Time hurried forward, arriving seven days later.

While most people from the East Country were preparing to celebrate the upcoming Spring Festival, Chen Hao, Ye Yuqiao, Xie Xiaofeng, and Tang Jing were driving on a road far from home.

Over these days, the four of them had managed to reach a small town before dusk each day, according to the original plan. During the journey, they made brief stops in mountains with strong Yin Qi or demonic energy and subdued the fierce ghosts and demons hidden within.

However, today, all the plans were disrupted by a sudden snowstorm.

Watching the snow pile up thicker and thicker on the ground ahead, and the desolate mountain scenery transform into a world draped in silver, Xie Xiaofeng, who was driving the van, had to slow down on the mountain road. For a driver who had yet to exceed twenty thousand kilometers on the odometer, navigating this winding mountain road covered in ice and snow was indeed a significant challenge.

Especially on this stretch of road where the left side was a series of rolling hills and the right side was a cliff face, if he wasn't careful, the van could tumble down to the mountain base.

As the snowflakes resembling willow catkins grew denser in the sky, the van's speed slowed to a crawl, almost comparable to that of a bicycle.

Seeing the day's snowflakes gradually being overtaken by the murky night, Xie Xiaofeng, who seemed to be holding his breath, said helplessly, "The snow is getting heavier. I'm afraid we won't make it to the nearby town before dark! And if this snow doesn't stop by tonight, I guess we won't be able to reach Z city before the Spring Festival!"

"Then let's just celebrate in a nearby town," Chen Hao said in a relaxed tone, for him, as long as Ye Yuqiao was by his side, it didn't matter where he spent the New Year.

"That's the only option!" Xie Xiaofeng sighed, "At this rate, we could make it to a town up ahead by midnight. Of course, that's assuming nothing unexpected happens!"

Hearing Xie Xiaofeng say this, Chen Hao's face darkened, a foreboding feeling growing in his heart.

Just as expected!

By six-thirty, the night had deepened as if inebriated, and the increasingly heavy snow seemed like the pale reaction on this drunken woman's flushed face after too much wine. Despite careful driving, the van skidded off the road and into a ditch.

Fortunately, the van had slid into the ditch rather than off the unprotected cliff edge.

Once Tang Jing's screams subsided, Xie Xiaofeng looked back at Chen Hao as if nothing had happened and said, "There seems to be a village ahead, I see light! I'll go to the village to find help, I'll leave these two beautiful girls in your care!"

With that, Xie Xiaofeng took a flashlight and left. The moment he opened the car door, a gust of cold wind rushed into the vehicle like floodwater, instantly robbing the passengers of their warmth.

"Close the door quickly!" Tang Jing yelled at Xie Xiaofeng.

Ten minutes later, as Chen Hao, Ye Yuqiao, and Tang Jing anxiously waited, Xie Xiaofeng finally returned, followed by over a dozen villagers dressed in fur and hats, carrying flashlights.

"Let's get out of the car!" Chen Hao said.

Before getting out, Chen Hao zipped up Ye Yuqiao's down jacket all the way and carefully checked her scarf and hat, fearing that even a slight oversight would let the piercing cold wind invade the car.

"Boyfriend, being looked after by you makes me feel like a child!" Ye Yuqiao said, her face showing a hint of bashfulness.

"You are but a young girl!" Chen Hao said, warming her cheek with his face, "A young girl deserves to be cared for by her boyfriend. Don't you like being cared for so attentively by me?"

Ye Yuqiao smiled dreamily and nodded slightly.

After getting off the van, Tang Jing and Ye Yuqiao stepped aside, while Chen Hao and Xie Xiaofeng, with the help of the villagers, pushed the van out of the ditch.

"Thank you, thank you!" Xie Xiaofeng kept shaking hands with the surrounding villagers.

"Young man, with such heavy snow, it's not safe to travel at night. Why don't you stay in our village tonight? Continue your journey after the snow stops tomorrow!" the village head suggested.

After exchanging a glance with Chen Hao, Xie Xiaofeng smiled at the village head and said, "How could we impose on everyone like that? There are so many of us."

Xie Xiaofeng said this to hint to the village head if there were enough rooms to accommodate four people.

"Don't worry about that!" the village head quickly reassured, "We have several empty houses in the village. The people who lived there moved to the city years ago and never came back!"

"Thank you so much, village head!" Xie Xiaofeng immediately said gratefully, shaking the village head's hand with a beaming smile.

Subsequently, led by the villagers, they settled into the village ahead and parked the van at the entrance of the village.

Because Ye Yuqiao's extraordinary beauty had drawn all the villagers' astonished and longing gazes, she felt slightly uncomfortable and, like a startled cat, hid behind Chen Hao.

Upon entering the village, the village chief arranged for the four of them to stay in a traditional old house with four rooms and a living room.

Before long, the villagers came over with several plates of meat and vegetables to entertain the four guests. The villagers' excessive enthusiasm made them very grateful, yet they couldn't help but be vigilant. Ye Yuqiao, in particular, felt extremely wary because a couple of villagers had been sizing her up with strange looks, and she cautioned Chen Hao that no matter what, he must not drink any alcohol later on.

Fortunately, the villagers did not urge the four to drink until after they had finished eating.

After dinner, the village chief left with the villagers. Feeling happy and satisfied, the four of them built a snowman and had a snowball fight outside the house until nine o'clock at night, when they finally returned inside.

At that moment, the village chief came over again with the villagers, this time bringing a pile of firewood and charcoal, saying they wanted to help them warm up the heated brick bed.

The villagers finished their work around nine-thirty.

"Village chief, we really can't thank you and the villagers enough!" Xie Xiaofeng said, firmly shaking the village chief's hand.

"Don't mention it, don't mention it!" The village chief said with a laugh, shaking his hand again and again in a very simple and honest manner. "It's the least we could do!"

Half a minute later, seeing that the village chief showed no sign of leaving, Xie Xiaofeng smiled awkwardly and said, "Village chief, you've all been busy for half a day to take care of us. Look, it's getting late, why doesn't everyone go back and rest?"

Suddenly, the village chief's expression turned grim, and his lips moved slightly as if he was hesitant to speak, appearing to have some unspeakable difficulty.

"Village chief, what's wrong?" Xie Xiaofeng's smile grew more awkward. "Whatever it is, just say it. We can understand and won't think there's anything improper!"

At this time, Xie Xiaofeng thought the village chief wanted to charge them for the dinner and overnight accommodation.

"Sigh!" the village chief sighed and then sat down on a chair in the living room, lowering his head and saying, "To tell the truth, I saw 'Exorcism Special Vehicle' written on your car. Do you actually work in that field, or is it just for fun?"

"Oh!" Xie Xiaofeng sighed in sudden realization. "Is there a haunted house in the village? Well, you've come to the right people; we four are all Onmyoji!"

"Really?" The village chief's face showed surprise, and excitement was also evident on the faces of the villagers by his side.

Laughing lightly, the village chief said, "To tell you the truth, you all look so young, it's hard to believe you're ghost-catchers, so we've been too embarrassed to speak up until now! We were afraid that if you weren't, you'd think our villagers were only helping you because we wanted something from you."

"How could that be? Every one of the villagers is genuine and enthusiastic, even if we weren't catching ghosts, we wouldn't misunderstand everyone's kindness!" said Chen Hao. "By the way, village chief, what strange things have been happening in the village lately?"

After a long sigh, the village chief told Chen Hao and his companions that in a house on the easternmost edge of the village, there lived an elderly widow and her son, on whom she had depended for many years. The old lady's son was a miner, and for the past two years, he had worked in a mine about ten kilometers away, leaving early in the morning by motorcycle, and not returning home until eight or nine at night.

Five days ago, the mine where the old lady's son worked collapsed, trapping eight people underground, one of whom was her son. When the village chief, accompanied by several village elders, informed the old lady of the tragedy, she fainted. The next day, which was four days ago, the old lady passed away.

That very day, the village chief led the villagers in burying the old lady. However, at about seven in the evening, a neighbor living next door heard the sounds of cooking coming from the old lady's house. At the time, the neighbor didn't think much of it, but on the following evening, at the same time, the sounds of cooking occurred again.

This time, the frightened neighbor sought out the village chief and a few of the village elders.

Standing outside the old lady's house, the village chief and the elders, like the neighbor, heard the sounds of cooking.

Led by the village chief, the villagers entered the old lady's home and found that despite the dark kitchen not having any fire or smoke, they all indeed heard the sound of the spatula stir-frying, "clang clang". This scared the villagers so much they immediately ran out of the house.

For the next two days, as long as it was past seven in the evening, the sounds of cooking would start up again in the old lady's house.

After the village chief had finished speaking, the neighbor living next to the old lady told Chen Hao and the others that because the old lady's son used to come home late, she would always start cooking around seven in the evening, waiting to eat with her son when he returned.

Hearing what the villager said, Chen Hao felt his mood sink.

"It seems the old lady had lingering regrets and attachments that she left behind!" Xie Xiaofeng said. "So her Yin Soul couldn't descend to the Netherworld after her death but remained in the mortal world, still cooking every day, waiting for her son's return."

"What should we do?" the village chief asked.

"It's not difficult to deal with!" Xie Xiaofeng said. "If we visit the old lady's house tomorrow night, we should be able to resolve this!"

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