From far and near, there was a black figure coming towards the fence wall, this was the first person Qiao Xiaojing and they saw when they came to this town, everyone took a few steps forward together, Qiao Xiaojing was worried that the large number of people would scare the main family, and hurriedly signaled everyone to stop.

"Who?" said the host, an old man, who had come to the fence wall, and looked at it, perhaps it was too dark to see the comer, and asked in a trembling voice, "Who was talking just now?"

"Uncle," Qiao Xiaojing hurriedly stepped forward and said to the old man, "We are outsiders, passing by Guibaodi, it is too late, I don't know where to stay in the inn, so we came to disturb, and I hope that the old man can be kind, let us rest in your house for a night, and we will leave at dawn." I wonder if the old man is willing to take me in and wait for the night?"

The old man didn't answer, but hunched his waist and looked out through the gap in the fence wall, he tried his best to see the appearance and reality of the person who came, maybe the light was too dim, and after looking at it for a while, he didn't seem to see Qiao Xiaojing and them clearly, so he shook his head. I saw the slender beard fluttering in the wind, and it was obvious that this old man was also a person who had experienced vicissitudes.

"I didn't want to take you in," said the old man, who opened the wooden door and greeted in a hoarse voice, "but since you have come here in the middle of the night, I am not going to be ruthless and refuse you to leave the humble house. Forget it, let's not talk about that, you better come in quickly, stop standing outside, this town is not peaceful. ”

"Thank you, old man," Qiao Xiaojing stepped forward and said, "You can be regarded as a great favor for us, we have been walking around this town for a long time, and we have never been able to find a place to stay, it is your ......"

"Okay," the old man interrupted Qiao Xiaojing's words of thanks, pointed in the direction of the house, and said lightly, "It's a thatched hut stacked with miscellaneous items, you can lead the horse and tie it there." As for people, they live in this room, although the house is a little smaller, but at least it can be sheltered from the cold and frost. You guys, whatever you want. ”

"Thank you again," Qiao Xiaojing thanked her, "Thank you for your old kindness, you have helped us a lot." Don't worry, we won't live in vain......"

The old man didn't seem to be interested in Qiao Xiaojing's words, he didn't wait for Qiao Xiaojing to finish speaking, and hunched over towards the main house.

Qiao Xiaojing glanced at the old man, let the eldest man and Ah Zi lead the horse to the thatched house, and then took Boss Wu and Cuiyu into another side room. The jade blew up the fire fold, and the dark room gradually became clear, as the old man said, the room was not big, there were almost no furnishings, the most obvious was a fire kang, and there was only a broken mat, and there was no bedding.

"How do you live, such a big place?" Cuiyu took the fire fold around the room, and suddenly felt sad in her heart.

"Do you think we're really here to stay?" Qiao Xiaojing glared at Cuiyu.

"Isn't it?"

"You're so confused, have you forgotten what we're here for?"

"Yes, yes," Jade patted her forehead and said with a little embarrassment, "It's me who is confused, I am confused." We were both frightened and sad along the way, and we all claimed to be looking for a place to stay, but we forgot about business. ”

"Why don't you hurry up and light the oil lamp," Qiao Xiaojing pointed to the oil lamp hanging on the wall, and said with a smile, "Do you want us to just look at your flickering fire fold and talk?

"Alas," Jade looked down and saw that the flames were pointing downward, almost burning her sleeves, and she walked to the oil lamp while she was busy blowing the back of her hand, and after lighting the oil lamp, she said with a smile, "Now it's okay, it's bright, and now you can see people without saying dark words." ”

"That's a good thing!" Boss Wu said with a smile, "It's very consistent with our current situation, we can be regarded as walking out of a layer of fog now, although we are still some way away from completely getting out of the fog, but anyway, we can see some light now, and this light is provided to us by this old man." ”

"Yes," Qiao Xiaojing nodded, and said confidently, "We are now in a fog, but we are not far from the light, as long as we have patience and perseverance, I believe we will definitely get out of the predicament and regain the ...... of light."

"The old man is here. The big man standing in the doorway suddenly said to the house.

"My family is poor," the old man walked in with the futon, Qiao Xiaojing and they saw the old man's appearance clearly, the old man's beard was white, his face with age spots was full of wrinkles, his body was still a little hunchbacked, and he walked tremblingly. He put the quilt on the kang and said with a faint smile, "There is no new bedding, you can make do with these, but you can use it with confidence, it is all washed, and it has not been used for a long time." ”

When the old man spoke, the wrinkles at the corners of his mouth were like furrows, folds and layers, all of which were moving.

"This is already very good," Qiao Xiaojing hugged her fists and thanked, "We are already satisfied that you can take us in so that we don't sleep in the wilderness, and now that you have sent a futon, we really don't know how to thank you?"

"What is there to thank," said the old man, who did not seem to like to listen to polite words, and said with a heavy face, "is it just a broken house that leaks everywhere, and if you don't come, this house will be idle." ”

"You can't say that," Qiao Xiaojing said, "we entered this town and knocked on the doors of several houses, and none of them were willing to let our passing strangers stay overnight like you, except for you." Isn't it a matter of course to say that you can't say what you say? We are all grateful people who will not forget your goodness. ”

"Whatever you want. As he spoke, the old man walked to the door, and one foot had crossed the threshold, as if he had thought of something, and took it back again, and turned to the crowd and said, "Since you live with me, and you are a foreigner, then I will say a few more words--- this town is not very peaceful, you better not walk around, and leave at dawn!"

"Don't you say I forgot," Qiao Xiaojing stepped forward and said to the old man, "We met three young men dressed as peasants in the alley in front, who died against the wall, and died cleanly, do you know about this?"

"Is there a scar on the neck of every deceased?" The old man frowned tightly and stared at Qiao Xiaojing.

"Yes," Qiao Xiaojing said, "So, do you know about this?"

"No, no, I don't know anything. The old man looked nervous, waved his hands, and turned to leave.

"Uncle," Qiao Xiaojing stepped forward to stop the old man, and begged with good words, "You must know about this matter, and I hope that the old man will not hide anything and be able to tell it out in 1510, which is very important to us." ”

"Important to you?" The old man glanced at Qiao Xiaojing puzzled, then glanced at the other people in the room, sighed and said, "I don't understand this old man, you are all passers-by, if you don't have nowhere to stay, it is impossible to come here at all, it can be said that you have nothing to do with this place, and you don't know the deceased, so how can you talk about whether it is important or not? Young man, I advise you not to cause trouble, An Ansheng lives until dawn, and it is wise to leave after dawn." ”

"But we can't just go," Qiao Xiaojing took a deep breath, looked embarrassed, and said incoherently, "We have to figure out what's going on here, what's unusual here, in short, we can't just leave." ”

"I don't understand what you're talking about," said the old man, shaking his head, "anyway, it doesn't matter to me whether you go or not, so I won't worry about you! ”

"Uncle," the old man wanted to leave again, Qiao Xiaojing grabbed his arm, pulled him to the side of the kang with a smile, asked him to sit down, and whispered, "Please tell us about the things in this town, who cut the throats of those three people, and why this town is so quiet, there is no sound at all, and there is no light." It's really important to us. ”

"This kind of thing ......," the old man paused, and then carefully looked at everyone standing in the room, his eyes mixed with anxiety and doubt, and then asked puzzledly, "Who are you, and why do you have to inquire about this?"

"Didn't I say it?" Qiao Xiaojing still didn't want to tell the truth, and said with a smile, "We are passers-by. ”

"Since it's a passerby," the old man stood up suddenly, glanced at Qiao Xiaojing, and said coldly, "Just take care of the road, why do you have to inquire about the situation in this town, I think no matter what happens here, it has nothing to do with you and others." ”

"It matters," Qiao Xiaojing hurriedly said, "Of course it does, one of our companions went wrong, and then disappeared, and he couldn't be found everywhere." We can't afford to abandon him, so we want to inquire about the situation in this town, and see if there is any good way to find our companion and rescue him......"

"This ......" the old man wanted to speak and stopped, his eyes full of puzzlement and uneasiness wandered over Qiao Xiaojing, Boss Wu and their others, and asked again, "Who are you, why do you have to inquire about this?"

Qiao Xiaojing turned her head and looked left and right, not knowing whether she should tell the truth to the old man.

"Let's talk about it," said Boss Wu, "this old man is a poor man, and I believe he will not harm us." ”

Cuiyu, Ah Zi and the big man also nodded to Qiao Xiaojing, signaling that they could tell the truth.

"Okay," Qiao Xiaojing said, "then I won't hide it anymore, to tell the truth, we are all revolutionary fighters under the leadership of the Communist Party, and we are carrying out a very important task." Passing through this place during the day, one of his comrades-in-arms fell into a trap outside the town with his warhorse, and strangely enough, when he went there to look for it, he disappeared from the trap. ”

The old man nodded as he listened, obviously he knew what Qiao Xiaojing said.

"We came here late at night," Qiao Xiaojing said, "I won't tell you anything, I didn't really come to stay, but I want to ask you if there are any suspicious people in this town, if there are any suspicious things, how can we find our comrade-in-arms and rescue him." Uncle, I have said everything that should be said, and I hope that the old man will not hesitate to teach. ”

"Who else can do this kind of thing, isn't it just those brutes?" said the old man through gritted teeth.