When I woke up again, it was already noon. What I saw was a completely unfamiliar environment. There were lush trees here. It was sunny, but the temperature was very low. Gusts of cold wind whistled here, and I woke up instantly.
"Out in the wild?"
I got up from the ground and looked around in doubt. Small mounds of earth rose and fell in the woods.
All the trees were pine trees, and the mounds were of different sizes.
How could I not see that this was a mass grave? And it was a mass grave that someone had "dealt with". The pine trees were arranged in a regular pattern, like ridges in a field. This was a typical evil-removing situation. There were too many dead people and the evil spirits were too heavy, so they would plant trees on the graves like this. They could sort out the veins of the earth and make the evil spirits smooth, so as not to produce evil spirits.
What on earth was going on?
After a brief moment of shock, I was confused. All the experiences of last night seemed to have just happened. My memory was very clear. I clearly landed in the Yinren Inn, but how come I woke up in a mass grave in the blink of an eye?
A yellow paper talisman fell at my feet. It was the one that the ferryman slapped on my forehead, as if telling me that everything was not a dream.
However, the little food in my stomach was far from enough to explain everything in front of me.
"Forget it, never mind, let's find out where this is first!"
I sighed and scratched my head, but it was this unintentional action that stunned me.
Hair?
I touched my cheek again, and the whole person was enveloped in ecstasy. I found that I had turned back into a human again, a living person with body temperature and breathing, no longer a paper man with two big red cheeks painted on his face and smiling like constipation!
Soon, I thought of what the ferryman said last night. All this... he seemed to have expected it a long time ago?
I suppressed my joy and gradually calmed down. I knew that things were definitely not over. Since I encountered the Qihe Tomb, strange things have continued. All kinds of experiences told me that I seemed to be involved in a huge vortex.
After thinking for a moment, I decided to go home immediately. My father is my only hope at present.
I no longer stayed and began to wander around this mass grave. At the end was a blue brick wall that enclosed this place, like a cemetery. The brick wall was full of glass shards. I bled as soon as I climbed up. I couldn't climb directly from here. However, the moment I climbed up the wall, I caught a glimpse of the situation outside. It was a completely wasteland with only a row of five ghost trees lined up against the wall.
This discovery touched my heart and gave me a guess.
"Could it be that... I have never left the Yinren Inn? But, the so-called Yinren Inn is an inn at night and a cemetery during the day?"
I shuddered, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was possible. I said to myself: "The Yinren Inn is very special, and the Feng Shui pattern is very sophisticated. According to legend, the pattern of this kind of place is a gossip, and there must be two doors. There are big houses behind the doors, one Yang house and one Yin house. The Yang house faces north and south, and the door faces south. It is the living who walk there. The Yin house faces south and the door faces north. It is the dead who walk there. If you accidentally go the wrong way, disaster will come!"
These are just some legends. I am not sure how much of them are true. Anyway, the ancestor who wrote these down almost wrote the four words "to be verified" between the lines. But at this time, I can't care about those things. I just identified the direction and ran south. Not long after, I really saw a big house, which looked like the old brick and tile house.
From a distance, I saw the ferryman carrying a small stool and sitting in front of the old house, talking with his head held high. One of them was Zhang Xinya, whom I knew. The other was rather strange, wearing a long robe worn by ancient people, with very long hair. I couldn't see her face clearly because we were too far away.
"Why is she here?"
I was startled, and then I thought of a lot of things, such as the way this woman dealt with me last night. Although she was terrified, her thoughts were extremely clear, almost to the point of killing me. Also, after I turned into a paper man last night, living people could no longer see me, but she could.
Unfortunately, last night was a chaotic night, and I was still in shock. How could I have time to think about her? At this moment, I was startled and immediately discovered that this "tenant" was unusual.
How could a white-collar worker understand these things?
It seemed that after experiencing what happened last night, even the people around me suddenly became unfathomable.
"Hey, the real boss is here!"
At this time, the ferryman suddenly raised his voice, turned his head and shouted at me: "That kid, what are you still doing there?! Come over to meet the guests, someone is going to chop you!"
In fact, he didn't need to shout at all. The man next to Zhang Xinya had noticed me early and was looking up at me. We were so far away that I couldn't even see his face clearly, but I could feel his gaze, like a knife blade scratching my flesh, staring at me and making me feel hairy all over. I gritted my teeth and went to meet him.
This is a very good-looking man.
Apart from this, I really can't think of any other adjectives.
He has fair skin, a pair of dark and deep eyes, a head full of black hair, sword-like eyebrows, and a heroic spirit, like an ancient man in a scroll.
I have never seen a man who looks like this. Zhang Xinya, who is a beautiful woman, was somewhat eclipsed when she stood next to him. He kept looking at me silently without saying a word, and my legs shook involuntarily. I subconsciously leaned towards the ferryman, as if he was a scourge and the ferryman was much kinder than him.
This was just an intuition, which came from instinct and could not be controlled.
"Wei Jingzhe?"
Zhang Xinya spoke, finally breaking the silence that suffocated me. She looked at me in doubt and asked, "Why are you here?"
I smiled bitterly. I also wanted to ask her this question.
"Hehe, interesting, it's an acquaintance."
The ferryman laughed in a weird way, raised his head and looked at the man, and said with a smile: "Your niece seems to be a little bit off, and she still hasn't figured it out!"
The man didn't say anything, still looking me up and down, but Zhang Xinya was quick-witted, not afraid of the ferryman at all, and said: "Old man, you laugh like an old eunuch, what do you mean!"
"Tsk tsk..."
The ferryman smacked his lips, pulled me to the front, and said: "Didn't you yell that you were going to chop off the little ghost who scared you last night? This is it, you chop it off!"
"You fart!"
Zhang Xinya said angrily: "He is my friend, how can he be a ghost..."
Before she finished speaking, the man next to her suddenly stretched out his hand to stop her, and whispered: "It is indeed him, a ghost painted skin, half alive and half dead."
Zhang Xinya stopped talking and stared at me. From her expression, I think she had the same idea as me. I couldn't see through her, and she couldn't see through me at this time.
"I'll take this kid away."
The man finally moved his eyes away from me. He didn't say much. He looked at the ferryman and said lightly, "I'm useful."
"That won't do."
The ferryman shook his head like a rattle and pouted, "This is a ceremonial officer. Although he is a half-baked one, there are wise people in his family. It's worth a lot of money. I have planted the cause, but I haven't harvested the fruit yet. How can I let you take him away?"
The man looked down at the ferryman and whispered, "How about we go for a few moves?"
The ferryman's cloudy eyes narrowed instantly, and his originally hunched body straightened up a lot. This old man who looked like he was buried in the earth at his neck reflected a terrifying aura at this moment, which made me feel like a mountain looking up to him. He stared at the man for a long time, and then he said hoarsely, "Are you bullying me?"
The man remained calm, but a "hmm" was squeezed out of his nose.
The old man's face suddenly became ugly. His originally dark face turned purple and red. He felt worse than eating shit. He probably didn't expect the man to admit it so directly. He almost slapped him in the face with the sole of his shoe. His eyes were full of bloodshot. After confronting the man for a while, he suddenly shrunk and said, "Do you have to make it so ugly?"
"This is too big. It has to be like this."
The man glanced at Zhang Xinya, and his calm face finally showed a trace of warmth. He whispered, "She is also involved. The root is this child."
"You owe me a favor!"
The old man shouted, "This is the bottom line. Otherwise, let's go for two moves!"
This time, the man finally nodded. I clearly saw the old man's chest collapse and he was obviously relieved.
For a moment, I saw the man's eyes change.
This man... must be very capable to be able to make the ferryman afraid!
"Follow me."
The man said to me, "I'll save your life!"
When I heard this, how could I hesitate? I followed him happily, but I couldn't help feeling a little nervous. I secretly glanced at the ferryman before leaving.
The old man's eyes were bloodshot, like a beast that was ready to eat someone. He was extremely ferocious. He showed me a mouthful of white teeth and said with his mouth: "It's a debt, you have to pay it back. He can save you for a while, but not for your whole life. I'll come back to settle with you later!"
My heart skipped a beat, thinking that this old guy must be venting his anger on me. I'm afraid he will bother me in the future...