Chapter 58

  The next morning at half past ten, Chengzhou and his party arrived in Z City by train.

  Arzu thought she knew how to get there, but it turned out that she had been searching for half a day without finding the bus she had taken before. It wasn't until Chengzhou asked someone that they found the correct boarding location.

  Azhōu said with embarrassment that she hadn't been back for a long time, and the area around Z City train station had changed so much that she couldn't recognize it.

  Cheng Zhou hastily said it was nothing, the road is in people's mouths, as long as you are willing to ask, you can always find the right direction.

  After that, it took an hour and a half to take the bus from Z City to Qing Shan Town in A Zhou. After arriving at Qing Shan Town, I transferred to a motorcycle under the guidance of local people.

  Hongye sat on a motorcycle for the first time and thought it was very strange. He didn't want to sit in the middle, so he insisted on sitting on his father's back and refused to get down.

  The taxi driver was very embarrassed and repeatedly warned Cheng Chou that if the child fell from the car and something happened to him, he would not be responsible.

  Cheng Zhou said he would use a belt to tie his mischievous kid to his own waist, and would not let him cause any trouble. The taxi driver reluctantly agreed to drive only after that.

  Hong Ye leaned on his father's shoulder, proudly standing on the car cushion, planning to wave all the way... ended up eating a mouthful of dust.

  "Ah-choo! Ah-choo!" Hong Ye spat out a few mouthfuls of saliva, and finally, in extreme frustration, she hugged her dad's neck and gave him two quick bites.

  The ride was relatively quick, and after about twenty minutes they arrived at Ah Ru and Lian Che's hometown - San Xing Village.

  The trainmaster and Arzu stood at the entrance of the village without moving, with extremely strong hatred and fear intertwined in Arzu's eyes.

  The trainmaster looked at Arzu, his expression more complex, but when he turned to look towards the west of the village, all emotions in his eyes had turned into hatred.

  "It's been a long time since I've returned, and there have been so many changes here." Azhu said with suppressed emotions.

  The trainmaster gently stroked her hair, "You haven't come back in forty years?"

  "Azhu shook her head, 'I came back twice to pay respects at my parents' graves. My mother died first, but my father didn't tell me, he said I was a shame to the family and that I should never come back, he told the villagers that I had already died outside. When he died, those brothers of mine also didn't inform me of his passing. It was that child who told me about both their affairs.'"

  The trainmaster knew who that child was that Arzu had mentioned. Judging from Arzu's expression, the child was probably not just distant to her.

  Yes, who would want their mother to be a lunatic with such a bad reputation? And that child grew up in the village since childhood, and before leaving the village, how much gossip did they suffer...

  The trainmaster quietly grasped Arzu's hand.

  Ajou looked at him sideways and smiled miserably, "I owe that child an apology, no wonder he hates me."

  "You don't want to either..." The train conductor grasped Aru's hand even tighter, but unfortunately he would never be able to feel that warmth again.

  Chengzhou paid the taxi fare and saw Aru talking to Lichang, so he didn't disturb them. He waited until they finished speaking before chiming in: "Where is that lava cave? Is it far from here?"

  Arzu and Lichuang looked at each other, and Lichuang replied: "There's a shortcut. If we go straight through the village, we can save one-third of the distance. Otherwise, we'll have to take a big detour. The lava cave is on the mountain, so we need to climb up first."

  "Shall we take a detour?" Cheng Zhou had already seen a crude sign nailed to the trunk of a tree at the village entrance, which read "Zhenyan Cave 700 meters ahead, turn right", and the direction indicated by the arrow on the sign was not pointing towards the village.

  Arzhou and Licheng did not veto the proposal, but at this time they really didn't want to pass through the village.

  Chengzhou carried his son and walked onto the cement road. The little brat saw that they had to walk such a long way and started throwing a tantrum!

  "I told the driver to take us to Zhenyandong, but he just dropped us off at the village entrance. This is still such a long way, it's really dishonest."

  "Country bumpkins are not necessarily simple-minded just because they're from the countryside or mountains. And what about those who make a living by hanging out on the outside, eating and drinking? If the driver didn't try to rip you off halfway through the ride, that's already considered having a conscience."

  "Does it sound like you have a lot of experience? Did you often travel on business before?" Cheng Zhou asked this question without any intention of prying into Situ's personal affairs, he just casually asked, and only after asking did he feel that it was not quite right, but it was too late to take it back.

  "Ah, yes. When I was still human, I used to run around all over the place. Now that I'm a ghost, I can go wherever I want, whenever I want. The things I've seen and the people I've met are probably more than you'll see in three lifetimes."

  Cheng Chou expressed his disbelief.

  Situ just smiled and didn't say anything more.

  The 700-meter journey is not long, chatting and laughing, and admiring the surrounding countryside scenery again, it will arrive at the destination in a while. However, after turning right, Chengzhou found another signpost, which read "Zhenyandong straight ahead for one kilometer".

  Chengzhou gazed at the green hills in the distance and remained silent for a while.

  "Let's go." Si Tu chuckled.

  "Look at the mountain and run dead horse, I think this road is absolutely not just a thousand meters, really." Cheng Zhou muttered.

  The red leaf was lying on his father's back and had started snoring softly.

  Cheng Zhou felt heartache for his son, and patted his little buttocks to make him lie more comfortably. This was also a testament to his son's abilities, otherwise which four-year-old child could withstand a day and night of non-stop tossing? In any case, Hong Ye's body was still that of a small child, and as the father, he had to pay extra attention.

  The whole way was silent, and Arzu and Locomotive Chang were also unusually quiet.

  It's worth mentioning that at this time, the people going up the mountain seemed to be only their group, but there were many people coming down the mountain, most of whom had driven out, and very few people walked like them.

  Chengzhou noticed that the vast majority of tourists coming from the direction of Zhenyuan Cave were young people, with very few families or middle-aged and elderly groups commonly seen in tourist areas.

  "It seems there might really be a True Words Cave here." Cheng Chou said to the train conductor beside him.

  "Yes, I've never seen so many tourists before." The train conductor was also surprised.

  On the way to Qing Shan, there were some local vendors selling mountain vegetables or herbs, and when they saw Cheng Zhou's group coming over, they kept calling out to them.

  Cheng Zhou nodded in unison to express his gratitude, and some were too enthusiastic. He replied that he would buy it when he came back.

  As he passed by an old man sitting under a tree on the side of the road, his eyes swept across the other's face, and the old man suddenly said a sentence in the local dialect.

  Cheng Zhou didn't understand and stopped in his tracks, looking at the old man.

  The old man suddenly stood up excitedly and said something else to Cheng Chou.

  Chengzhou still didn't quite understand, "Sorry, you just said..."

  Suddenly, Chengzhou's face turned white, and he didn't say another word. He quickened his pace and rushed forward.

  The old man hastened, wanting to catch up with Cheng Chou. Xi Tu rushed him and glared at him. The old man trembled and slowly sat back in his original position.

  Cheng Zhou didn't dare speak until they had walked nearly two hundred meters. "That old man just now wasn't human, was he?"

  Situ nodded, "In the future, you must pay more attention to observation, humans and ghosts are still easy to distinguish."

  He then curiously asked: "How did you just figure out that the other party was a ghost and not human?"

  Cheng Zhou swallowed his saliva and replied, "His attire. Now it's clearly the end of spring, but it's still very cold, yet that old man is wearing a summer short jacket, and what's more, the style of his short jacket is from decades ago, and he's also wearing grass shoes on his feet."

  Cheng Chou was startled, and Situ An comforted him: "Don't be afraid, that old ghost is not a malevolent spirit, he just has an unfulfilled obsession and refuses to go to the underworld. When you get back, you can ask him what's wrong, if you can help, then help him out, if not, just refuse him directly, with me around, he won't dare bother you."

  "......thank you." Cheng Zhou's heart no longer wanted to take business from the ghost.

  After this, nothing special happened, and by the time they arrived at the foot of the green mountain, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.

  At the only entrance of the mountain road, Cheng Zhou saw a wooden table and a middle-aged man peeling peanuts behind it.

  On the wooden table was placed a conspicuous cardboard sign with three large characters: Ticket Office.

  Cheng Zhou glanced at the three words and his mouth twitched slightly.

  A'zhu and Lie looked at each other, both of them were shocked in their hearts!

  "Hello, is this the way to Zhenyandong Cave?" Chengzhou asked the middle-aged man.

  The middle-aged man hummed and said, "Twenty yuan per ticket. Two adults and one child, the child is still young and doesn't need to pay, a total of forty. If you drove here, next time you can park your car in our village's wheat field for five yuan per day."

  Cheng Zhou looked at the simple wooden table, then at the disheveled middle-aged man and asked with a mixture of doubt and caution: "Are you an official ticket sales point? Do you develop tickets?"

  The middle-aged man burst out laughing, "Invoice? You city people are really interesting. Do you need an invoice for a ticket? Are you going up the mountain or not? If you go up, it's 40 yuan. If you don't go now, after two hours, it will be dark, and you'll have to wait until tomorrow to come again."

  Cheng Zhou turned his head to look at Situ.

  "Stop being so surprised," said Si Tu, shrugging his shoulders. "Many small scenic spots have locals doing this to make a living. Either the local government doesn't think it's worth heavily developing or they're preparing for development."

  "Doing so, does the local government not care? Even if he packages the entire mountain, can't they just sell tickets to outsiders like this?"

  "Who said it was his bag?" Situ took out a wallet from Cheng Chou's pocket, pulled out a 50 yuan bill and handed it to the middle-aged man, while explaining to Cheng Chou: "Most of these temporary ticket booths are operated in rotation, for example, the village that owns this mountain has one household per day. They bet on the law not being enforced, and it's just a small amount of money, the local government will mostly turn a blind eye."

  Middle-aged man: "This gentleman is right, it's like this around here. By the way, do you need flashlights? Our mountain's Zhenyan Cave is very spiritual, but it emphasizes natural scenery, and except for a few street lamps inside, the lighting isn't very bright, and basically there's no lighting in the inner cave. If you want to take a closer look, it's best to bring a flashlight."

  Cheng Zhou helplessly said: "You guys really know how to do business. What's the price?"

  The middle-aged man smiled and said: "Five yuan for one use, twenty yuan deposit. When you come back, as long as the flashlight is intact, I will return fifteen to you."

  Chengzhou honestly rented a flashlight; he was afraid of the dark.

  As soon as he got the flashlight, Cheng Zhou was about to pass through the gap at the edge of the wooden table, when the middle-aged man called out again: "Hey, I said you guys are so late playing, have you found a good place to stay? If not, you can stay in our home, it's very cheap, fifty yuan per night, and twenty more for dinner."

  Cheng Zhou's mouth twitched again, and he turned his head to say: "Thank you, we..."

  Before the middle-aged man finished speaking, he quickly said: "There are still two hours before dark, you remember to come down early, the mountain road at night is very dangerous. So, I'll leave my phone number for you, I get off work at 5 o'clock, if you come back and see that I'm not here, you can call me, I live in the village, it's close." Cheng Chou silently saved the middle-aged man's phone number on his mobile phone.