The next day was a sunny day.
A large number of anchors have already left Yueshan Village. When Lu Yingjiu got up in the morning, he drew the curtains and the sunlight poured into the dim room, so bright that it was blinding. He squinted and looked outside. Three or four children were running downstairs chattering, and several cars were leaving the village.
They still had breakfast in the hotel.
The hotel's breakfast buffet is finally not that rubbish, it looks like it was made in a normal kitchen.
Lu Yingjiu took some scrambled eggs and ate them while looking around.
Although the anchors were terrified, the village was completely normal. Not only did the hotel staff look calm and operate as usual, but even the adults left their children running around outside.
It's really ridiculously calm.
He said: "This person is too calm, it always feels a bit strange."
"Oh, this matter," Ye Feng said while holding the chicken wings, "It's a long story. I was just about to tell you about it."
He took a few bites of the chicken wing, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and looked around with a complicated expression - they were sitting in a very corner, and even the waiters rarely came over.
He continued, "I didn't tell you everything at first, because this is something that has been going on for a long, long time, and even Ye Xiao feels that it doesn't matter anymore."
"The Yueshan Sanatorium did not close down due to poor management."
"Since the summer of 2002, the hospital seems to be cursed. Both patients and exorcists have mysteriously disappeared and died. At first, they were just isolated cases. They thought it was a wild ghost in the mountains, or that the patients ran away. Later, they gradually realized that something was wrong."
Lu Yingjiu nodded: "I have heard a little bit about it."
He had heard similar rumors when he was still in the Qingdeng Society.
It's just that the news was strictly blocked at the time, and so many years had passed, so the rumors were very vague and there were many versions.
Ye Feng said: "The exorcists in the world have never found the reason. They can only attribute it to the long-term gathering of patients who have encountered ghosts here, which has caused the yin energy to be too heavy, causing the luck of the entire mountain range to be polluted and attracting unknown ghosts and gods."
"No one dared to work anymore, and finally they hastily closed the hospital in early 2003 and left this place."
Xiao Li suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! I was wondering why the sanatorium was closed when it was needed."
"Yes," Ye Feng nodded, "closing the hospital was really a last resort. Although my second master was extremely opposed, he had to compromise considering safety issues."
Ye Feng looked around again to make sure that no one could hear their conversation.
The waiter was far away, and there was another table of guests diagonally opposite.
He said: "My father also said that Erye has a strange temper and is moody. When he is happy, he will praise me and bring me candies, windmills or other small toys. When he is angry, I dare not appear in front of him... In short, in my father's words, he is as stubborn as a cow."
"He was unwilling to leave like this, and felt that it would damage Ye's reputation. He returned to the courtyard again and again with the exorcist to look for the truth."
"They failed. Several people who were with them, as well as those who tried to directly demolish the sanatorium, all became seriously ill after returning. Some recovered, while others died directly from the illness."
Lu Yingjiu asked, "I remember you said that your second grandmother also died of illness."
Ye Feng sighed: "Yes. To be precise, they both died of illness."
“But their condition has nothing to do with the nursing home.”
"My second grandmother passed away in 2000, and the hospital was closed in 2002 due to the severity of the disease. My second grandfather had lung cancer and was treated for many years. He passed away in his old age in 2007."
Xiao Li picked up a sausage, took a big bite, and suddenly wondered, "If the sanatorium is really cursed, then why don't we have any mercy now?"
Ye Feng replied: "That's because the sanatorium gradually returned to normal after a few years. People can come and go as they please and no one will get sick."
"So I said, after so many years, most people think this matter is insignificant..."
"However, there are some anomalies in your second master's photo," Lu Yingjiu said, "plus the appearance of Zhang Nianyun, which proves that there is indeed something wrong with this."
"Yes, you are right." Ye Feng had a headache. Thinking of the whole thing, he lost his appetite. "The relics left by the Second Master may be the clue for me."
"In short, let's go back to the original topic," he said. "When the casualties in the sanatorium were the worst, no one in the village was concerned. After so many years, they've probably gotten used to it, knowing that no matter what happens, it won't affect the village, and they won't be involved. So they're so calm."
Xiao Li was stunned when he heard this: "Everyone in this village is a ruthless person."
"I think so too," Ye Feng said, "They are really too fierce. Since then, they don't shy away from the sanatorium. Even though they know that the sanatorium is for exorcism, they still hang around nearby, picking wild fruits and herding sheep. The local people are really fierce..."
After breakfast, Ye Feng said that someone told him some information and he was going to the mountain.
Since we are going, of course we should go together.
After all, the second grandmother is probably still climbing a tree. If the mother-in-law is too happy to see her good grandson and kisses Ye Feng, it will be troublesome.
Half an hour later, Lu Yingjiu was already standing at the foot of the mountain. In front of him was a path covered with weeds and rocks, winding all the way up the mountain.
The sanatorium was on the north side of the village, and they were going to the south side, which was completely opposite to it.
There was nothing in the hotel, so Ye Feng had to ask the village chief Feng Mao for four paper maps.
Unexpectedly, Feng Mao followed them all the way to the foot of the mountain, holding four maps.
The old man was still wearing his sweatshirt and waving a palm-leaf fan. He looked very skeptical: "Are you really just going to take a walk in the mountains?"
"Yes, yes," Ye Feng nodded, "I really just walked around and didn't do anything."
Feng Mao then asked, "You don't have any FO with you, right?"
He has a heavy accent, so what he said should mean "fire".
Ye Feng nodded again and again: "Absolutely not, absolutely not. We are very environmentally conscious, and we must protect every blade of grass and every tree! We firmly resist such evil acts as setting fire to the mountains! Let me start by abiding by the law!"
Lu Yingjiu gently nudged Jing Xian with his elbow, meaning "Did you hear that?"
He still remembered that time in the sanatorium, when Jing Xian's face looked like he wanted to set fire to the mountain.
Jing Xian whispered, "It's not that I'm not environmentally friendly. Think about it, if those trees were burned, wouldn't they all go to the ghost world?"
Road to welcome wine:
Lu Yingjiu: "Is there such a reason?"
"Yes," Jing Xian said, "Don't you often burn paper money and gold ingots? Those things will go to the underworld when they are burned. Of course, if the tree is burned, it will also go to the underworld."
Lu Yingjiu always felt that this logic was very strange, but he couldn't think of the flaw.
He asked again: "Paper money and gold ingots are burned for relatives and friends, where can the burned forest go?"
"You can go anywhere." Jing Xian said, "Sometimes a large forest will suddenly grow on the streets of the ghost world."
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
After getting Ye Feng's repeated assurances, Feng Mao finally began to believe it. He weighed the map in his hand and gave it to the four people one by one.
When saying goodbye, Feng Mao asked again: "Didn't you all say that there are ghosts on this mountain? Why are you still not leaving when others have left?"
"We have to investigate this thoroughly." Ye Feng said, "If we don't get rid of him, you won't be at peace."
Feng Mao snorted: "We are quite safe. I warn you again, don't get angry."
"Okay, okay," Ye Feng promised again, "I will never have a fo, I will never have a fo."
Feng Mao put his hands behind his back and walked slowly towards the village.
After getting the map, Lu Yingjiu and the others started to go up the mountain.
When the wind blows, the sea of trees rustles.
This path had been repaired before, and there were stone stairs in some places, but the stone stairs were badly worn, overgrown with weeds and moss, and difficult to walk on.
Ye Feng led the way at the front, and Xiao Li followed behind him.
The two were bitten by mosquitoes again, and they were in great pain. They sprayed mosquito repellent but it didn't work. They still saw them buzzing around, their stomachs filled with their own blood. The deeper they went into the mountains, the more they were bitten. It was like a mosquito carnival.
"Brother Ye Feng!" Xiao Li gritted his teeth and said, "Your grandmother's true sutra is really awesome! I can't stay in a place like this for even a day!"
Ye Feng had just slapped a mosquito to death, his hands were covered in blood, and he was looking for a tissue everywhere: "This old man has always been determined, bold and careful. He can even dig out the private money that the second master has hidden for ten years. Don't you think he is awesome?!"
"Isn't your master a clean and honest person? How come he has some private money?"
"That private money was only fifty yuan, hidden under a patient's bed!" Ye Feng wiped his hands vigorously, "That patient was crazy, and when he lost control, he would bite anyone, and he wouldn't let go. Second Mistress sneaked over, subdued him by herself, and then overturned his bed, dug out the fifty yuan, threw it in front of Second Master, and said, "You can do whatever you want."
Xiao Li was shocked: "When I saw the photo, I thought it was a quiet one."
"When a quiet person becomes fierce, he is even more terrifying." Ye Feng started to hit the mosquito again, "Look at him, can you imagine how fast he is when he climbs a tree?"
"No. He's as flexible as a gibbon."
While listening to their conversation, Lu Yingjiu thought that between Xiao Li and Ye Feng, at least one of them had type O blood.
It really attracts mosquitoes.
The two of them were chatting, and there were more and more mosquitoes around them, almost like a small black vortex. Lu Ying was like a drunkard, but he didn't show it on his face. He quietly moved closer to Jing Xian.
He knew last time that if he relied on Jing Xian, there wouldn't be any bugs at all.
Lu Yingjiu smelled the faint fragrance on him again.
He asked, "Did you wear perfume?"
Jing Xian was stunned for a moment: "No, do I smell?"
"It seems to have a fragrance." Lu Yingjiu replied, "I have never smelled anything like it."
Lu Yingjiu actually doesn't know much about perfume.
He only knew about the perfumes of a few male colleagues, citrus or rose, violet or sandalwood. The only male fragrance he had smelled was on Chu Banyang - people who were not interested in perfume would only think "Oh, he might have sprayed perfume" and then forget it.
But he couldn't describe the atmosphere of respect and leisure.
It was like the first snow, or a new moon.
Perhaps only these illusory things can describe it. Men are quite clever in matching this kind of fragrance. It has a low presence and will not make people feel abrupt, but you will never forget it after smelling it.
Jing Xian was silent for a few seconds.
Lu Yingjiu didn't know how he would react. When she turned around, she saw Jingxian smelling the back of her hand in confusion. When she saw Lu Yingjiu turning around, she quickly put it down and pretended nothing happened.
Lu Yingjiu suddenly laughed: "How can you smell it yourself?"
"Oh." Jing Xian paused for a few seconds, "Maybe it's the scent of flowers from the ghost world, you don't like it?"
"No, it smells nice."
So Jing Xian couldn't hide his smile and curled up the corners of his mouth.
After waiting for a long time, they finally reached a steep slope. Jing Xian extended his hand to Lu Yingjiu and said, "I'll pull you up."
Lu Yingjiu refused to take his hand and said, "No need."
Even Chen Xiaoling, a ruthless person, could climb this slope wearing high heels, and might even break a few stone steps. What problem could he have
Jing Xian's thoughts are written all over his face.
Jing Xian said: "Look how dangerous this slope is..."
"No." Lu Yingjiu said.
Jing Xianhua changed the subject: "I'm afraid I will fall, so I need you to pull me up."
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
He had a completely new understanding of Jing Xian. He clapped Jing Xian's hand with a frown on his face and climbed up the slope by himself.
Jing Xian kept nagging him from behind: "What if I really fall?"
Lu Ying was drunk and thought, who was the person who was walking briskly beside me just now? Let alone the slope, even if he threw Jing Xian off the cliff, Jing Xian would not be the slightest bit angry, and he might even pick a beautiful flower from the bottom of the cliff and bring it back for him.
Jing Xian added: "There is a lot of moss here, too."
Lu Yingjiu thought, I see you walk faster than me, there is not much moss, but you have a lot of excuses.
Jing Xian said: "If I fall and get disabled, you will have to take care of me for the rest of my life. You are a widow and you are not only not frugal, but you also have to feed porridge to your husband..."
Lu Yingjiu slapped him again to stop him from talking, and then immediately looked back.
—Ye Feng and Xiao Li were still swatting mosquitoes and didn't hear what I said.
He whispered, "How can you be so talkative and nonsense?"
Jing Xian said: "In short, my core idea is that this mountain road is really dangerous."
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
They were still going up, and the slope was getting steeper and steeper. They had to take one deep step and one shallow step, and were entangled in the long grass from time to time, which was very annoying.
A few seconds later, Lu Ying, the waiter, sighed, turned around, and extended his hand to Jing Xian.
He was caught immediately.
Although theoretically he was the one who pulled Jingxian, in reality, Jingxian was not only very agile, but his hands were also bigger than his, almost covering his entire palm.
Those two people are right at the head.
Although they knew that Lu Yingjiu and Jing Xian would definitely not be lost and they hadn't looked back for a long time, Lu Yingjiu still felt inexplicably uneasy.
His ears felt a little hot. He wasn't sure if it was due to the hot weather or some other reason. He kept silent as the two of them climbed up the steep slope one after the other.
Just as he went up, Ye Feng was talking when he suddenly turned around and said, "Hey, Lu Yingjiu..."
Lu Yingjiu subconsciously wanted to let go of his hand—
As a result, Jing Xian was one step faster than him and let go in time.
Ye Feng didn't see anything and continued, "I remember you had a commission, which also required going into the forest?"
"Yes." Lu Yingjiu said, "At that time, a mountain ghost appeared, so I went up the mountain to look for it."
Xiao Li's eyes lit up: "Mountain ghost! I have never seen a girl before, what does it look like?"
"It's no different from humans at ordinary times. Only when the yin energy is heavy, such as at night, it will wander around the hills in the form of a ghost..." Lu Yingjiu said as he turned his head to see Jing Xian's expression.
Jing Xian raised his eyebrows at him, with a hint of pride, meaning he wanted to see how quick he was, and he stuffed another bag of peanuts into his hand.
Up to today, Jing Xian seemed to have never caused him any trouble.
Lu Yingjiu couldn't help but laugh, and even when he was telling the story of the mountain ghost, his tone was smiling.
As Xiao Li listened, he felt strange. What was so funny about this story? He looked back at Lu Yingjiu, but he couldn't figure out why. He could only conclude that maybe his brother Lu really liked exorcising ghosts, and he might have a special liking for mountain ghosts.
We walked and stopped along the way, and our cell phone had no signal, so we could only follow the map.
After walking for more than two hours, we finally reached the top of the hill.
At the top, a dilapidated hexagonal pavilion stood.
There were shallow lines on the pillars of the pavilion, and a flaming snake coiled up and spit out its tongue on the top of the pavilion, which was lifelike. There were also some mottled marks on the wall, as if some rectangular paper had been pasted on it, which should be a talisman paper or something like that.
The four of them arrived at the pavilion.
The whole way up was very hot even though the trees blocked the sun, there was basically no wind, and I drank one or two bottles of water, but I still felt thirsty. When I arrived at the pavilion, the surroundings were spacious, and a cool breeze suddenly blew in my face, making my sweaty back feel slightly cool, which was very comfortable.
The angle of the pavilion is also very good.
Looking around, you can take in the vast expanse of mountains around.
In the dazzling midday sun, Lu Yingjiu half-squinted his eyes.
He looked at the other two peaks next to him, and there seemed to be similar pavilions on the tops.
"Finally we've arrived," Ye Feng let out a long sigh, wiped the bench in the pavilion, sat down, and spread the map on the chair, "This is the pavilion that Ye Feng built before."
The wind made the map rustle. Ye Feng held the map tightly with one hand and took out a fountain pen with the other. He bit off the pen cap with his mouth and drew a circle on the map: "We are here now, Pavilion No. 3, Hongqi Peak."
He pointed to two peaks in the distance, circled them on the map, and said, "There are Pavilion 1 and Pavilion 2 there."
Xiao Li asked: "Is this some kind of tourist route? You guys are quite good at developing side businesses."
"What?" Ye Feng said, "My grandfather is not that versatile. Yesterday I asked a few elders if they knew about 'worshiping the mountain', and they told me about it. This matter starts with the selection of the site for the sanatorium."
He continued, "The mountain range near the sanatorium is called Wanming Mountain. There are more than 30 peaks of different sizes, and each one has a hexagonal pavilion built on top. If we connect them together, we can outline the direction of the mountain range."
He circled the location of the nursing home.
Then, starting from the sanatorium, we passed through the peaks and drew a curve.
The final line, with curves and bends, looks like a giant snake, with a wide head and a narrow tail, and two cliffs that show its sharp teeth. The sanatorium is located at its eyes.
Ye Feng pointed at the curve again: "Ye Fan has a connection with the 'Li Snake', and it can exert its strength even more in the mountains. This mountain range is blessed by the snake god, and each pavilion strengthens its strength. This is why the sanatorium was chosen to be located here."
"Since you are blessed, you should thank the snake - that is what they call 'paying respects to the mountain'."
"There are always two or three times every year when Ye leaves the sanatorium and visits all the more than 30 pavilions. On the one hand, it is to strengthen the talisman paper, and on the other hand, it is to express gratitude."
Lu Yingjiu said, “But you said the sanatorium was closed because the mountain’s qi was polluted and people started disappearing and dying.”
"Yes." Ye Feng sighed, "With the Li Snake guarding, this kind of situation should be impossible to happen. I have an idea now. Do you remember the photos we got from the sanatorium?"
He took the photo out of his wallet.
That was a group photo they found in the videotape: Little Ye Feng was riding on Ye Deyong's neck, and next to him was Zhang Nianyun and twenty or thirty employees of the sanatorium.
On the back of the photo, the handwriting is flamboyant:
January 13, 1999, the third visit to the mountain
Ye Feng said: "Among all the pavilions, the most critical ones are the three pavilions, which are the one under our feet and the two in the distance. I came here to confirm the condition of the pavilions - as long as they are intact, it means that the formation still exists and is worth visiting. What I think is that we can walk the mountain worshipping road again, maybe we can find some clues, and we can also... we can also see my second grandmother again."
Lu Yingjiu nodded and said, "It sounds like a solution. We don't have any other choice."
Ye Feng sighed: "Then let's rest for a while and then start to go down the mountain. Go back to the hotel and prepare, and go up the mountain tomorrow."
Little did I know that the weather was so hot and there were so many mosquitoes when we went up the mountain, but there were no mosquitoes when we went down.
Because when we reached halfway up the mountain, it suddenly started raining.
It was just a drizzle at first.
Lu Yingjiu pinched a piece of talisman paper and placed it around him, barely stopping the rain.
As a result, within 10 minutes, lightning flashed like wild snakes to split the sky, thunder rumbled and rolled, and raindrops as big as beans poured down, the sound of the rain boiling, crackling on the leaves. The talisman paper could not stop it at all, and the whole forest was tilted by the strong wind.
The stone road under my feet was already worn out and smooth, and covered with moss.
—This time it’s really slippery.
"Ouch!" Xiao Li cried out, his feet slipped, and he fell down more than a dozen stairs. When he stood up, he covered his butt and gritted his teeth, "I am really unlucky today!"
Ye Feng was about to speak when his feet slipped. His feet moved several times on the road like a spacewalk, and he danced with joy, barely able to keep his balance.
Lu Yingjiu: “…”
Observing the environment is an important quality of an excellent exorcist. He knew that according to the law of bad luck transmission, it would be his turn next, so he supported Jing Xian silently and felt a lot more at ease.
Jing Xian was very pleased. He put his right arm around Lu Yingjiu's shoulder and walked down steadily, helping him to shield himself from the wind and rain.
Even in the wind and rain, going down the mountain was still faster than going up. It only took more than 20 minutes to get back to the village from halfway up the mountain.
When they arrived at the hotel, the four of them were all soaked. They each held up a piece of talisman paper to dry their bodies, but their clothes were still a little damp.
As soon as Lu Yingjiu returned to the room, Jing Xian pushed her into the bathroom.
After returning to the room, Lu Yingjiu simply took a shower.
The sound of rain outside was almost violent. He turned on the shower faucet, and hot water poured down his head, flowing over his butterfly bones, straight back and waist, taking away the coldness of the rain, and relaxing every muscle in his body. He had scars on his body, but it did not affect the beauty of his slender body.
After putting on his cassock, he picked up the longevity lock beside him.
Ever since Jing Xian appeared, the longevity lock has never been popular again.
Probably because the deity came to him, it had no effect at all.
Lu Yingjiu smiled and put on the longevity lock again as usual.
When he came out, Lu Yingjiu smelled a scent of hot ginger.
There is a bowl of cola ginger tea on the table.
The kind that's just cooked.
Lu Yingjiu was stunned for a few seconds: "There's ginger tea here?"
Jing Xian said: "I borrowed the restaurant's kitchen."
Lu Yingjiu doubted the word "borrow" for half a second, then asked, "For me?"
"Um."
"Why didn't you make one for yourself?"
Jing Xian smiled: "I won't catch a cold."
Lu Yingjiu originally wanted to say, I won’t catch a cold either.
He had experienced all kinds of adverse environments, including rainstorms and typhoons, scorching heat and extreme cold, and a little rain wouldn't cause him to catch a cold. But when the words came to his lips, he felt it was inappropriate - after all, someone else made ginger tea for him, and saying this would seem like he was not appreciative.
He sat down and said, "Thank you."
After taking a sip, I found the spiciness of ginger to be just right, not too irritating nor too bland.
For the following time, Lu Yingjiu sat on the bay window in the house.
He turned off the light and drank tea while looking at his phone. The black-haired ball came to play with him again, rubbing against him, and then rolled to every corner of the room, sniffing everywhere.
There was a violent storm outside the window, but the lights were bright inside the house. The warmth of the ginger tea started from the stomach and was carried by the blood throughout the body.
What followed was a lazy sleepiness.
After finishing the last sip of ginger tea, he put the bowl aside and thought about what to bring with him when he walked the mountain worship road tomorrow.
No matter what, he had to remind Ye Feng and Xiao Li to bring more mosquito repellent.
Lu Yingjiu looked out the window.
The rain slowly flowed down the glass, ripples spread out in circles on the lake not far away, and bursts of rain were blown sideways by the wind, making everything white.
In this kind of weather, no one would go out. The streets were empty. All one could see were lights on in every street under the iron-blue sky, and vague human figures through the windows.
As I looked, the focus of my vision changed.
He saw Jing Xian in the reflection of the glass.
Jing Xian picked a handful of beans from his countless snacks and fed them to Mao Tuanzi.
The hairy ball ate it with a crunch.
Jingxian took another spicy strip.
Maotuanzi accepts everyone who comes.
Lu Yingjiu just looked at them from the reflection.
The lazy and sleepy feeling, the warm yellow light, the warm air, the handsome man and the furry black animal in the house, combined together, give a feeling of peace and tranquility.
He just curled up the corners of his mouth unconsciously, and suddenly saw Xi Jingxian took out half a piece of ginger.
…looks a lot like the leftover raw material for ginger tea.
Road to welcome wine:
The hairy ball ate it with a crunch.
Jing Xian watched it eat, and suddenly raised his eyes to look towards Lu Yingjiu.
Lu Yingjiu quickly looked away and pretended not to see them.
Jingxian lady Lu Yingjiu didn't look over here. She quickly took out a skull from her bag and fed it to Maotuanzi.
Maotuanzi: "Crack, crack—burp!" Then he wagged his tail at Jingxian frantically.
Road welcomes wine:
What is Jing Xian feeding his summons? !