultivation in this world, which seemed to be inexplicable by science.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!