NOVEL SIMPLE Star of the Village
Madam Xie’s house was not far from where they were.
Even going by her slow walking pace, it did not take more than five minutes for them to arrive.
Surprisingly, this old lady was staying in a rather large compound – almost half as big as the inn that the Mystic Cavalry was staying at.
Zhao Yunxiao saw Madam Xie all the way to her door, which had apparently been left unlocked as she just pushed it open without issue.
“I shall take my leave and not disturb you from taking a rest then,” Zhao Yunxiao said. “Take care.”
Madam Xie turned around to look at him, then beckoned to him with a deep frown.
“Are you inviting me in?” Zhao Yunxiao was rather surprised.
Judging from Madam Xie’s earlier behaviour, he had imagined that she would be a very grumpy and negative person.
Therefore, he was already surprised enough that she had not been opposed to him helping her home.
For her to invite him into her house was truly beyond his expectations.
In fact, had she not been an ordinary villager, Zhao Yunxiao might even be worried that she was trying to set a trap for him here!
“I shall impose for a while then,” Zhao Yunxiao accepted the invitation.
He had time to spare anyway, so there was no harm in spending some time here if it could make this grieving old lady feel better.
“Sorry to disturb!” Zhao Yunxiao deliberately said it out loud as he entered the house.
If there were other occupants in the house, they would probably show their faces upon hearing him.
However, his loud exclamation was only answered with a quick glance from Madam Xie.
As he had suspected, Madam Xie was likely to be staying alone.
And that assumption was further corroborated by what he saw upon entering the house.
It was a large place with decent furnishings, but it was also poorly maintained.
Dust was accumulating in the corners of the house, as well as on the various counters that one would not commonly access.
Who knew how long it had been since someone last cleaned the house?
If there was anyone else staying here with Madam Xie, then surely they would have done something about this?
But if Madam Xie was truly staying here alone, then it was not a surprise that the house had ended up like this, considering her current mental state.
Then again, there was no need for mere guesswork at this point.
He was already at the house, so he could easily find out just by looking around.
The only problem was that, no matter how curious he was, it was inappropriate for a guest to just start looking around the house without permission.
Thankfully, he was a cultivator.
Zhao Yunxiao casually extended his spiritual sense to examine the house.
It was still rather inappropriate to do so, but the curious Zhao Yunxiao tried to justify his actions by thinking that at least this was not the house of any young maidens.
It was just a quick look to satisfy his curiosity, and it was not like Madam Xie would ever find out that he had inspected her house in such a manner!
There were numerous rooms in this large house.
As he scanned through them one by one, Zhao Yunxiao saw that these rooms were just as neglected as the front hall.
Zhao Yunxiao did not know if there used to be many people staying in the house and occupying the various rooms. But from the looks of it, Madam Xie was definitely staying alone right now.
Hmm?
Zhao Yunxiao suddenly frowned as his spiritual sense caught onto something strange.
In one of the rooms, there was actually a small compartment camouflaged as part of the floor.
Was that where Madam Xie kept her secret stash?
Upon returning home, the old lady headed straight into the room with the floor compartment and put the rattle toy down on the dressing table.
One might mistake this as Madam Xie’s room due to that, but that could not be the case either.
That was because only one room in the house had a bed that was not covered in dust, and this was not it.
If she had been sleeping in the bed every night, there was simply no way that this much dust could accumulate on the surface.
Unless Madam Xie usually slept on the floor?
Zhao Yunxiao would not put that past her, especially given her current mental state.
“May I have a seat?” Zhao Yunxiao called out.
Madam Xie had ignored him after inviting him in, so Zhao Yunxiao had just been awkwardly standing at the door ever since entering the house.
Seeing that there was no response, Zhao Yunxiao simply walked to the table.
But before he had time to take a seat, Madam Xie reappeared from within the room, beckoning to him once again with a frown on her face.
“You want me to go over there?” Zhao Yunxiao asked.
Madam Xie responded by beckoning to him with larger movements, almost as though she was irritated that Zhao Yunxiao had not gotten it the first time.
Despite feeling slightly confused by Madam Xie’s actions, Zhao Yunxiao went along with it, entering the room that Madam Xie was in.
Once Zhao Yunxiao came over, Madam Xie moved aside and pointed to an empty spot on the floor.
Zhao Yunxiao instantly knew what she was pointing at.
That empty spot on the floor was exactly where he had detected the small compartment in the floor earlier.
He had to admit that this floor compartment was very well constructed.
Even with his enhanced senses as a cultivator, it would be almost impossible to distinguish it from the rest of the floor with just his bare eyes.
“...What is it?” Zhao Yunxiao asked hesitantly, not wanting to immediately expose the fact that he knew about the floor compartment.
“Below,” Madam Xie answered.
Right, she could speak.
Madam Xie had been silent ever since she left her usual seat in the bamboo chair out on the streets, so Zhao Yunxiao had almost forgotten that she was capable of speech.
“Below the floor?” Zhao Yunxiao probed once more.
“Below the floor,” Madam Xie confirmed.
It would appear that Madam Xie was being completely transparent about the existence of the floor compartment.
Realising that, Zhao Yunxiao slowly walked over and tapped on the empty spot with his foot.
It was solid, and definitely did not sound like there was an open space beneath.
Now that he had taken a closer look, there were also no handles or gaps that could be used to pry open the compartment.
Had Madam Xie been unable to access the contents within the floor compartment because of that?
Wait, was that why she had wanted him to come with her in the first place? To help her with this?
Zhao Yunxiao looked at Madam Xie in surprise.
The old lady was looking right back at him, not shying away from the eye contact.
At this moment, he saw absolutely no signs of madness in her eyes.
Instead, what he saw was a light of determination.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a smile.
Interesting.
He had thought that he was doing a good deed by helping the old lady home, but was it actually just part of the old lady’s plan?
Or was this something that the old lady had only thought of upon Zhao Yunxiao’s arrival at her house?
Regardless, a space that was hidden away in such a manner had to be important in one way or another, at least to the owner of the house.
To trust a stranger like him with it, this Madam Xie was likely to be taking a gamble here.
Zhao Yunxiao turned his attention back to the empty spot on the floor.
Without a handle or any gaps to pry it open, ordinary mortals would have no choice but to break open the surface if they wanted to access the contents within.
Thankfully, that was not the case for Zhao Yunxiao.
He squatted down beside the floor compartment and gently placed his hand on the floor.
By channelling essence energy through his fingers, Zhao Yunxiao was able to use it as some sort of adhesive, attaching his hand to the cover of the compartment.
With that, he easily pulled open the cover of the floor compartment, revealing the small space beneath.
“Ah!” Madam Xie exclaimed in surprise, clearly not expecting it to be done in such a simple fashion.
“What is that?” Zhao Yunxiao asked after seeing what lay within.
It was a small compartment in the first place, so not much could have fitted within.
There was only a single wooden box, albeit one that was almost large enough to fill the entire compartment.
Zhao Yunxiao had asked out of mere curiosity, but Madam Xie’s response took him completely by surprise.
“Monkey,” Madam Xie pointed to the wooden box and said.
Zhao Yunxiao narrowed his eyes in alarm and looked at the wooden box.
Without hesitation, he reached into the floor compartment and retrieved the box, before placing it on the floor.
The wooden box had a ledge for a lock, but there was no lock attached.
Zhao Yunxiao habitually examined the box for traps. Once he determined that there were none, he immediately opened it up.
As the contents within were revealed, Zhao Yunxiao could not help but furrow his brows.
Within the box were stacks of paper, their surfaces filled with words written in moderately bad handwriting.
Thankfully, it was still not to the extent of being illegible.
There was nothing else in the box, but this alone was already more than enough.
[I found a strange looking baby monkey while fishing by the river just now. It has red hair all over its body, but its two arms are surprisingly covered in black hair. I waited for a bit, but its companions never showed up. It seemed to be really hungry after being separated from its troop too, so I just decided to bring it back to the village to nurse it back to health for now. Hopefully this is the right choice, and its parents will not be too worried.]
Zhao Yunxiao had a bad feeling as he started reading through the contents.
[The baby monkey is really active and sociable, so everyone has grown to adore it. The villagers asked me to give it a name, but I do not really want to. After all, I would have to release it back to the wilds eventually, so perhaps it is best not to grow too attached to it.]
[Little Blackarms seems to have grown attached to me after these few days. When I tried to release him in the forest where I found him, he actually refused to go! Since that is the case, I decided that I might as well just bring him back to the village instead. I named him ‘Little Blackarms’ because of his looks. My wife doesn’t seem too pleased with the name, but I still think it is quite a good name!]
[Little Blackarms is quite the troublemaker! Today, he sneaked into Village Head Fu’s house and caused a mess again. Village Head Fu was furious, and I got quite the scolding as a result. Could it be that Little Blackarms is bored? I heard that many of the kids in town play with rattle toys. Perhaps I should try to make one for him as well...]
[The rattle toy idea is a huge success! Not only does Little Blackarms love it, but the kids in the village also do as well. Now, practically everyone in the village is asking me to make one for them. Perhaps Little Blackarms is actually a lucky star sent to me by the heavens!]
[Now that Little Blackarms has his toy, he is no longer the troublemaker of the past. Everyone is really starting to adore him more and more. The kids come to play with him whenever they are free, and the villagers will feed him with whatever they have in excess. It really feels like Little Blackarms has become the star of the village! It feels good to see that he is being loved, but I cannot help but feel slightly jealous. Is this how it feels to have a child?]
The stack of paper appeared to be something like a diary, recording incidents that had happened in the past.
These records had been lighthearted and joyous so far.
But as Zhao Yunxiao read on, they slowly began to take a turn for the worse...