Zhou Qiang's father, Zhou Zhishan, said weakly: "Ah Qiang, who are these two?" ”

"They are some of my good buddies in my school dormitory, and when I meet them at the village gate, I bring them to sit down." Zhou Qiang replied truthfully.

"Hello uncle." Mo Lin and Ye Xiaoyue said at the same time.

"Hello, hello, stop standing, come in and sit." Zhou Zhishan hurriedly said: "Ah Qiang, quickly pour a glass of water for your classmates." ”

Zhou Qiang hurriedly walked into the house, and then he walked out again and said, "Dad, the boiling water is gone, I have to boil some more." ”

"Oh, then you burn it." Zhou Zhishan said: "You go into the house and sit." ”

"Don't bother, uncle, let's just move a small stool outside and sit on it, just chat with Qiangzi." Maureen said.

"Alright then, you young people are free, I won't bother you." Zhou Zhishan coughed and walked into the house.

Zhou Qiang shook a pot of water in the big water tank on the side, put it on the stove in the house to boil the water, and then moved three stools out to sit in the courtyard with Mo Lin and Ye Xiaoyue.

"Your name is Zhou Qiang, don't you have running water here?" Ye Xiaoyue asked.

Zhou Qiang nodded and said: "Not only is there no water or electricity here, almost every household is like this, and the gap between the rich and the poor is not big. ”

"Then did you pick up water from the lake five kilometers away after you left the village?" Maureen asked.

"Yes, people from several nearby villages are fetching water there." Zhou Qiang replied: "My words are because my father is not in good health, it is my job to carry water and chop firewood, and I have to learn to read every day, so I will go out at about six o'clock in the morning to cut the water for the day and the firewood for the day." ”.br>

Ye Xiaoyue looked around, and then asked, "What about your mother?" Isn't she home? ”

Speaking of this, Zhou Qiang's eyes dimmed a little, and he said slowly: "My mother died when I was very young. ”

"Ahh Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Ye Xiaoyue said apologetically.

"It's okay, it's been many years, and I've already seen it." Zhou Qiang smiled bitterly and said: "My mother's biggest wish before her death was to hope that I could be admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University, so I studied hard in school to complete my mother's ideals, and I didn't dare to relax in any way for this, because I believe that everything I did my mother could see in the sky." ”

Mo Lin nodded slightly, he now seemed to understand why Zhou Qiang and Han Lu were so obsessed with learning, they both had pain that they couldn't say and others couldn't understand.

Zhou Qiang not only wants to fulfill his mother's last wish, but also to get out of the backward and poor mountain village through knowledge and take his family to live a rich life; Han Lu wants to prove himself through knowledge and academic qualifications, change the attitude of his parents and relatives who are disappointed in him, and leave the family full of selfishness, insidiousness and hypocrisy that has dominated his life for more than ten years through knowledge. Either way, there's a reason why you have to learn.

"By the way, Morin, why are you here in Snake Mountain? It's not a scenic spot, don't tell me that you're here for a tour. Zhou Qiang said with a smile.

"That's right, a friend of mine has something going on, and you residents here might know something, so come and ask." Mo Lin said truthfully that Zhou Qiang and Mo Lin were friends in a dormitory, and the two knew each other well, so they had nothing to hide from him.

"In this way, if you want to know anything, ask me directly, I have lived in Snake Mountain since I was a child, and I know everything that others know." Zhou Qiang said confidently.

"I ...... I want to know about the depths of Snake Mountain. Mo Lin looked at Zhou Qiang and asked tentatively.

"Deep ...... Snake Mountain"

As soon as Zhou Qiang heard Mo Lin talk about the depths of Snake Mountain, his face couldn't help but change, as if he had thought of something terrible.

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" Zhou Qiang said: "The depths of Snake Mountain are deserted, there are poisonous snakes all over the mountains, no matter what reason you have, you can't go to the depths of Snake Mountain anyway, where there are hundreds of thousands of poisonous snakes, even special forces, snake catching experts do not have that ability." ”

"We know this, but I've always had a question." Ye Xiaoyue couldn't help but say: "Since there are so many snakes on Snake Mountain, it is so dangerous, haven't you thought of a way?"

Have you taken a little action? For example, report the situation here to the government, after all, it is still relatively close to the city, and the government will not sit idly by. ”

Mo Lin retorted: "Xiao Yue, you forgot that the people here don't often interact with people from the outside world, otherwise how could they be so backward. ”

"This ...... How to say it. ”

Zhou Qiang showed a little hesitation on his face and said, "I don't know whether to say this matter or not." ”

"Is there anything inconvenient to say?" Maureen asked.

Zhou Qiang pondered for a moment, walked outside the gate, looked around, then closed the door, and sat in front of Mo Lin and Ye Xiaoyue again.

As soon as Mo Lin saw Zhou Qiang's actions, he knew that there must be something here, and it was definitely a big deal.

Zhou Qiang said a little nervously: "This matter is not ordinary, it is a secret of our village, and it cannot be told to outsiders, I will make an exception to tell you, you must not spread it to the outside world." ”

Maureen assured him, "Rest assured, the two of us will keep our mouths shut, and no one else will know." ”

Zhou Qiang nodded and said, "It's a long story about Snake Mountain, and it has to start from a hundred years ago. ”

......

A hundred years ago, in the twenties of the last century.

At that time, Snake Mountain was not called Snake Mountain, but Ghost Face Mountain.

At that time, the Ghost Face Mountain was not as beautiful as the Snake Mountain now, and the people were outstanding, the land of the Ghost Face Mountain at that time was barren, the vegetation was sparse, and the mountains and forests were surrounded by perennial fog.

The reason why Ghost Face Mountain is called Ghost Face Mountain is because the era of war in China was still in the era of war, and people often lost their lives for various reasons, and the mayor of Yaozhou City at that time divided this area of Ghost Face Mountain into a mass grave to deal with the burial of the dead, and over time, it was full of resentment and ghosts.

There are five villages attached to this area of Ghost Face Mountain, which are not very far from each other, so it is inevitable that there will be people visiting each village, talking about relatives, and visiting relatives and friends, which creates opportunities for the ghosts and ghosts in the mountains.

Often, people leave the village to go to another village to run errands, only to disappear for several days, and finally die either in the mountains or in the lake between the two villages, in short, the death of the deceased when the body is found is unacceptable.

At that time, every family was poor, and there was not much money in the village, so it was impossible to invite an archmage to exorcise demons and subdue demons, so the residents of these five villages endured the actions of these ghosts for a long time.

Until one day, a powerful ghost demon came out of Ghost Face Mountain, this ghost demon is not like those ghosts who are terrible and harmful, and they also use some deceptive tricks to confuse them, it directly rushed into the village, and every time it came, it would kill a dozen young people, and capture their souls for cultivation.

This ghost will go down the mountain almost every month, which can force the villagers of these five villages to endure it, and finally, the village chiefs of the five villages got together for a meeting and decided to pool money together to invite a mage to subdue the demon, even if they are bankrupt, they will also clear the ghosts of this ghost face mountain.

The most assertive and influential village chief of the five villages is the former village head of Zhou Qiang's village, named Zhao Wenxian. He was the first to propose to pay for the destruction of ghosts and demons.

Although there is a consensus of opinion, where should this archmage be found? There were not a few charlatans in that era, and the five villages near Guimian Mountain were not prosperous because of the perennial yin qi surrounding Guimian Mountain, and the money they sold was naturally not much, Zhao Wenxian knew this very well, so he couldn't just find someone to let the charlatans cheat.

On the night of the meeting, Zhao Wenxian lay on the bed and tossed and turned, unable to sleep for a long time, and kept worrying about finding the archmage.

At this moment, the kerosene lamp on the wooden table in front of Zhao Wenxian's bed was suddenly lit.

Zhao Wenxian, who found that the room suddenly lit up, jumped up from the bed and shouted: "Who? ”

At this moment, he vaguely saw a hunched figure on the ground under the light.

A cold voice came into Zhao Wenxian's head: "Hello, Village Chief Zhao, please advise me if we meet for the first time." ”

"You...... Who are you? Zhao Wen first looked around and saw that there was indeed no one around, only a black shadow on the ground.

"It doesn't matter who I am, the important thing is that I can solve the trouble you're facing right now!" The mysterious voice

It appeared in Zhao Wenxian's mind again.

"Can you solve the trouble I'm facing?" Zhao Wenxian said suspiciously: "How do you prove that you have this ability?" ”

"Hmph, Village Chief Zhao, I don't like to talk nonsense with people, if you can trust me, tomorrow at noon, the village chiefs of the other four villages can set up an altar for me to worship, and I guarantee that all the ghosts and ghosts on the Ghost Face Mountain will disappear completely within three days!"

After that, the black shadow disappeared in an instant, leaving only Zhao Wenxian sitting on the bed in a daze.

Zhao Wenxian sat for several hours, thinking about what the mysterious man said just now, and listening to his tone, it seemed that he didn't take this matter seriously at all, as if this matter was easy in his eyes.

Seeing that the sky outside was already slightly bright, Zhao Wenxian didn't care so much, first solved the harmful ghost in front of him, and then said, he immediately found four young people, asked them to rush to the other four villages immediately, and called the village chiefs of the four villages.

Zhao Wenxian unreservedly told what he had experienced at night, and expressed his thoughts.

Although the village chiefs of the four villages more or less disagreed, after all, this mysterious person did not know the roots, which always made people a little uneasy, but now that the end of the month is approaching, the ghosts and demons are about to come out of the mountain again, and they have no time to think of other ways, so they have to agree with Zhao Wenxian's method.

According to the requirements, the village chiefs of the five villages set up an altar at the entrance of the village on time, slaughtered chickens and sheep, bought tribute, and sacrificed.