The transparent lenses of the gold-rimmed glasses covered the sharpness of Shen Chuanyuan's eyes, and the corners of his lips hung with the usual, gentle and decent smile, and he often said a few words to the girls around him.

Ah Cai didn't have so many scruples, and she explained the hole cards of many things between laughter, she only regarded this as a rare conversation with her sweetheart, and even the pause in her tone was vaguely sweet, and she couldn't wait to say everything she knew, so that the well-informed Shen Chuanyuan could look at herself and add a good impression.

But this simple and ignorant girl didn't know that the traps in those words had already been arranged, sweet words and harmonious scenes were like sugar-coated arsenic, and the comfort and thoughtfulness were just to open the door of her heart as soon as possible.

Behind Shen Chuanyuan's many calculations, it was just to explore the secrets of the Wu clan.

In the evening, the afterglow of the setting sun fell and the ground was bright gold. The shadow of the dead wood was stretched out, and the quiet mountain road faintly heard the sound of the wind, blowing the branches loudly, and there was a little loneliness in the depression. Shen Chuanyuan stepped on the sunset everywhere, and the soles of his shoes rubbed against the dead branches and made a crisp cracking sound.

"So we follow this road, and at the end of it is your village?"

"Yes, at the end of the road is our village, this road has to go a long way, it is really hard to find all the way around, you just follow me. ”

"The little girl is still very powerful, you look so-so, you have to forget everything when you pack your luggage, I didn't expect the way home to be so difficult, you actually remember the score. ”

"That's right, I have a very strong ability to remember the way, and no one else dares to leave the village by themselves. ”

Regarding Ah Cai's answer, Shen Chuanyuan just nodded silently.

At this time, his brain was racing, trying to capture useful information from Ah Cai's words and quickly confirm something.

It seems that everything is as the man said, the Wu Clan's stockade is closed and mysterious, and there is miasma and fog on the perimeter as protection, and outsiders cannot enter at all. This is a curse imposed by the high priest with divine power, and the foreigners can't break it and can't get in, and it's even more impossible for the clansmen to get out, so this is the skylight that can't be broken, and the secret is completely buried.

If it weren't for that person to guide the way at the beginning, Shen Chuanyuan would not have been able to find the Wu clan at all, let alone find Axiu embroidery.

However, what is Ah Cai's identity?

Thinking of this, Shen Chuanyuan couldn't help but be a little suspicious, the little girl of the ordinary witch clan must not have such great ability, and there must be a demon when things go wrong, unless ....... She was the one the man told him to find.

And if Ah Cai is really the target object, everything will be much easier.

Under such suspicion, Shen Chuanyuan's words couldn't help but knock on a lot of things when Ah Cai was a child, but the little girl kept silent about that past, so it was inconvenient for Shen Chuanyuan to ask more. I don't know how long I walked, Shen Chuanyuan saw the faint outline of the building from a distance.

It was an ancient temple with an exotic style, and the eaves of the dome were hidden in the setting sun in the twilight, and everything seemed not so real.

"Is that your village?" Shen Chuanyuan pointed at it and inquired knowingly, "I saw that there were lights and lights, as if there were residents, so we went directly from here?"

"There...... We don't go over there, the stockade is on the left-hand side, you can just follow me. ”

Ah Cai, who was chatting with great interest, stopped talking all of a sudden, her delicate and good-looking little face was a little afraid, but she quickly covered it up, and just explained lightly: "That's the sacrificial temple in our clan, and few people usually go there." ”

"That's what you said, the place where the bonfire party will be held in the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve and sacrifices to the goddess?"

"Yes, the altar is at the main entrance of the temple, but it's deserted now. ”

"That'....... Let's go check it out. Shen Chuanyuan chuckled lowly, as if he was very careless, and said, "Since the fieldwork doesn't work, why don't you let me see the ruins, which can be regarded as an eye-opener?"

"Or else....... Next time, we'll be in a hurry. ”

Looking at Ah Cai's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, the suspicion in Shen Chuanyuan's heart became three points thicker, but he didn't say anything, and he didn't even have a reason to ask, so he let the page turn over.

After walking around the mountains and forests for more than two hours, the sky was completely dark, the moonlight was bleak white, and the forest looked weird.

And after some rushing, Ah Cai and Shen Chuanyuan finally arrived at their destination.

Looking at this dilapidated and strange place, it is not accurate to say that it is a village, because there are only three or five households here, and there is no prosperity and liveliness that a village should have. If it weren't for Ah Cai's enthusiastic muttering that he could be considered home, Shen Chuanyuan would not have felt that he had reached his destination at all, and Ah Cai had lived in such a place since he was a child.

Shen Chuanyuan didn't make a sound, pushed his glasses, and looked around unhurriedly.

This is a rather dilapidated small village, not to mention the ethereal smell of the year, even this place has not been completely deserted, and there are very few people still living in it. Such a scene can easily make Shen Chuanyuan think of pictures in movies like "Blind Mountain", but the reality is far more exaggerated than those movies. Because the small villages in the movie are backward and backward, at least there are still residents living, but they are poor and isolated. But there are no people here, and the red brick houses look very weird, and there is a kind of horror that transcends the sense of age.

At that moment, the first word in Shen Chuanyuan's mind was the dead city.

And Ah Cai has lived here since he was a child, obviously without too much emotion, but said excitedly: "Okay, okay, it's coming soon, are you tired?" Grandma will prepare celery stuffed dumplings in Chinese New Year's Eve, and a big table of dishes, if you are lucky, you can still taste fresh fish soup." ”

"Well, I'm in for a treat. ”

Shen Chuanyuan nodded slightly, and followed Ah Cai through the winding alleys.

Probably because of the snow a few days ago, the road surface was muddy and dirty, and the mud and water stained the upper of the shoe and left gray marks. Through the miserable white moonlight, Shen Chuanyuan saw that many of the houses passing by had their doors closed, and a black paper was pasted at the entrance of the compound, and there seemed to be distorted symbols on it that were difficult for others to understand. It's like a spell in the hands of a Taoist priest in a zombie movie, but those weird symbols are obviously more chilling than the spell of ghost hunting and exorcism.

The distinction is like a charm is meant to ward off evil spirits, and these things are the source of evil spirits.

"Is this the custom of your village?"

"Sort of. Ah Cai considered her tone and didn't say it thoroughly, but just diverted the topic in a vague tone, "You don't care about that, just follow me." ”

After a long detour, they finally came to a halt in a dilapidated courtyard. Half-human-tall weeds covered the wooden doors, and the courtyard looked not much different from the abandoned houses along the way, except that there was no paper with red letters on a black background on the door.

Ah Cai gently knocked on the door a few times, and the door was opened by an old man over sixty years old.

The grandmother was wearing the traditional Miao costume, with a navy blue turban wrapped around her head, and her wrinkled face was very upright, and it was not difficult to peek out from the traces left by time.

For some reason, when the old man looked at Shen Chuanyuan, he felt an illusion that even his soul was being spied on.

The gaze of ordinary people is sharp or direct, even if they are scrutinized, they are equal, and there are even many people with high emotional intelligence who are good at hiding the invisible oppressive force in scrutiny, so as to hide their truest purpose, pretending to be a little familiar and close.

But the old man's gaze was condescending.

It's like a higher race looking down on a lower prey, with cruel and merciless pride.

After a while, the old man withdrew her gaze unhurriedly, her voice was a little hoarse of old age, but she was obviously indulgent when she treated her only granddaughter, and her tone was not too harsh, just asked seriously.

"Cai'er, who is this?"

"Grandma, his name is Shen Chuanyuan. Ah Cai tugged at Shen Chuanyuan's sleeve, looked at his grandmother without hesitation, and introduced it firmly, "He came to the store to buy things some time ago, and he fell in love with me. ”

"What did you bring him for?" asked the old man.

"Shen Chuanyuan happened to be in Meaux recently, and it was difficult to buy tickets for the Spring Festival, how could Chinese New Year's Eve be in the hotel, I thought...... I thought everyone could have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner together. ”

This statement did not convince Ah Xiupo, and she obviously did not mean to let Shen Chuanyuan enter the door, so she directly blocked the door with her body. couldn't stand Ah Cai's soft grinding and hard coquettishness, those big watery eyes looked at the old man expectantly, and his tone softened a lot.

"Grandma, people have come all the way here...... Besides, he's my friend. ”

After a few seconds of silent confrontation, the old man finally gave in.

"All right, come in. ”

This is obviously a compromise in desperation, and Ah Xiupo made it clear that Shen Chuanyuan was not welcome.

And the embarrassment at this moment directly set the tone for the future, and there is a posture that increases dramatically every minute and every second. This Chinese New Year's Eve dinner tasted completely without any atmosphere, which was very different from the happiness that Ah Cai imagined. Ah Xiupo did not hide her hostility towards Shen Chuanyuan, not to mention that he hadn't asked about brocade and embroidery, just Shen Chuanyuan was sitting at the table in peace, and the old man had already shown a full sense of rejection, eager to let him leave immediately.

Fortunately, Shen Chuanyuan is a person with high emotional intelligence, even on such an embarrassing occasion, he behaves exceptionally well, and he can take the initiative to find a topic to make the atmosphere that tends to the freezing point pick up. And Ah Cai's side helped a lot, so the meal was really uncomfortable, and it didn't cause too much trouble after all.

And when this Hongmen banquet was finished, Ah Xiupo buttoned the rice bowl and directly sent her little granddaughter to the backyard to wash the dishes. Then her gaze swept lazily over Shen Chuanyuan's cheeks, unconcealing the scrutiny and hostility in her eyes, and finally started the topic without restraint.

"You're the one who inquired about embroidery, aren't you?"