The place of Baixi Forest Farm is in the ambiguity of J City, that place is remote and remote, and the forest farm is close to a village called Chashu, there are not many people left in this village, and the way of life is also very ancient, traditional, nothing special, but there is a custom interesting.

In this village, as long as someone dies within the same day and a child is born, it is considered to be the continuation of life, and a tree will be planted on this day, representing the cycle of people, they think that the older the tree, the more soul, so there is a towering tree in the village of Shashu, which grows with deep roots and lush leaves, coiled and colorful, the shade of the tree covers the sky, the ancient tree is extremely high, it is worshiped as a sacred tree by the local villagers, and is used as a beacon for all the dead.

This tree is said to have survived for hundreds of years, in the village is the spiritual support of the people, when the mountain cut down the tree, the steel, mobilize the whole people to find wood, steel, there were people who hit the idea of this tree, but he cut it down with an axe, the tree was not good, he himself was killed by a thunderbolt, burned into charcoal.

After that, the tree became a god, and people only dared to worship respectfully, and did not dare to have crooked thoughts.

Now people listen to this and think that there is nothing unusual, thunder day standing under the tree to be split, it has become a scientific truth, is a person knows that thunder to leave the tree, but according to the person who witnessed this back then, the man's axe went down, just to the big tree opened a small opening, the trunk left blood, he saw that it was bright red, on the left and right sides of a bloody mark, it looked like a big tree tears, so he thought about it afterwards, all the time was that the tree was angry, that person would suffer.

Li Xiruo listened to it and took it as a story for the time being, what she was thinking about now was where Gu Minghan was, and she was out of mood for everything else.

After the two arrived in J City, they drove to Qihu, which is a small place, and they can't see the prosperity of the city, and the façade on the street still maintains the style of the eighties and nineties, and from time to time there are wild dogs scurrying around on the street, playing with each other, and the children are also twisted into a ball on the street, the woman who sells clothes and the eldest sister who sells lo-mei next to them swallow melon seeds, and several elderly people play chess together, and there is a cup of tea next to them, but they don't have time to drink it at all, their eyes are staring at the chessboard, concentrating on thinking.

Dao Yan said to Li Xiruo: "There is only one bus line from Qihun to Shashu Village, and the bus will only depart in the afternoon, I will go to the street to buy something first, you are waiting for me here." ”

Li Xiruo nodded casually, and didn't hear much about Dao Yan's words, because her eyes fell on a hunchbacked woman at the mouth of the alley.

The hunchbacked woman wore a brown cloth dress, and moved a small bench at the mouth of the alley to spread it on the ground with a few pieces of cloth sewn together from somewhere, and on the left side there were some rough ores and some jewelry made of ore, as well as old things in the village that were used to sell, but on the right side was under the banner of fortune-telling, copper coins, location maps, etc.

People don't know that that's her main business for a while.

And Li Xiruo noticed that her hands were her hands, both hands had six fingers, ordinary people are used to seeing five fingers, at this time, seeing that both hands have an extra one, how to look at how it is not pleasing to the eye, seeing that the last tail finger is small and deformed, but it can still move, so that people want to pull it off when they see it.

Li Xiruo touched the fish stone in the cloth bag, and was about to walk up, when he saw three people dressed in other places walking up together.

These three people are two men and one woman, the man standing in the middle looks young-faced, deliberately wearing an ill-fitting old coat, but a pair of shoes exposes his financial resources, and on his left stands a short man, about one meter six tall, different from the middleman's dress, it is carefully reversed, but standing next to the young man is still a little timid.

The most normal is the girl on the far right, with meticulous shoulder-length short hair, slender glasses, and a plaid shirt that looks like a nerd, but with a shrewdness in her eyes.

As soon as she arrived at the stall, she just looked at the hunchbacked woman, and she lowered her head and swept the things she was selling, and kept calculating the value, while the other two people saw that the six fingers looked like centipedes, and began to talk about it, and they felt that they were secretly discussing, which was not rude, but the hunchbacked woman heard their words clearly.

But she didn't get angry, she looked up at the three of them with a smile: "Three young people, what do you want to buy?" ”

Zhou Run also looked at the hunchbacked woman's eyes and was stunned, this woman was slanted, her head was facing herself, but her eyes were facing Zuo Siqi on his right, and he couldn't help but secretly say in his heart why everything was wrong with this woman.

Zuo Siqi squatted down and picked up an old wooden box, which was already gray, and the decoration on the shell was the kind of red and green flowers, and because it had been too long, it had been ground very blurry, and the paint sprayed was already fading.

Zhou Run also looked at the old wooden box and said in disgust: "What's so good about this, didn't the professor let us find something that could better represent Shashu Village?" ”

The hunchbacked woman listened to the Shashu Village, and hurriedly pointed out: "That's it, this is the thing from the Chashu Village, this is a good thing, you see, it's also locked, maybe there are some treasures inside." ”

Qian Mansheng on Zhou Run's left snorted coldly and looked at Zuo Siqi: "This kind of wooden box, there were a lot of them in my hometown, didn't there be this kind of box on every kang in the countryside before?" ”

Zuo Siqi picked up the box with a flat face, touched its material, and said to Qian Mansheng: "This is pineapple wood, not an ordinary box." ”

But what she likes is not the material of this box, but the two herring fish reflected on the wooden box, intertwined, it looks like they are playing in the water, but if you look closely, they are fighting viciously, she has never seen the pattern on a box sprayed like this, but spraying paint on this kind of mahogany for decoration itself also shows that the previous owner did not know the goods and did not know the value of this box.

The hunchbacked woman squinted and smiled: "The little girl knows a lot. ”

Qian Mansheng listened to the hunchbacked woman praising Zuo Siqi, his face was a little dissatisfied, and he said in a rough voice: "How much is this box?" ”

The hunchbacked woman turned her head to Qian Mansheng, but her eyes were at Zhou Runye, and she said, "One thousand." ”

Qian Mansheng sneered: "Then why don't you rob it?" Oh yes, just like you, even if you want to disguise a robber, you can be recognized at a glance. ”

Zhou Run also felt that this was too much, and reminded Qian Mansheng in a low voice, but in exchange for a sentence of dissatisfaction: "Did I say something wrong?" What broken box is worth a thousand, isn't this just a fool like you? ”

The hunchbacked woman stretched out her sixth finger and hooked the lock: "Maybe there's a treasure here, a thousand for a thrill, don't you young people like this?" ”

Zhou Run also looked at Zuo Siqi uncertainly: "Are you sure it's this?" ”

Zuo Siqi nodded, lifted a pair of glasses and said: "This is the same as you playing with the blind box, you never know if you get a limited edition or an ordinary model before you open it, this is a dopamine economy, because there is infinite imagination before opening, so the adrenaline surges, the heart beats faster, this feeling is paid in today's society." ”

Zhou Run was also dizzy when he heard this, and hurriedly asked Zuo Siqi not to say anything, but he still believed in Zuo Siqi's vision.

They are doing folklore research, and now they are coming to Chashu Village to do a project, and they have sent a fund for him to keep, asking them to find the most representative thing in Chashu Village, but I didn't expect Zuo Siqi to leave as soon as he saw this box.

Her grades in her major courses are the best, and the professor's protégé should have handled the funds by her, but Qian Mansheng didn't know why he didn't like Zuo Siqi so much, and there was a big difference of opinion with her, so in the end, the money fell into Zhou Runye's hands.

Zhou Run is also a typical rich family, he doesn't think this is expensive, but the funds are limited, and if they exceed it, they will have to share it themselves, he has no problem, but when the time comes, Qian Mansheng will make trouble again, either throwing his face or making a trip, he really can't bear it.

Qian Mansheng looked at Zuo Siqi and wanted this, pointed to the lock and said, "Then what if this lock is on herself?" It's the psychology of stupid people like you who sell it. ”

Zuo Siqi looked at him: "According to the rust on the lock, this box is older than the age of this boss, you can only say that it is the lock on her family, not her." ”

"You ......"

Qian Mansheng stared at Zuo Siqi, seeing that he was about to quarrel, the hunchbacked woman smiled and said: "It seems that this young man feels that he has suffered a loss of a thousand yuan, well, my side business is fortune telling, I will calculate a hexagram for this young man and will not collect money." ”

Qian Mansheng took a sip: "Feudal superstition." ”

Zuo Siqi pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose: "Our profession is to break superstition and reshape the essence of folklore, but before removing the dross, we must fully understand it and know the whole picture before we can make an evaluation." ”

Qian Mansheng frowned, reluctant to do so, Zuo Siqi smiled rarely: "It turns out that classmate Qian is afraid." ”

"Whoever is afraid, forget it."

The woman smiled and let him stretch out his hand, Qian Mansheng was puzzled, but he still stretched out his hand, and twelve fingers immediately clinged to Qian Mansheng's hand, making him feel disgusted.

The hunchbacked woman squinted her eyes and touched the bones of his hand, from the tips of her fingers to his wrists, and into his sleeves, Qian Mansheng immediately had goosebumps on her hands, but she heard the woman say: "The arms are thin and the tips are hard to eat, the elbows are long and flat, poverty is inevitable, the palms are thick and the bones are hard and rough, and the palms are cold and sometimes there are difficulties." ”

Qian Mansheng was stunned, the long list of words of the hunchbacked woman seemed to him to be a sarcasm of his poverty, and his whole body was full of these two words, he was about to be angry, but he heard the woman sigh: "Forget it, you can take this box, I don't take money from people who are in great trouble, bad luck." ”