Three days later, in the western frontier.

The jeep travels through the familiar yellow sand, and the smell of wormwood exudes on it.

At sunset, where the moon rises, a village appears at the end of the view.

Aiyi Village.

A newly built stone road stretches from the entrance of the village to a long distance, and since then, archaeological teams, police, and people from all walks of life have come to this small village that has been untouched for many years, and the outside world has finally begun to gradually establish a busy connection with this place. Although it was night, every house was lit up with bright lights, and it was far away, but it could still be seen, and the troubles caused by Potuo finally no longer existed.

Dong Que had to park the car at the entrance of the village, and the five of them walked in, many old houses have been renovated, and many people have dogs, and when they see these outsiders, they all bark lively.

Zheng Xiaofeng was indifferent, just lowered his head, and walked forward with all his thoughts, but Dong Que kept looking around, and was surprised: "Building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way is indeed possible." ”

There are chess stalls on the side of the road, a group of white-bearded old men playing chess with great interest, and groups of children laughing and running around, all of which have never been seen when they passed through this place last time.

Dong Que deliberately wore a mask, afraid that some villagers would see his face, two possibilities, they would mobilize the whole village to come and watch, thank you, and greet, the other possibility is that they have already forgotten Dong Que, no matter which possibility, it is not what he wants to see.

Hiding his merits and fame, he treated it as if he had never been here, and completely eradicated the monsters of the ancient country of Pozi, in the final analysis, it was the credit of the Flying Eagles who came later.

The group relied on their memories and walked all the way to the neighborhood of the small hotel, but when they just turned the corner, Zheng Xiaofeng and Dong Que were involuntarily stunned.

Without seeing Aini's home, the location of the small hotel has been turned into a large chicken farm.

"This ...... The man you're talking about...... Living in a chicken coop? Liu Bo asked puzzled.

Zheng Xiaofeng's already heavy expression looked even more lost, an old man on crutches happened to pass by, Dong Quede hurriedly ran over when he saw it, and stopped him.

"Old man—please ask you—" Dong Que said, the old man seemed to be a little behind his ears, and only stopped after a reaction, and asked in a mouthful of Mandarin: "Young man, from the city?" Is there something wrong? ”

Dong Que nodded respectfully, and said in a loud voice: "Please ask you, wasn't there a hotel here?" Why is it gone? ”

The old man was stunned, pointed to the chicken farm, and asked, "You mean this family?" ”

"Yes—" Dong Que said.

But who knew that the old man suddenly sighed, shook his head, and said, "This family is dead, just a few months ago, and there is no hotel anymore." ”

"Huh?!" Dong Que was suddenly startled, and glanced back at Zheng Xiaofeng, who was even more stunned, Dong Que slowed down for a while before he hurriedly asked, "No...... He...... How could he die? It's Ani, and he has an old mother at home......"

The old man nodded in conviction, signaling Dong Que not to doubt it: "The old lady is old, and an archmage came to our village a few months ago to help us get rid of the evil spirits in the desert...... After the archmage left, it didn't take long for the old lady to die, and she died while she slept, so I remember it very clearly...... In order to organize her funeral, his son went to the city to buy things, but accidentally got into a car accident and was run over by a truck...... Hey-it's a pity, this is fate, whether it's life or death, people don't even count what they say......"

Dong Que was completely stunned, and couldn't say a word, the old man kept shaking his head, leaning on crutches, and slowly left by himself.

Dong Quede's heart was mixed for a while, destiny is impermanent, accidents always don't know when they will come, Zheng Xiaofeng is like this, Cheng Ruxue is like this, Yan Lijia is like this, Aini is also like this, no one is an exception.

Dong Que reluctantly walked back to the others, and saw Zheng Xiaofeng with his head bowed, staring intently at something in his hand, and two lines of tears slipped quietly, it was the compass.

The original love token has become the only relic at this time, Zheng Xiaofeng blames herself like that, if it weren't for pushing herself away, why would Xue'er be like this...... But I couldn't even bring out her body...... He can only regard this compass as her, and send her home, which can be regarded as a fallen leaf, but even home is gone.

Why...... In all things, Heaven always has to work against Itself...... What kind of end is worthy of this upheaval and displacement......

Thinking about it, Zheng Xiaofeng's tears became more and more unstoppable, numb for so many days, this was the first time he cried again.

Several people panicked all of a sudden, and Dong Que hurriedly said, "Hey Lao Zheng, don't ...... Don't you do that...... You said you were going to cry, and I didn't know how to coax you......"

Zheng Xiaofeng sobbed, without a heart-rending roar, but kept making a suppressed voice, and after a long time, he said, "Why...... Why didn't she let me die...... Why did she say she had to live well...... Otherwise... She didn't like me anymore...... I don't want her to dislike me again... But I... But I want to accompany her............ Cher - Cher! I want to accompany you! ——”

Dong Que had to cover his forehead, he couldn't help but want to cry at the moment, the departure of a person is a kind of grief for everyone, he doesn't know what to say or do, he can only put his arm around Zheng Xiaofeng's shoulders and keep patting.

The five of them stood straight in place for a long time, Zheng Xiaofeng also kept sobbing for a long time, a strong young man cried on the street, the man didn't flick his tears, but he didn't reach the sad place.

……

Dong Que looked at the chicken farm, for a long time, suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up unconsciously, and hurriedly said, "Hey? - By the way, Lao Zheng - Have you ever thought about finding the place where Cheng Meizi lived when she was a child? ”

The crying suddenly stopped, Zheng Xiaofeng raised his head suddenly, Dong Que was relieved to see this, he finally found a suitable sentence that could attract Zheng Xiaofeng's attention.

"You mean...... Hangzhou City? ”

As early as when he was in Tarim Mountain, Cheng Ruxue mentioned to him that when he was a child, he lived with his mother in a small village near Hangzhou City, and Zheng Xiaofeng would never forget any details about her.

Dong Que nodded and said, "Yes, don't you just want to bring 'Cheng Meizi' back to her home?" Strictly speaking, that's her home. ”

Zheng Xiaofeng became a little nervous for a while, nodded his head constantly, and said, "Yes... Oh, yes... Right... Right... I've got to look for it, I've got to find out where her home is......"

Dong Que said: "Then don't cry yet, we have to clear our minds and think of a way to find her home." ”

Zheng Xiaofeng patted his temples, only to feel a splitting headache, what can be done...... What's the solution...... After all these years, how can she find the place where she lived when she was very young......

Dong Quede's eyes rolled, he thought about it, and suddenly tried to say, "Why don't you ask the Flying Eagles?" See if they can find something? ”

Zheng Xiaofeng stopped abruptly, stared at Dong Que for a few seconds, and then without saying a word, hurriedly took out his mobile phone.

Zhang Ziyang, before leaving the Red City, they left each other's contact information, but at that time, he never thought that it would be used in this way.

The number was dialed, and the sound of "beep" just rang, and the other end immediately picked it up.

"Hello? Am I Zhang Ziyang, Zheng Xiaofeng? ”

Zheng Xiaofeng moved his lips, and after a pause, he said, "It's me." ”

Zhang Ziyang seemed to gasp, his voice was a little low, and said: "I heard about you, I'm sorry, I knew that I shouldn't have let you act alone at that time." ”

Zheng Xiaofeng's throat unconsciously let out an "um" sound, and he was silent. After a long time, he crossed this sentence and just asked, "There is something I want to ask you, can you help me check it...... Cher ...... Where did you live? ”

Zhang Ziyang hesitated for a moment and said: "We have actually checked related matters before, but we haven't found much of it, you know, for the mystery we are facing now, she is not in the core position, and because of the busy affairs of the treasure stealing world, so ...... But I can have people try to look it up again, and maybe they can find any new clues. ”

Zheng Xiaofeng also understands that a lonely ordinary person like Cheng Ruxue has little intersection with this world, and it is very difficult to find a needle in a haystack. He tried to think if there would be any more details that would help the investigation.

After a while, Zheng Xiaofeng tried to say, "By the way, I remember...... Cher ...... I mentioned that she had lived in an orphanage for a while, and I wondered if that orphanage would also be near Hangzhou, because she was still young at the time, and even if she was homeless, she wouldn't be able to go too far. ”

Zhang Ziyang said "um" and said, "Okay, then I'll let Kudo investigate, uh...... Ah Bi said that Bai Qianyu is here, I will go to see him, then I will hang up first, and when there is news, I will ask Kudo to contact you as soon as possible. ”

"Okay." Zheng Xiaofeng answered, and both sides hung up the phone.

The crowd fell silent again, and now it seemed that all they could do was wait.

But something unexpected was that just five minutes later, Zheng Xiaofeng's mobile phone rang again, and as soon as Zheng Xiaofeng answered, it was Kudo-Jun's voice coming from there.

This efficiency is a little too fast, it is really the style of the Flying Eagles, and several people thought that it would take a few hours to get results, but since Kudo Jun was able to translate that ancient book in a very short period of time and investigate an orphanage, it was indeed not a troublesome thing.

"Hey, Mr. Zheng? There is a result, there is a Changliu County near Hangzhou City, near the mountainous area, there is an orphanage called 'Sunshine Welfare Institute', which has been recorded in their electronic file system, between 1996 and 2004, they did adopt a girl named Cheng Ruxue, but I didn't find a photo, I can't be sure if it's the same name, I can send you the specific address, you can confirm it yourself. ”

When Zheng Xiaofeng heard this, his silent heart was briefly excited, and he hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, thank you." ”

Kudo said "goodbye" and hung up the phone, and soon a text message came with the specific location of the Sunshine Welfare Home.

Zheng Xiaofeng exhaled a long breath, stared at the line of words, and fell into a sluggishness again, Dong Que pursed his lips, took the mobile phone, turned his head and said to a few junior brothers and sisters: "Let's go, let's go here." ”

The five of them left Aiyi Village like this, turned around, and took one last look at the entrance of the village, probably never to return to this place again.

……

Three days later, after some tossing and turning, five people stood in front of the gate of the Sunshine Welfare Institute.

The façade is not big, but it is very new, a bit modern and minimalist, and in recent years, it must have been renovated.

Led by a graceful woman, the five of them walked aimlessly in the courtyard of the welfare home, chatting as they went.

"How many of them are Xiaoxue's friends?"

The woman who spoke was the director of the welfare home, Zheng Xiaofeng didn't speak, she didn't know what she was thinking, Dong Que said: "That's right, there is something she asked us to send back to her previous home, I don't know if you have a photo of her, we want to confirm whether it is her." ”

A few children ran by, holding windmills in their hands, looking very happy.

The woman shook her head apologetically, and said slowly, "It's been too long, three years ago, we had an accidental fire here, and a lot of things were burned down, so I can only tell you what she looks like...... Xiaoxue is a very good child, smart, cute, and obedient, and probably came to our welfare home more than ten years ago, and has lived here for seven or eight years...... The teachers in the courtyard liked her very much, but she always seemed to be preoccupied...... It's no wonder that for seven or eight-year-old children, their parents are gone, but fortunately, ...... Now that I have you friends, I'm relieved, oh yes, where is she now? How's it going? ”

Dong Que panicked, "Huh? After a while, he prevaricated: "She lives in Xijiang now, and we ...... It's been a long time since I've seen her, otherwise I wouldn't even know where she used to live? By the way, do you know where she lived before she came to the orphanage? Did she mention it to you? ”

The woman smiled and shook her head, "She never mentioned it to us, but ......"

"But?"

"But the teacher at the institute found her in a mountainous area not far from here, and brought her back, and it is said that there is indeed a small village in that mountainous area, and we all wonder if her family lives there."

Dong Que couldn't help but smile happily, thinking that things might be a little bit of a way, so he asked: "Then Dean, can you tell us how to go to that village?" We wanted to find out. ”

The woman nodded happily and said, "Of course—"

……

After thanking and saying goodbye, the five of them set out again and headed for a mountainous area to the north.

Zheng Xiaofeng didn't say anything all the way, from the Bering Strait to the present, he was basically in this state, he looked at the sky in a daze when he could be in a daze, and slept when he couldn't be in a daze, and other people were not too embarrassed to talk, so they could only let the itinerary become more and more boring, but fortunately, by now, they are almost used to it.

Dong Que vaguely felt that Zheng Xiaofeng had returned to the state they were in when they first met.

It was even more serious than that time, and even if Zheng Xiaofeng was bored at that time, he would not be able to let out a fart for so many days in a row. Last time, he was able to come out because of Cheng Ruxue, but this time, who can wake him up? Dong Que couldn't think of it for a while.

……

That night, when the entire mountainous area was plunged into darkness, the group finally arrived at the final destination.

Fengyun Village.

There are bumpy dirt roads under your feet, scattered on the side of the road, only some dilapidated bricks and tiles and even thatched houses, this is obviously a very backward village for a long time, there are people living there, but there are no lights, and the level of development is not as good as the former Aiyi.

The five of them walked casually towards the village, and couldn't help but feel a little desolate, and at the first intersection, a small dilapidated temple came into view, and a plaque hung on the door, on which were written three vague old words: Bodhi Temple.