Shi Fusheng's home is in the central area of the mountain city, it is a stone house that looks a little short, the yard is relatively small, there is a wife, a child below, a boy about ten years old, looks dark and stocky, and shows two tiger teeth when he smiles, and his nickname is Xiaohuzi.

Seeing that his father brought strangers here, the little tiger man came over to watch excitedly, but he didn't ask questions naughtily like ordinary children, he just looked at it with a smirk on the side, his eyes were dark and bright.

Shi Fusheng's wife's name is Zilan, she looks like she is in her thirties, a very ordinary woman, a little fat, slightly dark-skinned, but her facial features look very pleasing to the eye, and she has a somewhat virtuous face. Seeing strangers coming, he smiled and beckoned a few people to sit in the courtyard, where there were a lot of chairs and benches, and it seemed that other people often came here, otherwise ordinary people would not prepare so many stools.

"you, do you have enough to eat?" Shi Fusheng asked with a smile as he stood at the door of the kitchen.

"You can add more, it should be enough. Zilan laughed inside.

When the sun set, Zilan moved a table out of the stone house, put it in the courtyard, and said with a smile: "It's cool outside, let's eat outside." ”

Ying Wuxin smiled and thanked a few people, because he wanted to pretend to be an ordinary person, and he didn't mean to be polite, Sun Xiaoman also sent a piece of silver out.

"Grandpa, it's time for dinner. Little Tiger ran into the stone house and shouted.

After a while, an old man who looked to be about fifty or sixty years old walked out of the stone house, as if he was sick, his body was very weak, he needed to use a cane, and he had to be supported by Xiaohuzi.

Ying Wuxin and the others were a little stunned when they saw this scene, didn't they say that there were no old people in the mountain city?

The old man sat on the side, glanced at a few people with cloudy old eyes, and said with a smile: "Those who come from outside, here in our mountain city, must abide by the rules, and they can't go out at night, they can't go out." ”

"Understood, we won't go out, old man, are you long-lived?" Ying Wuxin asked with a smile and a nod.

Shi Fusheng and Zilan's faces changed slightly, and their eyes looked at the old man, but they didn't mean to stop it, they just looked straight at it.

The old man said, "Forty-nine." ”

Everyone looked surprised, and sure enough, it did not exceed fifty.

Although the old man looks to be in his fifties, his actual age is even younger, which may be related to the difficult conditions in the mountains, wind and sun.

Shi Fusheng greeted him for dinner, while Zilan handed out chopsticks and steamed buns to everyone.

The dish is relatively simple, two green vegetables, two meat, one is the ham of cured pork, one is the dried chicken, the green vegetables are not known to several people, it may be the wild vegetables in the mountains, there is porridge boiled with millet seeds, the old man only drank a bowl of porridge, even if he finished eating, he left with a cane alone.

After dinner, Shi Fusheng vacated a room for everyone and said, "The conditions are limited, so I can only wronged you to live in one room." ”

Li Zhengdao said with a smile: "It's already good to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain, thank you." ”

Then Zilan talked to the two women, it was estimated that it was a convenient matter for washing, and several men were naturally embarrassed to listen and walked outside.

It was already dark, the nearby courtyards were a little bit bright, the mountain breeze was blowing, it was very refreshing, a few men were outside to cool off, and they also washed up casually and returned to the room until late at night.

Shi Fusheng came over to explain: "Remember the rules, try not to come out, if it is convenient, there is a commode at the door, after midnight, don't go out of this room again, let alone the courtyard gate outside." ”

Li Zhengdao nodded in understanding.

"Another point, if you hear any sound, don't respond, don't be curious to check, there are ghosts and ghosts in this mountain, sometimes come to the village to hook people, if you are hooked by them, your soul will not come back, and then this body will become like a dead person. ”

"No, no, we definitely won't, we still want to live a few more years, I still have to marry a daughter-in-law. Wang Banxian sat in the corner, holding the wooden box and waving his hand repeatedly.

"Brother Shi, don't worry, we are in this room at night, the house has collapsed, and we will not go out. "There should be no promises.

Shi Fusheng explained a few more times, and then left with the lantern, in the dark room, under the light in front of him, his figure was projected on the roof, looking gloomy.

Closing the door of the upper room, Li Zhengdao responded to Wuxin with a look, the other three sat down separately, the two women cultivated, and Wang Banxian slept against the wall.

Ying Wuxin's ears moved, listening to the wind technique unfolding, listening to the movement outside, and after a while, he whispered to Li Zhengdao: "They have indeed rested, but looking at Shi Fusheng's performance just now, what should happen in the mountain city tonight, it seems that we are going to stay up until after midnight." ”

Li Zhengdao nodded and said, "I'll keep vigil for an hour first, and you come when it's close to midnight." ”

Ying was unintentional and polite, leaning against the wall on the side, arms crossed, and sleeping with his eyes closed.

The space in the dark room is limited, several people are together, after a long time, the air has become a little turbid, and it is difficult to breathe, and without waiting for Li Zhengdao to call, Ying Wuxin woke up first.

Li Zhengdao spread his hands helplessly, signaling that this was the only condition here, and then he went to cultivate instead of resting.

It was close to midnight, and there was silence all around, with the occasional gust of mountain wind blowing over the rooftops with a slight whistling sound, and the slight sound of some leaves swaying.

Puff puff......

Suddenly, there was a slight sound of footsteps outside the mountain city, very modest, and the frequency was relatively fast, Ying had no intention of listening carefully for a while, and was a little stunned to find that the owner of the sound was walking on four legs.

Generally in the mountains, the four-legged ones are all beasts, but the soles of the beasts generally have meat pads, and when they walk, they are light and silent, but this is different, the footsteps are more obvious, and it is absolutely impossible to be an ordinary beast.

And the footsteps are heavy, indicating that the owner of the voice is huge, definitely more than the tiger and black bear.

Heavy puff and puff footsteps came in from outside the mountain city, all the way through several streets, and stopped in front of the courtyard gate of Shi Fusheng's house.

Puff puff.

Louder, heavier footsteps sounded, knotting quickly, not like walking, but like a beast slapping the ground with one paw.

There was a creak, and the door to another room in the house opened.

"Daddy, do you really want to do this?" Zilan's voice pleaded with a bit of crying.

"This is a rule, it has been passed down for thousands of years, and it can't be broken, otherwise the mountain city will be finished. Shi Fusheng said in a resolute tone, came out with a horse lantern, and pushed open the door of another small room.

"Son, what are you going to do?" said the old man in the room, a little panicked.

"Dad, in a few days, you'll be fifty, it's time to go. ”

"Go, you're going to throw me away. ”

"This is the rule of the mountain city, you know it very well. ”

"I understand, get me dressed, and I'm going out. ”

A moment later, the footsteps of the two men rang out, and then the door of the house was pushed open, and the footsteps of the two men walked towards the courtyard door.

After opening the courtyard door, Shi Fusheng said to the old man: "Dad, my son will send you on the road, go all the way." ”

The old man nodded, "Take care of Zilan and Xiaohuzi, I'll go." ”

Roar.

A low roar of a beast sounded, followed by the sound of the old man's cane falling to the ground, and a moment later there was a popping sound, all the way out of the mountain city.

Shi Fusheng stood at the door, let out a long sigh, closed the courtyard door and locked it, returned to the house, and came to the door of Ying Wuxin and the others' room with a lantern, and stood there quietly listening to the movement for a while, and then left.

"Daddy is gone?" Zilan asked.

"Gone. ”

"Why? Why did we send Daddy away?"

"Rules, these are rules, the rules left by our ancestors cannot be broken, once broken, not only will we suffer, but also affect the innocent people around us, causing a huge disaster. Shi Fusheng said in a heavy and serious voice.

"I see. Zilan agreed and sobbed softly.

Ying didn't bother to listen to the wind technique and continued to listen to the sound of the four-legged thing leaving, but when the sound reached the outside of the mountain city, it quickly weakened and was muffled by the wind.

Ying Wuxin glanced at the side, Li Zhengdao was looking at himself with a faint eye, and immediately told what he heard.

Li Zhengdao lowered his voice and said: "It seems that this is really their custom, we have to keep our promise now, we can't go out, and naturally we can't check it, but knowing the situation here, when we go out, things will be much easier, maybe follow the four-legged guy, and we can know the truth." ”

Ying Wuxin nodded, it really can only be like this for now.

Although he was anxious and wanted to save people, after hearing Ying Wuxin's narration, Li Zhengdao felt that Shi Fusheng's father might not have died, and the four-legged creature who came to take people away obviously had tacit cooperation with the villagers, and taking people away may not be as simple as eating.

There will be no old people aged fifty or above in the mountain city, there must be some mystery in this, and the rules that Shi Fusheng said may not be fake.

So all of this needs to be carefully investigated, and Li Zhengdao can only suppress his urgency and wait quietly.

There was nothing to say for the rest of the night, and in the morning Shi Fusheng came over to wake up a few people, with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Guys, get up early to eat, and find your way out before dark, hurry up. Shi Fusheng greeted with a smile.

Zilan heated a few steamed buns, some pickles, and cooked a pot of noodle soup, which was a simple breakfast, and after a few people finished eating, they thanked and said goodbye.

Walking out of the courtyard gate, there were many people watching on the road outside, all with curious faces.

Li Zhengdao and the others pretended to be ignorant and fearless, greeted them with a smile, and walked over.

After leaving the village, in front of the cliff road, a few people turned around and saw that there was curling smoke rising from many courtyards in the village, and there were still the sounds of children laughing and chasing on the streets.

"Let's go, let's leave first. Li Zhengdao took the lead and walked towards the boulder portal in front.

Several other people followed, Wang Banxian carried the wooden box, took one last look at the village, and took a deep breath of air, still with a strange smell.

Sighing slightly, Wang Banxian rubbed his nose and quickly caught up with the few people in front.