Third watch

Before, Wang Xiaoming thought, the ghost market is so mysterious, Gu Bicai must do three steps, one burn incense and five steps, go to the outskirts of the inaccessible suburbs - such as cemeteries, and then pull the tombstone on the third grave from the left. There will be a door to a new world or something.

As a result, Gu Bicai took a small bag and led them on a broken bus for two hours to a county town in the next city.

"It's finally here." Gu Bicai took the lead to get out of the car and heaved a sigh of relief.

"That's it," Lu Xiaolu looked around, the county bus station was full of people, and there was a mixed smell of chicken feathers and sandalwood.

"It's still early." Gu Bicai said, "After getting out of the car, we have to walk. Now that Datantun is flooded, cars can't pass through. Let's walk in and enter Fuhe Mountain."

Fuhe Mountain is closer to the border. The city where Datantun is located is only separated from Vietnam by a river, and Fuhe Mountain is beside the river.

According to Gu Bicai, ghost markets in Guangxi open every three years, not necessarily every ten days to half a month, but the landscape of mountains and rivers will change over time, so affected by geographical geomantic omen, ghost markets are not always located in one place place.

According to the word of mouth of the knowledgeable local population, there are three places where the ghost markets have been the most in Guangxi in the past 200 years, and one of them is Fuhe Mountain.

Some of them are occasionally opened in unknown corners, so some people often miss the ghost market.

Gu Bicai said that this also has a unique algorithm, just like calculating the astrology, after mastering the rules, you can calculate the next location.This time the ghost market was opened in Fuhe Mountain, he was the one who figured it out.

But what the algorithm is, he refuses to say anything, only that he is more than [-]% sure that he will drive in Fuheshan.

Seeing that several people were skeptical, the old man assured them that in the past, the ancients would miss the ghost market because of poor information, and the ghost market is not only open for one day, as long as the market is open, people who have gone will naturally spread the news.Now the transportation is also developed. As long as you don’t leave Guangxi, is there any place that you can’t get there by car for a day or two?

In Guangxi, there are many torrential rains and floods in summer. Many ferries cannot cross the river at this time. After entering the mountainous area, it gradually becomes difficult for cars to travel.

The fat driver with his chest open juggled the steering wheel like a juggler. The broken bus slid on the mountain road for nearly an hour and finally got stuck in the mud.

The fat driver got out of the car with a toothpick in his mouth to look. After a while, he got back in the car and yelled at everyone to get out of the car.

"There is Baiyin Village in front! Go there and look for a car! I can't get through it. There are puddles in front of me. Pull up this one and drop one after two steps! The car won't drive!"

The tone is very capricious.

But what made people dumbfounded was that the people in the car seemed to be used to it and began to get off the car one after another. Those who were looking for luggage were looking for luggage, and those who were in groups were getting out of the car as usual, talking and laughing, without any emotion at all.

"Didn't he even plan to give it a try?" Lu Xiaolu said, "Damn it—the driver's brother just said so reservedly. What do you mean there are puddles in front of you? The swamp is almost the same!"

The puddles on the road that had been run over by carts were getting deeper and deeper, filled with yellow muddy water, and the deep places could not reach the calf.

No wonder the driver refused to leave.

They all grew up in the city, even if Zhong Yi and Lu Xiaolu had good physical strength, they would not be used to walking this way, let alone Wang Xiaoming.

Only Gu Bicai seemed to be quite relaxed. He could always judge that the road was a little dry and would not sink when stepped on, so the three lined up to follow his footprints.

The people in the car were all locals, and they were very familiar with this kind of road conditions. Some people carried more weight than Zhong Yi and the others, but they were talking and laughing, and they disappeared after a while.

Master Bai was very sensible, and seemed to know not to add burden to the master at this time, so he chose Wang Xiaoming as a mount, hung it on the back of Wang Xiaoming's neck and let him carry it, very leisurely.

But Wang Xiaoming was miserable, his physical strength was not as good as the two of them, and it was summer now, Master Bai had a fluffy and warm living thing sticking to his neck, which almost made him suffocate.

Luckily, after walking for half an hour, they saw a village. Zhong Yi took Lord Bai to his shoulder, and asked Gu Bicai for directions at the stall set up by the roadside.

Both Wang Xiaoming and Lu Xiaolu were very tired, squatting in front of a watermelon stand and could not leave.

Selling melons probably thought it was funny that the two of them were half dead, and asked them if they wanted to buy melons.

Wang Xiaoming took out a handful of change and asked him to cut half of it. Lu Xiaolu saw a broken rice cooker on the stove beside the stall.

"What's that?" Lu Xiaolu leaned over.

The melon seller beckoned a child over: "House, open the pot."

The child ran over and opened the lid of the pot. There were tea eggs and corn boiled in it, presumably to be sold to passers-by.

At this time, Zhong Yi and the others came back, and said that they just met someone who was going back to Fuhe Mountain, and the car was empty, so they could take them along the way.

Wang Xiaoming and the others bought some tea eggs in a hurry, and they were about to take the car with the watermelon in their hands.

What Zhong Yi and the others found was actually just a semi-old pickup truck with no body.

There were no seats in the carriage, so several people had to squat together to watch the scenery.

Gu Bicai didn't eat watermelon, so he took out a cigarette stick and started to smoke, watching the sky while smoking.

"Is it tonight?" Zhong Yi also looked at the sky.

Gu Bicai took another breath: "It must be the first three days."

The train pulled them to the foot of Fuhe Mountain and put them down. Zhong Yi gave the driver 30 yuan, and the driver picked it up with a smile, and touched a cantaloupe for them.

So Wang Xiaoming and Lu Xiaolu divided the cantaloupe, and they ate while walking, and found a place to pee after eating.

Gu Bicai saw it, and warned them: "We will be there soon, and we will not be able to take off our pants if we go further inside."

It means that when you pee, you piss, and if you shi, let it go quickly.

It is also a rule that one cannot eat, drink or scatter in the ghost market.

Fuhe Mountain is actually not very remote. There are villages, fields and houses along the road, as well as pedestrians. It is different from Wang Xiaoming's imagination of trekking in the virgin forest.

Even the roads here are better and more spacious than those in Datantun, and some avenues are covered with gravel. Occasionally, old men can be seen slowly passing by with an ox cart, and the ox cart smells of dried grass that has been exposed to the sun.

Gu Bicai led them to walk unhurriedly while smoking, and stopped to knock the cigarette ash whenever he encountered a bigger tree on the side of the road.

As the evening approached, the number of people on the road gradually increased. Half of them were carrying farm tools or baskets, and some were still working in the fields to catch the sun.

Gu Bicai led them to turn east and west, through a large field to a place that looked like a vegetable market, and after turning around the vegetable market was a wharf.

In recent years, Guangxi has also been building a new countryside, building roads and bridges with great efforts. Such old-fashioned wharves are rare, and you can only see them when you go so deep.

The green brick pier was wet, and the last rays of the setting sun were sprinkled on the moss on it. People were carrying poles up and down the pier one after another. The sound of the buckets creaking and creaking made people feel as if they had walked into the TV.

Gu Bicai put the cigarette stick in his belt and began to walk down the pier slowly with his hands behind his back.

There are many floods in Guangxi, so many piers are built very high, and the steps are small and steep. People who are not used to it will feel dizzy if they look down suddenly.

For a while, the three of them stopped talking, and concentrated on walking down the blue brick steps under their feet, for fear of slipping and rolling down all the way.

These steps have been stepped on by the years, and occasionally there are a few small pictures that come with snacks and a few cigarette butts caught in the cracks of the bricks. Over time, they have almost turned into the same color as the bricks.

Wang Xiaoming was a little afraid of heights, and he didn't really want to look down, so he just stared at Gu Bicai's back wearing a blue belt and walked down sullenly until Lu Xiaolu poked him.

"What to do?" Wang Xiaoming almost slipped when he stabbed him.

"It's getting dark." Lu Xiaolu answered irrelevantly: "Do you feel a little cold?"

Except for Gu Bicai, all three of them were wearing short-sleeved sleeves. After being told by Lu Xiaolu, Wang Xiaoming realized that there was a layer of goose bumps on his arms, which became clear when the cool wind blew.

Zhong Yi, who had been walking silently at the end, coughed suddenly: "Glasses."

Both Wang Xiaoming and Lu Xiaolu were taken aback for a moment, and then immediately looked at each other.

Only then did Wang Xiaoming realize that they followed Gu Bicai down the pier, and they had already walked for a long time before they knew it—probably almost 10 minutes.

This is not going down the mountain. Standing on the pier just now, I could see the vegetable vendors and the ferry boats by the river from a distance. It is impossible to walk for so long and not go down.

And isn't there someone getting off the dock like them all the time?

Thinking of this, Wang Xiaoming quickly looked left and right, only to find that the four of them were indeed not the only ones walking on the pier, and people kept passing by them, going up or down, but the atmosphere felt a serious sense of discord.

Lu Xiaolu took out his glasses and put them on, then couldn't help but let out a "huh".

Wang Xiaoming was startled, and subconsciously wanted to cover his mouth, but Lu Xiaolu remained silent and only expressed his shock to Wang Xiaoming with his eyes.

Wang Xiaoming breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Xiaolu was not stupid in the first place, he has been opening a shop with them, and now he has cultivated a tacit understanding - this guy can already judge which occasions he can't say anything.

Wang Xiaoming finally knew why he felt that the environment around him was inconsistent.

Because it was too quiet.

He kept his head buried in walking up the steps, but he didn't notice that since at some point, the creaking of the bucket and the sporadic voices had disappeared.

So many people came and went, but there was no sound at all on the pier, even Zhong Yi's cough just now seemed a bit abrupt.

What's more, the faces of those people can't be seen clearly, because the fog has formed unconsciously.

In the evening of summer now, it is reasonable to say that there will not be such a heavy fog, but their vision is indeed getting smaller and smaller-I don’t know when it started, the back of Gu Bicai in front is not clear, Wang Xiaoming has been subconsciously Look at his dark blue belt to keep up with him.

It seems that they have already traveled a long way—according to the normal speed of several people, it is enough to climb such a pier twice back and forth.

Wang Xiaoming couldn't figure out whether the people beside them walking silently on the pier were human or not.

Maybe there are still living people, and their destination is a ghost city like them, but I'm afraid there are still some—or most of them are not people.

This can explain Lu Xiaolu's reaction just now.

Because the weather is too hot, he will sweat, so Lu Xiaolu will not always put his glasses on his face.I'm afraid he thought that there were only four of them on the pier just now, and after Zhong Yi reminded him to put on his glasses, those pedestrians suddenly appeared, which surprised him.

But regarding the taboo of speaking, both Wang Xiaoming and Zhong Yi had taught him several times, so despite being shocked, Lu Xiaolu finally held back.

The more it is at this time, the less loud it is.

Regardless of whether there were people around or not, according to the situation just now, they didn't attract any attention—but if Lu Xiaolu just subconsciously shouted: "Why are there so many people?", the situation is not certain.

Gu Bicai didn't seem to notice the little episode behind him at all, and walked slowly down with his hands behind his back.

The three of them exchanged glances and stopped talking, and walked down silently.

The more you go down, the more people passing by are going down like them, and there are gradually fewer people going up.

Those people whose faces were blurred due to the fog walked silently on the pier. At a glance, they were no different from ordinary people walking on this road every evening.

But if you pay a little attention with your peripheral vision, you will find many subtleties.

Some people are still wearing elegant long gowns, carrying old Shanghai-style rattan boxes and rushing up the stairs, as if the steam whistle of the ship leaving behind is still lingering in the air; It was as if there were people standing on the pier to pick him up; but more people, like Gu Bicai, walked down slowly in silence, neither opening their mouths nor looking around, as if there was only one thing left in their lives. The important thing is to keep walking until the steps under your feet are finished.

At this time, the three of Wang Xiaoming understood.

The end of the pier is the destination of their trip.