Chapter 1938?

Zhou Ze looked at the little girl, then at Xu Qinglang, and said,

"The Japanese devils entered Tongcheng in '38, right?"

Xu Qinglang thought for a moment and said, "I think it was March of '38 when they took Tongcheng."

So, the so-called Sanxiang Village was likely a tragedy of that era. The village should have been flattened when the Japanese devils entered Tongcheng, and almost all the villagers, including this little girl, perished. Only the poster's grandmother was lucky enough to survive.

Even now, it's impossible to find any other information about Sanxiang Village, and there's no official record.

This isn't official negligence; in those years, similar tragedies were countless. With the constant turmoil, many who died tragically were forgotten.

"So, an entire village that died during the War of Resistance didn't enter the cycle of reincarnation?"

Zhou Ze frowned.

Eighty years, more than a lifespan, and the souls of that entire village are still lingering in place?

"I'm not sure, but looking at this little girl, it seems so. How about this, I'll go to the city library and check the local chronicles to see exactly where Sanxiang Village was, or consult relevant people."

Xu Qinglang got up, grabbed his car keys, and went straight out.

He was very proactive about this matter. His enthusiasm differed from Zhou Ze's in that Zhou Ze also had business considerations, while he genuinely wanted to do something.

After all, they were fellow villagers.

Zhou Ze sat down in a nearby chair and pointed at the old Taoist priest. "Keep an eye on her."

The old Taoist nodded and watched the little girl with the little monkey.

The little girl was somewhat bewildered, not knowing what was happening, just standing there instinctively, not daring to move much.

The little monkey reached out as if wanting to touch the girl's soul, but the old Taoist smacked its hand down and scolded,

"What are you touching? She's older than you are!"

If the little girl hadn't died, she would be ninety years old now.

Yet she remained so innocent and retained her pre-death mindset completely. This was what Zhou Ze was most curious about. Zhou Ze suspected that something might have happened to the village, preventing the souls of the entire village from leaving, trapping them together, oblivious to time and the changing seasons.

However, the specific situation would have to wait until Xu Qinglang found accurate information before it could be verified.

Zhou Ze took out his phone and casually scrolled through it. He rarely used WeChat or QQ, because they were full of Xu Le's old social circles. There was nothing he could do about it, since he couldn't get his old account back and it was difficult to appeal.

While scrolling through his Moments, Zhou Ze unexpectedly saw that Bai Yingying had shared an article titled, "On the Bed Skills of Men in the Army!"

Zhou Ze was stunned.

This female corpse seemed to be running further and further down the path of a teenage chuuni (delusional).

It seemed he needed to have a good talk with her sometime. She shouldn't even touch this kind of stuff, it was taboo.

At this moment, Bai Yingying was busy with her work and was upstairs in her room playing a game.

Zhou Ze got up, walked up the stairs, and casually clicked on the shared link.

Hmm,

To educate a teenage chuuni, you have to prescribe the right medicine, know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

After clicking on it,

It was a bunch of white and green pictures.

And then,

It turned out to be a competition judging how well beds were made at a certain factory. The top three winners were all masters who had been soldiers.

Damn clickbait.

Zhou Ze put down his phone and pushed open the bedroom door.

"Seaweed, seaweed, swaying with the waves;

Seaweed, seaweed, seaweed, dancing in the surf!"

Bai Yingying lay on the bed with her bare white feet, swinging her legs back and forth, holding her phone and watching videos, laughing like a pig.

She didn't even notice when Zhou Ze walked over.

Then, Zhou Ze sat down beside her bed.

"Hahahaha..."

Bai Yingying laughed and rolled over, then lay directly on Zhou Ze's lap.

Then,

Her long eyelashes fluttered, her alluring red lips parted slightly, and her delicate skin turned slightly red.

The atmosphere,

Fell into a wonderful state.

However, Zhou Ze, worthy of his title as a destroyer of romance, said directly,

"I've told you many times, don't get on the bed if you haven't washed your feet or taken a shower after getting up."

As he spoke, Zhou Ze frowned as he looked at the pair of slender and infinitely imaginative jade feet.

"Dirty."

Bai Yingying immediately got out of bed, put on her slippers, crossed her hands in front of her, and lowered her head to Zhou Ze, ready to be scolded.

She was very familiar with this posture.

"Wash the sheets."

Zhou Ze said.

"Yes, Boss."

Bai Yingying took the sheets downstairs. Zhou Ze sat down at the computer, opened the webpage, and started searching for information about Sanxiang Village again.

Xu Qinglang had searched on his phone, so there might be some omissions.

Unfortunately,

Regarding that village, at least online, there was no other information except for that discussion thread.

Zhou Ze also clicked on the thread that Xu Qinglang had mentioned before. The thread was posted on the Tongcheng local forum and dated back to 2009.

First, he read the two replies from people whose grandmothers were from Sanxiang Village but didn't find anything. Then, Zhou Ze chose to review the main topic. In fact, there were two people in this thread who knew about it.

One was of course the person who replied, but they had already said everything they needed to say. The other was the person who asked the question.

Since Sanxiang Village had been forgotten by people and didn't even exist in records, only in the old stories told by grandmothers, why did this poster suddenly mention the place name and ask about it?

Zhou Ze clicked on the poster's avatar and found that the poster hadn't posted again after 2009. Zhou Ze copied the poster's ID.

The ID was "wo xin chang dan san qian yue jia ke tun wu 19800201" (lit. "three thousand Yue soldiers can swallow Wu after tasting gall on firewood").

The first part was very familiar; Zhou Ze analyzed that the string of numbers at the end was likely the person's birthday.

Then, Zhou Ze searched for the ID again and found a post. This post was in the Penglai Ghost Stories section of the Haijiao Forum.

The poster was still "wo xin chang dan san qian yue jia ke tun wu 19800201", and the posting time was still 2009.

This post wasn't very popular, and there weren't many replies.

Of course, including the ID number at the end being the same meant that the person who posted on the Tongcheng local forum asking about Sanxiang Village was also the person who posted this story on the Haijiao Forum.

Zhou Ze looked down; it was a story.

The poster's opening said:

"This is something I experienced personally. Although it's bizarre and absurd, I believe it's not a dream, nor am I hallucinating. This is my true story."

A very cliché opening for a ghost story.

It was very popular in ghost story routines ten years ago, first emphasizing it in a roundabout way.

Zhou Ze continued to read:

"In March of this year, I was driving home from the Guanyin Mountain Town Power Supply Station. Yes, I work at the power supply station, but I live next to Xingdong Airport.

On the way home, I passed through Xingren Town and got off the viaduct there because I wanted to pick up my clothes that I had left there for dry cleaning in the morning.

The dry cleaner is on Xingren Town Street, right across from Xingren Elementary School.

It was nine o'clock at night when I drove there. There were fewer people on the street, but when I parked my car in front of the dry cleaner, opened the door, and got out, I twisted my ankle and fell.

At first, I just thought I was unlucky today, but this was just the beginning, because after I fell to the ground, I suddenly found that the streets and tall buildings around me were gone. Instead of a road under me, there was a muddy field ridge. Instead of a dry cleaner across from me, there were rows of mud houses.

I was stunned. I looked back at my car and found that my car had turned into a haystack.

I was really scared at the time. I didn't know what was happening. I sat on the ground for a quarter of an hour, thinking it was a dream and hoping I would wake up soon.

But I didn't wake up. Then I saw an old man leading a little girl walking towards me. The old man was carrying a hoe on his shoulder, and the little girl was playing with a sugar figurine in her hand.

They got closer and closer to me. They were also talking, and they were speaking in the Tongcheng dialect.

I immediately asked them, where is this place?

They looked at me curiously. The old man replied that this was 'Sanxiang Village.'

Where is Sanxiang Village?

I've never heard of it.

Then I stood up and asked them how I could get out.

The old man probably thought I was crazy and had problems, so he hurriedly pulled his granddaughter away.

There was nothing I could do. I walked into the village alone. At the time, I even wondered if I had been drugged and trafficked to some remote mountain area, but I thought it was absurd. I'm a grown man, why would they traffic me?

I can't even have children.

Every household was closed. Occasionally, a few houses had lights on and there were shadows inside. I didn't dare to knock on the door and go in, but I carefully walked past each house.

I heard people chatting and talking in many houses. They were all saying they were hungry.

Wives were telling their husbands they were hungry,

Children were telling their parents they were hungry,

Elderly parents were telling their sons and daughters-in-law they were hungry,

The people in this village were all very hungry.

At night, they stayed in their houses and kept saying "I'm so hungry, I'm so hungry."

I became more and more panicked as I walked.

I had a feeling that since they were so hungry, would they all run out together later and cook me and eat me?

I started running,

Running fast,

I instinctively sensed danger,

I wanted to run out of here before they came out to catch me. No matter where I ran, I wanted to get as far away from this damn village as possible.

I don't know how long I ran.

In the end,

I just forgot...

Then, when I woke up the next day,

I found myself sitting in the driver's seat of my car, having slept there all night.

But it definitely wasn't a dream. Dreams can't be that real!

And my clothes and pants were all muddy.

There were also a few pieces of straw in my neck and hair.

Sanxiang Village,

That place definitely exists,

It definitely exists!"

The poster also posted a photo of himself at the time, showing the mud and straw on his clothes.

But the replies below clearly didn't believe it, saying:

"This ghost story is too ridiculous."

"The production cost is also very low. Just get a piece of clothing dirty, take a picture, and play 'tell a story based on the picture'?"

"Start with a picture, and then make up the rest. Poster, not heartfelt, not heartfelt."

"Poster, didn't you have a cell phone on you at the time? Why didn't you record a video or take a picture?"

Zhou Ze continued to scroll down.

Fortunately, there weren't many replies, because this ghost story wasn't new and wasn't particularly exciting.

But below, Zhou Ze saw a reply from the poster:

"Wait, I will definitely find a way to go there again. This time, I will bring back evidence to prove that I am not making up a story."

The next reply was in 2010, one year later.

"It's been a year. Poster, where the hell is your story? Haven't you finished making it up yet? I've been keeping it in my favorites."

Then there was a reply in 2011:

"Two years have passed. Did the poster go there again?"

The last reply was in 2012:

"Everyone disperse, the poster is gone."

Zhou Ze paused for a moment as he read.

A passage suddenly appeared in his mind:

"Liu Ziji of Nanyang was a noble gentleman who, upon hearing of it, gladly planned to go. Before he could succeed, he died of illness, and afterwards, no one inquired about it again."