Chapter 35 Chapter Six Seven-Colored Scales

I wandered around without a sense of direction in Xishui Village.After a while, I found that there was no one in the village, and the wooden houses here were too dilapidated to accommodate anyone.I couldn't help thinking in my heart: Could this not be Xishui Village?But there is a stone tablet at the entrance of the village, with the words "Xishui Village" clearly written on it, this is indeed Xishui Village.I remember that middle-aged woman said that there are still people living here, but I can't see anyone living here.Could it be that the people in Xishui Village have long since died, and that middle-aged woman is also a ghost, right?

I was walking around Xishui Village, and inadvertently found a strange place on the road in the village.None of these roads or alleys in the village are straight, and the straightest ones are only ten or twenty meters away.When I first came in, I felt that this design was a bit random, but I walked here for a long time, but found that I couldn't get out no matter what. I can clearly tell the direction by the sun in the sky, but the small roads here almost turn every few meters. I wanted to go south, but the road turned to another place. Simply put, this is a maze. I was a little anxious, wasn't Xinhong brought to Xishui Village by a middle-aged woman?This place is clearly in ruins, will Xinhong be in danger?However, all the people in the county government know the middle-aged woman, so she has no reason to be a ghost or want to harm us.

I tried to gently push open the door of a large courtyard. The wooden door may be old and decayed.It fell to the ground with such a light touch by me, stirring up a thick layer of dust.In this large courtyard, there is a deep well on the right. The place has long been empty, but the well water is still clear.The architectural features here are very similar to those of the Qin and Han Dynasties, all of which are courtyard-style, symmetrical layout, and single shape.However, it seems that there is a light yellow mark on the door of every wooden courtyard, which looks like the moon. I'm probably the only one here, so it's very quiet, and if there is any movement, I can hear it clearly.Suddenly, a sound like people walking outside reached my ears, and I immediately shouted: "Who is it!"

Immediately there was a sound of running away from outside.I chased out of the yard curiously, but I couldn't see anyone.Because the road here turns every 10 or 20 meters, it is very easy to hide.Who else is there in this abandoned village but me?It shouldn't be Xinhong, he has no reason to avoid me after hearing my voice.Anyway, I'm already trapped in Xishui Village, so I just wander around and try my luck.Even if I take a compass with me, I can't go out of this kind of place. I know the direction, but the road has to turn in another direction. I can't choose which direction to go.

I walked in the direction of the sound just now, and there was a seven-color scale in a dark alley.I feel a little surprised, this seven-color scale seems to have just fallen from something, and there is still a very bright luster on it.I wandered over and picked up the scale. There is still some mucus on this seven-color scale, which obviously just fell from a living creature!This scale is very wide and thick. It looks like fish scales but not like rain. I can't figure it out myself.When I was in the yard just now, I heard the sound of walking outside. Could it be the owner of this scale walking around.I was thinking in my heart: maybe there are only me and the owner of this scale in this dilapidated Xishui Village. What would the owner of this scale be like? Why is it still in the village even though no one in the village is there?

I thought I would be scared, but I was abnormally calm, probably because of the Tianshan Temple incident, I was able to calmly face these weird things.I put the scales in front of my eyes and observed them carefully.However, no matter how I look at it, it looks like fish scales, but can fish go ashore?Now I don't bother to pay attention to this scale. The important thing is where all the people in Xishui Village have gone. People in the county say that there are still people living in Xishui Village.Why am I the only one here now, and I don't believe that the dilapidated wooden house here can still live in people.

I took a deep breath and shouted to the sky: "Xinhong, big sister. Where are you?" However, no one answered me, and only my voice was echoing.The dilapidated yard trembled a little from my voice, making creaking noises.I walked aimlessly in the alley, and the strange village road here reminded me of a place called Qiangang Ancient Village in Taiping Town, Conghua, Guangzhou, which is famous in the archaeological world. The roads in this village are quite similar to those in Qiangang Ancient Village.In 2000, several cultural and cultural experts discovered an ancestral hall that seemed inconspicuous at the time deep in a dense lychee forest, and the location of this ancestral hall was the ancient village of Qiangang.None of its alleys are straight, and the straightest one is only twenty or thirty meters long.

One of the reasons they did this is that it is said that at the beginning of the establishment of Qiangang Village, an old man in the village (commonly known as "Pig Head Man") invited Mr. Geography to see Fengshui.Mr. Geography walked from east to west, and then from south to north, and drew dozens of lines with a compass, and finally determined that Qiangang was in the shape of a lotus root.Therefore, the villagers only need to act according to their own wishes when building houses, and extend them freely if there is space.In fact, another important reason is that such a maze-like terrain was conducive to protecting the villagers here in that era.

The ancestral hall discovered by cultural and museum experts is the "Guangyu Temple" that won the first place in the "2003 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Cultural Heritage Protection Outstanding Project Award".This ancestral hall worships Lu Xiufu, and the villagers of this village are the descendants of Lu Xiufu, the last loyal prime minister of the Song Dynasty! Since Qiangang Ancient Village made the village road in order to escape the pursuit of the Yuan Dynasty, is this Xishui Village also avoiding something by establishing village alleys in a similar way?I feel like I have changed a bit, thinking so calmly in this situation.If it was before, I would have been scared to run around.

I once visited Qiangang Ancient Village, and the locals told me a way to get out of the maze-like lanes.I thought back to the method they told me, that is to close my eyes and use my body to feel which alleyway the air is coming from. I closed my eyes gently and felt a cool breeze blowing slowly from behind.The exit is not far behind me.I leaned against the decaying wooden house and walked slowly in the direction of the breeze. It worked for me, because I felt the air flow getting stronger and stronger, which meant that I was close to the exit!If I panic and tense for a while, I won't be able to feel the subtle changes in the air.

Suddenly, there seemed to be something under my feet, and there was a click.I opened my eyes and saw that there was another seven-color scale with some mucus on it, which must have just fallen from something.I feel a little funny, it can't really be a fish coming ashore, because the scales are really fish-like. Because it is very quiet here, you can hear even a little east longitude clearly.At this time, I heard the sound of someone walking again!This time, I controlled my excitement and calmed down to distinguish where the sound came from.I heard it, it came from in front of me! I quickly chased after him, not knowing where I got the courage from.Maybe it really grew up in the Tianshan Temple.It seemed that the sound came from a person or some kind of animal, and he was running very fast.Now I have calmed down and can tell where this thing is hiding. However, the alleyway is only as short as ten or twenty meters. Every time I rushed to that alleyway, the thing turned to another alleyway.Turning around like this, I still didn't see what person or animal was making the sound. I changed my mind and stopped chasing that person.I'm not so stupid now, chasing that person will make a sound.I walked slowly, maybe I could bump into him too. I looked at the two seven-color scales in my hand, but I was a little confused.These two scales would not have fallen from the person or animal I was chasing, right?I still have some understanding of natural science, but I have never seen anything that can run around on land and have scales on its body. I also remembered what was said in the unofficial history of the Western Han Dynasty. The author of the unofficial history once saw people in Xishui Village outside Xishui Village carving a statue, part of which was a snake tail sitting cross-legged.These scales can't be snakes, but the two scales in my hand are too big, snakes probably don't have such big scales.I still think it's fish scales, but are there any fish in this world that can bounce on the shore? There was a slight sound of walking at the corner of the alleyway in front of me. I suppressed my slight nervousness, held my breath, and tiptoed to the corner.As soon as that thing comes over, I'll catch him before he's ready!After a while, the sound of walking moved from far to near, and I knew that thing was coming.I clenched my hands involuntarily, and slightly hot sweat emerged from the palms of my hands. A figure appeared in front of my eyes, slightly taller than me.Because the distance was almost close together, I couldn't see him clearly at once, and there was only a black shadow in front of my eyes.This thing seemed to have been greatly frightened, he slammed into the yard surrounded by wooden boards, and rushed in.I stood there for a moment in astonishment, then immediately realized and followed suit. At this time, I only saw a vague shadow jumping into the well in the yard.I hurried over and looked into the well. The water in the well was not muddy, but there were splashes rippling back and forth.For a moment just now, the thing I saw seemed to be a person.I lowered my head and got stuck in the well, and was surprised to find that there was another seven-color scale beside the mouth of the well!