Demon, come and cultivate for me.

The wind and rain subsided, the river calmed down, and two corpses, a man and a fish, floated to the surface.

Countless fish swarmed toward the black fish demon's corpse, vying to devour it.

Zhou Chu and the others worked together to pull Wu Yong's body from the water, tidied it up, disguised it, and brought it back to the village.

Following his wishes, the villagers of Baihutang buried Wu Yong on the banks of the Yangtze River.

This is the final resting place of his fellow disciples, and also his own final resting place.

On the day of his burial, villagers from the surrounding villages came to pay their respects and bid him farewell.

After resting for two days at Baihutang, Zhou Chu and his group continued their journey.

The blackfish died, and bolder fishermen began to come to fish on the river.

The villagers of Baihutang found several larger fishing boats to ferry Zhou Chu and his companions across the river and helped transport their horses and luggage.

After crossing the river, the journey went very smoothly.

After traveling for half a month, the group arrived at Chen Xiangzi's hometown, Chenjiazhuang.

Zhou Chu had thought Chenjiazhuang was a village where the Chen family lived, but he didn't expect it to be a fairly large town.

Chenjiazhuang covers an area of ​​forty or fifty li, with over a thousand households. The streets are lined with all kinds of shops, including blacksmith shops, grain shops, and cloth shops.

Walking through the streets, Zhou Chu felt an inexplicable sense of oppression.

Seeing that his companions all looked normal, he assumed he was overthinking it and didn't pay much attention.

The group didn't linger on the street and went straight to Chen Xiangzi's house.

The main purpose of coming to Chenjiazhuang was to bring back the ashes of Chen Xiangzi's uncle and bury them in the ancestral grave, so that he could return to his roots.

Therefore, Chen Xiangzi took the ashes to the clan chief's house first, which was the home of his uncle.

At the entrance of the clan chief's house, a six or seven-year-old child was squatting on the ground, urinating in the mud, with a faint stench wafting around.

Chen Xiangzi stepped forward and flicked the child's forehead: "Aniu, you're playing with pee again."

Little A Niu covered his head with his dirty little hands, stood up, and was about to spew out a string of insults when he saw Chen Xiangzi's smiling face. His anger immediately turned to joy.

Ah Niu lunged forward, knocking Chen Xiangzi off balance.

"Uncle, you're back."

"You've grown taller in a year," Chen Xiangzi said, patting A Niu's head.

Is your great-grandfather home?

Ah Niu dodged Chen Xiangzi's large hand:

"Great-grandfather just went out; only Third Uncle is home."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiangzi looked down at the jade box he was holding, and his expression changed drastically.

The great-grandfather mentioned by A Niu is the clan chief, and the third master is Chen Ji, the clan uncle that Chen Xiangzi searched for in the Yan Kingdom when he went north.

Chen Xiangzi clearly burned Chen Ji's body to ashes with his own hands, put it in a jade box and brought it back, and now it's in his hands.

Could there be a mistake?

"What's wrong?" Zhou Chu noticed Chen Xiangzi's unusual behavior and asked.

Chen Xiangzi shook his head and said to A Niu:

"Take me to see your Third Master."

"Okay." Ah Niu nodded and walked home.

As he reached the door of the side room, Ah Niu shouted into the room:

"Third Master, someone's looking for you!"

The door to the side room was tightly closed. Ah Niu knocked on the door a few times and then tried to push it open, but he couldn't get it open no matter what he did.

"Third Master, are you inside?"

A hoarse man's voice came from inside the house:

"Who's looking for me?"

"Yes……"

Before Ah Niu could finish speaking, the man inside said again:

Tell them I'm not here.

Zhou Chu watched from the side the whole time. From the moment the person inside spoke the first word, Chen Xiangzi's expression became more and more unnatural.

Based on what had happened before, he had a rough idea of ​​what was going on.

It's unacceptable for anyone to have a loved one whose body they cremated suddenly return to their home.

Chen Xiangzi walked slowly forward, hesitated for a long time before finally knocking on the door with trembling hands:

"Third Uncle, it's me."

squeak--

The door opened, and a middle-aged man who looked to be around forty years old walked out of the house.

Looking at the man's appearance, Zhou Chu was reminded of the corpse he had seen at Black Wind Ridge that day.

He personally witnessed Chen Xiangzi burn the body to ashes and put it in a box.

I can't believe I saw one alive again today. This is just too weird.

Xu Yuan and Zhao Ji were unaware of these matters, so they didn't feel anything; the silent man outside the door never came in.

Zhou Chu and Chen Xiangzi felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave, frozen in place and unable to move.

Chen Ji walked out and stood in front of Chen Xiangzi:

"I heard that my nephew went north to find me? He must have suffered a lot."

"Yes, yes... When did Uncle return?"

"As for me..." Chen Ji said, his gaze falling on the jade box held in Chen Xiangzi's hands:

"It's a long story. Come on in and let your third uncle tell you all about it."

"Um... I haven't seen my father yet since I got back, so I'll visit my uncle later." Chen Xiangzi said, and was about to leave.

"What's the rush? It's fine to go back later." Chen Ji grabbed Chen Xiangzi's arm. "You used to pester your third uncle to play with you every day when you were little, why are you acting so distant now?"

Having said that, he took out a handful of loose silver coins, tossed them to Ah Niu, and said:

"Go to the street and buy some good wine, then cut some cooked meat and bring it back. Keep the rest of the money to buy sugar figurines."

"Yes, Third Master." Ah Niu took the silver and scurried towards the door.

"Who are these people?" Chen Ji asked Chen Xiangzi, looking at Zhou Chu and the others.

"These are all my good friends," Chen Xiangzi said perfunctorily, without introducing the group to Chen Ji.

Chen Ji didn't mind and laughed:

"Since we're friends, come in and sit down. We'll wait for Ah Niu to buy some wine and meat, and then we can eat whatever we want."

Xu Yuan wisely said this time:

"Since you're having a family reunion, we outsiders won't disturb you. We were just saying we were going out for a stroll."

As he spoke, he nudged Zhou Chu, who nodded, indicating that he thought the same thing.

Chen Ji held Chen Xiangzi's hand tightly, and smiled as he addressed Zhou Chu and the others:

"In that case, I will not insist that you stay any longer. I will host a banquet for you at a restaurant on the street tomorrow."

After thanking Chen Ji, the group took their leave.

As I reached the door, I suddenly heard Chen Ji say:

"Take care, everyone. Be careful out there."

The group assumed Chen Ji was just being polite, and after humming and hawing in agreement, they left the courtyard.

Xu Yuan turned around and watched Chen Xiangzi and Chen Ji enter the room, close the door, and said:

"Why did he tell us to be careful? Didn't Chen Xiangzi say that their Chen Family Village was... right, a place where no one picks up lost items and doors are left unlocked at night?"

No one picks up lost items on the road, and doors are left unlocked at night. The people are simple and honest, and there is no distinction between gentlemen and villains.

This is the description Chen Xiangzi used most often when talking about Chenjiazhuang.

Since arriving here, Zhou Chu has felt a strange sense of oppression, but otherwise everything has been normal.

In broad daylight, under the clear sky, with so many people on the street, what is there to be careful about?

Zhao Ji said noncommittally:

"It's probably because of different local customs that he said that. Besides, with Zhou Chu around, we don't need to worry about anything."

Zhou Chu had almost forgotten that oppressive feeling, but after hearing Chen Ji's words, his heart jumped again.