Fanhe County, which can be called the east gate of Zhangye County, is rearming and armed, and the Lixuan County Order, which is adjacent to Fanhe, was also instructed by someone who suddenly had the status of holding a festival not to take a breather. From Fanhe to the east, and then walk for more than half a month, it is Xiutu County under the jurisdiction of Wuwei County, compared to the busy but orderly Fanhe, the scene here seems dilapidated and desolate.

It was getting late, and at a glance, the sky was covered with clouds, gray, white, ink and black, which made people not see clearly enough. It was cold and condensed, and there was a light wind, rolling up how many snow flakes were there, covering up the blood-stained path on the ground and the abandoned houses that were burning by the road.

A man, wearing a felt hat on his head, a bow on his back, a knife at his waist, a gourd in one hand, and a blue cloth wrap in the other, trekked deep and shallow in this drowsy snowy road.

His body was covered with snow powder, and it had already fallen into the thick layer, and he didn't shake the snow, just stepped forward step by step.

The road turned a few steps, and between the pine forests in front of me, there was a shrine.

The shrine looked solemn at the weather, but the vasson frozen in the ice ridge on the eaves and the half-yellow and non-green moss marks on the steps could still be seen, which was obviously abandoned for a long time.

The door of the shrine was pushed open, and a man with a short face and a short beard saw him and hurriedly said: "The third brother is back, take a walk at the head of the door, live and live!"

The man who was called the third brother nodded, and then handed over the package in his hand: "Second brother, all the people in the villages near the left are dead, and even if they are not dead, they are all tied up and taken to the county seat." I flipped through it a few times before I found such a little air-dried bacon and dried vegetables...... This Wuwei County is already a dead land, so we have to plan early!"

When he said this, the short-haired man just nodded and tilted his head: "Xiaoliu made some steamed cakes today, and the goods you brought back happened to burn a pot of mixed vegetable soup, and everyone ate it warmer." As for future plans, when the snow stops, let's discuss it before we ......"

This group of people is also the son of a rogue in the neighborhood, and they just do some business of drilling holes over the wall on weekdays, which is one level lower than the serious bandits and horse bandits who fall into the grass.

Originally, in the winter, they would just gather in this abandoned shrine to find some trouble for the lone traders. However, although this move was unintentional, it happened to avoid the catastrophe of the Qiang army's burning of the villages.

But although their lives were saved, it was difficult for them to say what the future was.

At this time, the man in the felt hat had nothing to say, stood at the head of the shrine and stomped his feet fiercely for a while, then held a handful of snow balls, rubbed his hands hard red, and followed the short-haired man into the shrine.

Just as the two of them were about to close the door, they heard someone at the head of the door shouting softly: "Master's house, it's cold and snowy, and there is nowhere to stay, maybe Xiaosheng can borrow it for one night?"

The man's voice was hoarse, and although he called himself a child, he sounded like an old man.

As soon as the two men turned around, they saw a white-haired old man standing in the snow, this old man was of medium height, with a high nose, a knife-striped face, a pointed chin, a goatee, deep sunken eye sockets, and a pair of eyes that seemed to be always squinting. There is also a cloud-like black blue mark around the right eye socket, and if you don't look closely, you can say that the eye is already blind.

In such a cold weather, the old man only wore a thin long coat with blue in white, and hung a plain silk jacket on his chest, embroidered with innate gossip diagrams, looking like a warlock selling divination. However, the pair of mustaches on the old man's lips, which were two fingers long and one finger wide, were cocked like a pair of scimitars, and they looked inexplicably murderous, which made people feel strange at first sight.

The old man arched his hand towards them, and the two men looked at each other and returned the salute with their fists. The short-haired man thought for a while, and then said, "Old man, I won't tell you, we are also short of food and clothing here." It's okay to leave you overnight, but there's no hospitality, so if you don't like our kind treatment, please come in and make a fire. ”

The old man touched his beard lightly and nodded: "Zuo is a wanderer, it is already a rare blessing to have a tile on the house to avoid the snow, how can you ask for more? ”

As he spoke, the old man couldn't help but speak, and walked inside. During this step, the two men realized that the old man's steps were one foot deep and one foot shallow, and he was actually a cripple. However, the action is extremely neat, and there is nothing that the lame hinders the movement.

The old man walked up to the main hall of the shrine, but he happened to see a man rushing out of the hall with a steamer, and his face was angry: "What the hell is this, second brother, look, we make steamed cakes!"

I saw that on the steamer that the man held in both hands, there were three or five steamed cakes of mixed grains that seemed to be soft and swollen, but when he saw the wind, it was like malaria, and he kept shaking and twitching. These steamed cakes shook on one side and shrunk on the other, and later, they shrank to the size of chestnuts.

The short-haired man looked at the steamed cake that was shrinking smaller and smaller with a suspicious face, carefully picked one up, and put it in his mouth. He chewed for a long time, but it was like biting an old cowhide, and he couldn't bite at all, let alone swallow it downward. He was reluctant to spit it out, so he just held it in his mouth.

The man wearing the felt hat looked around, and couldn't help but say: "Isn't it that the god who is enshrined here has not been offered for a long time, and when he saw that we were starting a gang here, he pulled out a tap first?"

After he said this, several people suddenly panicked, and couldn't help but look in all directions.

Zuo Laoweng ignored them, only looked at the beam of the main hall, and a long black shadow suddenly shrank towards the darkness, only a bamboo pipe shrunk and could not be retracted, and half of it was exposed.

Zuo Laoweng didn't say anything, but said to the man who was in charge of the food: "Maybe today's day is not good, and I committed a collision." If you put these steamed cakes back and steam them, you won't know if the noodles will still open. ”

The man in charge of the food heard Zuo Laoweng say this, and took the steamer back to the stove suspiciously. Zuo Laoweng also walked to the stove, but he didn't know where he took out a rabbit pen stained with cinnabar, and ordered the cinnabar spot in the middle of the steamed cakes.

As soon as he lit the cinnabar spot here, there was a slight sound like a mouse running on the beam of the shrine. The man in charge of the food didn't know what was going on the beam, so he just scolded in a low voice. He picked up a clay pot again, put it on the stove, added some snow water, and boiled it with the bacon and dried vegetables.

He looked around, rubbed his hands, and said, "Why is the firewood almost used again?"

The man waved at the old man Zuo and said with a dry smile: "Old man, please take care of some fire here, we have to go out and pick up some firewood and come back." ”

After that, he tightened his clothes and went out in the snow, and he went too quickly, and he never heard Zuo Laoweng say behind him: "The fierce spirit in the north is high, and your face is black, just in response to the emperor's appearance of the black dragon in the north, remember not to go north." ”

Seeing the man rushing away, the old man sighed imperceptibly, then squatted down and added a piece of wood to the stove.

The firewood was crackling and burning in the hearth, and in a short time the water in the clay pot was boiling slightly, and the aroma of dried vegetables and bacon wafted out slightly.

As the fragrance wafted, there was a slight fluctuation in the air, and a faint shadow slowly hung down from the beam and stretched out towards the clay pot.

The old man Zuo seemed to be unconscious, but he flexed his middle finger and thumb and flicked it lightly into the air, and suddenly there was a sound of knocking wood in the air. With this sound, it seemed as if something had fallen to the ground, and as if some creature was running down the beams and pillars of the house.

However, in these movements, there is no trace of it.

The second and third children were only talking about what the future situation should be, and they only frowned and gritted their teeth when they heard these movements: "There are more and more rats in this broken temple." ”

And the old man Zuo, who was watching the fire, did not change his face, but added another piece of firewood to the stove.

......

.........

The pine forest under the snow looked even darker, and the man who collected firewood held half a wooden stick in one hand and lowered his head to look for the dry firewood that was not buried by the winter snow, while muttering: "This Wuwei County is really no longer a place for people to stay." When the snow stops, I have to talk to the second brother, whether I run towards the pass or go to Zhangye nearby, I have to get the next idea! If I don't leave, if I stay in this ghost place, I will either freeze to death and die of cold, or I will be pulled by those Qiang people to sacrifice the knife!"

As he spoke, he lowered his head and shook the snow, but he happened to come across a large green object, which could not be seen clearly in the dim light, but looked like a large green-skinned radish with half of the snow exposed. It's just that this green-skinned radish is too thick and too big......

He cautiously followed the lines of the green-skinned radish all the way up, but a drop of fishy mucus landed on his forehead, and what caught his eyes was a strange face with turned lips, sharp teeth, and corpse green!

This kind of monster, since the beginning of the Qiang Rebellion, began to appear sporadically in various places, and in those slaughtered villages, it was not uncommon to see this monster. But facing such a monster so close is the first time for this man!

He was about to scream "Ghost!", but a miserable white hand reached out from the side and grabbed him by the throat!

The owner of the hand was a man with pale skin and brown hair, who did not look very old, but had a disgusting yellow beard.

As soon as he opened his mouth, what he said was not nonsense, but authentic official dialect: "There are still living Han people in this area, and it seems that there is more than one?"

The man struggled to break the hand around his neck, and at the same moment a large black dog burst out of the snow and whined at the man, as if to lead the way.

The man listened to the dog's barking and nodded slightly: "Sure enough, you are more loyal to the Lord than these Han people who don't know justice." Come, take me there. ”

As he spoke, the strange-looking man threw the captive in his hand to the ground.

The sudden release of the trachea poured in the fresh air that sustained his life, and the unlucky man had just taken a big breath when a cold, hard thing passed through his throat!

The last voice he heard before he died was a phrase he couldn't understand: "Today is a holy day, and even sinners who deserve to be judged deserve this blessing: Merrychristmas!"