When the three of them arrived at Yang’s home, he was busy in the kitchen.

The kitchen was spacious, and the walls were darkened by smoke. The smoked fish and bacon hanging from the beams smelled wonderful. As soon as Milan went into the kitchen, he squatted at the edge of the little water tank next to one wall, where Yang was raising two tortoises as pets.

“Yang, we brought maotai!” Lohan said.

“I smelled it as soon as you stepped out your door. You see, I’m preparing our meal. The men who visited you are not ordinary people; they can almost be regarded as mountain gods! They used to show up around here about twenty years ago, when Mia was a little girl. The day they’ve been waiting for finally came! I’ve been watching that road since August. I knew they would come.”

They ate and drank in the kitchen. Milan stood by the water tank with a bowl of food. He tried to feed bacon to the tortoises, but the tortoises weren’t interested. Milan was disappointed.

Yang asked Lohan if he had noticed that one of the men in black was wearing a badge on his chest. Lohan said he hadn’t. Yang said that the one with the badge was the group leader, who must have been more than a hundred years old. Yang was surprised that the man could still come to Deserted Village.

“But they all looked middle-aged,” Mia shouted.

“You can’t tell their age by looking at them. These reclusive people on Blue Mountain always look young. These three men often came here twenty-eight years ago, and they look just the same now as they did then.” Yang sipped the maotai happily.

Lohan and Mia were a little dazed by Yang’s words. Milan’s excited screaming brought them back to their senses.

“I read their medical journal, too. It’s very profound. The journal is actually one person’s work, but it seems to have a large editorial staff.”

Mia drank very little. But for some reason, she kept falling into a drunken state today. The moment she recalled the voices and expressions of the three men in black, she was so afraid that she broke into a cold sweat. Her career had reached a turning point, and she was always afraid of making a fatal mistake. The leader had looked stern as he sniffed the herbs; he had even frowned. Was he dissatisfied with her?

Oblivious to Mia’s concerns, Yang clinked glasses with Lohan, his moist eyes shining.

“To Mia! The centenarians visited her, and good luck will follow. In the past, nobody knew there was a Deserted Village. But now, because of you and Mia, everyone knows. So the centenarians came down the mountain to visit. What a great achievement!”

“Yang . . . Yang, do—do you think they saw our herb . . . herb hill from Blue Mountain?” Mia stammered, blushing.

“Of course, that’s always the case. There’s always communication between here and there. Information comes and goes from underground and from the air.”