"Alright, my place is just ahead."
"Don't worry, it's safe here. There's an unspoken rule in the village: without the owner's permission, you shouldn't casually enter someone else's house, because it can easily cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Guided by the middle-aged man's voice, Hu Deping entered a small courtyard.
There was a mud-brick house, a well, and a stone mill in the courtyard. A donkey carved from wood had been fitted over the handle of the stone mill.
Hu Deping looked at it curiously a few times.
Suddenly, the wooden donkey's eyes, as large as copper bells, snapped open and stared over eerily.
"Holy crap!"
Hu Deping was badly startled, his heart filled with terror.
Was this wooden donkey alive?
"Don't be afraid. It's very docile. Aside from grinding grain, it can't do anything else," the middle-aged man said gently.
"You think it's docile because you're its owner..."
Hu Deping grumbled inwardly a couple of times.
He went around the donkey and cautiously entered the dilapidated house.
Unexpectedly,
the house looked shabby from the outside, but was quite tidy inside. Aside from the somewhat old furniture, everything was spotless, without a trace of dust.
There was no trace of the chilly aura lingering throughout the village in the air, either.
Moreover, its overall layout differed from the mud-brick houses commonly found in the countryside. The interior was more like the floor plan of an urban apartment building.
This gave Hu Deping a slight sense of incongruity.
"Rest here for now. Don't wander around these next few days. You can stay in the room on the left, and you can use the living room and kitchen as well. But don't go into the bedroom on the right or the basement."
"If you hear anything strange, don't pay attention to it. And don't