Xia Nan's questions received no answer.
When the strange little wooden cabin was mentioned, the abnormal reaction of the villager leading the way caught his attention.
But when he tried to ask for more information, the villager seemed to have some unknown taboo. He clamped his mouth shut and did not even dare make another sound, only lowering his head and hurrying on.
That left Xia Nan's original plan—to use casual conversation along the road to probe for information inside Fog Lamp Village—with nowhere to begin.
Fortunately, the stiff, silent atmosphere did not last long.
The appearance of a familiar figure, just like when he had first arrived in the village earlier, broke the dead silence in the air.
"Uncle Jem, I... huff, I'll take over!"
Along with a rush of hurried footsteps, a panting young voice came from behind.
The newcomer was Winter Tree.
This young man with his youthful face had clearly already followed the instructions of his big brother Aspen. After leading Xia Nan to the wooden house where the village chief lived, he had gone back to take a shower.
Now, before his hair had even fully dried, he had rushed over again.
"The village chief and big brother Aspen already told me. There happens to be an empty house on the east side of the village. I can take Mr. Xia Nan there. You can go handle your own business."
Already feeling embarrassed and uneasy from Xia Nan's questions, the villager named "Jem" immediately let out a sigh of relief when he heard Winter Tree say this.
After offering only a few polite reminders like "treat him well" and "don't neglect him," he turned and left without lingering, as if he had set down some heavy burden.
Xia Nan naturally had no objections to this.