CHAPTER 79: MUSHROOM VILLAGE 29

The middle-aged man took the memorial tablets from Wan Qian’s hands and said, "I’ll go handle these things first. You all rest for a while, and later I will come to take you to my home."

Wan Qian nodded and watched as the middle-aged man left taking the tablets.

After the middle-aged man left, Hao Shijun looked at Wan Qian, slightly furrowing his brows, with some disapproval on his face.

"Wan Qian, you’re still young. You’ll have plenty of chances in the future to show your true strength. Why take such risks now?"

After seeing Wan Qian’s strength in flipping over an entire wall, Hao Shijun started thinking about Wan Qian’s identity.

In the end, he only had one guess: Wan Qian had probably entered other ghostly realms before. She had also solved the mysteries of that realm and gained special talents, such as enhanced strength.

To have such power at such a young age, the future of the country’s development would surely rely on people like her.

After all, with the entire world invaded by the thriller world, countries could hardly even guarantee the safety of their citizens. Several countries had even been overthrown in these disasters.

Now, every country’s fight against ghosts and monsters had become a strategic national policy. And Wan Qian was obviously a national talent!

Hao Shijun could not bear to see such talent wasted here, so he earnestly advised, "Why provoke them? It’s more important to preserve your strength."

Wan Qian looked at Hao Shijun with a confused expression, clearly puzzled by his words. "What?"

Hao Shijun sighed, a few lines of worry showing on his handsome and resolute face. "We didn’t prepare any gifts. Visiting like this would be against the rules."

Wan Qian finally remembered — oh, when she first entered the village on the first day, it seemed that the village rules said that when visiting a villager’s home, she should bring a gift.

What a strange and backward feudal custom, requiring guests to bring gifts when visiting!

At that moment, Wan Qian even began to suspect that the middle-aged man’s strong insistence that she pay him a visit was actually just a way to freeload a few gifts.

Forget it, forget it — when in Rome, do as the Romans do. After all, Wan Qian was still someone with a rather mild and easygoing personality. Although she was stubborn on moral issues, she knew how to respect other cultures.

She looked at her hands, which happened to hold a dead rabbit and a full bag of mushrooms. She decided to let Hao Shijun and the others share the mushrooms.

"Then you all can take some mushrooms as gifts," Wan Qian said.

Xie Jia looked at the mushrooms she was given and recalled something she had read in the village records. She felt a bit nauseated and held the mushrooms a little farther away.

Just then, a faint fragrance wafted to her nose, dispelling the nausea.

Xie Jia looked closely and found it was actually the incense Wan Qian had asked her to take from the ancestral hall. Could this incense have some special effect?

Soon, the middle-aged man returned.

He warmly said to Wan Qian, "Please follow me. The village chief knows you are coming to visit my home and specially instructed me to treat you well."

However, the man was cold and indifferent toward Hao Shijun and the others, not even giving them a glance.

Hao Shijun couldn’t help but mutter to himself, "Why the different treatment?"

They hadn’t been walking for long before they arrived at a courtyard in the village. It was clear that his family was better off than most in the village.

While most other yards were just yellow mud grounds, this man’s courtyard was paved with cement, and there were three tiled houses in it.

But besides the three bright and spacious tiled houses, there was an obviously old yellow mud house in a corner. Its roof was only thatched, and the walls were cracked.

This contrast made Hao Shijun glance twice at the yellow mud house. When he came back to his senses, he suddenly felt strongly watched on his back.

He turned around and saw a child standing in the yard, holding a leather ball, silently staring at him.

That uncomfortable feeling of being watched came from this.

At that moment, Fang Minglan next to Hao Shijun stepped forward. She smiled and held out the mushrooms in her hands toward the middle-aged man.

"Hello, this is my first time visiting. I don’t know what you like, so I only brought these mushrooms," Fang Minglan said in a sweet and soft voice.

The middle-aged man stared fixedly at Fang Minglan’s hand. His originally simple and honest expression suddenly twisted.

His entire face showed an indescribable resentment and malice, his eyes wide open, even the eyeballs bulging out of their sockets, looking especially terrifying.

"Mushrooms..."

Seeing the man’s change, Fang Minglan’s hands holding the mushrooms trembled slightly. She suddenly realized her gift might have been inappropriate.

But the mushrooms were Wan Qian’s idea. Damn, how could she be so careless and trust Wan Qian!

She regretted not letting others go up first and test the waters, Fang Minglan thought regretfully. At the same time, she couldn’t help but wonder — was this also a prank by Wan Qian on her?

At that moment, Wan Qian stepped forward and raised the rabbit in her hand toward the middle-aged man.

"These mushrooms can be stewed with rabbit, right? I even brought a rabbit along—perfect for adding to the meal."

Hearing Wan Qian’s voice, the man seemed to calm down a little. The strong hostility in him lessened, but his eyes were still bulging with whites showing, his features twisted with resentment.

Fang Minglan glanced at Wan Qian and quickly said, "These mushrooms were specially picked by Wan Qian!"