The days fly by, and the New Year is almost over in a blink of an eye. Lao Xu's scientific research work has also come to an end, and the scholars are even more mixed and waiting for death, the two have been discussing a "travel for the New Year", anyway, they are both bachelors, and the whole family is not hungry if they have enough food, so it is better to take advantage of the time to go out and enjoy the great rivers and mountains of the motherland. Although they kept pushing me to join me, I wanted to go home and see my parents. It's been more than half a year, and every time I call home, my parents just report good news and don't report bad news, and I don't know how the second elder's health is. Later, everyone agreed to celebrate the New Year in their own way, the scholar and Lao Xu drove to the southern provinces for a self-driving trip, and I packed my luggage and bought a train ticket to go back to my hometown in Hebei for the New Year.

The road was bumpy but it was difficult to hide the excitement, although it was only more than half a year and I didn't go home, but it was like every other autumn. When the familiar streets and scenery come into view, all kinds of excited, sour, happy, and aggrieved emotions rush to my heart, and the five flavors are mixed and indescribable. Hometown is indeed the soul of the Chinese who are emotionally inseparable. When I got home, I couldn't avoid talking to my parents, and I told them that I had joined the archaeological team, worked as an assistant to a professor in the archaeological field, and showed my parents the business card that Lao Xu had tailored for me. Although there are still a few days before the Chinese New Year, because of my return, there is good wine and food at home every day, which makes my guilt for not being able to honor my parents at home even stronger. Therefore, during this period at home, I rushed to do housework every day, chatting with my parents, and visiting relatives and friends. And my parents are also happy to take advantage of various occasions and opportunities to show my business card to everyone they can meet, as if I have become an archaeology professor.

However, time always flies quickly, after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, according to the words of the hometown, it is "the year has passed, the festival has passed", and it is time to embark on the journey of struggle. Originally, in my current situation, there was actually no work that had to be done. Giving Lao Xu as an assistant was just for Lao Xu to give me a salary, so that I could break off the idea of returning to Beijing to continue to be a program ape. What's more, it has just passed the Chinese New Year, and Lao Xu and the scholar called to say that they had just returned to Zhengzhou from Hainan. It's just that I take Lao Xu's salary with my own money, and I feel obliged and responsible to go back to Lao Xu and do what I can to prepare before the archaeological team starts, even if it's just cleaning the room and scrubbing the archaeological tools, it can also give me some comfort.

My hometown is a small city in Hebei, and although it is developing rapidly, it is not worth mentioning in the national railway network. As a result, the town's train station is only used to provide temporary stops for freight trains and short-distance coaches. I had to take a long-distance bus to Beijing first, and then transfer from Beijing to Zhengzhou by train. If anyone who has traveled by train before and after the Spring Festival will know that the Spring Festival is simply a "nightmare". Although it was completely dark, the train station was full of people. Not to mention the waiting hall, just the square in front of the station is already crowded. Luckily, I booked my tickets online in advance, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to buy them. With the ticket in hand, I was very stable, and sat leisurely on a chair near the ticket gate in the waiting hall to rest, waiting for the ticket to be checked. The train I'm going to take is just an ordinary fast train, and you don't have to think about the tickets for high-speed rail and bullet trains, definitely not. It's not easy to get a ticket, let alone a sleeper, and I'm so proud of it. Humming a little song, I watched the news boredly on my phone.

Suddenly, a loud shout pierced through the noisy voices around him, "Catch him!" Don't run! ”。 I turned and looked in the direction from which the voice came, and saw a man running in at the entrance of the waiting hall, and several police officers and security guards were chasing after him not far behind. The originally crowded and noisy crowd suddenly fell silent, people stood up one after another, stretched their necks, and some even stood on the benches, watching the excitement. People were whispering that maybe the young man in front of him was a thief. There are too many thieves near the train station, and it is normal for the theft to fail and be discovered by the police. I didn't think there was anything to see, so I was about to sit down and continue watching the news. But the young man in front of me suddenly changed direction and ran towards me. Watch the crowd laughing, shouting, and even whistling as the police pant after the young man. I thought, since he was being chased by the police, this person must not be a good person. I was ready and decided to wait for the man to run to him, rush over and hold him, which can be regarded as a favor to the police, and do my duty as a young man with "four haves", after all, I have been educated by the proletariat for so many years, and I have won the "three good students" award in elementary school.

Thinking so, I had already put my phone away, and I was on full alert, just waiting for the kid to come over and put him down directly. Hehe, when you meet Lao Tzu and me, you are also unlucky. That person didn't run slowly, no wonder the police and security guards couldn't catch up, it seems that he is a practitioner and a habitual thief. It was too late, it was too late, and the kid had already run less than ten meters away from me, and the muscles in my legs were starting to jump. 8 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters, this distance is already in my control, and I am already standing up and crossing the middle aisle of the two rows of benches. Just as I was about to pounce, I suddenly saw the man's appearance. Dressed in a black trench coat and wearing a mask, but the black mask is a bit big, and it can even be used as a mask, and the person's face cannot be seen. But his eyes were very sharp, and I felt as if I had seen them somewhere. In the moment of my hesitation, the man saw me. He actually retracted his figure and was stunned on the spot. Taking advantage of this, I subconsciously grabbed his arm, intending to give him a hug. When he exerted his strength, he didn't hold it. This kid looks very thin, why is he so vigorous? I didn't dare to slack off, gritted my teeth, and prepared to exert all my strength. At this time, I heard a familiar voice.

"Let it go! It's me! "The voice was low, but it was exceptionally clear. Sound through the eardrum stimulates the nerves of the brain, and the brain quickly mobilizes the information stored in memory. Damn, I know who this person is! Fourth master! Dragon Four! Long Qifan!

His appearance, like a heavy hammer, knocked me out at once. The brain was short-circuited, blank, a little overwhelmed, and stunned on the spot. The fourth master glanced at me, I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't say anything, patted me lightly on the waist, and then pushed me away, spread my body, and rushed to the ticket gate in a few steps. I watched as he deftly dodged the ticket inspector and rushed into the platform.

The police officers and security guards stood panting in place, constantly talking to the intercom about the scene.

I sat on the bench in a daze, and my mind kept recalling the bits and pieces about him from the first time I met the fourth master to the present. At the hospital, he said goodbye, but now he suddenly appeared at the train station in Beijing and rushed to the platform. I don't know why he did it, but with his calm character, there must be an important reason. I kept reminding myself in my heart that I could calm down and calm down in order to come to a reasonable conclusion through the analysis of limited information.

With two deep breaths, I calmed down and began to think about it in my heart. This person is undoubtedly the fourth master, with such sharp eyes, familiar tone, black clothes, and good skills, it can be inferred that it is him. And the fourth master appeared here, it must not be because I am here. When he saw me, he could tell that he didn't know I was here. That means that the fourth master should come to this railway station by train or send people off by train. If it was the latter, then he didn't see any companions from the moment he entered the waiting hall. If it's the former, then where is the fourth master going?

I looked at the time, it was already a little more than ten o'clock in the evening, and the K179 train I was about to take was about to check in. At this time, there are about two or three trains that are about to depart, so if the fourth master is here to take the train, it must be in these trains. But I'm not sure where he's going. I was a little irritable and was going to go to the smoking room set up in the waiting hall. As he walked, he took a cigarette out of his coat pocket. The moment I pulled out the cigarette, I saw that something seemed to have fallen out. I'm a very careful person, and even a little obsessive-compulsive, and what to put in and where is prescribed. As a rule, the right pocket is filled with only the usual things like cigarettes and lighters. Whatever it is, this thing that falls out shouldn't be there.

I followed the direction and saw that there was indeed something lying on the ground, a piece of paper. I picked it up in confusion. That paper was an A4 sheet of paper that had been folded in half several times. I can't care about smoking anymore, and my heart is pounding. I'm sure this piece of paper is definitely not mine, and when I spread it out, I saw a lot of lines densely drawn, and there were a few words in the blank space on the side. I didn't understand the lines for a while, but the words were very clear, "Beijing", "Xi'an", "Xi'an" and "Xi'an" were also drawn next to a few circles, and after the circles were a few question marks that were not very clear. Comparing these words and looking at those lines, I understand a little. A five-star should be marked with Beijing, then according to the direction of the line, it should be crossed through Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu, but the position in Shaanxi and Gansu is divided into many lines, some of the lines are marked with dotted lines, some are marked with solid lines, the back is very sloppy, and there are some circles and forks, which makes it difficult for people to understand.

I hurriedly looked at the train timetable again, and found that among the trains that were about to depart, there was indeed one train, which was K1363 from Beijing West Railway Station to Xi'an. If, my guess is correct, the fourth master should be on this train. This note must have been snuck into my pocket when I met him. It was an emergency, and I didn't even notice it. What did the fourth master go to Xi'an for?