Chapter 405: Jujube
By the time Chu Luo and Li Yan’s helicopter landed in Green City, which was more than 100 kilometers away from the northwest desert, it was already the next morning.
The temperature in Green City was actually higher than in the capital.
Li Yan’s subordinate had long prepared a place for the two of them to stay. It was an inconspicuous brick house with a huge jujube tree outside.
It was just past the ripening season of jujubes. No one had plucked the jujubes on this tree, and they had already become half-dried dried jujubes.
Chu Luo walked to the jujube tree and looked up at the jujubes on it. She said to Li Yan, “These jujubes ripened really well.”
After saying that, she licked her lips greedily.
Li Yan tilted his head to look at her small action. A trace of a smile flashed across his eyes as he asked, “Do you want to eat?”
As there were many bodyguards standing beside her, Chu Luo nodded modestly.
Li Yan jumped down and plucked two jujubes from the tree.
Chu Luo looked at the jujube in his hand with her sparkling eyes and reached out to take it.
Li Yan gestured for her to wait with his eyes. He wiped one of them with his hand and took a bite.
Chu Luo stared at his expression and watched him chew and swallow slowly. She asked anxiously, “Is it delicious?”
Li Yan looked at her with his dark eyes and was about to speak.
Chu Luo couldn’t wait anymore. She turned around and took another bite of the jujube in his hand.
Then…
“Ah, pfft, pfft, pfft… So sour!”
Li Yan smiled faintly and said to a bodyguard standing at the side, “Bring a bottle of water over.”
The water was quickly brought over. Li Yan took it and opened the bottle cap for Chu Luo.
Chu Luo took a few sips of water to remove the sour taste from her mouth. She complained to Li Yan with a bitter expression, “Why didn’t you react when it’s so sour?”
Li Yan took the water from her hand and took two sips before holding her hand and walking in. “It’s not very sour.”
Chu Luo looked at him with bright eyes that said, “I don’t believe you.”
“No wonder no one has plucked from that jujube tree at this time. So it’s a sour jujube. The owner of this courtyard must be waiting for these jujubes to naturally dry on the tree before getting them down for other uses.”
At this point, Chu Luo suddenly thought of the jujube cake and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Li Yan seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and said, “I’ll get someone to make you some jujube cake later.”
“Hehe, okay.”
The courtyard in the northwest was square, and the brick houses looked like they came from the seventies or eighties.
The people Li Yan had brought had already been arranged to stay in a nearby house.
Chu Luo asked Li Yan, “So many of us live here. Will others discover us?”
“No,” Li Yan said. “When the first batch of people came, I asked them to buy the houses nearby.”
Chu Luo was relieved.
The two of them walked in. The decorations in the house were very simple, and there was very little furniture.
Li Yan asked Chu Luo, “Do you want to rest?”
“No.”
After Chu Luo finished speaking, she saw that Li Yan had asked the bodyguard to retrieve his laptop. Knowing that he had something to attend to, she said, “I’ll go out and take a look.”
“Okay, don’t go too far.”
Since this place had already been bought, Li Yan wasn’t worried that someone would appear in front of her.
“I know. I’ll walk around nearby.”
As Chu Luo spoke, she walked out.
This was a village. In the distance, smoke could be seen coming from the chimneys on the roof.
Chu Luo stood by the road and looked at it for a while before walking slowly to the side.
The winter morning sunlight was warm and shone on her body. Chu Luo walked for a while and saw two children playing with mud by a waterless canal in the field. She stopped and looked at them for a while.
At this moment, a child who had shaved all his hair except a small section in the middle, which was tied in a small ponytail, said in a boastful tone, “When my father comes back from earning money this time, he said that he’s going to take me to the city to buy a remote control airplane as big as me. I really hope that my father can come back early.”
Chu Luo had deliberately learned this dialect for seven to eight hours on the way here. She understood all the children’s words.
Another child with a trace of snot on his nose immediately said, “I heard from my father that your father won’t be coming back.”
“Nonsense. My father said that he’ll be back in a few days.”
“Really. I heard from my father last night that your father shouldn’t have brought that group of people to that desert. The weather in the desert is abnormal this year, and there are often sandstorms. Once people enter, they’re most likely to be eaten by the sand beast.”
Small Ponytail Kid panicked and pushed Snotty Kid.
Pushed into the canal, Snotty Kid started crying.
Small Ponytail Kid stood on the canal with his hands on his waist and said angrily, “I won’t play with you anymore. How dare you speak ill of my father.”
With that, he ran away crying.
Chu Luo looked at the child who had fallen into the canal and was wailing. She thought for a while and walked over to lift him up and place him on the road.
Snotty Kid looked up and instantly forgot to cry.
After a while, he asked, “Are you Fairy Sister?”
Chu Luo nodded seriously. “Yes, I’ll ask you a few questions. You have to answer me properly.”
“Okay,” Snotty Kid replied loudly.
Chu Luo asked in satisfaction, “Where did the father who left that child go?”
“XX Desert.”
“Why is he going there?”
“Someone from the city came to find someone to bring them to the desert. They gave Lu Lang’s father a lot of money.”
“Do you know what the person who came to look for Lu Lang’s father looks like?”
“I do.”
The child described to Chu Luo what the person who came down to look for Lu Lang’s father looked like. Although the description was a little abstract, Chu Luo still heard useful information.
“You said that one of the people looking for Lu Lang’s father wore nice-looking clothes?”
Chu Luo took out her phone and showed the child the photo of an ethnic group’s costume. “Was that person wearing such a costume?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
The child said that this was a costume from Southern Xinjiang. The clothes from Southern Xinjiang were all very vibrant, and there were many accessories on them.
Chu Luo was almost certain that there were Gu Masters among these people.
She put away her phone and asked, “You said just now that your father said that Lu Lang’s father won’t be coming back. How did your father know?”
The child was stunned by Chu Luo’s question. After all, he was only six or seven years old. The adults definitely wouldn’t tell him much. Maybe he knew about this matter by accident.
Chu Luo didn’t continue asking. Instead, she asked, “Where’s your house?”
“There.”
There was a house behind a few trees to the west that was probably a kilometer or two away.
Chu Luo nodded and asked, “What’s your name?”
“My name is Iron Egg[1].”
“…”
This name was really down-to-earth!
Chu Luo said, “Iron Egg, go back. Don’t play outside alone. Also… don’t tell anyone that you’ve seen me.”
“Why?”
At this moment, Iron Egg wished that everyone in the village knew that he had seen the legendary Fairy Sister.
“Because I’m a fairy. I can’t let many people know. Otherwise, I won’t appear again.”
Iron Egg was alarmed. “I won’t tell anyone then. Sister Fairy, will you appear again?”
“That depends on whether you’re obedient or not.”
“I’m obedient.”
“Okay, go back then.”
“Mm, mm.”
Being tricked by Chu Luo, Iron Egg obediently ran towards his house.
Chu Luo watched the child run away and thought that when the time came, she would get Li Yan to send someone to ask around. Maybe she could get some useful information.
Chu Luo walked on the path for a while before going back.
She had just walked into the courtyard when she smelled the sweet and sour fragrance of the jujube cake.
Chu Luo quickly walked in and happened to see a bodyguard placing a plate of steaming jujube cake on the table. Li Yan said to him, “Call Luoluo back.”
“Yes.”
The bodyguard turned around and saw Chu Luo walking to the door. He greeted her and left.
Chu Luo walked in, picked up her chopsticks, and ate a piece of jujube cake.
The sweet, sour, and soft feeling instantly conquered her taste buds and made her squint in enjoyment.
Li Yan looked up at her from the computer screen.
Chu Luo asked him, “Do you want to eat?”
“I’m not eating.”
When Chu Luo heard this, she immediately fed him half of her food and looked at him with her sparkling eyes. “It’s very delicious. Try it. Just one bite.”
Li Yan looked into her eyes and ultimately opened his mouth to eat the half piece.
“How is it? Is it delicious?”
Li Yan didn’t answer her, but his expression was very silent.
Chu Luo poked his arm in dissatisfaction. “If you don’t answer, I’ll take it that you think it’s delicious too.”
Li Yan glanced at her and pointed at the tea on the table.
Chu Luo handed him the tea.
Li Yan drank it before saying, “Tastes too sickening.”
Chu Luo: “…”
Was this person so sick of this cake that he didn’t want to talk?
Chu Luo glanced at him awkwardly and sat down to eat.
As she ate, she told him what she had heard outside.
In the end, she said, “I suspect that the person who found the people in this village to be a guide in the desert is from the Qin family. That Gu Master is also inside.”
“Mm, I’ll get someone to investigate.”
Li Yan called someone in and instructed him about this matter.
After that person left, Chu Luo put down her chopsticks and rubbed her chin as she thought. “This place is at least more than 100 kilometers away from XX Desert. Isn’t it a little strange that there’s a guide to the desert in this village?”
[1] a special version of soy egg