Chapter 12 Twelfth Great Pagoda

What is fate? Isn't fate just like a magic rope, sometimes it can entangle a person tightly like a poisonous snake, making you full of ambition and strength, but you can't even use it at all. Sometimes it will fly out suddenly and take away the most precious thing in your life, just like Ding Xi took away the flowering five-dog flag.Sometimes it will suddenly entangle two people who have nothing to do with each other tightly, making them inseparable and unable to shake off. The tallest building in this small town is the Wanshou Building. Ding Xi was lying on the roof of the Wanshou Building.

He lay quietly, quietly looking up at the starry sky. He didn't move. Fate has embraced him like a magic rope, and he can't even move. There is also a rope in his heart, and thousands of knots are tied.What knot can be untied? Only the knots you tie can be untied by yourself. The knots in his heart were not made by himself.Nightmarish childhood, bleak life experience, hard struggle, painful struggle, past events that cannot be told to others. Everything is a knot. Not to mention the never-ending loneliness. It was terribly lonely. The meaning of loneliness is not only loneliness, when he saw Deng Dinghou and Miss Wang nestled in the dark alley just now, and came out with a smile, his loneliness was even deeper.

He suddenly had a feeling of being forgotten. This feeling is undoubtedly a kind of loneliness, and it is the most unbearable kind. It's just that he asked for it himself. He rejected others first, and then others will forget him. So he is not complaining, but blessing, wishing his friends to be reconciled forever. His blessing is sincere and sincere, but it is also painful. ——If you know how deep his pain is, you will understand how terrible a "misunderstanding" is. There was a knocking sound as the wind blew over from the side of the mountain. It's the third watch.

He jumped up suddenly, and flew towards the distant mountain with the fastest speed. The distant mountains were completely dark, and the blue hills were completely shrouded in boundless darkness. Darkness is never too long.The blue hills are bathed in the sun again, and the sun is shining brightly. The bright sunlight came in from the window, and this dilapidated steamed bun shop also seemed to be alive. Miss Wang is eating her breakfast, dipping steamed buns in roasted chicken stew. The steamed buns are just out of the cage, hot to the touch, but the stewed chicken is cold, so it tastes special.

She had already eaten two steamed buns that were bigger than Deng Dinghou's fist. Although she didn't sleep well for the past two days, she woke up early in the morning and took a cold shower secretly in her room. Her energy was particularly high, and her appetite was also particularly good.She is still young after all. Deng Dinghou's appetite is much worse, and the old Shandong is even worse. He has a hangover and hasn't slept well. He is muttering: "I don't want to sleep in a good inn, but I want to sleep on my broken table. You guys Young man, I really don't know what's wrong with you."

Miss Wang said sweetly, "It's not my fault, it's him." Old Shandong said: "It's him?" Miss Wang said: "He is afraid of me, because I am not..." She didn't go on, her face was already red. Old Shandong narrowed his eyes and smiled, "Because you are not his lover, but Ding Xi's." Miss Wang did not deny it. There is no denying, usually admitting. Old Shandong laughed loudly and said, "Ding Xi, you really have two hands, you really have vision." He stood up and looked for wine: "This is good news, we must drink two glasses to celebrate."

People who like to drink can always find a reason to drink two glasses. Deng Dinghou also laughed. Old Shandong has already found a big bowl and poured three bowls of wine to the brim. Deng Dinghou said: "Can we drink less?" Old Shandong stared at him out of the corner of his eye, and said, "Do you want to be jealous?" Deng Dinghou smiled bitterly and said, "Even if I want to be jealous, what I eat is dry vinegar." Old Shandong said: "Then drink quickly." Deng Dinghou said: "But today..." Old Shandong said: "Don't worry, Hu Lao Wu will not come until evening, because his brother Sun will not eat roast chicken until midnight supper, and he must eat fresh ones."

Deng Dinghou sighed and said: "It's really uncomfortable for us to sit here and wait for a day." Old Shandong said: "You can also rest assured, I won't make you wait, my wine is enough to soak both of you completely." He raised his bowl again. Miss Wang suddenly said: "It's too early for us to drink to celebrate now." Old Shandong frowned and said, "Why?" Miss Wang also sighed, and said: "Because... because although I treat him well, but..." Old Shandong said: "But that kid is always treating you coldly, and sometimes deliberately trying to annoy you."

Miss Wang bit her lip and said, "That's how he is." Old Shandong laughed again, and said, "You don't understand. He did this on purpose because he likes you. I said earlier that this kid is a monster." Miss Wang's eyes immediately shone, and she immediately picked up the dry bowl with both hands, as if she was about to drink it in one go. Deng Dinghou did not stop. He knew that when Miss Wang wanted to drink, no one could stop her. At this moment, there was a sudden sound of "beep" outside the door. Before the door was opened, a piece of red paper had been pasted outside the door.

"The boss is sick and will be closed for three days." But after the sound of "Du", there was another sound of "bang". A person knocked open the door, rushed in staggeringly, knocked over a table, and the table overturned Miss Wang. bowl in hand. Miss Wang didn't lose her temper because this person was Hu Lao Wu. Old Shandong frowned and said, "Are you already drunk?" Hu Laowu was leaning on the table, bent over, panting continuously, he didn't look like he was drunk. Old Shandong asked again: "Is it because Sun Yi is in a hurry to eat roast chicken?"

Hu Laowu shook his head, and suddenly rushed out staggeringly. Miss Wang looked at Deng Dinghou, and Deng Dinghou looked at Old Shandong: "What's going on?" Old Shandong smiled wryly and said: "God knows what's going on, he was a monster in the first place, but now..." He didn't go on. He suddenly saw a small paper roll in the crack of the table, of course Deng Dinghou also saw it. Hu Laowu was supporting this table just now. He came here specially to deliver this little scroll. Sun Yi didn't want to go down the mountain to buy roast chicken, but he was in a hurry to deliver it, so he had to come secretly. He is already a disabled person, walking this distance is not easy, it is almost like trying his best. Deng Dinghou sighed, and said: "As expected, Hu Laowu is desperate, for the sake of his friends, he is willing to work so hard." Miss Wang said: "Since he is working so hard, there must be very important news on this scroll." The three of them went to get the scroll together, and the one who reached out the fastest was of course Deng Dinghou. Unfolding the scroll, there were only seven words written on it: "Tonight, the Great Pagoda." Rough paper, handwriting is very crooked. Miss Wang said: "What does this mean?" Deng Dinghou said: "This means that at midnight tonight, we are asked to go to the Great Pagoda." Miss Wang said: "Because there must be something important happening there." Deng Dinghou said: "That incident may be the key to revealing the secret." Miss Wang said: "Is the Great Pagoda a place name?" Old Shandong said: "The Great Pagoda is a pagoda." Miss Wang said: "Where is it?" Old Shandong said: "It's just behind the mountain temple." Miss Wang said: "Where is the mountain temple?" Old Shandong said: "It's right in front of the Great Pagoda." Miss Wang said: "Can you explain clearly?" Old Shandong said: "No." Miss Wang said: "Why?" After Old Shandong drank the wine in the bowl in one gulp, he sighed and said, "Because that place is a place you can't go to." His expression suddenly became very serious, and he continued slowly: "It is said that none of the people who went there have ever returned alive." Miss Wang smiled, but her smile was a bit forced, and said: "Is there a ghost in that place?" Zheshan Shandong said: "I don't know." Miss Wang said: "Haven't you been there?" Old Shandong said: "Because I haven't been there, I'm still alive." He spoke very seriously, not as a joke. Miss Wang looked at Deng Dinghou. Deng Dinghou pondered, and said: "From this point of view, the Great Pagoda itself must have many secrets, so..." Miss Wang said: "That's why we have to go." Deng Dinghou also smiled, and the smile was forced, he thought more than Miss Wang. ——Maybe this matter is a trap at all, asking them to throw themselves into the trap. But they still had to go. Deng Dinghou said: "Since there is such a place as the Great Pagoda, we can always find it." Miss Wang jumped up and said, "We'll look for it now." Deng Dinghou said: "I can't go now." Miss Wang was puzzled and said, "Why?" Deng Dinghou said: "Let's go now, if the people from Hungry Tiger Hill find out, it will be a surprise." Old Shandong immediately said: "It makes sense." Miss Wang said: "Should we just sit and wait for dark?" Old Shandong smiled and said, "I will never let you sit still." It was dark. The wound on Deng Dinghou's arm has been bandaged again, and he is silently wiping a bag of iron lotus seeds with a dry cloth. He wiped slowly and carefully, every iron lotus seed was polished to shine. His famous weapon is his double fists, and almost no one in the Jianghu knows that he can use hidden weapons. He had indeed not touched this bag of iron lotus seeds for a long, long time. Once when his iron lotus seed hit, instead of knocking down the person he wanted to hit, it bounced off the opponent's blade and accidentally injured a friend who was watching the battle. Since that time, he has been unwilling to use hidden weapons again.But now he has to use it. ——Why is a person always forced by the environment to do something he didn't want to do? Deng Dinghou sighed, put the last iron lotus seed into his straw bag, and wrapped the leather bag around his waist. Miss Wang had been watching him silently, and only then asked: "Should we go now?" Deng Dinghou nodded and took another sip of wine. Alcohol can make people dull and make mistakes in judgment, but it can make people courageous. Most of the things in the world are like this, there is a good side, and there must be a bad side. If you can always think on the bright side, you can live a happier life. Miss Wang also took a sip of wine, stood up, smiled at Old Shandong, and said, "Thank you for the wine, and thank you for the roast chicken and steamed buns." Old Shandong raised his head, stared at her for a long time, and suddenly said, "Are you determined to go?" Miss Wang said: "I must go." Old Shandong said: "Even if you know that you can't come back, do you still have to go?" Miss Wang smiled again and said, "It doesn't matter whether we can come back or not. The important thing is whether we can go, should we go?" Old Shandong gave a long sigh and said, "Well said, very good." He turned his head, stared at Deng Dinghou, and said: "It seems that you must go too?" Deng Dinghou smiled. Old Shandong said: "As long as you think you should do something, you must do it?" Deng Dinghou smiled again, and said: "Actually, I don't really want to go, because I am also afraid of death. Uncle is very serious, but if I don't go, the days to come will be more terrible than death." Old Shandong said: "Okay, well said." He stood up suddenly and said, "Let's go." Deng Dinghou was startled, and said: "Us?" Old Shandong also smiled and said, "If I don't lead the way, how will you go?" Miss Wang said: "Can't you tell us the way and let us go by ourselves?" Old Shandong said: "No." Miss Wang said: "Why not?" Old Shandong said: "Because I want to go." Miss Wang said: "You yourself said just now that it will be difficult to come back alive after you go." Old Shandong said: "After I said it, you still have to go. If you can go, why can't I go?" Miss Wang said: "There is a reason for us to go." Old Shandong said: "I also have a reason, I want to watch the excitement." Miss Wang smiled wryly, "That's not a good reason." Old Shandong said: "For me, it is enough." He smiled, and said again: "You are still young, one of you is at the age of flowers, with a bright future; the other is at the time of prosperity, not only famous all over the world, but also rich and powerful. What about me? What do I have?" Miss Wang said: "You...you..." Old Shandong didn't let her speak, and rushed to say again: "I'm an old man, half buried in the ground. I have neither wife, children, nor land property. I drink to the point of death every night. What does life have to do with death? The difference? You can work hard for your friends and contribute to the morality of the world, why can't I?" The more he talked, the more excited he became, and his neck became thicker. Old Shandong said: "Even if you don't consider me a friend, I like you, Xiao Ma, and Ding Xi, so I must go." Miss Wang looked at Deng Dinghou. Deng Dinghou took another sip of wine and said, "Let's go." Miss Wang said, "Us?" Deng Dinghou said: "We mean the three of us." The wind blows from the distant mountains, and the distant mountains have been shrouded in darkness. The three of them went out, and Lao Shandong walked in front of his chest. After he walked out, he didn't look back. Miss Wang said: "Aren't you going to lock the door?" Old Shandong laughed and said: "You don't even care about life and death, but I still care about such a broken steamed bun shop?" The distant mountains seemed farther away in the darkness, but they had reached it after all. In the embrace of the mountains, the sound of the wind changed from sharp to low, as if the wind had also learned to sigh. Who do you sigh for? Is it for the cruelty and ignorance of human beings? Why do people always deceive each other, frame each other, and kill each other? The few lights in the town now seem even further away than the distant mountains in the darkness just now. Even further than starlight. Under the faint starlight, a small temple on the hillside can be vaguely seen. Deng Dinghou lowered his voice and asked, "Is that the Mountain Temple?" Old Shandong said: "Yes." Deng Dinghou said: "The Great Pagoda is just behind the temple?" Old Shandong said: "Yes." Miss Wang hurriedly said, "But why can't I even see the shadow of the pagoda?" Old Shandong said: "Maybe it's just because your eyes are not very good." Miss Wang said: "Your eyes are good, did you see it?" Old Shandong said: "Yes." Miss Wang asked again: "Where is it?" Lao Shandong casually stretched out his hand and pointed forward. What he pointed to was a dark shadow, which was higher than the mountain temple. Looking from below, there was a part exposed on the roof of the mountain temple. The flat and square part looked like a big piece. The cliff is like a very high platform. You can say whatever the black image looks like, but it definitely doesn't look like a big pagoda. Miss Wang said: "You said this is the Great Pagoda?" Old Shandong said: "Yes." Miss Wang said: "I have seen several pagodas, big and small, but this kind of pagoda..." Old Shandong suddenly interrupted her and said, "I didn't say it was a pagoda." Miss Wang said: "You didn't say that?" Old Shandong said: "This is not a pagoda at all." Old Shandong's speech seemed to have become a little confused, even Deng Dinghou couldn't help asking: "What is this?" Old Shandong said: "It's half a pagoda." Deng Dinghou was startled, and said: "What? There is half a pagoda?" Old Shandong said: "There is half a roast chicken, half a steamed bun, why can't there be half a pagoda?" Miss Wang hurriedly said again: "There is one steamed bun with roast chicken, that's because the other half has already been eaten." Old Shandong said: "Not bad." Miss Wang said: "Where is the other half of the pagoda?" Old Shandong said: "It's down." Miss Wang said: "How did it fall?" Old Shandong said: "Because it is too high." His eyes were shining in the darkness, and he said again: "A pagoda is like a human being. If a human climbs too high, it is also easier to fall down?" Deng Dinghou didn't ask any more, but he was sighing in his heart. Maybe no one could understand the deep meaning of this sentence better than him. The more you know, the less you have to say.Old Shandong said: "This pagoda originally had thirteen floors. I heard that it took seven or eight years to build it." Miss Wang said: "What about now?" His eyes flickered, and he continued suddenly: "When the upper seven-story pagoda fell down, there were many people worshiping below." Miss Wang moved her face and said: "Then the pagoda fell, didn't it crush many people to death?" Old Shandong said: "It is said that there are not too many, only thirteen." Miss Wang's hands were already cold. Old Shandong said lightly: "If a person dies unjustly, the ghosts will always linger, so these thirteen people are thirteen ghosts." A gust of wind blew past, and Miss Wang couldn't help shivering. Miss Wang said: "Can you stop talking." Old Shandong said: "Yes." Saying this word, a little light suddenly lit up on the broken tower. The gloomy light was like a will-o'-the-wisp. Miss Wang held her breath, and asked Old Shandong, "Why is there suddenly someone up there?" Old Shandong said: "How do you know that it must be a human?" Miss Wang stared at him and said, "You promise me not to say anything." Old Shandong smiled and said, "What did I say?" Miss Wang bit her lip, stamped her feet, and said, "Whether it's a human or a ghost, I'll go up and have a look." She was about to rush up, but Deng Dinghou grabbed her and said: "You don't need to look, I guarantee that it must be a person, but sometimes people are scarier than ghosts." Thinking of the viciousness of that person, Miss Wang couldn't help shivering again. She was actually a little scared: "But if we don't even dare to look, why bother?" Deng Dinghou said: "Of course we are going to have a look." Miss Wang said: "The three of us going together?" Deng Dinghou shook his head and said, "I'll go and watch alone, and the two of you will watch here." Miss Wang almost cried out, "What's so interesting here?" Deng Dinghou explained: "You can watch out for me here. If I miss, you can at least be my backup." Miss Wang said: "But I..." Deng Dinghou interrupted her and said, "Is the goal of three people bigger than one?" Miss Wang can only admit it. Deng Dinghou said: "You don't want the three of us to be discovered at the same time and be planted here together?" Miss Wang just closed her mouth, and when she closed her mouth, of course she began to bite her lip again. Old Shandong said: "There is a ginkgo tree behind the mountain temple. This tree is not far from the pagoda. We can hide there and watch out for you." Miss Wang suddenly opened her mouth again at this moment, and said, "I don't know if there are apricots on the tree?" Old Shandong said: "Do you want to eat apricots now?" Miss Wang said: "I don't want to eat it, I just want to use it to plug your mouth." Although there are only six floors left in the pagoda, it is still very high. The closer you get, the taller it feels. Many people are like this, you have to get close to him to know his greatness. If he stood on the pagoda and looked down, he couldn't see anything, not even a little light. The huge mountain shadow is casting here, except for this little light, it is dark on all sides.The sound of the wind is deeper. Apart from the low, sighing sound of the wind, there was no other sound at all around. Deng Dinghou's movements are very light, he believes that even a civet cat may not be able to move more lightly than him. The darkness covered his figure again, and he also believed that no one on the tower, whether it was a human or a ghost, would find him. But just at this time, someone on the tower said coldly: "Very good, you came on time." Deng Dinghou was startled, still not sure who this person was talking to. But the man continued: "Since you have come, why don't you come up?" Deng Dinghou sighed, this time he finally figured out that this person was speaking to him. It seemed that although his movements were lighter than those of civet cats, this man's senses were sharper than those of hounds. He straightened his chest, clenched his fists, and tried to keep his voice calm: "Since I've come, of course I'm going up." Outside each floor of the tower, there are eaves slanting out. With Deng Dinghou's lightness skill, it is not difficult to leap up layer by layer. But he preferred to take the stairs.He didn't want to leap upwards when he suddenly saw a knife protruding from the darkness. He also didn't want to be kicked in the air and swung to death here like a dirt dog. He would rather take the stairs. No matter how narrow and dark the stairs in the tower were, he preferred to take them. Even if there was an ambush in the tower, he would rather take the stairs. As long as he can keep his feet on the ground, he will always feel more at ease. He walked step by step, preferring to walk slowly, which is better than never reaching. There was neither an ambush nor people in the tower. The paper pasted on the four windows was torn, and the wind made the sound of "sigh, sigh". The more he went to the top, the stronger the wind, the louder the sound, and the faster Deng Dinghou's heart beat. There is no ambush inside the tower, is it because all the power has been concentrated on the top of the tower? Since he knew that once he reached the top of the tower, he would never come down again, so why bother? Deng Dinghou's hands were very cold, his palms were squeezed in cold sweat, and even the tip of his nose was sweating. This is not entirely out of fear, but out of nervousness. Who is the murderer?Who is the spy? The answer to this mystery is about to be revealed. At this time, who can not be nervous? Of course there are people on top of the tower, a lamp, two people.