The simplest difference between the urban-rural fringe and the suburbs is:
The urban-rural fringe is an area that continues to expand with the development of the city and has both urban and rural populations.
In layman's terms, it is a rural household registration before demolition.
After the demolition, it is an urban registered permanent residence.
Suburbs are outside the urban-rural fringe, surrounding the city's farmland, plains, forests, fish ponds, and chemical plants with high pollution and high emissions in a ring shape.
The Confucian Temple is in the suburbs.
But Fangzheng handed the mobile phone to the old god stick, and the navigation app displayed that it was gradually going deeper into the urban-rural fringe, that is, going back.
"Little brother, why are you going back?"
"The city is so big, but the little brother can confidently draw an approximate area. What basis does the little brother have?"
The old magic stick looked at the several locations marked on the map, and looked at Fangzheng curiously and puzzled.
Fangzheng could see that the old magic stick belonged to one hundred thousand reasons. If he didn't explain it clearly, his ears would probably not be clean along the way, so he patiently explained, "I've asked someone to check it. Chen Zhixing's mother and son, when they went to the Confucian Temple to offer incense and ask for a lottery, they all passed by these places."
"So, starting from these locations, we should be able to get closer to the truth."
In fact, Fangzheng didn't say anything clearly.
If it were really as simple and easy as he said, Captain Fei and the others would have found the source of the supernatural event long ago.
In addition to the above points, the connection that Fangzheng sensed from the ghost in Room 502 is in this area.
When the places Chen Zhixing's mother and son have been to are superimposed and screened, the overlapping areas that appear are the places that Fangzheng finally marked on the navigation map.
However, the ensuing investigation was not smooth.
The traffic in the urban-rural fringe area is not well developed.
Many places are stinky ditches and small alleys where sewage flows across.
The already narrow road surface, coupled with debris, garbage accumulation, shops occupying the road for operation, random sheds, and vehicles on both sides of the road are parked randomly, the road here is even more congested and difficult to drive.
In order to find a road that can be driven, the old god stick drove the car around, wasting a lot of time along the way, and barely reached the first place marked by Fang Zheng.
The point is that there are still no clues this time.
Next, another problem came up. The old god stick got in from the small road with cars parked randomly on both sides of the road, but when he was about to go out, he couldn't turn around, and his old Jetta was stuck in the small road and couldn't get out.
In the end, Fangzheng got out of the car to direct, and the old god stick had to turn off the car several times and back out with difficulty.
At this time, the old god stick was already so nervous that his forehead was sweating, and the back of his Taoist robe was wet.
"Little brother, this is not a solution, it's better to go fast with two legs." After finally backing out of the car, the old magic stick began to quarrel with Fang Zheng.
Fangzheng thought, this is indeed a waste of time.
Getting out of the car and taking a shortcut is faster than driving.
As a result, there were two more people walking at night in the urban-rural fringe area where wild dogs were barking from time to time.
After walking for about ten minutes at night, when he was about to approach the next marked spot, the old god stick stood under a dim yellow street lamp, and suddenly made a sound of surprise.
"Hey, little brother, look, there is actually a plum tree here."
Fangzheng took a look, and sure enough, there were several low old houses in the middle opposite the lamppost where they were standing, and in the distance, he saw a tree with a tip sticking out of its canopy.
It is exactly the plum tree that the old god stick said.
Fangzheng didn't recognize that it was a plum tree at first, thinking it was just an ordinary tree, and he is not the goddess of wisdom, so he cannot be omniscient and omnipotent.
Now most people can’t tell the difference in appearance between greening trees and fruit trees. In short, they are all trees, no matter what kind of tree it is.
It's like when Asians watch Caucasians in European and American movies, they all look exactly the same, and they can't tell which is the protagonist and the passerby.
If it weren't for the old god stick who has a lot of experience in the world, Fangzheng really wouldn't recognize it as a plum tree.
"I didn't expect that there are people planting fruit trees in the city. It's really a bit rare." Fang Zheng just finished speaking, but found that the old magic stick had been staring at the plum tree.
Fangzheng's eyes moved.
"Old god stick, do you see something wrong?"
Fangzheng is only a monk half way.
Sometimes some professional knowledge still has to rely on these experienced veterans and old metaphysics.
"Little brother, have you ever heard an old folk saying that peaches nourish people, apricots hurt people, and plum trees bury the dead?"
Hearing this, Fangzheng's heart skipped a beat.
Fangzheng thought, and recalled: "I heard this sentence from my elders when I was young. There are many people who like to eat these three kinds of fruits, so they are very famous among the people. The general meaning of this sentence is that peaches can nourish health, so the ancients Always say birthday peach, birthday peach."
"Apricot is a heat-toxic fruit. Eating too much can cause gum inflammation and mouth ulcers."
"As for burying the dead under the plum tree, it is said that eating too many plums can lead to physical weakness and damage the spleen. The human spleen is often the most vulnerable, and diseased spleen will lead to death."
Unexpectedly, the old magic stick who has been staring at the plum tree has another way of saying: "Little brother, let's make a bet, there must be a dead person buried under the plum tree!"
Fangzheng's heart skipped a beat.
It was really aroused curiosity.
So, he began to follow the old magic stick and approached the plum tree.
But walking, walking, both Fang Zheng and the old god stick noticed something was wrong, because the plum tree was actually near the marked place on this trip.
There must be something going on here! !
The old magic stick suddenly felt that he had lost his bet.
He was cautious, careful, and only bet one day's salary with Fangzheng.
But judging from the current situation, he bet that he will make a steady profit for a month's salary.
For a money-greedy old man like Grandet, it was more painful than losing the savings he had accumulated all his life. Just when the old man was thinking about how to open his mouth and change his gambling capital, under the lonely night , the two had already approached the house where the plum trees were planted.
It was a plum tree planted right by the road.
The owner of Li Zishu is a refurbished three-story building. Although it has been refurbished, it can still be seen from some small traces on the outer wall that there was a fire in this house before.
"Da Da Hotel?"
"Little brother, old man, I think the name of this hotel is quite unique."
The old magic stick raised his head and read to an electronic signboard.
Fangzheng shook his head speechlessly, then corrected, "That's Tiantian Hotel."
It was only then that the old god stick noticed that the electronic signboard was broken, and the two "one"s were not lit, but if you look carefully, you can still see the traces.
At this time, Fangzheng stood at the door of this hotel, turned his head around and looked around, this place should be the main road at the junction of urban and rural areas, and the road is slightly wider than other places.
"Little brother, should we dig down this plum tree to see if there are any dead people buried under it?" The old magic stick poohed at the palm of his hand, spat twice, rolled up his sleeves and waited for Fangzheng to say something.
(end of this chapter)