It has to be said that Huang Youcai was pretty famous around here now. From the village entrance all the way in, whether people knew him or not, they all respectfully called him President Huang or Brother Cai, but he mostly ignored them, hurrying anxiously toward the outside.

When he got to the car, Huang Youcai hurriedly pressed himself up to the driver’s side window and respectfully called out, "Brother Xuan," then greeted Liu Ruyan and the others.

"We’ve been waiting for you like waiting for the stars and the moon. These days everyone’s been hoping you’d come back for the New Year!"

Liu Zixuan laughed. "Is it really that serious? Stars and moon and everything."

"That’s putting it lightly. Everyone here knows how to be grateful. If it weren’t for you back then, Lingxiu Village would probably still be that place full of bad customs where no man dared come near!" Huang Youcai sighed, then directly pointed behind him. "We were rushed, so we didn’t have time to prepare anything too elaborate."

"Prepare what?" Liu Zixuan and Liu Ruyan and the others all made a puzzled sound and looked toward that road, only to suddenly see many villagers of Lingxiu Village, all wearing the same outfits they’d worn when worshipping the Divine Maiden back then, standing in two rows holding all sorts of colorful things.

In the middle there were also big drums and trumpets and such instruments, looking for all the world like a grand welcoming ceremony.

The corner of Liu Zixuan’s mouth twitched a few times. "This is way too formal. It’s like you’re welcoming some big-shot government official or something."

"To tell you the truth, even if the city’s number one leader came, he wouldn’t get this kind of treatment." Huang Youcai didn’t get in the car either. He strode forward to the middle of the road, then raised his voice and shouted at the top of his lungs.

At once, the sound of gongs and drums burst out.

Liu Zixuan grinned, started the car, and slowly drove over in that direction. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

When the tourists and drivers who had just heard him yelling for people to clear the way on the road saw Liu Zixuan driving over, they were all stunned.

They’d thought Huang Youcai was heading out, or that they were welcoming some government figure, but unexpectedly, the person being welcomed was the very Liu Zixuan they’d just been looking down on.

That really made their faces burn with embarrassment.

"I heard even when Mayor Wang of Yuqing City came last time, the setup wasn’t this grand!"

"Who on earth is this guy?"

"He said he’s a villager here, but what kind of ’villager’ gets this sort of treatment!"

Amid the murmurs of the crowd, they finally passed this congested stretch of road. When they reached the village entrance, Liu Zixuan stopped the car and got out.

"Hurry up and have everyone wrap it up. It’s so cold, they’ll all catch a chill out here."

Huang Youcai nodded and quickly told everyone to head back, but before he could say anything more, those beautiful female villagers, like wives seeing their husbands finally return after a long time away, all shrieked with joy and charged straight at Liu Zixuan.

Just imagine it: dozens of great beauties rushing toward a single man. What a spectacular scene.

The tourists could only stare at this, shocked and deeply envious.

Once upon a time, they too had had such scenes in their dreams—countless beauties surging toward them.

But alas, theirs were only dreams. For Liu Zixuan, this was reality!

Even though Liu Zixuan was already trying to fend them off, in just a moment his face was covered with red lipstick marks, and his ears were filled with all those sweet-voiced cries of "Brother Xuan" and "Hubby Xuan," really making him feel like he’d become the Emperor.

"Everyone, our Brother Xuan of Lingxiu Village is back today. All tourist spots will be closed to the public. For the next few days, please don’t come. We’ll talk again after the New Year."

Taking advantage of the opening, Huang Youcai shouted this to the tourists.

For a moment everyone was puzzled, but before long they remembered how important the character "Xuan" was in Lingxiu Village.

They all vaguely remembered hearing that in Lingxiu Village there was a name that every beauty yearned for: Liu Zixuan. They even used him as the standard for choosing a spouse, which had left all those guys who came to confess their love beaten back in disgrace and slinking away dejectedly.

With no choice, they could only leave dispirited. In their eyes, Liu Zixuan was basically the god of Lingxiu Village. Once he appeared, all other halos had to disappear.

Watching those people leave, Liu Zixuan wiped the lipstick from his face and said, "Isn’t this a bit much? They came all this way."

"What’s ’too much’ about it? There’ll be plenty of chances later anyway. Today you’re the boss; everything revolves around you."

Huang Youcai leaned close to Liu Zixuan with a grin. "I just told Sister Lian and the others you were coming back. Sister Lian shouted it all over the village. Everyone’s getting ready for a village feast tonight."

Liu Zixuan shrugged. "Alright. It’s been a long time since I’ve chatted with everyone. Let’s all get together, and I’ll bring some small gifts for them while we’re at it."

"Perfect!"

With that, Huang Youcai and that group of beautiful female villagers led Liu Zixuan and the rest into the village.

When they got to the entrance of the old clinic, if Liu Zixuan hadn’t persuaded them that they’d see him again later, those beauties would probably have stripped him on the spot. Led by Hu Lijing, that whole group of female villagers only reluctantly left after each of them had taken the chance to cop a feel off him.

Huang Youcai gave Liu Zixuan a big thumbs up, full of envy. "In all the land, you’re the only man who can make so many beauties fall for him at the same time!"

"If I actually agreed to them all, I’d probably be the first man in the world to die of kidney failure," Liu Zixuan muttered irritably, then turned and walked into the clinic courtyard.

"Brother Xuan!"

As soon as he stepped into the courtyard, a voice that could make your bones go weak rang out. Little loli Doudou came flying out the door, rushing to Liu Zixuan at top speed.

Without a word, she opened her arms and leapt forward, throwing herself straight into his embrace.

Liu Zixuan picked Doudou up with great affection and habitually pinched her cheek. "Whoa, a few months apart and my Doudou’s grown into a big beauty already!"

"I wasn’t a little kid to begin with." Doudou pouted unhappily.

"Alright, alright." Liu Zixuan tapped Doudou on the nose. "Did you miss me?"

"Smooch!" Doudou planted a kiss on Liu Zixuan. "What do you think?"

"You little minx." Liu Ruyan walked over too, looking at the adorable Doudou. "So you only missed your Brother Xuan and didn’t miss me at all, huh?"

"Ruyan Sis." Doudou slipped out of Liu Zixuan’s arms and hugged Liu Ruyan, snuggling against her for quite a while before the two of them walked inside together.

"Is... is that a leopard?" Third Sister An suddenly pointed at the blue leopard lying on the ground off to one side of the courtyard.

This unusual blue leopard was the one Liu Zixuan had brought back from the mountains when he went to retrieve the Profound Thunder Needle. It had a special bond with Doudou, so she’d been the one taking care of it all this time.

Liu Zixuan nodded. "This leopard is really special. Not only does it look different from other leopards, it’s also incredibly intelligent."

As he spoke, Liu Zixuan waved at the blue leopard. "Little Blue, you see your master and you’re still not coming over?"