After explaining all the matters, Su Muer took Xiao Yuanyuan on the road, and Biaozi immediately took on the task of driving the carriage for them.
A group of three people drove along the official road toward the sea.
Everywhere she goes, she has to go down and check the salinity of the local seawater to determine how many people are suitable for living here, compare them, and find the place that produces the most salt.
They walked on the road for a month, and she also recorded it for a month.
Finally, they arrived at a place called Haikou Village.
The sea here is very wide, and there are large beaches. There is an abandoned village not far from the sea. They walked in the village and felt that it was a bit strange.
"Sister Mu'er, why is there no one here?"
Yuanyuan looked around and leaned towards her, looking a little nervous.
Biaozi, who was walking behind, muttered as he walked,
"But it's not like this place has been uninhabited for a long time. Look at the road and this house. If no one lived here, it would have been dilapidated."
Hearing what he said, Yuanyuan timidly crossed her arms, "It's a bit scary here, sister, let's go."
Su Muer's expression was tense all the time, and she also felt a little scared for such an empty village.
But now that you are here, you have to see clearly what is going on, otherwise it will not be in vain.
Just as he was thinking about it, Biaozi suddenly shouted,
"Look over there, there's smoke coming out of the chimney."
Hearing this, Su Muer and Yuanyuan looked over there together, and sure enough they saw fireworks rising from the chimney of a house not far away.
Seeing the smoke from the fireworks, the expressions of several people softened slightly, and they all raised their feet and walked towards that direction.
The door of the smoky yard was open, and there was no one in the yard. Su Muer walked at the front, stood at the door, and asked in a low voice:
"Is anyone here?"
No response.
She asked again:
"Is anyone here?"
"Who's coming?"
An old voice came out, and then, an old man with a gray beard and a hunched back walked out of the door.
Su Muer hurriedly took two steps forward, cupped her fists and saluted,
"Old man, we were passing by here and came to ask for directions."
The old man looked them up and down, then nodded and muttered,
"Isn't it because my old eyesight is dim? No one has come to this village for ten years. Why does such a young and beautiful girl suddenly come here? Is it possible that the ghost from some family has not been reincarnated and has come back?"
Hearing this, not only Yuanyuan and Su Muer, but even Biaozi, a grown man, couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
Su Muer looked carefully. Although the old man looked a little weird, he was definitely a human being because she saw his shadow.
So, she breathed a sigh of relief and asked again:
"Old man, what happened here? Why are you alone?"
The old man raised his head again, rubbed his eyes in disbelief, and then opened his mouth in excitement,
"Are you really human? Living human beings?"
Su Muer couldn't help but pursed her lips and smiled, "What would we be if we weren't human? Why is the old man so surprised?"
Hearing her ask this, the old man suddenly excitedly asked them to sit down.
"Come on, come on, old man, I haven't spoken to anyone in more than ten years. I'm really surprised that you suddenly came today."
Never talked to anyone? The more I heard this, the more suspicious I became.
Seeing them looking at each other, the old man hurriedly explained,
"Alas, I have been with my Ah Huang all these years, and he is the only one who has always been with me."
After that, he shouted, "Huang", and a puppy ran out wagging its tail.
Seeing this living dog, these three people were relieved.
Su Muer sat down opposite her, Yuanyuan found a short stool and sat next to Su Muer with a fearful expression, while Biaozi went outside and continued to look around.
"Old man, what happened here? Why is there no one?"
The old man picked up the teapot at hand, poured several bowls of water into the big bowls on the table, and pushed them in front of Su Mu'er and Yuanyuan respectively. Yao asked back as if he didn't hear her question,
"Girl, where did you come from? What are you doing here? If a bird doesn't lay eggs in this place, there is no such thing as passing by."
It seems that before he can answer their questions, he needs to understand his own question first.
Helpless, Su Muer had no choice but to answer his question first.
"We are from Luoyang and want to find a sea area to mine and sell salt."
After hearing what she said, the old man raised his head again and looked her up and down, then nodded with his lips pursed.
"Well, you have found the right place. Few people come to this sea area, so the sea surface is clean and the saltiness of the sea water is high. If you collect salt here, you will definitely gain something."
"Yes, but there are many of us and we need a spacious place to live. I don't understand why there is no one in this village?"
Seeing her puzzled expression, the old man took a sip of water in the bowl and then sighed slowly:
"Oh, it's a long story. It starts from ten years ago."
As he spoke, the old man's memories returned to ten years ago.
It turns out that this small village was once prosperous, and you could always hear the chatter of adults and the sounds of children playing in and outside the village. But suddenly one day, a stranger came here. Some kind people in the village took him in, but he
But it brought disaster to the entire village.
It turns out that this man got the plague and was driven out. The people in the village were infected by him without knowing it. In less than a year, people here died one after another. The old man still went to a foreign country.
I only survived by doing business on the street.
When he returned to the village, he saw that the village was empty and his wife and children had died at home. He was heartbroken. Thinking of the former prosperity of the village, he couldn't bear to leave, so he buried his wife, children and some of them.
The villagers began to work as village guards in this village.
For ten years, he went from house to house cleaning and removing dust every day. No one had ever come here. He originally thought that one day he could no longer move, so he would set a fire and burn the village down.
Speaking of this, muddy tears overflowed from his eyes, and he began to shake his head and mutter,
"The whole village was harmed by one person, alas!"
Listening to his sad memories, Su Muer suddenly felt sad in her heart.
No wonder this village gives people a weird feeling. It turns out that something happened to destroy the village.
The old man suddenly looked up at her and said, "Girl, are you scared? It's okay. The people in this village are very kind. They won't come out to scare you. Don't worry."
It's okay that he didn't explain. This explanation made Xiao Yuanyuan sitting aside become even more frightened.