Chapter 57 The Old Man in the Small Village

“You little brat, let me see. You’re just like a wild boar, with a recovery ability like that.” As he spoke, Cheng Xin deliberately patted my back, which hurt so much that I gritted my teeth and glared at him, saying, “What do you mean by a recovery ability like a wild boar? Can you be more specific? Can you find a better analogy?”

“Sorry, I can’t do that.” Cheng Xin Ge looked at me “sincerely,” which made me itch to bite him, and I wanted to beat him up right away. Everyone was laughing, including Tao Bai, who was always shy and overly modest, and he was also laughing with his head down.

I don’t know how to describe the heartlessness of our group of people. The timely return of Brother Chengxin and Xiao Chengqian means that we are about to set off for the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. Do they really not care?

In fact, during these relatively peaceful days, my heart was not necessarily calm. I always had a premonition that something was about to happen, a feeling that I couldn’t put into words. It felt like my heart was about to explode, but I never said anything, just so that everyone wouldn’t worry.

But is this good? Chengxin was changing my bandages. He brought a certain powder that had a special effect when applied to the wound. It was cool and it tickled, and he was joking with me, saying that it was the real version of Yunnan Baiyao, the legendary strongest “golden wound medicine,” but I was frowning and thinking about it.

I felt that something was going to happen this time. Was it irresponsible to keep it a secret from everyone? I was also thinking impulsively that the most dangerous place was still for me to go alone. Would I be criticized for being an individualist again?

The sky outside the window was a bit overcast. Although it was hot this season, there was always a lot of rain. Did this weather mean that our action would not be too smooth? I admit that my thoughts were a bit chaotic at this time.

In the afternoon, we checked out of the hotel and finally set off for the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. Lushan somehow managed to get a van, which made our trip much more convenient.

In the car, Brother Chengxin handed me a bottle of powdered medicine. He said that it was too late to make pills, but the powdered medicine would have the same effect. He told me to take a small spoonful every day and swallow it with warm water.

He didn’t say what the powder would do, but I opened the bottle and smelled a strong smell of ginseng. There wasn’t much powder, and the small porcelain bottle only contained half a bottle, so it seemed that I wouldn’t be able to take it more than a few times.

“You should be happy to have this much. I don’t feel too good about this trip either. I hope this powder can help you, and that means it can help us too.” Brother Chengxin looked out the window and said it seemed unintentionally, but I could understand his feelings.

Without saying much, I silently poured some of the powder out and swallowed it with the warm water in the cup I had brought along. At that moment, I did not exaggerate my feelings. I just felt the nourishment of my soul the moment the powder entered my stomach, and this feeling was endless.

I was so comfortable that I almost moaned, but I was also extremely impressed. As long as there are the right ingredients, the medical word pulse is always extraordinary.

Originally, the small county was close to the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. According to our original plan, this trip should have been to a small village near the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts. It was a small village by the lake, and the villagers were mostly fishermen who lived off the lake. However, things have changed now. We are going to another place.

And that place is a place near the real “haunted place” of Wan Gui Lake. It is very remote, and there are no villages around. There is only a small village four or five miles away, which is said to be somewhat closed.

After all, Wan Gui Lake covers a large area, and some places are more prosperous, but some places are more remote.

“This choice is also a helpless one. From the current situation, we should not stay in the lake for too long. It is safer to stay on land. Therefore, we chose the place closest to that place…” Lushan spread out the map and explained to Chengyuan, because Chengyuan didn’t quite understand why we had to choose the most dangerous place.

But I understand what Lushan means. If the Lake of a Thousand Ghosts has any secrets, they should be in the “haunted” area. If we stay in the small fishing village as planned, then we will have to rent a boat and row to the place ourselves, which will probably take a long time on the water. According to Lushan, we will be in danger on the water or on the land, and it will be bad for casting spells! Choosing a place close to the lake means that we don’t have to stay on the water for a long time and can return to land in time.

Because of the change in the itinerary, and because some of the roads were not easy to drive on, it was already late at night when we arrived at our destination.

This is the closest village to the place. When we arrived in the middle of the night, the village was quiet, except for the continuous chirping of insects and the occasional barking of a dog.

I got out of the car, stretched, and looked up at the sky. The stars were twinkling, a sight I hadn’t seen in the city for a long time. It reminded me of my childhood, when I used to watch the stars in the bamboo forest and the village where I lived.

How nostalgic!

I felt a little sad. It was our car that broke the quiet rural night. I sensitively noticed that because of our arrival, several households at the entrance of the village had already lit their lights…

“Go over there and ask. With such a large group of people, we can’t just sleep in the open air. See if there are any villagers’ homes we can use.” The one talking was Xiao Chengqian. The kid looked exhausted. It seemed that he was anxious to find a place to wash his feet in hot water and sleep. After all, he had just returned with Chengxin and was in a hurry to get here.

“Yes, let’s ask. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just split up and stay in separate places. By the way, the fog is really thick in this village at night.” Chengxin was also making arrangements.

Hui Gen’er insisted that he would live with me and Ruoyue no matter what. Childhood memories are indelible. At that time, I was his older brother, and Ruoyue was his older sister. At that time, we were still in the deserted village.

The passage of time always makes people feel sad.

We were lucky that the first family we met was willing to take us in, and there were enough rooms, two large bedrooms, which met our needs. Because the family was a bit special, an old woman lived there with a child. The child’s parents worked in the city, and the child went to school far away, only coming back once a month.

The old woman was a kind and quiet old lady. Seeing that we were tired from our journey, she hurried to boil a large pot of hot water for us after agreeing to take us in. Xiao Chengqian followed the old lady to the kitchen and tried to force her to take 1,000 yuan. The old lady was shocked and said that she had never taken that much money in her life and was not at ease with it. She blushed and backed down, but she could not resist Xiao Chengqian.

Chengyuan is extremely capable because she has taken care of Yuanyi for many years, and Chengzhen is also very capable because she has been living with Uncle Wang for many years.

When Xiao Chengqian and the old man were pushing and shoving over money, they had already rolled up their sleeves and gone to the kitchen to buy some rice, flour, vegetables and meat for the old man to cook a meal themselves, but the old man refused repeatedly: “You give me a lot of money, and if you give me more, I won’t take you in.”

This makes me feel that there are not many such simple people left in the countryside nowadays.

Chengzhen and Chengyuan were busy, and the rest of us men and Ruyue (the representative of the useless) were resting in the house, chatting with the old man. Chengqing said, “Auntie, it’s a bit cold here at night, and it’s foggy.”

The old man said, “Yes, it’s foggy at night, and you shouldn’t wander around at night. This is a special feature of our village that outsiders don’t know. Our villages are by the lake, and in recent years, I’ve heard that many people come to the lake to play. Some villages have become rich, but our village is not. First, it’s remote, and second…”

We looked at each other. According to the existence of a protective outer ring, there should be no problem with the village here. Could it be that it has also been affected?

“What is the second reason?” Xiao Chengqian was impatient and couldn’t help but ask.

The old man showed a little hesitation on his face before saying, “Nothing, it’s just that we rural people have a lot of taboos, and here they are especially strict about them. Are you here for tourism?”

The old man even shifted the topic without saying a word, which made us even more confused. Brother Chengxin reacted quickly and said, “Yes, we are here for tourism. We don’t like places with many people. We thought this place was the quietest, so we came here.”

The old man shook his head and said, “This is not a good place for tourism. There are places for sightseeing and touring, and I heard that there are special places for that. Just like I have been to faraway places before, like Mount Emei, you can’t just wander around the mountains and fields there, you always have to follow the road. Don’t be greedy for anything new. Stay for one night and leave. Why come here to this lake for tourism?

We were silent. I sensed that this old lady was different from the one I had imagined. She didn’t sound like someone who was ignorant, and even less like someone who was uneducated. She must have known something, right?