The fatty, upon hearing Ye Tiancheng speak, immediately felt a sense of relief.
With an expression of having narrowly escaped death, he patted his chest and sighed, "It's a good thing you came in time. Otherwise, if you were any later, I don't know if I would have suffocated to death in the coffin."
The little fox, upon hearing the fatty's words, suddenly said, "Right, Brother Fatty, don't you have cultivation?"
"You're a cultivator, aren't you? Is that new bride so powerful? She could defeat you and abduct you without a sound, and you couldn't even resist?"
The fatty paused at this, suddenly falling into a long silence.
The little fox became flustered, unsure if he had said something wrong to provoke such a reaction from the fatty. Ye Tiancheng, however, seemed to have already figured something out.
Seeing the fatty's lack of response for a long time, the little fox cautiously apologized, "I'm sorry, Brother Fatty, did I say something I shouldn't have?"
The fatty, hearing the little fox's voice and snapping back to attention, quickly waved his hands, "No, no! You didn't do anything wrong. I just suddenly realized a problem."
The little fox looked bewildered, "What problem?"
The fatty had a look of embarrassment, while Ye Tiancheng had already covered his face. Under the little fox's confused gaze, the fatty finally stammered,
"Ahem! It's just that... I don't know what happened. After I was trapped, I seemed to have forgotten that I was a cultivator, so I never tried to see if I could resist."
"...Uh." The little fox was speechless.
What was he supposed to say? Could one forget something like that? It was a life-saving skill at a crucial moment!
Moreover, this issue was brought up by the little fox himself, and he was facing his brother, the fatty. The little fox tried his best to salvage the situation, saying, "Perhaps the bride has some ability to confuse people? Otherwise, how could someone forget something like this? Right, Brother Fatty?"
As he spoke, the little fox gave the fatty a meaningful glance, hinting that he was giving him an out.
To their surprise, the fatty, perhaps genuinely unable to comprehend, said, "I don't think so. I just forgot it myself."
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were both at a loss for words. This was truly a forced attempt to save face, and it hadn't even managed to pick up the fatty's dignity.
On Zhao Xudong's side, he had a huge argument with his mother. Zhao Xudong insisted on his own way, while his mother clutched her chest in anger, looking as if she was about to faint. Several people supported Zhao Xudong's mother and tried to persuade Zhao Xudong.
"Dongzi, what's wrong with you? This is your own mother, and you're talking back to her like this for a dead person?"
"And look at the mess you've made. You wanted to marry a dead person, and you did. But you even dragged outsiders into it. They were just stuck here because of the heavy rain, and they had the misfortune of going through that experience in the coffin."
"If it were someone with a weaker disposition, they might not have died, but they would have been scared to death. How would you explain that then?"
Someone else spoke indignantly, "Dongzi, looking at how you were when these guests came looking for someone earlier, it's clear you knew something like this might happen. How could you be so stubborn and insist on this marriage?"
"You're marrying a dead person yourself, and it has such great harm, yet you didn't inform everyone. You even held a banquet and invited everyone to attend."
"Even if it wasn't these guests from outside who had the accident, what if your bride wanted someone to take her place and chose someone from our village? Wouldn't they be related to you, have blood ties?"
"Don't you feel guilty? Are you treating us right? You've lived in the village for so many years, and we've all supported you to go to university and have a good future. How have we ever treated you poorly that you would harm us like this?"
The person who spoke highlighted this point, immediately resonating with the villagers. Many suddenly realized that Ye Tiancheng and his group were truly unlucky to have been chosen.
But if Ye Tiancheng and his group hadn't been stranded in the village by chance and had come to attend the wedding banquet, and Liu Han still needed someone to substitute, wouldn't she have chosen someone from their own village?
However, no one wanted to experience what the fatty had gone through.
The villagers were instantly incensed, demanding an explanation from Zhao Xudong. Ye Tiancheng and his group also clearly expected an explanation from Zhao Xudong.
Although Ye Tiancheng and his group were of a status that didn't require them to cause trouble, and Ye Tiancheng didn't particularly want to stir up trouble, the situation had now escalated to their doorstep. The fatty had been trapped in a coffin, and it was fortunate he was rescued. If anything had gone wrong, who would have been responsible?
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng and his group absolutely had to demand an explanation from Zhao Xudong.
Zhao Xudong, trapped in the encirclement, was extremely distressed. After this incident, he truly felt angry. Some wanted an explanation, some who disliked him usually wanted to take the opportunity to cause trouble, and some were just following the crowd. Zhao Xudong was alone and couldn't withstand this situation.
Basically, the entire village was present. And if the small portion of villagers who hadn't arrived yet found out about this incident later, who knew what their reactions would be.
Ye Tianxing and his companions didn't want to get involved in this chaos. They simply explained the situation to Zhao Xudong's parents. After Zhao Xudong's parents promised to provide an explanation, they took the fatty and left Liu Han's mourning hall.
Although the fatty had been cleaned up briefly earlier, it was only an emergency cleaning. After lying in the coffin, the fatty definitely needed a good bath and a change of clothes. The old clothes couldn't just be discarded; they needed to be wiped with pomelo leaves, and he had to cross a brazier to ward off bad luck.
At this moment, Zhao Xudong couldn't possibly pay attention to Ye Tiancheng and his group. Most of the other villagers were also focused on Zhao Xudong, at most sparing a glance or two for Ye Tiancheng and his group, but they didn't stop Ye Tiancheng and his group from leaving.
Therefore, Ye Tiancheng and his group left Zhao Xudong's house smoothly.
After returning, the first thing the fatty did was change his clothes and take a bath. As for the clothes he changed out of, the fatty asked the little fox to burn them immediately. He definitely couldn't wear these clothes again.
The little fox went to help the fatty dispose of the clothes and then set them on fire. Given the heavy rain outside, the clothes couldn't be burned outdoors.
As for the fatty taking a bath and wiping himself with pomelo leaves, he didn't have the conditions for that, but crossing a brazier was still possible. Given the fatty's experience, it was necessary to ward off bad luck.
While the fatty was bathing and the little fox was helping to burn the clothes, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were together. As for Hou Mingzhu and the others, they had returned to their rooms to chat with each other.
As the little fox was burning the clothes, he suddenly said to Ye Tiancheng, "Brother, there's something I've been wanting to say since we were in the mourning hall, but I haven't had a suitable time. If I don't say it, I feel uncomfortable."
Ye Tiancheng looked at him slightly and said, "If you want to say it, just say it. What are you hesitating about?"
The little fox's expression was somewhat conflicted, but he truly couldn't hold it in anymore. Otherwise, he wouldn't have spoken to Ye Tiancheng about it in the first place.
He said, "If I say this, Brother, please don't think I'm narrow-minded, thinking I'm deliberately portraying someone in a bad light, or maliciously speculating and suspecting others."
Ye Tiancheng could tell that the little fox had something important to say. He thought for a moment, patted the little fox's head, and said, "Don't worry, speak freely. It's just a guess. I believe you wouldn't speculate about others without reason. Tell me your thoughts."
The little fox felt relieved and began to speak.
"Actually, it's nothing major. Perhaps I'm just overthinking it."
"It's just that I feel that Sister-in-law Shao Ying was so worried about Brother Fatty when he had his accident, but when we finally found Brother Fatty, why did she seem to have no reaction? She didn't even come forward to say a word or show any concern?"
Ye Tiancheng listened to the little fox and thought back carefully. He realized it was indeed true. At the mourning hall, only he and the little fox had been attending to the fatty, rescuing him from the coffin and helping him clean up the mess.
Hou Mingzhu had to take care of the children, and since it wasn't Ye Tiancheng who had the accident, her absence was understandable. But what about Shao Ying?
Ye Tiancheng's expression darkened, realizing that there might indeed be something wrong.
He frowned and thought for a while before finally saying to the little fox, "Let's not mention this for now. Let's observe. We can't act rashly without knowing the truth. What if we do something wrong?"
The little fox thought that this made sense. He just felt something was strange, but he didn't have any concrete evidence of wrongdoing. If he spoke out now and caused some negative consequences, it would be terrible.
If it weren't for the fact that he was only speaking to Ye Tiancheng, the little fox would probably have kept it to himself and not revealed it to anyone.
So, the little fox said, "Don't worry, Brother. I know what's important. I've only told you this."
Ye Tiancheng nodded, and the two of them tacitly stopped mentioning the matter.
However, Ye Tiancheng did keep a cautious eye on the situation.
Previously, Ye Tiancheng hadn't paid much attention to Shao Ying. One reason was that she was his brother's girlfriend, and he felt it inappropriate to observe her too closely, needing to be more discreet.
Another reason was that when the fatty and Shao Ying started dating, Ye Tiancheng wasn't present, so he had little understanding of Shao Ying and was quite unfamiliar with her.
With these two factors combined, Ye Tiancheng had even less contact with Shao Ying.
Ye Tiancheng truly hadn't paid attention to whether Shao Ying might have any issues. He had simply thought that she was his brother's girlfriend and instinctively gave her more trust.
But now, suddenly noticing Shao Ying's abnormal behavior, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but pay attention.
The fatty, having finished his bath, was unaware of what had transpired. He broke the silence among Ye Tiancheng and the others, walking towards them while drying his hair.
"The clothes are all burned?" he asked, looking at the brazier in front of the little fox.
The little fox looked up and replied, "Yes. What's wrong? Do you regret it?"
The fatty immediately looked disgusted, "Who would regret something like this... Little Fox, how can you help me get rid of this bad luck?"
The little fox paused in his movements, appearing to be thinking. After a while, he replied, "Well, the conditions here are basic, and we don't have many tools. Coincidentally, there's a brazier here. How about you cross it?"
The fatty immediately took three steps back from the brazier, "Are you kidding me? Crossing a brazier that burned dirty clothes will only bring more bad luck!"
The little fox chuckled, "I was just joking with you. Did you really think I meant it? I didn't actually ask you to cross this brazier."
The fatty and the little fox playfully bickered for a while. The fatty, having just experienced an unpleasant event, finally began to feel his mood lighten. Anyone who went through such an experience would find it difficult to stay in good spirits. It was thanks to the little fox that he could still engage in such banter.