Lang Yue smiled and said, "I know you; we spoke on the phone before."
"You, you know me..."
Seeing Director Huang's shy demeanor, the people around couldn't help but burst out laughing, especially Qiao Ge, whose camera felt like it was practically glued to Huang's face.
Lang Yue led everyone into the village, explaining as they walked, "As you can probably see, our village is sparsely populated, and outsiders rarely visit, so we don't have any hotels. However, I've tidied up the empty house next to the ancestral hall, and you can all stay there."
"Thank you..."
Director Huang looked up at her, blushing again despite himself.
There weren't many villagers. Occasionally, passing villagers would see them entering the empty house near the ancestral hall, their faces filled with surprise. They would say something in the local dialect, then quickly hurry away with their heads down.
If it were just one or two people reacting this way, it would be one thing, but when every passerby reacted similarly, it became quite bizarre.
Xia Wei Liang approached Lang Yue and whispered, "Are we perhaps not very welcome?"
Lang Yue turned her head, and seeing such a beautiful girl, her eyes lit up.
"You're even prettier than the pin-up posters on my grandma's wall. You must be a big star, right? But Director Huang said you're entertainers, not stars. I'm not sure what the difference is." Su Dan Novel Network
It was evident the young girl was quite talkative. She then explained, "The house next to the ancestral hall originally belonged to an outsider family. Over twenty years ago, their entire family of seven passed away in a single night, and since the house was unclaimed, it was confiscated by the village."
Wai Shao leaned in from the other side, "What do you mean 'passed away'? Where did they go? Did they all disappear? Not a single one returned?"
---
Situ cautiously took a step forward, and a warning hiss immediately came from above.
"Don't move!"
Lang Yue quickly stopped him. "This little guy is quite formidable. The village dogs, three against one, couldn't defeat it."
Situ retracted his foot, primarily because he wasn't sure if he could defeat those three dogs.
This majestic black cat stood on a tree branch, its body partially hidden by the foliage, revealing a pair of eerie cat eyes that fixed on everyone, not missing a single person.
The only one excited was Qiao Ge, who looked like he was about to bang the words "I want to film a horror movie" onto his forehead.
Just then, the little blue snake on Xia Wei Liang's wrist silently slithered down.
Everyone's attention was focused on the black cat in the tree, and no one noticed the little blue snake, including Xia Wei Liang.
The black cat, which had been warily hiding in the tree, suddenly let out a piercing shriek, followed by a series of purring, whimpering sounds.
It sounded distinctly like... admitting defeat.
As everyone watched in confusion, the black cat leaped down from the tree and, tail tucked between its legs, bolted out the gate.
"What's going on?"
Perplexed, they looked at Lang Yue.
She was equally bewildered. "Xiao Hei is a great fighter. Nothing like this has ever happened before."
It wasn't until Xiao Lan coiled around Xia Wei Liang's hand again that she belatedly realized, "Did you go out and scare the little animals?"
Xiao Lan lazily covered its head with its tail and continued to sleep.
Regardless, they could finally enter the house safely.
The moment they stepped into the courtyard, a chilling wind blew, sending shivers down everyone's spines.
Lush槐 trees lined the courtyard, blocking out the sunlight. The front and back doors faced northwest, clearly a wind tunnel, making the temperature here much lower than outside.
Da Zhuang couldn't help but mutter, "Who in their right mind plants槐 trees at home?"
A Ning asked him in confusion, "Why can't you plant槐 trees?"
Da Zhuang replied, "How do you write the character '槐'?"
"A 'wood' radical plus... plus..."
A Ning dared not continue and rubbed her arms. "This is feudal superstition! We, who believe in the Twenty-Four Character Conscience under the red flag, don't believe in ghosts!"
Da Zhuang added, "This village is full of stone houses, and only this one is a wooden dwelling, and they've planted槐 trees inside... It's all very strange."
"This is a fallacy... a fal... fallacy!"
A Ning turned and rushed after Xia Wei Liang and Situ Chong. "Sister! Situ! Slow down, wait for me, ahhhhh!"