Xu Shuo arrived in the village, the open square built around the river had already gathered a number of people, who looked to be travelers from out of town.
It was lunchtime, and villagers, clutching their rice bowls, had come outside to enjoy the show, followed by neatly dressed children, blinking their big eyes curiously at the outsiders. They didn't have the usual scruffiness of the countryside but instead looked clever and cute.
"Dai, you've come."
As Xu Shuo approached, a six-year-old girl with double buns clutching a rice bowl came up to him, her round cheeks so tender it seemed they would burst with a touch.
So Xu Shuo naturally pinched her cheeks and smiled, "Go back inside to eat, there's too much dust out here."
The little girl, with her cheek pinched, didn't react much but just tilted her head and looked at him for a while before she scampered back under the eaves of the brick house, standing there and peering out.
The villagers were actually not surprised by the arrival of travelers, as besides farming and cultivating the fields, they had few other forms of entertainment, so they inevitably enjoyed watching any excitement.
Now was the planting season, and it wasn't the weekend, so there weren't many travelers in the village.
Moreover, those travelers who did come usually stayed at the farmhouse fun at the entrance of the village to fish or went into the mountains and rivers for outings; they rarely came to the center of the village to find people. Find exclusive stories on mvl
After all, besides the ordinary fields and houses, there really was nothing special about the village.
Only those city folks who had never seen anything would make a fuss over nothing.
When Xu Shuo walked over, someone who saw him immediately jogged over and said with a sycophantic smile, "Village Chief, this person claims to be a detective and says that you called him over to handle a matter."
"A detective?" Xu Shuo raised his eyebrows slightly and turned his head to look in a peculiar way.
It was a man in a gray trench coat, tall and thin, wearing ordinary silver-framed glasses, who exuded an elegant demeanor and was clearly an educated person.
He didn't look like a private detective, more like a teacher.
"And there's another," after pointing out the man in the trench coat, the villager looked toward the woman by the riverside taking photos of the wild bushes and said, "She says she's a journalist here to interview our village and can promote this place!"
Xu Shuo followed his gaze and took another look, by which time the trench coat detective who had been waiting had already stepped forward.
"Hello," the man came up and extended his hand, asking with confusion, "Are you the Village Chief of Qingliu Village?"
The Trench Coat Detective initially wanted to wander around with him, but after some thought, decided to follow the villager and leave instead.
The village's cemented main road stretched from the Archway at the entrance all the way to the Village Chief's House halfway up the hill.
Xu Shuo walked along the road, passing a field of freshly transplanted rice. On the edge of the paddy fields were rows of loofah trellises, and then he saw the girl in the floral dress standing in front of the white wall, daydreaming.
The girl maintained her daydreaming pose and then, as if feeling his gaze, turned to look at him.
She blinked and quietly sized him up, judging by his appearance and attire, he must be someone from the village.
Neither spoke first until Xu Shuo, pointing to the remaining small section of white wall, asked, "Why didn't you continue painting?"
"Ah, I don't know what to paint next," said the girl with a look of distress.
"How can you not know what to paint?" Xu Shuo continued to inquire.
"This... I've never seen a real 'Green-Faced Fangs,' and to paint such a thing is truly difficult," the girl sighed, her expression troubled.
On the white wall, many splendid things were already painted—stories related to "Green-Faced Fangs"—but in those tales, the monster always appeared only in a tiny corner, maintaining a mysterious image, unconsciously drawing people's attention along the wall.
And the last section of the white wall was supposed to display the complete visage of the creature!
But the girl's inspiration had stalled.
"Aren't there statues in the fields? Just paint it like those; what's the big deal?" Xu Shuo said calmly, his rough appearance contradicted by a warm and polite smile.
Upon hearing this, the girl, resting her chin in thought, said, "As an artist, I feel the need to respect the truth. I want to paint the 'Green-Faced Fangs' as I see it, not as others imagine it."
"Do you artists always make things so complicated?" Xu Shuo expressed the bewilderment typical of a rural person just in time.
The girl laughed awkwardly but politely.
If it weren't for the mission, she would not want to deal with all these troublesome complications either.
[Main Quest: Paint the true Green-Faced Fangs.]