My heart is full of doubts. There are many clues, but I can't deceive myself. The presence of a wooden cage means that Zheng Chuyi at least knows about shadow creatures. This cage is made of cypress, a hard and antiseptic wood, but too much time has passed.
After a long time, it is no longer strong.
"It seems that the old Zheng family has been exposed to this at least since this generation." Li Fusheng kicked the cage: "Of course, it is hard to say the specific age of this cage. It may have been from Zheng Chuyi's father's generation.
exist."
"Do other people in this village know this?" I asked: "If Zheng Shitou knows something about it, we can deceive him."
"I guess Zheng Shitou doesn't know that Zheng Chu's family dug such a basement, which shows that he avoids others and hides what he does because he doesn't want others to know. If everyone in the village knows this, why should he?
What if we keep hiding it for a second?”
"It's possible." I agreed with Li Fusheng's opinion, but my thoughts began to wander involuntarily. If my father grew up in this village, or even further judged that he grew up in this courtyard, then he knew what was in the basement.
These things?
I think he probably knows that it is because he has been exposed to it since he was a child and has been influenced by his elders that some things will be firmly rooted in his heart. Otherwise, from such a young age, he has strengthened his beliefs and worked hard to
Doing these things is somewhat unreasonable.
It's a pity that Zheng Chuyi has passed away, and nothing can be asked anymore.
What happened back then has passed, things and people have changed, but the basement is closed and has not been disturbed by external forces. Everything remains as it was. There is no need to continue looking at the two wooden cages, knowing that they are
It was enough to use it for whatever purpose. We continued to shift our gaze, and the things in the "vegetable cellar" were basically seen. At this time, in a corner, I saw a dog tied up and hung in the corner.
bag.
The bag was made of coarse cloth, very dirty and covered with dust. Li Fusheng touched it lightly with a knife and could feel that there was something hard and heavy in the bag. After testing it several times and making sure that there was no danger, he
I took the bag off. The cloth used to make the bag was in terrible condition, and it tore open at the slightest movement, and the contents fell to the floor with a crash.
I bent down and looked at it. All the things that fell on the ground were white and translucent. They should be stones. There were dozens of different sizes and shapes. I picked up a piece carefully.
Look, this kind of stone looks very much like quartz. When I was a child, I played in the sand just to find the small shells and translucent quartz in the sand. The stones in the sand were not as big as the ones in front of me. The quartz in the bag was obviously
They are carefully selected, and some are almost transparent. This kind of thing is not valuable, but if you have some free time to carve it out, it is also a good little object that you can play with in your hand.
"Quartz stone." Li Fusheng picked up a piece and looked at it, confirming my idea. He said: "These quartz stones are very good. Among the quartz stones, the ones that are almost transparent are generally called crystals. They are only milky white.
Only those that are translucent are called quartz."
I don’t know if Zheng Chuyi collected these stones, but he must have carefully selected them during the collection, and only picked the best ones to bring back. His purpose of collecting the stones is still unknown, but I think if it is true,
If someone occasionally encounters a relatively pure quartz stone when they have nothing to do, they will pick it up and take it away.
In the absence of other evidence and clues, I can only judge that Zheng Chuyi picked up these quartz stones just for the sake of rarity. Judging from the carved toys I saw in the cabin just now, he is a
He is a very handy person, but quartz stone is very hard and is an important part of granite. It cannot be worked with ordinary tools, so it has to be left idle.
"Do you think these stones are useful to us?" Li Fusheng asked.
"It would be useful. We need to know where Zheng Chuyi brought these stones back from."
"Then what? Then analyze and analyze." Li Fusheng encouraged me. I guess he had already thought of everything that should be thought of. He was just teaching me to use my brain more when encountering problems.
"When I saw two cages used to hold shadow creatures, Zheng Chuyi was rather mysterious. He did these things secretly and didn't want others to know. We need to know where he usually moves." I thought about it and sorted it out.
After thinking for a while, he pointed to the stones on the ground and said: "These stones are probably not brought back once or twice. For country people, such stones are just rare and have no practical use, so they cannot travel very far."
If we go looking for them, we can only pick some up along the way. There are so many stones, which means that the place where there are such stones is where Zheng Chuyi usually spends his time."
"Very good." A smile appeared on Li Fusheng's lips, and he extended his thumb to me: "Good analysis. Remember, you can know nothing, but you must learn to think."
As he spoke, Li Fusheng gathered up the scattered stones on the ground and placed them on a low table. He picked a few pieces from them, put them in his pocket, and said, "I guess there are places with such stones.
The village is not too far away. Go back and ask Zheng Shitou. Come on, there is no ventilation here, so it won’t be good to stay for a long time.”
We climbed back up on the ladder, covered the entrance to the "vegetable cellar" with wooden boards, and laid bricks. When we returned to Zheng Shitou's house, he was still sleeping. He had been living the life of a rabbit for the past two days, eating cabbage, radish, and radish.
Cabbage, I really couldn't hold it anymore, so I took three cans we brought, opened them and put them in the pot to stew, and added some vegetables. As soon as the pot was opened, a fragrance filled the air and wafted out of the kitchen.
, not long after, Zheng Shitou ran out of the main room, rubbing his eyes.
"What a thing, it smells so good." He twitched his nose and came to the kitchen.
"Come on, let's eat together."
We set the table, and Zheng Shitou was very happy. He ran back and found a bottle of white wine and drank with us. In the winter, it is a beautiful thing to eat meat and drink around the brazier. Zheng Shitou's bubbles are not as good as his drinking ability.
It's not very good. After a few drinks, my dark and thin old face turns red.
"What is this? Canned food?" As soon as Zheng Shitou drank hemp, his attitude became a little bolder and he said to me: "Do you have any more? Don't hide it. Get some more. I'll go catch rabbits for you tomorrow at worst.
"
I wanted to trick him, hoping he would drink more, so I quickly got another can, stewed it and brought it over. Zheng Shitou was indeed drunk, spitting and telling us about his life outside and in the labor camp.
Li Fusheng listened patiently and finally seized the opportunity to interrupt Zheng Shitou. He took out a few stones he had brought out and asked him, "This thing is quite interesting."
"What is it?" Zheng Shitou squinted and stared at the stone in Li Fusheng's hand. At first, he might not have seen it clearly, so he rubbed his eyes again. When he really saw it clearly, Zheng Shitou seemed to have been electrocuted.
He shook his head excitedly, and even sobered up a little from his drunkenness. He grabbed the stones and said, "Where did you get this thing from?"
"Over there." Li Fusheng looked innocent and pointed to the north and said: "I picked it up over there in the village. I don't know who threw it on the ground and no one wanted it. We passed by and picked it up."
"What the fuck." Zheng Shitou took the stone and cursed. He didn't know whether he was scolding us or the person who threw the stone.
I held the cup and looked at Li Fusheng. Zheng Shitou's reaction was so strong, there must be something to it.
"What happened to this stone?"
"Not really, not really." Zheng Shitou started to shake his head again. He drank too much and his tongue was stiff. He rubbed his tongue hard, put the few stones into his pocket, and said to us: "This thing, you guys
Just don’t take it, it’s of no use, and it’s not good to keep it on your body. I don’t know which old turtle grandson left it outside..."
According to Zheng Shitou's character, he would usually say anything if Li Fusheng tried to trick him. But this time it was different. Zheng Shitou covered the stones. No matter how Li Fusheng tried to trick him, he would not speak. He was also in a mood to drink and chat.
He lost his temper, pushed the table away and said, "It's getting late, go and have a rest early."
We were all depressed immediately, but we didn’t want to force Zheng Shitou to say anything for the time being, so we removed the table, ran to the room where he slept, lit the oil lamp, and discussed in a low voice. The more he tried to cover it up, the weirder the matter became. Anyway, we had to find a way
I also wanted to pry open Zheng Shitou's mouth. I thought about giving Zheng Shitou some money and more, but Li Fusheng said no, giving him too much money, which frightened him instead.
But things are so strange. The main reason is that we met a person like Zheng Shitou. His brain is not very good. The three of us discussed it, and Zheng Shitou came over, mumbling and rambling. That must have been the case.
I had something to say. I gave him a cigarette. Zheng Shitou lit up the cigarette and did not smoke. He held the cigarette in his hand and was lost in thought.
A cigarette burned to the end, immediately burning Zheng Shitou. He quickly threw away the cigarette butt, smiled at us sheepishly, then coughed twice slightly and said, "Well, you guys are here to play, but there is nothing in the mountains."
It’s a great place to play, and the weather is so cold, and everyone in the city is busy. Are you going to leave tomorrow?”
"We're not busy. We'll leave in a few days." Li Fusheng said, "Is it inconvenient to live here? If it's not convenient, we'll find another place to live."
"No! No!" Zheng Shitou quickly waved his hands and said, "What's the inconvenience? I'm just afraid of delaying your business. What are you doing?"
"business man."
"They are all rich people, rich people." Zheng Shitou smiled dryly and hesitated for a long time, but still said nothing and told us to rest. Li Fusheng did not stop him, but when Zheng Shitou slowly walked towards
When we were at the door, he suddenly turned around and said to us: "Well, I have something to tell you."