In the farmer's yard, there was a pile of chopped firewood in the corner, and on the pile of firewood were some hoes, backpacks, etc. used for farming.
The courtyard is very cramped, with two bedrooms and a main room. The walls of the house are made of rammed earth, but the roof is covered with tiles. There is also a small thatched kitchen next to it.
There were several strings of red peppers and corn cobs hanging outside the kitchen.
Deng Xue and Jing Yu looked at each other, took the kettles from everyone and followed the old woman to the kitchen to fetch water.
After looking around the yard, Jingyu walked towards the main room.
Just as he was about to enter the door, he was stopped by a man coming out from inside.
The man, wearing patched clothes, looked warily at Jingyu and the others in the yard and asked, "Who are you?"
Jingyu reacted very quickly and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, little brother, we came here to ask for water. An old woman opened the door for us just now, but she went to the kitchen to get us some water and is not here now.
My master is not feeling well and cannot stand for long. I saw there were no chairs in the yard, so I thought of moving one from the house for him to sit on. I apologize if this has offended me."
Hearing this, the man withdrew his gaze, threw down a word "wait" and went back into the house.
When he came out again, he really brought out a chair.
Jingyu smiled and thanked him, took the chair, carried it to Zhao Yiming, wiped the non-existent dust on the stool with his sleeve, put it on the ground, shook it left and right twice, and made sure it was sturdy before letting Zhao Yiming sit on it.
The man watched the whole process coldly without saying a word.
After serving Zhao Yiming, Jingyu approached him and leaned against the door frame of his main hall to talk to him.
"Brother, are you and your mother the only ones in your family?"
The man didn't seem to welcome them. He said in a somewhat aggressive tone, "Aren't you here to get water? Why are you asking so many questions?"
Jingyu seemed not to hear the displeasure in his words and even put her hand on his arm. "Don't be nervous! I'm just asking casually. There are so many of us here. It would be so awkward if no one spoke! Let's chat for a while!"
Before the man could speak, the old woman came out with Deng Xue.
Seeing the man's impatient look as Jingyu held his arm, he explained cheerfully, "This is my son. Our place is remote and we don't see many people all year round. He is a little uncommunicative, so don't blame him, little brother."
Jingyu looked very easy to talk to and shook her head, "Hey, it's okay, I understand.
"But, mother-in-law, your place is so remote, it's not convenient to buy things! Why don't you move to a place closer to the town?"
The old woman was quite talkative, and she seemed to be having a very pleasant conversation with Jingyu.
"The fields near the town are all owned by someone else. My mother and I don't have any money, so we can only settle down in this desolate place."
"Tsk!" Jing Yu said with a worried look on her face, "You're so old, how can you live in such a remote place? If you have a headache or a fever, it will be so inconvenient to see a doctor and get medicine!"
"Bah! You're cursing my mother! Go away, my house is shabby and not worthy of you."
Jingyu's words were like stirring up a hornet's nest, and the man wanted to kick them out.
Zhao Yiming immediately acted superior and looked down upon this shabby little house. He stood up and walked out the door.
Seeing this, Jingyu and Deng Xue could only apologize to the old woman and follow her out the door with a kettle full of water.
As soon as they walked out of the door, the man rudely slammed the gate shut with a "bang".
Jingyu couldn't help but complain, "What a bad temper."
Then the group jumped on their horses and disappeared without a trace in a moment.
Chi Wei, who had been hiding secretly in the woods next to the yard, saw with his own eyes that after his masters left, the man opened the door and came out to check. After making sure that they had really left, he closed the door again.
After the man entered the door, he immediately moved to the side wall of the yard to observe the mother and daughter.
As they approached the courtyard wall, a voice came from inside, "Why did you let them in? If they find out, both you and I will be in trouble."
Although he couldn't see the person, Chi Wei was very sure that it was the voice of the strong man.
"Do you think I want to let them in? If I don't let them in, it might arouse their suspicion, and then they'll have to force their way in, which will be more trouble than it's worth."
Chi Yonggan was sure that there were only two people in the yard, but the voice at this time was definitely not the voice of the old woman just now.
This was clearly the voice of a man in his prime, but his tone and stance were clearly that of that old woman.
Therefore, Chi Yong concluded almost in the next second that the old woman just now was an imposter, and that the other party was not only good at disguise, but also had a good ability to change her voice.
Just as I was thinking about it, another voice came from inside, "Forget it, at least we have successfully tricked those idiots away."
Next, the two of them talked about how Zhao Yiming and the others couldn't resist being deceived, and boasted about how powerful they were.
Chi Yong lay motionless against the wall, listening to the noise inside. After a long while, the two men finally had enough of boasting. He then heard the strong man say, "You watch carefully. I'll go back and see if the master has any instructions."
Then, Chi Yong heard a sound of something heavy moving, probably in the main room, like a door opening and closing. After two sounds, there was no movement inside.
When I felt it more carefully, it seemed that there was only one person in this yard.
He didn't hear the sound of the man opening and closing the door, but the man was indeed gone.
Could there be a secret passage in this yard? But digging a secret passage in this wilderness would be a bit unnecessary!
He wanted to go to the back of the yard to see what was going on, but unfortunately the yard was backed by a mountain, and the wall behind the yard was tightly fitted to the mountain, with no gap at all.
Or, one can even say that this courtyard is built with the mountain as its wall, extending directly from the mountain.
Chi Yong wanted to go in and check, but he was afraid of alerting the people inside, so he had to stay put and wait for Zhao Yiming and the others to return to discuss it.
A mile away, Zhao Yiming got off the carriage and asked the team to continue moving forward to find a place to hide and wait for orders. He then turned back, taking only Jingyu and Anyi with him.
The two people just now thought they were hiding very well, but in fact there were flaws everywhere.
The mud-walled house was actually equipped with tiles. It was obvious that they were very poor, but they sat on chairs instead of the long benches commonly found in farmers' houses.
Especially their attitude when they met them. If they were real farmers, they would not be so calm when seeing strangers dressed like them.
If I hadn't lived in Shangba Village for so many years, I would have been fooled by them.
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