Chapter 22 first quarter

By the time we left Shanghai, the typhoon had gone far away, only some raindrops occasionally floated in the sky and fell sparsely on the car window glass.Ye Xiao leaned quietly by the car window, looking at the fields in the south of the Yangtze River outside the window, like an ink painting after a bath. The long-distance bus is speeding on the expressway, and the terminal is Serang Town in K City.Ye Xiao sat in the last row of the bus. Although he looked out the window, he was thinking about the letter he received yesterday morning.That was Zhou Xuan's twelfth letter from the Ghost Inn. It was hard to imagine that the contents of the letter could be true, but Ye Xiao couldn't figure it out.Moreover, yesterday's letter was different from the previous few days. It was not signed at the end, and the line at the end was - "Ye Xiao, help me."

Perhaps, Zhou Xuan had fallen into a desperate situation. Could it be that he was finally dragged into the sea as he said in his letter?Since this is the case, how did he write this letter to Ye Xiao?How did he send it, and how did Ye Xiao receive it?However, judging from the envelope of the twelfth letter, like the previous letters, the stamp still bears the postmark of Sireng Town. Yesterday morning, after reading that letter, Ye Xiao received a call from the hospital.The doctor told him on the phone that Zhou Hanchao had passed away in the early morning, and the cause of death was preliminarily judged to be myocardial infarction.At that time, Ye Xiao only felt a burst of heat in his eyes, but the doctor said that Zhou Hanchao died in his sleep, and there was no pain when he died.

When he put down the phone, Ye Xiao had already made up his mind: for Zhou Xuan and for Zhou Xuan's father, no matter what scary things he encountered, he would go to the Ghost Inn once. It also happened to be yesterday that Ye Xiao's case was successfully solved, and he finally got a 3-day vacation. Early this morning, Ye Xiao got on the long-distance bus and embarked on a journey to the Ghost Inn. Seeing the bus running on the expressway, getting farther and farther away from Shanghai, and getting closer to K City, Ye Xiao also felt uneasy.He simply closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the seat.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the long-distance bus drove into Serang Town. Ye Xiao only had simple luggage on him, and walked around the town first after getting off the car.As described in Zhou Xuan's letter, this town is rich and prosperous, the streets are full of various markets and entertainment venues, and many different accents can be heard along the way. He did not enter the old street of Serang Town, but first found the Post Office of Sereng Town.Ye Xiao showed his police officer ID to the post office, and found the township postman in charge of the deserted village. He was a middle-aged man in his 40s, and his long-term field work made his complexion a healthy bronze.

Ye Xiao asked him: "Master, have you seen the letter from the Ghost Inn?" The township postman was obviously taken aback, nodded immediately and said: "Yes, in the past ten days, I have opened a letter every day from the mailbox in the deserted village. The sender's address on the envelope is Ghost Inn. And the recipient's address is Shanghai." "Is there any letter today?" "No, it hasn't been since yesterday." The postman shook his head, gasped and said, "However, I really didn't expect someone to send a letter from the Ghost Inn. When I got the letter for the first time, I really felt very scared in my heart, for fear that I would get some bad luck."

"Can you take me to the ghost inn to have a look?" After hesitating for a moment, the postman agreed to Ye Xiao's request. He pushed the bicycle out of the post office and let Ye Xiao sit on the schoolbag rack of the bicycle.Although Ye Xiao didn't bring much luggage, it still felt very strange. He hadn't been on the back seat of a bicycle for many years. "Be careful." The postman yelled, and quickly stepped on the pedal, and the bicycle "sprinted" out.In a few minutes, they rode out of Serang Town and came to the country road. Ye Xiao carefully sat on the back of the bicycle. The village postman's bicycle made his heart skip a beat, but in the end he was not in any danger.After dozens of minutes, they passed the deserted village, and Ye Xiao noticed the green mailbox at the entrance of the village.

Then there was a section of undulating mountain road, Ye Xiao had to admire the riding skills of the village postman, there was a person sitting behind him, and he was riding so fast. After the village postman strenuously rode up a high slope, Ye Xiao saw the sea in the distance.It's 3pm, the sky is covered with clouds, and the black sea in the distance is depressing. Finally, he saw the Ghost Inn. That old black building stands alone by the desolate seaside, giving people a gloomy, dull, and hopeless feeling—exactly the same as the one in the photo Zhou Xuan sent him. The township postman kept silent all the time, especially after seeing the ghost inn, he didn't even dare to breathe loudly.At a place tens of meters away from the inn, he finally stopped his bicycle.

Ye Xiao jumped down from the back seat and said softly, "Thank you very much." "Are you going to live here today?" "I have no idea." The village postman shook his head, and left here quickly on the pedals. At this moment, Ye Xiao stood alone in front of the gate of the inn, looking at the building described in Zhou Xuan's letter, he suddenly felt shuddering - in Zhou Xuan's last words, this is the "Ghost House". And now he was about to break into the house of ghosts. After taking a deep breath, Ye Xiao knocked on the door of the inn with his fist.Then, he waited at the door for half a minute, feeling overwhelmed.

Suddenly, the two doors were opened, and an extremely ugly face poked out. Even though he had prepared himself, Ye Xiao was still taken aback.Zhou Xuan was right, the first impression of this face is that of "Quasimodo" in the movie. "Your name is Achang, isn't it?" A Chang was obviously surprised, he nodded in a daze, and then let Ye Xiao in. The lobby of the Ghost Inn is just as described in Zhou Xuan's letter.Ye Xiao took a special look at the three photos on the wall, and it was true.There is also a cabinet under the wall with an old-fashioned record player.He turned around and saw Achang still staring at him vigilantly.

Ye Xiao squeezed out an unnatural smile, and asked softly, "Achang, do you know Zhou Xuan?" Achang opened his mouth wide, as if he was frightened by Ye Xiao, he took a few steps back and leaned tightly against the counter.Ye Xiao immediately took out the paper and pen from the bag, handed them to A Chang and said, "I know you can't speak, but you can hear and write." The hands of the dumb Achang kept trembling, and it took him a long time to pick up the pen. He looked into Ye Xiao's eyes, and finally wrote a few words on the paper: "I know Zhou Xuan."

Ye Xiao nodded and said, "Very well, do you know where he is now?" Achang wrote slowly: "No, I don't know." "Is he not at the Ghost Inn?" A Chang looked into Ye Xiao's eyes, and instead of writing, he nodded in a daze. Ye Xiao's heart became tense again, he raised his head and looked around, always felt that there was a special smell emanating from here.Suddenly, Ye Xiao abandoned Achang and ran up the stairs by himself. He quickly came to the corridor on the second floor, only to see a thin layer of dust rising up, without any sense of popularity.Ye Xiao remembered that Zhou Xuan said in his letter that he lived in Room 13 on the second floor.So, Ye Xiao quickly found the room number, opened the door cautiously and took a look, only to find that it was empty inside, with nothing but a bed and a writing desk. But what Zhou Xuan said in the letter is correct, the sea can be seen from the window sill here.Ye Xiao lowered his head and checked carefully, including the drawers of the desk, but found nothing suspicious. Suddenly, Ye Xiao's heart beat inexplicably quickened.He rushed out of Room 13 immediately, and opened every room along the corridor, but every room was empty, and there was no sign of anyone living there. He shook his head and hurried up to the third floor again.But here is the same as the second floor, Ye Xiao searched all the rooms, they are all covered with thick dust, it seems that they have been closed for many years. Ye Xiao found the narrow staircase at the back again, and he walked along the maze-like corridors, as if walking in the passage of an ancient tomb.It took him a long time to rush out of the corridor and return to the lobby on the ground floor. Achang was still standing in front of the counter. He ran to Achang and asked tremblingly, "What's going on? Are they all dead?" This time Achang picked up the pen and wrote 4 words on the paper: "I don't know." "Did Zhou Xuan leave anything behind?" But Achang still shook his head. Ye Xiao was a little desperate, what should he do now?He took a few steps back and looked at the time, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon.If you don't go now, you'll be staying overnight at the Ghost Inn, and the thought of living in the same house as this "Quasimodo" mute is chilling. No, absolutely not staying overnight here, otherwise I don't know what will happen again.Zhou Xuan is already a lesson learned from the past, Ye Xiao has always acted cautiously, since he found nothing, he will never take the risk to keep it. Ye Xiao hurriedly bid farewell to Achang and ran out of the ghost inn. Running out of the gate of the inn, he finally breathed heavily, the feeling of being inside just now was suffocating.Ye Xiao thought that if he lived in this inn for a long time, even a normal person would become mentally ill. Walking slowly in the desolate wilderness, Ye Xiao suddenly wanted to see the seashore, whether it was really as Zhou Xuan described. So he ran to the cliffs by the sea, where there were so many high rocks and cliffs that he couldn't tell which was the last place where the accident happened.Ye Xiao climbed onto one of them and stood on the edge of a cliff tens of meters high. He couldn't help but feel a little dizzy. He looked down cautiously. A huge white wave hit the rock, and the high sea water splashed up. The sight was breathtaking. Finally he let out a sigh of relief, hurriedly ran down the cliff, and continued to move forward along the coast.Finally, he reached the little bay. Ye Xiao squinted his eyes and looked towards the sea. He saw towering cliffs on both sides, and the sea was covered with black reefs. Coupled with the gloomy sea level in the distance, the entire bay could easily give rise to the illusion of death. In Zhou Xuan's letter, Shuiyue had an accident here.Zhou Xuan and Shuiyue seemed to appear in front of his eyes, did Zhou Xuan also fish up Shuiyue (or Lan Ruo?) from here? Suddenly, Ye Xiao felt a strange feeling behind him, he turned his head suddenly, and saw the densely packed graves on the hillside. He was shocked all of a sudden, and quickly ran up the hillside, and came to the terrifying cemetery.The countless tombs in front of him gave him a huge visual impact, and a wave of fear naturally rose in his heart. He knew that this was a human instinct, and he instinctively feared death. Ye Xiao walked slowly towards the depths of the cemetery.Finally, he found the only dead tree - under the tree there was a grave without a tombstone. This is Lan Ruo's tomb! Is she still lying in there? Ye Xiao couldn't help taking a deep breath, he suddenly remembered something, and took out a bouquet of white orchids from his bag, which he bought specially before leaving Shanghai.There was still a faint fragrance on the petals, Ye Xiao put it in front of his nose and smelled it, then put the flower on Lan Ruo's tomb. He stood blankly in front of the tomb for several minutes, and his heart seemed to be much quieter.At this moment, he didn't feel any fear, only sadness and regret for the years. Finally, Ye Xiao shook his head and left in a hurry. After walking a few hundred meters, Ye Xiao saw the tallest mountain, and he remembered Zhou Xuan's description of it in his letter.When he stood below and looked up, he suddenly felt a strange dizziness.Ye Xiao observed for a while, and finally found the path up the mountain. Before there was still time, he quickly climbed up. Ye Xiao liked mountain climbing in the first place, and such a mountain was not difficult for him, and he reached the top of the mountain in a short while.Sure enough, the scenery on the top of the mountain suddenly opened up, and the surrounding mountains and the sea can be seen at a glance. On the flat ground on the top of the mountain, there is an ancient temple standing alone. This temple is really dilapidated, maybe it really is an ancient building left by a certain dynasty.He walked quickly to the temple gate and saw the plaque on the gate - "Midnight Palace". From Zhou Xuan's letter and Zhou Hanchao's recounting of the past, Ye Xiao already knew the story of this temple, and when he actually faced it now, he couldn't help but feel shuddering. He walked into the temple gate tremblingly, only to see a dilapidated scene inside, and with the intrusion of footsteps, a thick cloud of dust rose from the ground. However, when Ye Xiao cast his eyes on the shrine, he found that there was nothing on it, except for a dilapidated desk. What about the flesh image? Ye Xiao was stunned for a moment.However, didn't Zhou Xuan's letter say that there is a flesh statue in the Palace of Midnight? More than 90 years ago, after the female actress named Ziye disappeared, she was embalmed by a German doctor and became a flesh statue on a shrine.Moreover, in the hospital, Zhou Hanchao also said that he had seen the physical body in the Palace of Midnight. He looked around the interior of the ancient temple again, not to mention the flesh statues, he didn't even find the wooden statues.The shrine in front of me was empty, as if it enshrined only a mass of air, or an invisible ghost. Could it be that the body on the altar ran away by itself? Thinking of this, his hair stood on end again. Ye Xiao felt that he couldn't stay any longer, otherwise he would become mentally ill.Before leaving the Midnight Hall, he took one last look at the desk in front of the shrine - it is said that Lan Ruo was picked up here. Suddenly, he seemed to hear the cry of a baby girl. The terrible sound seemed to enter the brain directly instead of passing through the ears. Recently Ye Xiao has always had auditory hallucinations, but this time it terrified him to the extreme. He ran out of the ancient temple in a hurry, never daring to look back, and ran down the mountain road when he came. When Ye Xiao returned to the foot of the mountain, he began to pant heavily.He looked back at the Ghost Inn again, the sky was getting dark, making the building look even more eerie.Ye Xiao suddenly felt very surprised: Living in such an environment, Zhou Xuan didn't become mentally ill—or did Zhou Xuan become mentally ill? Ye Xiao shook his head helplessly, and hurried towards the deserted village along the road the village postman brought him here. His sense of direction has always been good, and he quickly found the right direction, following the mountain path to the deserted village.Ye Xiao caught a pickup truck in the deserted village, and within half an hour brought him to Sereng Town. It was still dark when we arrived in town, but the nightclubs on the street had already turned on their red lights.Ye Xiao randomly found a small restaurant and settled for dinner hastily.Then, he asked the direction of the police station, and rushed over without stopping. Ten minutes later, Ye Xiao found the Xileng Town Police Station, but he did not expect to meet an acquaintance at the door—his classmate when he was studying at the Public Security University, and he was also his roommate. An old classmate who is only 27 years old is now the director of the Xilang Town Police Station. They haven't seen each other for several years since graduating from school, and this encounter naturally made both of them sigh.Tonight happened to be the head of the police station who was on night shift, so he dragged Ye Xiao to the duty room, and made two cups of local specialty tea, in order to have a good time talking about the past.But Ye Xiao was not in this mood, and the matter of Zhou Xuan made him uneasy. Finally, Ye Xiao directly explained the purpose of coming, and told his old classmate concisely what he knew about Zhou Xuan and the Ghost Inn. By the time he finished speaking, it was already past 8 o'clock in the evening.Ye Xiao let out a long breath, as if releasing all the depression in his chest.However, he noticed that the face of his old classmate had become extremely solemn, which added a little uneasiness to his heart. The old classmate frowned, and after a long silence, tremblingly said: "Impossible, absolutely impossible..." "why?" He took a deep breath and immersed himself in his memories: "It was the summer three years ago. I was just transferred to the Sereng Town Police Station when I received a report that a murder occurred at the Ghost Inn. How many people did the report Self-help tourists, these adventurous young people came to Serang Town and heard the legend of the ghost inn, so they wanted to stay in the inn for a few nights to see who was more daring. When they arrived at the ghost inn Later, they found the bodies of two young women lying in the lobby on the ground floor. They were all terrified, and immediately ran to the town to report the crime.” "3 years ago? Ding Yutian should still be alive." "Yes, at that time there was indeed a person named Ding Yutian who registered with the local industrial and commercial bureau to run a ghost hotel. The locals never dared to approach it, and all the people who lived there were tourists who came from other places. After receiving the report, we I rushed there immediately, and sure enough, I found the two female corpses in the lobby on the ground floor. The dead were all around 20 years old. After verification of their identities, the two were college students from Hangzhou. One was named Qin Ran and the other was named Su. beautiful." Ye Xiao was stunned immediately: "What? Qin Ran and Su Mei died 3 years ago?" "That's right, I was the one who handled the case. There hasn't been a murder case in Sereng Town for many years. Three years ago, the murder case at the Ghost Inn was a sensation. I remember every detail of that case clearly. After the on-site investigation and the forensic examination, it is estimated that the girl named Qin Ran hit the window glass with her head, and was punctured by the glass shards and died of cerebral arteries; while that Su Mei was hit on the head by the chandelier, The skull fractured and died on the spot, and the death time of the two people did not exceed 12 hours. At that time, we were very nervous about such a big case, and immediately searched the ghost inn. But, except for a very ugly dumb No one else found it. Then, we went to the nearby mountains and the coast to search, and found two floating corpses on the sea. After salvage, we found that they were a man and a woman. After identity verification, we found that the female corpse was the inn The wife of the boss Ding Yutian, named Qiuyun; and the other male corpse was Ding Yutian’s younger brother, named Ding Yushan. As for the cause of their deaths, the forensic examination revealed that they died of drowning.” "Are they already dead?" "Of course, I was the one who checked their identities and participated in the forensic autopsy process." The tone of the old classmate's words made Ye Xiao believe it if he didn't believe it. Ye Xiao shook his head and asked, "What else did you find?" "Listen to me, on the day of our on-site survey, fishermen working in the nearby sea rescued a dying man from the sea and sent him to the hospital. After we learned the news, we rushed to the hospital immediately Check it out. Unfortunately, although the man was revived, he has become mentally ill and can't explain anything. But we found the ID on him, so we knew that his name was Gao Fan, and in the Ghost Inn In the passenger record, there happens to be this Gao Fan's name." "He's a painter." "Yes, later we confirmed his identity and notified his relatives in Shanghai. After the identification of relevant departments, it was determined that Gao Fan suffered from severe schizophrenia, and it was impossible to get any clues from him, so we sent He was sent back to Shanghai. But the search was still going on. In the cemetery by the sea, we accidentally found Ding Yutian's tomb. Judging from the time on the tombstone, it was just a few days before the incident. So we dug After visiting the tomb, it turned out that Ding Yutian's body was basically not decomposed. After the forensic autopsy, it was found that his throat was cut by a sharp instrument such as scissors to death." "Have you found any other clues?" "We found some personal belongings of the guests in the guest rooms on the second and third floors of the ghost inn. Combined with the inn's passenger registration book, we basically identified the people who lived in the inn on the day of the incident. Except the owner Ding Yutian , Qiuyun and his wife, and the owner’s younger brother Ding Yushan, as well as the inn’s chef Achang, who was found on the scene. There are a total of 6 guests from other places, and 3 of them are women from Hangzhou. College students, their names are Qinran, Su Mei, and Shuiyue." "Shuiyue?" Ye Xiao couldn't help calling out the name. "Don't worry, I will never remember those names wrongly. Although we found the bodies of Qin Ran and Su Mei at the beginning, Shuiyue has never been whereabouts. It has been three full years, and she is still a Missing persons. In addition to the three female college students, there is also a mother and son, the mother is Qingfen, and the son is Xiaolong. They also evaporate like air. We only found the luggage left by the mother and son in the guest room. As for the last person , that is the painter Gao Fan, but he has become mentally ill, and I heard that he is still locked up in a private mental hospital in Shanghai." "So - only Achang and Gao Fan survived?" "Yes, we found 5 corpses including Ding Yutian, while Shuiyue, Qingfen, and Xiaolong were missing, and their whereabouts are still unknown. Gao Fan is a mental patient, and the only witness is the dumb Achang. Fortunately He can also write. We questioned him, but he didn't know anything. He said that he was sleeping in the early morning of the incident, and he found the bodies of Qin Ran and Su Mei in the lobby after hearing a scream , At that time, he was completely terrified, and other people in the inn disappeared at once. A Chang said that he had been hiding in the kitchen until he was found by the police." "Do you believe his confession?" "I believe it. Moreover, there is no evidence that Achang is the murderer. I can't think of any motive for him to commit the crime. If Achang really did it, he should have gone away long ago. Why did he stay in the inn until the police arrived? " Ye Xiao couldn't help but nodded: "Well, your analysis makes sense." "Later, I found out Achang's life experience. He was not born dumb. His parents were both actors of the County Ziye Opera Troupe. It is said that Achang was a very beautiful boy when he was a child. When Achang was 10 years old, he followed The troupe lived for a while at the Ghost Inn." "Midnight Opera Troupe?" Ye Xiao immediately remembered what Zhou Hanchao told him about the past, "Do you know about Lan Ruo?" "Yes, after in-depth investigation of the ghost inn, I learned about Lan Ruo from the mouth of the local old man. Back then, Achang, who was still a child, used to be in the same troupe as Lan Ruo, and they both lived in the ghost inn. Maybe, He witnessed the scene where Lan Ruo was killed." "Yes, Achang knows what Lan Ruo looks like, so he is afraid of Shuiyue." "After what happened to Lan Ruo, the troupe couldn't stay in the Ghost Inn anymore, so they had to move to Xileng Town. Soon after, a fire broke out in the house where the troupe lived, and almost everyone was killed. They burned to death, including Achang's parents. Only 10-year-old Achang and an actress miraculously escaped from the fire." "The surviving little boy turned out to be him?" The old classmate nodded, made another cup of tea for Ye Xiao, and continued: "But unfortunately, the actress was almost intact, while Achang was severely burned in the fire, especially his face, Although he received the doctor's best treatment, he was disfigured in the end and turned into what he is now. Moreover, he has been unable to speak since then, perhaps because of the stimulation of his parents being burned to death, or because his throat was smoked. The smoke was ruined. The Midnight Opera Troupe died out. Achang became an orphan and was adopted by a chef in Serang Town. Achang learned a good cooking skill from the chef, but because he was ugly and dumb, and Because of his poor background, everyone around him looked down on him. A few years ago, the Ghost Inn reopened under the management of Ding Yutian, and Achang went to him to work as a chef." Ye Xiao couldn't help but sighed: "Unfortunate people have their own misfortunes." "Although Achang has been discriminated against for decades, he has a very gentle personality and has never hated anyone, so no one bullies him anymore. In short, he is recognized as a good old man, and no one believes that he will do anything. To commit murder." "Then who do you think did the crime?" "Although there is no direct evidence, I personally think that this case is similar to the tragedy that happened at the Ghost Inn in the first year of the Republic of China." Ye Xiao immediately remembered the contents of the letter: "The owner of the inn suddenly went crazy, killed all the tenants, and then committed suicide?" "Yes, I checked the files in the first year of the Republic of China, and it is very similar to this case. I think that if anyone lives in this environment for a long time, he will go crazy sooner or later. Gao Fan is a ready-made example." "You mean Qiuyun went crazy, then killed her husband, then killed two female college students, and committed suicide with Ding Yushan?" "This is the most likely possibility. As for the three missing people, I'm afraid they have been murdered long ago, but their bodies have not been found." "It's unbelievable, like Stephen King's original horror film "The Shining" directed by Kubrick." The old classmate was silent for a while and replied: "I really have this feeling. At that time, I was so devastated by this case that I couldn't sleep or eat for several weeks. It was like a nightmare, and it still haunts me to this day." However, Ye Xiao still shook his head blankly.He didn't understand, since these people were already dead or missing, how did Zhou Xuan see them?It’s unbelievable that Zhou Xuan wrote the dead in the murder case 3 years ago into the letter of his own experience—could it be that Zhou Xuan spent the 12 days he lived in the ghost inn with those dead ghosts? ? Ye Xiao thought of what Xiaolong said in the letter, isn't that a hint?Those who live in the ghost inn are naturally all ghosts.Ye Xiao felt horrified when he thought that his best friend was with the ghosts, and even wrote a letter about the story between himself and the ghosts and sent it to him. is this real? Seeing Ye Xiao trembling non-stop, the old classmate asked with concern: "What's wrong with you?" "No, it's nothing." Ye Xiao hurriedly grabbed the cup and took a sip of tea, forcing himself to calm down.Then, he chatted with his old classmates for a while, talking about the time when he was studying in the Public Security University, before he knew it, he talked about 10 o'clock in the evening. If we continue talking like this, we will spend the night at the police station, Ye Xiao finally reluctantly bid farewell to his old classmate.He found a cleaner hotel in the town and made do with it for the night. In the early morning of the next day, Ye Xiao got on the long-distance bus from Xileng Town back to Shanghai. On the way back, it started to rain again, and he leaned quietly by the car window, watching Sereng Town gradually disappearing into the green hills.At this moment, he recalled all the things he saw and heard yesterday in his mind.In short, it's still those four words—unbelievable. Seeing the raindrops hitting the car window, Ye Xiao suddenly felt that everything around him became unreal.Suddenly, he thought of Borges and Joseph K in Kafka's novel.Perhaps, the ghost inn is the "castle" described by Kafka, and K will never be able to really enter it, and Ye Xiao will never know the truth about the inn. Does the Ghost Inn really exist? Ye Xiao suddenly had doubts. Is that old house standing alone by the desolate seaside really a ghost inn?Perhaps, he shouldn't have come here at all—all the fears are just imaginations of the fearful, and what's left is only the world's mockery of human beings. He doesn't know whether Zhou Xuan is dead or alive. Survival and destruction are always two sides of the same coin. And life always goes on... When Ye Xiao came out of the heavy daydream, he noticed the two people sitting in the front row of him.Although they couldn't see their faces, Ye Xiao's intuition told Ye Xiao that they were a pair of mother and child. Suddenly, the boy turned his head and met Ye Xiao's gaze. The 12-year-old boy's face was pale and melancholy, his eyes were fixed on Ye Xiao, as if they had known each other for a long time. Ye Xiao did not avoid the boy's gaze, but faced him calmly.They stared at each other for a minute or two until the boy's mother turned her head.This is a woman in her thirties, mature and charming, but her skin is as pale as the boy's. The woman immediately turned her son's head and said softly: "How many times have I told you, don't stare into other people's eyes like this, it's very impolite." Then, the woman turned her head, smiled awkwardly at Ye Xiao and said, "I'm sorry, this kid is always rude." "It's okay." Ye Xiao smiled slightly, then closed his eyes. In the speeding long-distance bus, Ye Xiao gradually felt tired, and he fell asleep after a while. ——He dreamed of Zhou Xuan. Maybe he was really too tired. He slept for a total of 6 hours. When Ye Xiao woke up, he found that outside the car window were no longer green hills and fields, but a large forest made of concrete and steel bars. Only then did Ye Xiao realize that the bus had already entered downtown Shanghai.He let out a breath slowly, and finally he was almost home. Suddenly, he found that the mother and child in the front seat were gone, and there were two old people sitting in front of him.Ye Xiao stood up carefully in the carriage, looked at the people in the front and rear seats, but did not find the mother and child. —Maybe they got off the bus already. At this time, the bus drove into the long-distance bus station, and people got off with their luggage.Ye Xiao was the last to get down, looked back at the bus, and stared at the sign under the windshield: "Shanghai—Xileng Town." Ye Xiao said softly: "I will never go there again." It rained again.