It seemed as if it were a mountain spirit nurtured by this land.
This was Chu Hongluan's first thought upon seeing that person.
The old woman led the group to the beautiful woman.
"Village chief, these young heroes say they've come looking for someone."
"Yes, I already know. Please wait a moment, Aunt." The beautiful woman spoke in a very gentle voice, and only after speaking to the old woman did she turn to Chu Hongluan and her group.
"Whom are you young heroes looking for?"
Chu Hongluan gestured horizontally at Liu Jinghong's nose, "He's about this tall, an old man with a wine gourd hanging from his waist, wearing a rumpled black robe. You can smell the wine on him from two or three zhang away."
The beautiful woman, who was also the village chief, lowered her eyelashes as if in thought. After a long while, she finally spoke: "Indeed, many outsiders have come to the village these days, but I can't remember them all. They all seem to be from the younger generation. I haven't seen the drunken old man you mentioned."
Finally, she smiled gently and said, "Perhaps I am mistaken. If you young heroes do not mind, you can stay for a few days. If the person you are looking for is in the village, you will surely meet him."
"Oh? The feng shui of this Peach Blossom Village is so nurturing, I'm afraid that if we stay for a few days, we'll be just like the other villagers, reluctant to leave." Chu Hongluan's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, her tone full of meaning.
The woman seemed oblivious, still smiling: "It's because I have attachments in my heart that I don't want to leave. If anyone here wants to leave, I won't force them to stay."
As he spoke, he asked the old woman to take them to an unused house in the village to settle them in.
There are three small cabins in total, with two people per cabin.
Chu Hongluan waved her hand and said, "That's easy. Liu Jinghong and I will share a room, and the rest of you can share a room with each other, either male or female."
As soon as she said this, everyone's eyes turned to her, shifting back and forth between her and Liu Jinghong.
Chu Hongluan paused for a moment before realizing her mistake. Seeing Liu Jinghong's handsome face already flushed red, she suppressed the urge to yell, "What are you all looking at me for? We're here to find someone. Are you really planning to sleep here tonight?!"
Everyone then realized what had happened, looked at the sky and the ground, and pretended that nothing had occurred.
After seeing the old woman off, the six of them split into four groups and went to explore in the four directions: east, west, south, and north.
Chu Hongluan and Liu Jinghong, being of higher cultivation levels, each went to a different direction, one east and the other south. Gu Chunxiao and Song Nanhe's team went to explore the west; Li Dazhuang and Qiao Yue's team went to explore the north. They agreed to meet again in two hours.
Chu Hongluan walked aimlessly eastward. It was midday, and the sun was a bit strong, but the lush peach blossoms overhead, clustered together, allowed sunlight to filter through, leaving only dappled golden spots. A gentle southerly breeze was blowing, so she didn't feel hot.
This Peach Blossom Village is truly a blessed place. If things are peaceful in the future, it wouldn't be bad to settle down and retire here.
"Cough cough!"
A sudden cough startled Chu Hongluan awake.
Realizing what she had just thought, Chu Hongluan's face turned extremely dark.
Damn it! What's so strange about this Peach Blossom Village? It only took a short while for her to be affected!
Chu Hongluan looked in the direction from which the cough came and saw a loving mortal couple sitting under the shade of a peach tree, playing chess.
Although both were dressed in the simplest coarse linen clothes, their extraordinary charm was still undeniable. The woman's eyes crinkled when she smiled, revealing captivating dimples on her cheeks. The man had long, flowing hair, a sharply defined face, and a half-exposed chest, giving him an air of wildness and untamed spirit. Yet, when he looked at the woman, his eyes were filled with tenderness and affection.
A breeze blows, and the dappled light and shadows sway gently, making people and scenery graceful, like a painting.
Strange, that man looks somewhat familiar; I feel like I've seen him somewhere before.
But such a person should be extremely conspicuous no matter where they are placed; if you had actually seen them, you couldn't possibly forget them.
Thinking of this, Chu Hongluan withdrew her gaze, thinking that the cough just now was probably just a coincidence.
Little did she know that after she left, the man's tense back finally relaxed, and he kicked the large knife, which was covered by the hem of his coat, under the chair, hiding it even more tightly.
"Brother Xu?" The woman looked at Chu Hongluan's retreating figure and asked in confusion, "Do you know that girl from earlier?"
"Nonsense. You're always sticking to me like a leech, do you know how long it will take for me to meet other girls?" the man said jokingly as he placed a chess piece.
The woman blushed and said in a low voice, "I just feel like it's all unreal. In the past, you were always adventuring all over the world with your knife, and I tried my best to keep up with you, but I was always left behind again. I thought you were annoyed with me. I never thought you would actually be willing to come with me to live in seclusion in such a remote place. It's like a dream."
The man lowered his eyelashes, concealing a myriad of complex emotions within his eyes: regret, sadness, longing, bitterness, grief, and so on...
He swallowed hard before saying in a trembling voice, "It was my fault."
The woman shook her head and leaned over to smooth out the furrowed brow he had unconsciously raised.
On the other side, Chu Hongluan returned empty-handed.
Before long, Liu Jinghong and the others returned one after another, all empty-handed; they indeed did not see the old man Wang Sheng.
"It seems we have no choice but to unravel the mystery of Peach Blossom Village first." After a moment's thought, Chu Hongluan suggested, "How about... we go and talk to the cultivators among the villagers?"
Half an incense stick later, the group of six squatted neatly by the edge of the farmland, watching Mo Yu dig the ground.
Mo Yu: ……
"Do you think Young Master Mo is conscious right now?"
"I don't know. Look how happy he is, he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself."
"Is it possible that he can't control his body and expressions right now, but he's fully conscious?"
"When he recovers and thinks back on what he's been doing these past few days, he might feel so ashamed and angry that he'd want to drown himself."
"What does Young Master Mo look like when he's shy? I don't know why, but just imagining it makes me a little itchy."
"..."
The five of them silently moved to a different spot, distancing themselves from Li Dazhuang.
"What's so interesting about a stinky man being shy?" Qiao Yue glanced quickly at Chu Hongluan, her face flushing again.
If I could see Elder Chu blushing... oh my! Just thinking about it makes my skin crawl!
Qiao Yue swallowed hard, burying her flushed face in her palms in excitement.
Chu Hongluan's lips twitched, but she pretended not to see it.
"Speaking of which, in a paradise like this, there shouldn't be any incongruous things like fighting and brawling, right?" Chu Hongluan pondered for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up: "Who of you will go and provoke him?"
Liu Jinghong stood up abruptly, his folding fan swaying in his hand: "Who could be better at this than me? Just watch!"
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