In the wine shop under the towering tree at the entrance of Shuangzhong Village, Ye Yinfeng and the other four people sat quietly inside, waiting for the food of the woman and the farmer man in the wine shop. For a while, everyone was waiting in various ways.
, the surroundings were very quiet at this time, and the silence was a bit eerie, giving people a strange feeling.
Li Xiaoyao turned the teacup in his hand boredly, with a look of indifference, but the rumble in his stomach betrayed him. He turned the teacup in his hand, put it down again, and felt rogue again.
Turn in your hands.
The not-fat Li Congjia no longer looked embarrassed as before. He was looking around and found nothing interesting. His eyes returned to the fat Taoist priest.
The old man was sitting motionless, like a monk in trance, with a calm demeanor and no sense of rogueness at all.
The same small village, in Ye Yinfeng's eyes, felt that this village was less alive. He didn't understand why he had such an idea. But the appearance of the wine shop and the family of three in the wine shop still couldn't dispel it in his heart.
He was confused. There wasn't even a barking of a dog anywhere, except for the white cranes they saw soaring on the lake. At this time, he didn't see any animals in the village. This strange phenomenon couldn't help but make him have some doubts.
Don't understand.
After waiting for less than half an hour, the woman and the farmer man came out of the kitchen. The food was already cooked.
Several side dishes were served one after another. Although they were not rich, they were exquisite. It seemed that these farm side dishes had a different taste.
It's just a pity that there is no wine. The farm man explained with a smile on his face that something happened in the previous villages and all the wine was stolen from every household, so now there is no wine to entertain the guests.
At first, everyone didn't pay attention and didn't hear what the man said. Everyone was focused on looking at the steaming dishes and thinking about how to get rid of them.
After everyone devoured the food, the dishes on the table were all gone, and everyone burped with satisfaction.
When the woman saw that everyone was full, she stepped forward and cleared the dishes on the table. Her hands and feet were quick and she cleared the table in a short time.
"This strong man, you said that something happened in the village recently. The wine of every household in the village was stolen by others. What is going on?"
Li Xiaoyao was very curious about this matter. After eating, he remembered the words of the farmer man and couldn't help asking him. He had heard of people who stole money and treasures, but he had never heard of someone who specifically stole money and treasures.
Liquor, this was the first time he heard about someone who didn't steal money, but only stole fine wine.
Ye Yinfeng and Li Congjia also remembered what the man had just said. They looked at the man curiously, waiting for his answer.
The woman neatly put away the dishes and returned to the kitchen. She stayed in the kitchen for a long time and did not come out. But the three-foot-old boy was nowhere to be seen at this time. It was not known whether he was playing in the courtyard.
The big man cleared his throat and spoke slowly.
There is a Dragon King Temple in front of the village. A few days ago, the villagers discovered that the offerings in the Dragon King Temple suddenly disappeared. The villagers panicked for a moment, thinking that the Dragon King had appeared and had eaten up the offerings. Villagers in the village took their own food one after another.
They were placed in the Dragon King Temple as offerings, but a few villagers went to check, because these villagers were bolder, and they wanted to know how the Dragon King in the Dragon King Temple ate these offerings. This was originally
His disrespectful behavior was severely scolded by several elders in the village, and those people restrained themselves somewhat.
But everyone is curious, especially the young people in the village. They don’t care about the appearance of the Dragon King. They just want to find out. One night a few days ago, several young people were guarding there.
In the Dragon King Temple, they really found the person eating the offerings. It turned out that he was not the Dragon King, but a strange man. It was too dark that night and they couldn't see clearly. What they saw seemed to be a man wearing Taoist robes with disheveled hair.
Yes, the whole body is dirty.
"A person wearing a Taoist robe, is that a Taoist priest?" When Li Xiaoyao heard this, he quickly interrupted him and asked anxiously.
"The younger one doesn't know. I just heard what the villagers said. I can't say for sure whether he is a Taoist priest. After all, it was too dark at night, so no one could see him clearly. And he had disheveled hair, so it was impossible to see his face clearly.
True face."
The man smiled helplessly and explained, his tone of voice didn't seem to be lying.
"Xiaodao is impatient, please don't take offense, strong man." Li Xiaoyao knew that he was a little impatient, so he quickly apologized to the man.
The man waved his hand, indicating that it was okay, and continued talking.
At that time, the young people in the village returned to the village and explained the matter clearly to the villagers. After hearing this, the villagers in the village became furious. Early the next morning, the whole village gathered together and said that they would arrest
That little thief who blasphemed the gods. When the villagers rushed into the Dragon King Temple, they found that the person who stole the offerings had long disappeared.
Later, the villagers no longer placed offerings in the Dragon King Temple, but the dogs in every household suffered another disaster. In the past few days, almost one or two dogs were missing, and the wine in every household also disappeared. The villagers organized many times
The police wanted to catch the thief, but the thief was as cunning as a fox. Every time the villagers gathered together, he returned empty-handed.
So now there is not a single dog in the village, and almost all the wine in this villager's house has been stolen, and even this shop is not immune.
It turned out to be so, Ye Yinfeng suddenly realized in his heart, no wonder not even a dog was seen in this village, and there was not even a bark of a dog when a stranger entered the village.
"Then have you reported it to the government?" Ye Yinfeng asked the man. He felt that if the villagers couldn't solve the problem, then the government should send someone to deal with it.
"I've reported it. Why didn't I report it to the official? The government officials came to arrest them the day before yesterday. They came with great force, but in the end they didn't even see the shadow of the thief. But they came again yesterday, and it seemed that they were still there.
I saw that man in the Dragon King Temple. However, these people in the government were beaten up by the thief. It is said that all of them had black noses and swollen faces. After that, the government never paid attention to this matter. Although the thief stole the offerings and stole the dog
, stole wine, but no one was killed. He even hurt those officials, but not a single villager in this village was hurt. So the villagers couldn't catch him, so now there is no trouble."
After the man finished speaking, he obviously felt a little gloating about the misfortune of those people in the government. This kind of dissatisfaction with the government made the little fat Li Congjia look embarrassed. He did not expect that the government was so incompetent, even one person
The thief who stole dogs and wine could not be caught. But fortunately, no one noticed him, and they all listened to this man's story.
"Dad, I'm back," the boy appeared next to everyone like a ghost. He walked up to the man with a timid expression on his face, as if he thought he would be beaten and scolded by his father if he played outside too late.
Similar.
"Where have you been playing? Why are you playing so late?" The man looked at the other person with a kind look, and couldn't help but caress the back of the boy's head with his hands. The boy seemed to want to struggle to avoid it, but still gave up and let the other person do it.
His hands caressed the back of his head.
The extremely intimate movements shown by the father and son at this time seemed a little strange to Ye Yinfeng. First, their movements were obviously a little unfamiliar. Second, why did the boy avoid his father's intimate movements? Third,
Why does this boy have such a timid expression towards his father?
All of this is in Ye Yinfeng's eyes, but he can only hide it in his heart. It's not that he doesn't trust this family of three, but it all seems a little weird.
"I was playing with a yellow dog brought by this fat uncle just now, and I gave it a lot of food, so I didn't come back until now." The boy looked timid and said with a pout.
Ye Yinfeng finally knew why his yellow dog didn't follow him in. It turned out that the boy had taken some food to feed it. No wonder he had even left his owner behind. But Ye Yinfeng still had a little bit of worry in his heart.
He wondered why the boy could get close to him and eat his food. Although the question first arose, he soon forgot it.
The man sent the boy to find the woman to ask for some food, and then took the four of them to the guest room.
Passing back from the house, you can see a backyard, which is an elegant environment. A nine-curved covered bridge leads to the front. Next to the covered bridge, a small pond is built on a rockery. There is a thin layer of ice in the small pond.
On the surface, you can clearly see the dead lotus branches at the bottom of the pool, and there is still a little residual snow on the rockery that has not completely melted. The mottled residual snow is embedded in the jagged rocks, and under the dim light of the lanterns lit around it, it looks like a
It looks like a monster with teeth and claws.
In front of the nine-curved covered bridge are two rows of small houses. These two rows of small houses may be the guest rooms in this wine shop.
The man led everyone to these two rows of houses and asked how many rooms they needed, because both rows of guest rooms were empty at the moment and there were enough rooms for them to stay.
Li Congjia looked at the two rows of rooms in front of him. There were eight rooms in these two rows, four in each row, with doors facing each other. He then turned his attention to Li Xiaoyao, hoping that he would pay attention.
"Just two rooms. Two rooms are enough. Any more is a waste."
Li Xiaoyao asked for only two rooms, and they wanted the two rooms on the right side of the property, because from those two rooms, you could see everything behind the courtyard, and even the attic windows of the wine shop.
The man took out the keys, opened the two guest rooms, and lit the incense candles in the room. The weak candlelight suddenly illuminated the entire room.
Li Congjia and the old man chose a room. They chose the second room, while Li Xiaoyao and Ye Yinfeng were in the first room. The man arranged everyone and then left, saying to call out if anything happened.
That's fine, the yard is relatively small and you can hear shouting at any time.
Ye Yinfeng and Li Xiaoyao looked at the house through the weak candlelight. The furnishings in the room were neat and orderly. There were neat beds and beddings. In addition to the bed, there was also a small table. On the table were placed
There is a tea set and two bamboo cane chairs next to the table. The table and chairs are spotless, there is not a trace of dust in the whole room, and there is not even a spider web on the roof. It seems that people come here often.
, and the owner of this store often cleans this room.
Li Xiaoyao looked thoughtful and walked around the house with his hands behind his back. His fat body kept dangling in front of Ye Yinfeng. Ye Yinfeng was dazzled by the shaking. He couldn't help but have some troubles.
"Fat Taoist, why are you wandering back and forth like this?" Ye Yinfeng couldn't help but ask Li Xiaoyao in front of him.
"Don't you think something is wrong here?" Li Xiaoyao asked the other party seriously, and he looked at the other party with doubtful eyes.
"There is something wrong." Ye Yinfeng held his chin with his right hand and said thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow I'm going to check whether the wine thief that person mentioned is a member of our Taoist sect." Li Xiaoyao said decisively, which made Ye Yinfeng stunned. He didn't expect that the fat Taoist priest was still concerned about that. The thief who stole wine and dogs. Didn't he see other weird things? That's not possible. This fat man has more experience in the world than he knows. Couldn't he see all this?
He was about to ask, but was stopped by Li Xiaoyao's look. He put his index finger to his mouth to make a silencing gesture, and pointed to his ear at the same time, asking Ye Yinfeng to listen carefully.
Ye Yinfeng nodded to express his understanding. He listened quietly for a while, only to hear a snoring sound from next door. It must have been that the little fat man Li Congjia had been deep asleep. There was also a thin and continuous breathing sound in the room, which seemed to be It must belong to the old man. I wonder if he is asleep.
But he also heard a slight, imperceptible breathing sound that came from time to time, which should have come from the nine-curved covered bridge. There was a person hiding in the rockery, eavesdropping on their conversation. That breathing sound The sound blended into the vast night, and it was really difficult to detect it if you didn't listen carefully.