In the lower reaches of the Yellow River, each Yellow River water conservancy station is responsible for a section of the Yellow River embankment, on which there is a small house every dozen miles, built on the vacant land where the embankment protrudes, locally called "dam house", for the river patrol to live temporarily.

We were in charge of an area of about fifty miles, and there were three dam houses, and in addition to Lao Hong, three of the five of us had to live in three dam houses to guard the embankment for the next period of time.

"Yu Jin's health is not good, I have to stay in the station, you three dam houses, discuss it yourself!"

I asked about the location of the dam house, and it happened that one of them was on the edge of Hewang Village, in fact, in the past month or so, I could see back and forth, it was two old blue brick houses.

A few thoughts flashed through my mind: Why is there an anti-theft door in the back room of Li Guozhi's house, and what is in the house? Whether Lao Hong is dead or not, the more I think about it, the more I think there is something wrong with Li Guozhi...... The weird thing is to start from the depression of the Yellow River on the edge of Hewang Village, and I simply go to the dam house on the edge of Hewang Village.

In the morning, a few of us walked around the embankment of the Yellow River, the overflowing river water had covered the fields on both sides, and the roaring waves rushed westward, fortunately there were dams on both sides, otherwise dozens of villages on both sides of the river would have suffered.

The dam is still strong, which is a blessing in misfortune.

In the afternoon, Li Guozhi convened everyone to discuss things, originally I thought that I would tell us a few words, tomorrow we will go to see the dam house, not to mention ten days and half a month, as a leader, at this time I have to say a few impassioned words to urge people to pee.

"Lao Hong's future affairs have to rely on our brothers' ......"

As soon as Li Guozhi opened his mouth, as soon as he heard the word "Lao Hong", I suddenly chuckled in my heart to see what he would say next.

"Brother Zhi, what about Lao Hong's family? We have been together for several years, and every time I ask Lao Hong's family about it, he ...... He always looked bitter and hateful, and refused to say anything. Tian Zhen muttered.

Without waiting for Li Guozhi to reply, Yao Liguo smiled bitterly and waved his hand: "I don't know much about Lao Hong, Guozhi and I don't know much, his hometown is from Shaanxi, and he was a skilled worker in a nearby factory more than 20 years ago, that's an iron rice bowl!" Later, when the factory closed down, he was transferred to our station, and he himself said that he had no relatives in his hometown, and he was a bachelor, so he regarded our station as his home. ”

Li Guozhi also nodded.

Tian Zhen asked again: "What factory?" I haven't heard of factories in this area! ”

Li Guozhi glared at him: "You are deaf!" They all say that the factory collapsed 20 years ago - I remember it was like a pharmaceutical factory, on the site of the alkali factory south of Hewang Village, and there are still rows of dilapidated houses there. ”

After hearing this, I was shocked, it is near Hewang Village again, why are so many strange things related to this village?

I understand what Li Guozhi meant, he wants to wait until Lao Hong's case is over, and we will stand up and revitalize Lao Hong's body first, and then hold a simple memorial service, as for the ashes, they can only be temporarily stored in the funeral home.

Looking at Li Guozhi's serious expression, it doesn't look like a joke, now I'm even more confused, is he also deceived, or Director Liu is mistaken? ?

It shouldn't be possible, in this case, the forensic doctor at the police station should do an autopsy, how can the identity of the corpse be mistaken!

The Yellow River Water Conservancy Station is located slightly higher than the surrounding terrain, and the next morning, the water in the yard has receded.

The relationship between the water conservancy station and the nearby neighbors is relatively good, and we usually help them a lot, seeing that I am coming to garrison the embankment, the village party secretary Lao Wang called a few women to help clean up the house.

"Little brother, this time is enough for you to be busy!" Lao Wang, the village party secretary, smiled and handed over a cigarette.

I scratched my head embarrassedly: "Secretary Wang, I don't smoke...... I'm really sorry, I've only been here for more than a month, and I can't do anything! ”

The old man lit his own cigarette and took a puff with a smile: "Just call me Lao Wang, in fact, you don't need to do anything with the little brother, we feel solid in our hearts with you, in case there is any emergency, someone will notify the boss in time." After speaking, he smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

At noon, Lao Wang asked me to go to his house for dinner, and I remembered Li Guozhi's incident, so I asked Lao Wang: "Uncle Wang, our stationmaster Li's house is also from a nearby village?" ”

Lao Wang shook his head: "Brother Guozhi is from Laomiao Village, and it is only fifty or sixty miles away from our village, and his life is miserable!" The bodies of his wife and children have been salvaged for more than 20 years, but the bodies of his wife and children have not been found. ”

This surprised me again, I heard Aunt Hu say that Li Guozhi's wife and children died of a strange disease, why is the body gone!

Lao Wang may have seen my doubts, and he didn't wait for me to ask, and continued to explain: "His wife and two children fell into the Yellow River and drowned, and the bodies have not been found until now, so it is estimated that they have been fed fish and shrimp a long time ago." ”

After eating, Lao Wang made a pot of tea, and I thought of the fact that he had dug up the big white snake when he was dredging the Yellow River, so I asked: "Uncle Wang, that day you said that the big white snake was dug out of the mud and sand of the Yellow River for more than ten meters, wouldn't it be to tease me?" ”

Lao Wang was stunned for a moment and smiled: "This is the matter! Absolutely true! I've seen it with my own eyes, and there can be a fake? Speaking of which, this was 30 years ago, either in the winter of '85 or '86, our village was 'Shangfu' in the Yellow River beach west of the village......"

"Shangfu" is the name of the locals, and simply put, every winter, adults with rural household registration have to undertake a little task of dredging the nearby ditch and ah river.

As soon as Lao Wang said the first words, my mobile phone suddenly rang, and it turned out to be Wu Yuhui.

"Excuse me, I'll take the phone first!"

I said hello to Lao Wang and walked outside the house with my mobile phone.

"I found a few locksmiths to look at such a key......" On the phone, Wu Yuhui's voice was a little low.

"What do they say, what is this lock on the key?" I said this, but in fact, I wondered if this was the key.

"They all say that the style of the key is very strange, and they ...... They didn't see each other at all, but then I found a retired old worker, who used to be a thief and was good at picking all kinds of locks......"

I was a little anxious and impatient to listen to these foreshadowings, so I couldn't help but interrupt her: "What did this old worker say? ”

"Ao--the old worker said that this should be some kind of secret lock on a cabinet or chest, look at the groove of the key, this kind of key cannot be prepared, and the things locked in it should be very precious."

When I heard the word box, I suddenly thought of the black boxes salvaged from the Yellow River, could it be the lock on the black box? When I think about it, it seems that many things that I thought were unrelated were instantly connected.

Buckled the phone and returned to the house, where Wang had already fallen asleep on the federal chair.

The old Wang's daughter-in-law took out a plate of sunflower seeds and said to me with a smile: "Your uncle Wang has this problem, as long as he drinks alcohol, he will sleep, even if it thunders, he can't hear it." ”

When I returned to the dam house, it was already half past three in the afternoon, and the water in the Yellow River not far away was still surging.

The house was cleaned up by several neighbors, and the village gave me a new mat, saying that it was moisture-proof, and gas canisters, pots and pans were also prepared for me, and I felt a little moved at once.