Chapter 78: Dragon

“Scholar Li.” At this moment, He Zhong, who had been searching the peach grove for Chen Zhongyang’s parents, called out.

Li Si also pulled himself out of the awkward atmosphere at this moment and turned his head to look at He Zhong.

He Zhong walked up to Li Si, glanced at the family of three, and lowered his voice. “I did not find Chen Zhongyang’s parents in this peach grove.”

He had searched the peach grove many times earlier. He had carefully observed every peach tree, and indeed had not found Chen Zhongyang’s parents.

Hearing He Zhong say this, Li Si nodded. This was also within his expectations. He had dealt with these strange things countless times and deeply knew their cunning and terror. If they were found so easily, he would instead find it somewhat abnormal.

And this also confirmed that if they truly encountered Chen Zhongyang’s parents, then there was a very high chance that they were the mother body.

“It is fine. Prepare the things now. We have to spend the night here tonight.” Li Si was calm and composed, as if he had not heard the bad news He Zhong had just given him.

In truth, right now, he had no confidence in whether they could escape from here, but he could not show it, because that would only make the other four people present even more frightened and would not help the current situation at all.

So even if Li Si was not confident about escaping from here, he still had to appear calm. Only this way could he give the other four people confidence and reduce some unnecessary trouble.

The truth was also just as he expected. When the others saw Li Si’s calm and unhurried expression, they also inexplicably settled down, as though they had found support for their hearts.

The man climbed up from the ground, bowed to Li Si and He Zhong, then walked to the wood, took up the fire striker, lit the straw, and then stuffed it among the broken wood.

Before long, the bonfire was burning. The orange-red flames lit the peach orchard in flickering patches of light and darkness, also making the faces of the human heads in the distant peach grove look somewhat terrifying.

The five people sat beside the bonfire, using it to drive away the chill of the cold night.

“Benefactors, my name is Shu Rong. I am from Jingning County. This is my wife, Madam Shu Fang, and this is my daughter, Shu Min.” After the group sat down, the man could not wait to introduce himself.

He Zhong also introduced himself and Li Si to the family of three. “My name is He Zhong. This is Scholar Li, Li Si. We are both from Fengmen County.”

Li Si nodded to them. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something. This Jingning County should be the place He Zhong had mentioned before, right?

At the same time, he also remembered the fox demon he had encountered on his second day in this world. She had also said she came from Jingning County.

He remembered that back then, the fox demon had said Jingning County was suffering a great drought, and that she had run from Jingning County to Fengmen County.

Previously, he had thought that the fox demon was only spouting lies. Now, seeing the somewhat thin appearance of this family of three, could Jingning County truly be suffering from drought?

Thinking of this, Li Si asked Shu Rong, “Why did you come all the way here? This should be around ten days of travel from Jingning County, shouldn’t it?”

Previously, He Zhong had said a carriage would take around three days, so a person on foot would probably have to walk for around ten days. That was why Li Si found it somewhat strange.

Hearing Li Si ask this, the faces of the family of three turned somewhat gloomy. Shu Rong answered, “Jingning County has suffered a great drought this year. Food is scarce there. In order to survive, we prepared to go to Fengmen County and see whether we could find a way to live.”

Hearing Shu Rong say this, Li Si nodded. It seemed that fox demon had not lied back then. Only, he did not regret what he had done at the time either. After all, a fox that dug a corpse out of a graveyard and then went to the market to wail in mourning could not possibly be doing anything good.

At the same time, he could be considered to understand the hardship of this world. A drought in one place could actually force people to flee. In his previous life, this was simply unimaginable.

He still remembered that in his previous life, the place where he had lived had suffered a drought for more than half a year.

Yet he had only realized, after seeing the news, that the place he lived in had actually been in drought for half a year.

“This world is too difficult,” He Zhong beside him could not help cutting in.

“Actually, there has already been a turning point in the drought.” Seeing He Zhong sigh like this, Shu Rong said in a low voice, “Before we left, there were already rumours that a River God was coming. It was only that our food could not last until then.”

“A River God?” He Zhong was somewhat astonished and said in surprise, “How could a River God come to Jingning County? Aren’t there only River Gods for the great rivers of prefectures and provinces?”

“I am not clear about that. I also heard it from people working at the yamen. And I heard it is a Dragon Lord.”

“A Dragon Lord?” When Li Si heard this term, his brows lifted slightly. This was the first time he had heard the word dragon in this world, and at the same time, a sense of closeness arose in his heart, because in his previous life, he had held special feelings toward dragons.

Only, he did not know whether this so-called Dragon Lord was good or bad, and he pondered this in his heart.

He clearly remembered that in the county city, a ghost creature had been killing people, yet that City God had not paid much attention to it, and had casually left the county city without taking the people’s safety to heart.

So now, regarding this Dragon Lord, Li Si also found it difficult to guess whether he was good or bad.

“A Dragon Lord?” He Zhong was even more surprised, already finding it somewhat unbelievable, and said enviously, “With a Dragon Lord there, your Jingning County’s fortunes are turning around.”

Hearing He Zhong’s tone, Li Si found it somewhat strange and could not help asking, “What is this Dragon Lord about?”

Seeing Li Si ask this question, He Zhong was slightly stunned. But then he remembered that Scholar Li did not understand these countryside rumours much, so he explained, “A Dragon Lord is the most benevolent spirit among River Gods. They are true dragons in the heavens. They can soar through the clouds, reveal themselves or hide themselves, become huge or tiny, summon wind and rain, and protect a region.”

“As long as a place is under their protection, that place will surely have abundant harvests.” At this point, the envy in He Zhong’s tone was already overflowing.

Hearing He Zhong say this, Li Si was slightly stunned. He had not expected this Dragon Lord to be so similar to the dragons of his previous life, and to be so beloved by the common people.

Thinking of this, his heart could not help yearning for it. A thought arose in him, an intense desire to see this true dragon, and this was also connected to the feelings from his previous life.

In truth, as long as someone came from that country in his previous life, most of them held special feelings toward dragons.

“Sigh, the Dragon Lord is benevolent, but we could not wait until then. By the time the rice grows, we would all have starved to death.” Hearing He Zhong say this, Madam Shu Fang beside him could not help speaking. At the same time, grief also appeared in her eyes, clearly because she had thought of some painful memory.

“Mother...” Seeing Madam Shu Fang like this, the little girl could not help hugging her mother tightly, wanting to give her a little comfort this way.

“Cough, cough...” At this moment, Shu Rong beside them suddenly started coughing. He covered his mouth, and some blood flowed out from between the fingers covering his mouth.

And because Shu Rong was coughing, the woman and the little girl also could not help coughing. Like Shu Rong, they also coughed up blood.