I don't know how long it has been. I had a lot of messy dreams over and over again. In the dimness, I seemed to see a woman in white with her back to me. I wanted to see her face, so I ran in front of her, but I still saw her back. So I ran back and forth, but no matter how I ran, I could only see her back. I was wondering what was going on, when I suddenly realized that her back was on both sides. I woke up with a scream, and when I opened my eyes, I saw the blood-red sunset and sky!
"Awake?" Pan Zi smiled at me with a big face.
I squinted my eyes to adjust to the light. Pan Zi pointed to the sky and said, "See? Damn it! We are finally out!"
I touched the back of my head and said, "You kid, did you hit me?"
"Can I not beat you up? I told you not to look back. You almost killed us."
My memory came back to me all of a sudden, and I was so scared that I touched my back to see if the thing was still there. Pan Zi laughed, "Don't worry, it's gone."
"What is that?" I was terrified.
"That guy said that thing is called a puppet, and it's actually the soul of the female zongzi in white. She just borrowed your Yang Qi to get out of the corpse cave. But the guy didn't tell us the details. He fainted after just a few words," said the third uncle while rowing. "But it seems that the guy has a great background. The thousand-year-old zongzi knelt down before him like that. I don't know what kind of magic he has!"
I sat up and saw Menyouping and Pangkui leaning side by side, both sleeping soundly. I smiled. I didn't feel anything when I came here, but now that I see this day, I feel particularly comfortable. I asked, "Who is he?"
Uncle San shook his head. "I really don't know. I asked my friends in Changsha to recommend an experienced helper, and they recommended him. I only know his last name is Zhang. I also tried to probe him many times along the way, but he was either sleeping or in a daze. I don't know where he came from, but the person who introduced him is very prestigious in this business, so the person he introduced should be trustworthy."
When I heard this, I felt that this person was even more mysterious. But since Uncle San had said so, there was no point in asking any more questions. I glanced ahead and asked Pan Zi, "Can you see the village?"
"It seems to be just ahead."
Uncle San pointed to the twinkling lights ahead and said, "It seems that the village is not as shabby as we thought. It seems that there are electric lights."
When I thought of the village, I immediately thought of hot baths, stir-fried game, and the big braids of the village girls, and I couldn't help but get more excited. At this time, I saw a group of people on the top of the mountain to our left and right in the sunset. They were riding mules and seemed to be entering the village. Because the mountain was not high, I could vaguely tell that these people didn't look like locals.
We got on the ferry, and a little kid from the village saw us and suddenly shouted, "There's a ghost!"
We were puzzled, but the kid ran so fast that we could do nothing. The cow stayed on the boat behind us obediently, without any temper. It was a really good cow. Panzi had herded cows in his hometown before, so he played the role of driving the cows. When they got ashore, Da Kui woke up and thought he was dreaming. He was beaten by my uncle first, and then Panzi kicked him a few more times.
The oil bottle seemed to have lost too much blood and had not woken up. I helped him onto the ox cart. He was really weak, like a woman, as if he had no bones. I settled him down. Uncle San grabbed a passerby and asked where the hotel was. The passerby looked at us like we were crazy: "Where do you think this is? There are only about 30 households in our village. There is no hotel. If you want to find a place to stay, go to the village guesthouse."
We had no choice but to find the haunted guesthouse. Unexpectedly, it was quite good. At least it had telephone and electricity, and it was a cement house. Most importantly, it had hot water, and the bedding was clean. In this village, it should be a 5-star hotel.
We each took a shower, which was so comfortable, and washed off the corpse stench, then went to the hall to eat hot pot, and the oil bottle finally woke up, and he was in a bad mood. We ordered him a plate of pig liver to replenish his blood, and didn't ask him anything. After all, he was a lifesaver, and some things should be said after he recovers.
We ordered beer. We had to work tomorrow, so we couldn't drink too much. While eating, we joked with the waitress: "Hey, sister, your place is nice. Look, it's all cement. There's also a cement road outside. How come all this cement is carried by mules from the top of the mountain?"
"How could it be possible? How long would it take to carry it here? We have had a highway here for a long time. All those Liberation trucks could come here. Then two years ago, a landslide buried the road. A large tripod also collapsed in the mountain. Many people from the province came and saw it. They said it was something from the Warring States Period and a national treasure, so they took the tripod away and ignored the road. Isn't that infuriating? Later, the village said they would repair it themselves. But why repair it? They had no money. They kept on repairing it, and it's been a year and they're still repairing it."
"What about the waterway? Don't you have a ferry here?"
"Those are things from before the liberation. There have been no boats for many years. If someone still asks you to go by water now, they must be here to steal your money and kill you. You outsiders must be careful. This water pit is very evil. Many people have drowned in it over the years, and not a single body has been fished out . The old people in my family secretly say that they were swallowed by the mountain god."
I glanced at my uncle and thought, what kind of guide did you find? It looked like a thief. My uncle was embarrassed and couldn't save face, so he drank a sip of wine. He asked, "By the way, are there many outsiders here?"
"Don't underestimate my guesthouse. I can tell you that all the people from other places stay here. Since the cauldron was dug out, more and more people from other places have come here. Some people are even planning to build villas on the other side of the mountain."
Uncle San stood up and shouted, "Fuck, that can't be possible!" The people who built villas in this desolate mountain area are either overseas Chinese or tomb robbers.
The older sister was startled, and Pan Zi quickly pulled Uncle San and said, "Uncle San, you are old, don't be startled." Then he said to the woman, "It's okay, Uncle San probably finds it unbelievable."
I heard Uncle San curse in a low voice, then smiled sheepishly and asked, "Hey, do you have any famous historical sites, any places that are fun?"
The waiter smiled and suddenly whispered, "You guys don't look like you're here to have fun. Maybe you're here to rob tombs?"
Seeing that we were silent, she sat next to us and said, "To be honest, all the outsiders who come here are here to rob tombs. If you are really here for sightseeing, wouldn't this truckload of equipment be a burden?"
Uncle San looked at me and poured a glass of wine for the girl. "So, you are also an expert?"
"Well, I'm good at that. I heard it from my grandfather. Over the years, many tomb robbers have come here and stolen a lot of good things. But my grandfather said that the most valuable things are still inside. It's a tomb of gods and immortals. Don't even mention the gold, silver, and jewelry inside. Compared with the treasures of the gods, those things are just shit."
"Oh," Uncle San was very interested: "So, your grandfather went in there?"
The girl smiled and said, "Look at what you said. My grandfather also heard it from his grandfather. No one knows when this legend was left behind. It is said that the immortal was sent by the Jade Emperor and turned into a great general to help the emperor at that time fight a war. When he succeeded, he ascended to heaven. His body and the treasures he used in the war were buried with him. That tomb is better than the emperor's, otherwise how can he be called an immortal."
"If that's the case, then there must be a lot of people looking for this tomb?" Uncle San asked nervously, "Has anyone found it?"
"Hey, you don't know, that place is now completely inaccessible. When the mountain collapsed two years ago, that place also collapsed. Guess what collapsed from the mountain?"
"What, it's always a tripod or something." Pang Kui said.
"What? If it was a tripod, it would have been taken away long ago. I tell you, don't tell anyone else." The older girl took a sip of beer and said, " More than 100 human heads were dug out there!"