Around noon, Shen Mingde, Yang Guangcheng and Xiao Jing came to Zhou Tengfei's uncle's house in Yushugou Village. Due to the suddenness of the arrival, only the eldest aunt, who was at home to take care of the granddaughter, received the three of them. Xiao Jing was fooled with the false remark that a "writer friend" who led Zhou Tengfei to the village to collect style. It seems that she doesn't want Zhou Tengfei's relatives to know about his disappearance yet. Zhou Tengfei's eldest aunt was simple and welcoming, especially after receiving the many gifts they had brought into the house from the car, she entertained Xiao Jing and Zhou Tengfei's "writer friends" with great hospitality. When she learned that the three of them did not plan to have lunch at home, the aunt was also happy. At this time, three cups of coarse tea were placed on the low table in the courtyard, the little granddaughter was obediently lying in her grandmother's arms, and the eldest aunt told the past about the sixth uncle in a storytelling tone:

"Actually, that old man, he's not from this village. If you want to say, how many years ago, there was a person surnamed Zhang in our village, named Zhang Baoshan, and his son was called Zhang Li. Good people, still able to do. At that time, Zhang Baoshan took his son and Zhang Li to Wonton Mountain. said that he was going to take his son to set some game and come back. As a result, I don't know what happened, the father and son rolled down the slope with their hands in their arms. Fell into a lake of something. Then they saw some men on the edge of the lake, carrying an old man, about to throw them into the water. The old man still had one hand moving, and he looked like a living person. Zhang Baoshan was in a hurry, do you think this throwing a living person into the water is still like words? When he went up, he had to reason with those people. As a result, someone went up to beat Zhang Baoshan. What does Zhang Baoshan do? He alone dared to chase wild boars all over the mountain. He went up and punched the man to his stomach. That tension can also be endured, is it still hard for a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy to carry a dry old man? The two of them saved the old man. I heard someone chasing after me, did the two men dare to turn back, carried the old man around the forest twice, saw that they had thrown those people off, and ran back overnight. This old man is what you call the sixth uncle. ”

Xiao Jing asked curiously, "Why is it called Sixth Uncle?" ”

The eldest aunt continued: "This old man is a little demented, and one of his legs is broken. No one knows what his name is. I can always see him wandering around, so the village is always slippery, and the old slippery is called away. At first, this old slipper wanted to go back, and then he asked the people in the village to bring it back. The village felt that the hearts of the people in their village were broken, and in order to save a bite to eat, they threw the old man who was not dead into the lake. So let Lao Yu live in our village. This person is also strange, he wants nothing to eat, and he doesn't pick any leftovers or anything. This old crazy guy is just saying something we don't understand, and it's okay to hum a little tune. The adults don't like to talk to him, and the children in the village like to surround him. At that time, Xiao Tengfei may have been. ”

"So do you know what Lao Yu has said and what the little song is about? And where is he now? Shen Mingde looked a little anxious.

The eldest aunt said, "Then we can't remember, what he said is crazy, who remembers that thing." Later, Lao Yu was sent to the city's psychiatric hospital. ”

After that, Shen Mingde said that he was going to make a phone call. The aunt smiled and said, "Okay, you're busy, you're busy," and carried the sleeping little granddaughter back into the house.

When Shen Mingde returned to the courtyard, he saw Xiao Jing and Yang Guangcheng still sitting there, listening to his aunt's story. Xiao Jing motioned for him to sit down with her eyes again. It seems that she is quite interested in this "old slippery" legend.

My aunt continued: "I guess I could live in our village for about a year, and then two very scary things happened. First of all, the two surnamed Zhang died. It was that winter that the snow didn't stop all night. His mother took her little daughter back to her parents' house, and the heavy snow left them at her parents' house for a night and did not come home. In total, Zhang Baoshan and Zhang Liye have nothing to do in their own home. Didn't make a phone call either. The next morning, when I went back to my house, the snow was getting thick. There is not even a footprint on the level. As a result, when I entered the house, I saw that both father and son were dead, and they died miserably. After the police came, they didn't find any clues, the doors and windows were tight, in front of the house and behind the house, not to mention footprints in the yard, there was nothing, the snow was smooth and neat. And then it was like that, and there was no result. Later, after the turn of the New Year, Kaichun'er had an accident again two days later, and the two children were lost, and I heard other children say that they were going to find the lake, and then they didn't come back. The police are here, and a group of gentlemen are helping to find the children, and they are also going to find the lake. I didn't find it at all, and there was not even a shadow of the lake. Two days later, the little girl, a little older, was found in the crack of the mountain. It's all scared to that kid. As a result, I heard that the lake was really found. As a result, within two days, the family all moved out. I didn't tell anyone, I don't know where I moved, how many years have it been, and I haven't had a letter. The other child was not found until he was old. Later, everyone fried the pot, saying that the sixth child was a disaster star, and it would not end well when he looked at the lake, and he wanted to drive the sixth person away. ”

It was past noon when they said goodbye to their aunt, and the three of them had lunch in Ligou County, and then drove to a place in the city called "Yongning Rehabilitation Home". Halfway through the story of the eldest aunt, Shen Mingde contacted the company and used the company's resources to find the whereabouts of the "sixth uncle" in the mental hospital. Later, it was learned that the sixth uncle was finally determined to be a patient with Alzheimer's disease and delusional disorder, and then the patient was accepted by the "Yongning Rehabilitation Home". Yongning Rehabilitation Home is a non-profit organization invested and built by local billionaire Chen Yongyi, responsible for the care of lonely and widowed elderly. Due to some cooperation between Shen Mingde and the wealthy Chen Yongyi, it was easy for him to find the whereabouts of the sixth uncle, who had passed away a few years ago. However, Shen Mingde was not discouraged, he believed that the information of the sixth uncle was extremely important to solve the existing mystery, and may even be the only clue. At his insistence, the director of the rehabilitation home introduced him to a nurse who was still working there and had taken care of his sixth uncle, and agreed to meet them in the afternoon.

More than an hour later, Shen Mingde, Yang Guangcheng and Xiao Jing finally met the full-time nurses introduced by the dean in the staff lounge of Yongning Rehabilitation Home. She is a respectable middle-aged woman, with a strong body, a strong spirit, and a tight pursed lip that makes her look a little serious. It may be that under the dean's explanation, she seemed to cooperate very much with Shen Mingde's inquiry. The nurse combined her work notes and her own memories to tell the two about her understanding of Uncle Six. She probably knew something about Uncle Six's origins, and like most of the old people in the recovery home who were abusive and abandoned, it was said that Uncle Six's fellow villagers had intended to kill him. After that, he was rescued by villagers from a neighboring village and sent to a psychiatric hospital, and finally taken in by a rehabilitation home. That's what the caregiver learned from the admission records. It was seven years ago when she took over the care of Uncle Six. When she took over, Uncle Six's dementia symptoms had already entered the terminal stage, and for the early stage, she had only heard from the nurses in the past. When he was first admitted to the hospital, Uncle Sixth could still walk, and although one of his legs was disabled, he was still very willing to walk around the hospital. He didn't have much need for food, but he was in good health and never had a record of being sick. Although not identified as severely mentally ill, he speaks strangely. When he could still talk to people, he would tell strange stories. For example, when there were no people, the world was full of monsters, and the great god got angry, took a star and threw it into the world, killing all the monsters. On another occasion, he said, "You always want to find God, but God is not in this world." Like this book, we live on this page, and God lives on the back of your page, or on another page. You have to jump from one page to another to find it. Either you will turn yourself into a reader, and that person who reads is the greatest god. "Uncle Six also shows that he is very afraid of square electrical equipment that can emit light or sound. For example, televisions and radios. He thought they were messengers of evil gods. He never watched TV, listened to radio programs, and he didn't know a word. His favorite thing is to walk around and mumble his own made-up stories. He also dreamed a lot, almost every day, almost without interruption from his admission to his death. Some of those dreams are good dreams, for example, he said that he dreamed that the big shopkeeper led Zheng Laohei to pick him up, and he would also rank in the immortal class and return to the Heavenly Palace to be a soldier and a general. Sometimes it was nightmares, and when he talked about them, he was terrified. Once he said, "You don't believe in Shan Maitreya, he is a messenger, a pioneer, and when Shan Maitreya returns to this world, you will all be wiped out, and if I don't go back, I will be as destroyed as you." Then he began to shout in horror and dragged the crippled leg and ran out. Later, as a last resort, he was given some sleeping and tranquilizing drugs to calm him down. The sixth uncle did not show signs of aging in the hospital for several years, and every physical examination was very normal, but suddenly one day, he began to age rapidly. In just a few days, his body functions deteriorated rapidly, his whole body was paralyzed, he could not eat, and he did not respond to external stimuli.

Yang Guangcheng suddenly interrupted the nurse's words and asked if the nurse "Sixth Uncle" had mentioned a lake. The nurse flipped through his notes for a long time, but couldn't find any memories of the lake. Shen Mingde felt that he should ask in a different way, so he asked if this "sixth uncle" had mentioned anything about his family. As a result, it seems that the "sixth uncle" really mentioned it. The nurse recalls that it was mostly folklore. For example, in the past, a talented man passed the exam, but was attacked by gangsters on the way home and was seriously injured. When he was dying, the youngest daughter of the rich man in the village was quite a law. He drove the ox cart into the ghost forest. After a few days, the two returned to their village in good condition. "Sixth Uncle" always muttered "If he can go home, his illness can be cured". Then they mocked him, saying, "Can you find out where your house is?" The "sixth uncle" will fight back and say: "I can't find my home, so I can pay it back." But I can find it, but outsiders can't find it. Whatever you want to find, Shan Maitreya will make you unable to find anything. “

Yang Guangcheng and Shen Mingde looked at each other, and the two of them seemed to feel that they had received some hints, but they couldn't find them. So he asked the "sixth uncle" what other strange things he had said. But the nurse said, "It's too much, it's too much." The old man had talked too much. But no one cared. By the time I took over, he was dying. At those times, he could only lie in bed, sometimes talking to himself about his dreams, and most of the time, he would hum his own songs. ”

Xiao Jing suddenly became nervous, he stopped recording his hand with his mobile phone, and asked urgently: "Do you remember those little songs he sang?" ”

The nurse began to rummage through a stack of notebooks and replied: "Uncle Six, he has been humming this tune since he was admitted to the hospital, and at first, some nurses were very curious and wrote down the lyrics in their work notes." Later, I also recorded that when I compared, the words were all the same, that is, the song, and none of us remembered it. ”

The caregiver quickly found the note and showed them the page with the lyrics on it. I saw that the note on the page read:

The sun set and the west mountain was dark, and I rushed back with the stars and the moon.

Birds return to the mountains and forests, and tigers return to the mountains. Don't go back to the eaves.

The small bridge broke the Soul Lock River, and the ghost forest cut off the doorway.

If you want to go back to the village, don't look long, just listen to the mountains and forests flowing.

Don't look at the hanging on the branches, but believe that the sacred lake is ahead.

The kidnapper fell into a basin, and the ghost-faced prince went to patrol the mountain.

The kidnapper fell twice, and the Eight Treasures Arhat closed the door.

The crutch fell three times, and the breeze and smoke retreated.

If you want to go home, don't wait for the basin to ring four times, and the four basins will ring in vain.

The kidnapper fell five times, blew the lamp and pulled out the wax on the kang.

Six rings, seven rings, don't make a sound, don't open the latch when the ancestors come.

The sound of the abductor basin is no longer loud, and the pole is moved to invite the great gods.

The great god of the mountain Maitreya appeared in the world, and the golden boy was accompanied by both sides.

There is a resurrection day without a face, and the sad king has to worship this true immortal.

When the pot sounds, don't think about it and put your shoes on.

Run fast to see the true God, and fall behind and be at peace for a long time.

Shen Mingde and Xiao Jing respectively took pictures of this singing with their mobile phones. Seeing that the nurse had nothing more valuable to talk about, the three of them thanked her for her good life and hurriedly left the recovery home.

When it was a little late, Shen Mingde, Yang Guangcheng and Xiao Jing sat down in a nice restaurant in the city center. At this time, it was the time of the meal, and the restaurant was very popular. The bustling crowd was separated from the small private room on the second floor that the three of them had already booked. This dinner was rich and varied, and a bottle of aged wine was also placed on the table. Most of these sumptuous dishes were ordered to satisfy the minimum cost of this private room, but the three of them had no intention of eating and drinking.

Yang Guangcheng no longer had the excitement of meeting in the morning, but instead had a tired look on his face. His hair was no longer as neat as it had been two days before, and his sideburns showed spocky gray hair. The beard grew savagely around his mouth, and his countenance seemed to have tasted all the vicissitudes of the world. Judging from today's rush, Yang Guangcheng seems to have found no useful information. He had thought that he could get something like a map from the "Sixth Uncle". Even if the city has a treasure map full of riddles. But the experience of this day really disappointed him. Xiao Jing hoped that he could cheer up quickly, and while comforting him with words like "Yang Chuan will be found", he encouraged him.

Shen Mingde's heart was a little impatient, and he was embarrassed to interrupt them, so he ate two bites of food with a smiling face. The topic finally led to the point, Shen Mingde showed the photo of his mobile phone to Yang Guangcheng, and Yang Guangcheng read the lyrics and was silent.

After a moment, Shen Mingde broke the silence first. He spoke quickly, "It seems that I think that those Grasshopper Cage Circles are the work of outsiders is wrong. From the information gathered now, it can be determined that the lake exists, and there should be a village near the lake, and the sixth uncle is the villager of that village. At least when Uncle Six left there, the lake and the village still existed. In that village, the people practiced a self-contained religion, which caused the village to be isolated from the outside world. The villagers set up that kind of circle in the vicinity to mislead outsiders that they would not find the village. But it is impossible to achieve complete isolation. Someone is bound to go out, probably to buy some items. This is how they found their way back to the village. Therefore, the most important thing in this song is: If you want to go back to the village, don't look long, just listen to the mountains and forests flowing. ”

As soon as Shen Mingde's words fell, Xiao Jing asked: "This song describes a scene in the evening, is it only then that you can follow the sound of the water to find the lake and the village?" Or can you hear the water running in the evening? ”

Shen Mingde replied: "I don't think so. The lyrics simply depict a strange ritual that the villagers are supposed to return to their homes before the sacrifice. So the method of finding the lake should not be related to the time. Moreover, Zhou Tengfei was able to find the lake, and the time he went there to investigate was also during the day. So he didn't need to wait until late afternoon to find the lake. ”

Xiao Jing echoed: "That's right. The time I flew home that day and talked about the old man's experience was in the afternoon. I think this sentence: Don't look at the hanging on the branches, just believe that the holy lake is ahead. It's also important. ”

Shen Mingde felt a little funny when he looked at Xiao Jing seriously and read out this sentence word by word. Especially when she read "branch" and "er" separately in standard Mandarin, Shen Mingde covered her mouth with her hand.

Xiao Jing didn't care about other people's expressions, and continued: "I think the quack in the lyrics should refer to those gnats cages. That kind of thing can really have the power to confuse people, even the local villagers. And it should be more important to believe that the lake of the gods is ahead. Isn't there an old saying: If you believe, you will have, and if you don't believe, you will not? Like the villagers like Uncle Liu, they firmly believe in the existence of the lake, just like when they go back to their own home, they can find the door even with their eyes closed. If you're going to visit a stranger's home, you'll have some doubts in your heart, even with the detailed address in your hand. Therefore, whoever goes to the lake, as long as he has doubts, will not see the lake. ”

Shen Mingde scoffed at Xiao Jing's statement that "if you believe it, you will have it, and if you don't believe it, you won't have it". On the other hand, the method of misleading passers-by is relatively acceptable. He believes that the wisdom of the ancients is unimaginable, just like the long-lost "Qimen Dunjia" technique, perhaps this formation called "Gagu" by the local villagers is similar. Whether or not his "subconscious control" is correct, at least he can give an explanation. And Xiao Jing's statement that "if you believe it, you will have it, and if you don't believe it, you won't have it", it simply led them into the field of metaphysics. Shen Mingde carefully considered the wording and said his thoughts in a more polite way.

Xiao Jing thought about Shen Mingde's thoughts carefully, and then still insisted: "In the story that the eldest aunt told the two children went to find the lake, but in the end they found me but didn't, why is this?" Could it be that those two children have a stronger sense of direction than we do? I think they are more convinced of the existence of the lake than we are. Soaring once told me that in the Bible, Jesus told His disciples that if they wanted to go to heaven, they had to believe in heaven like a child. It is because of the simplicity of the children that they will not have too many doubts. They listened to the story of the lake from Uncle Six in the village, and they believed in the existence of the lake, so they found it. There are also villagers like Uncle Liu, who also believe in the existence of the lake, so they will always find a home. We rely too much on sight, and we believe in everything. But this time, we have to listen with our ears and look with our hearts. ”

Shen Mingde felt that Xiao Jing was too romantic about this lake, as if he really regarded that lake as a "divine lake". If the lake can only be found in this way, perhaps with Zhou Tengfei's character, it is not surprising that it can be found. Zhou Tengfei is that kind of simple person. He is not stupid, it's just that, according to Shen Mingde's understanding of him, Zhou Tengfei is the kind of person who will judge some things to be true before there is credible evidence to conclude that these things are false. Once, at the beginning of Zhou Tengfei's business with Shen Mingde, Shen Mingde also described to him many beautiful corporate futures, the company's vision, and many of those things, even he himself never had confidence. However, Zhou Tengfei simply believes and pursues it hard. Yes, he's the kind of person who likes to use the "presumption of innocence."

Yang Guangcheng suddenly opened his mouth, which had been silent for a long time, and said slowly: "Do you know what this old man called Sixth Uncle does? He may be dancing the big god, this is the big god. “

Seeing Xiao Jing's puzzled expression, Shen Mingde explained: "Dancing the Great God is a ritual of inviting gods in ancient shamanism in the north. ”

Yang Guangcheng continued: "Your generation may not know much about it, but I am very impressed. When I was a child, it was very common in our village, and the lyrics of those prayers to the gods were basically the same. You see, the lyrics of the sixth uncle are very similar to the words when he invited the gods, and the first sentence is basically the sunset and the sky is dark. There are also many nouns that appear in this verse. You see, this eight-treasure Arhat refers to the man in charge of the family, the breeze and smoke spirits refer to male and female ghosts, and there are ghosts who have no face. In addition, the sixth uncle chatters all day long, and it is estimated that he is a big jumping god. ”

Xiao Jing explained this song with the help of Yang Guangcheng. As described in the lyrics, when night comes, all the villagers return to their homes. People outside the village should listen to the sound of flowing water, believe in the existence of the lake, and return to the village next to the lake. The sound of knocking on the pot after that represents the chronological order, and when it sounds, there will be a person called "Ghost Face Wangye" to patrol the mountain, probably to notify the villagers who are still outside; When there are two rings, the owner of each house must close the door. When it rings three times, it is necessary to drive away the ghosts of men and women. If you don't return home when you make four rings, your life will be in danger or you will be punished. When you make five sounds, you must extinguish all the light in the room. When there is a sound of six or seven, the people in the house will no longer be able to make a sound, and they will not be able to open the door for any great thing. After seven sounds, the pot will no longer be knocked, and the movement of the pole is the shaman's sacrifice to start building the altar to invite the gods, and at this time the practice of inviting the gods begins. They invited a god called "Mountain Maitreya-sama", and he was accompanied by a golden boy and a jade girl. This god can make no face, and he will return the ghost. The King of Sorrow, even the posthumous souls of those who go out of the mountains to cross people after successful cultivation, also have to worship this "true immortal". At this time, people will quickly rush out of the house to worship the gods, and if they fall behind others, they will not be safe every year. The minor key is almost finished, and the ceremony should be over here.

Shen Mingde felt that this singing was not difficult to understand, except for some proper nouns, the whole singing was a simple narrative. So this song should not be some riddle or a slang cut or something. If the sixth uncle is the chief priest of the dancing god in this village, from this singing, Shen Mingde doesn't feel like it. The lyrics are more like a "precept" taught to the common villagers by the village priests, "to warn the villagers how to find the lake, how to return home, and what to do on the night of the ritual." At the same time, Shen Mingde also felt that the sixth uncle was not a person with rich imagination and extensive knowledge. How could an old man in the mountains, who did not watch television, listened to the radio, could not read, or even be almost isolated from the outside world describe in a vulgar language the story of monsters dominating the world before the appearance of human beings, and the gods casting a star to destroy the monsters, which is consistent with the currently accepted hypothesis that "a comet hit the earth and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs"? How could he imagine that the world was like the pages of a book, and that if we wanted to see "God," we had to jump from the page we were on to another page of the book? Doesn't this metaphor resemble the structure of the worldview of "parallel universes" in novels and movies that is popular in contemporary times?

The three of them talked about their thoughts word by word, until the hotel proofed. Although these small talk did not help much to solve the problem at hand, this meeting relieved the tense nerves of his door in the past few days.