Back to 1984: I built a chicken farm on a barren mountain.

That evening, Chen Shouxin and Hou Erzhu ate dinner early and prepared sickles and flashlights.

The two sat against the wall, passing the time, the ticking of the old-fashioned clock bothering them.

They didn't set off until the clock's hour hand stopped at the 9 position and the clock struck nine.

By this time, there were hardly any pedestrians left on the village streets.

The two of them sneaked out of the house and wandered the streets like ghosts.

They quickly left the village, crossed the stone bridge north of the village, and trudged towards the watermelon field, their steps uneven.

When they passed the watermelon field, Chen Shouxin stopped and said:

"Erzhu, wait a moment, let's go check out the stone house first."

Hou Erzhu then followed Chen Shouxin to the front of the stone house.

Two beams of light shone on the wooden door, which was unusually locked, and a large stone was blocking the entrance, which could not be moved without three to five people.

Chen Shouxin said bitterly:

"Anyone who didn't know better would think there's some kind of hidden treasure, a giant golden egg, inside. Is this blockage to keep out dogs?"

He immediately felt as if he was being guarded against, so he angrily shut his mouth.

But he was still not satisfied, so he tore off several watermelon vines and threw them on the road.

Chen Shouxin stomped on the watermelon vines a few more times before he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Hou Erzhu suddenly said, feeling a little guilty:

"Third brother, I think I heard some noise coming from that stone house. Could it be that there's something inside...?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Don't say that word in the middle of the night. You're scaring people to death."

After saying that, Chen Shouxin shone his flashlight haphazardly through the wooden window of the stone house a few times and said:

"Come and look, there's nothing inside!"

Hou Erzhu went over to take a look and felt that there was nothing wrong with the room, so he was relieved.

Just as they turned to leave, a pair of eyes appeared in the window of the stone house, silently watching their retreating figures.

The two walked along the forest path leading to Jiming Mountain, meandering around for a long time with flashlights in hand.

Hou Erzhu couldn't hold back any longer and said:

"Third brother, how about we come during the day? It's so dark here, we might run into that... wall-breaking thing."

He was afraid that Chen Shouxin would say he was a coward, so he swallowed the word "ghost" back down.

Chen Shouxin walked for a long time and also felt something was strange. Logically, it shouldn't be this far. He waved his flashlight around randomly until something blocked his view.

This must be Jiming Mountain, he said, encouraging Hou Erzhu:

"It's getting dark, and we don't know the area well, so we have no sense of direction. Look ahead, isn't that it?"

Hou Erzhu looked in the direction Chen Shouxin pointed and sure enough, Jiming Mountain was right in front of him.

All that could be seen on Jiming Mountain was darkness, and there was no sound at all.

At this moment, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and all was quiet. Chen Shouxin and Hou Erzhu seemed to be standing under a huge black curtain.

This place is far from any village, and it's the middle of the night. Even the slightest sound of wind or noise can send chills down one's spine.

As the saying goes, if you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear.

But since they had done something wrong, they couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Hou Erzhu tugged at Chen Shouxin and said:

"Third brother, this place is definitely a bit eerie. Why is it so quiet and unsettling?"

Chen Shouxin, however, managed to keep his composure and said:

"What are you afraid of? We've both brought weapons!"

Having said that, he gripped the sickle tightly in his hand.

Chen Shouxin swept the beam of his flashlight around and soon found the gap in the thicket of thorns. The gap was dark and seemed very deep.

He mustered his courage and sang a line from a play he had heard on stage:

"Look ahead, it's pitch black, that must be the thieves' lair. Let's hurry up and wipe them out!"

After singing, Chen Shouxin suddenly felt a surge of energy and turned around to call Hou Erzhu to sing along.

The two stood at the foot of Jiming Mountain, facing the thicket of thorns, and sang together again:

"Look ahead, it's pitch black, that must be the thieves' lair. Let's hurry up and wipe them out!"

After Chen Shouxin finished singing, he resolutely walked ahead and squeezed into the gap.

Hou Erzhu didn't really feel that the song had any effect; perhaps it was only slightly better than before.

Although he hesitated, seeing Chen Shouxin's courage, he followed him inside.

Just as they were about to pass through the thicket of thorns, they felt something fall down.

They were all startled; it turned out to be just some withered grass.

They probably brought it down when they crawled inside. Oh dear, I was just scaring myself.

There aren't that many messy things in this world!

The two relaxed, when suddenly they heard a lot of dog barking coming from the mountains. The barking was mixed with wolf howls, and the cries were very pitiful.

As the wolves howled and the dogs barked, Hou Erzhu's legs trembled. He wanted to run but couldn't, and he wanted to escape but couldn't.

Just then, a dark shadow darted out and pounced at Hou Erzhu's feet. He jumped up and ran back, shouting:

"Third brother, let's retreat!"

"Third brother, third brother..."

What about the third child?

Hou Erzhu waved his flashlight around and vaguely saw that Chen Shouxin had already run ahead.

It turned out that Chen Shouxin was terrified of dogs, and the moment the barking broke the silence of the night, he couldn't hold on any longer.

He instinctively took off running, without even having time to call out to Hou Erzhu.

As the barking began, the village dogs and stray dogs from outside the village also started howling.

Terrified, the two felt they might have encountered a pack of wolves, so they ran aimlessly through the woods, only to fall more and more as they ran faster.

The sickle was nowhere to be found, and the glass cover of the flashlight was shattered.

Hou Erzhu caught up and ran all the way to the stone bridge, where he was panting heavily.

At this moment, Chen Shouxin ran to the watermelon patch, but tripped over a watermelon vine and fell hard.

He cursed viciously:

"Which despicable, spitting bastard threw these melon vines?!"

Startled, he completely forgot about how he had just torn off the melon vine and thrown it on the ground.

He was also a little tired of running and was about to catch his breath when he heard a "hehe" laugh coming from inside the stone house.

The laughter was high-pitched and thin, hehe, hehe, hehe...

As those strange screams pierced his eardrums, Chen Shouxin felt a chill run down his spine and difficulty breathing...

Hell!

Chen Shouxin finally broke down. He scrambled onto the stone bridge and collided with the terrified Hou Erzhu. Both of them fell into the water.

Fortunately, the river under the bridge wasn't deep. Chen Shouxin and Hou Erzhu scrambled out of the water in a panic and, supporting each other, limped ashore...

On the other side of the river, Zhou Zhiming held down Chen Xiaohei, who was still rushing forward with a fierce look on his face, while Chen Wenfeng and Niu Da pulled Niu Er out of the window.

The four people and the dog watched silently as Chen Shouxin and Hou Erzhu walked away.

Niu Da, still somewhat unsatisfied, weighed the slingshot in his hand and said:

"Brother Feng, if you hadn't stopped me, I would have shot two holes in them."

Chen Wenfeng said with a smile:

"Know your limits, you'll have your moment to shine!"

Niu Da gave up after hearing what Chen Wenfeng said.

Zhou Zhiming said:

"Niu Er's imitation of that ghostly scream is absolutely amazing! Even though I know it's you in the stone house, I still feel chills all over!"

"You guys are pretty impressive, you've managed to get all the dogs for miles around barking."

Everyone chatted happily for a while.

After everyone quieted down, Chen Wenfeng said:

"The howling of wolves and barking of dogs all night long—that's quite a commotion; everyone in the village will hear it. Niu Da and Niu Er, spread the word to the small stage first thing tomorrow morning!"