Chapter 42: The difference between realgar stone and realgar powder

  The two of us were talking, and anyone with eyes could see that we were a pair. They just joked from afar, without intervening between us. But the slightly taller man stood up, walked to Su Haicheng's side, and said in a low voice: "That mountain over there is not a place you can go."

  "Have you been there? What's the danger?" Su Haicheng indeed looked at the problem more rationally than I did, he was thinking about what dangers there were, knowing them in advance, being prepared, and resolving the dangers.

  "There's a ghost on that mountain!"

  Kakaxi, drinking milk, jumped over: "Uncle, where is the ghost here? We've come so many times, every time we say it's haunted, I haven't seen a ghost except for dead people. I really want to go see one."

  That tall man moved his lips, but didn't know what to say. He was a mountain man, how could he possibly win in a battle of tongues against Kakashi, that net-savvy rice worm?

  The uncle also became anxious, but could only say: "Really can't go, really can't go." Then he sat back down on the stone at my feet, and I almost heard him mutter to himself: "After all these years, something's still going to happen."

  When we set out again, Su Haicheng and I were still in the front, the three men in the middle, Boss and Kakashi followed, and A Tian was at the end.

  It should be the Hanzi leading the way in front, but now it seems like there is no road here at all. Who walks in front doesn't make a difference, does it?

  As I jumped down from a big stone, Su Haicheng supported me, my hands were on his shoulders, and my cheek was against his cheek. I whispered in his ear: "Pay attention to that tall Han man."

  His eyes narrowed slightly, and he quietly hummed a response, continuing on his way without changing his expression.

  We passed by the half-mountain fork, so the journey wasn't very far. The October sun was warm, but for us who were climbing, it was unbearably hot. Ah Tian said that when we arrived at the mountain valley, there would be wind. However, when we arrived at the mountain valley, instead of being greeted by a cool breeze, we were met with snakes.

  As for the snakes here, we had a very deep feeling last time we came. It's just that this time was too sudden, and the snake seemed to have suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

  I and Soi Fon walked past the bush, then those men walked past the bush, when Kakashi walked past, he suddenly shouted: "Ah! Snake!" In the nearby bush, a small green snake stood up, looking at him.

  The mountain road was very narrow, and he panicked and retreated one step, almost falling down the slope on the other side. The boss held him steady, and Ah Tian quickly cut off a branch from a nearby tree with his knife, making it into a long pole, stretching out to lift up the green snake.

  The tall man said: "That snake is highly venomous, one bite and you're dead."

  "It should be Tricholoma matsutake," Ah Tian said, looking around at the surroundings, which indeed suited the growth of Tricholoma matsutake.

  "Do you understand snakes?" the tall man asked.

  "I don't understand, I just saw it before. Let's go." He said this to Kakashi behind him. Kakashi is now clinging to the boss with his whole body.

  The team set off again. As we walked ahead, we always heard the sound of someone talking behind us, it was that tall Han man and Ah Tian talking. "What does the boss do? You look handy."

  "Open the wine shop."

  "Can you open the wine bottle with such skill?"

  "I'm acting as a security guard for myself. If someone gets drunk and owes money, I'll have to be responsible."

  "What about those two in front?"

  "One is a student and the other is an unemployed vagrant."

  "Are you looking for something here? Why must you go to that lake?"

  "Looking for ghosts. Didn't Kakashi just say that? We're here to find ghosts. If we find one, take a picture and post it on the website, we'll definitely make a lot of money."

  It turns out that Ah Tian and Kakashi are of the same attribute. Boasting blindly without blushing. The key is not here, the key is that Gaodai seems to be unable to hold back, starting to inquire about our origins.

  When the sun began to set in the west, we had entered that mountain and encountered our first problem - a wide ditch about one meter.

  I think the reason for this landslide is that it's steep and straight down, and under such a big sun, the soil still has moisture. But it's different from the landslides we've been through before, which had uneven rocks to step on, whereas this one is smooth enough to slide down like a slide.

  Fortunately, a meter's distance is not very large, and we can jump over it. The problem lies in our luggage. After walking for more than half a day, those porters are also tired. Carrying such heavy things to jump over a ditch of more than one meter is indeed difficult. Moreover, looking at the soil quality on the side, I feel that if my foot slips, I can slide down to the bottom of the mountain in an instant.

  Everyone put down their things and threw them over one by one. Those that couldn't be thrown were hugged and jumped over, back and forth several times before all our luggage was moved over.

  That tall and sturdy man said, "Boss, if we go down the mountain from here now, we can still return to the town below before nightfall tonight. If we continue to move forward, it will be true that we have to spend the night on this mountain when night falls."

  The other two were unhappy, one of them said: "If you can make more money, just make more money, you're talking as if only your family has a woman to warm the bed. Your daughter is already five years old, isn't she? Still thinking about doing things outside."

  "Hey, big brother, do you have a wife and kids?" I asked. If this person was as suspicious as I thought, he should be an outsider. What connection could someone with a family in the mountains possibly have with us? Was I just being paranoid to suspect him?

  Another man was tidying up things and said, "He has a daughter, his wife is pregnant with another one now, probably a son."

  Su Haicheng said: "Get everything ready, we'll be staying on the mountain tonight. As we walk along, whenever we find a suitable place, we'll set up camp."

  "Alright," Ah Tian replied, pulling out a short gun from his own backpack, "I'll hunt along the way and we'll eat whatever I catch tonight."

  "Great, it's time for a barbecue! Atian, let's go hunting!"

  "Hey, don't touch, it's the real deal."

  Atian took out the gun, and these men were not very surprised. In fact, many families living in the mountains have hunting guns. Although the country says that all firearms are to be handed over, but living in such a mountain without a gun, when wild boars run into the village, you can only watch your home being destroyed.

  The expressions of three people, the only one that was a bit strange was the relatively tall man. His gaze kept staring at the gun in Ah Tian's hand, as if he had never seen a gun before.

  Following Su Haicheng and Ah Tian, who have outdoor survival experience, plus three local men, it's not difficult for us to find a campsite. These men are strong, and when it comes time to set up camp, there's nothing for me to do. I just need to sit aside and pay attention to the surroundings in case any small snakes fall down.

  Su Haicheng also noticed the suspicious point of that tall and sturdy man, who was squatting on the ground to make a fire, chatting with him in an unintentional manner. However, Su Haicheng wasn't good at chatting either, most of the time he asked questions, while the man answered.

  "What's your name?" The man replied: "A Fu."

  For example, what did you usually do at home? "Raising pigs." Another man chimed in, "Afu is the best hunter in our village."

  I'm still thinking, what a big talker. Good at hunting, just now was staring at Tian's gun as if he had never seen it before.

  Is there anyone else at home? Another man helped answer: "His daughter is five years old. His wife is also pregnant with another one."

  "We haven't even chatted for a few sentences, and the boss on that side started shouting: "Where's Kakashi? That damn kid, tell him to buy some cinnabar, he actually bought this instead." As he spoke, he tossed out a few yellow stones from his bag. "I clearly said it was supposed to be powdered, what's wrong with him?"

  "He went hunting with Ah Tian."

  Su Haicheng walked over, squatted down, picked up the stone, touched it and smelled it: "It's realgar, no mistake. Grind it into powder and it can be used."