It was already quite strange in this village that the village head's son, Shitou, was at such an age but still unmarried and childless.
However, the newly - arrived Mu Momo didn't think it was abnormal for someone of this age to be unmarried.
On the very first day she came here, she noticed that there were very few women in this village. The few sporadic women were all old ladies.
At that time, Mu Momo found it odd. There were quite a few children in the village, but it seemed that none of them had a mother.
Once when they were collecting materials and visiting a villager's house, Mu Momo accidentally saw a "woman".
The reason why she wasn't sure was that although the person she saw had long hair, she was curled up in the corner of the pigsty. A swarm of pigs were crowding around her.
Her body was covered in pig manure. Her hair was mixed with dirt and formed a crust stuck to her scalp. The buzzing flies were flying around her head, but she showed no reaction. She just curled up and hugged her legs.
It was hard to tell what she was wearing. All that could be seen was that her clothes were covered in filthy things.
In fact, she had blended into the corner so well that it was impossible to distinguish her gender.
If it hadn't been for Mu Momo's sharp eyes, no one would have noticed that there was a person there.
Mu Momo wasn't on guard and simply blurted out what she had seen in front of the villager.
But when the villager took her back to the pigsty, there was no sign of anyone. The villager even joked that she had seen things wrong.
But Mu Momo was sure she had seen someone. She argued, but no one paid attention to her. Qiao You pulled back Mu Momo, who still wanted to get to the bottom of it, and only then did she calm down, thinking that she had seen wrongly.
However, if only she had thought it over carefully, she would have discovered the strangeness of this village earlier.
At this moment, Mu Momo's gaze fell on Shitou, the village head's son, whose face was covered in blood. Although she was trembling with anger as the victim, she still had to take Qiao You to the village head's house to ask for forgiveness.
In this large village, there were only three of them. A strong dragon can't suppress the local snakes. They were outnumbered. Even if they suffered losses, they had to swallow their anger.
It was late at night and there were few people. If they didn't go to seek the village head's forgiveness now, when all the villagers woke up tomorrow and saw Shitou with a bruised face, they would surely be in big trouble.
Mu Momo woke up their other colleague, Wu Liang, and the three of them went to the village head's house together.
Wu Liang was the best - spoken among the three. To put it bluntly, he was good at flattery. For him, coming here this time was completely a stepping - stone.
Wu Liang had ingratiated himself with a senior executive in the company. The executive promised him that as long as he completed this task, he would have an excuse to promote him three levels in a row and get him into the management.
Although Wu Liang usually looked down on them, always thinking that he would soon be far superior to little assistants like Mu Momo, he would never allow anything to go wrong with this task.
Now, only a dim light was on in the main room of the village head's house.
The small room was crowded with people.
The three of them stood facing the village head and his son, Shitou.
They were speaking in a dialect that Mu Momo couldn't understand.
Shitou was extremely agitated, while the village head just kept nodding.
Wu Liang smiled obsequiously and negotiated with the village head:
"Village head, it's our fault this time. We definitely admit our mistake. You can handle us however you like."
As he said this, Wu Liang took out a stack of red bills from his pocket and stuffed them into the village head's hand.
When the village head felt the thick stack of red bills, his face broke into a wide grin. His wrinkles were all bunched up, looking extremely vulgar.
His son was just like him, being money - hungry. He simply wiped the blood off his face casually, snatched the money from his father's hand. Now the anger on his face had disappeared. Standing together, the two of them smiled in such a disgusting way that Mu Momo felt like vomiting. This physical reaction reached its peak when she thought about Shitou peeping at her while she was taking a bath.
She turned her face away, not wanting to look at them anymore.
Wu Liang pulled Qiao You, whose face was also covered in blood, and Mu Momo, and they kept bowing and apologizing.
Although Mu Momo didn't like this way of handling things, if they didn't do this, none of them would be able to leave.
After a lot of flattery from Wu Liang, the village head kept smiling. Taking this opportunity, Wu Liang proposed a reconciliation.
The village head's smile froze on his face. He stroked his beard again and again and then put away his smile. After pondering for a moment, Wu Liang nervously waited for the village head's answer.
Wu Liang was afraid that the village head would not agree. This task couldn't fail. He reluctantly took out another stack of red bills from his other pocket.
This time, as soon as the corner of the money showed up from his pocket, the village head directly reached out and took it.
This time, the village head didn't "pretend to be modest" anymore. He started counting the money right in front of them.
Mu Momo could hardly hide the contempt on her face, but she still had to calm herself down.
On one side, the angry Qiao You was tightly held by Mu Momo to prevent him from acting impulsively.
Thanks to Wu Liang's mediation, this matter was resolved, although it did cost a lot of money.
When they returned to their house, although it was already late at night, none of them felt sleepy.
The three of them sat there in silence.
Mu Momo was the first to break the silence. With a solemn face, she said:
"We've been here for a long time. Since this kind of thing has happened, let's leave here as soon as it's dawn."
Mu Momo felt sick every second she spent in this village. She couldn't even bear to think that someone had peeped at her while she was taking a bath.
She felt uncomfortable all over, as if there were ants crawling on her body. But she didn't dare to take a bath again.
Qiao You stood up and agreed with Mu Momo's suggestion.
Wu Liang also agreed. Although they had only been here for a short time, after this incident, this village was no longer within the company's consideration. Now, as long as they went back, the task would be completed.
The three of them finalized the plan. As soon as it was dawn, they would rush to take the bus back to the company.
However, they didn't know that while they were discussing, there were villagers eavesdropping outside the door.
Although these villagers seemed extremely enthusiastic on the surface, all this was based on the hope that their village would be selected for the program. Since they had clearly shown that they wouldn't choose this village.
The true faces of the villagers were about to be revealed.
None of them were in the mood to sleep. Mu Momo didn't dare to stay alone, so she stayed in the same room with them.
They were all waiting for dawn a few hours later. To relieve their anxiety, they started editing the videos they had shot during this period and writing summaries.
But they didn't wait for dawn. Instead, fully - armed villagers came.
Mu Momo wasn't wearing headphones. She heard the approaching footsteps. A chill ran down her spine. She suddenly looked up.
She saw lights appear on the paper - pasted window. One light spot, two light spots, and then a swarm of light spots suddenly appeared on the window all at once.
Her face turned pale. She involuntarily bit her lips tightly. Her hands became ice - cold. A layer of sweat appeared on the tip of her nose. Her heart was pounding.
Her mind was filled with all kinds of chaotic thoughts. Her heart suddenly tightened and started to pound wildly. The only thought in Mu Momo's mind was "run".
But it was too late. The village head led the way and broke into the room.
The villagers who had looked so kind during the day now all changed their expressions. One was more ferocious than the other.
Shitou directly rushed over, grabbed Mu Momo's arm, and dragged her towards the door.
This sudden change caught Mu Momo off guard. She let out a scream.
Her eyes were wide open. On her panicked face, there was an uncontrollable look of despair. She tried her best to suppress the fear deep in her heart.
Qiao You and Wu Liang wanted to go up to help, but they were beaten up by the swarming villagers.
Although Mu Momo had used all her strength, she was dragged to the ground. Just as she was about to be dragged away, Mu Momo grabbed the door sill.