Chapter 1210: Chapter 627: Night Stroll?
After embarking on the Westward Journey, where would she find the time to join in such excitement? And in the Bashe Forest... the demons of Hidden Stream wouldn’t understand the concept of celebrating the New Year. What fun would it be to play alone?
After all, this was Granny Liu’s kitchen, and Ning Xiaoxian had no intention of acting like a host instead of a guest. However, her hands were fast, and with her assistance, Granny Liu found that the speed of preparing dinner greatly increased. The household rarely had such an abundance of meat, and Ning Xiaoxian had given a lot of Silver, so Granny Liu prepared dishes like boiled pork blood sausage and sautéed meat. She slaughtered the pig herself, and the blood sausage was very plump, brightly colored when cut, and had a unique fragrant flavor. Outside was still a world of ice and snow, with fruits and vegetables hard to come by. The old woman originally wanted to treat the two distinguished guests with pork butcher’s feast. But then she reconsidered; these young people were used to fine clothes and food, and might not be able to eat such food.
When Ning Xiaoxian lived in Huaxia, she only lived in the Southern regions and didn’t have much contact with these Northern-style dishes. Smelling the aroma now, she smiled to herself.
The kitchen was filled with smoke, and the pot sizzled with fat. Granny Liu suddenly said in a low voice to her: "Your husband doesn’t seem easy to get along with, does he?" Although the man outside was handsome, he was as cold as ice, and this girl must have endured a lot.
This struck a chord with her. Ning Xiaoxian nodded vigorously, gritting her teeth and saying, "He has a terribly strange temper, always wanting to hit and scold!"
Granny Liu empathized, speaking with some sympathy: "When my old man was young, he also had a bad temper. Sigh, I suffered a lot at that time too." But this black-clad husband didn’t seem like an ordinary person. If the young girl put her heart entirely on him, she would probably endure much more than she did.
The two of them whispered in the kitchen while Changtian sat in the hall, his jaw tightened, looking somewhat resigned.
This cheeky girl, was she saying it on purpose for him to hear?
Indeed, the meal was eaten in silence. Changtian didn’t like mortal food, only randomly eating a few bites, his golden eyes occasionally landing on her, seemingly lost in thought. But Ning Xiaoxian still didn’t look at him directly. Only Old Man Zeng praised his wife, saying: "What you made today is exceptionally good!"
Granny Liu laughed and scolded: "Just eat your food and stop blabbering! Miss Ning helped me; otherwise, you two would have been starving tonight!"
The couple’s banter helped resolve the awkward atmosphere at the table.
After all, facing two aging mortals, Changtian restrained all his aura, allowing the two elders to gradually relax. Old Man Zeng even went inside to fetch a jar of rice wine. Ning Xiaoxian and her companion naturally didn’t drink, but he didn’t mind, drinking merrily by himself. As he got tipsy, he said with a smile: "You’re quite lucky to be staying on this side of the Gobi Beach tonight. On the other side, there’s a Wu Family Village, where every few days after the New Year, Night Patrol Deities wander around. Half a year ago, this became even more terrifying. If they encountered someone, they might even take a life casually."
"Night Patrol Deity?" Ning Xiaoxian had only tasted a few bites, feeling full. She was curious now; during her Westward travels, she’d covered millions of miles and seen very few Night Patrol Deities. Though called "deities," they were a kind of small human-like creature with red cheeks and shoulders, nocturnal, preferring to wander and prey at night. Generally, Night Patrol Deities didn’t eat people; could the ones in Wu Family Village be a variant?
Granny Liu’s face tightened, tapping Old Man Zeng on the back of the head: "Are you drunk? Why talk about such unlucky things at night?" There’s a saying among the people that talking about ghosts and spirits at night will invite them to the door.
Old Man Zeng muttered an "uh" apologetically, "Forgive me, forgive me, as one gets older, it’s easy to get muddled..."
Before his words were finished, Changtian had already stood up and said to Ning Xiaoxian, "I’m done eating," then turned and went into his room.
Ning Xiaoxian ignored him, only asking Old Man Zeng, "What’s the deal with the Night Patrol Deities in Wu Family Village?"
Old Man Zeng meekly refused to speak further, clearly showing that Night Patrol Deities were indeed infamous in the area. Ning Xiaoxian didn’t press him, changing the topic and chatting for a while before going to the room Granny Liu had prepared for her.
There was only a mud wall between her and Changtian, one that anyone could easily poke through, push down. Yet it was so quiet over there, as if no one was there. She used Divine Power to listen at the corner of the wall, almost putting her ear against the mud wall, but after midnight, she still heard nothing, not even a slight sound from that side.
She inexplicably felt a bit sad.
Had this guy just lain down flat as soon as he entered the room, without even getting up to walk around or drink water? She knew that Changtian almost didn’t need sleep.
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