I felt that all the muscles in my body were tense. I was obviously very scared, but my eyes couldn't help but drift towards the pair of bone "handcuffs" above my ankles.
Chen Mo's nerves were also tense, so he didn't seem to notice the change in my expression.
We just floated slowly in the reeds on the swamp for I don't know how long.
Anyway, the moon above my head disappeared into the clouds and then emerged again.
After the moonlight repeated this process several times, our tree-trunk canoe finally stopped.
The reeds here seem to be taller than elsewhere.
Vaguely, I seemed to see a small boat in the high reed marsh.
The boat was in tatters. Under the dim light of the moon, it could still be seen that the boat was old, as if a gust of wind could blow away its bones.
What shocked me was that the tattered boat seemed to be approaching us.
Because slowly I can see that this is a residential boat.
The strange thing is that there are no lights on inside the boat, and judging from Chen Mo's expression, this string of boats should be waiting for us.
Just when I wanted to ask Chen Mo about the origin of this ship, a figure squatting on the deck suddenly appeared in my field of vision.
"Rusao," I couldn't hold it back and shouted out.
It was Rusao. Wasn't she taking care of the sick Lao Li by the Poyang Lake? Why did she suddenly appear on the reeds in the swamp of the Chen family's back house?
"Little ancestor, don't make a sound." Sister-in-law Ru also made a "shush" gesture towards me.
The cautiousness of her and Chen Mo puzzled me very much. Are there still eyes watching us in this reed marsh?
With the help of Sister-in-law Ru and Chen Mo, I wore the pair of shackles on my ankles and boarded the small family boat that seemed to be sinking at any time.
As soon as we got on the boat, Mrs. Ru immediately pushed the boat deep into the reed swamp.
,!
Seeing the boat submerged among the tall reeds, Rusao finally let out a long sigh of relief.
"Finally, we are safe." She said while patting her chest.
"Sister-in-law Ru, weren't you taking care of Lao Li in Poyang Lake? Why did you appear here?" I asked in confusion.
"Master Zhou Cang, if I didn't follow you to the Chen family, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to see Chen Mo by now." Sister-in-law Ru said to me with a smile, and patted me.
Completely dry soil.
"Master Zhou Cang, Sister-in-law Ru, you can see that I am not Zhou Lan anymore." I said a little surprised.
"What a good boy." Sister-in-law Ru looked at me with admiration and said.
"As early as in Yunlangyuan, Sister-in-law Ru had already figured out that you were no longer Zhou Lan. It was just that there was someone around at that time, so she didn't tell you." Chen Mo found someone in the cabin who was leaning against the wall of the cabin.
He sat down and said in a kind and mocking tone.
"It turns out that Sister-in-law Ru has known about it for a long time." I felt a little embarrassed all of a sudden, and I really thought that I was doing a good job.
"I took care of Master Lan when he was brought to the Chen family at three months old. From then until he went out to study when he was nineteen years old, I have been taking care of him for more than ten or twenty years. Therefore, I
How could you not tell if she is my Lan'er?" Sister-in-law Ru said, as if there were tears flashing in her eyes.
"Sister-in-law Ru, on behalf of my parents, I want to thank you for taking care of my brother over the years." I said.
"Master Zhou Cang, don't say that. The Chen family paid me wages. This is my responsibility," Sister-in-law Ru immediately put her emotions away after hearing what I said, and then said.
"Sister-in-law Ru, let's not talk about anything else for now. The most important thing is to find a way to untie the pair of shackles on Zhou Cang's feet." Chen Mo, who was sitting aside, said.
"Okay, you see I forgot about the real thing when I was in a hurry." Sister-in-law Ru said, then she knelt down and carefully groped with her hands on the pair of bone-white palms above my ankles.
"Rusao, why are there bones in this swamp? Is it because there were corpses in the swamp originally?" I lowered my head and said to Rusao who was squatting on the ground.
"You two kids didn't listen to my warning and actually came to Chen's house without permission and even entered the back house. Aren't you asking for your own death? If Lao Li hadn't been worried and asked me to come with you, I would have just
I'm afraid that by now, things have developed to an irreversible point." Sister-in-law Ru said, gently pinching my ankles with her hands.
"Sister-in-law Ru, do you know something that's why you won't let us come to Chen's house?" I asked.
However, Sister-in-law Ru's attention did not seem to be on me, but she was staring at the pair of bone-white handcuffs on my feet, as if she was saying to herself: "It shouldn't be, why can't I solve it?"
Is it open? Has this mechanism been changed again? "
"Rusao, what's wrong? Can't you open it?" Chen Mo heard Rusao's words and immediately stood up and walked over.
"Yes, young master, these mechanisms in the swamp of the back house were designed by myself and Chen San. There is no way that I can't open them. If I can't open them, it will only prove that Chen San changed the mechanisms."
When Mrs. Ru said this, there were already dense beads of sweat oozing out from her forehead.
"It wasn't Uncle San who changed it, it was Grandpa." Chen Mo said, looking at the darkness outside the cabin.
,.
"Young Master, if it is really the old lady who instructs Chen San to change the agency, it means that he no longer trusts me. Then, I am no longer safe here," Rusao said.
"What are you talking about, what kind of agency, what kind of safety and unsafety, I didn't understand a word." I couldn't help but interrupt.
"Master Zhou Cang, do you know why the Chen family's back house is built on this swamp? And I believe Chen San should have told you that the buildings in the back house exist independently and are not connected.
A whole piece together." Sister-in-law Ru stood up slowly and said to me.
"Maybe it's because of the special terrain of the swamp, and the foundation of the building must be hard, so the buildings in the back house are all independent, rather than connected together as a whole."
I said.
"Master Zhou Cang, you are only half right. One of the very important factors for the independent existence of this building is indeed the special nature of the swamp foundation. However, there is another final reason, which is because of the Chen family.
The back house is actually a huge prison. Because most of these buildings are submerged in the vast reed swamps, we all call them dungeons." Sister-in-law Ru stood in front of me and said.
"Dungeon, the people who live here..."
Before I finished speaking, Sister-in-law Ru continued the second half of my sentence and said: "Of course he is the person the Chen family wants to imprison."
"Could it be that my mother is also someone the Chen family wants to imprison?" I said with some disbelief.
"Of course, even your father was imprisoned in this back house at the beginning. However, the eldest lady was extremely smart. With her help, my uncle finally escaped. However, the eldest lady didn't know why.
But I stayed here." Rusao said.
"You mean, my father was also imprisoned in the Chen family's back house." My voice rose unconsciously.
"Yes," Rusao said firmly.
Looking into Rusao's eyes, I felt that she would not lie to me, "But, why doesn't mother go with father?"
"The eldest lady probably has her own things to do. As a servant, how can I know so much?" Rusao said with a chuckle.
"Sister-in-law Ru, Chen Mo, when we were walking along just now, I could feel that you were all very cautious. Is there something in the reed marsh that is watching us?" I asked as if I suddenly remembered.
.
"Master Zhou Cang, you don't know how terrifying the Chen family's back house is. The old man has been conducting some secret research over the years. I think he is almost obsessed. He is in this swamp.
, I have raised a lot of water ghosts. These water ghosts will come out at night and drag people into the mud when they see them. Fortunately for you, many people were dragged into the swamp for just a while, and only their bones were left."
Sister-in-law said.
"What about this piece of white bones currently stuck on my ankle?" I couldn't finish the second half of the sentence.
Rusao looked at me and nodded tacitly.
"Why can my grandfather raise these things? And why did he build such a prison?" I continued to ask.
"These water ghosts were all brought out by the old man from Shennongjia. Every time the people he brought to Shennongjia would contract strange diseases and die after they came back," Ru's wife said.