"They were just worried about my health, afraid that if I fell asleep and fell asleep, I wouldn't be able to wake up."
Haitang said a little sadly, "It's all my fault for not living up to expectations. My health has been poor since I was a child. No matter how much I eat, it's useless."
"You're just a little thinner, there's no other big problem. Just eat more supplements and you'll be fine!" Shao Zilong comforted with a smile.
Haitang hummed, lowered her head and ate a few bites of roasted sweet potatoes. Her mood improved again, and she told us some things about her parents one after another.
The little girl remembers a lot of things, but they are all fragmentary. We can only piece together a rough outline of things through a few words and brainstorming.
Judging from various signs, Haitang's parents should be both insiders, but they usually do some farm work, no different from ordinary farmers.
"Are your parents from the village?" I asked Haitang.
Judging from what we have inquired about before, this Shimen Village is extremely closed, and marriages have always been practiced within the village. In addition, in rare cases, women have been married in from outside.
"My mother is, and my father is from out of town." Haitang said this with a smile on her face, "I heard from my mother that my father came here to travel. Later, I met my mother and felt that the village was very quiet. Just stayed.”
"It's really fate." Shao Zilong and I both laughed.
But this also gave us a guess. Maybe the person who knew Feng Shui spells was Haitang's father. Perhaps for some reason, he wanted to live in seclusion and stayed in Shimen Village to get married and have a daughter.
As for Haitang's mother, it is possible that she learned from him later.
Since the couple were experts, they must have seen Haitang's problem, so they tried their best to solve it for their daughter.
It's just that there is a sinister snake lying underground in Shimen Village, and there will be sinister tides from time to time. It is impossible for Haitang to get better if she lives here.
It stands to reason that Haitang's parents should also be able to see this, but they have never thought of moving.
Why is this?
Is it just because of the rules set by the ancestors of Shimen Village that villagers are not allowed to go out?
How can the ancestral rules be as important as the life of a daughter?
This reminds me of what Shen Qingyao said before. Over the years, some young people could not help but sneak out of the village, but without exception, they were all dead.
Presumably, Haitang's parents knew this and were wary, so they stayed in Shimen Village without moving.
Thinking of this, my heart suddenly moved.
Maybe Haitang's parents didn't think about leaving, but something happened before they were ready to leave?
This seemingly small Shimen Village is really full of fog.
"By the way, do everyone in the village have the surname Hai?" I asked Haitang.
"Yes." Haitang nodded while nibbling sweet potatoes, "They are all named Hai. My father was not originally named Hai, but after living in the village, he also changed his surname to Hai."
"I guess your village used to be a big family." Shao Zilong said with a surprised smile.
Haitang was stunned for a moment and said, "I'm not sure about this."
I finished the roasted sweet potatoes in my hand, glanced at the sky, and said to Haitang with a smile, "I haven't seen much of your village yet. How about you take us around?"
"Okay." Haitang took four more sweet potatoes from the stove and stuffed two each for me and Shao Zilong.
"I can't eat it, I can't eat it." We both declined quickly, and in the end we managed to get one each.
Haitang took the remaining two and took us out.
If you didn't pay attention at first, you wouldn't feel much about it. Now that you look carefully, you can see that Shimen Village is a fairly regular octagon.
At each corner, a well was drilled.
These wells are very different from ordinary wells. They are very rare square wells. They are square in shape and made of blue stone slabs.
The mouth of the well is about one meter square. The water in the well is very deep and has a slight chill.
This should be because the well was drilled into the Yin Snake earth veins, and the earth's energy seeped up along the well water.
"Haitang, does your family drink well water?" I asked Haitang.
There is no running water in Shimen Village. I heard that when it was planned to be connected, the villagers strongly opposed it, saying that it would disturb the feng shui of the village, so drinking water has always been relatively primitive.
"The river water we use at home." Haitang said, "My mother said that the well water is too cold and I am a little weak and cannot drink it."
I roughly understood it as soon as I heard it.
The well water is permeated by the earth's yin, so it's not a big problem if the villagers are used to drinking it. However, Haitang itself is extremely sensitive to changes in the earth's yin, so it is definitely not allowed to drink this kind of well water.
Obviously, Haitang's parents should be very aware of the problems inside.
"Besides these eight wells, are there other wells in the village? Or are they deep pits or something like that?" I thought for a moment and asked.
"Why are you looking for a well?" Shao Zilong lay on the edge of the well and looked in, then raised his head and asked.
Haitang scratched his head and said, "There is no deep pit. If it's a well..."
"What's wrong with the well?" Shao Zilong couldn't help but ask.
"It's just... there is a well, but it's not a water well." Haitang said hesitantly.
"It's not a well? What kind of well is that?" We were all a little curious.
Haitang said, "Follow me."
As he said that, he walked quickly to the southeast, and Shao Zilong and I followed closely.
After walking for a while, they came to a pagoda.
This tower has a total of eight floors and is entirely made of gray-white stone. It can be said to be the tallest building in Shimen Village and the most conspicuous one.
We saw it before when we entered the village.
At that time, the village chief said that this was the prayer tower in their village.
Now if you look closely at the tower, you can see something weird.
This tower is also octagonal, with different patterns painted on each floor, including birds and flowers, as well as some unnamed beasts.
There is a copper bell hanging on the eight corners, but the bell has no core, so no matter how it is swayed, it will not make a sound.
On the bottom floor of the tower, facing northwest, there is a door, but it is closed at this time and has eight locks on it.
The style of this lock is also very special. It is an old-fashioned copper lock from ancient times.
I stepped forward and touched the tower, then moved closer to smell it.
"Don't you have a stuffy nose? What are you smelling?" Shao Zilong asked, and he also came over and smelled it.
I asked him if he smelled anything.
Shao Zilong sniffed it several times and frowned, "Why does it smell like big bones?"
"You have a really good nose." I said, looking up at the top of the tower carefully.
When Shao Zilong heard this, his expression suddenly changed, he covered his nose and spat on the ground.
"Haitang, the well you mentioned is not in this tower, right?" I asked Haitang.
"Well, it's inside, but the village is not allowed to tell outsiders." Haitang said.
Shao Zilong pouted several times and said, "Then you told us that you are not afraid of violating the village's rules."
"You are not outsiders." Haitang stuffed her mouth full of sweet potatoes and puffed out her cheeks.
