Dinner

As soon as the sun set, the world without a light source was instantly left with only the colorful afterglow at the horizon.

Inside the pitch-black room, a single kerosene lamp sat in the very center of the table.

It illuminated every corner of the room.

It also shone on the faces of everyone seated in a circle.

The small room contained only this Black Round Wooden Table and ten Black Wooden Chairs.

Halfway through, the old man came in and silently removed one of the Black Wooden Chairs.

The doorframe embedded in the Black Soil held a crudely made wooden door.

It had not been painted at all.

Perhaps the atmosphere was too oppressive. After entering, everyone silently sat in their seats and waited for dinner.

Toothless Pajama Man and the uncle in capri pants sitting across from him stared each other down through the kerosene lamp.

With nothing else to do, he could only keep stomping his feet rhythmically.

"This village is too strange." The man in sportswear, who had spoken little until now, broke the silence first after some thought.

He vividly remembered the commotion when the Red-faced Dolls had been pierced through today.

"There isn't a single thing about this village that isn't strange." Seeing someone speak, Toothless Pajama Man immediately joined in.

"Those two dolls were clearly two children under the red sun today..." The man in sportswear seemed to be talking to himself and did not directly answer Toothless Pajama Man.

"..." Toothless Pajama Man craned his neck and saw the two cloth dolls lying in the darkness behind the man's chair.

No matter how he looked at them, they were clearly not the size of children.

"My vegetables were fresh at the time too. When I brought them out, they were already wilted."

Bangs Woman glanced at the short woman beside her from the corner of her eye. She clearly remembered that while she herself had been drenched in sweat, the short woman had done nothing.

She had merely turned aside to avoid the Wild Boar's charge.

"Looks like everything everyone brought out of the red sun changed. But why?" The uncle in capri pants was not blind to the situation before him.

He was not far from the wine jar beside him.

When it shattered overhead, he had nearly thought that string of useless firecrackers had gone off again.

Zheng Wuyou sat in the seat farthest from the door, rhythmically tapping her fingers against the tabletop.

The Little Girl quietly waited at her left for dinner.

Not everything had changed.

The Wild Boar Navy Blue Pajamas had dragged out on her right was a genuine Wild Boar.

Along with the wine jar that had turned into muddy yellow earth.

The firecrackers that had burned out completely.

The wilted vegetables.

And the shrunken cloth dolls.

No matter how one looked at it, the things prepared for this wedding banquet did not seem like things living people should use.

"By the way, miss, how did you know the red sun would appear in the final minute? And how did you pinpoint every house so accurately?" The uncle in capri pants, seated closest to the door, watched the old man's trembling figure open the crude wooden door.

As he spoke, he tactfully stood and took the large bowl from the old man's hands.

The ground was already uneven.

He was afraid the old man might accidentally drop the bowl.

Here, it was better to avoid trouble whenever possible.

Zheng Wuyou did not answer.

Only after the old man left the Rough House again did the nine pairs of eyes fix on the large bowl of Corn Porridge in the middle of the table.

Only then did Zheng Wuyou slowly say, "The red sun... I was just lucky."

She could not directly admit that, in those final minutes, she had only been able to gamble.

Sometimes, a little concealment was better for everyone.

"As for solving the puzzle, I'm not being modest, but he really contributed more." Zheng Wuyou pointed to Toothless Pajama Man, seated two places to her right.

The meaning behind her words was clear.

Without him deciphering Sun about to feed, she would not have deduced the next step.

For the first time since arriving here, Toothless Pajama Man could not hide the joy on his face. He hurriedly waved his hands, saying it was nothing.

"You're too kind, you're too kind."

"So you still haven't said how you solved it." Bangs Woman picked up a spoon and ladled Corn Porridge into the bowl in front of her.

She watched it slosh in the bowl but did not take a bite. Unlike several of the others, reason occupied her mind at this moment.

She harbored a trace of hostility toward Zheng Wuyou.

This brown-haired short-haired woman always seemed to notice the clues before anyone else.

And avoided every detour while solving the puzzles.

If she was not truly clever, then she was probably an insider.

Sure enough, after showing off, she had to face suspicion.

Zheng Wuyou looked at Bangs Woman's unsteady shadow behind her, fully aware of this.

Earlier, she had planned to stay hidden and enjoy herself.

If time had not been so tight, she would not have taken those Lists and examined them one by one.

She sighed inwardly. What was coming could not be avoided after all.

"The old man said to find Old Zhu, but Old Zhu said there was lodging. That was one chain of clues. Missing any step, we wouldn't have made it here. When you first enter the village along the path, you can see the vegetable garden. Your List was related to the garden, and it pointed west. The sun sets down the slope. That was careful observation."

Zheng Wuyou traced a circle on the table with her hand, moving from left to right.

This was a concession she made so everyone could get along harmoniously over the next few days.

"Sunset is west, so north is to the right. This is therefore the easiest house to deduce." As she spoke, Zheng Wuyou pointed toward the Backyard of the Wooden House they were currently in.

It was also the destination for the only three-person team tonight.

"What's your name?" Following the explanation based on the Lists she remembered, Zheng Wuyou looked at the man in sportswear and realized that they were still strangers who did not know one another's names.

"Sun Wu. Sun as in Sun Wukong, Wu as in martial arts."

"Your name fits well. Sun Wu's List said to encounter a river, and the river was to the east. A new tire goes in headfirst, not tailfirst, so it was most likely the first house on the east side. Twin Horses was also to the east..." As she said this, Zheng Wuyou's gaze shifted to Toothless Pajama Man again.

The meaning in her eyes was clear.

"My name is Wen Dian. Wen as in literature, Dian as in one dot."

As soon as he stated his name, the uncle in capri pants nodded in satisfaction.

It suited his temperament well.

Sure enough, naming someone was a form of literature too.

Wen Dian did not forget to nudge the burly man beside him with his elbow, signaling for him to follow.

The burly man was somewhat unwilling, but he still spoke.

"I'm Guo Mu. Guo as in Guo Furong, Mu as in wood."

Zheng Wuyou smiled politely. Fortunately, these were people willing to cooperate.

"Wen Dian and Guo Mu's carrying wine jars was unclear, but the houses to the east were all dead wood. Only the third one had a Willow Tree with green buds by its entrance. Twin Horses align at the bank. The alley leading to the bamboo raft was behind the third house in the east, so there's no need to spell that out. Uncle?"

"Cai Anhua. Miss, just call me Uncle Cai. I'm almost as old as this little girl's father."

Uncle Cai still looked simple and honest as he swallowed the Corn Porridge in one mouthful.

He looked extremely satisfied.

"Alright. Uncle Cai's clue was also east, but it mentioned two directions: the banquet spreading over from the west, and the firecrackers burning in the east. The banquet must have extended out from the host family's home, all the way to the houses in the east. Both the middle and end of the eastern side met the conditions."

"There's one final point: One Sheep Enters Alone. Only by being sandwiched in the middle could it embody the meaning of entering alone. From that, we can determine that Old Zhu's family was the second house in the west. There's no need to say the rest. Just work backward using the key information the little girl gave us."

Having explained things to this extent.

In Zheng Wuyou's view, whether they understood now depended on themselves.

Uncle Cai nodded as though he understood, then gave the young woman across from him a thumbs-up.

"Miss, what should we call you?"