"Three, third uncle, this... seems to be a river lantern?"
Li Dacheng shined the flashlight on the water surface, and screamed in surprise.
"I saw it, shhh, don't make a sound." Unknowingly, as if thinking of something, the third uncle's expression suddenly became a little nervous, and he made a movement of silence.
River lanterns are used to worship relatives.
Only the dead would use it.
It is a folk tradition to release river lanterns to pay homage to the dead. Uncle Sanshu and Li Dacheng naturally recognized that these small paper boats were river lanterns at first sight.
"These river lanterns may have been released by someone who fell into the water and drowned near here recently, and some relatives mourned the dead by the river. Let's act as if we didn't see anything, and hurry up and get out of here."
"Remember, river lanterns are used to worship the dead, so don't go fishing when you see river lanterns."
"Also, if you hear someone calling our name from behind, or hear any strange movement behind you, don't turn your head back. It might be a dead person calling for a soul, a water ghost drowned in the water Looking for a scapegoat."
Uncle San spoke very nervously.
The third uncle is already in his fifties, and the older generation is generally superstitious about these things, but at this time, Li Dacheng will naturally not make a rebuttal. In the deep mountains and old forests at night, someone put a river lantern in the water. creepy.
The two hurriedly quickened their pace, and when they were about to walk out of the path, something went wrong suddenly.
The road by the river was already slippery, and with the recent showers, Li Dacheng was in a hurry and slipped under his feet. He stretched out his hand and grabbed it in a panic. Although he grabbed a small tree beside him in time, he did not fall. After entering the river, his knees hit the ground heavily. Xia Tian's clothes were thin, and a large piece of skin was cut immediately, and blood flowed out. The pain made Li Dacheng grin his teeth, and he almost cried out in pain.
"Why do you lose the chain at critical moments, kid?" Third Uncle helped Li Dacheng up and complained.
But the third uncle is just a knife-mouthed bean curd heart, otherwise he would not have accompanied Li Dacheng out to find the lost cow at night, complaining about it, the third uncle has already taken off his clothes to help Li Dacheng bandage the wound, and temporarily stopped blood, and then asked Li Dacheng if he could still walk now.
Li Dacheng tried to stand up and walk, but as soon as his foot fell to the ground, he gasped in pain, and it seemed that walking was difficult, and he immediately felt guilty: "Third Uncle, I'm sorry, I'm the one who got you down. "
"It was all because of my clumsiness that I lost the cow. Otherwise, Uncle San would not have compensated me and went out to look for the cow together. Now I am in this state again, and I can't even walk. It is I who have dragged you down, Uncle San."
Li Dacheng didn't want to drag third uncle down, so he said with cold sweat: "Third uncle, I can't walk with this leg, or third uncle, you should go back to the village first and ask the villagers to help, I will wait here for third uncle to come back. "
Unexpectedly, as soon as Li Dacheng finished speaking, he was slapped on the forehead by the third uncle, and he said angrily: "You kid is talking nonsense to me, such nonsense among relatives."
"I am your uncle, and you are my nephew. The third uncle will carry you back to the village today even if he carries you on his back. Otherwise, how can we go back and face your parents? Well, don't talk about these things, third uncle, I Let me walk with you, your boy's leg is injured like this, don't look for cows tonight, go back to the village and get treated quickly, don't leave any root cause."
Hearing what the third uncle said, Li Dacheng felt warm in his heart, and immediately the two continued on their way.
With the support of the third uncle, although Li Dacheng's legs and feet are still inconvenient, and every time he falls to the ground, he feels a sharp pain in his knee, but he still gritted his teeth and endured the pain, and followed the third uncle in a cold sweat. Just as the two of them hadn't gone far, suddenly, a village appeared in front of them, but the village was pitch black, and they couldn't see clearly except for blurred shadows.
Li Dacheng was overjoyed: "Third Uncle, there seems to be a village ahead."
If there is a village, you can ask someone for help, but after entering the village, the two of them realized that something was wrong with the village.
I was far away before entering the village, and I didn't feel anything. Now I entered the village and found that the village in front of me is very dilapidated and old. In particular, the village was empty and quiet, with no dogs barking or lights.
After walking for a while, the third uncle suddenly stopped moving. At this moment, his expression was wrong, and he whispered: "Li Dacheng, what do you think is this place?"
"Of course it's Taokengpo, what's wrong, third uncle?" Li Dacheng didn't realize it.
The third uncle swallowed his saliva, he was extremely nervous, and his voice trembled: "Then do you still remember the legend about Taokengpo?"
At first Li Dacheng didn't understand why the third uncle suddenly stopped and couldn't move. When he mentioned this, Li Dacheng immediately realized why the third uncle stopped suddenly. A chill came over.
He heard that Taokengpo used to be a mass grave. There used to be a village here, and everyone in the village was surnamed Tao. The plants here are so lush. And this is also the origin of the name of Taokengpo.
It is precisely because of this evil rumor that cannot be verified that Taokengpo has never been inhabited, and there is no village at all.
So where did this village come from
At first they were too happy to see the village, and ignored these details for a while, but now when they recalled the legend about Taokengpo, Li Dacheng's face immediately turned pale.
"Third, third uncle, we could be..." Before Li Dacheng finished speaking, his mouth was tightly covered by a rough palm.
It's Uncle San's hand.
"Don't talk too much, let's go, let's move on, let's get out of the village as soon as possible." The third uncle covered Li Dacheng's mouth and said nervously.
When he heard that he wanted to continue walking to the village instead of leaving the village immediately, Li Dacheng said anxiously: "Third Uncle, why do you continue to walk to the village? Shouldn't you go back the same way and leave the village as soon as possible?"
The third uncle slapped Li Dacheng on the head, and said in a low voice: "What do you know, kid, you forgot what I said earlier, we can't turn back."
"Night roads don't turn back, once you turn back, you will end up dead."
At this time, Li Dacheng regretted why he was so stubborn and insisted on running out at night to find the lost cow. Could he also look for it in the different daytime tomorrow
But it was too late to say anything at this time, the two could only bite the bullet, flashlight, and marched forward in the empty and quiet village.
"Keep your head down, concentrate on walking, don't look around the village, let's pass the village as soon as possible."
Li Dacheng could hear the trembling in the third uncle's voice, he knew that the third uncle was also afraid, but fortunately, all was well along the way, Li Dacheng lowered his head, listening to the footsteps of himself and the third uncle in the empty village, suddenly, he I found that there was a river flowing through the village at my feet, and there were still small paper boats and river lanterns floating in the river.
Did you accidentally walk to the source of the paper boat river lantern? Li Dacheng forgot the third uncle's warning, and subconsciously raised his head to look in the direction of the source...
(end of this chapter)