The Shudong area was abundant in rivers and valleys. With towering peaks and a rough terrain, only faint breezes passed the area, causing the majority of places to be enveloped in mist.
Walking straight toward where the left hand pointed, the two of them came upon quite a small village.
A few rails of fencing encircled thatched houses made from mud. A brood of colorful chicks scuttered in and out of the yards, pecking on the ground for rice. A large, bright-feathered rooster stood single-legged on a roof. With a twitching comb, it looked downward loftily, its neck turning left and right. It was fortunate that nobody had any dogs. It was likely that these villagers could only get their hands on a few chunks of meat a year, much less have any leftover bones to feed the dogs.
In front of the village, there was a fork road, leading to three different directions. Of these, two were rather bare. Covered with a great deal of footprints, it was clear that they were often walked upon. Yet, the last one have been overrun with weeds. A square sign made from a piece of rock was positioned slantingly at this road. Subject to age and weathering, the sign was split down the middle with a large crack. Even from within the crack, withered weeds peeked out.
Two large characters, which appeared to be the place that the road led to, had been carved onto the sign. One could manage to tell that the bottom character was the character for "city". However, the top character was complex in both form and brushstrokes. The crack just so happened to have run through it, causing a few broken bits of rock to lay scattered on the ground. Wei WuXian bent down and pushed the weeds aside. Even after staring at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what the character was.
Coincidentally, the direction that the left arm pointed at was indeed this path.
Wei WuXian, "Why don't we ask the villagers?"
Lan WangJi nodded. Of course, Wei WuXian didn't expect him to ask. With a large grin over his face, Wei WuXian walked toward the villager women who were feeding the chicken.
Among the group women, some were old and some were young. Noticing the approach of an unfamiliar man, all of them looked nervous, as if they wanted to throw their dustpans away and flee back inside. Only after Wei WuXian exchanged a few words with them, a cheerful smile on his face, did they finally begin to calm down and respond shyly.
As Wei WuXian pointed at the sign and asked a question, their expressions changed at once. They paused for a moment, and unwillingly started to converse with him. During the chat, they didn't dare to look at Lan WangJi, who stood by the sign, at all. With the corners of his lips still curved upward, Wei WuXian listened intently. Eventually, it seemed as if the topic had switched, and the women's expressions calmed again. They gradually relaxed and started to smile timidly at him.
Lan WangJi stared at them from afar. He waited for a while, but Wei WuXian still didn't seem like he intended to return. Slowly looking to the ground, Lan WangJi kicked a small chunk of rock that was by his feet.
He stepped on it for a long time, rolling the innocent rock over again and again. As he looked up again, he saw Wei WuXian take something from his sleeves and hand it to the woman who spoke the most.
Lan WangJi stood still, a blank look on his face. When he really couldn't control himself anymore, ready to approach them, Wei WuXian finally sauntered over.
He stood back beside Lan WangJi, "HanGuang-Jun, you should've went. There were even rabbits in the yard!"
Lan WangJi didn't react to his teasing comment and responded with feigned indifference, "What have they answered?"
Wei WuXian, "This path leads to Yi City. The first character on the sign is 'yi'."
Lan WangJi, "Yi as in chivalry?"
