Old Man Weng immediately smiled and nodded, "Don't worry, don't worry, we're all from the same village, we can talk about any difficulties!"
"Thank you, Steward Weng!" Jiang Chan quickly expressed her gratitude, then said to the village chief, "Village chief, could you... could you come over here for a moment? I... I wanted to tell you something else..."
When Village Chief Chen noticed something amiss in her expression, his heart skipped a beat, but he didn't show it.
He cupped his hands in greeting to Old Man Weng, "Manager Weng, you two chat first, I need to say a few words to this girl."
"Sure, sure, you two chat," Old Man Weng said with a smile, waving his hand.
Jiang Chan led the village chief to a slightly secluded corner to make sure that Weng Laojiu and the others couldn't hear them.
"Girl, what's going on? Why are you being so mysterious?" the village chief asked, frowning.
The embarrassment on Jiang Chan's face vanished instantly, replaced by an unprecedented seriousness and solemnity.
She spoke very quickly, in a very low voice:
"Village chief, something's wrong with this village!"
"Huh?" The village chief was taken aback.
“Listen to me!” Jiang Chan’s eyes were sharp. “First of all, this village is built like a fortress! The walls are high and spiked. I’ve looked all the way here, and it’s definitely designed to keep people out! Not only to keep outsiders out, but also to keep insiders out!”
The village chief's expression changed.
"Secondly, those kids! The game they were playing! They were imitating drugging and dragging people away! And that kid called us 'fat sheep'! That's slang! That's what bandits call people when they rob them! The way that woman covered her mouth wasn't because the child said something wrong, but because she was afraid of letting something slip! I don't believe that manager's explanation of 'dusty goats'!"
The village chief gasped, a chill creeping up his spine as he recalled the scene from just moments before.
"Third, look at the clothes of the villagers! Men and women, all kinds of fabrics and styles! Don't they look like they were stolen? Especially that woman just now, wearing silk and a silver hairpin! Where in an ordinary village could you find that these days?"
The village chief's brows furrowed.
"Fourth, and most importantly!" Jiang Chan's voice lowered, tinged with coldness, "The windows of the house we live in! They're nailed shut from the outside! Nailed shut tight! That village woman said it was to keep out wolves! Do wolves need to be protected like this? This high wall can't keep them out? It's clearly to keep us from escaping! It's a cage!"
Village Chief Chen was terrified, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on his back.
He stared intently at Jiang Chan, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief. "You... how... how could you see so clearly?"
This was nothing like the quiet, unassuming girl from the Jiang family he knew, who only knew how to do manual labor!
Jiang Chan didn't explain, but said urgently, "Village Chief, now is not the time to ask this! Better safe than sorry! We can't stay here! It's too eerie! We have to find a way to leave quickly!"
Village Chief Chen's heart pounded.
He glanced at Li Laosan and the others who were still chatting and laughing with Weng Laojiu in the distance, and then at Jiang Chan's unusually calm yet anxious face in front of him.
The experiences along the way, the fear of having their food stolen, and the unease brought about by the earlier call of "fat sheep" were now completely ignited by Jiang Chan's clear, logical, and conclusive evidence of suspicion.
Yes, what a coincidence! It's too "perfect"! So perfect it's unreal!
Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he struggled intensely internally.
Should they believe Old Man Weng's warm smile and "reasonable" explanation, or should they believe the girl in front of them who has suddenly become unusually perceptive?
Walk?
Not leaving?
What if... what if what this girl said is true...
Village Chief Chen gritted his teeth, his eyes becoming resolute.
He nodded emphatically, his voice extremely low, with a barely perceptible tremor:
"Okay... better safe than sorry!"
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