Chapter 20: Small towns in the wilderness

Du Qing patted his forehead and suddenly said, "I remember! When I was in the Qing Gang in Shanghai, I also heard that there was a place here in Hunan that used to be rich in white salt.

Businessmen from all over the country have come here to buy salt, so this place has flourished for hundreds of years. Later, when the salt mines here were mined out, people didn't come. Because this place is surrounded by saline-alkali land except for salt mines, so it is impossible to grow crops. Since there was no salt, even the local people moved away.

Such cities and towns built on mineral resources will have no economic source once the resources are exhausted. Once bustling towns have gradually become ghost towns.

Although the moon is clear and the stars are sparse, the building in front of the two people looks tall and magnificent, covering a large area, like a theater. They can vaguely see the former prosperity, but the theater is full of weeds around, which has lost the luxury of that year.

No wonder the way in is so potholed that no one has repaired it! They decided to wait until dawn to go out. They sat on horseback for a long time, hoping to have a place where they could stretch out and sleep for a night. Li Changsheng has an illusion that there is light somewhere. When they walked around the theater, they saw a bright light in a group of dilapidated houses on the slope in the distance.

The two men immediately perked up. They are young, strong and courageous. The bright light means that people live here. They decided to go there and plead for a night's stay. It was better to pay for the room than to sleep on the ground in a broken house.

They climbed up the hillside along the winding path and found a row of tiled houses facing south. In front of the house is a small yard surrounded by a low fence. There are desks, chairs and benches in the courtyard. Obviously, people live here. Only the wooden door of the yard is open, the door is clean and tidy, and the weeds in front of the door are also cleaned.

Since the window of the room is lighted, it means that the host is at home. Du Qing has rich social experience and is bold and cautious. He took the dagger from his arms and hid it in his sleeve. He knocked on the open door of the yard and asked aloud, "Is anyone living here? We are passers-by. It's dark here. Can we go in and have a cup of hot water?

The room was silent. Du Qing asked three times, and there was no sound in the room. Li Changsheng held his breath, closed his eyes, and slowly dispersed his spirit. He felt that there was no one within thirty meters.

They looked at each other and pushed open the gate of the yard together. After entering the yard, they went to knock on the door. As a result, the door opened. It is a very ordinary old room, with a bed at the bottom and a kitchen at the door. There is a rough square table in the middle of the house, on which a kerosene lamp illuminates the room. In addition, there is a plate of steamed bread and a kettle on the table.

There was a piece of paper under the kettle. Li Changsheng took it out and looked at it. There were four words on the paper:

There is tea in the pot,

There are steamed buns on the plate.

Passing gentleman,

Don't stay after dinner.

The steamed bread is cold. Li Changsheng touches the kettle with the back of his hand, but the kettle is still hot. It means that the owner of the house has not left the house for a long time.

Li Changsheng said: Mr. Du, the host here doesn't welcome outsiders. There are water and big cakes in the luggage on our horses. We don't need to disturb the host here. Let's go.

Du Qing also feels that the environment here is weird and should not stay for long. He hurriedly said, "You are right. Let's go!"

The two men were speechless all the way back to the place where the horse was tied at the entrance of the town, but they saw two figures standing beside the two horses, one high and one low. Li Changsheng said, "Hello! We have just arrived here. This is an abandoned salt mine, and no one lives here now. The environment here is a little strange. Please leave immediately."

Dark figures were a man and a woman, of medium height, and sounded like an accent from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The two dark figures also laughed and said, "We also missed the hotel. The map shows that there is a big town with a radius of ten miles, so we came here for lodging. We did not expect how desolate it is!"

Li Changsheng and Du Qing went to lead their horses. "Be careful!" Li Changsheng shouted to remind Du Qing. At the same time, subconsciously, his left shoulder suddenly hit Du Qing. His right hand leaned down and held the woman's outstretched wrist. The woman's hand was a cold shining knife, which was particularly dazzling in the moonlight.

When he met two strangers in the dark, Li Changsheng was already on guard. When two strangers approached him, the energy in Li Changsheng's body suddenly poured into his body from his belly button. This is the body's instinctive response to danger. He did not know that his spirit felt the hostility and murderous spirit of the other party.

Because Li Changsheng bumped Du Qing with his shoulder, the strange man's stab at Du Qing failed. He took advantage of Du Qing's unstable center of gravity and immediately stepped forward to stab Du Qing in the chest. Li Changsheng pulled the woman's arm and blocked Du Qing faster than him. He hit the man on the shoulder with a fist. With the sound of broken shoulder blades, the man howled and the knife flew away.

At the speed of lightning, Li Changsheng has stepped on the man, and at the same time, his hands have clipped the woman's arms behind her back to control.