Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kong Fusheng asked again, "Sister? Senior Meng, you have an older brother?" At this moment, Meng Yingying felt that her life was really bitter. She had listened to so many stories without eating a single bite, and now she had to continue answering questions.
Is there no justice in this world? This system doesn't even give her a cheat code! Garbage system, garbage, garbage! After venting this in her mind, she felt much better. Meng Yingying realized that transmigrating into a book really does change a person's personality. For example, she was becoming increasingly irritable and easily angered. Anyway, no one would hear her. Her calm and optimistic persona remained intact, even if it was a persona she created for herself; she had to maintain it.
She completely forgot that there were people present who could hear her inner thoughts, and began to rant without any warning. Kong Fusheng's eyes were almost sore from staring, while Shang Mang listened as she cursed everything from the system to himself, and then from himself to the world, spreading her insults evenly. Shang Mang thought to himself, "Quite a lot of words..."
Meng Yingying took a deep breath and said, "This is the person who saved me yesterday. He seems to have come here by mistake, and I don't know him very well. We pretended to be siblings, and the village chief reluctantly agreed to take us in. He is very wary."
Meng Yingying thought for a moment and then added, "Shouquan's wife was taken away by outsiders, so he has always been hostile to outsiders."
After she finished speaking, Zhou Xiuqi said, "I didn't run into the village chief when I came here."
"The village chief had something to do today. He went to the dilapidated temple in the mountains to ask for a talisman for Brother Shou. I happened to overhear him running into my mother a few days ago."
The people inside had been so engrossed in their discussion that they had completely overlooked A-Qiao. A-Qiao stood there, twisting the end of her braid with her fingers, a smile on her face. Meng Yingying didn't recognize her, but when she saw her smile, she couldn't help but recall that night when she first arrived, everyone in Xinghua Village had a smile on their face.
Seeing so many good-looking people staring at her, A-Qiao felt a little embarrassed: "Why don't you go up the mountain to get a talisman or something? There's a monk on that mountain whose fortune-telling is very effective."
Xiao Zheyu asked A Qiao, "Village Chief, what do you need the talisman for?"
A-Qiao put down her hand, and her smile became much brighter: "Because Brother Shou is going to take the imperial examination."
Shou Changyue is going to take the imperial examination? He's so young, why is he taking the imperial examination now?
As if she knew what they were thinking, A-Qiao said, "You don't know, Brother Shou has been a child prodigy in our village since he was a child. Poems and texts that others need a long time to memorize, he only needs to look at them for a while to memorize them."
Everyone had their own thoughts, except for the carefree Kong Fusheng. Kong Fusheng looked outside and suddenly, with a questioning mind, asked, "It was so lively outside on the way here. Are you celebrating some festival?"
Ah Qiao leaned closer to him and looked outside: "This is Butterfly Fragrance Wine, didn't you know?"
Xiao Zheyu spoke up: "Butterfly Fragrance Wine?"
A-Qiao nodded: "That's right. The most famous wine in our Xinghua Village is Butterfly Fragrance Wine. Every year when the apricot blossoms bloom, a ceremony is held to send it to the wine cellar. Then the village chief adds a secret recipe, and the resulting wine is fragrant, mellow, sweet and delicious."
Ah Qiao's eyes, which were always curved, were stiff. Looking into her eyes for a long time would give you an unsettling feeling: "Do you want to drink? If you go out and tell your aunts and uncles now, they will definitely share some with you secretly, as long as the village chief doesn't find out."
Meng Yingying noticed A Qiao's eyes on her. She looked back at her, and A Qiao said, "Butterfly Fragrance Wine has wonderful effects on women. The three of you can go and try it."
None of the three showed any interest in the Butterfly Fragrance Wine.
Xiao Zheyu stared straight at A Qiao, whose eyes were narrowed into slits with laughter. A Qiao was innocent and carefree, seemingly without any worries. Everyone on this land was enveloped in a boundless happiness.
Xiao Zheyu had a guess, so she asked, "A Qiao, why are you always smiling?"
A-Qiao asked in surprise, "Laughing? I didn't laugh." As she spoke, she touched the corner of her mouth, and a frightening scene unfolded. A-Qiao, with a strange smile, touched the corner of her mouth that was turned up, but repeated very seriously, "Why would I laugh?"
A-Qiao raised her eyes, her squinted eyes suddenly opening wide, a deep smile on her face: "Did I smile?" Her lips seemed to have been split open, stretching upwards as if being torn apart.
Xiao Zheyu lowered his eyes, pretending not to have seen anything, and said, "No."
The moment she spoke, A-Qiao's smile faded slightly: "Would you like to try the Butterfly Fragrance Wine?" She seemed to have forgotten what she had said. None of the people in the room were timid; they were all able to communicate calmly with A-Qiao.
Xiao Zheyu replied, "No, we can't drink alcohol."
A-Qiao shrugged: "Alright then, you guys stay here." Her smile deepened. "I'm going to go see what's going on." With that, she ran out happily. Only after she left did the atmosphere in the room return to normal.
Kong Fusheng patted his chest, not out of fear, but because he felt like a fight had almost broken out just now, and his heart was in his throat. A Qiao stopped, and he asked in confusion, "Just now she was clearly about to reveal herself, why did she suddenly stop?"
Xiao Zheyu lowered his eyes and pondered, then spoke up: "Perhaps it's because I answered no?"
Zhou Xiuqi glanced at her and explained in a cold tone, "Generally, ghosts cannot talk about why they died or who killed them, and they choose to forget these things."
"Her behavior is that she has forgotten, so when you mention it, most ghosts would not remain silent and pretend nothing happened like she did."
He said a lot, and Xiao Zheyu glanced at him sideways. Facing her gaze, Zhou Xiuqi looked straight ahead to avoid meeting her eyes.
Kong Fusheng felt a surge of resentment. Last night, Senior Zhou seemed to say too much, yet today he had spoken so much in one breath. His tone became somewhat awkward: "Senior Zhou, aren't you tired?" His intention was to awaken his memories from last night, but to Zhou Xiuqi, his behavior seemed perfectly normal. So he turned to look at him, nodded stiffly, and refused to speak.
Kong Fusheng stared wide-eyed and pursed his lips, utterly bewildered by Senior Zhou's differential treatment.
Meng Yingying felt a little awkward. Zhou Xiuqi was a very rigid person. In Meng Yuan's memory, he was a man of few words who would nod rather than speak. He was best at doing things through actions. Meng Yingying sighed and exchanged glances between him and Xiao Zheyu several times.
It seems there's been some progress, but she still has a long way to go.
With a crisp sound, Shang Mang stood beside her, his body jingling with bells, drawing Kong Fusheng's attention. Kong Fusheng carefully observed Shang Mang; he had a delicate, feminine appearance, resembling a woman. Noticing his gaze, Shang Mang looked up to meet his eyes. A tremor ran down Kong Fusheng's spine; his eyes, though curved with a cold, enigmatic glint, concealed unseen emotions.
Kong Fusheng felt uncomfortable looking at them and quickly looked away, saying, "On our way here, we observed the villagers of Xinghua Village, and every single one of them had the same smile on their face."
Upon hearing this, Meng Yingying realized that every villager had a smile on their face, but they were all the same.
That's just too bizarre.
Meng Yingying questioned, "Can everyone's smile be exactly the same? Not to mention the curve of the corners of the mouth, or even the eyes, not everyone can achieve the same level, right? You're exaggerating." She kept asking questions.
Kong Fusheng changed his posture from crossing his arms to putting his hands on his hips and said, "Senior Meng, you underestimate my eyes. I can see very clearly that the smiles on their faces are exactly the same at first glance."
After she finished speaking, Xiao Zheyu nodded and said, "He is right. The smiles on the faces of those villagers all conveyed the same meaning, which is happiness and enthusiasm, but they were very fake and stiff."
“There might not be a single living person in the entire village,” she said calmly, but Meng Yingying felt the air in the room drop several degrees.
Shang Mang glanced outside: "That's not necessarily true."
The group looked over.
Shang Mang shrugged. Meng Yingying knew that even if he knew something, he wouldn't tell her, so she didn't plan to ask.
At this moment, Shang Mang noticed her expression and a playful thought arose in his mind. He lowered his head and leaned closer to her, then whispered something in her ear as if no one else was around.
Do you want to know?
His breath was icy cold, and Meng Yingying shrank her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw half of his chin, and above that, his handsome lips curved into a smile.
Meng Yingying withdrew her gaze and said, "No..."
Shang Mang interrupted her: "You beg me."
"Say one word, 'Please, dear brother,' and I'll tell you."
With a mischievous glint in his eye, Meng Yingying suddenly wanted to turn around and see his expression. As she turned, her heart skipped a beat. The two were only a hair's breadth apart. He opened his fox-like eyes and stared at her, one eyebrow raised, his barely suppressed smile revealing a hint of youthful exuberance that he himself didn't realize.
If he were a woman, he would surely be a wicked concubine who brought ruin to the country, Meng Yingying thought for no reason.
Meng Yingying gritted her teeth: "Dream on."
Shang Mang chuckled, and the two of them looked up at the same time, only to be met with the gazes of the four people opposite them.
Meng Yingying: "..." It's all this idiot's fault.
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