Chapter 1: Home selling sweet potatoes

When Lu Qingjiu got off the train, it was completely dark. He was carrying heavy luggage and wanted to go for a taxi. But who knew that the taxi driver refused to go where he wanted to go.
"The place of Shuifu is too far, don't go." The taxi driver looked at Lu Sake up and down, his eyes were a little more alert.
Lu Qingjiu was looked at inexplicably, and he said, "Master, don't you go if you add more money?"
The driver hesitated for a moment: "Are you coming back from a field?"
Lu Qingjiu nodded: "Yeah, city a is back." He said, pointing to the suitcase next to him.
The driver saw Lu Qingjiu's suitcase and gritted his teeth and said, "How much do you add?"
Lu Qingjiu calculated the distance and said, "Is it two hundred?"
The driver was relieved: "Okay, you come up."
Lu Qingjiu felt relieved and quickly put his luggage into the trunk and sat in the seat of the co-pilot.
It was early in the morning, and the streets were empty. I saw a few hurried rental cars occasionally. The weather was still a bit cold just in the spring. Lu Qingjiu, wearing short sleeves, rubbed his cold arms.
It is far away from city a, which belongs to the outskirts of the province, and its economic development is far less than that of city a. Most of the surrounding areas are relatively low buildings, revealing an old taste.
The driver drove forward and asked if there was something in his mouth. Lu Qingjiu answered once and then he knew the reason why the driver was reluctant to go to the water house.
Shuifu is a relatively remote village, still some distance away from their county seat. Two taxi drivers died there some time ago, and the murderer has not been found yet. Later, there were rumors that the two drivers weren’t killed at all, because they ran into dirty things, so the taxi drivers in this area don’t like to go there anymore, especially on this dark night...
If it weren't for the two hundred dollars added by Lu Qingjiu, he would really have to live in the county for one night today.
"What do you do when you come back from city a?" The driver looked at the front and chatted with Lu Qingjiu, "Is my hometown here?"
Lu Qingjiu said: "Yes, it's not going well outside, so I just quit my job, thinking there are no more fields in the house."
The driver said: "This poor country is so fun, young man, I don't think you can stay here."
Lu Qingjiu just smiled when he heard the words, without answering. He came back this time after careful consideration, not a momentary act of anger.
The car drove all the way through the narrow country road, and the surrounding environment became more and more remote. At the end, there was no light in the surrounding area, only the endless night.
Lu Qingjiu had been on the train for a whole day, and after talking with the driver for a while, he became a little sleepy. As soon as he was about to fall asleep, the driver suddenly braked.
Lu Qingjiu woke up abruptly and asked suspiciously, "What's the matter?"
"You... can you see the thing in front of you..." At this time, the driver's face was terribly ugly, his eyes were round and his body was still trembling slightly, as if he might faint at any time.
"What?" Lu Qingjiu was taken aback and looked forward. When he saw the thing in front of the vehicle clearly, he showed the same expression as the driver.
I saw a white thing floating on the narrow mountain road, because the distance is a little far away, it is not clear to see, but it is vaguely visible that it should be a person...
"What is this?" The driver's tone was almost crying. If it weren't for the narrow area to back up, he would probably turn around and ran away.
Lu Qingjiu: "..."
"Ahhhhh, that thing is floating here!" The driver grabbed Lu Qingjiu's arm in shock.
Lu Qingjiu: "You calm down, there are no ghosts in the world!" He had just finished saying this, and the driver beside him screamed again and said, "That thing is approaching us!!"
Lu Qingjiu looked forward and found that the white figure was actually approaching them, and the driver beside him yelled like killing a pig. It was a bit of a horror movie atmosphere.
"That seems to be a person!" But Bai Ying approached, and Lu Qingjiu saw clearly that the person in the white clothes was indeed a person. Although he didn't look very clearly, it shouldn't be something strange.
"It's a person." Lu Qingjiu felt that his arm was about to be grabbed by the driver, hissed in his mouth, "Master, don't catch me, that's really a person."
"People?" The driver seemed calmer.
The figure slowly walked in front of them. With the help of the car lights, Lu Qingjiu finally saw the appearance of Bai Ying. This was a man dressed in white. He was very handsome, with no expression on his face, and stopped in the taxi. Next to the position of the co-pilot.
"Sir?" Determined that this is a person and not something strange and dirty, Lu Qingjiu feels a little relaxed. He rolls down the car window, revealing half of his face, and said, "This place is so late at this late, you have What's the matter?"
The man glanced at Lu Qingjiu, then at the trembling taxi driver beside Lu Qingjiu, smiled slightly, and said, "It's okay, I can't sleep at night, come out to find something to eat."
Lu Qingjiu thought that you could find something to eat in this wilderness at this late hour, but there are weird people everywhere, and he is not good at beaking people's hobbies, so he smiled politely: "Really, then you pay attention Safety."
Hearing this, the man suddenly stretched out his hand and patted the taxi door, then turned and left, gradually disappearing into the dark night.
It wasn't until he disappeared that the driver on Lu Qingjiu's left caught fire again and continued to drive towards the destination. It's just that he was frightened, and he almost didn't speak much for the rest of the journey.
Lu Qingjiu didn't take this episode to heart. After he got out of the car, he thanked the driver, took two hundred yuan from his wallet and handed it to the driver.
The driver took the money without saying a word, drove the car and left, looking like he was being chased by a ghost. It seemed that it would have been a long time before he received an order from Shuifu Village.
Seeing him running away, Lu Qingjiu laughed blankly.
It was the darkest time of the day. The surrounding buildings were hidden in the darkness, and only the quiet sound of insects could be heard. Lu Qingjiu dragged his luggage and walked towards the location of his old house with his memory. He hasn't come back for three years, and the most recent time was to attend grandma's funeral. After that, the old house was abandoned, and I don't know what it looked like at this time.
The surrounding buildings changed slightly, but the general direction was still correct. After more than 20 minutes of walking, Lu Qingjiu finally found his goal.
The old house was really deserted as he expected. On the red door, there was a rusty lock. Lu Qingjiu took out the key, inserted it in and twisted it several times before opening the lock. When he reached out and pushed the door, there was a large area. The dust fell, causing him to cough a few times.
"It's been a long time since I came back." Lu Qingjiu opened the door of a small building and saw the furnishings in the house.
Because he said in advance that he would come back and let the neighbors help pay the electricity bill, there was still electricity available. Lu Qingjiu turned on the light and saw the furnishings in the house.
It didn't change much, it was almost the same as what he remembered, except that all the furniture was covered with a thick layer of ash. Lu Qingjiu simply cleaned the bed before thinking about making it up here for the night. He was lying on the hard wooden bed, looking at the cobweb-covered ceiling above his head, thinking about spending more time to clean the house tomorrow...
The nasal cavity was full of stale smell, and Lu Qingjiu fell asleep.
The next day, Lu Qingjiu woke up naturally after slept more than nine o'clock. Brilliant sunlight projected on him through the window. He opened his eyes in a daze and saw countless tiny dust filled with the light. He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and threw away his dim sleepiness.
Lu Qingjiu ate something casually and began to tidy up the house.
I haven't lived in a few years, and the house needs to be cleaned thoroughly. In the early years, Shuifu Village didn't even have running water, and the villagers had to go to the mountains to pick it up. Fortunately, the government funded the water supply in the past two years, saving a lot of trouble.
Lu Qingjiu found a broomstick covered with cobwebs in the corner of the room. He was about to roll up his sleeves to clean up, but he felt a tingling pain in his arm. He was a little confused. He rolled up the sleeve of his left hand and saw himself clearly. After the painful part of his left hand, he involuntarily inhaled a cold breath.
I saw five purple-red circle marks on his left arm, which were particularly eye-catching on his wheaten skin. He touched it lightly with his hand and felt a fiery pain.
"Where did you touch it?" Lu Qingjiu murmured, "Or was it crawled by a bug?" He was a little confused. After thinking about it carefully, an incredible thought came to his mind.
It seems that the one who touched his arm last night... is the only taxi driver. Could it be that the driver was so scared that he caught such a mark on his arm?
Lu Qingjiu gave a dry laugh, feeling that his idea was a little bit off.
However, these impressions seemed to have no other effect except the pain. Lu Qingjiu looked at it for a while, then put down his sleeves and started cleaning the room. He still has a lot to do today.
"Boom, boom, boom." At about ten o'clock, Lu Qingjiu, who was lowering his head and sweeping the floor, heard a knock on the door. He walked to the door and opened it, but he saw a familiar face behind the door.
"Little Jiu'er, you are back, did you arrive last night?" The one who greeted Lu Qingjiu was a young man who was slightly shorter than Lu Qingjiu. He smiled and showed a playful tiger tooth, "Why didn't you call me."
When Lu Qingjiu saw the young man, he also laughed: "Xiaoxun, it's been a long time."
The person in front of him was Yin Xun, who was Lu Qingjiu's playmate when he was young, but since Lu Qingjiu left Shuifu Village, the two have not seen each other for a long time.
"I arrived too late last night, so I didn't tell you." Lu Qingjiu raised the broom in his hand.
"Oh." Yin Xun nodded, "Are you cleaning? I'll help you!"
Lu Qingjiu said, "Is your farm done?"
Yin Xun said, "It's almost there. I just planted the rice seedlings yesterday, and I won't be fertilizer until next month."
Lu Qingjiu smiled and said, "Okay, then I will trouble you."
Yin Xun rolled up his sleeves, picked up an old rag and started to help Lu Sake clean the furniture, chatting with Lu Sake while doing things.
Although the two are young playmates, they may not have seen each other for a long time, but there are endless topics. Yin Xun is still a little surprised why Lu Qingjiu resigned from the big city and returned here.
Lu Qingjiu said sincerely: "My boss told me that if you don't work hard, it's better to go home and sell sweet potatoes. After thinking about it, I think it's good to go home and sell sweet potatoes, so I will come back."
Yin Xun: "...really or not."
Lu Qingjiu stared at his big eyes: "Really."
Yin Xun: "..." He pretended to believe it.
The two of them worked on sanitation all morning, and the house was roughly cleaned. Yin Xun saw that the time was almost up, so he greeted Lu Qingjiu to go to a small restaurant in the village for lunch. Lu Qingjiu readily agreed.
Shuifu Village is a small village, and quarrels at the head of the village can be heard at the end of the village. There is no business in this village, so there are two small restaurants, one seller of cooking, and the other selling rice noodles of various flavors.
"You just came back, what do you want to eat? I'll treat you!" Yin Xun said with a grin.
"Eat rice noodles." Lu Qingjiu also had rice noodles from that restaurant when he was a child.
"Okay, go." Yin Xun took Lu Sake towards the rice noodle shop.
The owner of the rice noodle shop saw Yin Xun greet him and saw Lu Qingjiu standing next to him. After looking up and down, he asked with some uncertainty, "This is the little grandson of the Lu family? It's grown up!"
Lu Qingjiu smiled and nodded.
"Uncle She, you want two beef noodles and more spicy." Yin Xun said, "add me a handful of leeks. Would you like sake?"
"Okay." Lu Qingjiu also ate leeks.
The boss screamed, then turned around and went into the house to cook rice noodles.
Lu Qingjiu observed this small shop. The shop was not big and the tables were all placed on the floor outside. Although the furnishings were old, they were kept very clean and did not make people feel messy. When Lu Qingjiu regained his gaze, he saw something flashing by under the table. It was so fast that Lu Qingjiu could barely recognize that the skin was red, which seemed to be an insect.
"What are you looking at?" Yin Xun asked.
"There seems to be a bug." Lu Qingjiu replied.
"Insects?" Yin Xun said, "Yes, this spring is here, and there are more and more insects. Later I will go home to get some herbs for you. You can take them home and order them... You slept there last night Didn't you get bitten?"
Lu Qingjiu shook his head: "No."
Yin Xun blinked his eyes and lifted his trouser legs easily. He saw that the three or five red bags on his legs were very eye-catching. Yin Xun said, "Hey, I was walking outside for a while last night and I got stung. Package."
Lu Qingjiu thought for a while: "Maybe I was lucky?"
Yin Xun grinned, the playful tiger tooth on his lips was particularly cute: "Maybe."
The two were chatting, and the boss brought up the cooked rice noodles, exuding a strong aroma.
Lu Qingjiu picked up his chopsticks, tasted the first bite, and sighed: "It still tastes like when I was a child." The rice noodles are soft and glutinous without edible glue, which absorbs the taste of bone broth. The taste is rich and delicious. The seasoning is very simple, with a handful of fried chili and green chives sprinkled on top. The leeks are very fragrant after being cooked in the broth, which just offsets the greasy feeling of the bone soup.
The two were hungry at first, and stopped talking as soon as the food came up, leaving only the sound of eating rice noodles. After Lu Qingjiu ate a bowl of rice noodles and drank a few mouthfuls of soup, he sighed in satisfaction.
"It's full." Yin Xun hiccuped and touched his stomach contentedly.
"It's delicious." Lu Qingjiu was also quite satisfied. He wiped his mouth and said casually: "By the way, I hailed a taxi when I arrived here yesterday. I heard from the taxi driver that two taxis died here. The driver?"
"Oh, you said this." Yin Xun said, "Yes, there are no two, but it's not the driver or the passenger."
Lu Qingjiu: "..."
Yin Xun didn't notice that Lu Qingjiu's expression was a bit wrong, so he could only talk about gossip and said: "But it doesn't have to be dead. The body has not been found yet, only their luggage is found."
"Aren't they from Shuifu Village?" Lu Qingjiu asked.
"No." Yin Xun said, "It's from another village, just passing by Shuifu Village... What do you ask this for?"
Lu Qingjiu said, "Oh, I just heard someone say something."
Yin Xun didn't take it seriously: "The public security in our Shuifu Village is still quite good. There is no thief, and it is much better than other places."
While talking, the two returned to the house. The cleaning was only half done, and they had to continue.
At the end of the day, the old house finally looks like a person can live in, but the yard needs more time to take care of.
The old house is actually quite big, and the backyard is almost a small villa, but because there is no residence for many years, there are fewer rooms for people to live in, and many roofs and walls need to be reinforced.
There is still a well in the backyard of the old house. In the evening, Lu Qingjiu went to the head of the well and found that there was still water in the well, which seemed to be able to continue to be used, but the water-drawing rope on it was old and had to be replaced.
"I still remember that I used this water-ice watermelon when I was young." Yin Xun sat on the edge of the well and looked inside, "What are you going to do when you come back this time?"
"Raise some animals and grow some fields." Lu Qingjiu said, "I still have some savings. I will repair the barn next to me..."
Almost every household in this village will raise some animals. Chickens are always available. If conditions are good, they will raise a few more pigs or cows.
"Okay." Yin Xun said, "I will tell the carpenter tomorrow, let him come to your house to fix the shed, what do you want to buy? We will go to the market in the town in a few days, we can go and take a look together."
"Okay, thank you." Lu Qingjiu said gratefully.
"You're welcome." Yin Xun waved his hand, and said indifferently, "We are in this relationship, why are you still talking about this? It's not early, I will go back first."
"Good." Lu Qingjiu said, "Pay attention to safety."
Yin Xun turned around and walked out of the courtyard. Lu Qingjiu saw him walking away before returning to his old house.
Although the old house had a TV, it hadn't turned on the signal yet, so Lu Qingjiu took out his cell phone and climbed into the bed, and clicked on the app to read the news.
He looked for a while, but suddenly remembered something, opened the search bar with his finger, and typed a few words in the search bar: The taxi passenger in Shuifu Village was missing. After a while, the search results jumped out. Lu Qingjiu glanced through the news and found that the news was similar to what Yin Xun said, but the details were more detailed. Roughly some people disappeared suddenly, their family members called the police, and finally their lost luggage was found near Shuifu Village. After the police investigation, it was found that these people were all in a taxi...
Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu put down the phone and rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. On the skin covered by the sleeve, five purple dots are clearly visible.
Lu Qingjiu reached out his hand and touched it, his mouth slightly hissed, the red dot still hurts terribly. He had realized that something was wrong with the taxi driver last night, but fortunately he left the taxi safely without any accident.
As Lu Qingjiu thought about it, his sleepiness came to his mind. After a busy day during the day, he was also a little tired. He closed his eyes and fell asleep for almost a moment.
He can't even think of this quality of sleep when he goes to work. After all, his company requires employees to turn on the phone 24 hours a day, especially for projects like his. If there is a problem with the project, he must be called to the company at any time, although the salary is high enough. , But people are also embarrassed.
Lu Qingjiu thought he would sleep until dawn, but in the early morning, he heard a very subtle noise.
The sound seemed like something was pulling on the tiles above his head, making Lu Qingjiu click on his head.
Lu Qingjiu was awakened from his sleep by the noise. He opened his dim sleepy eyes and saw a faint light above his head. This light made Lu Qingjiu stunned. He didn't turn his mind for a while. After a while, he was fierce. When I realized something, my eyes widened instantly—the tiles on the roof of the house were actually opened by something, and the bright moonlight spilled from the top of my head on the sheets, like a hot stamp.
"Kacha, Kacha." The voice above his head sounded again. Lu Qingjiu's first reaction was that creatures such as wild cats ran to the top of the building, but when this thought came to his mind, a circle The thing appeared in the hole in the roof. Lu Qingjiu saw the appearance of the round thing. It was a red eye with wide pupils. The white nictitating membrane glided over the eyeball, leaving a moist liquid on it. Lu Qingjiu recognized that this was the eye of a reptile.