"Sir, I'm a backpacker who likes to explore. I'm a part-time outdoor streamer." Chen Ge was afraid that the old man would not believe him, so he took out his phone and opened the personal page of the short video platform. "I'm very famous on the Internet. You can search for my information."
His words confused the old man. They were all terms that the old man did not understand. "What streamer?"
Holding the hoe tightly with both hands, the old man looked at Chen Ge warily.
"Simply put, I'm a very famous outdoor travel and adventure enthusiast." Chen Ge rambled on and on. He did not care whether the old man understood him or not. He took out one hundred RMB from his pocket and said, "I'm lost in this mountain, and I've walked for a long time before I ran into someone. Can you please tell me how to get back to Jiujiang City?"
The old man did not touch Chen Ge's hundred yuan. He stared at Chen Ge. Obviously, he did not believe Chen Ge's words.
The two of them were in a stalemate in the peach forest. The weather in the mountains was unpredictable. The cold wind was mixed with a chill, and soon, rain began to fall from the sky.
"It's raining?" Chen Ge opened his hands and allowed the raindrops to fall on his palms. Once the rain became heavier, the environment in the mountains would become more complicated. This was very disadvantageous for him.
"I don't know where you came from, but this place is called Lin Guan Village. It's between Linjiang County and Jiujiang. It's very far from the city, and there are no cars around. It'll be very difficult for you to go back to Jiujiang." The old man leaned on the hoe. His legs had gone weak from Chen Ge's shout. Who would have thought that someone would suddenly appear behind him in the middle of the night?
"Then what should I do?" Chen Ge looked conflicted like he was really worried.
"I can send you out of the mountain, but it'll probably take until the middle of the night." The old man let out a sigh. "By the way, there's a village at the foot of the mountain. After I send you out, don't run into the village. Just walk along the main road."
"Why can't I enter the village? If there's a farmhouse, I can make do for a night. "
"I told you not to go in, so don't go in! Don't talk so much! "The old man's voice was stern, as if this was very important.
"But you just said that there are no cars outside. Even if I leave the mountain, I won't be able to return to Jiujiang. It's going to rain soon. I have to find a place to hide, right?"
Chen Ge was telling the truth, and the old man could not think of a reason to refute him. He glared at Chen Ge, and both of them fell into silence again.
The rain became heavier. The old man could not do anything to Chen Ge, and his heart softened. "It's raining at night, so it'll be foggy in the morning. If you're not afraid of trouble, why don't you stay at my place for the night?"
He took down the lantern and water bottle hanging on the tree branch. He dragged the hoe and stopped three meters away from Chen Ge. "Are you really from the outside world?"
"How could it be fake?" Chen Ge saw the old man walk toward him with the hoe, but he was not afraid. He took out his phone with one hand and reached for the handle of the hammer behind him with the other. "Just search online, and you'll find my information and livestream videos. Look, this is me."
Chen Ge showed the old man the livestream before he ran into the mental patient at the Third Sick Hall. This was the only normal livestream that he could find.
"You've been on TV before?"
"You can say that. I'm quite famous in Jiujiang."
Looking at Chen Ge in the video and the comments, the old man nodded. "No wonder, a normal person wouldn't come to a place like this at night."
After he said that, he realized that he had said something wrong. He picked up the hoe and said, "Come with me."
Chen Ge and the old man walked through the forest, and after several minutes, they saw four wooden huts.
"You'll take the first one. After I turn off the light, stay in the hut and don't come out no matter what you hear." The old man opened the lock of the first hut, but he did not give the key to Chen Ge.
"That's quite scary. There won't be wolves here, right?" Chen Ge made up a story. "I heard that there are old wolves in the mountains. When they run out of energy, to trick people, they learn to make sounds …"
"There's no wolf. Just sleep. You'll be fine if you don't go out." The old man urged Chen Ge into the hut. After he saw Chen Ge enter, he added, "Don't come out no matter what. Don't poke your head out, remember?"
"Don't worry, I'm a coward. I would never purposely do something dangerous." Chen Ge sat obediently on the bed.
"Good. Have a good rest. When the fog disperses tomorrow morning, I'll send you out of the mountain." The old man then entered the second wooden hut.
"Why do I feel like this place is weird?" Chen Ge looked around. There was no furniture in the wooden hut. There was only a wooden bed, and there was no mattress on it.
The first wooden hut had not been occupied for a long time. There was dust everywhere, and the corners were covered in spider webs.
How can a person live in a place like this? Did the old man purposely give me this hut? Or are the other huts all problematic?
He walked to the door, checked the wooden door, and found something strange.
A normal door lock would be inside the door, but this wooden hut's lock was outside.
He told me not to go out, but the door can't be locked from the inside. Chen Ge felt like the old man was hiding something. He grabbed the edge of the wooden door and yelled through the wall, "Old man! I still don't know how to address you. "
"Can you keep your voice down? I'm not deaf. " The old man's voice was shaking. He seemed to be very nervous. "My surname is Bai. You'd better go back to sleep!"
"Okay."
Twenty minutes later, Chen Ge yelled into the room next door, "Master Bai, are you there?"
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just wanted to say thank you. Good people have a peaceful life!"
"Go to sleep!"
Chen Ge leaned against the wall, and his expression was serious. He called into the room next door twice every twenty minutes.
Normally, when a person was woken up right after they fell asleep, their voice would be filled with anger and sleepiness.
However, Master Bai's response was different. Both times, he did not sound sleepy, and his voice was shaking. This meant that he was not asleep at all. It felt like he was waiting for something to come!
Master Bai looks like an honest person, and he even told me not to enter the village at the foot of the mountain. He doesn't look like the kind of person who is full of evil thoughts, but his strange behavior makes me feel uneasy.
With his hand on the edge of the wooden door, Chen Ge silently pulled the door open a sliver. The rain became heavier, and darkness swallowed everything.
These four wooden huts should be where Jiang Ling's family used to live, but I still don't know which room her parents died in.
Pressing the play button on the recorder, Chen Ge removed his backpack and grabbed the handle of the hammer.
He did not stay inside the hut but slowly walked toward the other three huts.
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