Paper horse incense shop

".makes sense."

Gong Shuji was silent for a moment, and finally said this.

Beyond life and death, carry on the past and open up the future.

Successive generations continue to repeat and pursue these eight words.

After wiping off the last traces of water on my body, I looked for clothes that could be changed while asking for the answer to the question just now:

"So why on earth is this life so short?"

Gong Shuji was silent again. After a long time, he said:

"What kind of 'beizi' are you talking about in this life?"

I patted the quilt hanging behind me. Gong Shuji didn’t look back, but there was almost only a thin line between the two of us:
"Don't you feel that the quilt is very short?"

"It only covers your shoulders, but not the bottom. I can see you, and you should be able to see me."

Gong Shuji was silent for a long time this time, and after a while he said:

"How can I look at you with my back turned? I don't have eyes in the back of my head."

"You'd better stop talking!"

I was stunned to hear some gnashing of teeth from the other party's words.

We quickly put on our clothes and spent half a day getting dressed. Early the next morning, we asked the store owner for the specific location of Longhu.

The store owner was a warm-hearted old man who had no business. We said we were going to Longhu and were willing to ride our family's tricycle to deliver the goods, but it cost an extra ten yuan.

Ten dollars is not a problem for us.

Mainly because I still have questions to ask, but this store.
Really a bit deaf.

The tricycle whirred loudly, and the store owner responded with these three tones: "Ah? Ah!"

The earplugs in my ears would fall out several times from time to time. I quickly fished them out several times with my quick eyes and hands. Finally, I couldn't hold on anymore and simply put the earplugs back into the box.

There was still a lot of noise around me. I covered my ears. Gong Shuji didn't feel much better. It must have been the wind that blew his head. He barely raised his head a few times along the way.

The two of us sat on the back seat of the tricycle until the store stopped, and then we had the opportunity to ask:

"Old man, what are the characteristics of Longhu?"

I stuffed a big red card into the other party, intending to buy news, but the old man took out a cloth bag from his arms and started to look for change:
"Huh? What?"

"Get off the car. The tricycle in front of you can't ride through it. Just send it here -"

The loud voice was neither soft nor heavy. It seemed that the sound of wind in his ears still hadn't dissipated.

I had no choice but to repeat it again and said there was no need to change, but the old man still insisted:

"It's natural to get paid for work. What does it mean if you give me more money?"

"Longhu? Longhu doesn't have any special features? Does it count as having a lake?"

"I heard that a dragon lived in that lake a long time ago, but the others are gone. The rice cakes there are also delicious, just try them. Don't eat too much, eat more."

I'm not sure when I'll be using this information, so as usual I'm jotting it down for later.

It wasn't until the old man rode his tricycle away again that I remembered one thing:

"Is this a mountain road? Why does it need to be more than twenty miles away?"

"If we come in now, how will we get out later and take the mountain road?"

Gongshuji shook his head and made a joke:
"Looking on the bright side, we might not be able to get out."

This sentence completely convinced me. We both shook our heads and walked towards Longhu Village.

The sky is blue, there are no clouds, and it looks extremely high.

The surrounding treetops swayed gently, and there was an occasional rustling sound under our feet.

After dozens of steps, we saw the so-called 'Longhu Village'. Longhu Village is not as big as we thought, nor is it as lively.

In this village, silence occupies every inch of land.

The houses are all the most common wooden houses in the countryside. Twenty or thirty huts are scattered at the foot of the mountain, turning it into a village.

Gong Shuji and I stood on a slightly higher ground and looked towards the village, and we didn't even see a slightly higher house.

This should be the most common rural scene, but the more I look at it, the more something is wrong.

Gong Shuji let out a small sigh and looked at me.

We all understood each other's serious doubts——

There is no lake in Longhu Village.

This is not right.

If so, something is not quite right.

Then what did Venerable Bai say about the 'immortal' under the Dragon Lake?
So what did the old man who sent us over just now say that a dragon once transformed into another form?
Isn't this nonsense?

Did we go to the wrong place and the old man sent him to the wrong place?
Or is it that the lake here is actually not that big, and there is something hidden on it that cannot be seen at first glance, but is actually tightly controlled by the villagers of Longhu Village?
still is
No, I can't think of any other possibility.

After all, it is a lake!

No matter how small it is, it is still a lake, not a pit!
Why did the lake disappear?

This is completely unreasonable!

I frowned and turned my head around. Gong Shuji had been observing, but he discovered something:
"Let's go down, I seem to see a reed field over there."

Reeds?
This kind of thing usually lives near water, or in areas with rich groundwater. It can only show its strong vitality when there is a water source, and there are few other possibilities.

A large area of ​​land here is mountainous. Logically speaking, there should be no reed marshes.

unless
Unless it's the reed field.

That patch of reeds that Venerable Bai once said was the place to "encounter immortals".

Venerable Bai also said that there are 'immortals' under the reeds.

Gong Shuji and I slid down the hillside. The further we walked towards the reed marsh, the more we understood what had happened.

On the mountainside outside Longhu Village, there is a clear dividing line. Beyond the dividing line, there is land, soil, and gravel.

And inside the dividing line that is almost a circle
It's a stone.

Big and small rocks.

Stones filled every part of the dividing line, and reeds grew strongly from the water traces in the cracks in the stones, creating the reed marsh that is now exposed to the outside.

Someone, someone filled in the lake!
"How is this going?"

I couldn't believe it for a moment:

"Isn't it said that there are immortals under the lake who can exchange for gold?"

"Or have the villagers taken out the contents of the lake, placed them in an unknown place for worship, and then leveled the lake?"

Gong Shuji was obviously a little confused and fiddled with the reeds in front of him:
"Such a lot of stones cannot be done overnight."

"This place is being leveled. The trafficker named Bai should know about it."

"Otherwise what is he doing here?"

"Without 'Mirouxian', he wouldn't have come here at all."

Yes, that's true.

My shock came to light, and I was about to tell Gong Shuji not to go into the reed marsh, when I heard an angry roar not far away:

"What are you doing?!" (End of Chapter)