When they returned to the village, they saw several middle-aged women standing at the entrance.
The aunts were so certain that the two would come back that they even rushed over to help them get their things when they saw them from afar.
The middle-aged woman who the two men chatted with in the afternoon was also among them, but she had a different face.
"Hey, little girl, don't run around so late. I have a vacant room at home. Would you like to stay at my house for a night?"
Another middle-aged woman was overtaken and was very dissatisfied. "Your house is shabby and rotten, who would go there? Why not come to my house? It's guaranteed to be clean and comfortable!"
As if to make the two people relax their guard, the aunts smiled brightly and warmly invited them to their homes. In order to show their friendliness, they spoke not very standard Mandarin, which was in stark contrast to the situation in the afternoon.
If they had encountered such a situation when they just got off the car, Shen Mingzhu and Wen Shuangnian might have let down their guard.
Now, the two of them held each other's hands tightly, and then chose an old woman who was not so enthusiastic and even a little cold.
The others still refused to give up and started to criticize the old woman who was chosen.
Until the elegant man held up his glasses and laughed, "That's enough, since they want to go to Grandma Wang's house, forget it, don't scare the two little girls."
The people who were smiling brightly just now showed dissatisfied expressions.
Granny Wang glanced at Shen Mingzhu and the others and said, "Come with me."
Passing through red brick houses of different styles, they finally stopped at a dilapidated mud brick house.
"My house is like this. If you can't get used to it, you can go somewhere else."
Wen Shuangnian smiled and said, "It's okay, my family is pretty much the same."
Perhaps it was because this house made Wen Shuangnian feel at home, and the words he spoke were also filled with his home accent.
When Granny Wang heard Wen Shuangnian talking, she looked at her fiercely, "Are you from around here?"
Wen Shuangnian nodded, "Yeah, what's wrong?"
Grandma Wang immediately became alert and ran out to close the door, then pulled Wen Shuangnian into a fairly spacious room.
Shen Mingzhu followed behind the two of them, and Grandma Wang carefully closed the doors and windows.
"What are you doing here? It's dangerous!"
"What do you mean?" Shen Mingzhu didn't quite understand. Just now, the old woman was very cold to them, but her expression changed instantly after hearing Wen Shuangnian's words.
"Forget it, kids don't understand, don't ask too much. Leave early tomorrow morning and never come here again."
Granny Wang sighed as she looked at the two of them with dismay, "Listen to me, don't say anything after you leave, just pretend you were never here."
"Since you live nearby, you should know how to use the things here. Go to bed early." After saying this, Grandma Wang opened the door and went out.
Shen Mingzhu was left with a puzzled look on her face.
"What a strange old woman."
"Perhaps there is indeed a dangerous secret here. The old woman's tone suggests that she doesn't want us to know."
"Well, we have to leave tomorrow anyway, and knowing too much would be bad for us."
But at five o'clock the next morning, when Shen Mingzhu and Wen Shuangnian were sleeping soundly, the old woman suddenly opened the door and woke them up.
"Get up, pack your things, and leave!"
The two understood the old woman's hint and quickly picked up their luggage and walked out.
But when they reached the entrance of the village, they were stopped by a gentleman.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
They didn't dare to respond and tried to go around with their luggage, but the man blocked their way and wouldn't let them go.
Seeing that she couldn't get around it, Shen Mingzhu could only respond with a fake smile.
"We really should go home and not bother you any more."
The man adjusted his glasses and said, "Don't worry, our village has prepared breakfast, would you like to eat together?"
Shen Mingzhu was about to refuse, but she found that no matter which corner she looked, there were people staring at them.
With no other choice, I had to compromise.
"Then please lead the way."
The two men left their luggage at the entrance of the village and only took the important things with them.
The man led the way in front, and they walked for a long way, with many villagers following behind them.
What is strange is that there are very few young people among the villagers here, most of them are middle-aged women and elderly people.
What was even stranger was that there wasn't a single child to be seen along the way.
It was not until they arrived at a place that looked like a canteen that they saw several children playing and fighting.
It's just that the adults around them looked back and forth at the two of them with an eye as if they were examining merchandise.
Only Grandma Wang in the corner saw the two people being brought over and sighed softly.
But the leading man insisted on walking up to Grandma Wang and said, "Grandma Wang, you are so inconsiderate in entertaining guests that you didn't even bring them breakfast!"
Granny Wang had a cold expression on her face. "I'm an old woman who has to take care of my old man. How can I have time to greet them? They have to leave anyway. It doesn't matter if they leave early or late."
"Well, don't blame the old lady. We are the ones who are anxious to go home. We said we would go home yesterday, but we haven't arrived yet. Our family must be worried!"
Shen Mingzhu smiled and pulled Wen Shuangnian to sit next to Grandma Wang.
The man's inquiring gaze fell on Shen Mingzhu's face, but Shen Mingzhu kept smiling.
"Forget it, if you don't know how to greet people, there are many people who can. Just have breakfast!"
As soon as the man finished speaking, the villagers here began to line up for breakfast.
But there are not many tables here, and most people would rather stand in a pile than sit at the same table with Grandma Wang.
Wen Shuangnian stopped Grandma Wang who wanted to go over to get breakfast and said, "What do you want to eat? I'll help you."
Granny Wang glanced at Wen Shuangnian and said, "My teeth are not in good condition. You can take it as you like."
Wen Shuangnian nodded and held down Shen Mingzhu who was about to take action, "I'll go." After saying that, he winked at Shen Mingzhu.
Shen Mingzhu understood her hint and sat obediently next to Grandma Wang.
Her action just happened to block the gazes of many villagers. Grandma Wang stared at the smile on Shen Mingzhu's face, feeling helpless.
"You shouldn't have come back. If you don't leave now, you'll never be able to leave again!"
"Thank you for your reminder."
Shen Mingzhu knew that this was not the place to talk, so she didn't explain to Grandma Wang that it wasn't that they didn't want to leave, but that they simply couldn't leave.
After breakfast, the man indeed had other reasons to ask them to stay.
"I'm so sorry. I originally said I'd ask a villager to take you there on a tricycle, but that guy was in a hurry and took a cart of grain out. It might take him a while to come back. Why don't you just walk around here?"
"No need, we young people can go out on our own."
Shen Mingzhu decisively rejected the man's request.
Leaving two sheep in the wolf pack? Isn't that courting death?
Just now during breakfast, the villagers' frank discussion in front of them had made the two realize that there was no way this group of people would let them leave.
"That won't work. It's not convenient for two little girls to carry so many things. There are so many people here, can you still do it by yourselves?"
The men's attitude was very clear. If they continued to refuse, they would not be able to escape with so many people here.
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