"How about it? Eating meat is still better, right? Seeing how we ate vegetables every day before, the three of us brothers were really turning green. We looked so pale all day, I felt like I was about to become one of the dishes on the plate."
At the dinner table, Ye Tiancheng urged the fatty to eat. Unlike the previous meager fare, there were still three dishes and one soup on the table, and two of the dishes, including the soup, contained meat.
There was only a lone plate of green vegetables, placed separately in front of the fatty. Neither Ye Tiancheng nor the little fox showed any inclination to touch that plate of vegetables.
"That's right, Fatty Brother. It's good that you finally agreed. If it were any later, even if the three of us wanted to eat meat, we probably wouldn't be able to. The village chief slaughtered the last batch of sheep. We don't know when the new sheep will be ready for slaughter."
The little fox echoed Ye Tiancheng's words. He ate with great gusto, showing none of his previous reluctance to eat. In fact, the fatty vaguely felt that the little fox's appetite seemed to have grown larger than usual.
The fatty finally stopped being stubborn about not eating meat and occasionally picked up his chopsticks to eat the meat dishes on the table. However, an indescribable shadow still lingered in his heart, so the fatty didn't eat much meat. He mainly ate the plate of green vegetables in front of him.
Since there was meat to eat, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox mainly just persuaded the fatty a couple of times but didn't really bother him. They didn't care if the fatty ate meat or not, as long as they themselves had meat to eat and weren't interfered with.
As the three of them ate, they also chatted, mainly about the situation in the village, and checked with each other if anyone had found any clues that might have been overlooked. Perhaps reviewing it at the dinner table might lead to some discovery.
After being persuaded a few more times by Ye Tiancheng, the fatty picked up a piece of meat and took a bite. Suddenly, he remembered something and asked Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, "By the way, you said the village has already slaughtered the last batch of sheep. So, is there really no more sheep in the village?"
The little fox's eyes were fixed on the meat dishes on the table. Only when he heard the fatty's words did he suddenly look at the fatty. For a moment, the fatty felt that the little fox's gaze was somewhat strange and terrifying.
In short, the emotions in the little fox's eyes at that moment were complex and difficult to decipher, making it impossible to understand what he was thinking. However, the fatty felt his hair standing on end. Yet, he also thought that the little fox was his brother, and even Ye Tiancheng, who had been most resistant to the little fox, didn't suspect him. Therefore, the fatty had no reason to be inexplicably suspicious, so he didn't think too much about it.
He only saw the little fox look at him like that, then slowly withdraw his gaze, casually picking up food, and answering his question.
"Ah? No more sheep? That's not necessarily true. Not having sheep ready for slaughter is different from not having sheep at all, isn't it? There are definitely still sheep, but they haven't reached the age for slaughter yet. We have to wait a while longer. When we said the last batch of sheep, that's what we meant."
The fatty thought about it and felt it made sense. It was like a pig farm. You could say there were no pigs ready for slaughter in the pig farm, but that was different from whether there were any pigs in the pig farm at all. A pig farm couldn't possibly not have any piglets that were still growing.
The fatty nodded and then casually asked, "So that's how it is. I didn't think of that for a moment. My mind was a bit slow. Can we go and see the sheep in the village that haven't been slaughtered yet?"
At this, both Ye Tiancheng and the little fox looked at the fatty with very strange expressions. The fatty was startled by their gazes, his face full of confusion.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden? Did I say something wrong? Or was what I said earlier... was there something wrong with the matter I brought up? Can't we see the sheep in the village?"
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox both smiled, then withdrew their gazes and continued eating their meals. However, this time, it was Ye Tiancheng who provided the explanation.
If all this information came from the little fox, it would have been quite strange. What Ye Tiancheng said, in the fatty's ears, had a much higher degree of credibility.
"It's not that you can't see the sheep, you definitely can. The little fox and I went to see the sheep being slaughtered before, so you can definitely see the sheep. However, the sheep in the village can only be seen when they are being slaughtered. So, if you want to see them now, you really can't."
The fatty finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking how jumpy he had become. What was there to be afraid of from Ye Tiancheng and the little fox? It was all because he had been in this damned place for so long that he had become a bit too sensitive.
"Is that so? So there's such a rule. But there's no such saying outside. Is there any principle behind this rule? Why can you only see the sheep when they are being slaughtered, and not the ones that haven't been slaughtered yet? How do the villagers raise those sheep? Don't they usually feed the sheep?"
Ye Tiancheng thought for a moment and then replied with a smile, "Hmm? Why can't you see the sheep that haven't been slaughtered yet? Well, I know that. I've heard some villagers say that you can't see those sheep because, on one hand, it's for protection, and on the other hand, it's naturally for prevention."
"Prevention? Why prevent your own sheep? That sounds a bit strange. What's there to be wary of with sheep? They aren't ferocious animals, are they? Do you really need to guard against them?"
The fatty couldn't figure it out immediately and directly asked. Then he heard Ye Tiancheng continue to explain, "Of course, you need to guard against them. Haven't you heard the saying, 'It's never too late to mend the sheepfold after the sheep have strayed'? Firstly, if the sheep you're raising aren't penned up, they will definitely run away. Do you need to guard against that? Right?"
"And then, you say sheep aren't ferocious animals, but they aren't without aggression. Sheep have horns, don't they? If one of them butts you, it won't be pleasant."
The fatty suddenly realized, "Oh, I see. So you're talking about mountain goats. The ones with horns are mountain goats, so they have aggression. But this area doesn't look like it has any mountains... Mountain goats, are they from outside? Are the sheep here all sent from outside?"
After hearing the fatty's question, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox seemed to have hit a funny bone. Both of them burst into laughter, and they couldn't stop laughing for a long time.
The fatty was very bewildered. He looked at the two of them who couldn't stop laughing and said incomprehensibly, "What are you two laughing at? Did I say something funny?"
"Oh, no, no, it's not that. Brother Ye and I suddenly thought of something funny. It's something else. We're not laughing at you, Fatty." The little fox managed to stop laughing, straightened his bent waist, and explained to the fatty.
"However, the sheep raised in this village are indeed from outside. It's just that their feeding methods are different from those outside, which is why we can eat mutton that tastes different from outside. That's the reason."
The fatty had a vague feeling of being excluded, but he also felt that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox wouldn't treat him like that, so he eventually attributed it all to an illusion. "Okay, okay. So it is possible to buy sheep from outside in this place. Then there must be a way to leave this village, right?"
"Have you asked the villagers? How do they usually go out? Do they have to wait for the fog outside to dissipate? Or are there other methods?"
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox exchanged glances, and finally, it was the little fox who answered the fatty. "We did ask, but they wouldn't say much. Otherwise, why would the three of us still be here?"
"According to the villagers, the sheep they raise are all sent from outside, and there's no fixed time for sending sheep. However, they have sent a batch recently, so there might not be a second trip in a short period."
When the fatty heard halfway, he was still thinking that even if the villagers didn't go out actively, as long as someone sent sheep, there would be a round trip. Perhaps they could leave this damned place by going with the people who sent the sheep.
Then, after the little fox finished speaking, the fatty sighed with some disappointment. His idea had completely fallen through. If they wanted to go back as soon as possible, they couldn't rely on the sheep delivery.
How could they afford to delay now? The sooner they left, the better. So, they still had to find a way. Just waiting was useless. They still had to look for clues.
However, the fatty secretly noted this clue. If all else failed, it was at least a way to leave. Even if he had other ideas, he had to be prepared for the worst.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Weren't we discussing why we couldn't see the sheep that haven't been slaughtered yet?" The fatty suddenly realized that they had gone off-topic. They were talking about something else before.
"Brother Ye said earlier that you can't see the sheep that haven't been slaughtered. You've explained the reason for prevention, but what about protection? We're just going to take a look at the sheep, what can we do to them?"
Ye Tiancheng had almost finished eating and put down his chopsticks, focusing on explaining to the fatty. "As for protection, it's a bit complicated. It's not that we would do anything to the sheep, but rather what might happen to the sheep."
"However, it's true that some outsiders have taken an interest in the village's sheep. After seeing them, they might do some bad things. So, it can be said that the villagers don't allow outsiders to see the sheep that haven't been slaughtered, not without some prevention towards us. This point is understandable, isn't it?"
The fatty thought about it and felt it was indeed understandable. Even if he could guarantee that he wouldn't have any bad intentions, how could he guarantee that everyone else would be the same? It was very normal for the villagers to be wary of outsiders.
"Then, if it's just for this reason, the villagers wouldn't be so secretive, would they? It sounds like there must be other reasons?"
Ye Tiancheng then smiled, nodded at the fatty, and said, "Of course, there are other reasons. The sheep in this village are raised very carefully, and the feeding methods are also quite special, so there are many things that require attention, which is why they are not allowed to be seen."