◇ 【102】"Amber"
Xi Lang dragged his suitcase out of Lanzhou Airport and hailed a taxi.
"Go to Yu County."
The driver looked at him in surprise and said, "Sir, Yu County is not close. We have to take the highway."
Xi Lang said calmly, "Price is not a problem."
The driver was about to leave, "Sorry, I don't go to the county town."
Xi Lang stopped him and said gently, "Wait a minute. Where can I take a bus to Yu County?"
"You can take the bus diagonally across the street, but that bus only runs once every two hours, and the last one just left less than ten minutes ago."
Xi Lang frowned and checked his watch. According to the route and time Xiaojuan had told him, if he waited another two hours, he wouldn't be able to reach Guiyi Village before dark.
"hey-hey!"
A black van slowly drove over, and a fat head popped out of the window, waving at Xi Lang with a smile.
The taxi driver looked at him suspiciously and said, "Dude, you're so brave, soliciting passengers at the airport gate."
The fat man glared at him and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? This is my brother. Third brother, didn't I say I would take you there? Look, you're still being polite to me. Taking a taxi is so expensive."
Xi Lang smiled amusedly and said, "So it's my cousin. Then please make the trip." Then he opened the car door and got in.
The fat man turned the car around and drove forward, saying with a smile, "Don't worry, boss. No matter where you're going, I promise to get you there safely. It's worth your cooperation just now. I don't know where you're going yet?"
Xi Lang asked, "Qishan Township in Yu County. How long will it take?"
The fat man said, "Oh, that's a bit far. We'll have to take a section of highway first, and then a section of dirt road. It'll take more than three hours in total."
Xi Lang said: "Price is not a problem."
"Okay, you'll give me four hundred and fifty." The fat man looked at the famous watch on his wrist, the ring on his hand, and the designer clothes on his body in the rearview mirror, his eyes rolling around. "Look, it's customary for us to have someone accompany us on long-distance trips. If you don't mind, I'll stop ahead and pick someone up."
Xi Lang glanced at him and nodded indifferently, with a hint of ambiguous smile in the corner of his eyes.
The fat man didn't notice, and immediately took out his mobile phone and made a call, "Second son, business has arrived, "big business"! Hurry up and follow the car... I'll still wait for you at the old place... OK."
After finishing the call, he smiled at Xi Lang and said, "Okay. My buddy is waiting for us up ahead."
The van drove into the city and stopped by the roadside.
Xi Lang glanced at two people standing by the roadside. One was a tall, stocky man in his late twenties, with a cigarette tucked into his ear. The other was shorter but equally sturdy, with a duffel bag at his feet.
The fat man rolled down the window and looked at the short man. "Who is he?"
The second son said, "I met him at the bus stop. He was in a hurry to get back to Yu County because his wife was about to give birth, but he couldn't find a car. As the saying goes, 'At home, you rely on your parents; when you go out, you rely on your friends.' Big brother, give him a ride."
The fat man said with a stern face, "How can that be? This boss paid 450 yuan to rent my car. How can I take someone else with me?"
The second son looked at Xi Lang hesitantly.
The short man pleaded with Xi Lang, "Boss, my wife and I have been looking forward to having a child for several years. Please help me. I won't sit here for free, I'll pay half the price!"
Xi Lang smiled gently, "Get in the car. However, I'm not used to sitting next to other people. You two should sit in the front."
"Okay, sure." The short man thanked the second son profusely and got into the car with him.
The van has seven seats, more than enough for four people.
The short guy introduced himself as Liu Zi and sat in the second row with Er Zi.
The fat man turned on the radio and the van drove smoothly and quickly towards the highway intersection.
Two hours later, the van got off the highway and headed towards Qishan Township.
The fat man reached out to turn off the speaker. Erzi and Liuzi seemed to have received a signal. They took out switchblades from their pockets, stood up at the same time, and pounced on Xi Lang.
"Don't move! Take out all the money you have!"
Xi Lang did not move. He just took out a folding umbrella from the outer pocket of the suitcase and knocked it on Erzi and Liuzi's heads one by one.
The two men were vulnerable and slumped limply on the chairs, motionless.
The fat man was so frightened that his face turned pale. He slammed on the brakes and screamed, "Oh my God—big brother, spare my life!"
Xi Lang pulled out a gun from his space ring and pointed it at him, then smiled faintly and said, "Do you have a rope? Tie them both up."
The fat man's legs were shaking so much that he almost fainted.
"Don't faint, or I'll shoot you once in the right hand and once in the right leg."
Xi Lang's smile was obviously very gentle, but it made the fat man shudder. With trembling legs, he crawled to Erzi and Liuzi, took out a rope from under the seat and tied them up.
Xi Lang nodded with satisfaction, "Keep driving and take me to Qishan Township."
“Yes, yes…”
The van whooshed and sped towards Qishan Township.
Xi Lang glanced at the toy gun in his hand, smiled and shook his head.
…
While he wasn't sure what "warning them" meant, Gu Juan could see that the appearance of a treasure would likely cause an earthquake. He'd been thinking about how to convince all the villagers to leave the village for a while, or even get them to go outside to an open area. This was a difficult problem to solve. In the eyes of the villagers, he was just a student, or even just a child. There was no way they would listen to him. He couldn't just tell them that an earthquake was coming. These simple and conservative villagers might think he was cursing them.
Dinner was still eaten in the yard.
Seeing the calm soup in the bowl stir slightly, Gu Juan suddenly stood up. The ground was shaking! His spiritual consciousness flew straight to the mountain he had visited that night, and his expression changed drastically. The treasure had been born prematurely! The interior of the mountain was like a tinderbox, exploding.
"Teacher, Teacher Guo, the earthquake is coming! The villagers must move to the open space quickly!" Gu Juan said quickly.
"Earthquake? Classmate Gu Juan, this joke is not funny at all." Zhou Dong picked up a piece of spicy and sour potato shreds with chopsticks and continued eating.
Gu Juan said coldly, "I'm not interested in joking with you! Look at the soup on the table!"
Everyone looked down and saw that, sure enough, the soup was forming ripples, which were becoming denser and denser.
Liang Yuntang and Guo Jianwen's expressions changed at the same time. They stood up suddenly and said, "Quick, go inform the villagers!"
Jin Meng, Cheng Feng, Wu Yu and Fang Lingling all ran out.
Zhou Dong didn't know whether he didn't react or didn't believe that an earthquake would happen. He just sat there blankly without moving.
Gu Juan ignored him and ran out.
About a minute later, a loud bang was heard in the distance. Simultaneously, the ground shook violently, and screams echoed throughout the village.
A stream of spiritual energy accompanied by a yellow glow rose into the sky like an underground fountain.
Gu Juan's spiritual consciousness saw Bai Shanxin and the other two running towards the place where the treasure was born in surprise.
He snorted coldly, trying to get ahead. After all, they were all cultivators, and he hadn't intended to compete with these three cultivators for anything. But from the moment Bai Shanxin refused to warn the villagers to take shelter, he had no intention of letting go of this treasure. Even if it was just a small spiritual stone, he would not let Bai Shanxin get it.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, Cheng Feng ran back.
"What are you two still doing? Go help! Many villagers are injured!"
He picked up the medicine box and ran away with Gu Juan.
Gu Juan had to temporarily give up the idea of snatching the treasure. Even if Bai Shanxin got the treasure and left immediately, he was confident that he could catch up within half an hour.
"Mmmmm..." Zhou Dong ran over, grabbed Cheng Feng's sleeve, pointed at his mouth, and looked painful.
Blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth!
Cheng Feng looked at him in surprise. "What happened to you? Let me see." He asked him to open his mouth and gave him a quick check. "How did you get this? Fortunately, the injury is not serious, just a broken skin. Go get yourself some medicine to stop the bleeding."
After saying that, he pulled Gu Juan and ran out.
Zhou Dong's face flushed with embarrassment, but he didn't say that he was so busy eating that he was poked by the chopsticks.
The villagers gathered in the drying yard in front of the village.
"What's the situation?" Gu Juan asked while running.
Cheng Feng looked relieved. "Thanks to your prompt warning, only a few villagers and children were injured, and two old houses collapsed. Overall, we're pretty lucky."
The two men went to the threshing ground and helped bandage the injured villagers.
Xi Lang hurried into the village and saw a familiar figure in the crowd squatting and bandaging an old man's injured arm.
"Little family."
When Gu Juan heard Xi Lang's voice, he thought he was hallucinating. Without turning around, he said to Wu Yu beside him, "Give me some more gauze."
Xi Lang strode closer, "Little Dear."
Cheng Feng recognized Shi Lang as the man who had been with Gu Juan at the school gate. He patted Gu Juan on the shoulder and asked doubtfully, "Is he looking for you?"
Gu Juan turned around, and the scissors in his hand fell to the ground. He said in disbelief, "Old man?" How could the old man appear here? What a surprise!
Xi Lang dropped the suitcase on the ground, walked over to him, hugged him, and whispered in his ear: "It's me, Juanbao. Silly boy."
Gu Juan held his hand tightly, pushed him away, and stared into his eyes, unable to control the corners of her mouth from curling up. "I didn't expect you to come here so suddenly. Why did you come so suddenly?"
"I came here because I missed you." Xi Lang noticed that everyone was looking at them curiously and squeezed Gu Juan's hand. "Let's not talk about this for now. What's going on here?"
"Oh, right." Gu Juan remembered something important, his expression solemn, and he transmitted his voice, "You should have noticed the commotion just now, right? A treasure appeared not long ago, and there are three monks nearby who are targeting it. You should rush over now and take the treasure away before they do."
"Treasure? Is this it?" Xi Lang used Gu Juan to block his hand, and saw him take out a piece of amber-like object from the storage ring.
Sensing the spiritual energy on it, Gu Juan knew it was right, relieved, and gestured for him to put it away, "We'll talk about it later."
Xi Lang nodded and put the things into the space ring, "I'll help."
Gu Juan introduced Xi Lang to Liang Yuntang and the others. To avoid any trouble, he didn't directly say that Xi Lang was his lover, but he didn't hide his longing for Xi Lang in front of him, nor did he want to avoid his occasional affectionate gestures towards Xi Lang. As for whether Liang Yuntang and the others would discover his true relationship with Xi Lang, he thought it was best to let nature take its course.
At this time, Bai Shanxin, Bai Shanyi and Bai Shanyan also rushed to the mountain and looked at the huge deep pit in front of them that was as big as a crater.
The three people's spiritual consciousness could easily reach the bottom of the cave, but they found nothing.
Bai Shanxin's expression suddenly changed. "What's going on? Where's the treasure?"
"This..." Bai Shanyi looked around, "How is this possible? There's no one else around here. Could it be that the treasure can grow wings and fly?"
Bai Shanyan was also very anxious, "Big Brother, please look around first."
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