Chapter 25:
“Big brother, why do you live in a tree?”

When Lu Lingxi finished writing the memo, he looked up and saw that everyone’s eyes were gradually falling on Yan Hong.

Yan Hong who once again resumed his Gold Chain Brother look: …

Lu Lingxi also suddenly understood, and gave a thumbs up to Yan Hong, “Yan-ge is reliable! People can tell he is rich at first sight.”

Manman smiled, “Isn’t it similar in style to Young and Dangerous in Hong Kong and Taiwan movies in the 1900s?”

Jing Qizhen touched his chin and suggested, “Let’s pretend we are from a big city outside and are tourists traveling here. We’ll say we have lost our wallets– That’s not right. That’s too fake. We can just say that we were in a hurry and forgot to exchange the local RMB, and then mortgage the gold chain.”

After hearing this, Manman immediately took out her Hermès wallet, which contained many cards of different colors, and she actually dug out several large foreign currency cards.

She briefly glanced at the U.S. dollar and Euro banknotes. The letters and foreign images on them were quite deceptive, especially for most villagers who had never been exposed to foreign currencies. They won’t care about details such as printing time.

Manman nodded and said concisely, “Okay, we can fool them.”

After saying that, she directly distributed all the foreign currencies in her wallet to the other, “Keep it in your pocket, be prepared.”

Jing Qizhen and others who were suddenly stuffed with money: …

Yan Hong held the US dollar in one hand and pulled the thick gold chain around his neck in confusion, “It’s hollow and looks big, but it actually doesn’t weigh as much as you think. But in a small mountain village, it is definitely good enough.”

In fact, Tang Song had emphasized to them before that there was no need to care too much about item loss. The dangers faced in a visit to an erosion area were definitely no less than those in a war in the Middle East.

Any loss of items would be reimbursed and replenished. Anyway, nothing could compare to their ability to come out safely and alive.

After all, anything could happen in the erosion area, and the priority was to stay alive.

Of course, although Tang Song had sufficient funds, people like Manman who carried luxury bags into the erosion area and were never short of money also joined in the fun like other companions. She collected the subsidy and put it in an account as a souvenir. As for the loss of her own luxury goods, Manman never thought about reimbursement.

Jing Qizhen reminded, “However, giving away a gold chain directly is a bit exaggerated. Let’s go to the village first. If we meet the village chief or someone similar, we can take it apart.”

Lu Lingxi: “We have brought tools. The gold necklace can be taken apart at any time. This is easy!”

Everyone added a little more story to their characters, determined to pretend to be a group of relatives and friends as tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other regions, who accidentally got lost while traveling.

Jing Qizhen studied everyone carefully.

It was late at night, and Yan Hong was still wearing sunglasses that could cover half of his face.

Manman also hung the infrared telescope directly on her neck.

Coupled with the hiking bags each of them carries, and the number of people of all ages and genders, they really looked like a family of relatives and friends hanging out together, and their style was very good.

Jing Qizhen said softly, “Let’s go into the village! See which house’s lights are still on, and prepare to knock on the door.”

Everyone nodded slightly.

Having said that, Jing Qizhen and his party, who had prepared a full set of scripts, were still cautious at every step after entering the village.

The vague nursery rhymes echoed in everyone’s ears and never stopped.

Jing Qizhen also complained in a low voice, “This nursery rhyme is actually quite refreshing.”

Although it made them feel uncomfortable, it also served as an objective reminder – with the girl singing nursery rhyme BGM, no one would be misled by the vivid village and underestimate the dangers it might hide.

It just so happened that the lights were on in the second house from the entrance of the village. The couple who had been arguing fiercely had not stopped fighting yet. When Jing Qizhen and the others walked outside the house, they only heard the loud shouts from the couple. There were accusations and blames, and even the sound of pots and pans being thrown around.

Lu Lingxi made a waiting gesture towards everyone, then lowered his voice and whispered, “This is it? I’ll go check the situation first, and then knock on the door later.”

Jing Qizhen nodded slightly, also lowering his voice, “Be careful.”

Lu Lingxi nimbly and silently jumped up to the courtyard wall of the house, then leaned down slightly and jumped directly into the courtyard. He then sneaked in all the way against the wall.

Jing Qizhen walked to the wall with light steps and raised his hand to signal to Manman.

Manman understood immediately and handed the infrared telescope directly to him.

Jing Qizhen simply hugged the corner of the wall and pointed the infrared telescope at the courtyard of the house. The viewing angle was blocked, so he couldn’t see clearly what was going on in that house, but he could roughly see Lu Lingxi’s figure passing by.

After Lu Lingxi lurked under the window of the house, he squatted and waited there for a while, and then returned the same way. Jing Qizhen put down the infrared telescope, turned around and nodded to his companions, indicating that everything was fine.

Lu Lingxi, who had just carefully observed the family at close range, had also jumped out skillfully over the wall. After landing almost like a cat, he simply summed up to everyone, “They all look like ordinary people. The couple kept quarreling, and a child was lying down while tossing and turning. Judging from the figure near the window, there should be an old man at home, but the old man was sighing and didn’t pay attention.”

Jing Qizhen: “I’ll go knock on the door.”

The others followed.

Only Lu Lingxi, after making a gesture of ‘I’ll cover you’ towards Jing Qizhen and the others, climbed directly up the tree, hid his figure in the canopy, and quickly assembled a gun from his backpack.

Little brother Bambi was a sniper who was also good at close combat, so he could get in and out of dangerous places fairly easily. But now, everyone was about to enter the house of unknown danger.

In an erosion area full of perils, of course, it would be safer for him to continue doing what he did best.

Jing Qizhen also looked back at the tree Lu Lingxi climbed – it was basically the same height as the roof. As long as the villagers in the village couldn’t fly, he was in a position to aim at everyone.

With a slight sigh of relief, Jing Qizhen raised his hand and knocked on the door twice, and at the same time shouted directly, “Hello, is there anyone inside?”

The couple who were arguing seemed to be struck, and the noise suddenly stopped for two seconds.

After a while, the man walked out of the house impatiently in his slippers, muttering, “Who is it this late at night?”

Jing Qizhen’s tone immediately became much more enthusiastic, and he shouted in surprise through the door, “Hello! Hello! We are tourists traveling here. We got lost in the mountains. We saw a village here, so we came. When we got here, we saw the light in your house was still on!”

People in the village basically knew each other, and it was weird for strangers to appear in the middle of the night.

The man was still a little wary. He walked over and saw through the crack in the door that Jing Qizhen and his party were holding flashlights. Among them were an old woman and a girl. They did not look like the kind of bad guys who robbed homes. Besides, robbers generally didn’t come to poor villages.

Jing Qizhen stood there, letting the man look at him. Seeing his hesitant expression, he hurriedly added, “It’s really late today. We’re searching for a place to rent for one night. Or maybe you can us give directions to where the village chief here lives?”

Jing Qizhen already reached in and took out all the money in his pocket. He also made a full-blown, “Ooh! This is a foreign currency that we cannot spend in China. I brought it by mistake! Hey, can you help me find a gold store that recycles gold jewelry? We can sell this gold necklace!”

The man didn’t feel anything about the banknotes at first, but when he saw the thick gold chain that Yan Hong took off, his heart suddenly moved.

After hesitating for a while, the man opened the door and said, “It’s late at night. The village chief and other people are already asleep at home. You guys should come in first!”

The woman who was shouting just now also walked out of the house with a stern face and a raised eyebrow. With a very aggressive look on her face, she impatiently asked, “Who is here? What’s going on?”

Because of the cooking fire in the main room, there was a lot of dusty soot blown on the wall. There was a rope-pull switch and an incandescent light bulb that had turned black after being used for a long time hanging from the beam.

The man: “A group of people outside got lost in the mountains and came to stay for the night.”

The woman raised her hand, put it on her waist, and cursed again, “There are so many of them. Do we even have enough room for them to stay?!”

The man: “Why can’t they live here? Ask my mother to vacate the west room. We can all sleep in the east room and they can use the west room for one night. Besides, they are paying for it!”

Jing Qizhen assured her with the same words, a smile always on his face.

After listening to him and taking a look at the unique and unpatched clothes Jing Qizhen and others wore, the woman who was still in disagreement suddenly fell silent.

Probably for the sake of money, although the woman was impatient, she didn’t say anything else.

Because of the commotion back and forth, the curtain in the east room was suddenly opened at a corner.

A little boy who looked to be in his teens, wearing some patched old clothes, peeked curiously through the door curtain.

A thin boy was common among rural children of this era. However, looking at his curious and smart eyes, and his shabby but neat clothes, they could actually guess that the child was quite well cared for in the rural environment.

There happened to be an old-fashioned calendar hanging on the wall of the main room. Manman quietly took a photo of it with her mobile phone. The time on it was February 27, 1992.

1992 was a leap year, and 2020 is also a leap year. They both have February 29th which happens once every four years.

Noticing that info, Manman’s eyes contracted for a moment. Her face remained calm, but she quickly passed the news to her other companions.

Naturally, there was no mobile phone signal in the erosion area.

However, with the logistical support arranged by Tang Song, aside from their own mobile phones, Jing Qizhen and his party were also equipped with professional walkie-talkies. In addition, the houses in the village in the 1990s were short and there was little signal interference. Without any network support, they could still have smooth connections within at least a few kilometers.

Outside the door, Lu Lingxi was still perched on a tree. He wore an earphone in one ear and naturally heard all the movements of Jing Qizhen and the others.

The man and woman quarreled from time to time and were slightly defensive when facing strangers who were willing to pay for a room. After the chaos and noise settled, Jing Qizhen and others finally entered the west room. The woman kept complaining to the man, but she quickly rummaged through the cabinets to find a quilt. The man went to boil water for Jing Qizhen and his party.

However, at this moment, a sound from Lu Lingxi’s side suddenly rang through Jing Qizhen’s miniature headphones.

After a slight ‘buzz’ noise, a naive and confused girl’s childish voice came over clearly.

“Brother, why do you live in a tree?”

Everyone in the house went numb instantly when they suddenly heard the voice.

Lu Lingxi was even more scared, his heart trembled, and he tightened his grip on the gun; his fingers turning white.