The village's cheers swept the two seven-year-old children like a tide into the clearing at its center.
The old village chief's courtyard had already been cleared out. Several battered wooden tables had been pushed together, laden with coarse-grain flatbreads, a pot of vegetable soup, and several plates of watermelon, with a few scattered cubes of meat floating in the soup.
Tang San and Xiao Wu were pressed into the seats of honor. A woman thrust a coarse-grain flatbread into Xiao Wu's hands, her gaze eager. "Our village is terribly poor, so we can't properly entertain our two little heroes. Please don't turn your noses up at it."
Xiao Wu accepted the flatbread a little shyly and nodded her thanks. Tang San also picked up a flatbread and took a bite, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, but he did not see the old village chief.
"Where did the old village chief go?" he asked the woman.
"The chief? Oh, he said he was going out back to fetch something good." The woman grinned. "You two little heroes worked so hard. We have to feed you properly."
Tang San asked nothing more, but secretly extended Blue Silver Grass from beneath him, sending it into the ground. It spread silently, bit by bit, until it covered the entire clearing.
What the three Red Boars had said made him feel that this village was not so simple. It was better to remain on guard, but he sincerely hoped he was worrying too much.
Nearly a quarter of an hour later, Lao Sun returned, leaning on a walking stick and trembling as he walked, carrying a plate of meat. The meat had been cut into neat squares, drizzled with sauce, and was steaming hot-a stark contrast to the rough fare on the table.
"What's