The artist's words brought the atmosphere to a freezing point. But the director remained steadfast, insisting, "You just dreamed about a cemetery, didn't you? What if there's no cemetery in this village? Aren't we just scaring ourselves? Come on, two people, let's go to the village entrance and take a look!"
Under the director's stern gaze, although everyone was somewhat reluctant, two staff members still stood up.
"No one is allowed to leave until we get back!" said the director. "I will hold anyone who leaves responsible for breach of contract!"
Jiang Buhuan was about to say something, but saw that the director had already turned around and walked out.
"This village is so weird." Wu Ya stood beside Jiang Buhuan and whispered, "Why did you choose this place to do the show?"
Jiang Buhuan said: "I don't know..." To be honest, the director should have been a very reliable person, but for some reason, his whole state was very strange when he arrived in the village, as if... he had become a different person.
The director walked through the village path and soon reached the other side of the village, the place the artist had described. However, the further they walked, the more uneasy they became. The surroundings were exactly as the artist had described. They even saw the millstone at the village entrance.
"Director Yan, are we still going?" One of the men following the director was already feeling a little weak. He said in a trembling voice, "I feel like there's something really wrong with this village."
The director said nothing and continued to walk forward with a stern face. After leaving the village, there was only one small path outside, so there was no need to worry about getting lost. However, the surrounding environment became more and more desolate, and the strong sense of foreboding became heavier.
Finally, after they passed through a sparse woods, a desolate cemetery came into their sight. The graves were densely distributed on the small hillside, and some of the graves had offerings and incense sticks placed in front of them, exactly the same as the scene described by the artist.
The two people who came with the director froze in their tracks, not daring to move forward at all. When the director saw this, he was not afraid, but instead started cursing, saying that the group of artists were cowards and were scared away by a dream just one night.
The two people behind him looked at each other and saw horror in each other's eyes. The director's condition seemed to be very abnormal. The director actually had a good temper and rarely cursed at people on weekdays. Compared with the person in front of him who kept swearing, it was inexplicably creepy.
Someone who was a little less courageous couldn't stand it anymore and said, "Director Yan, let's go back."
Director Yan looked at him coldly: "Go back?"
The man trembled, "Yeah, isn't there a cemetery here? That means what Xiaohong said is true... There's something really wrong with this village."
Director Yan gave a strange smile: "Where do you want to go back to?"
The man was frightened by Director Yan's smile and remained silent for a long time. Director Yan restrained his smile and returned to his usual tone: "Let's go."
"Where are you going?" the man asked carefully.
"Of course, back to where you live. Where else do you want to go back to?" Director Yan said.
Although they felt that Director Yan's reaction was a bit strange, the two did not think much about it. They just wanted to leave this strange village as soon as possible. The various strange things in the village made them feel very uncomfortable. Although they had not encountered anything for the time being, they did not want to stay here any longer.
The three of them left the cemetery and hurried back to Liu's house.
When Lu Qingjiu came out of the house, he saw the three of them walking forward in a hurry, completely losing the composure they had yesterday.
"What happened to them?" Lu Qingjiu asked curiously, "Could it be that they really encountered something strange last night?"
Bai Yuehu was standing next to Lu Qingjiu, holding a hoe in his hand. He snorted, obviously still having a strong opinion about this group of people. This group of humans who knew nothing dared to touch his food. If it were that group of non-humans, they would have appeared on the dinner plate last night.
Lu Qingjiu looked at Bai Yuehu's expression and couldn't help laughing: "I already greeted them yesterday, they shouldn't touch your food again."
Bai Yuehu said: "They dare!"
Lu Qingjiu had deliberately followed Bai Yuehu to the fields today because he was afraid that the group of people would ignore his advice and eat Bai Yuehu's food again. If the fox got angry, he wouldn't be able to stop it. If Bai Yuehu really went to eat those people, it would probably cause a lot of trouble.
The vegetables planted by Bai Yuehu matured very quickly. The field next door was still full of green seedlings, but the tomatoes in his field had already borne fruit.
When Bai Yuehu arrived at the field, he did not rush down, but first scanned the vegetable garden with his eyes. Lu Qingjiu thought he was looking for something at first, but after looking carefully, he found that Bai Yuehu's mouth was counting quietly - he was actually counting the number of tomatoes in his own field!
Lu Qingjiu burst out laughing. He was still wondering yesterday how those people who were picking vegetables were discovered so easily. They didn't pick much, but he didn't expect that Bai Yuehu could actually remember the number of all the vegetables in his vegetable garden.
Lu Qingjiu couldn't help but want to tease him: "How many tomatoes are there in total?"
White Moon Fox: "Are you asking about the ripe ones or all the ones that have grown?"
Lu Qingjiu said, "It's cooked."
Bai Yuehu: "Two hundred and forty-two." After he said that, he added unhappily, "There were two hundred and fifty-four yesterday." In the end, twelve of them were picked by that group of people, huh.
Looking at Baiyue Fox, Lu Qingjiu finally couldn't help but laughed. He really thought that this stingy-looking Baiyue Fox was very cute, so cute that he wanted to touch Baiyue Fox's furry white ears again.
Bai Yuehu was puzzled by Lu Qingjiu's laughter. He frowned slightly and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
"I laugh at you because you're cute." Lu Qingjiu said.
"Cute? What's cute about it?" Bai Yuehu didn't understand Lu Qingjiu's mood.
"This is the first time I've seen someone keep track of the quantity when growing vegetables." Lu Qingjiu laughed, "It's really cute."
Bai Yuehu said, "Everyone in our tribe must remember this." He spoke with great confidence, "Otherwise, what if someone steals it?"
Lu Qingjiu: “Hahahahaha.”
Fortunately, that group of people did not touch Bai Yuehu's food today, and Lu Qingjiu breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, he didn't know whether the program crew would listen to their advice. If the protective Bai Yuehu was really angered, he would have to find a way to help Bai Yuehu calm down.
"What do you need me to do?" Lu Qingjiu hadn't been to the fields for a long time. Usually, Bai Yuehu was the only one tending the vegetable fields. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to help Bai Yuehu, but Bai Yuehu waved at him and said, "Go back."
"Ah?" Lu Qingjiu was stunned for a moment.
"Go make lunch." Bai Yuehu said, "There's nothing for you to do in the fields." As he said that, he naturally picked up the hoe and prepared to go to the fields.
It has to be said that the White Moon Fox with that overly beautiful face carrying a hoe was full of incongruity, but this incongruity did not make people feel disgusted. Instead, it made Lu Qingjiu's face involuntarily show a brighter smile.
Back in the yard, Yin Xun looked at Lu Qingjiu suspiciously and asked, "Why do you have such a kind smile on your face? You look like an elderly father watching his son get into college."
Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu looked at Yin Xun and asked, "Do you think you can get into university?"
Yin Xun: “…I don’t think so.”
Lu Qingjiu: "Alas, if you could get into college, my smile might be a little brighter."
Yin Xun: "..." He always felt that something was wrong.
Lu Qingjiu originally thought the production team would consider leaving for a few days, but he didn't expect them to be so efficient. In the afternoon, he heard the sound of a car starting. When he went out, he saw that they had already packed up and were ready to leave.
The star who was seen before was standing nearby wearing sunglasses, talking to someone on the phone with a bad expression. He seemed to notice Lu Qingjiu, and after a slight pause in his expression, he hung up the phone and walked towards Lu Qingjiu.
He walked to Lu Qingjiu’s door, took off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of exhausted eyes: “Hello.”
"Hello." Lu Qingjiu felt that since they listened to his advice, they could be saved, so his attitude was better than before.
"We're leaving soon," Jiang Buhuan said. "I'm sorry to bother you earlier."
"It's okay." Lu Qingjiu said, "Next time you do this kind of program, you should prepare in advance. At least greet the people in the village."
"Yeah," Jiang Buhuan said, "this was indeed an accident... But can I ask why you bothered us?" Almost everyone in the village avoided them, and even when they approached them face to face, they were met with cold and wary looks. Only Lu Qingjiu had lent them rice and kindly visited them to remind them, yet they had the audacity to pick vegetables from their fields. Thinking about it this way, Jiang Buhuan felt that he had gone too far.
"Oh, maybe it's because I came back from outside too." Lu Qingjiu said, "This village is very xenophobic. It would be better for you to go to another place to perform your show."
"Yeah, why did they choose a place like this?" Jiang Buhuan turned his head to look at the director and muttered, "It's really strange, and we all had a nightmare last night."
"Nightmare?" Lu Qingjiu asked, "What did you dream about?"
Jiang Buhuan was about to answer when his agent came over and told him that the team was about to leave. Seeing this, Jiang Buhuan had no choice but to show regret and said, "If possible, let's exchange WeChat. I can tell you in detail on WeChat."
Lu Qingjiu readily agreed. He was also very curious about what Jiang Buhuan dreamed about.
With the equipment, the convoy slowly drove out of Shuifu Village. Lu Qingjiu saw that Jiang Buhuan had sent a message describing his dream last night.
Lu Qingjiu looked at Jiang Buhuan's description, but remembered his own dream. In the dream he captured with the dream catcher, he also heard the huge sound of water and the roar of wild beasts. Could there be any connection between these two dreams... Lu Qingjiu frowned and thought.
But just thinking like this obviously wouldn't lead to any results. Lu Qingjiu looked at the time. It was almost twelve o'clock, and he hadn't prepared lunch yet. He didn't want Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu at home to be hungry.
Jiang Buhuan got into the nanny car, and the director and other artists were also in the car. Maybe it was because of the horrible dream last night, but Jiang Buhuan's mind was still a little uneasy, and he always had a bad premonition.
"What's wrong with you, Ah Huan?" Wu Ya sat next to Jiang Buhuan and asked softly, "Why are you frowning all the time?"
"I don't feel well." Jiang Buhuan pinched his eyebrows.
Wu Ya said: "Oh...then do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Jiang Buhuan said, "No." Although he felt tired, he didn't want to sleep.
Wu Ya said, "Then I'll take a nap. I'm so tired." She yawned, leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
The whole car was filled with this drowsy atmosphere. Before Jiang Buhuan knew it, all the people around him who were awake were sleeping all over the place, as if they were all exhausted.
Jiang Buhuan was also feeling sleepy. He yawned, his eyelids growing heavier. But just as he was about to drift off, the Buddha statue he'd worn to his chest since birth suddenly gave off a scorching heat, giving Jiang Buhuan a startling start. He flung his eyes open and was stunned by the scene before him. The driver, who had been driving, had slumped over the steering wheel, losing control of the car and about to veer off the narrow mountain road.
Jiang Buhuan broke out in a cold sweat. He rushed to the driver's side with his fastest reaction, grabbed the steering wheel, and turned the car abruptly. Fortunately, the car was not going fast at the time. The front of the car hit the cliff and stopped directly with a bang.
Seeing this, Jiang Buhuan quickly looked at the equipment vehicle following them. The staff on the equipment vehicle did not seem to be affected. After seeing this scene, they quickly stepped on the brakes and did not crash into them head-on.
Jiang Buhuan was trembling all over. If he had woken up a few seconds later, everyone on the bus would have died. Just as he was feeling so relieved, Jiang Buhuan felt a gaze fixed on him. He turned and saw the director sitting by the window, staring at him with resentment. But it seemed that this gaze was just Jiang Buhuan's illusion. The next moment, the director began to ask what had happened in a worried tone.
The staff on other cars were also frightened by the operation of this car, and they all gathered around to see what was happening in the car.
The people who were asleep in the car woke up one after another. They obviously didn't know what had happened, and their faces were all confused. When the driver realized that he had fallen asleep, his face turned pale with fear and he stumbled out of the driver's seat.
"Everyone in the car fell asleep," Jiang Buhuan said. "Luckily, I was awake and turned the steering wheel."
"How could he fall asleep?" Everyone else found it unbelievable. It was normal for one person to fall asleep, but how could everyone in the car fall asleep?
"I don't know." Wu Ya looked bewildered. "I just feel so sleepy..."
"There must be something wrong with that village," another artist said in a terrified voice. "Let's get out of here! We almost died here. This village is too weird! I never want to come here again."
The crowd was noisy and hurriedly set off again, but this time, everyone was extremely alert, staring at the driver and not daring to be distracted again.
Jiang Buhuan remained silent. He felt a slight pain in his chest. Reaching out to touch it, he discovered a red burn mark in the center of his chest, identical to the Buddha statue he wore on his chest. Despite being burned so badly, he felt incredibly relieved. If it weren't for the statue, everyone in the car would have been dead today...
There were no more accidents during the rest of the journey, and the program crew finally successfully left Shuifu Village.
Lu Qingjiu was a little surprised when he learned from WeChat what Jiang Buhuan and the others had encountered. He told Bai Yuehu, Yin Xun and the others about it during lunch.
Bai Yuehu had a bad impression of this group of people to begin with, and not killing them was already the greatest mercy he could show. When he heard the news that they were in trouble, he didn't even show any expression, and it was obvious that he was very uninterested.
Yin Xun was a little surprised: "That's strange. Outsiders have come to Shuifu Village before. Although they were not welcome, at least their lives were not in danger."
Lu Qingjiu said: "That's right."
"But I did notice one thing," Yin Xun said, "most people who come to Shuifu Village are invited."
Lu Qingjiu asked, "What do you mean?"
Yin Xun said, "You don't need to explain. I grew up here and am considered a local. Take Zhu Miaomiao for example. She's also from another place, but she came here because of your invitation." He took a bite of the tender stir-fried lettuce. "So maybe that's why she didn't react?"
"But according to what you said, the production team was also invited." Lu Qingjiu felt that this statement had some loopholes. "Do you remember the Liu family who gave them the key to the old house?"
Yin Xun said: "Yeah, that's right."
Lu Qingjiu said: "Unless..."
Yin Xun: "Unless what?"
Lu Qingjiu said: “Unless the one who invited them here is not a member of the Liu family at all.”
Yin Xun was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Lu Qingjiu said: "It's just a random guess, it's not very interesting. I'll make some Tremella soup tonight. By the way, do you know how to catch bees?" He plans to make some honey himself this year.
Yin Xun said, "I don't know, but I heard that they all make their own artificial beehives, tricking the bees into coming in to build nests, and then when there's a queen bee inside, they move the queen bee into the hive."
Lu Qingjiu was about to say that he should study the tutorial online before starting, but Bai Yuehu, who was sitting next to him, said, "I'll catch the bees, you just need to prepare the beehive."
"Okay." Lu Qingjiu didn't argue with him and agreed readily.
After the spring, Lu Qingjiu renovated the chicken coop and the cattle pen. The cows that Bai Yuehu brought back last year hibernated the entire winter, so they didn't get any milk. When spring came, the cows woke up and mooed to indicate that they were hungry.
Yin Xun ran very fast, took the cucumber he had just picked and went to feed Niu Niu. He excitedly said that he had never drunk cucumber-flavored milk before.
Lu Qingjiu looked at his back and didn't know what to say for a moment. The characteristics of the bull were like adding a pair of wings to Yin Xun's imagination, and it was as if it was taking him to fly in the sky.
So that night, they drank cucumber-flavored milk with a very subtle taste. It tasted quite good, with a hint of cucumber in the milk, not greasy at all. Lu Qingjiu liked it very much, but Bai Yuehu was very disgusted with it. After taking a sip, he put it aside and never touched it again.
As soon as Jiang Buhuan and his companions left, the village returned to its former tranquility. Uncle Li's family next door even gave Lu Qingjiu loquats from his trees.
The loquats grown in the countryside are small and fleshy, but they are incredibly sweet and have a rich, fruity flavor, completely different from the large but bland loquats sold in the market. Lu Qingjiu was eating a loquat when the owner of the seed shop called to say the saplings he'd ordered had arrived, and they had everything from oranges and apples to loquats. He asked what he wanted.
Lu Qingjiu also picked a few and planned to plant a few in the backyard and the front yard. If they grew at a normal rate, it would take a few years before they could eat the fruits. However, his family had Bai Yuehu, a ripening expert, which was much more effective than fertilizer. Maybe this autumn he could eat the fruits grown in his own home.
Yin Xun quietly nicknamed Bai Yuehu "White Fertilizer". Of course, he didn't dare to call her that in front of Bai Yuehu, but told Lu Qingjiu privately.
After hearing this, Lu Qingjiu laughed out loud and said that Yin Xun must not let Bai Yuehu know, otherwise it would be Yin Xun himself who would be turned into fertilizer...
Yin Xun nodded repeatedly, indicating that he still had a strong desire to survive.
Bai Yuehu has always been very proactive. He said he would catch bees for Lu Qingjiu, and he caught the bees just three days later. Lu Qingjiu hadn't even finished the beehive when he saw Bai Yuehu coming back with a plastic bag. After he got home, he put the plastic bag on the table and said, "I've caught the bees."
Lu Qingjiu was stunned: "Where is it?"
"Here." Bai Yuehu pointed to the plastic bag.
Lu Qingjiu: “…”
Yin Xun: “…”
Although they had never raised bees before, they knew that bees could not be caught in plastic bags...
Bai Yuehu said as he picked up the bag, then ripped it open and showed it to Lu Qingjiu. Lu Qingjiu was startled by his action, but when he saw that no bees flew out of the bag, he leaned over to take a closer look. He saw four or five bees in the bag, but there was something wrong with these bees. Not only were they about the size of birds, but their upper bodies were also similar to birds, and there were even bird feathers on their wings. Lu Qingjiu raised his eyes and said, "Are these bees?"
White Moon Fox: "Yes."
Lu Qingjiu: "Do bees also grow feathers?"
Bai Yuehu: "Maybe it's too cold."
Lu Qingjiu: "Why is that head so big?"
White Moon Fox: "Because you eat too much?"
Lu Qingjiu: “…” You are fooling a fool.
What made Lu Qingjiu laugh and cry the most was that after hearing the conversation between the two, the bees looked up at them with pitiful expressions in their eyes, as if they had been badly bullied.
Lu Qingjiu was about to say something when the bees actually spoke softly in human language. One of them said in a trembling voice, "Brother, don't doubt me. I really am a bee. Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz."
Lu Qingjiu: “…” What the hell is this buzzing? Which bee buzzes with its mouth? No, that’s not the point. Which bee can speak human language? And speak Mandarin? Is this a high-quality bee that has gone through nine years of compulsory education?
The others also started buzzing in cooperation, and they almost wished they could stick the words "I am a bee" on their foreheads.
Faced with several trembling "bees" who were forced to claim their identities, Bai Yuehu expressed satisfaction: "See, I said they were bees."
Lu Qingjiu decided to give up on further investigation and said, "...Okay."
Bees are bees, just make do with them, what else can you do?
The author has something to say: Bai Yuehu: I am a fox.
Lu Qingjiu: Okay, okay.
White Moon Fox: They are bees.
Lu Qingjiu: Okay, okay, okay.
Bai Yuehu pointed at Yin Xun: These are the ingredients.
Yin Xun: ??? Meow meow meow???
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