When I found out the location of the ruined temple, I discussed it with Mai Xiaorou, and I was going to go over and have a look first. ＝≠≈.≈8＝1≠z＝.

There was a dirt road leading to the ruined temple, and although there were many thorns and weeds growing in the middle of the road, the road was still faintly visible.

And this road did not pass through the old village of Maogou, but bypassed the village, which is similar to Liu Shengfu's description, he and my father bypassed the mountain above the village, maybe they took this road.

It wasn't long before we reached the foot of the mountain, where the trees were so thick that we could vaguely see a dangerous path up the mountain, but we couldn't see where the ruined temple was.

Mai Xiaorou looked around and said: "The road on this mountain has been around for some years, maybe it is the road that your father and Liu Shengfu used to go up the mountain back then, according to Liu Shengfu's account, they were chased into the nearby deep mountains and old forests after going down the mountain, and then they were caught in the broken temple, so the broken temple should not be here, but in the nearby forest, should we go up the mountain first, or go to the nearby forest to find it first?" ”

She suddenly asked for my opinion, so I didn't know what to say, I didn't have the experience of handling cases like her, and I couldn't distinguish between priorities, so I asked Mai Xiaorou which one was important.

She smiled and said: "I almost forgot, you have no experience in the case, in the past, I and my grandfather had a case, and my grandfather was making up his mind, and today it seems that I have to make my own decision, I think we are a little reckless to go up the mountain so rashly, it is better to understand the situation at the bottom of the mountain first, so we first go to the nearby old forest to find the broken temple." ”

I nodded my head and said no.

Mai Xiaorou smiled at me again and said, "There is no one in this deep mountain and old forest, maybe we can still have a good time." ”

I know, she's starting to tease me again.

But this time I didn't speak, the more I responded to Mai Xiaorou's words, the more provocative she became, if I stopped talking, she felt bored, and that momentum passed.

This forest is not small, I thought I would have to look for a while to have a harvest, but I didn't expect that Mai Xiaorou and I found a broken temple after walking around the forest for more than ten minutes.

The broken temple is not big, it covers an area of only more than 100 square meters, the temple door and windows are all gone, the temple roof is covered with grass, and there are big holes leaking in many places.

It's a miracle that this temple is still alive.

Mai Xiaorou and I stood in front of the ruined temple and watched for a while, and Mai Xiaorou said, there is nothing special here, the yin and yang qi are relatively balanced, and it doesn't look like a haunted at all.

I couldn't see why, so I nodded "um" when she said something.

Mai Xiaorou continued: "But it seems that there has been a large array arranged around here, and although that formation has been abandoned, the breath of that large array is still there. ”

I continued to say "um".

Mai Xiaorou smiled and asked me, "Don't keep 'um', say something constructive." ”

I shook my head and smiled wryly and said, "I can't tell." ”

Mai Xiaorou didn't embarrass me, and walked straight to the broken temple, I quickly grabbed her and said, "That broken temple looks like it will collapse at any time, so it's better not to go in." ”

Mai Xiaorou shook my hand and said, "Don't worry, with my ability, I won't be stoned to death, you wait outside, I'll go in and take a look myself." ”

As she spoke, Mai Xiaorou broke away from my hand and stepped into the ruined temple, I hesitated for a moment, but followed in.

The ruined temple was empty, and there was not even a statue of a god.

However, on the west side of the temple, we found a broken stone tablet, and after careful identification, it was a merit tablet, and all the names of the people who donated money and goods were engraved on it when the temple was built.

And all of those people are surnamed Liu.

Mai Xiaorou thought for a while and said, "Chen Yu, just now we inquired about Liu Shengfu, did we ask the surnames of a few old people?" ”

"Yes!"

"What are their last names?"

"One surname is Zhang, the rest are surnamed Ma, and there is no surname Liu."

Mai Xiaorou fell into deep thought, and then said: "According to the display on this merit tablet, the surname Liu should be a big surname nearby, we asked those people, shouldn't we have not touched any of them." ”

I said, "Maybe we didn't touch it." ”

Mai Xiaorou said: "Maybe, but I think this may be a key, let's investigate the situation in this broken temple first, and then go back to Maogou New Village to have a look, and see how many households there are surnamed Liu over there." ”

I understand what Mai Xiaorou means, she suspects that something has happened to the people surnamed Liu here, either they have moved away, or they are all dead.

The reason for these changes is most likely related to the rumors of the haunting of this ruined temple.

I asked Mai Xiaorou if she thought so, and she walked up to me and grabbed my arm and said two words: "Clever!" ”

Then we went around the ruined temple again, but we didn't find any more valuable clues.

I took a picture of the broken stone monument with my phone, and we left here.

We still didn't go up the mountain, but first went to Maogou New Village, and when we got there, we inquired about it, and there was no family surnamed Liu here, not only that, but the people in the village also said that their village has always been based on the surname Ma and Zhang, and there has never been a surname Liu.

We found a few **ten old people, and they all said the same.

We asked if there were any people with the surname Liu in other villages in the vicinity, and when we inquired, we learned that there were people with the surname Li and Wang in other villages, but there were only a handful of people with the surname Liu, and even if there were, they had moved here in recent years, and they were not locals at all.

After some inquiry, we can basically determine that there is something wrong with the merit monument in the broken temple.

Leaving Maogou New Village, Mai Xiaorou said: "Maybe figuring out the whereabouts of those people surnamed Liu can unlock the secrets here, and even find out what your father and Liu Shengfu stole from the children's graves on the top of the mountain." ”

I nodded.

It's getting more and more complicated.

I asked Mai Xiaorou if it was time to go up the mountain next, and she thought for a moment and said, "Yes, but after so many years, there may not be any clues on the mountain, so we shouldn't get too hopeful." ”

Mai Xiaorou is right, the temple under the mountain has been abandoned, and the tomb on the mountain is estimated to have long been out of shape, but then again, if there are no clues on the mountain, then there is no relative danger.

In the end, we decided to go up the hill to see it.

The mountain road was already very blurry, and several sections were very steep, and Mai Xiaorou moved lightly when she climbed it, and she didn't encounter any difficulties.

But when I climbed, I was a little uncomfortable, and a few times I almost rolled down the steep road, but fortunately, Mai Xiaorou grabbed me in time.

Every time she grabbed me, she would smile and say to me, "Chen Yu, you have to be careful, if you die, I will be a widow." ”

I gave her a blank look, and I didn't have the heart to joke with her, because I was already hanging halfway up the mountain, and I might have fallen to my death if I accidentally fell to my death.

You know, my father fell into the ravine when he went up the mountain to collect medicine.

At this time, I finally realized Liu Shengfu's fear when he was climbing the mountain, but at that time, my father dragged him with a rope, and he would be more steady.

As we continued to climb up, Mai Xiaorou turned back from time to time to remind me where to drag and where to step on, which saved me a lot of trouble.

The mountain was not too high, and it didn't take long for us to climb to the top, and when we got to the top, I collapsed, my feet limp, and my arms ached.

Mai Xiaorou looked at me and said, "It seems that you will have to strengthen your physical exercise in the future, so you have climbed more mountain roads, and you are tired like this?" ”

I didn't speak, just gasped for air.

Mai Xiaorou asked me to rest first, and she went to investigate the surroundings.

I also sat up and looked around, according to Liu Shengfu's description, the grave was in a conspicuous place on the top of the mountain, and it could be seen at a glance, if the excavated grave had not been buried, we should have found it soon.

Sure enough, Mai Xiaorou didn't take a few steps before she beckoned to me: "Chen Yu, you come here, you found it, the shovel and hammer left by your father and Liu Shengfu are still here." ”

I quickly stood up and walked over, and sure enough, the shovel and hammer that were about to rot were still there, and half of them were buried in the earth.

The grave is also there, but the grave has been filled with some soil, which should have been washed into the grave by the wind and rain.

The small coffin was half buried, and the exposed half was already decaying.

As for the child's bones, which were wrapped in red silk, they were also buried in the earth, and only a corner of red silk was exposed.

Mai Xiaorou wanted to pull out the shovel and hammer buried in the soil to dig the soil in the grave, but when she grabbed it hard, the wooden handle was directly broken.

I went to grab the handle of the hammer, and the result was the same.

We dug the shovels and hammers out of the soil, and they were still rusty and unusable, not stronger than the clods of soil, and they broke when we touched them.

Mai Xiaorou glanced at me and smiled, "Chen Yu, can you go down and dig with your hands?" ”

I just shook my head and said, "Not good! ”

Mai Xiaorou stretched out her hand and looked at it and said, "Do you want me to dig with my slender jade fingers?" ”

Me: ""

Without waiting for me to speak, Mai Xiaorou came over directly and kissed me and said, "Good, go down and dig the soil!" ”

My body suddenly became uncontrollable, and I jumped straight into the grave, and my feet sank directly into the dirt.

The feeling of sinking made my heart tighten.

After coming to my senses, I looked at Mai Xiaorou and said angrily: "Don't always control my body, I'll be angry if you do it again!" ”

Mai Xiaorou pouted and said, "Okay, then you dig quickly, you will go down anyway." ”

Indeed, when I was outside the grave, I was a little afraid, but when I came down, I was less afraid, so I did not dig directly, but reached out and pulled the red silk cloth.

But at this moment, I suddenly felt something touch my ankle.

When I looked down, I saw a tiny bony claw gently scratching my ankle