The fool squatted on the ground in frustration, throwing stones like a child having a tantrum, "I finally found a clue... Oh, it's all my fault."
"Brother Fool, don't blame yourself too much," Baomu stood up and patted the dirt in his hands, "Maybe we can find the person who took the box."
"Where can I find this?" The fool smiled helplessly, "We don't even know when it was lost."
The Taoist priest thought for a long time and asked softly, "Fool, do you still remember that Aunt Li?"
"Aunt Li?" The fool looked a little confused, "I...of course I remember. Didn't Xiaolan talk about her just now?"
"Do you remember where Aunt Li's home is?" the Taoist priest asked immediately.
"It seems to be in that direction..." The fool pointed hesitantly to the east, "But after so many years, I don't know if Aunt Li has moved."
"Do you think Aunt Li picked up the fool's luggage?" Qin Yin asked.
It's quite possible.
So, everyone followed the path in the fool's memory and walked towards Aunt Li's former house.
They stopped in front of a simple and low-rise bungalow.
"Are you sure this is here?" Qin Yin looked at the small house, "It seems... no one lives here."
"Anyway, Aunt Li lived here before I left the bridge," said the fool. "It's been so long, I guess she has moved to a building."
"Are we still going in?" Qin Yin asked.
The Taoist priest thought for a while, turned around and asked, "Baomu, is there anyone in the house now?"
Baomu had been sniffing since just now. When he heard the Taoist priest's question, he shook his head and said, "There is no one, it's an empty house."
"Then let's go in and take a look," the Taoist priest said. "There's no one there anyway."
These sinful words came out of the Taoist priest's mouth as smoothly and naturally as if he were saying "good morning."
And no one expressed any objection to this statement.
Qin Yin twisted the door handle a few times and decisively moved away from the door, "The door is locked, Xiaolan, come on."
Xiao Lan obediently stepped forward, grabbed the door handle, and twisted it slightly. The resistance of the door lock was transmitted to her palm. Xiao Lan increased her strength against the resistance.
Click!——
The door opened.
But this time, it wasn't Xiaolan who opened the door lock, but... the door lock was broken.
Years of disrepair have long since made the inside of the door lock rust into pieces. Xiaolan stared blankly at the door handle in her hand, which had separated from the door and became a part of herself.
"Good guy," Qin Yin said, "If I had known earlier, I would have gone straight ahead. I am good at tearing down doors."
Xiaolan tried to put the doorknob back on, but after failing, she could only wave her arms to cover up her embarrassment, "Anyway, the door is open, let's go in."
Aunt Li's home is relatively small, with only one bedroom, a kitchen and a living room. The house is empty, and all the furniture and ornaments are gone.
"It seems they have moved," the fool said, "Ah...it turns out this house is so small."
The Taoist priest smiled and looked at the fool, "When I was a child, everything seemed big. When I grow up, those things will naturally become smaller."
"It's really like this..."
"Ah sneeze!"
A loud sneeze sounded in the corner, and everyone looked over.
Baomu stood in front of a pottery jar that was half a man's height. He pointed at the pottery jar and motioned for them to look at it, and sneezed again.
"Look... what's here... A sneeze!" Baomu covered his nose with tears squeezed out, "The smell is so pungent... A sneeze! It smells good..."
Everyone gathered around the tank and stuck their heads out to take a look.
There was a pool of pure water in the tank, shining with bright black light in the middle of the night. I don't know if it was the water or the tank, but there was always a faint sour smell floating around.
"It's okay, I don't think the smell is strong," Qin Yin sniffed hard, "This is an old vat, what's the smell?"
"Brother Baomu, can't you smell what this smells like?" Xiaolan asked, blinking.
Baomu shook his head, "I've never smelled this kind of smell before. It's very strange...and smells bad."
"That's strange..." Qin Yin tilted his neck and looked at the water, "By the way, Wen Ling, come here, look at this tank, can you tell the way?"
Wen Ling, who had been silent for almost the whole night, finally regained some sense of existence. She squeezed to the edge of the tank, stuck her head out, and carefully observed the black water.
After a few seconds, she raised a finger.
Everyone became energetic instantly.
Wen Ling raised her finger and said confidently, "Sauerkraut."
Ah? Eh? Pickled cabbage?
So... this is just a sauerkraut jar for pickling sauerkraut?
"Speaking of which..." the fool said, "it does taste like pickled vegetables."
"Tch, I thought it was some kind of jar where corpses had been soaked," Qin Yin waved his hand in disappointment, "Baomu, can't you smell the pickled cabbage?"
"I've never eaten pickled cabbage," Baomu said sharply, still pinching his nose, "I hate the taste."
"It seems that your nemesis has appeared," Qin Yin said. "When I fight with you in the future, if I throw a pickle at you, you will rush to the street."
Baomu said sincerely, "Sister Xiaoyin, when we fight, no matter what you throw, I will jump on the street..."
"No!" The Taoist priest suddenly roared, "Squat down quickly!"
Although everyone didn't know what happened, the reflex arcs they had developed through years of escaping had already pinned them to the ground.
Everyone had just hid when suddenly, a flashlight light came in from the window and fell on Xiaolan, scaring her so much that she quickly moved her position.
Rustling... rustling...
A series of footsteps, approaching from far away.
The ajar door made a harsh friction sound, and after a while, a man's voice sounded.
"Huh? What's wrong with this door..." The man's voice was steady and low, as if he was talking to himself, "It's really terrible, it's in such tatters."
As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened, and the flashlight light came in from outside.
The man took two steps and suddenly stopped.
"who?!"
well……
If you want to blame it, this house is really too small.
Everyone stood up one after another and stood in front of the flashlight with their heads down, as if they were caught in the act.
When the man saw that there were so many people hiding in the hut, he was so frightened that he backed away from the door.
"I'm really sorry," the Taoist priest said with a gentle and friendly smile, at least that's what he thought, "Don't be afraid, we are not bad people."
Although at this moment, this statement seems unconvincing...
"You... you, you are..." The man's flashlight focused on the fool, "Wait a minute, why do I think you look familiar? Are you... are you Brother Zishan?"