Liu Laodao took the yellow paper and looked at it, and there were a few crooked words written on the paper with a bald pen: "Master, I have something to go out, don't look for me, stone." Liu Laodao confirmed that it was the handwriting of the stone, and he was surprised in his heart, this stone apprentice had never gone out without permission, after returning from Longhu Mountain this time, the temperament of the stone had indeed changed too much, what had he experienced?

"Master, do you want me to go out and find the little brother to come back?" asked Sixteen anxiously.

"It is estimated that the stone has been gone for a few hours, where to find it?" Liu Laodao looked sad, he was very worried that this young apprentice would be in danger, but when he saw the handwriting left by the stone, he felt that the stone had indeed pointed out when he went out, could it be that the stone already knew about Senior Brother Nan? Where is he going?

Yin Sixteen couldn't stop thinking about the little senior brother in his heart, and asked, "Master, don't you really need to go to the little senior brother?"

Although Liu Laodao had a series of question marks in his heart, he had already guessed a few points, and said categorically: "The character of the stone is the best for the teacher, he does not say goodbye, he must really have something to do, the matter has come to this, we will wait for the time being, wait for a few days, and make a decision for the teacher." ”

The old dog leper was locked in the firewood room by the stone last night, and he did not know when the stone quietly left, and at sixteen in the morning he heard the barking of the old dog, and opened the firewood door, and the old dog ran to the door of the fence with a smoke, looked out, and whined and wailed in disappointment.

On the banks of the Luxi River.

The small stone was ordered by the ancestor Sima Chengzhen, went down to Maoshan Mountain, was hungry and thirsty all the way, walked for several days, and finally passed the Longhu Mountain, came to the Luxi River, the stone has inquired clearly, crossed the river, and went forward to the east for twenty miles, which is the Elephant Mountain where the Valley of Flowers is located.

Although the Luxi River is not very wide, it is in the high water period, the river is long, flooding the embankment, the water potential is quite large, the waves are foggy, blocking the way.

When the stone came to the river, he saw that the river was too strong to cross the river, and he hesitated to himself, but he could not find the ferry boat left and right, so he had to march along the river bank, hoping to find a ferry to ferry, or a fisherman to borrow a boat to cross the river.

Unexpectedly, from noon to dusk, did not find the ferry, did not meet the fisherman, the stone was disheartened, was depressed, suddenly his eyes lit up, and saw not far from the river bank, there is a village, the roof is rowed, the stone road is winding, the stone heart is happy, thought, as long as there is a small boat in the village, you can cross the river.

Along the gravel path, the stone came to the entrance of the village, and saw that the village was very quiet in the sunset, not to mention the human voice, not even the sound of chickens and dogs, let alone a single figure.

The houses in the village looked a little dilapidated, and the doors were closed, except for one or two houses with a few wisps of smoke wafting out.

Walking to the door of the small courtyard made of bricks and stones, the stone knocked lightly on the wooden door.

"Tuk-tuk"

"Anyone?" the stone called, but when there was no answer, he knocked twice more, and called twice.

Only then did I hear someone in the courtyard answer, "Who?" This person spoke with a local accent, and Shi Shi couldn't understand it.

"Donor, I'm a Taoist boy from Youfang, and I want to ask you something. Shi Shi said in official dialect that when he was in the mountains, Liu Laodao had been teaching Shi to speak official dialect in order to make it easier to go out.

The sound of footsteps came, the wooden door "squeaked" opened, and an old man's half body leaned out of it, he looked down, it turned out that the knocker was a child, very surprised, and also said in a half-baked official language: "Yo, who should I be, it turned out to be a little master, what do you want to ask?"

Shi looked at the old man, about sixty years old, dressed plainly, with a roving scarf wrapped around his head, a stubbled beard on his face, and an honest appearance, so he gave a salute and said, "Old donor, I, I want to ask you, is there a boat to cross the river in this village?"

The old man frowned, and said: "This is not a coincidence, it is not a secret, little master, our village is called Xinan Village, to say that in the early years, this village is full of fishermen, not to say that it is not difficult to find a boat, that is, to find dozens of them, but now the villagers have gone to work as merchants, no one has been fishing for a long time, and the fishing boats have also chopped wood and burned fires, you see that in the village, eight out of ten households are empty, and everyone has moved to Luxi County, which is a hundred miles away, even the three sons of the old man. As he spoke, the old man opened the door and bowed to the stone, "Little master, where is the Immortal Mansion?"

After hearing this, Shishi's heart was cold, and Mu Ran replied: "I am from Maoshan, and my name is Shishi." ”

"Oh, hehe, the little master of the stone, the old man's surname is Wei, I have lived in this Xinan Village for decades, and I have never seen a Taoist boy from Maoshan, come, come in and drink a bowl of water." Wei Laohan said, grabbed the stone and let it in, the stone was a little hungry, so he thanked him and followed him into the courtyard.

The courtyard is not large, but it is also regular, with three tiled rooms, divided into the side rooms of the main house, and an east room, which is used as a kitchen, from which the smoke comes out.

Wei Laohan and the stone entered the living room of the main room, there were no very luxurious furnishings in the room, only a few tables and chairs, a few cases, very simple, Wei Laohan let the stone to the seat of the main room, personally poured a bowl of tea, and presented it to the stone, the stone hurriedly took it, drank the tea, put the bowl on the coffee table next to the seat, and asked: "Uncle Wei, I have an urgent matter, I want to cross the river, is there any way?"

Wei Laohan thought about it again, and suddenly clapped his hands and said: "Why did I forget, little master, if you want to cross the river, you have to go to find the kingfish Yazi in the village, and there is still a broken boat in the whole village." ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard an old woman's voice outside the door, "Old thing, I have a blind idea, I don't know if Yuyazi's house is haunted?" An old woman walked in with a pot of steaming rice, and she nodded at Wei Laohan, she was wearing a cotton skirt, her hair was tied in a bun, her figure was thick, and her appearance was simple.

When Shi heard the old woman say that it was haunted, a glimmer of hope rose in his heart and was about to be dashed, so he hurriedly asked, "This grandmother, I don't know what the hell is going on in Yuyazi's house?"

Wei Laohan saw his wife walk in, and said with a smile: "Little master, don't blame, this is clumsy, the countryman is rude and doesn't know how to be polite, but this fish tooth's family has been really restless recently, I don't know if I can row across the river!"

The old woman put the rice on the table, and after giving a salute to the stone, she stood beside Wei Laohan, and the stone hurriedly stood up and returned the salute.

"Uncle Wei, I, I want to cross the river early, can you take me to see it?"

The old woman waved her hand and said: "It's also in vain, little master, that fish tooth is haunted by ghosts, where can you go to sea, according to me, you have finished eating with us, stay for one night, and continue to go upstream tomorrow, go to the big ferry port in Luxi County to take a boat, don't go to see the fish tooth." ”

"Oh, how far is it from here to Luxi County?"