Chapter 34 Chapter Nine Another West Water Village

In Xishui Village in front of you, there are no wooden buildings left, replaced by groups of green brick and tile houses.It's only been a blink of an eye, how could Xishui Village have such a change, there are already people coming and going in and out of the village, full of life.I lowered my head and read the words on the stone tablet carefully again. It was indeed engraved with the words Xishui Village, and there was still a yellow mark on it.This stele was indeed printed from the same mold as the stele I saw before, but why did the village look different. At this moment, I saw a person walking towards me at the entrance of the village. When that person approached me, I realized that it was Xinhong!

"Jinwei, why are you here now? I've been waiting for you for a long time!" Xinhong said with some complaints. "Behind you...is Xishui Village?" I asked Xinhong tentatively. "Isn't the word 'Xishui Village' written on the stone tablet? Do you need to ask me? Can't read?" Xinhong pointed to the blue-black stone tablet and said. "How is it possible? There is no one in Xishui Village, and it is impossible for people to live in the houses in Xishui Village!" I said in disbelief. "What's the matter with you? It's already four o'clock in the afternoon. I've been waiting for you here for a long time. I thought something happened to you again."

"Listen to me first, I really went to a place called Xishui Village just now, and there is an identical stone tablet in front of the village, with the words 'Xishui Village' also written on it!" I said a little excitedly, "There is a very Strange, I also picked up three strange scales from that place, if you don't believe me, look at the scales on my hand!" After I finished speaking, I opened my hand, only to find that the scales in my hand had already disappeared!I hurriedly turned all the places on my body where I could hide things upside down, but I just couldn't find the three scales.I said hesitantly, "Just now...just now I was holding...the one in my hand...how come it disappeared!"

"I think you're dizzy, there's only one in Xishui Village, and it's right behind us!" Xinhong said with a smile. "But... but... I..." I hesitated to speak, and even I began to wonder if everything I saw before was an illusion. "Don't worry, let's sit in the village for a while. Let's live in Xishui Village for a few days." Xinhong said while pushing me to Xishui Village. "No! Look at my forehead," I said, pointing to the sore spot on my forehead, "I was dragged here after being beaten unconscious!" When Xinhong heard what I said, he leaned close to my forehead and observed carefully. I pushed him away and said, "This is the evidence. Now you must believe what I say. I think the Xishui Village you mentioned may not be true. Yes, let's not go in."

"Even if you were really knocked out, it doesn't prove that you have been to another Xishui Village. I have already asked the elders here. Xishui Village has always been in this place and has never been moved! "Xinhong obviously thought I was talking nonsense. I know that I don't have anything to prove that there is another Xishui Village, so I kept my words in my heart for the time being, but I don't know what is the connection between the Xishui Village in front of me and another Xishui Village? Xinhong and I chatted as we walked, and Xinhong told me that the middle-aged woman had returned to the county seat and we were going to stay in this village for a few days.Xinhong also said that he wanted to look around here to see where there were mountains and the like.While talking, we walked into Xishui Village, where most of the village was built with green bricks and tiles from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and there were also a few rice husk and mudstone houses.Some well-off villagers in some villages have built some brick and tile houses themselves, so occasionally mud brick houses and red brick houses appear abruptly among the blue brick and tile houses.Some poor villagers adopted the method of ramming in the north. First, they erected wooden planks, filled them with mud, rocks and rice husks, and then used manpower to ram up the mud walls layer by layer.Because there is a lot of rain here, the mud house is easy to collapse due to the accumulation of water. The owner also used large stones and lime to build a protective wall more than one meter high to protect the mud house.

The layout of this village adopts the T-shaped streets and alleys commonly used in northern villages, and also incorporates the comb-style layout of traditional Lingnan villages. The north and south styles are wonderfully unified together, and the style is inevitably a bit "weird". Outsiders entering the village are like entering a big maze. Every street and alley in the village is not straight. Walk along the stone road at will. After tens of meters in each line, the road with seven turns and eight bends will disappear in an instant. The sudden enlightenment of another village will appear from time to time, and the layout of this village is no different from that of Xishui Village!

When I walked into the village, I found that the villagers here are all expressionless, and the clothes are also the type of old China.Everything here seems to preserve the most primitive features. We are boarding in an old man’s house. This old man lives alone in a blue-brick house. Her face is full of wrinkles, and there seems to be sadness in her eyes. Maybe all lonely old people will have such eyes.I don't dare to look directly at this old man. It's not that I discriminate against old people. It's just that this old woman feels a little scary. "You two can live in this room, there is no room, so you can squeeze together!" The old woman struggled to speak, and her accent was a bit like Sichuan dialect.

"On such a hot day, two people squeezed together?" I was a little reluctant. I saw that this tile-roofed house had three bedrooms besides the living room and kitchen.So, I discussed it and said, "Grandma, don't you have three bedrooms here? You can sleep in one for yourself, and there are two for the two of us, okay?" "The other one belongs to my grandson, you are not allowed to sleep in it!" the old woman said firmly. "You still have a grandson? What about others now?" I asked curiously, how could any young man leave the old man alone at home.

"He...he..." The old woman suddenly became agitated and said incoherently, "He's dead! I don't have a grandson!" The old lady staggered back to her room while raving nonsense excitedly, leaving us alone in a daze.Xinhong and I walked into the room. There was thick dust everywhere. It seemed that no one lived or cleaned the place for a long time.There is only one bed in the room, and the bed is not very big. How can the two of us sleep in this hot weather! "Xinhong, look, the bedding on the bed has turned yellow. Why did you choose this place? Is there no other place to live?" I complained.

"I've asked, and the only one in the village who has a vacant house is this old woman's house. There's nothing I can do about it," Xinhong smiled wryly, and said helplessly, "We're going to live here for a few days, and we're not asking you to live here for the rest of your life." it's here." I sat on the bed, thinking to myself that I came here to exercise my body, so let it be a little bit harder.Immediately, I frowned again and asked, "Xinhong, have you asked the people in the village? Is there really no mountain around here?" "I asked, and they all said no, and this place is indeed vast, so how can there be any mountains?" Xinhong was also puzzled.

We sat and chatted for a while, then sorted out our respective luggage and took out our dead mobile phone, only then did we remember that Teacher Ye had sent me a text message, and we saw him in the woods.There is no electricity here, so how do I charge my phone and read text messages?I knew I should buy a few more batteries as spares, and Xinhong next to me just took out his mobile phone, so I asked, "Xinhong, is your mobile phone still charged?" "Is your battery dead? Mine is almost dead too, and I can't charge it here. I'm still worrying about it!" Xinhong said while packing his luggage. "I put my SIM card in your phone to read a text message, okay?" Before I could wait for Xinhong to speak, I took apart his phone. "What message do you want to read, and who sent it?" Xinhong's tone suddenly became energetic. "It's from Teacher Ye! By the way, I forgot to tell you, when I was in the forest just now, I saw Teacher Ye!" "He's here too?" Xinhong said half suspiciously, half surprised. I replaced the SIM card, and then hurriedly opened the text message, which said: "Jin Wei, do you still remember the research I told you? I think I will find the answer soon! You should know the story of Chang'e Flying to the Moon. Tell the story, maybe history is about to be rewritten!" There are only a few words in the text message, but it confuses me. How can it go farther and farther, and it even involves Chang'e!There must be something wrong with Mr. Ye's brain.At this time, the old woman suddenly opened the door of our room and brought us a kerosene lamp and a box of earthen matches.Before leaving, she turned her head and said, "Don't wander around at night, it's dark here, it's not good to get lost!" The road here is the same as that of Xishui Village. Even if I get lost, I already know how to get out of this village.So, when I heard the old lady say that just now, I didn't take it to heart at all. The sky gradually darkened, and Xishui Village was slowly swallowed up by the thick darkness. The village was silent, as if no one lived there.Xinhong and I stayed in the room, doing nothing, bored.This dim kerosene lamp not only failed to illuminate the room, but also made me feel uneasy and scared. Xinhong has been reading, suddenly he said to me: "Jinwei, let's go out and have a look." "Go out? It's so late, and it's so dark outside." I replied with some resistance. "We have a flashlight. If there is anything to worry about, go to that real clay sculpture." Xinhong said on a whim. He is sometimes weird, and he specializes in things that ordinary people don't do.As soon as he finished speaking, he took out the flashlight from his bag, and then walked outside, ignoring whether I agreed. In desperation, I had no choice but to go out with Xinhong. Before we went out, we heard some strange sounds outside the house.After a hesitant pause, we headed out the door with our flashlights in hand. The village was dark and quiet, except for the sound of our walking.Because it was too dark here, we all walked against the wall.Accidentally, I tripped over the bumpy path and just passed the gate of a house. I knocked the door open and made a loud noise.The folk customs here may be very good. There is no need to lock the door at night, otherwise it will be opened as soon as it is bumped. I just made a lot of noise, felt guilty, and saw that the kerosene lamp was still on in the house, so I wanted to go in and say sorry to them.However, when Xinhong and I opened the door, there was no one inside, only a kerosene lamp burning alone.Xinhong felt strange, and took me back to the old woman's house, only to find that the old woman was not in the house, and only a kerosene lamp was burning. "Is there no one left in the village?" Xinhong's guess surprised me. "There is no one in the village? How is this possible? Aren't there many people during the day?" I said incredulously. Xinhong didn't answer me, and then we broke into several houses, but there was still no one there, only candles or kerosene lamps were burning. The chill at night intensified inexplicably, and I was so cold that I shivered a little. Looking at the empty houses in the village, I stammered, "The people in the village...why suddenly disappeared?"