Chen Yun took Lao Zhong to Professor Yang's house, wanting to find clues about the tomb of Emperor Di from the documents he left behind, while Ge Zhuang and I continued to buy tickets to board the ship and went to Lao Luo's hometown.

The address left to me by Lao Luo is in the "Stone Boat", which belongs to the shallow hilly area between the Mingyue Mountain and the Tongluo Mountain Range, known as the "East Gate of Yubei", but the economy is relatively lagging behind, and there was no decent highway at the beginning of the 20000 years, and it can only be reached by boat.

Ge Zhuang and I went non-stop, rushed to the stone boat town at lunchtime, ordered two bowls of "bean curd", dipped them in chili noodles and ate them, and then bought a lot of incense, candles, and paper money.

In order to save money, it was enough to only find a "motorcycle", but the master of the taxi saw that the black fat man was wearing a fat hob meat, so he refused to pull, saying that he was afraid that the motorcycle would pull people into the bottom of the cliff, so he had no choice but to find one more motorcycle and go on the road.

All the way to the dust, the yellow sand on the road teeth rolled up more than half a meter high under the wheels, where the "motorcycle" hit, where is the smoke and dust all the way, as if the devil entered the village, all the way to the chicken and dog ascended to heaven, Ge Zhuang and I ate a mouth full of yellow sand, got off the car and walked two kilometers of mountain road, and finally came to Xiongjiaaozi, that is, where Lao Luo lived since childhood.

Xiongjiaao is a big village, simple and ancient, the villagers are simple, low stilted buildings, yellow mud, old mud walls, and also preserve the unique style of buildings in the last century, we are the first to come back here, the eyes are black, looking at the winding path of the mountain are dumbfounded, I have to enter the village, first find the villagers to inquire about the route.

We chose the nearest family, waded through the dam full of chicken feces and duck droppings, and saw an old man squatting under the eaves smoking dry tobacco, Ge Zhuang walked forward with a smile, handed a pack of "Chaotianmen" to the old man, and said fellow countryman, we are here to worship relatives, do you know where Lao Luo is buried?

The fellow is very enthusiastic, but when he is older, his memory is a little confused, and he said which old Luo Yo are you referring to? I'm busy talking about Luo Zhongting (Lao Luo's name), do you know?

The old man patted his head and said, oh, I remembered to nag, it was Luo Ergouzi, I don't know, no one did a funeral for him when he died, or the village committee spent money to do it, and borrowed two loads of millet from my family at that time......

I hurriedly interrupted the villager's chatter and said Uncle, if this is not the case, you take me to his grave to worship, and I will give you the money for the two loads of grain, will it be successful?

He laughed happily, and said that he wanted it, he wanted it, I don't know Luo Ergouzi and your two relatives, he has been dead for a long time.

The mountain road is difficult to walk, this old man is old and can't go fast, we will carry the incense and candle tribute used to the grave, quietly follow him, listen to the old man talk about history, blow and talk about fasting, he said that you were born in the era of peace of the doll do not know, when the devil's plane cannon was so fierce, Wuyang Wuyang, when the bombardment of Chaotianmen was connected into a piece, the water waves, there are two or three floors (so) high.

Ge Zhuang amused him and said uncle, then Jiang Guangtou in the capital of Chongqing (during the Anti-Japanese War, Chongqing was the accompanying capital) didn't think of a way, and found a group of prostitutes to take off their pants and stand on the Chaotianmen wharf? I've heard people say that women's big pants are all evil spirits, and they can't release cannons when they take off their underwear.

The old man said what kind of superstition are you, when the Japanese bombed Chaotianmen, Jiang Guang was so anxious that his mind was sweating, my old man (father) was a soldier at that time, and was killed by a * bombing, and he was only thirteen years old at that time.

I said, then your ancestors went early, this is a martyr! The old man said no, my old man died for three years, and my mother gave birth to me.

Ge Zhuang pinched his fingers and counted for a long time, his big face and round eyes, hehe smiled, and said Uncle, then you are really the reincarnation of the third prince of Nezha.

This old man is old, it is estimated that he is a little demented, and he took us around the back mountain for a long time before pointing to an old grave that was about to be trampled on, and said that you are here to worship, Luo Ergouzi is buried here.

I jumped off the field, walked over and looked around the grave a few times, the more I looked, the more confused I felt, and Ge Qiang's eyes stared, and turned around and said Uncle, you brought the wrong grave, right?

Lao Luo has been dead for more than three years, and there has been no one to worship over the years, and the grave grass is one person high, which I can understand, but the stones on this grave are about to be stepped on, why don't you look like a three-year grave, Ge Zhuang and I have the same thoughts, could it be that this old man is old, his eyes are deaf, and he has a fork in the road, right?

The old man was anxious, and said You two little dolls, Lao Tzu has been walking this road for more than 70 years, can there be any mistakes? Hurry up and give me the money for the two loads of grain, do you want to be laipi? I'm calling someone!

I hurriedly said uncle, don't shout, don't shout, I'll give you the money. I took out a red ticket from my pocket and stuffed it into the old man's hand, the old man took the money, squinted his eyes at the sun, looked left and right, and it took a long time to roll the money into a sweep, stuff it under the crotch and hide it, and said to us,

"The grave is here, why don't you worship it?"

I said with a bitter face, uncle, I was about to tell you about this, do you remember badly, Lao Luo has only been dead for three years, how can this grave be like this?

"What? Three years! I see that you two are full, and you are trying to tease me! ”

The old man immediately changed his face, waved his hand and said that Lao Luo had been dead for almost seventeen or eighteen years, and no one cared about this rotten grave, and it was normal to cross into this way, the village committee said last month, the state is advocating returning farmland to forests, and planting trees in a large area, and the people in the village are still discussing, whether to fill in the grave and plant a few more trees, and each tree can receive an extra five yuan subsidy.

I'm busy saying uncle, you must be mistaken, it's definitely not the old Luo that I and the fat man are looking for after being dead for seventeen or eighteen years, Lao Luo was still fishing for corpses in Huishuiwan three years ago, and then retired when he was older, how could he have been dead for so long?

The old man said that I don't know, we are a ravine, only one person has been out of the village surnamed Luo, and the surname Luo is only this family, seventeen or eighteen years ago when he returned to his hometown and died, when he died, he was covered in blisters, like a leprosy treasure (toad), the village doctor said that he was suffering from the plague, which scared us miserably!

I still wanted to argue, but Ge Zhuang's face suddenly turned blue, he pulled me forcibly, shook his arm vigorously, and his voice trembled a little, "Xiao...... Small pumpkin ...... No, think about it, seventeen or eighteen years ago, wasn't it when your grandfather blew up the mountain to open the way and finally caused a landslide? ”

I also woke up suddenly, the old man said that the time of Lao Luo's death is basically the same as the accident that year, I was only seven years old that year, and I also lost my only relative in that accident, and then I met Lao Luo.

This......

If Lao Luo really died at that juncture, then who was the person who raised me for more than ten years, taught me to read and write, and set up a signboard in Backwater Bay to retrieve corpses? Could it be his ghost?