Chapter Nineteen: The Mysterious Village X Du Jie's Father

  The tricycle bumped us for more than an hour and a half before sending us to Liu Long Village. The agreed price was 50 yuan, but I really couldn't bear to give him 50 yuan, so I gave him 150 yuan. Because this section of the road is really too difficult to walk.

  We arrived at the entrance of Liu Long Village with big and small luggage on our backs. For some reason, this place was desolate, the few large trees at the village entrance were bare, without leaves, the tree trunks and branches were all withered and yellow, a few black crows perched on the withered branches, crying out loudly.

  The houses in the village still retain their 80s appearance, most of which are red brick, with flat roofs or tiles. All of them have been neglected for years, with withered grass growing on the walls and eaves, swaying gently in the cold wind.

  "Is this really the old home of billionaire Du Jie? I don't care how you look at it, but it looks like a deserted village to me. And another thing, where are we going to stay? A place as poor as this can't possibly have an inn."

  "I had already arranged this before I came, you see, someone has come to pick us up."

  A middle-aged man in a suit and leather shoes walked out of the village entrance, his hair slicked back with gel, not a single strand out of place, his forehead gleaming with oil, like a Buddha statue, topped with a big belly that jiggled with each step, looking very much like a rural nouveau riche.

  He walked over with a smile, shaking hands with us one by one, saying: "Hello, hello, my name is Du Yizhi, I am the current village chief of Liu Long Village. Welcome, you scientists, to our village for scientific exploration and experimentation."

  Chen Qiuyang and Kui Rulan stared at each other in surprise, then simultaneously looked at me with a knowing smile.

  Yes, because according to Du Jie's request, we can't let the villagers of Liu Long Village know that we came here to investigate his father, so I did some preparatory work in advance and gave a sum of money to Liu Long Village, saying it was as compensation for the experiment. The villagers naturally agreed to our entry into the village for "scientific exploration", under this pretext, things became much more convenient for us.

  The village headman, Du Yizhi, said to me: "I have already arranged your accommodation, follow me."

  Under the leadership of Du Yizhi, we officially entered Liu Long Village. Liu Long Village was originally a large village, but with the development of society, more and more people moved to big cities to live, leaving behind old houses that were far away in years. Because they came back less often, they didn't bother to spend time repairing them, so the old houses became more and more dilapidated, basically becoming abandoned houses.

  The village chief, Du Yizhi, said: "I've arranged for you to move into the home of Du Huangniu. Since their house is big enough and has many rooms, and there's only Du Huangniu living there by himself, your presence will add some liveliness to his home."

  We walked for over 10 minutes and arrived at the entrance of a huge courtyard. The red wall was half as tall as a person, with withered grass growing on top, and the iron gate at the entrance was rusty and had several broken iron strips. After opening the iron gate, we entered the courtyard. The courtyard was very large, with several stacks of hay on the left side and several giant trees on the right side, covering the entire ground with yellow leaves. At the back was a long rectangular house, with a large entrance in the middle, and many windows opened on both sides of the wall, some with wooden window frames, some empty, and several near the wall were sealed with red bricks.

  The design style of this rectangular house is not like a northern house at all, but rather common in the south, with a flat roof.

  "Old Cow, Old Cow, the guest has arrived, are you at home?" Village Head Du Yizhi shouted towards the big house several times. Except for a few quacks from the ducks inside the house, there was no response from Du Huangniu.

  "This old cow is really something, I clearly told him to stay home and welcome the guests, how did he run out again?" Du Yizhi village chief apologized: "Sorry about that, the old cow must have gone to the fields to farm. He's old and has no memory, I'll go find him later. Don't mind him, let me take you inside first, you're carrying so much luggage, it must be tiring, let's put your luggage in order in the room first."

  We entered the house, and the light inside was not very sufficient, it was dim. We each chose a room, I lived in the first room on the left side of the hall, Kui Ruo Lan was next to me, while Chen Qiuyang chose the first room on the right side of the hall.

  The village chief, Du Yizhi, said to us: "In short, just consider this your home, okay? Don't be too polite. Although Old Cow can be a bit temperamental at times, he's actually very easy-going. I've already informed all the villagers, so you can do as you please."

  After Du Yizhi Village Chief left, we simply cleaned up and decided to go to Liu Long Village for a walk, familiarize ourselves with the terrain and environment here.

  The survey results of Liu Long Village shocked me. Except for the middle-aged village chief, Du Yizhi, all the other villagers were elderly people who had grown old. Young and middle-aged people did not stay in this village at all. There are still 24 households living in this village, and these weathered old people use the last bit of twilight in their lives to guard this declining village that is becoming increasingly barren. Du Jie's home was at the end of the village, a dilapidated courtyard with half-collapsed walls, where withered vines had died off, and dry tendrils tangled chaotically on the walls like dried snakes. We stood outside the wall, filled with doubts.

  What's going on here, Du Jie is now a billionaire, why his old house is so dilapidated? Why doesn't he spend a little bit of pocket money to improve his own home?

  I was lost in thought when the iron gate of the inner house slowly opened, and an old man with white hair came out, leaning on a black crutch. According to the information Du Jie gave me, Du Jie's father had him at the age of 34, which means that Du Jie's father is now 72 years old. Du Jie's father was of medium build, wearing a gray woolen hat and a thick green military coat. His face was covered with black spots, densely packed across his entire face, making it look like there were countless round holes on his face from afar.

  Through the collapsed wall, Du Jie's father saw us and continued to walk towards us. He walked very slowly, stopping for a few seconds after each step. As I watched him approach slowly, a strange sense of oppression rose up in my heart, making me feel vaguely uneasy. Du Jie's father seemed to be shrouded in a faint, dark aura that emitted a rotten smell - this wasn't the first time I had felt this way. When I was young, at the orphanage on an autumn day, I saw the vice principal and felt the same dark aura and smelled the same rotting stench; later that night, the vice principal died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage.

  Du Jie's father's life candle is about to go out.

  He finally walked up to us, across the collapsed wall, he moved his mouth, coughed a few times, and said: "You, you are the scientists who came to Liulong Village for scientific exploration as mentioned by the village head? Hehe, look at you all so young, really young and promising..."

  His words were very slow, as if every sentence he spoke required all his strength.

  "Hello, old man. Yes, we will be staying here for about a week or so. Sorry to trouble you." I said politely to Du Jie's father.

  "Heh heh, trouble? No trouble, our village hasn't had outsiders coming in for many years. We old folks who have one foot in the coffin, what's there to be afraid of? You, you take a good walk around the village. Liu Long Village, sigh... it used to be bustling with people, but now, I'm afraid we'll all be gone soon."

  Du Jie's father leaned on his cane, hunched over, and without another word to us, slowly turned around and went back into the house.

  Ailian touched her arm and said, "Isn't this village a bit strange? Why are there no young people at all? It's not surprising that there are many elderly people left behind, but shouldn't there be some children left behind too? And, this village is the most uncomfortable one I've ever been to. Why does it give me a very oppressive and suffocating feeling?"

  Chen Qiuyang said, "I'm about to explain your question. Firstly, it's autumn now, and the autumn in the north is different from ours in the south. Our south has lush greenery all year round, with big trees that hardly shed their leaves, whereas the plants here are all withered and yellow; secondly, the buildings here are all too old, not a single new one; thirdly, there are no young people, only these frail elderly folks, you can't feel any vitality."

  I nodded and said, "Indeed, we shouldn't stay at Du Jie's place for too long to avoid drawing attention. Let's go somewhere else first." Huierlan, the only survivor of the 1997 plane crash, was hiding a huge secret.