Chapter 25

"Then, what should we do now?" Feng Yushu asked.

"Go to the He family mansion," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe answered without hesitation: "Didn't Zhang Yangxu say Ye Miaozhu died in the He family mansion? Let's go and see."

"Eh?" Feng Yushu became nervous when she heard this: "Going there now... won't it be very dangerous?"

After all, Ye Miaozhu died there.

"Yes," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't deny it: "If we don't prepare anything and run over blindly like Ye Miaozhu, we will basically be dead for sure."

But it's different now. Now he has already stolen a part of the Serpent God's identity. If there is a time that can be used to go deep into the unknown field and fight for it, it must be now.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe stepped over the uneven bluestone road with light steps. Because he was too light, his toes were almost caught in the cracks of the bluestone and tripped, but his superhuman reaction ability allowed him to quickly adjust his posture and continue walking forward.

"Even if it's the Serpent God, if you violate the taboo, you'll be unlucky..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe sighed.

The rules are equal to everyone and will not change because of who you are. The Serpent God commits a crime and is punished the same as the common people.

The two left the ancestral hall and walked all the way north along the main street of He Family Village. The visibility during the day was much, much better than at night. Walking on the road, one could clearly see the lush mountains in the distance, which was the edge of the basin where this village was located, piled with green and green, boundless.

Both sides of the street were still bustling with people. Some elderly people who had just finished eating sat on rattan chairs, squinting their eyes, watching their own children and the children of neighbors and streets gather in groups, chasing and fighting on the side of the street, the yellow paper pasted on their faces fluttering in the wind.

They would stop from time to time, curiously watching Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu walking by leisurely, watching the two walk far away toward the upper reaches of the river.

If it weren't for the withered and ancient yellow paper pasted on everyone's face, crookedly written with their names, such scenes would even seem quite warm. The bluestone under their feet and the tiles on their heads were simple and gentle, as if walking into an ancient town submerged in time. The heaviness of history and the shallowness of humanities could be seen here.

Walking past an intersection, two clusters of deep green colors dotted both sides of the road. A few black-feathered and white-flowered birds stood on the branches, neither flying nor calling.

"What kind of bird is that?" Feng Yushu looked up at the birds on the branches, a bit puzzled.

"Magpie," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe said casually: "Black bottom with white flowers, deep blue wings, tail with a little bright yellow warning color, a very traditional magpie."

It's really amazing that you can recognize it at a glance... Feng Yushu was just suffering from the silent and oppressive atmosphere along the way, casually finding a topic to mention. She didn't expect Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe to blurt it out.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe continued: "By the way, those two trees are wild plum trees that haven't been grafted. You can tell by looking at the main stem below. Native wild plum trees, like osmanthus trees, don't have a thick and clear main stem, but are closer to the scattered cluster state of shrubs. Those that grow very tall and straight need to be grafted manually."

"Wild plum tree?" Feng Yushu was slightly stunned.

She looked up at the deep green plum tree canopy at the intersection, and then looked at the few magpies standing quietly on the branches without moving. A word blurted out unconsciously: "Happiness on the plum tip?"

"Happiness on the eyebrows?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was also puzzled for a moment, and then immediately reacted to what she was saying: "Oh, happiness on the plum tip, right? You are talking about the traditional customs of the Qinzhou folk? It is said that when newly married couples see magpies standing on the plum tips, it is a good omen for a harmonious and happy married life."

Feng Yushu nodded repeatedly: "Yes, the older generation believes in this very much. When I got married, my father specifically invited a master of Chinese painting from Yunzhou to paint a Chinese ink painting of 'Happiness on the Plum Tip,' saying it would add a good omen and be harmonious in the future."

"Very good," Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't comment much on other people's family affairs. Anyway, he couldn't afford to invite a master of Chinese painting from Yunzhou to join in the fun when he got married.

He wouldn't even get married. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked up under the plum tree where the magpies stood, looking at the quiet birds that were silently squatting on the branches without flying or calling, and a sense of doubt arose spontaneously.

He still remembered the scene he saw in the hallucination that was suspected to be the Serpent God's memory, the girl leaning against the window humming a tune against the drizzling rain, wearing a loose, bright red dress, looking very loose because she didn't wear a waist seal, her charming red lips were as bright as if she had just applied rouge.

"Is that the traditional wedding makeup of Qinzhou?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe couldn't help but think.

If one only looked at this hallucination itself, it wouldn't make him have any reverie, but once clues corresponding to it were found elsewhere, it would be a different matter.

"A woman dressed in wedding makeup, without facial features."

"Happiness on the plum tip at the intersection, not flying or calling."

Is there any connection between the two?

Putting this doubt in his heart, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe and Feng Yushu continued to walk toward the upper reaches of the river.

Taking the intersection where the plum trees grew as the boundary, pink colored piles began to appear on both sides of the street in front of the two. That was the firecracker paper scattered on both sides of the road, soaked through by the two rains last night and this morning, even the stagnant water on the side of the road was pink, emitting a faint smell of gunpowder.

"It seems we didn't take the wrong road," Feng Yushu whispered: "According to Zhang Yangxu, he and Xie Sining walked along a road covered with firecracker paper on both sides to the front of that spacious He family mansion."

"It's okay during the day, but walking this road at night would probably be very oppressive."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked around. I don't know when it started, but there were fewer and fewer people active on the street, until now they were completely invisible. He looked around, and the doors and houses were all empty, and he couldn't see any shadow of people.

He strolled to a two-story small building next to him and reached out to touch the clay chimney built into the wall: "It's still hot."

The chimney was still hot, but there was no one in the kitchen.

The shops on the street didn't close their doors, and the appearance inside was clearly visible. A small bundle of licorice was placed on the scale of the pharmacy, half a basin of clear water was placed on the steps in front of the door, and a broom tied with bamboo branches fell in the center of the street.

Various details all indicated that there were still people active here until not long ago, and there were quite a few people. This was a bustling market, but what was presented in front of Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was a scene of emptiness.

Feng Yushu turned her head and saw a recliner placed at the entrance of the fruit shop shaking gently, and then slowly stopped, as if the person who was originally sitting on it had just stood up and went somewhere else.

"Strange, where did everyone go?" Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was even more vigilant. He carefully avoided the pink firecracker paper on both sides of the street that stuck to the soles of his shoes and continued to walk forward lightly.

Suddenly, vaguely, he seemed to hear some sound in his ears.

"What sound?"

(End of chapter)