The old house in the suburbs was not far away, probably only about 20 to 30 minutes away, but the mountain road was difficult to walk on and the road was remote. Cars from outside were unwilling to drive in. Wen He had no choice but to move the things out of the car and look for nearby villagers to help move the things.
The villagers in the mountains were simple and warm-hearted, and were willing to take on manual labor to earn some extra money. However, they hadn't moved their things yet. When they heard that it was Gu's old house, their faces changed suddenly, and they shook their heads and waved their hands, and took several steps back.
"Hey kid, you must be from the city, right? You don't know that you can't go to the Gu family's old house, you can't go there..."
The old man, speaking with a strong accent, wrinkled his face and shook his head. Seeing Wen He's puzzled expression, and considering she looked so young and delicate, he couldn't help but say a few more words: "You don't know, it's strange to say, originally this old Gu family house was fine, and the fruit trees and crops growing nearby were all very good, so the old man of the Gu family asked us to help clean the house, and we were willing to do it. But since a certain day a year ago, the area around the old Gu family house has become strange. Almost overnight, a layer of white fog covered it, and it didn't dissipate for a long time. Even the old villagers who had walked the mountain road for decades almost got lost and couldn't return..."
"That's not the scariest thing. You don't know. One day, my man came back from the mountains covered in bruises and his face was extremely pale. He said he accidentally took the wrong path in the mountains and ended up near the Gu family's old house. What are you doing? He actually encountered an extremely ferocious wild beast with a sharp beak that chased him and pecked at him. It was really fierce!"
As they listened, an auntie nearby couldn't help but interrupt and started talking about the terrible things that happened around the old house. Perhaps because the topic was brought up, the surrounding villagers also started talking about the terrible things that happened around the old house.
Some villagers said that the beasts occupying the land were not beasts with sharp beaks, but beasts with red eyes that could jump, and beasts as big as tigers that could make "humming sounds".
Some villagers also said that when they passed by the crops near the house a while ago, they found that the crops and fruit trees there were all withered, and it was gloomy and scary. However, some villagers refuted that they had passed by there last time, but what they saw was not withered crops and fruit trees, but fruit trees that had grown into strange shapes, and the fruits were more than twice as big as usual, with the trunks bent, which was very weird.
"And... there's a ghost in that house! It's a playmate of mine who drowned in the river when we were young. I saw him in the mountains a while ago, near that house. I'm almost sixty now, but he still looks as young as a teenager..."
The man who said this was an elderly man, who seemed to be recalling something from the past, and his eyes were a little dazed. But after a while, his grandson beside him interrupted him, saying that his father must have seen it wrongly. How could there be ghosts? But there was no doubt that the old house was strange.
But Wen He remembered that her grandfather seemed to send money to this village every few months, entrusting the villagers to help take care of the old house. Otherwise, considering how much her grandfather valued this old house, he would not have entrusted it to her until his death.
It seemed that all the villagers knew about this matter, and they couldn't help but shake their heads, saying that their village had actually wanted to talk to Old Man Gu about this matter a year ago, but at that time Old Man Gu's condition worsened, so the village chief took the initiative and planned to return the money after Old Man Gu's condition got better. However, he never expected that Old Man Gu would fall ill and pass away.
"I don't know who will take over this old Gu family mansion. I guess none of the Gu family children in the city would miss it. After all, it's deep in the mountains and forests, and it's not worth much. It's a pity... I heard from my ancestors that the old Gu family mansion was very popular back then. This mountain must have been very prosperous. Merchants from thousands of miles away would come into the mountains to do business and interact with the Gu family. I'm afraid we will never have the chance to see it as prosperous as before..."
Wen He, who was handed over the old house, did not respond. He just chuckled and politely declined the villagers' kindness. He agreed and said that he did have important matters to attend to and had to go up the mountain.
Seeing this, the villagers hesitated for a long time and finally decided to walk Wen He a short distance, but they would not go too close to the Gu family's old house. However, before they left, the villagers thoughtfully lent a small cart to Wen He to save her some effort.
I have to say that this mountain road is indeed difficult and tiring to walk on. Moreover, we had not walked far when, as the villagers said, fog had indeed gathered near the old house. It was so hazy that we could not see the surrounding scenery clearly. Even the magnetic field was disordered, and the compass was spinning non-stop from the very beginning.
To be honest, Wen He had never been to the Gu family's old house, and she didn't know the specific way, but she remembered that old man Wen often nagged her, saying that when he was a child, as long as he walked straight ahead when he went home, without taking any detours, he would be able to walk directly back to the old house.
But now the fog completely blocks my view. How can I tell the difference between the curved and the straight?
Wen He couldn't help but rub his temples with a headache, and looked at all the luggage on him. Apart from some of the old man's relics, there were ancient books and the two bags of cherry tomatoes and cantaloupes that Wen He planned to take back for his mother to eat.
Because the cantaloupes were heavy, Wen He didn't bring many, only about five or six. However, he took a lot of cherry tomatoes, filling two large bags. After thinking about it, an idea came to Wen He's mind.
If you can't use your eyes to tell whether you are walking in a straight line, then you can use external objects to tell.
So, Wen He grabbed a handful of cherry tomatoes in her hand and put one on the ground every few meters, trying to walk in a straight line. This method was indeed much easier to use, and even increased her speed a lot. But after a while, Wen He's pace began to slow down again. She couldn't help but look back in confusion. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but Wen He always felt that the cherry tomatoes she threw behind her seemed to be getting fewer and fewer.
But it turned out that this was not her illusion.
Just as she was finishing putting the bag of cherry tomatoes away, she turned and saw a majestic beast with a sharp beak, staring at her fiercely from the mist. It gradually emerged from the haze, revealing a bright red crest, dark eyes, a sturdy body, and fluffy feathers... Well, it was a giant rooster, nearly twice as big as the ones sold at the market! Even from a distance, Wen He could sense its ferocity!
Moreover, strangely enough, Wen He felt that the big rooster seemed to be looking at her. Its pair of black eyes stared at Wen He for a long time, and suddenly it made a "cuckoo" sound, then lowered its head and ate the small tomato that Wen He had placed on the ground in one bite.
And it ate very quickly, almost swallowing it in one gulp. In a few bites, it had come to Wen He and swallowed the last tomato in front of Wen He in one gulp. Then, it opened its dark eyes wide and "cuckooed" twice at Wen He. The big rooster tilted its head and stared silently at the other bag of whole tomatoes in Wen He's hand with its dark eyes.
"..." Wen He suddenly had the illusion that he would be beaten if he didn't hand over the cherry tomato.
Wen He silently weighed in his mind whether he was stronger or the big rooster was more ferocious. He came to a conclusion in less than two seconds and obediently left the small tomato as a "bribe".
Then, Wen He seemed to see the big rooster tilt its head with great satisfaction and give her a look of approval. Then, it easily picked up the bag of small tomatoes, appeared as heroically as at the beginning, and disappeared in the mist in a heroic manner, leaving Wen He, who had lost the small tomatoes, standing there in a daze for a long time, with no expression on her face, but an urge in her heart to "wake up" the old man lying in the coffin: Ah ah ah ah, old man, ah ah ah, wake up for me - can you explain to me why there is a big rooster "blocking the road and robbing" in your old house?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
