Since Fatty and Little Fox lived across the hall, Ye Tiancheng knocked on both doors. After Fatty and Little Fox came out, Ye Tiancheng asked them, "It's almost dinnertime. What do you plan to eat? Where do you want to eat?"
Fatty thought for a moment upon hearing Ye Tiancheng's question, "Are there any options? I remember there's a farmhouse restaurant around here?"
Little Fox said, "As for me, anything is fine. I'm quite tired today and don't want to move around much. I can also skip eating."
Hou Mingzhu sternly said to Little Fox, "You can't skip eating."
"Alright then..." Little Fox lowered his head guiltily, "Then anything is fine, I'm not picky."
Ye Tiancheng pondered for a while and said, "I remember there is a farmhouse restaurant, but it seems a bit far from here. If we drive there, it should take about half an hour."
Little Fox was very unhappy.
It would take over half an hour to drive there. Eating a meal would mean over an hour on the road back and forth. He had already been sitting in the car for so long to get into the mountains, and now he had to sit in the car for another hour. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to eat anything.
Fatty couldn't help but frown upon hearing this, "That's a bit too far. After sitting in the car for so long to get into the mountains, I don't have the energy for another long drive."
"Then let's forget about it. Otherwise, let's just eat something casually? Everyone is quite tired anyway."
Ye Tiancheng looked at Hou Mingzhu.
Seeing Ye Tiancheng look at her, and considering everyone's opinions, Hou Mingzhu tentatively suggested, "I remember there was an introduction saying there's a restaurant in the villa area, not too far from here. It should only take about ten to twenty minutes to walk there. Why don't we make do with that for now?"
"If we want to go to the farmhouse restaurant, there will be opportunities later. We're not just staying here for one or two days."
Little Fox immediately agreed, "I think that's great. The restaurant in the villa area should have decent food."
Fatty thought it was acceptable and also said, "I have no objections."
Ye Tiancheng looked at his daughter and, bending down slightly, asked Ye Qingcheng, "Qingcheng, what about you?"
Ye Qingcheng had lived with adults since she was young, with few peers around her. While she was overly well-behaved, some of her actions also appeared quite mature.
She very steadily replied to Ye Tiancheng, "Children should naturally listen to adults' opinions. Since the adults have already decided, I naturally have no objections."
Ye Tiancheng straightened up and said, "Alright then, it's a unanimous decision! We're going to the restaurant in the villa area!"
The restaurant in the villa area looked quite good. The decor was at least excellent, perfectly matching the entire villa area, and it looked very high-class. It was said to only serve meals during dining hours; if you missed them, there would be no way to get food.
However, for wealthy people, this wasn't much of a problem. If a restaurant was unwilling to serve you outside of dining hours, it could only mean you weren't wealthy enough.
Hou Mingzhu and the others arrived right at dining hours, so they had no worries.
However, there were surprisingly quite a few people here. Not everyone living in the villa area was wealthy. Many people traveled in groups or with friends, pooling their money to rent a villa for a short period, which wasn't that difficult.
As they walked through the restaurant lobby, Ye Tiancheng and the others overheard someone complaining that the restaurant here was a rip-off, charging 128 yuan for a plate of stir-fried greens.
This could only be said to be a characteristic of high-end restaurants. The dishes were bound to be expensive. Sometimes you couldn't feel what was so good about them, and you could buy a large bunch for the same price outside. But in a high-end restaurant, let alone a plate, they might only sell you a few stalks.
Moreover, this was a tourist attraction, and there were no cheap restaurants at the scenic spots. If you didn't have money, it was indeed not suitable to go out and play.
For Ye Tiancheng and his group, eating a meal here was not a problem. Not to mention how wealthy Hou Mingzhu was, Ye Tiancheng himself also had some assets. He wasn't the best, but he was well-off.
After eating, Ye Tiancheng made a rough plan for the next day's investigation.
On the surface, their group was no different from other tourists. However, they weren't really out for leisure. Ye Tiancheng had important matters to attend to. Don't forget that they came here for the fragments of the Fuxi Qin.
Otherwise, if they wanted to have fun, where couldn't they go? There was no need to specifically come to this remote mountain area, which wasn't a particularly great place.
Ye Tiancheng and his group didn't mind the expensive meals at the scenic area restaurants, but the cost-effectiveness here was indeed too low. The portion sizes of the dishes were average, the taste was average, and the service wasn't particularly good either. The waiters were probably locals who weren't particularly well-trained. Even if they wanted to perform well, they were limited, and it couldn't be said to be particularly satisfying.
With all these factors combined, it made people feel like they were being ripped off. At the very least, if there were other options, they wouldn't want to come back.
Even if they had money, it wasn't meant to be wasted carelessly. They weren't so brainless that even Hou Mingzhu considered buying some ingredients and having the servants cook them when they didn't feel like eating out.
This would be more cost-effective than eating at the villa area restaurant.
Then, Ye Tiancheng and his group unanimously approved Hou Mingzhu's suggestion and expressed their strong agreement.
After a night of rest, it was time to get down to business. Although they could drive themselves after arriving, they were unfamiliar with the area and it wasn't suitable for them to go out and find their way around on their own.
In a place like this, it was impossible to have navigation maps.
The maps they could obtain were generally maps of the entire resort area, and they wouldn't cover a larger range. To be safe, it was best to inquire about the situation from local residents.
Since Hou Mingzhu didn't need to go out much after arriving, and this wasn't a leisure trip, Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng would stay at the villa.
Ye Tiancheng asked Little Fox to provide them with some protection, and then he, Little Fox, and Fatty discussed and decided to find a local to act as their guide to learn more about the local situation, hoping for some hidden gains.
Fatty and Little Fox had no objections and left all decisions regarding this matter to Ye Tiancheng.
The villa area was, after all, a high-end accommodation area, mainly rented out to guests. There were no local residents active nearby. Ye Tiancheng inquired and learned that the areas where local residents were more active were closer to the farmhouse restaurants. There were also buildings that preserved some local customs and traditions, with a large square and some small guesthouses.
To get there, they would have to take a bus.
There were dedicated buses that picked up guests. There were two departures in the morning, one at noon, and two in the afternoon.
If they didn't return before evening, it would be difficult to get back without their own car.
Ye Tiancheng thought about it and decided to take that bus. This was because it was said that some local residents took that bus, and the bus driver was definitely a local. As for people who took the bus to the villa area and left, they were generally local residents who came here to work.
The bus wasn't just for tourists.
Ye Tiancheng felt that this was good. The three of them, being adult men, were not afraid of hardship. Taking a bus wouldn't peel off their skin or be too difficult to endure. On the bus, they could listen to what people were saying and perhaps hear something about this place.
The reason for this roundabout and troublesome approach was that after arriving here, Nuwa Stone had informed Ye Tiancheng that he could not determine the exact location of the Fuxi Qin fragments. The aura he could sense seemed to come from all directions, being everywhere, making precise positioning impossible.
Furthermore, Ye Tiancheng, who also possessed other Fuxi Qin fragments, had no advantage. Therefore, Ye Tiancheng could only proceed slowly.
Fortunately, Ye Tiancheng was mentally prepared. Collecting Fuxi Qin fragments was sometimes this troublesome and rarely smooth. In any case, he would do his best. Things would work out when the time came.
Because Ye Tiancheng and his group departed early, after inquiring, they happened to catch the first bus. It was the earliest one of the day, arriving at the villa area at 7:30 AM and departing at 8:00 AM. It was indeed very early, and it wasn't mainly tourists who took this bus.
After Ye Tiancheng, Little Fox, and Fatty got on the bus, Ye Tiancheng could be very sure of this.
Tourists generally wouldn't wake up so early to go out and play. Seven or eight o'clock was still too early. The people taking the bus at this time were mainly local residents who came to work in the villa area and those who worked in the villa area yesterday and planned to return this morning.
Ye Tiancheng estimated that local residents made up more than half of the people on the bus.
Unexpectedly, there were about five or six people who looked like tourists, just like Ye Tiancheng and his group.
The bus driver was quite chatty. After departing, he drove while chatting with people. Locals naturally talked the most with each other, having more common topics and being more familiar with each other.
However, the driver didn't neglect other tourists and also struck up conversations with them.