The young man’s cold attitude actually made Beisitian feel a bit of warmth. To her amazent, she discovered that the young man was not affected by the drugged water!
Did he notice sothing wrong with the al and not eat it? Or...
Was he sent by those people to continue testing her?
With this thought, Beisitian did not dare be careless. Tilting her head, she said, "Why? I think this small village is quite nice."
The young man’s expression changed upon hearing Beisitian, and then turned gloomy. He snorted coldly, "Unable to withstand even one al, truly beyond saving!"
After speaking, he surprisingly ignored Beisitian, wanting to leave. At this mont, hearing calls from afar, he furrowed his brows and turned in another direction.
Before leaving, he glanced at Beisitian coldly, "Don’t ntion you saw , or else you’ll regret it!" With that, he disappeared into the woods without looking back.
Not even five minutes after he left, Mrs. Zhou and another woman ca searching down the path.
Seeing Beisitian standing there, her head raised as if doing sothing unknown, the two won frowned, exchanged a glance, and quickened their pace toward her.
"Little Sister Shi, what are you doing here?" Mrs. Zhou’s gaze was sowhat sinister.
Maintaining her upward gaze, Beisitian joyfully pointed to the trees, "Aunt Zhou, look, there’s a bird’s nest up there!"
The two won’s eyes followed her finger and indeed saw a bird’s nest. Seeing this, they exchanged glances again, both noticing the disdain in each other’s eyes.
City folks are so easily amazed, getting so excited over a farm bird’s nest; what’s there to be so happy about.
"Little Sister Shi, it’s getting late. At night this forest is especially unsafe, and quite scary; you might even encounter ghostly apparitions if you’re not careful. We ca out to find you in case you got lost inside," the other woman, Sun, said with a smile.
Compared to Mrs. Zhou, Sun seed more like a rural woman. Her gaze was less intimidating, though occasionally a cunning glint flashed, indicating she wasn’t honest.
Beisitian was ntally prepared, knowing the won in this village were not ordinary, so she was not surprised.
Feigning a look of horror, Beisitian exclaid, "Are there really ghostly apparitions?"
Sun replied with a smile, "Indeed, it’s said in ancient tis this place was where prisoners were buried alive. So at night, strange things happen around here. The elders would say they saw coffins walking down the village path; it was terrifying."
With a look of fright, Beisitian quickly moved toward the two won, "Then let’s hurry back! It’s creepy even during the day!"
Beisitian was eager to return to the village, while Sun gave a complacent look to Mrs. Zhou. Even a big man would get spooked if you talked enough about these things.
Mrs. Zhou snorted, following behind as they entered the village.
Smoke was rising from every household. From the outside, it seed like a small village, but Beisitian couldn’t connect this place with a village like Kao Village.
Thinking of Kao Village brought an uncontrollable smile to Beisitian’s face, but here only felt gloomy and heavy.
The Shi Family, standing at the doorway, looked disappointed seeing Mrs. Zhou and Sun bring Beisitian back. No wonder, as she probably never intended to escape; otherwise, she might have already left during the interval earlier.
After all, she ca in voluntarily, so surely she could leave by herself if she wanted to.
But now...
Shi Zhongli silently glanced at Beisitian, tapped his pipe, stood up, and returned inside.
Seeing the Third Elder’s behavior, the Shi Family knew he, too, felt disappointed.
If Beisitian knew, she might find their disappointnt strange. As a ’lost traveler’, she knew nothing about the village, so how could she consider escaping?
At nightfall, Mrs. Zhou ca as usual to deliver food, "No rush to settle the al bill. Pay when you leave."
Squinting, Beisitian smiled, "Alright, thank you, Aunt Zhou. This little village is so nice, I almost don’t want to leave."
Hearing this, Mrs. Zhou genuinely smiled, "Eat up."
Once Mrs. Zhou left, Beisitian quickly took out the talismanic water to test, finding a significant increase in the drugged water dosage. Now she could finally be sure of the hallucinogenic effect.
Beisitian sneered coldly, a petty trick.
After using the talismanic water to dissolve the food into liquid, she poured it behind the water tank, then sat down again. Suddenly, her heart stirred, and she turned to look at the window.
The windows here were wooden, with a latch; inserting the latch at night would secure it.
Beisitian rose, discreetly unlatching, and swiftly opened the window, revealing the young man crouching outside.
The young man, likely surprised by the sudden window opening, was caught off guard. After a brief pause, he stood straight, glancing at the table where only a little of the food remained.
He snorted with a cold sneer, "Big chest, no brains!"
He had given so many warnings, yet she showed no caution at all—won are hopeless creatures!
Beisitian’s mouth twitched, not only was he spying on her, but he also insulted her? Why did this boy seem angrier than her!
The young man took a circuitous route back to his room. From the look of things, while different from other villagers, he too was wary of the won.
Seeing the young man’s actions, Beisitian felt he wasn’t aligned with the others. But could he really avoid eating the village’s food?
Beisitian went to the woods today, hoping to find edible things. If she couldn’t eat the village food, she still had to eat, after all.
The bird’s nest could serve as half a al, but what about after?
Thinking of the Shi Family, it seed the drugged water given to her differed from the one controlling the Shi Family; at least their faces showed no hallucinogenic signs.
This realization shocked Beisitian. With the won holding various kinds at their disposal, the organization behind them must be an imnse drugged water organization, a terrifying notion.
This fird her resolve to uproot this cancer; it was her baseline and for her three children who would inevitably confront such organizations as they grew. Just thinking about it made her anxious.
The sky slowly darkened. Once night fell, Beisitian prepared for bed. Just then, she heard a noise at the back window. She remained still as faint sounds reached her.
Soone was trying to get her to open the window.
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