"Look outside the door yourselves."

Seeing the three people in front of him still arguing, Mu Chen suddenly interjected, turning everyone's attention to the outside.

Lu Xiaoyao and Merita turned their heads, and the outside was now so dark that they couldn't see anything, as if a layer of black code had been applied.

"My God?"

Lu Xiaoyao looked down and even saw that the lights in the room didn't penetrate outwards. The shop door was like a dividing line, with bright lights inside and pitch darkness outside.

"What the heck? It's so dark?!"

Lu Xiaoyao, not believing her eyes, stretched the basket of vegetables she was carrying out the door, only to be dumbfounded.

Half of the vegetable basket extending out of the shop was completely invisible. The basket was so close, but the extended part was as if it were covered directly by a layer of black cloth, scaring Lu Xiaoyao into immediately pulling the basket back.

As a result, two of the four eggs in the basket were missing!

"Where are my eggs!"

Lu Xiaoyao stared at the outside in horror, retreating two steps back into the store, before daring to glance furtively at the door.

Meanwhile, Merita stood motionless, staring at the darkness outside for a long time, but couldn't make out anything.

At this time, Julian turned his head to Mingmei for help, "Boss, do you know what's going on with the darkness outside?"

"A very heavy fog rolls in here when it gets dark."

"Fog?" Merita looked back at Mingmei, feeling like Mingmei was teasing her. "This...can be explained by fog?"

"Yeah, a fog that can make me lose two eggs."

Lu Xiaoyao was also startled by the sudden change. She stared at the eggs in the basket, feeling wronged, and then turned to Julian and Mu Chen, asking, "Big shots, you're not eating eggs tonight, are you?"

"We bought fish and meat from the locals." Julian stared at Lu Xiaoyao's food-protecting look, sighed, and pointed to the damp bamboo basket they had brought back in the corner. "But we didn't buy vegetables..."

"We have plenty of vegetables! Hahahaha, we'll treat you to vegetables, and you treat us to meat!"

Everyone could see Lu Xiaoyao's eagerness to take advantage, but coupled with her chubby, cute, silly smile, no one said anything, implicitly agreeing.

[You...did you forget something?]

[Why! Did the topic turn to dinner again?]

[Laughing to death! What if you have both vegetables and meat? Didn't you have both at noon, and it still ended up like that?]

[Wow! Off-topic! Shouldn't we be figuring out what the black fog outside is?! What to eat and how to make it!?]

...

The audience was getting anxious for them. Mingmei also dutifully spoke up, "The fog brings some things down from the mountain. The Mountain God warned everyone long ago not to go out after dark."

The topic turned back again. This time, Lu Xiaoyao and Merita, who had heard many rumors about the Mountain God in the village, perked up and said, "Again with the Mountain God?"

"What do you mean 'again'?" Julian and the others had also taken a walk around the village this afternoon and heard some legends about the Mountain God, but listening to Lu Xiaoyao and the others' tone, something seemed off.

"Isn't the Mountain God omnipotent? Can't he solve the things in the black fog?"

In the evening, she argued fiercely with the auntie, but as soon as the sun went down, the other party turned around and went into the house without hesitation. Merita was already a bit annoyed by this inexplicable situation.

Now, hearing Mingmei also praising the Mountain God, Merita aimed her complaints at Mingmei.

"No, the Mountain God naturally has a way." Facing Merita's questioning, Mingmei, like those devout believers in the village, pointed to the corner next to the shop door where torches were placed, and said, "In the darkness, as long as you light a torch, you can dispel bad things and illuminate the way forward."

"The boss is right."

At this time, a person holding a torch suddenly stood at the door. Everyone turned around and saw that Wang Wenfei had actually come.

Wang Wenfei was also holding a torch. As soon as she entered the door, she hung the torch on the place specially designed to hold torches outside the shop, and a section outside the door was illuminated.

"It really...the torch works."

Lu Xiaoyao and the others once again felt that this game setting had refreshed their understanding.

"Why did you come out when it's dark?" Merita saw the luggage bag behind the other party, was stunned for a moment, and then said, "Did your family kick you out?"

"Not really..." The expression on Wang Wenfei's face wasn't very good. She took a deep breath and didn't want to say more. "It just so happens that we're going to the Mountain God Temple tomorrow, right? I'll come over so we can set off earlier tomorrow morning."

"Ah...then you..."

Lu Xiaoyao wanted to ask what was going on, but Merita stopped her.

It was clear that Wang Wenfei didn't want to say, so it was pointless for Lu Xiaoyao to rush to ask.

"Has everyone eaten yet? Let's eat first."

Wang Wenfei saw the vegetable basket next to Lu Xiaoyao and took the initiative to change the subject. A group of people went into the kitchen again, and this time, even Mu Chen went in.

Mingmei was curious and walked to the kitchen, where she saw that Mu Chen had already put on an apron himself, directing the others to wash vegetables and cut meat, as if he were the head chef.

"Are you a good cook?"

Thinking of the scene at noon, Merita felt that she should be mentally prepared.

"It's okay, I did special training with my family when I went home for the New Year."

Mu Chen casually said he did special training with his family, and Mingmei, standing at the kitchen door, blushed suddenly, secretly scolding Mu Chen for being shameless.

During the half-month vacation, Mu Chen spent all his time at her house except for the three days from New Year's Eve to the second day of the New Year, which he spent at the Mu family.

This special training was also led by her dad.

He was really something, secretly——[Host, Mu Chen is really cunning.]

Before Mingmei could comment, Guigui said, [But being cunning is quite good for you.]

[Whoa~ The sun is rising in the west? Guigui, you're actually saying nice things about Mu Chen?]

[I'm focusing on the matter, not the person. Since he has already visited your family, and now everyone except Sixth Master is still not very fond of him, the others have accepted him well, which shows that he is indeed good.]

[So you think my godfather is wrong?]

[No, Sixth Master is not wrong. Everyone's perspective is different~]

Guigui's tone even carried a bit of an old father's worry, [Parents are most afraid of their children being sad~]

Mingmei: [...] She always felt that the AI was taking advantage of her.

"Boss, do you want to have dinner together?"

Wang Wenfei, who was about to wash the rice and cook, saw Mingmei standing at the kitchen door, so she asked.

"Let's eat together. I made a lot of dishes, enough for everyone."

Whoever can cook is the boss. Mu Chen agreed, so no one else said anything.

However, Mingmei was too embarrassed to just watch, so she also helped them pick and wash vegetables.

It was at this time that Merita remembered the Mountain God she had mentioned earlier, so she asked Mingmei again about the story of the Mountain God on Crescent Moon Mountain.

"Is it really as effective as the rumors say?" Merita's eyes were serious, and her tone was still full of doubt. "Is it really possible to succeed as long as someone makes a wish?"

"No, it's not."

Mingmei suddenly raised her head and denied it.

At that moment when she raised her eyes, a smile that Lu Xiaoyao and the others had never seen before appeared on her porcelain-white, flawless face.

Mingmei's clear black and white eyes stared at Merita beside her, and she said word by word, "The Crescent Moon Mountain God only protects the villagers of Crescent Moon Village."