The sky collapsed, and in the blink of an eye, I found myself transported to Nanluoguxiang.

The next morning.

Before dawn, urgent knocking sounded again outside Li Kaixin's door.

When Li Kaixin opened the door, he saw Qian Dazhuang and Wu Tian standing there, their eyes scanning him up and down several times.

When the two saw that apart from a few tears in their clothes, there were no obvious injuries on their bodies, they both breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go eat!"

Wu Tian and Qian Dazhuang each put their arms around Li Kaixin's shoulders and said to Li Kaixin.

"good!"

Li Kaixin replied.

Afterwards, the three of them walked side by side toward the grain depot's canteen.

As soon as Li Kaixin stepped out of the guesthouse, the cold morning wind completely dispelled any lingering sleepiness he had.

As the three walked, Wu Tian spoke first, his tone tinged with complaint: "Kaixin, you little brat! You were gone for so long yesterday, we thought something had happened to you, we and your master were so worried."

"Dazhuang, Master Chen, and I waited at the entrance of the guesthouse after dinner. It was already dark when Master Chen told us to go back to our room. He didn't know how long he had been waiting. Did you see Master Chen later?"

Wu Tian asked a barrage of questions.

Qian Dazhuang nodded vigorously beside him, echoing in a deep voice, "Yes, yes! We were worried sick!"

Seeing the worry on her two friends' faces, Li Kaixin felt a surge of warmth in her heart, and a look of gratitude appeared on her face.

He quickly explained, "Master did arrive, thank you brothers for your concern. When I came back, Master was still waiting at the door. He probably arrived not long after you went back inside."

Wu Tian finally breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand, and said casually, "Hey! Don't be so formal with your thanks, we're all brothers!"

Qian Dazhuang grinned broadly, "Right! Right! We're all brothers!"

Li Kaixin's gaze swept over Wu Tian and Qian Dazhuang, and he nodded solemnly, his voice clear and strong: "Yes! We're all brothers!"

We arrived at the grain depot canteen.

The room was already filled with workers from the transportation station and the grain depot; the buzzing of their voices mingled with the clatter of bowls and chopsticks.

Li Kaixin glanced around but didn't see Master Chen.

After getting his food and sitting down, Li Kaixin ate while mentally planning his day's itinerary.

Li Kaixin didn't want Wu Tian and the others, along with his master, to be as fearful as they had been yesterday, so he carefully considered his words and tried to keep his tone casual:

"Wu Tian, ​​Da Zhuang, I won't be eating in the cafeteria again today; I have to go out."

Sure enough, the two immediately looked up, their eyes now questioning.

Li Kaixin quickly added, "Don't worry! We're not going into the mountains, we're just visiting a fellow villager we met yesterday."

"He helped me a lot yesterday, so I'm going to visit him and thank him. It's not far, just in a nearby village."

After a pause, he added, "If Master asks later, please tell him for me, so he won't worry."

Wu Tian was still a little worried after hearing this, but he heard that the person was just going to wander around the village.

He nodded and said, "Alright, you handle it yourself. Come back soon. If Master asks, we'll speak to you on his behalf."

Qian Dazhuang grunted in response and buried his head in his cornbread.

Li Kaixin expressed his gratitude again after the two agreed.

After finishing their meal, the three of them went their separate ways.

Li Kaixin returned to his room at the guesthouse, closed the door, and with a thought, stored the gun into his secret space.

After checking that he had brought all his belongings, he finally left the guesthouse.

When we arrived outside the grain depot, there were several tractors waiting to unload the grain.

Li Kaixin took a deep breath, put on a polite smile, and walked forward to ask each of the tractor drivers who were sitting in the driver's seat or leaning against the side of the vehicle smoking:

"Excuse me, sir, are you from the Kaoshantun area?"

"Excuse me, sir, is your car going towards Kaoshantun?"

He asked three times in a row, and the other person either said yes or just looked at him warily, shaking their head and remaining silent.

When they reached the fourth tractor, a middle-aged man in an old overcoat, his face weathered by time, was tapping the tires with a wrench. Li Kaixin, as usual, went up to ask him.

The man stopped what he was doing and asked in a heavily accented local tone, with obvious scrutiny, "Who are you? I've seen almost everyone in those remote villages, but I've never seen you before."

Li Kaixin knew that unfamiliar faces could indeed arouse suspicion these days, so he quickly came up with his prepared explanation, his smile becoming even more sincere: "Brother, I'm Zhao Laosi, a friend of Brother Zhao Si! We just met yesterday. I have something urgent to discuss with him, could you give me a ride?"

"Zhao Laosi?" The man repeated the name, and the wariness on his face indeed dissipated by most of it. He nodded.

"Oh, him? I'm quite familiar with his brother, Zhao Laosan! I even drove a tractor to help them haul grain a few days ago!"

The man looked Li Kaixin up and down again, seemingly trying to determine whether what he said was true or false.

After a moment's thought, he said, "Since you're Lao Si's friend, then fine. Give me a dime for gas, and I'll give you a ride to the intersection near Kaoshantun."

"Okay! Thank you, big brother!" Li Kaixin was overjoyed and quickly took out a dime and handed it over.

The man took the money, put it in his pocket, and waved, "Get in the car!"

Li Kaixin nimbly climbed onto the tractor's trailer.

Accompanied by the loud roar and violent jolting of the tractor, it once again headed towards Kaoshantun.

The man was also a talkative fellow, chatting non-stop the whole way.

"Young man, where are you from? Your accent doesn't sound like a local," the man asked.

"Uncle, I'm from Beijing, a driver apprentice at the transportation station," Li Kaixin replied.

The man was shocked.

"From Beijing! And a driver at the transport station? You're really something!"

Li Kaixin gave an awkward smile and didn't respond.

Seeing that Li Kaixin was embarrassed, the man changed the subject, saying, "Young man, you don't know, yesterday the village of Kaoshan, which you were going to, hunted more than twenty wolves. I don't know who was so good."

Li Kaixin pretended to be so shocked that she couldn't speak.

The big man saw Li Kaixin's shock and a satisfied look on his face.

When I wanted to say something more, we had already arrived at our destination.

The tractor didn't go into Kaoshan Village, but stopped at a three-way intersection two or three miles away from the village.

"We're here. Keep going straight from here, and you'll reach Kaoshantun." The man pointed out the way.

"Thank you, Uncle!" Li Kaixin jumped out of the car and thanked him again.

Watching the tractor chug away until it disappeared at the end of the dirt road, Li Kaixin showed no intention of heading towards Kaoshantun.

Instead, their gaze was fixed on the distant Changbai Mountains.

Li Kaixin took a deep breath, checked his direction, turned around, and headed back towards Changbai Mountain.