When the magic flower blooms

After raging all night, the typhoon gradually drifted away.When the first ray of sunshine leaped over the mountain in the east, Jinyu Village finally ushered in the drizzle morning.

At nine o'clock in the morning, while He Tiansi was still soundly asleep, Ming Ruoxing quietly dressed and went out to call the General Affairs Office of the Yaan Bureau.

On the phone, he informed the commissioner of the General Affairs Office that the safe house had been completely destroyed by the typhoon last night, and that he urgently needed support from the headquarters.However, the commissioner's first reaction was to ask him to take a video and photo of the scene, attach a detailed loss list and send it back to the headquarters; only after confirming that Ming Ruoxing did not exaggerate the loss can he start the aid process or make other further steps response.

This is obviously bureaucracy, and I'm afraid it won't solve the problem even if we try hard to argue with it.Ming Ruoxing resolutely gave up on arguing with him, and called Wu Fei again to harass him.

Wu Fei was also taken aback when he learned that the safe house had collapsed. He first confirmed that Ming Ruoxing and He Tiansi were fine, and then promised to coordinate immediately and give them urgently needed assistance as soon as possible.

Wu Fei's efficiency was really high.Only 10 minutes after the call ended, Ming Ruoxing received a condolence call from the deputy director of the General Affairs Department himself.The other party inquired about the information about the typhoon and related damage in detail, and promised to dispatch a commissioner to connect with Ming Ruoxing as soon as possible to complete the post-disaster reconstruction of the safe house.

When Ming Ruoxing returned to the room after answering the call, He Tiansi had already woken up, and was looking for Ming Ruoxing everywhere with his crooked hair.

"Xiao Ming, how is the injury on your head? It's okay, don't run out!"

"Wake up, I'm fine, and the typhoon has already left."

Ming Ruoxing pointed to the calm sky outside the house, "Should we go back and rescue something?"

This proposal was immediately approved by He Tiansi with both hands and feet, and he also imitated Ming Ruoxing to put the clothes that were half-dried in the hallway on his body again.The two of them put on gloves, rain capes, and a few simple tools such as a hacksaw and went out.

The path in front of the door, which had tormented them so much last night, is still muddy.The water volume of the small river on the right side of the road surged, and the turbulent turbulent flow was like a miniature yellow river, swallowing the shallows and several bushes on the bank.

Along the rickety bamboo fence, the two came to the place where Ming Ruoxing was hit by a stone and fainted.The bloodstains had already been washed away without a trace, but the scattered bamboo chips and bricks still seemed to be telling the thrilling scene.

At that time, what kind of belief and strength did He Tiansi rely on to carry the helpless man and cat back to safety?

Thinking of this, Ming Ruoxing couldn't help but sneak a look at He Tiansi, but he didn't expect that He Tiansi was also looking at him all the time.The eyes of the two people met in mid-air, and they were slightly taken aback at the same time, and then it was He Tiansi who spoke first.

"Xiao Ming, I want to ask you something."

"what's up?"

"..." He Tiansi felt embarrassed when the words came to his lips, "Although I may not be as good as you in terms of sub-human strength, I still have the most basic self-protection ability. So, I want to ask you , don’t always protect me in front of me no matter what.”

"Where do I have it?" Ming Ruoxing decided to lie with his eyes open, "Who is protecting you?"

"Where is it? Last night, if you hadn't been standing in front of me, I would have been the one who was hit by the stone!"

Unexpectedly, He Tiansi is usually careless, and the details that should be paid attention to are not left behind.Seeing that he was so sure, Ming Ruoxing did not continue to deny it.

"In the special situation last night, what's the problem with helping each other? Getting hit by a rock is just an unexpected situation. Why do you have to think so much?"

"But I will feel guilty."

He Tiansi suddenly made a surprising speech: "Compared with the one who feels guilty, I want to be the person who makes others feel guilty."

Ming Ruoxing was stunned for a moment, then what came to his heart was a bitterness from memory.

"I'm not like you."

He looked at He Tiansi who had no memory in front of him: "I know what real guilt feels like, so I would rather keep it to myself than to let others taste it."

"That's fine."

Of course He Tiansi couldn't understand the meaning behind his words, he still smiled carelessly.

"Then next time, let me protect you. Of course, don't worry, I will protect myself too."

-

After wading through this muddy path, in front of us is the birthplace of last night's thrilling scene.

Even though they had been mentally prepared for a long time, when they came back to take a closer look after the day was bright, everything in front of them still made them feel unbelievable——

The dilapidated but warm "homeland" in the past has now been turned into a piece of ruins.The old wood and broken bricks and tiles were piled up high, spreading out bursts of chill.

Fortunately, before the accident last night, they had already packed up the important items and placed them in the living room.Therefore, the two only need to concentrate on cleaning up the mess above the living room.

The heavy wooden beams and roof were the biggest hindrances.Fortunately, the strength of demihumans is far greater than that of ordinary people. Objects that are too large can be sawed and disassembled, and the cleaning is relatively smooth.

The depressed two didn't talk much, and just cleaned up quietly for nearly an hour.Finally, he saw the dining table in the living room on the first floor, followed by Ming Ruoxing's silver suitcase.

They eventually salvaged seven or eight large packed items from the rubble.Among them, the three suitcases were in the best condition. Although the outer shells were damaged to varying degrees, the clothes inside and the notebook sandwiched between them were miraculously kept dry.

In addition, there are some canned cat food of Boss Bai, and a whole large refrigerator (the most important thing is that there are He Tiansi's medicines in it).Out of selfishness, Ming Ruoxing also retrieved a small part of Naga's belongings.

"correct……"

During the break, Ming Ruoxing pretended to casually reveal important information to He Tiansi.

"I called Uncle Guang just now, and he said that this old house has been insured. He will help us contact us about compensation."

"Really?!" He Tiansi raised his voice: "How much money can I pay?"

"I don't know, it should be a lot. But it should be more than enough to rebuild a new house."

Relying on He Tiansi's lack of common sense, Ming Ruoxing can just close his eyes and perfunctory: "But this money can only be used to build a house on the spot, and cannot be raised to go to the city to buy a house."

"Cover, of course cover!"

He Tiansi is very straightforward: "The house is my ancestor's house, and I must return it to them. It is my choice whether to enter the city or not. I go my own way and spend my own money."

"I can't tell, you still have some backbone?" Ming Ruoxing looked at He Tiansi suspiciously.

Perhaps because he felt guilty from being stared at by him, He Tiansi's eyes flickered a few times, but he still couldn't help breaking his skills.

"...I said, don't take me for a fool, okay? If you spend the money to build a three-story building in the countryside in a big city like S City, it may not be enough to buy a toilet in the city center. Besides, the rural household registration these days How precious, maybe I will become a billionaire as soon as I turn around?!"

"Sure enough, this looks more like you."

Ming Ruoxing was satisfied now, and turned around to continue working on his own affairs.

After some "archaeology", the two people first moved the salvaged items outside the yard.Leaving He Tiansi to guard temporarily, Ming Ruoxing went to the village and drove over to serve as a temporary warehouse.Unexpectedly, a quarter of an hour later, a large group of old men and women from the village came along with the car.

In the next half hour, the villagers unanimously voted He Tiansi as the household most affected by the typhoon—in fact, apart from his home, almost no other buildings in Jinyu Village were seriously affected.The weather forecast even analyzed that the center of the typhoon did not pass through Jinyu Village at all.

Therefore, at least [-]% of the disaster this time was due to the old houses in disrepair, and the typhoon was more like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After a lot of analysis, someone finally asked about the follow-up arrangement of He Tiansi and Ming Ruoxing.

Uncle Guang and Aunt Guang will return to the village in a few days.Thinking of their various unethical behaviors towards He Tiansi in the past, Ming Ruoxing was always a little nervous, and it happened that He Tiansi didn't seem to want to live with the two old people.Considering that the rebuilding of the house would take time, they simply asked if there was any public place in the village where they could settle temporarily.

The crowd once again chattered about, and many old mothers simply warmly invited them back to their homes.

Considering such and other problems, Ming Ruoxing declined all similar invitations until a young girl's voice sounded.

"It just so happens that we still lack two gatekeepers. If you don't mind, why don't you stay here for a while?"

The two turned their heads at the same time to see that it was Xiaomei.

The Elderly Activity Center of Jinyu Village is one of the few public buildings in the village.On weekdays, the elderly like to go there to play cards and chat.The activity center will also hold free clinics, performances and other activities from time to time to enrich the life of the villagers.

Apart from Xiaomei, there are ten staff members in the center.Three of them commute from Changle Town on the No. 101 bus every day. Three are from the village, and three girls rent a small building in the village with Xiaomei, which is decorated poetically.

And the last person left is the doorman of the activity center.

The doorman He Tiansi knew was Zhao Bo, who was in his early 60s and was born in Changle Town.I don't know why he came to Jinyu Village to guard the activity center in the first place, but he stayed there for more than ten years.

According to Xiaomei, this Uncle Zhao fell at home during the Spring Festival last year and had hip replacement surgery.At the beginning of this year, the younger generation of the family came to help him quit the job.After that, there was no vigil in the activity center at night.

Although Jinyu Village is a treasure land of peace, it is impossible to say that every family does not close their doors at night and does not pick up lost things on the road.The activity center was originally an old house renovated and rebuilt, and many exquisite brick and wood carving crafts have been preserved. There have been cases of theft of beam supports by outsiders in the past.

In order to protect the important works of art in the village, ten employees have been keeping vigil in shifts over the past few months.It happened that He Tiansi was "homeless" right now, so Xiaomei had an idea and came up with this best-of-both-worlds idea, and immediately won the unanimous support of the villagers.Even He Tiansi felt that this seemed to be the best choice.

However, Ming Ruoxing pulled him aside and asked quietly.

"...Is this activity center for the elderly the same as the Zhou family mansion in your ghost story last night?"

-

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao.

Ming Ruoxing doesn't know whether it is correct to use this sentence now, but apart from this, there are no other words to describe his weird mood.

At this moment, he drove his beloved car, brought He Tiansi, Boss Bai, and a pile of tattered luggage to the gate of the Elderly Activity Center in Jinyu Village.

Seriously, this wasn't the first time he came here, but this time, he always felt that something was weird and something was wrong.

But at this time, He Tiansi deliberately fanned the flames in his ears.

"See the pair of drum-shaped stone blocks at the door? Gold-fish!"

There is nothing wrong with that.The appearance of the activity center is the most traditional white wall and black tiles in Jiangnan water town. There is a porch in the center, and two stone piers carved with blue stone stand on the left and right beside the steps.Although the weathering is severe, a few stone-carved goldfish can barely be seen flicking their tails on the stone pier.

In fact, the weird objects are far more than these two stone piers: paper lanterns are hung under the eaves, with goldfish painted on them; the left and right sides of the black lacquered gate are painted with gold lacquer patterns, and when they are closed together, there is another huge goldfish.

Although He Tiansi explained that these are all decorations added later to echo the name of the village, in Ming Ruoxing's view, this is more like a gimmick for those themed haunted houses in the city - through repeated elements, it brings visitors a sense of A heavy sense of religious ritual and invisible psychological pressure.

So, is there any ulterior secret in this "ghost house" that is popular with the villagers?