"Your Excellency is diligent and loves the people, how can you disappear and ignore government affairs? Something must be wrong, right? Cao Nan was a little worried.

"Something should happen, he may need a place where he can calm down and sort things out. Mr. Cao is not an insider, and Lord Shangguan also respects you, so maybe he can listen to what you say. Zheng Zhuying looked at Cao Nan, as if hoping that he could lend a hand.

"My lord is round on the outside and on the inside, and it is difficult for him to patrol the government and make it difficult for him, what else can make him so troubled? Besides, how could you have expected him to be in the middle of the fog? I've been to Yamen, and Chen Bing is not there, so he should be with him, right? ”

Zheng Zhuzhu shook his head: "If someone is accompanying me, I don't have to look for him everywhere, everyone is worried about him, but they don't know how to let him put his mind at ease." ”

Cao Nan didn't ask much about what happened, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll accompany Miss Zheng and you on a trip to Wupo to see if the adults are inside." There's a miasma there, and even if you go in, you won't be able to go where you want to go. I'm going in that direction anyway. ”

Zheng Zhuzhu said gratefully: "If you can do this, I am grateful." ”

Cao Nan looked a little annoyed, and said: "As soon as I came back, I was anxious about my own private affairs, and I didn't find out about the abnormal situation of the yamen at all. ”

What about that? It seems that Cao Nan didn't have long since he came back and bumped into someone. Who is it?

Zheng Zhuzhu looked thoughtful, didn't ask, and explained: "Lord Shangguan is worried about family affairs, not everyone knows about it, and the people in the town only think that the adult has asked for a leave, so no one speculates about anything." ”

Cao Nan rolled his eyes and said, "He is clearer than anyone else, how can he not know, when I solve these two things, I will ask him for an explanation." ”

Zheng Zhuzhu nodded, she won't be like me, stupid and stupid to ask who this person is, maybe this is an innate cultivation, so she has always been everyone's beautiful and beautiful beauty, it is very comfortable to get along with her, you don't have to hide it, and you don't have to be afraid of her being aggressive. And I, I always can't get the hang of it for half a day, and I can't get through it for half a day, and I can see through that I'm an ignorant village girl with an empty head and a stupid brain.

Then Cao Nan and Zheng Zhuzhu walked towards the foggy slope together.

This pair is really strange, one is a quiet and upright man who has retired from work and avoided living for many years, and the other is a delicate and gentle daughter who lives in the boudoir, their lives have no intersection at all, even if they can meet them on the street, they don't care about anything at all. Perhaps before this, they never imagined that one day, they would walk side by side on the deserted streets in the depths of winter, rushing to a common destination.

Life circumstances are really changeable, no one knows who they will walk with in the future, who they will talk and laugh with, and the unknown world is indeed fascinating and sighing.

The road to Wupo is actually not gloomy, a boulevard, planted with willow trees on both sides, if it is summer, it will be green willow shady, very fresh and beautiful, maybe this is how the name of Liucun came from.

Now after autumn, the scene is completely different.

Especially in the depths of winter like now, the winter wind whimpers, the willow leaves wither, the dead branches are hideous, and when it is cold, it will be covered with hoarfrost, like a pale and cold corpse...... Body......

I once tried to walk on this road alone, and at dusk, the dead branches reflected in the setting sun cast a twisted hand, and I felt like I was going to be pulled by the arms of the whole road into that hollow and terrible foggy slope, and I was so frightened that I ran for miles with my skirt closed for miles.

Obviously, Zheng Jewel was also a little uncomfortable looking at this scene, and followed Cao Nan closely, wanting to finish this strange road quickly.

The cold willow road was halfway gone, and the wind was mixed with a cry and a whine.

How can there be crying? Isn't the mystery of the foggy slope also solved, there are not so many ghost stories at all, where did this terrifying and miserable cry come from?

Could it be that I have a shadow on this foggy slope and have hallucinations?

Zheng Zhuzhu quickly followed Cao Nan again, looked around, and asked weakly, "Did Mr. Cao hear the cry?" ”

Cao Nan frowned and stared in the direction of the foggy slope.

Zheng Zhuzhu stroked a strand of hair that was blown by the wind, and said in the direction that Cao Nan was looking at: "Could it be that there is someone in the Wupo area at this moment?" Listening to this cry, it seems to be a woman......"

Cao Nan was preoccupied, and answered the question: "Don't worry, there are no ghosts there......"

Zheng Zhu said: "I'm not afraid of ghosts, but I'm worried about whether someone will get lost in the fog slope and need help, listening to this cry, it's very miserable......"

Cao Nan sighed, frowned, and continued to move forward.

Zheng Jewel looked at Cao Nan's back strangely, but she didn't know much about Cao Nan's origin and personality, and no matter how careful and smart she was, she couldn't guess what was going on.

The two of them soon entered the boundary of the fog slope, although the golden lady was no longer there, and the poison gas of the fog slope should be slowly dissipating, but because of the terrain, this place was still foggy, like a thin white veil in front of them.

This feeling of being unable to see and feel is even more terrifying.

The crying became clearer and clearer, so hoarse that it seemed like she was about to tear her throat, and then I realized that this cry belonged to Granny Xie who lived on the edge of the foggy slope!

How sad she was, every time she felt like she was crying alone in this deserted place, mainly because her crying was still very ugly, not much to pity, but it added more horror to this place.

Approaching Xie Po's house, Zheng Zhuzhu probably knew where the cry came from, and said strangely: "It's not far from the legendary foggy slope, I didn't expect that there were still people living in such a secluded place—the cry seems to come from here." ”

Cao Nan stopped, stood in front of Xie Po's house, turned and looked at the room in silence.

Zheng Zhuzhu took a few steps further, looked at the gloomy house of Jin Niang not far away, thought for a while, and said: "I remember Xia Xia said that in addition to Jin Niang on the edge of the fog slope, there is also a strange old woman, and she was taken away and locked up by the old woman at that time, could it be that the mother-in-law who lives in this room?" ”

Cao Nan's eyes straightened, and he muttered, "Well, it's that crazy and ugly old woman." ”

Zheng Zhuzhu swallowed her saliva, she should have remembered Xia Xia's description of this Granny Xie that day, and her terrifying experience here, this crazy old woman who likes to collect human bones, fiddle with skeletons, curse and dress herself up as a ghost.

I've seen those eerie scenes in my dreams, and they really give me goosebumps when I think about it.

At this time, black smoke rose from the backyard of Granny Xie's house, and there was no wind near the fog slope, so the pile of smoke slowly rose into the air, dissipating very slowly, making people feel depressed and sad.

Zheng Jewel worried: "It shouldn't be on fire, right?" Would you like to go in and have a look? ”

Cao Nan sniffed, smelled the smoke, and said, "It's not like it's on fire, it's like burning glue wax or something—you wait for me here for a while, and I'll touch it in and take a look." ”

Although Zheng Zhuzhu looked weak, he was more courageous than me and nodded.

Cao Nan walked around the back of the courtyard, just like I did last time, looking through the coarse gauze gap in the courtyard window, it was indeed Granny Xie crying loudly in the courtyard, but this time she was not dressing up at the dresser, nor was she wearing strange and gorgeous flower clothes, but wearing a black robe, her dry and gray hair was still open and dancing her teeth and claws even if it was tied into braids, and she was throwing something into a brazier-

I looked at the big box she had placed beside her, and it was black one by one, full of all kinds of hair covers, like the kind of scary hair covers she wore last time—

"If you don't return, who will I show even if my face lasts forever? Burned—all burned—you conscienceless, if you do come back alive, I will never let you see me again—see me half-human, half-ghost—woo-" Granny Xie threw the hair cover into it as she cried and cursed someone.

The shoddy silk thread hair cover should have emitted an unpleasant smell of smoke, and Cao Nan covered his nose and stepped back a little.

Granny Xie rushed to the old dresser, stretched out her hand and picked at the black mirror, making a harsh and unbearable sound-

It turned out that the black mirror was pasted with black paper, and sharp nails roamed over it, cutting out a dull brass mirror color.

"You'd rather live like this than die generously! Why are you still alive, even if he really comes back alive, he doesn't dare to look at your disgusting face! Even if you just live like this, ten or twenty years later, you will die alone, and what if you have the secret art in your hand, it will still be lost, and it will still be lost......"

Oh my God, I couldn't really listen to Granny Xie's miserable cry, because her nails kept cutting the black paper on the mirror, and they broke several times if they cut too hard, and that kind of sharp noise can be said to be the most terrifying sound in the world!

I stepped back again and again, and although I was formless and incorporeal, I felt that my internal organs were going to be pierced by the sound.

Cao Nan frowned, and wanted to leave with a look of disgust.

"Xuanxiang bone touching technique, the unicorn bone is precious, the lion bone does not rely on the ancestor, and the leopard fracture hangs ......" Granny Xie suddenly stopped crying, and also stopped planing the mirror, muttering some strange incantation, as if she had suddenly fallen into some evil, and staggered in the courtyard in despair.

Cao Nan turned his head suddenly, his eyes were like copper bells, and his expression was indescribable-

Astonished? Wrath? Sadness?

I saw Granny Xie's face, not smeared with thick rouge gouache, pale, wrinkled, and hideous.

Cao Nan half-squinted, shook his head, and left as if he had made up his mind.

Turning to the front of the house, Zheng Jewel was still waiting anxiously, and when he saw Cao Nan, he greeted him and asked, "How is it?" I see a lot more smoke. ”

"It's okay, that woman is just going crazy and burning some old things. Hurry up and go to the foggy slope first, it's hard to find the direction when it's dark. ”

"Tears and candles flow under the red gauze account, why doesn't the lover come back...... My brother Xie, do you know that Yan'er is wringing her heart for you, if you are born in the world, you hope to return, if you are dead, you will wait for your soul......" Granny Xie's humming voice sounded ethereally, her mood changed so much, it was really elusive.

Zheng Zhuzhu looked up in the direction of the backyard, nodded to Cao Nan, and the two walked towards the foggy slope.

What kind of experience does a person have to have to become such a look, such a character, at least the old women I know are very kind and kind, even if they don't have a youthful face, they will have a kind of serenity precipitated by the years-

I guess this Granny Xie must have suffered a lot when she was young, so she was full of resentment towards life and the world.

Maybe—it could be that Brother Xie abandoned her or something in her mouth, but since she was abandoned, why did she wait so infatuatedly? You can't start your life all over again, can you? Burying your good time in someone who doesn't look back?

I don't understand. But I think that if you love someone very much and can't find it, the stupidest and most helpless way is probably just to wait.