"Ahem, ahem!"
Just as a few kind old ladies were chatting among themselves, a little old man with his hands behind his back was walking over from a short distance away, looking at Yan Huan and the others,
"How is it, still cold? I’ve sent Takazawa to find some suitable old clothes. In a while, you should change out of your wet clothes first."
"Alright, thank you, Grandpa. It’s just, earlier we lost our phones, plus we got lost in the mountains, so I wanted to ask, where are we now?"
Before the village chief could speak, a few old ladies started to chime in,
"We don’t really know exactly where we are either..."
"Yes, we’ve just always lived here, we only know this place is called Shenxiang Village..."
"It’s a very old place... even the residents are just us old folks..."
"There’s only one road leading out, and it’s quite a distance to town..."
One by one, they spoke vaguely, as if they were chatting, giving Yan Huan a headache.
"Ahem, ahem!"
Luckily, the village chief’s little old man coughed, finally stopping them from continuing their nonsensical chatting.
He looked at Yan Huan and patiently explained,
"This is Shenxiang Village, deep in the mountains of Northern Kyushu Island’s Fukuoka Prefecture. You... how did you end up traveling around here?"
"Uh..."
Yan Huan glanced at An Le, and said helplessly,
"Adventure, we came for an adventure."
An Le glanced at herself and Yan Huan’s thin clothing, without any equipment, yet they claimed to be on an adventure.
Such an obvious lie made her blush with embarrassment, and she tried to hide behind Yan Huan.
Fortunately, the old men and women in front of them didn’t show any suspicion, instead, they were amazed,
"Truly brave young people."
"The area is surrounded by high mountains; my uncle used to climb them and fell to his death..."
"Yes, yes..."
Seeing that those old ladies were starting to chat again, the village chief had to cough once more,
"Ahem, ahem!"
As the surroundings quieted down, he looked at Yan Huan and An Le,
"As you heard, there’s only one road leading out of Shenxiang Village, and the town just called; due to this heavy rain, the road has collapsed."
"So... does that mean we can’t get out for now?"
"That’s correct."
Yan Huan frowned and had no choice but to ask,
"How long will it take for the road to be repaired?"
"It’s uncertain, but the town’s reply was within a week."
"I see..."
So, does that mean they’ll have to stay in this mountain village for a week?
Yan Huan’s phone was lost, and being in a foreign country, without knowing any phone numbers, he couldn’t log into Plane without phone security verification.
However, during this time, they could try to contact others, so at least when they leave, people can come find them right away.
"During this time, you can temporarily stay in the village. The village is full of elderly people, and each household has spare rooms, so you..."
The village chief glanced around at the people around him, finally looking at the few old ladies next to Yan Huan,
"You can temporarily stay at the shrine in the village, which is at these old ladies’ houses."
"Oh dear, oh dear, that’s great... the shrine has accumulated dust for a long time, so we’ll be troubling you..."
Hearing this, those kind old ladies immediately gathered around, starting to chat among themselves again,
"Yes, and in a few days, there will be a festival, and we’ll need some extra hands~"
"There’s a TV and a bathtub in the house... but unfortunately, no internet..."
"Hehe..."
Looking at the enthusiastic old ladies, Yan Huan turned to look at An Le behind him.
But she was timidly looking at him, and Yan Huan’s heart was slightly moved,
"Then... we’re in your hands."