Not following the expected path? Reborn and unexpectedly married to a demon.

"Yes," Fei Zhiyou answered them patiently.

"It's a pity I never had the chance to see him..."

Upon hearing this, Fei Zhiyou closed the fan in his hand.

The man was about to say something when Wang Yao, who was adept at reading people's expressions, interrupted him.

"Miss Qin is beautiful and kind-hearted. We have no way to repay your life-saving grace. If there is anything we can do to help you in the future, please feel free to ask. You can find me at the Wang family compound below the imperial city wall with this token."

As he spoke, Wang Yao took off a jade pendant he was wearing and handed it to Fei Zhiyou.

The Wang Family Compound, located beneath the Imperial City Wall, was owned by a minor official who served as a guard on the city wall.

Chu Luo observed that he spoke politely, behaved gracefully, and acted with maturity and propriety, and that this group of people followed his lead.

He is clearly a man of great leadership qualities, and his future career achievements should surpass those of his father.

To illustrate his character, even though he longed to go out and explore these strange things, he was bound by strict family rules and upbringing.

They'll probably just think about it, but they won't actually come out. This time it's probably because Wang Yao is leading the way.

In her previous life, Chu Luo only knew Chen Shu among these people; she had never met any of his friends.

I don't know if he had a friend like Wang Yao in his past life, but he probably didn't. If he had such a friend, he should have learned some courage and become more daring.

While Chu Luo was in a daze, Fei Zhiyou had already come up from the deck to the second floor and handed the jade pendant to Xingzhu, asking her to put it away for her.

"With Jin Wuchen and me here, you probably won't need this. Just keep it as a little trinket."

Before long, the boat arrived at the Mianshui Wharf.

When disembarking, Chu Luo put on a bamboo hat and veil, and waited until Chen Shu and the others disembarked before disembarking with Fei Zhiyou.

Wang Yao and his group, who had disembarked first, did not leave but waited at the dock to say goodbye.

Before parting, Chu Luo couldn't help but remind them.

"You gentlemen are quite astute. I wonder why you chose that dangerous waterway you came by. You'll need to find a good boatman for your return journey."

Wang Yao was taken aback, then said, "Wang Yao understands. Thank you for your help and reminder, Miss."

Chu Luo nodded in return, but couldn't help glancing at Chen Shu in the end.

She met Chen Shu's eyes. In fact, Chen Shu's gaze had never left Chu Luo since she stepped off the boat.

Not only Chen Shu, but the others also had their eyes on her.

Chu Luo had no entanglements with the others in her previous life. If she hadn't had any entanglements with Chen Shu, she probably wouldn't have noticed him among all these people.

"They escaped death, why would they need anyone to remind them of the dangers of the waterways?" Xingzhu said, puzzled.

Fei Zhiyou smiled and reminded Xingzhu, "Xingzhu, you don't understand. The beauty was reminding them that they all knew the waterway was dangerous, yet someone still recommended they take it. Were they deliberately trying to kill them?"

Xingzhu suddenly understood after hearing the explanation.

"However, beautiful lady, where did you learn this ability to change your voice? I almost couldn't recognize you."

Fei Zhiyou was immediately stunned when he heard Chu Luo and Wang Yao talking.

He never expected that the beauty could change her voice; he wondered how many other surprises she held that he was unaware of.

"It's just a trivial skill. I picked up a little bit while listening to venturing performances in a teahouse to escape from home. It might fool those who aren't familiar with it, but it's useless against those who are."

Chu Luo originally intended that if they met again in the future, they would know nothing about her, so she subconsciously changed her voice.

Forgetting that Fei Zhiyou is right beside you is really easy to make people get used to his presence and then overlook the fact that he is there.

Realizing she had given herself away, Chu Luo quickly tried to cover it up.

"Jin Wuchen, who never suffers the slightest loss, almost fell into your trap the first time he met you."

Not only that, you are also incredibly skilled at playing the piano, and now you even know some ventriloquism. My beauty, from which celestial mountain did you descend to earth? How many more surprises await us?

Although Fei Zhiyou's words were a joke, they were also a genuine test.

"Which fairy would be so unlucky as to almost be poisoned to death by the Violet Grass?"

Chu Luo was well aware of his probing, and without the slightest panic, she smiled and responded to him.

Yes, that's true.

"Speaking of Jin Wuchen, do you know where he went?" Chu Luo asked, changing the subject by mentioning Jin Wuchen.

"What's wrong, my beauty? You miss him? With such a handsome young man like me by your side, how can you still think of him? Have my charms diminished?"

Fei Zhiyou looked hurt.

"What, you used to be an actor? You love acting so much."

Chu Luo lifted her veil with both hands, looked at him, and smiled, remembering that Jin Wuchen had once said the same thing to her.

"If the beauty wants to watch a play, I can certainly act it out in my costume."

He cracked a joke and turned to show Chu Luo something.

He glossed over Jin Wuchen's whereabouts without saying a word, and neither of their questions received a proper answer, but that didn't stop them from having a very pleasant conversation.

Their playful scene unfolded before Chen Shu, who couldn't help but follow them; the image was beautiful but somewhat jarring.

"Alright, let's hurry to Shouyuan Village. Otherwise, even if the imperial envoy doesn't arrive, Wang Yao and the others will, and it might not be convenient for you to investigate first."

Chu Luo called for a halt to the fighting.

On the way, Fei Zhiyou had already told Chu Luo about the matter. He was not only helping the top scholar Xu Ruoling, but also curious and wanted to investigate himself.

"What you say makes sense, so let's set off."

With the help of local canal caravan members, Chu Luo and her group quickly arrived at Shouyuan Village.

Even standing far outside the village, one could still smell an extremely unpleasant stench of decay.

A dark swarm of crows circled and cawed around the village, their calls sending chills down one's spine.

The village, devoid of any human presence, was more decayed than they had anticipated, resembling a village abandoned for several years, and looked extremely eerie.

Chu Luo instinctively felt disgusted and backed away, but when she thought of those pitiful children kneeling before her, she regained her courage.

The dead are gone, but the living are still waiting for someone to pull them out of despair. For that glimmer of hope, Chu Luo will choose to grit her teeth and fight with all her might.

Fei Zhiyou pulled Chu Luo back. "We can't go in rashly. It's full of half-rotten corpses. We don't know if the corpses are poisonous, or if there are snakes, insects, rats, or other venomous creatures inside."

Chu Luo was actually aware that the tragedy of these people stemmed from the man-made disaster caused by Regent Feng Zhe.

His men shouldn't be staying at the site where the bodies were dumped. With the Canal Gang experts around, everyone should be safe.

But upon calming down, Chu Luo thought that if the scene involved Fei Zhi's persuasion, she might lose control and have an attack, making it impossible to move an inch. Instead of finding the person, she would only cause more trouble, which would indeed be bad.

"Then how do we investigate?"

Chu Luo really wanted to know if there were any children's corpses in the village. However, Chu Luo couldn't directly say that the child in the dream was asking for help, as it would be absurd to say something without knowing whether it was true or not.

"Young master and young lady, please don't be in a hurry. Follow me, I'll take you somewhere," the guide said, leading the way.

The guide led them to an ordinary house some distance from the village.

There seemed to be nothing strange, but after the guide turned the mechanism lamp, a number plate appeared. After he changed the number, an iron door appeared on the ground and opened.

Several guards led the way, while Fei Zhiyou walked alongside Chu Luo.

The further in she went, the colder it got, and Chu Luo tightened her collar.