Chapter 091
Seeing him coming out of the village, none of us went up to greet him, but hid behind the trees on the roadside. We saw him talk a few words to the villagers, and then walked away with a smile.
Ding Ding asked me, what do you think? Should we continue to follow him?
I said that he has so many beautiful snakes, is he looking for death if he follows him? And we are not sure whether this village is Jiuye or not. Anyway, he can't run away. Why don't we find a place to settle down first and then study it later.
The little ghost nodded and said, looking at his appearance, his home is probably in this village, where can he run to? On the contrary, we need to hide so as not to be discovered by him.
We hid outside the village to discuss the matter. We looked at Yin Fan and saw that he had no intention of coming out of the village. He just walked around the entrance of the village with a bag in his hand. We were too far away to see clearly what he was doing.
After about half an hour, we couldn't hold back any longer, and this guy finally threw the bag in his hand, clapped his hands, and turned back to the village.
After he walked away, the three of us came out from behind the big tree. Ding Ding cursed and said that this guy was crazy. Why was he wandering around outside alone?
The little ghost and I walked towards the village entrance without saying a word, and carefully checked the place where the Yin Banner had just passed. We found that there was an artificially dug ditch outside the village, which was very shallow and inconspicuous, but the edges were very neatly repaired.
I saw a lot of powder sprinkled in An Gou. The little boy rubbed some with his hands, picked it up and sniffed it, then said with a smile, "This is realgar."
I don't know much about realgar and other things. The only thing I know is what I heard on TV, that it can repel snakes and rats. I wonder the guy is doing, calling back a group of beautiful snakes. Although I don't know whether those monsters are hiding outside or inside the village, he sprinkled realgar around here. Does he want to keep those monsters in, or not let them out?
The little ghost thought for a while, waved at me, and said, "Tan Xi, look, although the village is covered with them, there is nothing in front of the village entrance, as if only an exit was left."
I took a look and it was exactly as the kid said, but after thinking about it for a long time, I couldn't figure it out. So I just ignored him.
I looked up at the village. It was very simple. At first glance, there were only a few dozen families. The road in front of the houses was very narrow. Three or four people walking side by side could block the road. The houses were all made of bricks and earth, as if a strong wind would blow them all down.
There were also very few pedestrians on the street. Apart from a few elderly people sitting at their doorsteps sewing, there was almost no one else to be seen.
I called out to Tintin and the others and prepared to go into the village. We still had to find a place to stay before dark.
There is definitely no hotel in this village, so we can only negotiate with the locals. At worst, we can give them some money and stay in their homes.
But as soon as we walked in, the old men in front of the earthen houses looked up at us, suddenly stopped what they were doing, and stared at us motionlessly.
I felt a little nervous when they looked at me, and I didn't know what they were thinking. I could only comfort myself by saying that there had been no strangers in this village for many years, and they were somewhat surprised that we came.
But what I didn’t expect was that when we walked into the village and looked back a few times, I found that even the villagers who stayed in the houses were looking at us strangely from behind the doors and windows.
It feels like we suddenly walk into a strange world, and everyone around us is looking at you. They have different expressions and looks, some are indifferent, some are a little curious, and some are indeed worried beyond words.
Ding Ding followed me, tugged my clothes gently, and said, Tan Xi, the way they look at you is like they are looking at monkeys in a zoo.
I rolled my eyes at him and whispered, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
We walked forward a few steps and came to an old man. I chuckled and tried my best to look harmless. I said, "Uncle, we came to the mountains to collect folk songs, but we got lost. We finally saw a village here. I wonder if there is a place nearby that can give us the night away?"
The old man was smoking a pipe, his face was full of wrinkles, his eyes were sunken, and he looked at me with a complicated expression.
I waited for a while, but he didn't speak. I looked a little embarrassed and could only look at the little ghost helplessly. The little ghost was also full of doubts. I saw him take a step forward and was about to speak, but the old man exhaled a puff of cigarette and suddenly said, "Our village is small and there is no place for outsiders to live. I can show you a way. You should hurry up and leave now. It will be dark soon and you will be out soon."
When I heard this, I felt like I was being ordered to leave. This was completely different from what people on the Internet said about how kind the people in this village were. We didn't expect the old man to be so decisive. We were all stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.
I was silent for a while, thinking about how to start the conversation, and then I slowly said, "Uncle, look, it's getting late and we are very tired. Even if you show us the way, we don't think we have the energy to go out. I just want to ask you for help. Can you help us ask which family in this village can let us stay overnight? We can pay, and we can discuss it."
Unexpectedly, the old man didn't listen to what I said. He knocked his pipe on the heel of his shoe to get the tobacco out. He said nonchalantly, "Young man, this is not a matter of money. It's just the way our village is. You can see it. We really can't help you. If you don't have the strength to go out, find a safe place in the mountains before it gets dark and stay there for the night. Young people are in good health and nothing will happen to them."
Seeing that he still didn't want to help, I frowned and was about to ask someone else, but Ding Ding could n't stand it anymore and came up to me and said that he had never seen anyone being driven away like this. Even if there was no place to stay at home, at least let us stay under any eaves in the village for a night. You can try staying in the mountains for a night. I won't believe that nothing will happen if you kill me.
The old man looked up and rolled his eyes at Ding Ding, then lowered his head and took out some tobacco from his pocket, ignoring us. I hurriedly pulled Ding Ding and was about to signal him not to be impulsive, as this was someone else's territory after all.
Unexpectedly, the old man was stunned for a moment, then looked up at Ding Ding, lowered his head to think for a while, and looked up at him again with an indescribable strange expression on his face.
Ding Ding was annoyed by his gaze, frowned and yelled, "What are you looking at!"
The old man then turned his head away awkwardly, forced a smile, and said, "Child, don't be so impulsive. I just thought you looked familiar. You looked a bit like one of us, so I couldn't help but stare at you for a while longer."
I was surprised to hear this, so I hurried forward and asked, "Looks like a person? Who does he look like?"
He smiled dryly and said it was okay, that she looked a bit like the youngest daughter of the old Yu family in our village. However, I hadn't seen this person for many years, and when I saw that they looked alike, I couldn't help but think of the past.
I was surprised, thinking that the person he was talking about was Mrs. Jiu. Thinking about it carefully, Ding Ding and Mrs. Jiu really look alike, but Ding Ding, as a boy, has a sharper look than Mrs. Jiu.
I saw Ding Ding frowning, as if he was also considering what the old man said. Seeing him in deep thought, I was a little surprised, thinking to myself, could it be that I guessed it right? Could it really be such a coincidence?
But then I thought again, and felt that something was wrong. This couldn't be a coincidence. I always thought that Mrs. Jiu was from that city, but now think about it, although the accents are very similar, there are still subtle differences. Where her hometown is, no one of us knows, maybe not even Ding Ding.
Mrs. Jiu deliberately left me an address, but she didn't tell Ding Ding to come to this place. If Ding Ding hadn't come, I wouldn't have known these things. This village is too small, and the locals only see familiar faces when they go around. No matter how long you've been away, you'll still have some impression of them as long as you mention them.
I remained silent, thinking about telling him my guess after a while, but Ding Ding suddenly spoke and said, "My mother's surname is Yu, and her name is Yu Fangtong. Do you know her?"
The little ghost and I were both a little surprised, but no one spoke tacitly. The old man's cloudy eyes suddenly lit up, and he stood up tremblingly, repeating, "Yu Fangtong... Yu Fangtong, yes, that's the name. Are you her son?"
Ding Ding still frowned and nodded slowly.
The old man seemed even more excited. He had a bitter face before, but now he looked very friendly. The expression changed so quickly that I was unable to accept it for a moment.
He gestured to an old lady from the neighboring house and said, "Boss, stop busying yourself and come and see. This is Xiaoyu's son!"
The old woman was stunned for a moment, with a hint of confusion on her wrinkled face, and asked, "Which Xiao Yu?"
The old man grabbed Ding Ding's shoulders and scared him so much that he wanted to hide away. But the old man was too excited and he couldn't break free no matter how hard he tried. He only heard the old man say that it was the one that the big and small played together, the ninth girl from Uncle Yu's family, Xiao Yu, Yu Fangtong!
As he said this, he slapped his thigh and complained, "What the hell, how could you forget?"
The old woman stood there thinking for a while, and suddenly a look of joy appeared on her face. She hurried over, looked at Ding Ding's face again and again, stretched out her hand to pinch his chin and turned it to the left and then to the right, and said, "They really look alike!"
As she said that, she walked behind us with a smile, looked towards the village entrance for a while, turned to Ding Ding and said, "Where's your mother, little guy? She must be back too, why can't I see her?"
A look of loss flashed across Ding Ding's face, and he said, "My mother is missing..."
The old man and the old woman were stunned for a moment, looked at each other, and were speechless for a long time.
