At the entrance of the village head's small courtyard, a woman was struggling with the village head's daughter-in-law. Two men carrying some things were following behind her. One should be the woman's husband, and the other should be their son.
The village head was standing in front of the woman, leaning on his cane, with his back to Zhaozhao and the others. It was hard to see his expression, but the woman had a really loud voice.
"Hey, village head, our Li Da is quite well - known in the village. Don't be so picky. Who else can you find besides our family?"
A girl? Zhaozhao found the woman's words strange. Were there still girls in the village?
"Village head, didn't you say there were no grown - up girls in the village? Where did this girl come from?" Zhaozhao wasn't good at reading people's expressions. She was still in the stage of active learning and would just ask whatever she didn't understand.
As soon as she spoke, she immediately caught everyone's attention. Li Da behind the woman fixed his greedy eyes on Zhaozhao, like a venomous snake.
Su Yuan frowned slightly and stepped forward to block Li Da's sight. He glanced at the man indifferently, scaring him into lowering his head and shrinking back.
Hearing Zhaozhao's words, the village head stiffened for a moment but quickly regained his composure. "Well... Alas, there's no point in hiding it now."
He sighed and made a gesture. "Everyone, please come inside first. Let me explain slowly."
The village head led them into the house. He opened a partition wall in the room, and it turned out to be a secret door leading to a cellar.
"Indeed, no girl has been raised to adulthood in our village for many years. The only exception is my daughter - in - law," the village head said, holding a flashlight and leading them into the cellar. His old voice echoed in the passage, sounding a bit eerie.
"Back then, my daughter - in - law happened to be out of the village when she gave birth, so nothing bad happened. Over the years, in order to raise our granddaughter properly, we had to keep her in the cellar."
As he was speaking, they reached the cellar.
The cellar was very dim. There was a small bed, and on the ground in front of the bed was an empty bowl. There was nothing else.
A little girl timidly peeked out from behind the bed. She was about seven or eight years old.
The little girl's clothes looked patched through the dim light. She was thin and sallow - faced. She softly called the village head "Grandpa."
Zhaozhao felt a tightness in her chest looking at the little girl. This little girl seemed like she hadn't had a proper meal for many days.
Song Yao's eyes almost popped out. She asked the village head in disbelief, "She's still so young, and there are already people coming to propose marriage?!"
The village head explained, "Alas, my granddaughter is the only girl in the village now. Families with sons are all eager to make an engagement, for fear of missing the chance to get a daughter - in - law."
Su Yuan's eyes fell on the village head. He sneered mockingly and casually asked, "Is this what the village head calls 'raising her properly'?"
As soon as he said this, everyone looked at the village head. The village head wiped the sweat from his forehead and explained, "It's not that we didn't want to raise her well. It's just that our family has been in a bad situation in recent years... Well, everyone has seen. Let's leave first. It's urgent to solve the strange things as soon as possible."
It was obvious that he was trying to get them out. Song Yao felt a bit embarrassed because of her failure to catch the monster the previous night. She held her anger and turned around to leave.
Zhaozhao looked at the little girl. After thinking for a while, she took something out of her small cloth bag and handed it to her. "If you're hungry, eat this fruit. It's very delicious."
The little girl looked at her with clear eyes and nodded. Zhaozhao sadly stroked her head.
Just as she turned around, she found Su Yuan standing not far away looking at her. His expression was hidden in the dim light, making it hard to see clearly. He asked, "What did you give her?"
Zhaozhao replied, "A fruit."
Su Yuan met Zhaozhao's innocent eyes. He squinted and sized her up. Could the Song family raise such a pure - hearted girl? He slowly approached Zhaozhao, and a fragrance came with him. It made his divine sense, which had been in a muddle for many days, become a bit clearer.
"What's the fragrance on you?"
Zhaozhao looked at him strangely. She lifted her arm and smelled it. There was no smell...
Looking at Su Yuan, she thought that perhaps this powerful monster, whom her cousin said was not simple, had a problem with his nose.
So, Zhaozhao took out a small porcelain bottle from her cloth bag and handed it to Su Yuan. This was the spiritual medicine made by her third senior brother. She thought it might be useful for his sense of smell.
Zhaozhao looked at Su Yuan with a bit of sympathy and said, "There's no fragrance on me, but you can smell this more. It will be very beneficial to you!" Then she skipped away to catch up with Song Yao.
Su Yuan opened the bottle curiously and smelled it carefully. One second later, the bottle turned into powder, and Su Yuan closed his eyes in pain.
He had lived for tens of thousands of years, and it was the first time he had smelled such a disgusting smell. He even wished he could turn back time and slap himself for taking the bottle.
Fine, he remembered this strange - behaving little girl.
On the way back to the tile - roofed house from the village head's place, Song Yao lowered her head, thinking about how to deal with the Guguniang that might come to kidnap people at night. She turned around to tell Zhaozhao something, but when she looked back, she saw the old monster from the Monster Management Bureau staring directly at Zhaozhao.
Song Yao's face changed. She quickly pulled Zhaozhao behind her and said to Su Yuan rudely, "Why do you keep staring at my sister?"
Su Yuan walked towards Zhaozhao unhurriedly. He picked a leaf off her shoulder and said calmly, "It's nothing. I just saw a leaf on Miss Song. I wanted to remind her."
This really scared Zhaozhao. She nervously looked at the leaf in Su Yuan's hand. She couldn't figure out why the leaf would appear when she clearly hadn't used her spiritual power.
To outsiders, the leaf looked no different from an ordinary one, but to Zhaozhao, it was glowing with spiritual power.
"Ah... Thank you," Zhaozhao said and tried to take back her leaf from Su Yuan.
Unexpectedly, Su Yuan dodged her hand. "You're welcome. This leaf is quite beautiful. It's worth keeping."
Zhaozhao watched helplessly as Su Yuan put her leaf into a bag. She was very anxious and planned how to get her leaf back from Su Yuan.
Song Yao couldn't bear it anymore. In her eyes, Su Yuan's behavior was clearly seducing the innocent little girl who had just come down from the mountain. She wished she could stare a hole through Su Yuan.
Su Yuan walked ahead, unaware of Song Yao's gaze. Song Yao pulled the dazed Zhaozhao and warned her, "He's not a good person. He's very promiscuous and has ruined many little girls. Stay away from him, do you understand?"
Zhaozhao didn't know what "promiscuous" meant to humans, but since Su Yuan had taken her leaf, he was definitely not a good monster in her heart. She nodded absent - mindedly.
Seeing that Zhaozhao was out of it, Song Yao wanted to say more, but was interrupted by a scolding sound and a woman's crying from ahead.
The two looked up. The beaten woman looked a bit familiar. From her figure... she was very much like the woman who went to the tower that night.