Card Room - 345. Mime private 495

[Chapter 495, the famine years]

Shao Qingge and Ye Qi walked into the town side by side.

The small town in front of them was completely different from the beautiful Qingfeng Town in their impression. If Qingfeng Town 20 years later is a paradise with beautiful mountains and clear waters, then Qingfeng Town during the famine period 20 years ago was a devastated purgatory on earth.

There are not many houses in the town, and most of them are dilapidated.

The roads on the ground are potholes and muddy, and the population is less than 30% of Qingfeng Town in twenty years. Coupled with the famine, many people with poor health and poor families have starved to death by the roadside.

As soon as the two of them walked a few steps, they saw a few sloppy bodies in the corner of the alley. Those corpses had no one to deal with, and they were piled up like rubbish. The surface of the corpses had rotted and gave off a strong stench.

Ye Qi has gone through so many secret rooms with Xiao Lou, and he has long been surprised by the corpse, but the smell is a bit unpleasant. He covered his nose and mouth, took a step forward, took a branch and turned to look at the corpses.

Now that we have arrived twenty years ago, we cannot leave out any clues.

There were five corpses in total, and they looked like a family. Among them, a woman kept a yellow-faced child in her arms until she died. No obvious wounds were found on all the corpses. Ye Qi said, “This family should have been starved to death. Seeing that they are dressed in tattered clothes, the family must have no money. It is really difficult to survive a famine.”

Shao Qingge frowned and looked at the flies flying around the corpse, and said in a low voice: “Let’s go, these corpses discarded on the side of the road should not make much sense. We should find the mysterious organization 20 years ago as soon as possible.”

Ye Qi nodded, then turned and walked out of the alley with Shao Qingge.

Along the way, you can find scattered corpses on the side of the road almost every few steps. This scene is like the end of the world. No animals can be seen in the small town. Domestic animals such as pigs, animals, and cows must have been eaten up. People who are hungry and crazy may not even let mice go.

The whole town could not smell any food. The doors of every house are locked tightly. At this time, people who have secretly stored food must not dare to take it out.

Ye Qi and Shao Qingge became more and more frightened as they walked.

Twenty years ago, Qingfeng Town was like an empty city. Apart from the dead bodies, bloodstains and messy branches of trees, there was no living person in the town in broad daylight.

Where should I find it?

Ye Qi stood in the center of the town, his expression blank.

Twenty years later, the center of the town is a lake, surrounded by weeping willows, the scenery is beautiful, and there is a “drunken moon pavilion” in the middle of the lake for people to enjoy the shade. But at this time, the center of the town was just a wasteland, and the “Fu Lai Inn” where Xiaolou and the others lived had not been built yet, and there were quite a few dead bodies scattered nearby.

Ye Qi looked around: “I have no idea at all, how should we check? You can’t knock on the door door to door, right?”

Shao Qingge thought for a while, and suddenly said, “Do you remember the old man we met when we went to buy the rattle?”

Ye Qi remembered the old man who made rattles he had found not long ago, and his eyes lit up: “That old man lived in this small town 20 years ago. He was a person who survived the famine. We lived in the world 20 years ago. He must be found! At this time, he should be… a young man in his thirties, right?”

Shao Qingge nodded: “Well. According to his description, more than half of the people in the small town died in the famine that year. He survived by eating sweet potatoes stored in the cellar. I remember that he lived in the east of the town. We Go find it nearby.”

The two recognized the direction according to the sunlight, and quickly walked towards the east of the city.

On the way, they saw a mother-in-law with a little girl passing by in a hurry.

The wrinkled face of the mother-in-law seemed to be over fifty years old, and her old hand held the girl’s left hand tightly. The girl is thin and small, with sallow skin and malnourished appearance, but her eyes are very dark and bright.

As she passed by, she looked up at Ye Qi.

Ye Qi and her eyes were facing each other. The little girl should be less than ten years old, with one hand being held by her mother-in-law, and the other hand on her mouth and chewing lightly. After meeting Ye Qi and Shao Qingge, she did not ask them to give them something to eat. Instead, her eyes were calm. She only glanced at Ye Qi and turned her head away.

At last saw two living people in the empty town, Ye Qi hurriedly asked, “Little girl, we are from a different place. Do you know where to find food?”

He and Shao Qingge dressed up in disguise, their clothes were torn and ragged, their faces were dusted with gray, and some weeds were deliberately made in their hair. They really looked like foreigners from a long distance. Very embarrassed.

The little girl said: “I haven’t eaten anything for three days.”

Ye Qi still wanted to ask something. The old man next to him suddenly coughed and said in a low voice, “Go back, look at this day, it’s going to rain again.” The little girl nodded and followed the old man and walked away quickly.

Ye Qi looked at their backs, thoughtfully.

He noticed that the old woman’s left foot was a little lame, and her walking posture was not agile. Although the little girl is thin and small, her facial features are actually pretty. The two of them didn’t look like rich people, they could live to this day, and they didn’t know where they found them to eat?

Shao Qingge said: “Let’s go, I remember the alley ahead is where we bought the rattle.”

Ye Qi recovered and followed Shao Qingge into the alley.

Looking up, the two unexpectedly saw a familiar storefront.

The plaque on the shop surface has been smashed in half, but the words “Dingdong Xiaopu” can be vaguely seen on it.

Twenty years later, there is a large shop at the end of this alley. It is the “Ding Dong Shop”, which sells children’s toys. The most common are the rattles made by the shop owner. The drum surface is painted with the Chinese zodiac pattern. The whole house was hung up.

The owner of the shop was named Ren, and everyone in the town called him Uncle Ren.

He is very skilled, and his hand-made rattles are very popular with children. When Ye Qi and Shao Qingge first went to buy him a rattle, he also bragged and said: “In this small town, most people have bought the rattle I made.”

Shao Qingge took Ye Qi to the corner of no one next to him, and opened his mind.

The familiar voice of the man resounded in his mind. This time it was not a joke, but a serious tone: “Uncle Ren who knows how to make a rattle may know the murderer, or the murderer will buy a rattle from him. Therefore, our contact with him must be Be cautious. It’s better to connect with your heart, and it’s more convenient to communicate with spirit.”

Ye Qi nodded in agreement, and said in his mind: “Uncle Ren, he was already proficient in making rattles when he was young, and he opened a shop in a small town to sell toys. It’s just that his shop was very small twenty years ago, as we have seen. The store in here is incomparable.”

Shao Qingge said: “He is very business-minded and far-sighted. He has become his own brand by focusing on the market of’children’s toys’. Now his business has just started, and the store is very small, so he only dared to do small business. Only by word-of-mouth to expand the business. We can hardly see other shops selling toys after 20 years, which shows that he has successfully monopolized the market.”

Ye Qi said: “That is to say, because he is proficient in a craft and is not short of money, he had the foresight to buy some food in advance when the famine began, and hid it in the cellar to survive the crisis. ?”

Shao Qingge nodded: “Well, if you hide the food in the cellar, you won’t be able to find it even if someone comes to rob. Look at his shop, he should have been robbed. But as long as the food is hidden, he will survive by this craft. Can make a comeback.”

Ye Qi said, “How should we approach him?”

Shao Qingge thought for a while, and said, “Wear an invisibility cloak, and explore the way first.”

The two looked at each other, tacitly found the invisibility cloak from the card bag and put it on them, and turned over from the wall next to the shop.

A small courtyard is attached to the back of the shop.

Twenty years ago, the small yard was very dilapidated. Pots and pans in the yard were smashed to the ground. As Shao Qingge said, his house had already been robbed. There were even spider webs on the walls, which looked like they had been abandoned for a long time.

Ye Qi couldn’t help but wonder: “Did he not live here twenty years ago?”

Shao Qingge said: “Let’s look carefully.”

The two rummaged in a messy yard, and there was nothing to gain except for the weeds all over the floor.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound behind him. Ye Qi turned his head and saw that there was a hole in the corner of the yard under the cover of some messy branches and weeds.

A young man sneaked out of the hole.

His eyes looked around like a vigilant mouse, and he was relieved to find that no one was around.

Then, he quickly ran to the dry toilet in the corner of the yard, and there was a sound of peeing in his ears.

Ye Qi and Shao Qingge: “…”

The two wore invisibility cloaks, and the other party did not notice them, but they saw each other’s every move clearly. Ye Qi couldn’t help but spit out in his mind: “This man is too cunning. He dug the cellar in the corner and used various branches and weeds as a cover. Is he a mouse? He actually made a hole in the ground!”

Shao Qingge smiled and said: “In order to survive, he also tried to the extreme.”

After solving the problem of internal urgency, the man ran back and went into the hole again.

The whole process went smoothly. Obviously, he was doing this every day, and his hands and feet were extremely dexterous.

It seems that in the year of the famine, he lived in a cave like a mouse. It is precisely because of this that he was able to survive smoothly. After twenty years, he became the owner of a well-known toy shop in the town, renovating and expanding the yard threefold.

Ye Qi said, “What should we do, let’s go to the cave to see?”

Shao Qingge nodded: “It’s better to play the villain once and grab his stock. We have so many cards in hand. He will definitely not be able to play two with one hit. He can only cooperate with us. We can let him be a guide and check with him. Investigate things about human sacrifices.”

For Qingfeng Town 20 years ago, the two of them were really “unfamiliar with each other”. With the help of a local person, it would be much easier to investigate. At least they can identify each person’s name.

After agreement, the two took off the invisibility cloak.

Ye Qi lifted the branches covering the hole in the ground, pretending to be pleasantly surprised, and said in a low voice: “Brother, I found a cellar here. Will there be food hidden in it?”

Shao Qingge said, “Go in and take a look.”

The man hiding in the cave looked dumbfounded. Hearing this conversation, he immediately picked up his weapon vigilantly——

However, before he recovered, he felt like a breeze blowing around him.

Two strangers suddenly appeared in front of him. One of the clever young people sealed the hole quickly and walked to him and looked at him curiously, while the other tall young man walked around behind him and gently strangled him with his arm. Hold his throat, whispered: “Borrow some food, if you want to survive, just listen to us honestly.”

The man was stunned: “Borrow?”

Isn’t this a clear grab for you?