Chapter 254 Jinjiang
The appearance of Yan Shixun gave everyone peace of mind.
Both Song Ci and An Nanyuan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled again on their faces.
For them, no matter how difficult the situation is, as long as Yan Shixun is there, there is no need to worry.
Moreover, Yan Shixun once again proved his trust to them with actions.
The entire shadow puppet museum collapsed into ruins, dead trees fell down, and the corpses and shadow puppets that were originally chasing everyone in the courtyard all fell lightly to the ground and turned into paper figures. The corpses turned into countless white paper money.
When the wind blew, the whole yard was filled with the rustling of white paper money, like a funeral procession.
Although this scene was very unlucky, no one had time to pay attention to these small details.
For them, as long as they could escape death and welcome Yan Shixun back, it was already good enough.
Lu Xingxing hopped on one leg and waved to Yan Shixun and the others continuously, excited like a fool, which made Song Ci unable to bear to look at her and turned his head away, not wanting to admit that he actually had such a stupid friend.
"But Brother Yan, what's going on?"
Song Ci asked worriedly, "Xie Lin is missing too."
Xie Lin?
Yan Shixun grabbed two figures from behind him.
"Here, I picked it up." He calmly showed Xie Lin to Song Ci.
However, Xie Lin and Zhang Wubing are now both covered in dust and dirt, and the God of Songs has completely lost his previous noble, reserved and steady appearance.
Song Ci was horrified: "Are you guys going to dig coal?"
Xie Lin coughed awkwardly and brushed off the dust on his body.
However, he always looked much better than Zhang Wubing - Zhang Wubing's face was already covered with dust, and he couldn't help crying, so now there were black and gray marks on his face, making him look funny and pitiful.
Song Ci originally wanted to scold Zhang Wubing for not taking good care of Xie Lin, but when he saw Zhang Wubing's expression, he stared at this little fool with complicated eyes for a long time, moved his lips, but in the end said nothing.
Nantian also came over with concern and asked how Xie Lin suddenly disappeared from his side, as he didn't feel anything at all.
Speaking of this, Xie Lin himself looked bewildered.
He tried to recall for a long time, but he only remembered that he seemed to have squinted his eyes due to sleepiness when watching the shadow puppets and had a sweet dream.
In his dream, he found his sister. Her appearance had not changed at all from what he remembered. She was still the little girl who liked little skirts and dolls.
Then, they lived happily together, as if the kidnapping had never happened, and the suffering and torment he had experienced for more than twenty years had never occurred.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw Mr. Yan.
Although Xie Lin was somewhat reluctant to leave, he also clearly knew that it was just a dream because his sister's face was exactly the same as it was back then. So even though he was reluctant to leave, he could only sigh with melancholy.
It's no different from every person who feels lost after waking up from a beautiful dream.
"Dreaming? That doesn't sound dangerous... Then why do you look like this?"
Song Ci looked Xie Lin up and down suspiciously.
Xie Lin looked dusty, as if he had just rolled in the mud. No matter how you looked at it, he didn't look like he had escaped safely.
Song Ci was well aware of how severe Xie Lin's depression was. His many attempts to commit suicide over the years had made Song Ci accustomed to watching over him, fearing that if he wasn't careful, this man would be provoked to commit suicide again.
He was worried that Xie Lin had thought of sad things after dreaming about his sister, and did something when no one was paying attention.
But when this topic was brought up, Song Ci keenly discovered that Xie Lin and Zhang Wubing had wandering eyes, talked about other things, and did not give a serious answer.
Zhang Wubing even secretly raised his eyes to look in the direction of Yeli, looking like a cowardly person who was being bullied.
Then, without waiting for Ye Li to look back, Zhang Wubing quickly withdrew his gaze and hummed a song as if to cover up, acting as if he had done nothing and knew nothing.
Song Ci was filled with questions after seeing this scene.
But Ye Li just raised his eyelashes indifferently, glanced at Zhang Wubing and Xie Lin, and then withdrew his gaze indifferently, not thinking there was anything wrong.
——When they broke out of the shadow play of the woman being chased by the villagers, Ye Li held Yan Shixun tightly in his arms. The ghostly aura entangled them and protected them. Not even the dust from the collapsed village could splash onto a corner of Yan Shixun's clothes.
All the ghosts were in awe and bowed their heads to avoid him, for fear of displeasing the new master of Fengdu.
Many evil ghosts held their heads and intestines, trying hard to dress themselves up like human beings and look less hideous, for fear that the blood all over their bodies would dirty Yan Shixun's vision.
The attitude is so respectful that even human exorcists would be shocked.
They wouldn't even dare to dream of doing something so big. If they let any evil ghost out at will, it could wreak havoc on the world. Yet, in front of Yan Shixun, he was as obedient as a subordinate.
No, even the farmhands in the old days couldn't do that.
But the evil ghosts themselves knew very well that from now on, in addition to the Lord of Fengdu, Yan Shixun would be added to the list of people they could not afford to offend.
It is true that they are extremely vicious and evil, but that also means they understand the deepest and softest emotions in human nature. What's more, many old ghosts have been in Fengdu for thousands of years, so they do have some insight.
Which ghost has ever seen the Lord of Fengdu so angry?
Before this, who would have dared to say that the reason why the Lord of Fengdu reappeared in Fengdu in the human world was actually a living person?
Yan Shixun did it.
Because of his disappearance, the Lord of Fengdu, isolated from the heaven, earth and the great road, trampled on the universe and illusions, and killed all the ghosts and monsters lurking in this false world in pursuit of him. Wherever he passed, blood flowed like a river, and the ghosts and monsters apologized in fear.
Because Yan Shixun was being hunted by the villagers, the Lord of Fengdu opened the Fengdu Prison, allowing the imprisoned and tortured ghosts to pour out from the abyss of hell to destroy the world.
Even Yan Shixun didn't know many things that happened during this period, because Ye Li didn't think it was necessary to bother his exorcist.
However, the ghosts saw all of this.
Because the aura of heaven and earth here is extremely special, it is different from other worlds constructed by ghost energy. Instead, it is similar to shadow play, where the most realistic shadows of the characters will be projected onto the screen, so all the people here will reveal their true appearance.
Including Ye and Li.
——The Lord of Fengdu never thought that one day he would be restrained by the power of the past. A thousand years ago, he tricked his present self, causing the side of him that he used to walk on the earth to disappear, but allowing the real Lord of Fengdu to appear here.
But precisely because of this, the ghosts and Fengdu, both existing in the shadow of Yeli, saw clearly how all this was developing.
Many evil ghosts who had massacred cities and villages thousands of years ago were terrified and thought that it was a good thing they saw it, otherwise, if they accidentally offended the exorcist in the future, they would not know how they were crushed to death by the Lord of Fengdu.
However, Yan Shixun had Ye Li by his side to protect him well, so not a single hair of his was ruffled in the earth-shattering destruction, but others did not have the same treatment.
Xie Lin and Zhang Wubing were two brothers in distress. They couldn't even open their eyes in the strong wind, and when they opened their mouths, they spewed out a mouthful of sand. Their faces were hurt by the sand and stones, and they could even shake out two kilograms of sand from their clothes.
The two of them supported each other and followed the couple in front, walking forward with difficulty, trying hard not to be blown away by the wind.
Zhang Wubing: This is not sand, this is dog food, dog food! I don't want to eat it, but you force me to eat it until I'm full, and you slap me so hard that my face hurts, oooooooo my brother Yan, oooooooo.
Zhang Wubing never expected that Jing Xiaobao, whom he had been on high alert against, did not snatch Brother Yan away, but instead it was Ye Li, whom he had not paid much attention to before, who snatched Brother Yan away.
Even now, when he returned to the shadow puppet museum, Zhang Wubing still had tears in his eyes and was still feeling aggrieved about it.
If he really couldn't beat Ye Li, he would really want to rush up and argue with the other party crying.
However, when he thought of the fighting power that he had seen before, which was enough to destroy the world... Zhang Wubing shrank his neck timidly, feeling suffocated.
He even inexplicably wondered whether he had been at odds with Ye Li in his previous life.
Zhang Wubing touched his hair which was irritated by the wind and sand and felt a little strange.
Why did he have a vague impression that he didn't like Ye Li in his previous life?
It's so strange, why would I have such an idea?
Zhang Wubing was puzzled.
Ye Li's gaze only briefly fell on Zhang Wubing, and soon he looked at Yan Shixun again, a smile appearing in his originally cold eyes.
——The preference and care of ghosts and gods are all given to only one person, so how can they pay more attention to others?
Yan Shixun was busy counting the number of people in the courtyard and checking who was absent.
"But didn't you say you saw two Taoist priests?"
Yan Shixun recalled what Ye Li had said to him before, and immediately asked in surprise: "The two Taoist priests did not enter the shadow play with you, nor were they in the yard. Where did they go?"
Ye Li also had some speculations about this.
Because he was eager to find Yan Shixun as soon as possible, he did not pay much attention to the two Taoist priests. Anyway, he believed that the Taoist priests of Haiyun Temple would not be too weak. In any case, these two people still have the ability to protect themselves.
Moreover, the two Taoist priests were also frightened after seeing Ye Li slaughtering ghosts without any concealment.
They had always thought that Ye Li was a ghost exorcist from a sect that worshipped gods and had a complete tradition, but they had not expected that when Ye Li really attacked without any restraint, a monstrous ghost aura would linger around him.
Whether it was the ghostly aura or the power beyond the Taoist's cognitive limits, it all indicated Ye Li's unusual identity.
The two Taoist priests were stunned.
However, it was because of this pause that they could not catch up with Ye Li and did not go to the same place as him.
Instead, it fell to some unknown place.
Yeli knew about this because there were sculptures of its own image there thousands of years ago.
Since it is a shadow play, there will not be only one play. Because Zhang Wubing was with him at the time, Yan Shixun inexplicably entered the most dangerous play where that woman existed, which was also the source of all the abnormalities in the shadow puppet museum.
As for other people, such as the two lost Taoist priests and the program crew members who are not in the museum ruins, they should have gone to other plays.
The only thing they have in common is that all of them have now exchanged their identities with shadow puppet characters.
To the heaven and earth, they are no longer human beings, but lifeless shadow puppets.
Therefore, the Great Dao's judgment was clouded, the Heaven and Earth were unable to interfere in the affairs here, and all magic tricks and divinations were ineffective.
Even though they have now returned to the museum from the shadow play, they have not really returned to reality.
Ye Li also remembered what the two Taoist priests said: when they arrived one step behind, the museum was empty, with no people and no convoy, it disappeared out of thin air.
The person manipulating all this behind the scenes has not really appeared yet, and this shadow play is still going on.
The gongs and drums sounded, and the erhu played sadly.
The lights on the stage were bursting into flames, and behind the curtain, the shadow puppets were being pulled by strings, still performing this shadow play.
Ye Li also told Yan Shixun about the ebony statue. He was stunned at first, and then pondered for a moment.
"So, now we have to deal with not only an unknown mastermind behind the scenes, but also a statue that has been passed down from thousands of years ago and has your previous power?"
Yan Shixun looked at Ye Li with a smile.
Ye Li nodded helplessly, feeling even more angry towards the person who caused the ebony statue to leak out.
He looked at Yan Shixun anxiously, afraid that his beloved exorcist would think that he was the one who made the situation complicated and difficult.
But no matter how Ye Li thought about it, and searched through the memories of thousands of years ago, he didn't think that anyone at that time would be able to see his existence. He even carved a statue of the god out of ebony, and now it is used to suppress evil spirits in the Shadow Puppet Museum and nearby areas.
Fortunately, Yan Shixun did not blame Ye Li for this. He still had some understanding of Ye Li.
As the only remaining god under the great Dao, he has never responded even to the talismans and incense of the ascetics. Fengdu has appeared less and less frequently in the human world in the past hundred years. Many portraits of Fengdu Emperor that have been handed down are different from each other. There are even many statues of Fengdu Emperor in Taoist temples that are just an image carved out of a whole piece of wood without a face.
It is impossible for Ye Li to take the initiative to let his true image be passed down, or even be carved into a statue.
——It is better to choose ebony as it can suppress evil spirits.
Yan Shixun knew in his heart that this was not Ye Li's style.
"Xiaobing and I did see other plays on the DVD player. If it's true as you said, that all the other people, including the two Taoist priests, fell into other plays, then I have an idea of where they went."
After exchanging information with Ye Li, Yan Shixun turned his attention to other people.
When Zhang Wubing heard Yan Shixun say this, he was confused at first, but then he quickly realized what Yan Shixun was talking about.
"Oh, yes! There was indeed another disc in the CD player at that time."
Zhang Wubing suddenly realized: "We tried to play the disc at that time, but it was not the scene we saw at the beginning where a woman was being chased, so we turned it off."
Yan Shixun nodded and confirmed Zhang Wubing's statement: "Yes, since the medium through which we enter drama is television, and since others are not entering the same repertoire as us, and are not in the courtyard like Nantian, there is only one possibility left."
"——They all went to other plays."
"But this is a blessing in disguise."
Yan Shixun said: "With the two Taoist priests here, the rest of the program team will meet the Taoist priests there, so their safety is guaranteed."
"Now that the disc has been destroyed and we can't go to that play, the focus now falls on us."
Yan Shixun quickly sorted out the causes and consequences and keenly found the most critical node.
When the situation is too complicated and difficult, the most effective way is to cut the Gordian knot.
Only if he quickly finds out who is manipulating the shadow play behind the scenes and solves the shadow play, and all of them return to reality, can those who have been separated from them be truly safe.
Any method beyond that could create a crisis for others, and the longer one stays in the shadow play, the worse it gets.
Speaking of CD players and shadow puppet manipulation, Yan Shixun suddenly remembered that in the room where the CDs and TV were placed, in addition to the several shadow puppet masters he saw who had died and turned into corpses in the theater in the lake, there were two other people on the poster who were not there.
One is Master Bai, the 28th generation inheritor of Southwestern shadow puppetry, and the other is carpenter Zheng Shumu.
If it's about manipulating shadow puppets...is it Master Bai, who Zhang Wubing and the director team went to see several times but never met?
Yan Shixun pondered.
He dug out his previous memories again, filtering them frame by frame, and picking out the incongruous parts.
Yan Shixun recalled that the people behind the scenes appeared twice. Once was behind the poster board, where the portraits of the masters manipulating shadow puppets were painted on the wall.
Another time, it was a wooden sculpture of a woman sitting on the stage in a theater in the lake.
At that time, Zhang Wubing said that this gg method was novel and interesting, with portraits in the front, middle and back, which enriched the layers of the poster.
But now it seems that it is not enriching the poster.
...In the portrait on the poster, the only person who survived was Master Bai.
Moreover, compared with the female wood sculpture in the Lake Theater, there are six shadow puppets behind the poster, but the female wood sculpture only has five in her hands.
One missing.
Could it be Master Bai?
While Yan Shixun asked everyone to check for any injuries and physical condition, he was thinking secretly in his heart.
Lu Xingxing squatted at Yan Shixun's feet with tears in her eyes, and couldn't stand up no matter what.
Although there was an element of deliberate coquettishness in her expression, Lu Xingxing's complexion now could not really be described as good. It was as white and transparent as paper, and her mouth was completely bloodless. If she were to be put on the Internet, people would praise her for having "fair skin and light lips".
However, excessive blood loss also caused him to lose strength rapidly, his body temperature also dropped, and he shivered while holding Yan Shixun's calf.
"Yan, Brother Yan, why don't you take off your coat and give it to me."
Lu Xingxing's upper and lower teeth were chattering, and he felt so cold that he felt like he was in an ice storage.
The scarf tied tightly around his ankles was completely soaked with blood, and now even wherever he sat, he would leave a blood mark.
However, he did not let Yan Shixun help him stop the bleeding.
Lu Xingxing heard what Yan Shixun had just said and knew that the hemostatic spell would not work now. His injuries were related to the corpse, so ordinary medical methods were useless.
So he didn't plan to bother Yan Shixun, but waited obediently for Yan Shixun to bring everyone back to reality, and then he would treat his injuries after the talisman could be used.
Yan Shixun felt like he was hugged by ice.
When he lowered his head, he saw Lu Xingxing leaning weakly on his legs.
Yan Shixun frowned, seeing the dire situation Lu Xingxing was in.
"Ye Li."
He called out the real names of ghosts and gods in a calm tone, with such familiarity and naturalness that there was no sense of strangeness or alienation, nor any respect for ghosts and gods that were thousands of miles away.
It was as if the ghosts and gods had always been standing by his side, being his companions and trustworthy beings.
Ye Li responded with a smile. He was in a good mood because of Yan Shixun's friendly attitude. He even felt more favorable towards Lu Xingxing who was hugging Yan Shixun. He no longer looked unhappy as before.
"Xingxing's wound, can you stop the bleeding?"
Seeing the shadow covering him, Yan Shixun raised his eyes and asked naturally: "If this goes on, he will become a dead star."
"Although Taoist Master Song Yi has other disciples, it would be a lot less fun without such a stupid disciple."
Yan Shixun looked down at Lu Xingxing and said with a smile: "But don't worry, if you really die, the compensation that Xiaobing will give you will be enough to build you a magnificent cemetery, and you can also hire people to burn incense every day, so that the incense will never stop."
Lu Xingxing: “!!!”
He looked at Yan Shixun in horror, and even his hands that were holding Yan Shixun's long legs loosened unconsciously. He sat on the ground and crawled backwards at a speed that was inconsistent with his weakness, for fear that Yan Shixun would make plans for him after his death.
He was afraid that Yan Shixun would continue talking, so he even thought of an epitaph for him.
Lu Xingxing: Scared! I didn’t expect that Master’s Uncle is as scary as Master’s Aunt. I was young before and actually thought that Master’s Aunt was scarier than Master’s Uncle… Woohoo.
Even Song Ci and others looked at Lu Xingxing with sympathy in their eyes.
They originally thought that Lu Xingxing was not skilled enough and therefore could not stop the bleeding, but they did not expect that even Yan Shixun said the same thing.
Only then did Song Ci believe Lu Xingxing, and he felt that this silly dog was really miserable. He was teased by Brother Yan and looked like he was about to cry.
But when Lu Xingxing was halfway up, he suddenly felt a force stopping him from going forward.
When he looked up, he found that the person against his back was actually Ye Li.
Ye Li grabbed Lu Xingxing's collar with one hand and pulled him up, strictly following Yan Shixun's instructions and ignoring Lu Xingxing's struggle and fear.
His slender palm brushed past, and a faint black ghostly aura covered Lu Xingxing's ankle.
Although talismans and spells cannot be used on living people.
But ghosts and gods have their own power and do not need to communicate with heaven and earth through talismans or borrow power from the gods in the four directions.
Therefore, Yeli was not affected.
If the evil spirit guarding this place wasn't himself a thousand years ago, he wouldn't be unable to break through this place.
When he thought of the ebony statue, Ye Li's eyes turned cold and he became more angry.
But Lu Xingxing felt the power so close to him, but mistakenly thought that it was dissatisfaction with him, so he was frightened and trembled. He stopped struggling with tears in his eyes and let Ye Li treat him dejectedly.
However, unlike the treatment provided by human exorcists, Ye Li is in charge of death, and his power is mostly related to death. Being submerged in the ghostly aura is a terrifying existence that ordinary living people cannot endure, and ordinary evil spirits cannot cope with either.
Apart from people like those with evil spirits who naturally coexist with ghosts, there is no one else who can stay with Ye Li for a long time or even borrow his power.
——This is also the reason why Jing Xiaobao was able to successfully trick Ye Li before he took on the great cause.
Although Jing Xiaobao is a fierce ghost, he is even more of a dead ghost with evil spirits.
Although Lu Xingxing in front of him had been lent power by Ye Li when they were in Nanming Mountain, he was ultimately unable to adapt to the ghost energy.
So now, Ye Li could only grind the ghost energy into a thin layer and cover it on Lu Xingxing's wound.
He used his power to shock the dirt in Lu Xingxing's wound, preventing it from causing trouble and causing bleeding. It also served as a substitute for the scarf to better tighten the wound, which was equivalent to temporarily repairing Lu Xingxing's damaged blood vessels.
After Lu Xingxing found that he really was not bleeding, he, who was originally dejected in the hands of Ye Li, suddenly let out an "Awooo!" and regained his energy.
"Oh my god, it actually works!"
After Lu Xingxing was put down, he tried to move his hands and feet. When he found that they were not affected, he immediately jumped up and down again.
"Thank you, Master Aunt! You are simply the most powerful person in the world. There is no one more powerful than my Master Aunt! Hahaha, thank you, Master Aunt... and Master Uncle!"
The others looked at the energetic Lu Xingxing. Although they were annoyed by his noisy chatter, they still laughed and shook their heads. They felt that it was better to look at him as energetic as he is now compared to the listless Lu Xingxing before.
An Nanyuan, on the other hand, was still lost in thought about what Yan Shixun had just said.
"Is it like Alice in Wonderland now, with everyone randomly falling into two rabbit holes?"
An Nanyuan asked Zhao Zhen: "Help me analyze this quickly, my brain is about to explode."
Zhao Zhen was helpless, but still nodded with a smile and said, "That should be the case, but you don't have to worry, Brother Yan is here."
An Nanyuan also laughed: "That's right, Brother Yan is much more reliable than Xingxing."
Lu Xingxing: "I heard you guys saying bad things about me!"
Yan Shixun was amused by Lu Xingxing and laughed, but after a "puchi" laugh, he waved his hand and asked everyone to leave the ruins of the museum.
Now the land has not fallen as in the previous shadow play because they are still here, so Yeli has not completely destroyed the museum for the time being.
But it's time.
Just as everyone was about to leave, the remaining door of the Shadow Puppet Museum was suddenly knocked from outside.
“Boom…”
“Boom boom boom!”
Yan Shixun keenly caught this sound. He immediately turned around and looked towards the gate with eyes as fast as lightning.
But behind the broken walls, there stood a middle-aged man, craning his neck to look into the ruins of the museum with curiosity and shock.
The middle-aged man saw Yan Shixun noticed him, and immediately scratched his head in embarrassment, and explained with a smile: "I heard a very loud noise coming from this side, so I thought of coming to see the excitement, but I didn't expect there were still people."
"Are you here for tourism? But no one has come to see the shadow play here for many years. I thought no one would come here."
The middle-aged man looked genuinely surprised. His face was covered with wrinkles and frost from the hardships of life, but there was no evil in his eyes. He exuded a refreshing and simple feeling, a face that made people subconsciously trust him.
He was carrying a bamboo basket on his back, with a lot of dead branches and sticks piled in it. It seemed that he was out collecting wood for firewood.
Although his clothes seemed to have faded from being washed so many times, they were still clean and tidy. One could tell at a glance that he was a man who managed his life, and not the kind of person who lived casually in a muddle.
No matter how you look at it, this is a person who makes people feel good about him.
The middle-aged man did not notice Yan Shixun's scrutinizing gaze. He looked like an ordinary farmer or craftsman, with all the shining qualities of this type of person, but because he had not dealt with outsiders for many years, he was also dull to other people's gazes.
"I said that this broken house would collapse sooner or later if it had not been repaired for so many years, but the villagers refused to believe me. Look, this is what happened."
The middle-aged man muttered a few words in a low voice, and then quickly asked Yan Shixun: "Are you a tour guide? Oh, you should have checked it out before you came. This museum hasn't been repaired for more than ten years. It was flooded during the summer flood season. The foundation is brittle and easy to collapse. It's already a dangerous building."
"It's my fault too. I should have found some paint to write 'dangerous building' on it."
The middle-aged man sighed and asked with concern: "Are you okay? Is anyone injured?"
Yan Shixun frowned slightly and looked at the middle-aged man calmly, but no matter how he looked at him, he felt that this man was really like he said, a person who lived in a nearby village and ran over to check after hearing the noise.
He turned his head slightly to look at Ye Li beside him, asking Ye Li with his eyes what this man's soul looked like, whether there was any sin, or other abnormalities.
Ye Li understood and blinked at Yan Shixun: No, there is neither cause and effect nor ghost spirit on this person, he is no different from an ordinary person.
Although Yan Shixun was still a little confused as to why they were clearly in a shadow play and not in reality, there were still villagers there.
But since he and Ye Li together couldn't see anything wrong with this man...
Yan Shixun asked the middle-aged man, "We are not injured, thank you. Are you in charge of the Shadow Puppet Museum?"
"You can't say that I'm in charge, it's actually an industry in the village, and we used to rely on it for revenue."
The middle-aged man scratched his head and said with a smile, "But we don't really know how to run it. Besides, not many people watch shadow puppet shows anymore. Now there are new and trendy things, so no one comes here. The villagers don't like the trouble, so they just leave it here and don't care."
"I just collect firewood or take a look when I pass by. It can't be considered management."
The middle-aged man said worriedly: "In the summer, I was worried that it would collapse. Now you see, my worry was right. It really collapsed."
"It's a good thing you weren't hurt, otherwise I'd be so sorry."
The middle-aged man shook his head and sighed, "Judging from your clothes, you are all from the city, right? You have a good life, but you don't know that it costs money to demolish a house now, and this place was built by villagers. I can't demolish it because I don't have the money and the villagers don't agree."
"There are no hotels nearby. The sun has already set. Where are you staying tonight? To put it bluntly, this area is all wilderness. Apart from our village, you have to walk 50 or 60 miles to see human habitation."
He suggested with concern and enthusiasm: "If you don't mind, why don't you stay in our village for one night and leave tomorrow morning? I see your tour bus hasn't come back to pick you up yet. Did something go wrong?"
From what this person said, Yan Shixun could tell that this person was really from the village where the shadow puppet inheritor lived, and had also experienced the tourism scene when Baizhi Lake shadow puppetry was flourishing in the past. He also knew the procedures such as buses and tour guides.
Zhang Wubing also whispered, "There is indeed a village next to the museum. It is the village where the inheritor, Master Bai, lives. The director team has been there several times. We originally booked a residence there, but we didn't expect that something would happen while visiting a museum..."
Yan Shixun glanced over with a smile, and Zhang Wubing immediately shut up and pretended to zip up his mouth.
Okay, he shouldn’t have said something like he didn’t expect anything to go wrong… but he didn’t want to either QAQ.
Yan Shixun threw Zhang Wubing to the front and went to check the information with the middle-aged man.
Since Zhang Wubing said that the director team had booked a house with the villagers in the village before, they must have some understanding of the situation in the village. If he can really match the middle-aged man, then there should be no problem with this person.
"Oh, you and Uncle Bai have booked his house."
The middle-aged man suddenly realized, slapped his thigh and said, "I was wondering why he looks like he's made a fortune recently."
"That's perfect. Since you guys are going to the village too, and I want to go home too, let's go together. It's not far through the path, and it's half an hour faster than the dirt road. This mountain is not like your city. We have to get home before dark, otherwise there are wolves in the mountains, and it's easy to run into dirty things."
The middle-aged man raised his hand and pointed at the mountain next to him: "This used to be the village's graveyard. Many children said they saw dirty things here and were scared. The buried bodies attracted many wolves and other wild animals, and many graves were dug up by them. The mountain is dangerous. If you really stay here for a night, it will be too unsafe."
He smiled and said, "However, I was still worrying about it. I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful and have thought it through long ago."
Yan Shixun suddenly spoke up and asked the middle-aged man, "What's your name?"
"My name is Zheng Shumu."
He didn't have the slightest idea of hiding his true feelings, and said with a straightforward smile: "I also do some carpentry work occasionally, you can just call me Master Zheng."
Yan Shixun immediately realized where the sense of familiarity when he saw this person came from.
Zheng Shumu...
The master carpenter who was on the poster before.
However, Zheng Shumu on the poster has a vaguely cold expression. Although he looks no different from the person in front of him, the Zheng Shumu in front of him is obviously much more cheerful and seems to be living a good life.
But apart from these, there are no other problems, and the information matches that from Zhang Wubing.
Yan Shixun nodded and prepared to go to the village to "spend the night" with Zheng Shumu.
——Although I definitely won’t be able to sleep this time, it’s nice to have a place to accommodate the guests. I can also find out some information in the village, and maybe I can find a way to leave.
Thinking of this, although Yan Shixun did not relax his guard, he joined everyone else and Zheng Shumu in walking along the shortcut that he had mentioned, and headed towards the village.
…
The Baizhi Lake incident that the official person in charge wanted to deal with was already in front of him.
He opened the document and saw the ending at a glance.
There were many deaths in the village.
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