The fatty walked up to the stone statue of the fox, looked left and right, stroked his chin and said seriously: "Great Immortal?"

  I joked: "Youve read too many Liaozhai, fox spirits are usually beauties, why dont you stay and be her son-in-law?"

  "This good thing is still left to you, the three of us think you look handsome, how about it? Consider it, with money and looks, this good thing is hard to find even if youre looking for it with a lantern." The fatty patted my arm again with a sly smile and said: "Do you think Cha Ye is hiding here because he was seduced by that fox spirit? He really does look like a refined scholar, a perfect match."

  "Ah, Wenbin, how did you get here? Weve been looking for you outside for several days. Something big has happened in the village, do you know?"

  Zha Wenbin pointed upwards with his finger: "The ones that fell down, the day I climbed up there was an altar on top, and on it was a chair."

  "Huh? Ive seen that chair too, its quite strange."

  "I dont know what happened, I just sat down and suddenly fell off. Luckily, theres a spring nearby, so Ive been surviving on that water and the dry rations in my pocket for the past few days." As he said this, his stomach growled loudly at an inopportune moment, and he smiled awkwardly: "I havent eaten in over two days, and Ive even eaten all the moss off those rocks. If no one comes to rescue me, I probably wont last more than three days."

  "So this is Xishan? Oh my mother, Fatty, how many roads have we climbed! Right, isnt there an exit over there? Why dont you go out and take a look, its Tunzi after passing through."

  "Is there a way out? Ive been wandering around here for so many days and havent seen one yet."

  "Its right there." I pointed to let Cha Wenbin see, and Cha Wenbin said with a disbelieving face: "I didnt lie to you, its been seven or eight days since we got here, this place is just so big, which rock looks like what Ive touched clearly, but the hole youre talking about was obviously not there before!"

  "But I and Pangzi are from here, dont believe me? Pinch yourself to see if it hurts?"

  Cha Wenbin looked at us with a thoughtful expression and said, "What happened in Tunzi?"

  "Its raining meteorites...". Fatso told Zha Wenbin about the events of the past few days and our current situation, telling him how treacherous that old branch secretary was.

  "You two have made such a mess, our village is no longer safe, lets run!"

  "Whats the hurry? Going back the same way will also lead to death. That old thing wont let An be good, and going up there will only result in a row of militiamen holding guns waiting for us."

  "By the way, who else has a gold coin?" Cha Wenbin asked.

  "That old thing over there, he told me to go yesterday. Oh yeah, if I take this thing, will something happen to him?"

  Zha Wenbin shook his head and said, "I dare not be certain. Qiu Dage had also taken it before, but he only encountered a female ghost. As soon as we outsiders took it, our souls were gone. It seems like the same thing, yet it doesnt seem like the same thing. Who knows? Maybe people from this village can use it, but outsiders cant."

  "Damn it, being bullied by that old thing is one thing, but you bunch of trash are also bullying outsiders!" The fatty picked up a golden bowl from the ground and smashed it over. Still not satisfied, he walked over to the central pillar, grasped the root of the staff with one hand, and tried to pull it out. He tried twice, but the staff didnt budge.

  The fatty muttered to himself: "Huh, strange, I thought my strength was pretty good too."

  I saw him looking like he was about to lose his temper at any moment, so I advised: "Dont vent your anger indiscriminately."

  "Grandpa, I dont believe in this evil spirit today!" The fat man was the kind of person who would get more and more into it the more you tried to persuade him. He kept shaking that stick back and forth with both hands, and just as he was getting into it, he felt the stick being twisted to the left by himself. Suddenly, a loud "crack" sound came from nearby.

  I turned my head to look, and that fox statue was now slowly turning to the left in sync with the clock, wave after wave of mechanical sounds kept coming from underground, even the ground beneath my feet began to tremble.

  "Fatty, what the hell have you done?!"

  Fatso was also stunned at this moment, he estimated that it was the stick in his hand that hurriedly let go, because at this time our heads had already started to rain stones. Large and small stones fell down like raindrops, hitting us on the head, and the three of us hugged our heads and fled in a hurry. It just so happened that the rotating fox statue was concave inside, and the three of us rushed over there without saying a word.

  Sometimes things come so coincidentally, the fox-like shape was just turning at that moment, and both sides happened to reveal a seam. Zhang Wenbin shouted with his sharp eyes: "There is a road!"

  As expected, I looked up and saw a stairway flashing behind the fox-like back. My body was narrow, and with one jump, I flashed past it. Zhang Wenbin followed me in. But Baozis physique once again led him into tragedy. When a persons body is mechanically ground over by a stone mill, the feeling can be imagined. At that time, Baozis belly to chest were scraped off a layer of skin.

  When we finally managed to pick up the panting fat man from the ground, I saw that the fox-like back actually had a box on it.

  "Whats that?" I reached out to touch it, and the box suddenly popped open with a "click", which really scared me. I plucked up my courage and took another step forward to take a peek inside. It was a long, bar-shaped thing wrapped in a layer of linen-like cloth, but I couldnt make sense of it either.

  Zha Wenbin saw me standing there and urged: "Xiao Yi, hurry up, Pangzis injury is not light, we must bandage it quickly."

  "Bandage!" The first thing that came to my mind was, isnt there a piece of cloth here? I casually reached into the box and took it out. I shook it in my hand, and the thing fell to the ground with a "slap". I handed the cloth to Cha Wenbin and looked down again, huh, the thing on the ground wasnt gold, but seemed like paper!

  I picked it up and held it in my hand, feeling its weight and a faint scent of fragrance. Somehow, I thought this thing looked like a painting scroll.

  "Wen Bin, can I take a look at this?" I asked.

  "Where did that come from?" He was bandaging the fatty, who was now wincing in pain, his teeth clenched. Fortunately, he had thick skin; if it were an ordinary person who had been trampled like this, they would probably have broken a few ribs.

  I pointed to the back of that fox statue and said: "There is a box there, its not gold, it looks like a painting."

  "A painting? How rare! His mothers, cant tell at all. He actually put a torn paper in such a secretive place. Let Fat Master take a look at what the painting is. Not bragging to you guys, but Fat Master has been learning painting with my familys old master since young, and I can imitate Wu Changshuos brushwork to 70% similarity!"

  I looked at Cha Wenbin and, to be honest, I didnt dare move anything here.

  Cha Wenbin nodded at me and said: "Look, I think I also know where this place is. The painting may have some information."

  I took a deep breath, holding the painting scroll and slowly unrolling it. The first thing that caught my eye was a head of jet-black long hair, followed by a pair of clear and transparent eyes.

  "It seems like an individual, judging from the headdress its a woman."

  "Stop being so stubborn, cant you just spread it out? Forget it, let me do it!" He said, and then snatched it away from me. With a "whoosh", he shook it open...

  When he thoroughly opened the painting, the fat man was speechless, staring at me with his eyes fixed on me, and then looking at Cha Wenbin. I saw that his mouth kept moving, as if he wanted to say something but couldnt get it out. His head leaned back hard, but his eyes were still fixed on the painting.

  The fat boy squeezed out a few words with difficulty: "Th...th...this..."

  "Whats this? Youre a master of calligraphy and painting, cant you tell whose handiwork this is?"

  Pangzis hands were already shaking at this point, he kept pointing at the painting and trying to tell us what he saw. When I couldnt stand his antics anymore and was about to take it myself, the kid finally blurted out the words he had been holding back for so long: "This...this damn thing is Yuan Xiaobai!"

  "What?" "Who are you talking about?!" I and Cha Wenbin almost rushed over at the same time.

  One second later, we finally understood why the fatty would be like that.

  This is a three-foot-long portrait of a lady, the painting is well-preserved, with no signature or seal. The painting depicts a woman wearing a white dress, her figure is elegant and slender, but her eyes reveal a hint of melancholy, she holds a black cat in her arms, her left hand on the cats back in a stroking gesture, as if sighing.

  Whats more important is that both of us thought of that person as soon as we saw each other: Yuan Xiaobai!

  Its really too similar! The person in this painting is almost identical to Yuan Xiaobai, as if they were carved from the same mold!

  Cha Wenbin looked at us with a stunned expression, and after adjusting slightly, he said: "What a coincidence, there are many people in this world who look alike."

  "Wen Bin." "Uh-huh."

  "I want to tell you something." "What?"

  I exchanged a glance with Fatso, and he probably meant the same thing. I said to Cha Wenbin: "Yuan Xiaobai just adopted a black cat a few days ago, which is exactly like the one in this painting..."