Chapter 6 6. Seal the door and damper

At six o'clock in the morning, the alarm clock rang on time. Although the music was Mozart's "Serenade", it was also disgusting because it was not used in the right place.Jiang Xiaolou was very disgusted at the moment, he frowned, reached out to turn off the alarm clock, lay down and dazed for a while as usual, and then got dressed and got up. When he came to the bathroom, he had just put toothpaste on his toothbrush when he suddenly remembered a very important thing: he was off work today, so he didn't have to wake up so early! Jiang Xiaolou smiled helplessly, but it was too late to regret it now - he has always been like this, no matter what time in the morning, as long as he wakes up once, he will never fall asleep again, so he understands the "lazy" that he has longed for for a long time. "Sleep Plan" just died amidst the annoying alarm ringing. There have been too many cases recently, and I don't know when I will be off work next time.

After washing, Jiang Xiaolou went back to the bedroom and wanted to go to bed and lie down for a while. Although he couldn't fall asleep, it would be good to lie down for a while longer. However, when he saw Ji Ruxuan leaning against the head of the bed with a gloomy expression, The footsteps stopped immediately. "What's going on?" he asked, staring at his girlfriend's face. "I didn't sleep well all night..." Ji Ruxuan rubbed her eyes, then raised her head and asked him, "Does my face look ugly?" "It's not very pretty." Jiang Xiaolou climbed onto the bed, lit a cigarette, and leaned against the head of the bed to smoke it.

Ji Ruxuan hugged his arm and said in a low voice: "Last night I woke up for a while and then fell asleep. I had nightmares one night after another. It was horrific..." "Dreaming about ghosts?" Jiang Xiaolou said absently, but he was thinking about the case in silence. He has been doing this recently. As long as he is awake, he is thinking about the case without interruption. It is difficult to see the difference in appearance, which is one of the reasons why he can often speak surprisingly. Ji Ruxuan was still talking: "There is a ghost, but I can't tell... I can't remember several dreams clearly. I only remember one dream in which a man in a black robe was chasing me from behind. I couldn't stop Running, I was very nervous, but every time I turned around, he followed behind. The man was not scary, but he was wearing a strange robe and a hat on his head, so he couldn't see his face, but in the dream I didn't know why. I was very afraid of him, it’s strange to think about it now..."

Jiang Xiaolou frowned and looked at her: "What happened next?" "Later...he chased me into a dark room." Ji Ruxuan tilted her head and said while thinking: "The feeling at that time was so real. There was a big oil painting on the wall of that room. I even remember painting It's a wheat field, I've seen this painting before, I forgot if it was Van Gogh or Monet, and then... guess what I saw?" Jiang Xiaolou looked into her sparkling eyes and shook his head. "I saw a girl lying on the floor, and I just wanted to bend down to see what was going on with her, when I woke up... Tell me, why did I have such a strange dream? Is there any symbolic meaning?"

Jiang Xiaolou was startled when he heard this, and he also felt that the dream was too bizarre, but it was just a dream after all, so he comforted his girlfriend and said: "Dreams are just dreams, so there is no symbolic meaning. I even dreamed that I became the Prime Minister of Japan." , does this indicate that I am about to become a traitor?" Ji Ruxuan gave a "puchi" smile, all the depression and worries in her heart were swept away, she put her head on Jiang Xiaolou's shoulder, and began to chat about what to eat for lunch. "It's rare for you to be off work. How about we make dumplings? I haven't eaten dumplings for a long time!" Ji Ruxuan said drooling.

"Then buy quick-frozen dumplings. Making dumplings is a waste of time." "What's so good about quick-frozen dumplings, you just have to make them yourself, they taste delicious!" Jiang Xiaolou shrugged helplessly, "Then you can do it yourself, I don't want to waste time on such a boring thing." "Hmph, I'll take care of it. You can go to the street to buy ingredients, like pork and celery." Jiang Xiaolou could only agree.Next, he turned on the computer and watched two episodes of "Saint Seiya" on the Internet. At nearly eight o'clock, he gave the computer to Ji Ruxuan to watch entertainment programs, and went out to buy groceries by himself.

Today's weather is good, the sun is bright, but not very strong, and Jiang Xiaolou didn't feel hot even wearing a long-sleeved shirt.He went straight to the farmer's market, and it was only after eight o'clock, and it was already a lively scene.Jiang Xiaolou was most afraid of the excitement, so he hurried to the vegetable stall, picked out two handfuls of celery, and when he paid for it, a clear voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Unexpectedly, Detective Jiang will also come to buy vegetables in person." Looking back, a very handsome boy smiled at himself with his hands behind his back. It was the Taoist priest he had dealt with just a few days ago. Jiang Xiaolou was very impressed with him, so he recognized him at a glance, and smiled immediately: "Detectives also have to eat. You are a Taoist priest, and you are supposed to be non-human. Why did you come to the vegetable market?"

"I'm passing by, and I'm not a Taoist priest." Chen Peiqi looked down at the celery in his hand and said, "Have they already set off?" Of course Jiang Xiaolou knew who he was talking about, nodded and said: "I heard that he left yesterday afternoon, and he probably arrived at the place by now." "I hope they both can come back." Chen Peiqi said after pondering for a while, then smiled at Jiang Xiaolou, turned around and walked towards the exit of the farmer's market. Looking at his back, Jiang Xiaolou couldn't help but worry about what he just said: Is that uninhabited village in the wilderness really "haunted"?Liu Chao and that old horse, can they come back safely?

After buying groceries, on the way home, Jiang Xiaolou received a call from his work unit. In the past, as long as he received a call from his work unit during off-duty, nothing good would happen. Of course, this time was no exception—the unit leader informed Jiang Small building, if there is an emergency, you must rush to the unit within ten minutes. He didn't even care about taking the food home, so Jiang Xiaolou took a taxi directly to Xuyou City Police Station.As soon as I got off the car, I saw Li Chengxiang, the leader of the second team, leading a group of police officers out of the gate of the police station in a hurry. Liu Momo was also in the middle. Seeing Jiang Xiaolou holding a handful of celery, he couldn't help but burst out laughing , walked to his side and whispered: "Are you afraid that we won't have lunch? What a good boy, he knows how to buy vegetables to cook for us."

Jiang Xiaolou ignored her joke, and asked Team Leader Li directly: "Isn't there a lot of people here? Why did you call me, who is off duty?" "Stop rambling, this is Gao Dui's explanation, please don't be idle, get in the car!" Jiang Xiaolou immediately understood Gao Fei's intentions, walked quickly to the duty room, and threw two handfuls of celery on the desk. Before he could speak, the policeman on duty said with a smile, "What do you mean? Send me off?" "My partner will come and get it later, you don't have to give it." Jiang Xiaolou smiled at him and said.

When the police car slowly drove into the gate of the community, Jiang Xiaolou glanced at the four words "Purple Gold Villa" engraved on the stone tablet next to the gate, knowing that this is one of the most upscale residential communities in Xuyou City, and whispered to the people on the side Liu Momo said: "It seems that the deceased was not a poor man." "Yeah, the people who can live in this community are either rich or noble, most of them are entrepreneurs, second-generation rich, and then they are corrupt..." Li Chengxiang turned his head and stared at her, and she closed her mouth. After a while, she lowered her voice unwillingly and said to Jiang Xiaolou: "I'm telling the truth, all the officials living in this community were arrested and shot. , I guarantee that no one is wronged..." "It's all like this." Jiang Xiaolou shrugged helplessly. At this time, the car stopped in front of a two-story villa. When Jiang Xiaolou got out of the car with everyone, he saw a beautiful woman dressed in western style talking loudly with Li Chengxiang who got out of the car first: "I reported the case. What happened?" It was my friend. We made an appointment to go shopping together the day before yesterday, but she didn’t come. I didn’t answer the phone for three days in a row. Just see, see..." Li Chengxiang listened patiently to what she said, nodded and said: "Let's go into the house to see by ourselves, Xiao Liu and Wang Lei, you two will accompany this lady to make a record, and the rest will come in with me." A burst of pungent smell rushed towards him, Jiang Xiaolou covered his mouth and walked straight to the corpse.This is a female corpse, lying flat on her back on the blue plush carpet, wearing a pink nightgown that looks like a high-end product, her exposed skin is covered with corpse spots. Jiang Xiaolou took a rough look. The female corpse was about twenty-seven or eight years old. She had beautiful long hair, big eyes, a high nose, and a small oval face. She must have been a beautiful woman when she was alive, but unfortunately she is not at all now. beautiful.This is really a helpless and desolate thing.People die, that's all. The forensic doctor stepped forward to check the condition of the corpse, Jiang Xiaolou stepped aside, his eyes moved little by little in this spacious and bright bedroom, searching for possible clues, and finally, his eyes fell on the computer desk under the window sill , there is a plate of fruit platter on it, the fruit inside has become moldy, and next to it is a small red mobile phone that only looks like a lady's. Jiang Xiaolou went to the forensic doctor and asked for a pair of rubber gloves. After putting them on, he picked up the phone and pressed it. The screen of the phone turned on and it was still charged.Jiang Xiaolou pressed the button to view the recent call records, and his brows suddenly frowned—the last call record actually showed Liu Chao's name! Jiang Xiaolou was stunned, guessing that this was probably just a coincidence. After all, the name "Liu Chao" is too popular. There are probably not less than fifty people with this name in Xu Youshi alone. Therefore, the "Liu Chao" is displayed on the phone. Chao" may not be the Liu Chao I know who has nothing but money. He flipped through the previous call records again, and after only one page, another familiar name came into view—Old Ma, Jiang Xiaolou was stunned: If this "Old Ma" was the "Old Ma" he knew Old horse", then Liu Chao must be too.His head turned quickly and he thought that Liu Chao and Lao Ma had known each other not long ago, and they did not have a common circle of friends. Apart from himself, Chen Peiqi and Qin Nalan, there must be only one person who could know them both. The woman he mentioned but never met... Jiang Xiaolou stared down at the female corpse on the carpet, tremblingly thinking: Could it be that she is that demon? How could the woman who escaped from Fengmen Village with Liu Chao and others die suddenly in her own home?Could it be... related to those so-called 'men in black'? Jiang Xiaolou took a deep breath, walked out of the bedroom quickly, found the girl who reported the crime earlier, ignored Liu Momo taking notes for her, and asked her directly: "Excuse me, what's the name of the deceased?" "Liang Xueli." The girl replied. "What about the screen name?" "The net name... the net name is Yaoyao, what's wrong?" "Nothing." Jiang Xiaolou reluctantly smiled at her, but his heart was already in a mess—if Liu Chao's "theory of the man in black" is true, then Liang Xueli—that is, the death of Yaoyao—is bound to follow Regarding Fengmen Village, Cui Bo was the first, and she was the second. This case is getting more and more complicated now. Jiang Xiaolou is not afraid of this. No matter how complicated the case is, as long as it is done by people, there will be clues left. If there are clues, there will be a way to solve the case. What he is worried about is that the "men in black" in Liu Chao and others What is it?In other words, are there really ghosts in this world?If Cui Bo and Yaoyao were really killed by ghosts, what can I do to bring them to justice?Is it possible to use a cross or a mahogany sword? Thinking of this, Jiang Xiaolou couldn't help but shook his head and smiled wryly. After a bumpy day on the bus, at dusk, the car finally arrived at the terminal of the trip - ×× City Long-distance Bus Station.It is still dozens of miles away from Xiaoyao River Valley. After discussing with Liu Chao, the old horse went to the surrounding area first, so he stopped a taxi and went to the entrance of Xiaoyao River Valley. After the taxi drove for more than ten minutes, the male taxi driver started a conversation with them: "You two are not locals, are you here to visit relatives?" "It's from Xu Zhi." The old horse handed him a cigarette and said, "But why must it be relatives?" "This dilapidated place, what else can you do here if you don't visit relatives." The old horse smiled and said: "To tell you the truth, we are engaged in photography. I heard that there are many forests in the mountains here, and we plan to go into the mountains to take some photos of the original ecology. By the way, there are no wild animals in the mountains, right?" The driver frowned and said hesitantly, "There are no beasts, but...it's not too safe." The old horse glanced at Liu Chao pointedly, then turned his gaze to the driver. "Excuse me, brother, what do you mean it's not safe?" "This... you'd better not go deep, there is a village in the mountains... a bit evil." "Evil door?" "It's just haunted or something. We haven't been there. We heard it from people. Everyone in our area knows that place, and no one dares to go there." Liu Chao just wanted to interject, but the driver continued: "Everyone said there It's weird, if it wasn't for the three temples, something would have happened a long time ago..." Liu Chao was startled, it was the first time he had heard of this, and he hurriedly asked, "What three temples?" "Da, Zhong and Xiaori temples (to avoid misunderstanding, the real names are withheld here), the three temples are surrounded by a triangle, and the village is in the middle. It is said that they were built under the guidance of an expert in the early years. A few temples ago, I heard that there was a lot of trouble in that area, and it is much better now, but it is better not to enter the village to spend the night." After hearing what he said, the two pondered for a moment, and the old horse asked, "Did anyone live in that village before?" "Why not, I heard from the elders that there were people living there hundreds of years ago, but we have never interacted with outsiders. We don't know when it was unoccupied." Just as Liu Chao opened his mouth to ask a question, the car stopped suddenly, and the driver pointed to the outside of the car and said, "Are you getting off here?" Liu Chao looked out of the car window, among the endless crop fields on the side of the road, there was a dirt road with about four lanes, winding its way to the foothills in the distance. That's it.The last time a few people entered the mountain from here, they lost their way and entered Fengmen Village by mistake, and encountered a series of strange things... When they called this to leave last time, Liu Chao secretly vowed that he would never come to this place in his life, but he did not come here for a month. Realizing that he returned to this place on his own initiative, it was really a trick of fate. Looking at this familiar road, Liu Chao couldn't help but feel a sense of desolation in his heart. After getting off the car, the two stood on the side of the road and smoked a cigarette silently, then followed the agreed plan and walked along the dirt road to the deep mountains, hoping to find local people in the fields beside the road to inquire about Fengmen Village. Unexpectedly, the two walked forward for half an hour without seeing a single figure.Seeing that it was getting dark, Liu Chao felt a little apprehensive, so he suggested that Lao Ma go to the hotel in front of the town to rest first, and it would not be too late to come back tomorrow morning. Of course, Lao Ma had to agree. The two began to turn around and walk back. When they were about to get off at the intersection where they got off the car earlier, a middle-aged man dressed as a farmer walked up to him. The old horse rushed up to meet him, first handed him a cigarette, and then asked: "Brother, I want to ask you about a place." , is there a Fengmen Village near this mountain?" The middle-aged man was planning to light a cigarette, but when he heard this, he suddenly put down the match, looked up and down at the old horse with wide eyes, and said very vigilantly, "Why are you asking about this place?" "Ah, the two of us are photographers. I heard that there are many ancient buildings in this village. I want to go in and have a look, but I don't know the way, so I asked my elder brother to find out."——Lao Ma's lies are getting more and more rounded, Liu Chao listened to it and wanted to laugh, but felt a bit bitter that he couldn't laugh. "We don't recognize it, I don't recognize it, you can ask someone else." The middle-aged man threw the unlit cigarette back into the old horse's hand, and walked away without looking back while carrying the shovel head. There was no sound and he looked back, so he had to give up.Lao Ma gave Liu Chao a helpless smile, lit the cigarette in his mouth, and took a deep drag. There is a small town about seven or eight miles away from the mountain pass. There is the only local hotel in the town. Although the place is not big, the sanitary conditions are not bad. The last time Liu Chao and his party stayed here for one night before entering the mountain. feeling not bad. When it was completely dark, the two of them came to this hotel, opened the room to store their luggage, and then ate - the hotel also sells food.The boss is a little old man in his sixties. When the food was brought into the room, the old horse asked him about Fengmen Village again.Hearing the word "Fengmen Village", the old shopkeeper was not as surprised as the farmer before, but just asked lightly: "Are you two planning to enter the village?" The old horse then used the lie he made up to prevaricate, and the old man nodded after hearing this, "There are indeed many old houses there, but it is best for the two of you to go back during the day and not spend the night in the village." The old horse lowered his voice and said, "I heard...is there something unclean in the village?" The old man nodded, and just as he opened his mouth, someone downstairs suddenly called the boss loudly. The old man agreed, then turned to the two of them and said, "I'll go down and get busy for a while, you guys have dinner, and chatter when you have time in the evening." Then he got up and went out and went downstairs. Liu Chao looked at the old horse and said, "This old man must know something." "That's right, I said that in the vicinity, I'm sure we can get some news." Ma opened a bottle of beer with a snap, and handed it to Liu Chao while saying, "I just didn't expect Fengmen Village to be so famous in the local area. We asked a total of three people, and none of them knew about this place." Liu Chao nodded, and then said: "That farmer must know, and judging from his appearance at the time, he must know some secrets, but why didn't he tell us?" "Maybe it's because I don't want to be troublesome. If it were me, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with this kind of place." Lao Ma smiled wryly. "But we can't hide now even if we want to." Liu Chao sighed secretly, looked up at the dark night outside the window, and asked the old horse in a low voice with some anxiety: "Those things...won't they come here with us?" "I changed cars three times along the way, and I think people couldn't catch up." There is a problem with this sentence itself, Liu Chao continued: "But, they are not human..." "Then there is nothing to do." The old horse took a sip of the beer and said, "Fortunately, they don't want to hurt us now, we still have time." Liu Chao frowned: "I always feel that something is wrong - since Cui Bo's accident, they have been just threatening and scaring us, why have they not been serious for so long? You know, it is too easy for them to deal with us .” The old horse sighed: "Didn't I dodge with that sword?" "If he didn't have that sword, he might not have killed you. Didn't Nalan have the same experience before, and it turned out to be a false alarm." Speaking of this, he suddenly remembered something, "By the way, you and I, Nalan has seen the man in black, only Yaoyao has been safe and sound, why is that?" The old horse's eyes flashed, and he said, "I hope she is safe and sound." Liu Chao knew that he had misunderstood what he meant. Just as he was about to explain, there were two knocks on the door, accompanied by an old voice: "Have you eaten yet? I'll bring some tea and boiling water over." It was the voice of the shop owner. Lao Ma got up and went to open the door, let the old man into the room, and warmly greeted him to the table to drink.The old man was polite at first, but couldn't hold back the enthusiasm of the two of them, so he took his seat.After drinking for three rounds, the old horse saw that it was almost done, so he brought up the previous topic again, "We just want to find out, if there is something really evil, we can avoid it in time, don't you think so, sir?" The old man nodded slightly, "No one in our area usually goes to the mountains. It's really haunted there. You young people don't believe in evil. Let me tell you something. In the early years... I forgot it was 83 In 1984, I had a cousin who was in his twenties at the time. He was at the age that he was not afraid of anything. He made a bet with a bunch of kids and went to sleep in the village. After my cousin came back, he kept having a high fever and talking nonsense, and it was useless to see a doctor. Later, he asked the Daxian to look after him, saying that he carried a hundred-year-old fox fairy on his back. How can there be such a thing in our town? That guy was appointed to be recruited from the mountains..." If it was the past, when encountering such strange and chaotic things, Liu Chao would definitely ask to find out, but at this moment, he didn't have the time to care about the authenticity of the fox fairy, so he asked: "Your cousin and the others are in the village. What did you see?" "Then I don't know. I was also very curious earlier. I asked my cousin, but he didn't talk about it. It was strange to say it. The rest of the people who went into the mountain with him also encountered some strange things when they came back. I didn’t mention a word about entering the mountain that night. We all know that the village is evil, and we didn’t inquire about it because we were afraid that we would get involved in it. But it is indeed true. Listen to my old man’s advice, it’s best not to If you want to go into the mountains, especially you can’t spend the night in the village!” The last sentence struck Liu Chao's heart, he only regretted that he hadn't heard about these things earlier, otherwise he wouldn't have traveled all the way here today and stayed in such a small hotel to worry about it. But the matter has come to this point, and he can only go down step by step. Liu Chao drew his attention together and asked, "I heard that there are three temples around the village forming a triangle. Which village is it guarding?" "That's right, without those three temples, I don't know how many people would be harmed." The old man took a sip of his wine, "Don't you want to take pictures of ancient buildings? Then don't go into the village, it's just right to go to these three temples. They are all buildings from before the Qing Dynasty, and they are not badly preserved!" The old horse hurriedly said: "Then I would like to ask the old man to introduce the situation of these temples to us." "Zhongri Temple and Xiaori Temple are Buddhist halls. They are far away from Fengmen Village. Dari Temple is in front of Fengmen Village. It is only about one or two miles away from the village. Dari Temple is actually not a temple, but a Taoist temple." "Taoist temple?" The two of them stared at each other. "Ah, it was originally called Qinglong Temple or something. Later, the plaque fell off. Everyone saw that it was close to Zhongri Temple and Xiaori Temple, and occupied the largest area. It gradually became Dari Temple." Liu Chao nodded slowly, thinking that before Chen Peiqi said that the secret of Fengmen Village might be related to Taoism, and now he heard that there is such a Taoist temple near the village, I don't know if it is a coincidence, or there is some unknown connection between the two origin?Do the other two temples have anything to do with Fengmen Village?At this time, I heard the old horse ask: "Are there any monks or Taoist priests in those three temples?" The old man shook his head: "No, it was gone a few years ago, and no one usually goes there, but the house is still well preserved, and the old houses are solid." "That's right, we've got acquaintances from the houses we built before." The old horse echoed. "Why not? Look, the buildings are getting higher and higher, and the price is getting more and more expensive, but the quality is not good. It looks like paper. I just want to poke it and collapse. I really don't know what's going on!" There were no clues from the shopkeeper's old man, but it was further confirmed that the relationship between the three temples and Fengmen Village was unusual, so the two decided to go to the mountain to have a look by themselves the next day. "We can't run around anymore," the old horse said while sitting on the sofa, rubbing the pendant on his chest, "tomorrow morning we will go to the local town government, one is to check the history of Fengmen Village in the local chronicles, and the other is to read Can I ask for a local map, so that it is convenient to enter the mountain, at least there is a reference." Liu Chao hesitated and said, "It's a good idea, but why should people help us? I'm afraid it's useless to pretend to be a photographer." "Then change your job. How about a reporter?" Before Liu Chao could answer, he had pulled his backpack, took out two cards, looked at them, and threw one of them to Liu Chao. On the front of the card was written Writer: Liu Chao, a reporter from a certain daily newspaper... There is also a two-inch photo of him posted on it.Liu Chao looked up at the old horse in surprise: "When did you make this thing?" "Just two days ago, now you know why I took pictures of you that day." Liu Chao nodded: "You are really thoughtful." The old horse reached out to play with the metal pendant on his chest again, and said: "If you want to find out the truth about the ghosts in Fengmen Village, you will definitely not be able to do it without a lot of work." Liu Chao murmured, "So what if we find out?" "Let's find out. I'd like to see why this village is related to Taoism everywhere..." At this time, Liu Chao's mobile phone rang, and the screen showed that the call was from Qin Nalan's mobile phone. Liu Chao's heart trembled, and he went to the balcony outside the guest room to answer the phone. "Liu Chao, have you arrived? Are you okay?" Sure enough, it was Qin Nalan's voice. A trace of warmth slowly rose from the bottom of Liu Chao's heart, as if he had just taken a sip of hot water with honey, and there was a hint of sweetness. He had to say softly: "It's quite Okay, you're fine at home, right?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized that he had said something wrong - Qin Nalan is currently living in his own home, where did she come from?It's a bit of a suspicion that I'm taking advantage of this question, as if the two are a family. Qin Nalan was silent for a moment, then said: "I'm fine too, don't worry, you must pay attention to safety." "Don't worry, I will." Then the two chatted casually, Qin Nalan said: "Then I won't bother you, you go to bed early, go back early, I..." Liu Chao held the phone without moving. Finally, he heard the other party's voice as soft as a mosquito's whisper: "I'm waiting for you at home..." After finishing speaking, he hung up the phone. Liu Chao was holding on to the phone in a daze, and it took him a while to come to his senses. He is not a fool, even a fool can understand Qin Nalan's meaning. Liu Chao just couldn't believe it. After all, this was the first time Qin Nalan asked He made a confession—if that wasn't a confession then what was?However, Liu Chao could guess what she was thinking: with her introverted personality, it was difficult to talk about this kind of thing face-to-face, and she didn't take the initiative. She might have been waiting for this opportunity to express her heart on the phone. The warmth from before has now spread all over his body. From this, Liu Chao can know how he feels for her, and he undoubtedly likes her, but...he suddenly thinks of Jiang Xiaolou, after all, he and Qin Nalan once had a relationship. After a relationship, although they broke up in the end, if he and Qin Nalan really form a couple, he always feels a little uncomfortable. hi what am i thinkingLiu Chao shook his head amusedly. It's better to let things take their course in this aspect. Besides, now is not the time to think about things. He lit a cigarette, smoked it silently to the night sky, and then went back to the house.Under the dim light, the old horse was still sitting sideways on the sofa, holding the shiny pendant on his chest, staring at it without blinking. Liu Chao couldn't help asking curiously: "What are you wearing around your neck? I don't think I've seen you wearing it before." The old horse said without raising his head, "Amulet, someone gave it to me before I came here." Liu Chao was stunned: "Is it—" "I know what you want to say, it has nothing to do with Chen Peiqi, it's just a simple amulet, given by a girl." He finally raised his head to look at Liu Chao, under the light, his eyes were as bright as the pendant in his hand of. "A girl who likes me," he said. Liu Chao had never seen him like this before. He frowned and said, "I remember you don't seem to have a girlfriend, do you? New one?" The old horse shook his head, smiled wryly and said, "Look at me, am I qualified to have a girlfriend?" "What's the meaning?" "It's nothing, huh, let's go to bed early." After saying that, the old horse stood up from the sofa, walked to his own bed, and lay down with his clothes on. In order to take care of each other, they lived in two single beds. bed room. After going to bed, Liu Chao was still muttering in his heart. He felt that since he left Xu You yesterday, the old horse seemed to be different from before. Although he was still so calm and calm, there was something more in his temperament—— Is it sorrow?Liu Chao is not sure, but this is not a strange thing, no matter how sunny and optimistic people will have a negative side, even his friend Jiang Xiaolou, who is as perfect as him, once cried in front of him after being drunk experience... Thinking of Jiang Xiaolou, Liu Chao somehow saw Qin Nalan's appearance again, he quickly stopped thinking, forced himself not to think about anything, and went to bed quickly, there are important things to do tomorrow.Perhaps it was due to the excessive fatigue during the day, she closed her eyes and fell asleep soon after, but an accident happened, which woke him up from the dream again—— There was a piercing cry. Liu Chao sat up almost instinctively, reached out and pressed the light switch, and the room suddenly lit up.I saw that the old horse was also sitting on the bed with his upper body propped up, his forehead was beaded with sweat, as if he had just gone through a strenuous exercise, and his chest was heaving and rising rapidly. Liu Chao asked cautiously, "What's wrong?" "I had a nightmare." The old horse panted and said very tiredly.Then he lay down, turned over, and continued to sleep with his back facing Liu Chao.Liu Chao stared at him silently for a while, then turned off the light and lay down, secretly guessing, did the old horse see something scary in his dream?Is it Cui Bo or the man in black? The local town government did not go in vain, and the two press cards played a key role. They not only obtained the "local chronicles" and local maps, but also obtained some reference information from the town head. It was uninhabited in the middle of the 1980s. Due to the underdeveloped transportation at that time (the actual reason given by the mayor of the town should be that the organization is bloated but no one is in charge, a typical agency style), the local government knows little about this mountain village. Later, after investigation, it was determined that the original residents of Fengmen Village had undergone a collective relocation due to reasons such as transportation, work, and school inconvenience. As for where these people went, there is no definite statement. The mayor speculated that they lived scattered The villagers dare not say that they are from Fengmen Village because they are afraid that people will look down on them. Over the past twenty years, most of the descendants of these people no longer know their origins. Therefore, except for those empty houses that cannot be moved, everyone in Fengmen Village has already disappeared disappeared. This is really not a very clever inference, but the attention of Liu Chao and his wife has long been attracted by another important situation, that is: the original name of Fengmen Village is not "Fengmen Village", but "Fengmen Village", no matter what Whether it is the local chronicles or the local maps, this name is used. The local chronicles explain "Fengmen Village" in this way: After reading this passage, Liu Chao pondered and said: "It turns out that the wind in Fengmen Village is this wind. This is strange..." The old horse raised his eyes from the map and asked, "So what's the 'wind'?" "If it's this trend, the term "closed doors and no households" can no longer be established." "Actually, it's nothing," Lao Ma said in a calm tone, "Although it was originally called Fengmen Village, Fengliu's Fengliu, but because of the various living habits of the villagers, such as men not marrying women, etc., it gradually became a village. It’s been called Fengmen Village, and the maker of the wooden sign made a fuss about its extended meaning, which is normal, isn’t it?” Liu Chao nodded slowly: "According to what you said, that wooden sign is not an antique anymore, because Fengmen Village used to be called Fengmen Village—the wind of Fengliu." "Originally, Chen Peiqi told me that judging from the texture of the wooden sign, it is at most ten years ago, and it cannot be earlier." Liu Chao looked at him blankly and said, "Why don't I know about this?" "Really? I didn't tell you?" "I just told you." Liu Chao shrugged and said, "So Fengmen Village was still inhabited at least ten years ago." "Of course." "Then... Now that we have the Local Chronicles and maps, what should we do next?" Slowly spit out two words from the old horse's mouth: "Enter the mountain." Liu Chao suddenly became nervous, "Aren't you... going to the village now?" "I won't go for the time being, I'll go to those monasteries first and then talk about it. I seem to have got a little clue now." "Oh? Let's hear it?" The old horse stood up with a smile and walked to the balcony. His calm voice with a hint of helplessness was carried by the breeze into Liu Chao's ears: "Now is not the time, and it will be messy if you say it. You believe me, as long as I If you don’t die, you will definitely find the truth.” It seems that he has indeed discovered something, but when it comes to this, Liu Chao is too curious to ask him, so he said with a smile: "Then you must not die, otherwise I will not be able to live by myself .” "You don't want me to die, just for this reason?" The old horse turned around and said with a smile. Liu Chao replied in a joking tone: "We are friends, and I feel sad when you die." The old horse looked at him steadily, a strange gleam flashed in his eyes. The road into the mountain was still as bumpy as last time, and it was very strenuous to walk. Fortunately, there were tall plants on both sides of the road that the sun could not penetrate, which preserved the unique moisture of the land and plants, so the two walked on the road without any problems. Does not feel very hot.Their destinations today are Zhongri Temple and Xiaori Temple—from the map, these two temples are the closest to the mountain pass. The two of them estimated the travel time. If there is no accident, they can return to the town before night. The location of Dari Temple is far away. If you don’t want to spend the night in the mountains, you have to get up early tomorrow and walk faster on the road. You should be able to return before evening.And Liu Chao and the two of them don't want to spend the night in the mountains unless they really have to, so they arranged the itinerary to visit Dari Temple tomorrow, and they will visit the other two temples first today. 他们带了不少设备在身上：当地地图、指南针、GPS，光是这三样东西加起来，他们真是想迷路都难，沿着山路走了两三个小时，在一片丘陵中间终于看到了村舍的影子——当然不能是封门村，而是一个叫“龙家村”（同样是化名）的小村子，从那份地图上可以看到，他们的第一处目的地——小日寺就在这片村子背面的山脚下，一条蜿蜒小路从村子旁边绕过，想必是直通寺庙。老马在小路与进村大路的交叉口停下来，回头问落在后面挺远的刘超：“咱们是先进村打听打听，还是直接到寺里去？” 刘超手搭凉棚向远处望去，少顷说道：“还是先进村吧，正好咱们也快没水了，灌点水也好。” 两人于是顺着大路进村，走了大约十分钟左右，那些低矮、破旧的房舍近在眼前了，是与封门村差不多的建筑风格，看来这里的生活条件也是比较落后。从一座座房前走过时，他们有了一个奇怪的发现：村子里居然一个人都没有！ “现在是三点钟，”老马停下来，看了看手表，说道，“这会儿在农村正是下地干活的时候，没准村里人都去干活去了？” “那也不能一个人都没有呀！老人呢，孩子呢？” 沉默片刻，老马指着前方说道：“往前走走看吧。” 就这样又往前走了百来米，还是一个人影都看不见，刘超有些心寒了，拽住老马胳膊低声说道：“该不会……又是一个封门村吧？” 老马嘴角微微抽了几下，刚说了几个字：“不能够啊……”就听见一阵奇怪的音乐声从远处传来，刘超侧耳听了听，悚然说道：“这是唢呐声……我们老家每逢死人时候吹的好像就是这种哀乐……” 老马皱起眉头，往声音响起方向望去，但视线被一片房舍挡住了。“过去看看吧。”他说道，继而再次迈开了步子，刘超只好跟上去，心却跳得厉害——在如此一个无人荒野山村里，听到这种令人浑身起鸡皮疙瘩的哀乐，任谁都不能不紧张、不害怕。 转过一排房舍，脚下的土路变得更加宽阔起来，在前方不远处形成一块偌大的平地，刘超虽然没怎么在农村待过，也知道这里是打谷场，用唢呐吹出的哀乐从广场对面的山道上不断飘过来，越来越大，两人傻乎乎地站在打谷场前，望着对面，等了不到两分钟，一个颇为壮观的场面在他们眼前出现了—— 几个穿红戴绿的乐手走在前头，吹唢呐、吹喇叭、吹笙的都有，后头四个人抬着张四周没有顶的轿子，轿子里坐着个干瘦的老头，身穿灰色长衫，胸口位置画着张硕大的太极双鱼图，老头一手不断摇铃，另一手拿拂尘不断在身体前后左右挥动，模样有些好笑，但老马和刘超却一点也笑不出来。老马压低声音说道：“这奏的不是哀乐，应该是道教的什么仪式吧，或者地方传统仪式，看这样子，像是在做道场呢。” 他刚说完，前面这些人已经沿着山路走上来了，后头居然还有大部队跟着，起码有百来人，看穿着打扮应该是这里的村民。刘超点着头喃喃说道：“怪不得村里没人呢，敢情都上这来了……哎，不对啊，为什么全是男的？”他诧异地转头望向老马，“村里的女人都哪去了？” “也许是这类仪式不能让女人参加吧。”老马说着，突然伸手拉住刘超胳膊，“咱们有可能冲撞了仪式，还是先出村躲一会再进来吧。” 然而已经晚了——两人刚转过身，背后就响起一个苍老但十分有底气的声音：“等等！” 两人只好再回转过身，但见几个人离开队伍，快速朝这边跑了过来，为首的是一个老头，老得胡子都白了，但步伐却很快，不消片刻便来到二人面前，上下打量了他们一番，说道：“我是这里村长，你们是什么人，来这里干啥？” 老马不急不慌地将他那摄影师的谎话又说了一遍，听得老头直皱眉，冷冷说道：“我不管你们要拍啥玩意，换个日子来都没事，今天是我们村扶乩的大日子，你们快些走吧，莫要冲撞了仙人。” “晓得晓得，我们这就走。”老马给刘超使了个眼色，刚要转身，突然坐在骄子里那个老道士发话了：“你们慢些走！”说完指挥轿夫加快步伐，来到二人面前，一双如鼠目般圆溜溜的小眼不怀好意地轮流打量二人的脸庞，刘超只觉得他的目光好像有刺似的，看的他脸上直发烫。 “道长……”老马只说了两个字，就被老道士挥手打断，转头在那些均是一脸迷茫的村民们脸上慢吞吞地环视了一遍，最后落在先前说话那个村长脸上，慢悠悠说道：“我今天是干什么来了？” 村长毕恭毕敬答道：“村里来了外客（中原地区方言，指鬼怪附身），请您老帮忙驱邪。” 老道士冷笑一声，分别指了指刘超和老马，说道：“外客就在这两个小伙子身上。” 此言一出，人群中立即爆发出一阵骚乱，不少站在前面的人都向后退了好几步，用像看怪物似的目光看着眼前这两位不速之客。 刘超只觉得脊背发凉，好像真有什么东西在后背上趴着似的，这时，他听见老马镇定自若的声音：“道长可能搞错了，我们刚到这地方，这村子的外客怎么会在我们身上呢？” “哼，不管怎么说，你们身后的确背着东西，我这双老眼可是不会看错的。” 老马脸色变了变，故意说道：“那就拜托道长帮我们驱邪。” 老道士拂尘一甩，别过脸去。“既然不是村里的外客，我就不能帮你们，这是我们这行的规矩，你们走吧。” 刘超一听急了，上前一步正要开口，被老马拦住，只说了两个字：“走吧。” 刘超看了看他，又看看老道士。 "But……" 老马不由分说拉起他就往村口走去，走了大约十来米远，突然又回过头，静静地看了老道士一会儿，说道：“请问道长，我们身上的外客是什么东西？” “非精非怪，非兽非木。” 老马沉吟了一下说道：“难道是……鬼？” 老道士低下头去，没有说话，但这意思无疑是默认了。 老马没有再问，拉起刘超的胳膊就走，一路没有停留地出了这个小山村。