Li Bai's face stiffened, but soon returned to a smile, "Grandma, listening to you, that Shengci (shrine) of the Grand General Who Pacifies the Army must be very spectacular, but... where is it?"

The village was only so big. Jiang Cheng and the others had been wandering around for so long, but they hadn't seen any magnificent buildings. The biggest was just a dilapidated courtyard.

The old woman turned around and raised her hand, pointing diagonally upwards. That was the direction of the village center, her eyes unusually pious. "Child, it's right there. It's watching us!"

Fatty swallowed, feeling terrible, because he could only see the empty, gray sky. There was nothing else.

Jiang Cheng looked in the direction the old woman was pointing. He knew that something was indeed there—the tall shadow from his dream!

It was right there, but they just couldn't see it.

A thought flickered in his mind, and Jiang Cheng seemed to realize something. He breathed a sigh of relief, and his expression relaxed. He said he was tired and went back to his room to rest alone.

Fatty winked at Jiang Cheng repeatedly, but Jiang Cheng gave him a reassuring look.

Fatty was worried that Jiang Cheng would take risks to protect Li Bai, but Jiang Cheng looked calm, as if he had a grasp of the situation. But he hadn't been like this a moment ago. Fatty guessed that Jiang Cheng must have grasped a key clue.

Thinking of this, Fatty also felt more confident, and he wasn't so afraid of the fake villagers in front of him.

An hour later, the villagers finished eating and left one after another. Fatty and the others were busy helping to clear the tables and chairs when Li Bai suddenly felt dizzy and weak in her limbs.

The old woman and the others seemed to have expected this. They rushed forward and supported Li Bai before she fell. Then, without waiting for Fatty and the others to react, they carried her to the fake Grandpa's room.

Reacting, Fatty immediately rushed forward, grabbed a villager's clothes, and questioned, "What's wrong with Li Bai? What... what are you going to do?"

But the villagers were numerous and powerful, and they ignored him completely. They quickly carried Li Bai to the bed where the fake Grandpa had died. The old woman pretended to comfort Fatty. "Don't worry, you outsiders. Miss Li will be fine. She's just too hungry. Just let her finish this bowl of rice."

As she spoke, a villager handed over a bowl of rice. The old woman held the bowl and walked step by step to the painting. Then, as if offering a tribute, she placed the rice in front of the painting, with chopsticks laid flat on top of the bowl. She kept muttering, "Eating is good. Eating will make people feel better, so they can enter the Shengci (shrine). My granddaughter... she will wake up."

After doing all this, the villagers didn't stay long and turned to leave. It seemed that they were no longer going to act anymore. Everyone had a strange smile on their face as they left.

Tang Qisheng went to find Jiang Cheng. He had been in the room for so long without coming out. Tang Qisheng knew it couldn't be just rest. He might have discovered something.

He deliberately lightened his footsteps as he approached the room. Then, he suddenly frowned, as if he heard talking inside the room, very softly. He couldn't be sure.

But when he got close enough to listen carefully, the talking stopped. Jiang Cheng's calm voice came from inside. "Just come in directly. What are you doing sneaking around?"

Tang Qisheng pushed open the door. Jiang Cheng was the only one in the room. Jiang Cheng had taken off his coat and was sitting on the bed, looking as if he had just woken up.

Tang Qisheng didn't care and immediately told him about Li Bai's situation. When Jiang Cheng arrived, Li Bai's condition was slightly better than expected. Although her face was pale and her limbs were weak, she was still conscious and could speak normally, albeit weakly.

"Mr. Zhang, how is Li Bai?" Fatty asked anxiously.

Zhang Qizheng withdrew his hand. He had just taken Li Bai's pulse. After hesitating for a moment, he finally said, "It's very strange. Judging from her pulse, Li Bai is not seriously ill. Her symptoms are entirely caused by weakness, like... like prolonged starvation."

"Starvation?"

Everyone immediately thought of the old woman who was determined to revive her granddaughter. She had said something similar not long ago.

Yao Shunyu immediately went back to the room to get dry food and water. Everyone watched as Li Bai ate it. She ate very voraciously, truly hungry. She devoured five pancakes, which was her normal daily intake. But even so, she was still eating desperately.

Jiang Cheng saw that something was wrong and immediately snatched the half-eaten pancake from her hand. "Don't eat anymore. You're eating too much. How do you feel now?"

Li Bai touched her stomach. "I don't feel anything. I'm still hungry, very hungry, as if I haven't eaten anything."

How could that be? Everyone had seen her eat five pancakes and drink a full waterskin of water. Jiang Cheng reached out and pressed his hand on Li Bai's stomach. His face turned ugly after a few seconds. "She's right. Her stomach is still flat. The food didn't go into her stomach at all."

A similar scene reminded him of a form of punishment in hell. Legend has it that people who waste food in life will fall into a hell called Wugu Fengdeng (Bumper Harvest of Grains). There, there are delicacies and fine wines everywhere, but everyone is skinny and emaciated. They are like zombies, constantly picking up food and stuffing it into their mouths, but no matter how much they eat, they cannot fill their stomachs. The food they eat disappears inexplicably, over and over again. These people will become weaker and weaker, but they cannot die. They can only struggle in endless pain.

At this time, everyone thought of the white rice. It was obvious that only eating the white rice could relieve Li Bai's hunger, but if she really ate it, she would fall into the villagers' trap.

It was a dilemma.

"I've got it! The fake Grandpa must have seen through the villagers' scheme, so he refused to eat all the time, and his body became weaker and weaker, but in the end, he couldn't take it anymore, so..." Fatty clenched his fists and excitedly explained his opinion to everyone.

Before he finished speaking, Zhu Jie suddenly pointed behind everyone. "Look!"

Turning around, the scene in front of them made everyone frown. They saw that the chopsticks, which had been lying flat on the bowl, had been moved somehow. Three chopsticks were stuck upside down in the bowl, standing apart like three incense sticks. The key point was that the middle one was long, and the left and right ones were broken off, obviously shorter.

Everyone's face darkened. It was inauspicious, since people avoid three long and two short, and incense avoids two short and one long. This was not a good omen. Tonight... might be Li Bai's death day.

Time was pressing. Considering Li Bai's emotions, Jiang Cheng winked at everyone. They walked out of the door into the courtyard. Zhu Jie was the first to speak. "This bowl of rice must be eaten. I secretly looked when I sent the villagers away just now. Those villagers haven't gone far at all. They're waiting."