It was almost three o'clock in the morning when we returned to the Zhou family's old house. Everyone simply washed up and then went back to their bedrooms to sleep.
But I was lying in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep, thinking about my mother all the time. Several times I even felt as if someone was lying outside the window looking at me.
I rolled around on the bed until it was almost dawn and then fell asleep in a daze.
But this sleep was incredible, and I slept until lunch.
When Xiangyu called me up, I was still dreaming of messy dreams.
"Zhou Cang, you can really sleep." Xiangyu laughed at me while not forgetting to eat.
"I couldn't sleep last night, okay? I just fell asleep in a daze this morning." I raised my rice bowl to cover up my embarrassment, and I didn't forget to defend myself.
"Okay, okay, if you overslept, you overslept. What's the excuse? Finish your meal quickly, and then go pack some clothes. We'll set off in the afternoon." Zhou Lan thought about the last bite of rice in the bowl.
He went down and said to me.
"I know." I answered Zhou Lan, and finished all the rice in the bowl.
After eating, I returned to the bedroom, took out my backpack, and then randomly took out a few clothes from the closet and stuffed them in.
Looking at the closet that I had rummaged through in the past two days, I suddenly thought of my grandma. If grandma were here, she would definitely give her a scolding.
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but silently walk towards the back hall.
Although grandma may still be holding her breath, I still want to burn a stick of incense to grandma’s memorial tablet in the back hall and the ancestors of the Zhou family, because every time I set out, I have to do it well and never come back.
prepared.
Unexpectedly, when I entered the back hall, I found that Zhou Lan was also there. I saw him kneeling in front of grandma's memorial tablet, clasping his hands and mumbling something, not knowing what he was mourning.
"Brother," I shouted softly.
Zhou Lan turned around and without speaking, motioned for me to kneel next to him.
I walked to Zhou Lan's side and knelt down.
"Grandma, don't worry, we two brothers will be fine. If you are alive in heaven, you must bless our parents." Zhou Lan put his hands together and looked at grandma's tablet and said.
I didn't expect that what Zhou Lan said was actually like this.
It turns out that this carefree-looking boy, this boy who was raised by strangers because he took my place since he was a child, was actually thinking of his parents under such circumstances.
This really surprised me, and from this moment on, I respected him as my brother from the bottom of my heart.
"Xiao Cang, let's go. There are some things that we have to complete. Once completed, we can live our own lives." After Zhou Lan finished speaking, he stood up and said to me.
I also stood up and said emotionally: "Brother, I understand."
After we paid homage to grandma, we set off. Maybe it was because I didn't sleep well last night, so I was basically in a state of confusion during the whole trip.
By the time I woke up, I had arrived at the jurisdiction of Shennongjia.
"This night in Shennongjia really makes people feel like they are in a fairyland." I said sincerely.
"Zhou Cang, you finally woke up. I saw you in a dizzy state all the way. I was really worried. I was afraid that you wouldn't be able to follow us into Shennongjia next time." Xiangyu said with a croak.
.
"I was just recharging my energy, okay?" I said bluntly.
"Okay, young master, have you had enough sleep? It's time to start working." Xiangyu said.
"What, are we going to enter the Shennongjia forest tonight?" I asked a little surprised.
"No, entering the Shennongjia forest area requires government approval. The relevant documents have not been released yet, so we will not be able to enter the depths of the Shennongjia forest area until tomorrow at the earliest." Zhou Lan said.
"Then what should we do now? This place looks desolate. How about we go back to the city and find a hotel to stay in, and then we can set off again after the documents are received." I looked at Zhou Lan and said.
"You don't have to go back, just find a nearby mountain family to stay overnight." Chen Mo said calmly.
"What, stay overnight, Chen Mo, are you sure there are mountain people within our visual range?" I said a little incredulously.
Because wherever you look, there are jungles that cover the sky and the sun, and there are no people living in the mountains at all.
"There will always be something there if you look for it." Chen Mo said, without caring about us, he raised his legs and walked into the jungle.
The three of us looked at each other. We didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Chen Mo's gourd, but we had no choice but to follow his footsteps and enter the jungle.
Much of the Shennongjia Forest Area is undeveloped virgin forest, so there must be many wild beasts here that can hurt people. Chen Mo didn't know if he had forgotten this.
How could there be any mountain people in this forest area?
I muttered silently in my heart, but everyone followed Chen Mo without any objection, so I couldn't say anything and could only follow silently.
Suddenly, a flash of bright white in the grass caught my attention.
I stopped and took a closer look, my God, it turned out to be a white lizard.
The lizard also saw me, but without any fear, he actually stood in the grass and faced me.
In Shentang Bay, I was frightened by lizards, so although this bright white lizard was not big, it was still enough to arouse my fear.
"Xiangyu," I called out softly, because I felt that Xiangyu should resonate with me the most about lizards, because she was the only one with me in the lizard cave in Shentang Bay.
"What's wrong?" Xiangyu was walking in front and didn't know the existence of lizards, so her voice was much louder than mine.
Her sound immediately startled the lizard.
The bright white lizard that was originally hiding in the grass fled and disappeared in an instant.
"There was a lizard in the grass just now, and you scared it away." I muttered to Xiangyu.
"Lizard? Where are the lizards? Is it that big lizard again?" Xiangyu was probably afraid of straw ropes after being bitten by a snake for ten years, so when he heard the word lizard, he was instantly frightened.
, said with a raised tone.
"No, it's just a normal variety. It's just that the whole body is bright white. It's particularly conspicuous in the dark." I said.
"Many animals in Shennongjia are albino, so it is normal to have white lizards," Zhou Lan said.
"Do you think this has something to do with the astrolabe buried here?" Xiangyu asked.
"Maybe, but the most important thing for us right now is to find a place to stay as soon as possible, otherwise we will sleep in the woods tonight." Zhou Lan said.
"We have tents in our equipment, so it's okay to spend a night in the forest. We're just afraid of wild animals coming here," Xiangyu said.
Chen Mo didn't speak. When we were discussing lizards, he didn't interrupt either. Instead, he looked gloomy and frowned at the depths of the jungle. He didn't know what he was thinking.
I don’t know why, but I always felt like there was something following us not too far away, and I always looked back from time to time, so I was left at the back of the queue.
Just when I looked back again, there seemed to be a little light shining through the forest I just walked through.
I took a closer look and found that it was actually a small courtyard.
"Hey, look, there seems to be a small courtyard over there." I stopped and said to the few people in front of me.
The three of them turned around almost at the same instant.
"It's strange, we came from that direction just now, why didn't we notice it?" Zhou Lan said with a surprised look on his face: "Chen Mo, did you see that courtyard just now?"
"Finally found it." Chen Mo, who had been silent along the way, said.
"Chen Mo, so you've been looking for that small courtyard?" Xiang Yu asked.
But Chen Mo did not answer Xiang Yu's words, but walked quickly towards the light.