death

Chapter 18 The Disappearing Surname

After inquiring about the location of the ruined temple, I discussed it with Mai Xiaorou, and decided to go and have a look first.

There is a dirt road that is not very wide to the ruined temple. Although there are many thorns and weeds growing in the middle of the road, the road can still be seen faintly.

And this road did not pass through the old village of Maozigou, but bypassed the village. This is similar to Liu Shengfu's description. He and my father bypassed the mountain on the village. Maybe they took this road road.

It didn't take long for us to reach the foot of the mountain, where the trees were overgrown, and we could vaguely see a dangerous road up the mountain, but we couldn't see where the ruined temple was.

Mai Xiaorou looked around and said: "This road on the mountain is quite old, maybe it's the road that your father and Liu Shengfu used to go up the mountain. According to Liu Shengfu's story, they were chased into the nearby deep mountains and old forests after going down the mountain. I was caught in the ruined temple again, so the ruined temple should not be here, but in the nearby forest, should we go up the mountain first, or go to the nearby forest to find it first?"

She suddenly asked for my opinion, leaving me at a loss as to what to say. I don't have experience in handling cases like hers, so I couldn't tell the priority, so I asked Mai Xiaorou, which is more important.

She smiled and said: "I almost forgot, you don't have the experience of filing a case. In the past, my grandpa and I were involved in a case. It was Grandpa who made up his mind. Today, it seems that I have to make up my own mind. I think we just went up the hill so rashly." It's a little rash, it's better to learn more about the situation at the foot of the mountain, so let's go to the nearby old forest to look for the ruined temple."

I nodded and said I was okay.

Mai Xiaorou smiled at me again and said: "There is no one in the deep mountains and old forests, maybe we can have a romantic relationship."

I know, she's teasing me again.

But this time I didn't speak. The more I responded to Mai Xiaorou's words, the more provocative she became. If I didn't speak, she would find it boring, and the energy would pass.

This forest is not small, I thought it would take a while to find something, but I didn't expect that Mai Xiaorou and I found a ruined temple after wandering in the forest for more than ten minutes.

The dilapidated temple was not big, covering an area of ​​only more than 100 square meters. The temple doors and windows were all gone, the roof of the temple was covered with grass, and there were large holes in many places.

It is a miracle that this temple is still alive.

Mai Xiaorou and I stood in front of the ruined temple and watched for a while, and Mai Xiaorou said, there is nothing special about this place, the yin and yang qi are relatively balanced, and it doesn't look like a haunted place at all.

I couldn't see why, so I just nodded "Yeah" when she said something.

Mai Xiaorou continued: "However, it seems that a large formation has been arranged around here. Although the formation has been abandoned, the aura of the formation is still there."

I continued with an "hmm".

Mai Xiaorou smiled and asked me: "Don't keep 'hmm', just say something constructive."

I shook my head and smiled wryly, "I can't tell."

Mai Xiaorou didn't make things difficult for me, and walked straight into the ruined temple. I quickly grabbed her and said, "The ruined temple looks like it's going to collapse at any moment, so it's better not to go in."

Mai Xiaorou shook my hand and said, "Don't worry, I won't be crushed to death with my abilities. You wait outside, and I'll go in and have a look."

Saying that, Mai Xiaorou broke away from my hand and stepped into the ruined temple. I hesitated for a moment, but followed in.

The ruined temple is empty, not even a statue of a god.

However, we found a broken stone tablet on the west side of the temple. After careful identification, we found that it was a merit tablet, and all of the names engraved on it were the names of people who donated property when the temple was built. .

And those people are all surnamed Liu.

Mai Xiaorou thought for a while and said, "Chen Yu, just now we inquired about Liu Shengfu, did we ask some old people for their surnames?"

"Yes!"

"What are their last names?"

"One surnamed Zhang, the rest are surnamed Ma, and none surnamed Liu."

Mai Xiaorou fell into deep thought, and then said: "According to the merit tablet, the surname Liu should be a common surname in the neighborhood. We asked those people, and we shouldn't have met any of them."

I said, "Maybe we just didn't meet."

Mai Xiaoju said: "Perhaps, but I think this may be a key point. Let's check the situation in this ruined temple first, and then go back to Maogou New Village to see how many people with the surname Liu are still there." household."

I understand what Mai Xiaorou means. She suspects that something happened to the people surnamed Liu here. They either moved away or all died.

The reason for these accidents is very likely to be related to the rumors that this ruined temple is haunted.

I asked Mai Xiaorou if she thought so, she walked up to me and wrapped my arm around me and said two words: "Smart!"

Then we went around the ruined temple again, but found no more valuable clues.

We took a picture of the broken stone tablet with our mobile phone, and we left here.

We still didn’t go up the mountain, but went to Maozigou New Village first. When we got there, we found out that there was not a single family named Liu here. The surname and Zhang surname are the main ones, and the surname Liu has never been used.

We found a few old people in their [-]s and [-]s, and they all said the same thing.

Let’s ask if there are any people surnamed Liu in other nearby villages. After we inquired, we found out that there are people surnamed Li and Wang in other villages, but there are only a handful of people surnamed Liu. Even if there are, they have moved here in recent years, and they are not local at all. people.

After some inquiries, we can basically confirm that there is something wrong with the merit tablet in the ruined temple.

Leaving Maozigou New Village, Mai Xiaoju said: "Perhaps finding out the whereabouts of those people surnamed Liu can solve the secrets here, and even find out what your father and Liu Shengfu stole from the children's graves on the top of the mountain. What is it?"

I nodded.

This thing is getting more and more complicated.

I asked Mai Xiaorou if it was time to go up the mountain next, and she thought for a while and said, "Yes, but after so many years, there may not be any clues on the mountain, so let's not have too much hope."

What Mai Xiaorou said was right, the temple at the bottom of the mountain was already deserted, and the tomb on the mountain was probably already in disrepair, but then again, if there were no clues on the mountain, there would be relatively no danger.

In the end we decided to go up the mountain to see it.

The mountain road was already blurred, and there were several sections that were very steep. Mai Xiaorou climbed lightly and did not encounter any difficulties.

But when I climbed, I felt a little uncomfortable, and I almost rolled down the steep road a few times, but luckily Mai Xiaorou caught me in time.

Every time she grabbed me, she would smile and say to me: "Chen Yu, you have to be careful, if you die, I will be a widow."

I gave her a blank look, and I was not in the mood to joke with her, because I was already hanging on the mountainside, and I might fall down and die if I was not careful.

You know, my father was killed when he fell into a ravine when he went up to the mountain to collect herbs.

At this time, I finally realized Liu Shengfu's fear when he was climbing the mountain, but at that time my father was pulling him with a rope, so he would feel more at ease.

We continued to climb, and Mai Xiaorou turned around from time to time to remind me where to pull and where to step, which saved me a lot of trouble.

This mountain is not too high, and it didn't take long for us to climb to the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain, I collapsed, my feet were weak, and my arms were sore.

Mai Xiaorou looked at me and said, "It seems that you have to strengthen your physical exercise in the future, and you have climbed a lot of mountain roads, so you are so tired?"

I didn't speak, I just gasped for breath.

Mai Xiaorou asked me to rest first, and she went to check the surrounding area.

I also sat up and looked around. According to Liu Shengfu's description, the grave is in a conspicuous place on the top of the mountain, and it can be found at a glance. If the dug grave has not been buried, we should be able to find it soon.

Sure enough, Mai Xiaorou greeted me within a few steps, "Chen Yu, come here and find it. The shovel and hammer left by your father and Liu Shengfu are still here."

I quickly stood up and walked over, and sure enough, the shovel and hammer that were about to rot were still there, and half of them were buried by the soil.

The grave is also there, but some soil has been filled in the grave, which should have been washed into the grave by wind and rain.

The small coffin was half buried, and the exposed half was rotten.

As for the skeleton of the child wrapped in red silk, it was next to it, also buried in the soil, with only one corner of the red silk sticking out.

Mai Xiaorou wanted to pull out the shovel and hammer buried in the soil to dig the soil in the grave, but when she grabbed it hard, the wooden handle broke immediately.

I also grabbed the handle of the hammer, and the result was the same.

We dug the shovels and hammers out of the soil, only to find that they were still rusty and unusable, weaker than clods of soil, and would shatter when touched.

Mai Xiaorou looked at me and smiled, "Chen Yu, can you go down and dig with your hands?"

I just shook my head and said, "Not good!"

Mai Xiaorou stretched out her hand to look at it and said, "Do you want me to dig the soil with my slender fingers?"

I:"……"

Before I could speak, Mai Xiaorou came over to kiss me and said, "Hey, go down and dig!"

My body suddenly became uncontrollable, and I jumped directly into the grave, and my feet sank directly into the soil.

That sinking feeling made my heart tense.

After waking up, I looked at Mai Xiaorou and said angrily: "Don't always control my body, I will get angry if you do this again!"

Mai Xiaorou pouted and said, "Okay, then dig quickly, you're already down anyway."

Indeed, when I was outside the grave, I was a little scared, but after I got down, the fear was less. Instead of digging directly, I stretched out my hand to grab the red silk cloth.

But at this moment, I suddenly felt something touching my ankle.

Looking down, a small white bone claw is gently scratching my ankle...

(End of this chapter)