In the early morning, the bright golden sunlight shines through the gray mist over Qingding City and scatters all over the city.

A vehicle with two unlit red lanterns hanging in front of it, nearly 5 meters long, wrapped in iron sheets, and constantly steam gushing on the top, sounded a long whistle and drove into the stop outside Mingde Fang in the north of Qingding City.

In the carriage, men wear short brown or dark clothes, smoke cigarette pouches, and chat about the recent work while swallowing clouds and mist, while women adjust the bun on the top of their heads, stretch plain skirts from time to time, and talk about interesting things in life.

Lu Jiu carried his satchel, boarded the vehicle, threw two copper coins, and listened to the clanging sound of the coins falling into the box, very distressed.

Through the memory of his predecessor, Lu Jiu knew that his monthly salary in the newspaper office was 3 silver dollars, and it stands to reason that there should be some savings, but before going out, he rummaged through the drawers and cabinets in the house, and found a total of 1 silver dollar plus 300 yuan, and the voucher of the money bank was also empty, and the rest of the money did not know where it went.

I sighed helplessly, but fortunately, if I saved some, it should be enough for this month's expenses.

Forget about the loss of money for a moment and keep your eyes on the stop sign on the door.

Qingding City is under the jurisdiction of Zhiyuan Prefecture, and its urban planning is a typical official regulation.

There are five urban districts:

Beicheng District is a residential area, not that everyone lives here, but only a relatively populated area; Nancheng District is a commercial and handicraft area, and to some extent an entertainment area. Xicheng District is a cultural district, where schools, temples, and some outbuildings are built; Dongcheng District is an industrial area, whether it is a government-run artisan workshop or some private factories.

Yunling Newspaper is engaged in cultural activities, naturally in Xicheng District.

Listening to the sound of the steam engine running under the car, Lu Jiu's eyes turned from the passengers' outfits to the scene outside the car.

Although he has a certain understanding of the city and this era through the memories of his predecessors, it is still very novel for Lu Jiu to really see it with his own eyes.

The brick and stone paved roads were crowded with plain-headed people dressed in coarse brown cloth and satin robes and monocles, and attendants were flanked by their side; A pack horse more than two meters tall pulls a cart of coal slowly, and not far from it, there is a steam "sedan" with steel wheels at the bottom but a pure mahogany sedan chair speeding by; Vendors push carts on wheels and change spots from time to time in search of the most lively spots.

When the bus drove into the west of the city, Lu Jiu saw a school on the second floor of the street, where Mr. Jiaoshu was giving morning lessons to a group of children, holding a special model of a ship loaded with mechanical wings on both sides, pointing at it from time to time and saying something.

Some of them are like the dragon boats that the predecessor's father participated in the production a few years ago.

After turning two streets, the signboard of Yunling Newspaper finally appeared in front of Lu Jiu.

Lu Jiu is very familiar with this place, the three-story house, although the roof is still made of cornices and tiles, the overall style of the bottom is already biased towards the buildings of the previous life, a little less exquisite, but it looks much more capable.

The first floor is the printing area, which is also the area where the printing press is placed, and the newspaper has a special person in charge of this affairs, and he belongs to the interviewer who needs to run around the news and do interviews, and usually needs to sort out the manuscript and deal with some other things in the newspaper, so he works on the second floor.

This is already a relatively avant-garde new building in Qingding City, and most of the rest of the buildings still retain the state of ancient buildings except for factories, after all, Qingding City is only the county seat in Zhiyuan Mansion, and it is not as good as the big cities in the province.

Lu Jiu had just stepped off the bus and was heading towards the newspaper office when he heard someone shouting his name behind him.

When I turned around, I saw a young man in an off-white robe with a rich physique.

"Lao Lu, where did you go to play for the New Year in advance?"

After a simple greeting, Zhou Ze still took Lu Jiu's shoulders as usual and went to the newspaper office together.

The "early New Year" in Zhou Ze's mouth is actually the annual leave given by the newspaper to each employee, with a total of five days.

This is a holiday set aside on the premise of official holidays, and employees are normally allowed to ask for leave at any time, because they are generally reserved for the New Year to extend the holiday, so there is also a saying that the New Year is in advance.

"Just wandering around...... Running to the countryside outside Qingding City to relax, there is nothing special. ”

Lu Jiu came to the newspaper to find out where he had gone in the past few days, and how could he answer Zhou Ze's question, so he had to answer vaguely.

You must know that the content of the remaining memories about the past few days is completely missing, Lu Jiu initially thought that it might be that he had just traveled to this world, and it would take time for the memories of his predecessor to "load", but after a whole night until now, he has not recalled any memories of his current state.

The reasons for this seem to him to be nothing more than two possibilities.

First, someone deliberately made him forget this part of his memory.

The second is that when there is a problem with the body, the original body is in a coma or unconscious state, and naturally no memory will be retained.

"What's wrong with you, go out to relax for a few days and come back, you still look preoccupied. ”

Zhou Ze looked at Lu Jiu suspiciously, suddenly seemed to notice something, and asked,

"What about the backpack I gave you?"

"Huh?"

Lu Jiu was stunned for a moment, glanced at the old satchel at his waist, and when his mind came to mind, an image of a brown leather backpack and a related memory appeared.

A week ago was his birthday, and Zhou Ze gave himself a backpack as a gift. ’

Wait a minute...... I didn't see that backpack at home!

"Isn't this satchel still usable, I thought about it, and the new one will be used when I travel in the future, so that it can last longer. ”

While hurriedly making up a reason to prevaricate the past, Lu Jiu kept the matter of this backpack in mind.

If you want to know if the missing backpack was obtained not long ago, or if it was a birthday gift from a friend, there is no possibility of reselling it or throwing it around.

Lu Jiu was almost certain that he should have carried it out to "travel" before.

That means if you can find this backpack, you might be able to figure out where you went the other day!

"Haha~ You kid is quite caring. ”

The gift he gave was valued by his friends, and Zhou Ze was very happy, patting Lu Jiu's shoulder and saying loudly.

While the two were talking, they had already climbed directly from the stairs outside the newspaper office to the second floor, relying on the memory of their predecessors, Lu Jiu greeted his colleagues without showing the slightest abnormality.

The area where the interviewers work is the lobby on the second floor, and more than a dozen large tables are distributed among them, most of them are for two people, and some are shared by three people.

Lu Jiu and Zhou Ze's desks were put together, just by the window in the lobby on the second floor.

Finding his place and sitting down, Lu Jiu was not in a hurry to rummage through the boxes and cabinets to find the clues left by his predecessor, any unusual behavior was asking for trouble for himself, he knew this very well.

So, as always, he moved a chair and sat on Zhou Ze's side.

"Rongqing Zhai's wontons, knowing that you are coming back today, I specially bought them for you to catch the wind!"

Taking out two food boxes from his backpack, Zhou Ze held his chin high, and his face was full of "come and praise me" expression.

"Zhou Dashao's righteousness, is there anything that the entire Yunling Newspaper doesn't know?"

Lifting the sealed lid, a fragrance came to his face, Lu Jiu shrugged his nose, and sent a sycophant at the right time.

Zhou Ze's family is in business, and he is a rich second generation, so after the two became friends, Lu Jiu's breakfast was contracted by him, and the meals were all good things.

When recalling this part last night, Lu Jiu once thought that his predecessor had befriended this Zhou Dashao for this reason.

"It's just so-so, it's nothing. ”

Zhou Ze opened his share, lifted the hair on his forehead, and replied with raised eyebrows.

"Old Zhou, didn't you just ask me why I was so preoccupied, don't hide it, Uncle Zhao's family had an accident last night. ”

Blowing the soup that was still steaming, Lu Jiu took this opportunity to mention last night's incident.

"What's wrong?"

As a friend, Zhou Ze was well aware of Lu Jiu's situation, and immediately frowned and asked in a low voice.

"Uncle Zhao has hysteria, very strange hysteria, almost hurt Aunt Zhao and Xiao Wanhua, if I hadn't happened to be at home, I might have died last night!"

deliberately emphasizing the danger of the matter, Lu Jiu continued,

"Later, I asked, Uncle Zhao didn't have this problem before, what is even more strange is that he went to the funeral of a worker in the afternoon, but it was unfortunate that he also died of hysteria, and before he died, he killed his daughter-in-law and son like crazy, which is exactly the same as Uncle Zhao's situation last night...... Uncle Zhao said that he wanted to report to the official, but I stopped him. ”

"It's right to stop it, if someone from the Inspection Department comes to deal with it, it will either be detained or sent directly to the hospital, and then your Uncle Zhao's family will definitely be affected. ”

Putting down the spoon in his hand, Zhou Ze first affirmed Lu Jiu's approach, then scratched his sideburns with a somewhat strange expression, took the wonton away, got up and groped for a newspaper in the clutter on the side of his desk and handed it to Lu Jiu, pointing to a report on it,

"This is yesterday's newspaper from Qingxi Daily, you see. ”

'There are many hysteria in the north of the city, and many people have died!'

Lu Jiu locked on the bold black headline on the newspaper at first glance, and the more he looked down, the more solemn his expression became.

The main content of the report boils down to one sentence: within half a month, the middle-aged men of five families in the north of the city suddenly suffered from hysteria, and all of them broke out and injured people after losing their minds, and the death toll has reached 12!

"Your Uncle Zhao's family is likely to be the only survivor of hysteria so far, Lao Lu, this is big news, as long as we operate it well, we can not only help Uncle Zhao, but also let us get a great credit!"

As an interviewer of the newspaper, Zhou Ze immediately captured the hot spot in this matter.

"I know...... Uncle Zhao should go to the hospital this morning to check his body, and now he can write a first draft first, which can save a lot of time when the time comes. ”

Lu Jiu looked at the newspaper, but there was not much excitement in his heart.

According to the plan he thought of last night, if Uncle Zhao didn't find anything wrong, then he would first expose the matter through the newspaper and bring it to the attention of the county government, and then in order to give a reasonable explanation to the people in the north of the city, Uncle Zhao's family would naturally be dealt with fairly and protected to a certain extent.

But the information in the newspaper in front of him, coupled with the abnormal situation last night, especially the crow crows, made him always feel that this matter was not as simple as he imagined.