The creaking of the village gate remained behind them. The old man supporting Ji Yuan did not let go, instead leading him more than a dozen steps inside, to a house whose outer walls had been plastered with mud.
"Watch your step, sir. The threshold is very high—lift your foot!"
The threshold was no joke—it really was high. Even through his blurry senses, Ji Yuan could tell it reached his calf. He raised his foot accordingly and stepped over it into the house with the old man.
This house did not resemble an ordinary family home. It had only one room, with neither a kitchen nor an inner hall—just a table with a lit oil lamp on it, four long stools, and two beds placed off to the side.
Hmm, it was more like a temporary dormitory!
Once inside, the old man finally released him and invited Ji Yuan to sit.
"Please sit, sir. This old man's surname is Xu. May I ask your honorable surname and where you reside?"
As he spoke, he proactively moved aside a stool to make it easier for Ji Yuan to sit. The scrape of the stool legs against the floor drew a colorless line through Ji Yuan's mind.
"All right, thank you, Elder. My surname is Ji, and I am from Ning'an County."
As he spoke, Ji Yuan felt his way along the table side and sat down, placing both his bundle and umbrella on the table. The old man took a bowl from a stack of overturned bowls and dishes at the table side, then lifted a clay pot beside the table and poured him water.
"Oh, someone from Ning'an. Around here, we generally do not casually receive strangers at night. As the old saying goes, 'If there is a shadow and