Chapter 229: Longfeng Mountain
At the foot of Longfeng Mountain, the bus slowly pulled over by Qingshan Village along the highway.
Li Mu and the others got off one by one. When they looked up, they saw rows of houses that looked like villas built by the villagers themselves.
On both sides of the concrete road leading into the village, there were banners advertising Longfeng Mountain tourism, along with lots of ads for guesthouses and hotels.
Around the village were mostly flat fields, and in the distance, through the mist, they could faintly see the tall buildings of the city.
As they walked deeper into the village, Li Mu noticed that it wasn’t as poor as she had imagined.
In fact, it looked pretty well-off. Almost every house was a tiled, independent building. Small cars were parked in front of the houses, the roads were wide and clean, and villagers gathered in small groups, playing cards and chatting. The whole place felt calm and comfortable.
Maybe this is what people online call the “new era beautiful countryside,” Li Mu thought.
"This village has a lot of overseas Chinese who moved back here," Long Zihan explained. "That’s why it’s pretty rich. I checked it out before coming."
Li Mu looked around curiously. She didn’t feel any cold or creepy atmosphere, nor did she smell anything bad, like dead bodies. The villagers all seemed friendly and happy. At least recently, there hadn’t been any ghost incidents.
"It’s just a bit empty," she muttered.
"Well, most of the young people either work overseas or in big cities," Long Zihan said, watching the villagers closely as she spoke. "Only kids and the elderly are left in the village."
Yu Fan didn’t think much about it. He pulled out his phone to check the hotel address he booked earlier. But since he didn’t know the area well, he decided to call the hotel directly.
"Yeah, we’re at the village entrance," he said over the phone. After hanging up, he turned to Long Zihan. "Did you book your place to stay yet?"
"Not yet. I’ll just stay with you guys."
A few minutes later, a thin woman drove up in a van to pick them up and take them to the hotel.
The "hotel" turned out to be more like a guesthouse, a five-story house built by a local family. Li Mu, Yu Fan, Long Zihan, and Xiao Jing rented a three-bedroom apartment on the third floor.
After the long journey, everyone was a bit tired.
"Let’s just rest in the village today," Yu Fan suggested, dropping his luggage next to the couch. "We can go to the Longfeng Mountain tourist area tomorrow."
"Sounds good. I need to investigate the village anyway," Long Zihan agreed.
Li Mu was already exhausted. She slumped onto the couch and leaned back, starting to feel very sleepy.
"Sister! There’s a lot of drinks in the fridge!" Xiao Jing was still full of energy. She came running over with two bottles of Coke in her hands. "The sticky note says it’s five yuan each, and there’s a QR code to pay!"
Li Mu didn’t feel like going downstairs to buy water, so she simply took the Coke, gulped down a few mouthfuls, and immediately felt much more awake.
It was normal for drinks in these kinds of places to be more expensive. Some hotels even sold bottled water for dozens of yuan.
Long Zihan and Xiao Jing then went out to look around the village. Li Mu found a room to take a nap, while Yu Fan started buying daily necessities online. New towels, toothbrushes, drinks, snacks. Even though Li Mu didn’t eat much, it was better to be prepared.
As night fell, the village, which had seemed a little quiet during the day, started to come alive.
Kids ran around the village and into the fields after school. In the small park at the village center, grandmas and grandpas danced to music. Some vendors pushed carts around, selling snacks and toys...
The loud music woke Li Mu up.
She rubbed her eyes, climbed down from the soft bed, and pulled open the curtains. She looked outside at the lively, peaceful scene.
"So nice..." she murmured.
When she was little, she had also lived in a village. Seeing all this brought back memories of her childhood.
Xiao Jing and Yu Fan happened to walk out of the guesthouse. When they looked up, they saw Li Mu standing by the bed on the third floor.
Xiao Jing excitedly raised the two big sweet potatoes in her hands.
"Sister! The owner's son said he would take us to roast sweet potatoes!"
"Go ahead, I’ll stay here," Li Mu replied.
"I'll bring you two when they're done!" Xiao Jing said happily.
"Li Mu, you should walk around more in the evening," Yu Fan shouted up to her. "Don't just stay in the room when you're traveling!"
Then Xiao Jing dragged him away.
Li Mu couldn't help but smile, but just then, someone knocked on her door. Her smile disappeared right away. She turned and opened the door, finding Long Zihan standing outside.
"What's up?" Li Mu asked.
"I walked around the village this afternoon, but I didn’t find anything strange," Long Zihan said, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame. She looked Li Mu up and down and mumbled, "Why did my parents say you were a guy?"
"......"
Li Mu didn’t feel like explaining, so she just nodded expressionlessly.
"Don't be so cold. After all, I came here to help find your parents," Long Zihan said casually.
It wasn’t that Li Mu was cold. She just didn’t know what to say or how to act around strangers. She kept her usual blank face, and Long Zihan didn’t seem to mind.
She went into the room, sat on the couch, crossed her legs, and started watching TV while chatting.
"But the number of people in this village is really too small," Long Zihan said.
"It looks lively enough," Li Mu said, leaning against the wall near the couch.
"That's because almost everyone in the village is out on the street," Long Zihan explained after thinking about it. "Since it’s a returnee village, a lot of people work overseas. And when kids grow up a little, their families send them to study in the city. It makes sense that there aren’t many people left."
"Yeah," Li Mu nodded.
Actually, her hometown was also a returnee village. Back in the 1990s, many adults who couldn’t find good jobs in China chose to smuggle themselves to Europe or America.
Now, many of them had green cards and could travel freely. Some even became citizens of other countries.
Otherwise, her grandfather wouldn’t have been living alone. He had three sons, but they had all been working and living overseas for years.
"I’m going out for a walk," Li Mu said.
"I’ll go with you," Long Zihan replied.
The two girls left the guesthouse together to explore the wealthy little village.
The village wasn’t big, and there were no KTVs or bars, but the small park was well built with complete facilities.
Most villagers spent their evenings there chatting, walking, and having fun. Near the park, at a convenience store, Li Mu even found a hidden gambling machine tucked behind the store.
"Hey, young ladies, want to try something fun?"
Not long after they arrived at the park, a vendor at a food stall noticed them and cheerfully handed over two sticks of candied hawthorn.
"Here, take them!" he said.
The villagers really were simple and friendly. Li Mu couldn't resist his warmth. She smiled, took the candied hawthorns, and even bought two more.
"There’s nothing strange at all..." Long Zihan muttered while taking a bite.
"You were the one who said there might be something," Li Mu sighed. "I told you, it’s not like we meet ghosts every time we go somewhere."
"I want there to be something! I came to help find your parents," Long Zihan said.
Well, that made sense…
But Li Mu had long stopped having much hope about finding her parents. She just wanted to enjoy this trip and have a good time.
She sat down on a bench in the park, eating the sweet candied fruit while watching the crowd dancing not far away.
Everyone here looked so carefree, living happily...
She was just thinking this when her heart suddenly gave a little shiver.
It felt almost like the joy before the end of the world.