After the old man’s explanation, Lin Fei understood the reason. This village is called Dahuai Tree Village, and the village chief’s name was Huang Er. However, Huang Er was later captured, reportedly due to murder.

Later, Lin Fei learned that after the village chief was caught, the village did not elect a new chief. But around seven or eight years ago, suddenly someone saw a wild man chasing ducks in the village. The villagers were so frightened that they didn’t dare come out. But after the wild man caught two ducks, he headed deep into the mountains and never returned.

The wild man occasionally appeared later, but only to catch chickens, ducks, and geese. Sometimes, he even brought wild birds like pheasants to the village, throwing them to the villagers. The villagers thought the wild man was a good person, so they didn’t pay much attention to him.

Sometimes after the wild man’s appearance, villagers would even give him ducks. But if they tried to approach him, he would flee. Eventually, the villagers stopped bothering with him. When someone’s chickens, ducks, or geese were caught by the wild man, they didn’t care.

Afterwards, a new village chief, Wang Qiang, arrived. The new chief wanted to drive the wild man away, but the wild man accidentally killed the new chief. Since then, the villagers have been afraid of the wild man.

"Alas! I can see that the wild man is a good kid. It was an accident that he killed the chief. Imagine with a wave of his big palm, even an adult could be killed instantly, let alone Wang Qiang who was a skinny guy," the old man said.

Lin Fei frowned deeply. All this indicated that the wild man should be human, otherwise he wouldn’t have these habits and even interact with people.

"Old man, when does the wild man usually appear? Is there a regular pattern? And do you know where his cave is?" Lin Fei asked several questions in succession.

The old man was bewildered by Lin Fei’s questions. He replied one by one, "The wild man doesn’t have a specific time for appearing; he just comes occasionally. As for his lair, no one knows. Some say they heard the wild man lived in a tree, while others say he lived in a cave. But whenever someone tries to find him, he’s never in the discovered place."

Lin Fei nodded. His desire to find the wild man seemed to be extinguished. The depths of these vast mountains were like a bottomless pit; it was impossible to find someone.

And even if a person stood in front of you in this dense forest, you might not even know it.

What did Lin Fei used to be? A mercenary! A Mercenary King! How could he forget these evasion habits? But it was strange why he suddenly thought of this?

"It seems we need to stay for a few days. Old man, do you have a spare room for us to stay? How about letting the two of us stay for a few days? Don’t worry, I’ll give you two hundred bucks as rent," Lin Fei said, handing the money to the old man.

"Didn’t you just say you didn’t have any money? It seems city people are indeed not honest. How am I supposed to trust city folks in the future?" the old man said, not accepting the two hundred bucks.

"Old man, please take it," Lin Fei tried to hand the money to the old man again.

But the old man didn’t seem prepared to take the money. "If you want to stay, then stay. We have plenty of empty houses here; we don’t need so much money. This money is enough for us old couples to live for a year," the old man replied.

Upon hearing this, Lin Fei smiled and placed the money in the old man’s hand. "I appreciate you, and I hope you can give me a few steamed buns daily so I can be well fed. I don’t ask for anything else; we’ll eat whatever you eat."

Lin Fei’s kind and gentle demeanor gave a good impression to the old man, who originally didn’t want to accept the money. But since Lin Fei insisted, the old man eventually kept it.

"Let’s go! Follow me home. I’ll take you back; today’s work can be postponed to tomorrow. Let’s go!" The old man led Lin Fei and Gu Mang toward the village.

The village lay deep within the mountains, about five or six miles away. Lin Fei and Gu Mang followed the old man along the rugged mountain path, feeling the hardships of the journey. Lin Fei commented, "Old man, do you have a lot of land to cultivate?"

"Well, my land isn’t much, just two acres. But the grain yield here isn’t high, so we don’t harvest much," the old man said while walking.

Lin Fei smiled and turned to Gu Mang, saying, "Starting tomorrow, you should help the old man plow the fields to train your arm strength."

Upon hearing Lin Fei’s words, Gu Mang obediently nodded. Whatever Lin Fei asked, he immediately did without question or defiance.

Therefore, when Lin Fei requested her to plow the fields, Gu Mang almost didn’t ask any questions and immediately nodded in agreement with Lin Fei. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Lin Fei nodded, but the old man seemed unwilling. "Oh dear, such a small child might not even be able to hold a hoe; how can she go farming? Don’t act recklessly."

"Don’t worry, old man. She’s fine. She was born on a farm; it’s no problem; she can do well," Lin Fei explained.

"It’s not about doing it well or not. She’s too small; how can you let her work? It’s better to forget it." The old man advised Lin Fei, thinking Lin Fei should help with the land instead.

However, Lin Fei had no intention of doing that. As they continued, the trio finally arrived at the old man’s village, named Dahuai Tree Village. This old man’s name was Zhao Desheng, who reportedly was once the village chief but stepped down after three terms. Yet, Dahuai Tree Village still lacks a chief; even villagers with many questions or decisions often seek Zhao Desheng’s solution.

After all, he used to be the old village chief.

The old man brought Lin Fei and Gu Mang home. Lin Fei looked at the dilapidated house built with mud, stones, and straw, feeling the poverty. The kang had only two newspapers on it.

"It’s rather dirty here; try to make do," the old man said, leading them to an empty room and giving Lin Fei and Gu Mang a brief introduction.

They nodded, and Lin Fei smiled, "Don’t worry, we don’t mind."

"If you mind, there’s no choice, hahaha," the old man laughed heartily.

After getting acquainted, the old man knew Lin Fei and Gu Mang were not bad people, so he spoke more freely, communicated better. Since the old man’s children are rarely home, returning only once or twice a year, they hardly communicate, unlike Lin Fei, who seems unperturbed by the old couple.

Therefore, the old man’s goodwill toward Lin Fei quickly increased significantly.