Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 17
Zhuge Xian looked at Mr. Wei and said: "When our ancestors chose a site to settle hundreds of years ago, they may have known something about this underground river. It has been passed down for many generations, but no one has explored it. I heard that there were predecessors rowing boats in the village in the past. Go down the river and explore the source. I don’t want to damage this place. Nowadays, no one dares to go into the water. I also came here to play a few years ago and walked for a while. You can walk on the shore if you are careful."

Mr. Wei pondered for a moment and said: "Everyone, please be careful. I am afraid that the village knows very little about this underground river. It would be best if we can search for traces of He Xiucai. If we encounter danger, we will return immediately. Everyone should not take risks."

Everyone is good.

Zhuang Ding carried a bamboo basket on his back and held a torch in front of him. The cave was suddenly bright and dark, narrow and wide. The stalactites on the cave wall were all kinds of strange things, and the stalagmites on the ground suddenly penetrated into the top, creating a wonderful world.

The entire team was composed of young people. Seeing such a fantastic and blurry scenery, they were dazzled and could not help but be stunned. Fortunately, the ground was still flat and there was no difficulty in moving forward.

The sound of water accompanied them all the way, and after walking for about two hours, the sky gradually became brighter, and he ordered the village man to put out the torch.The sound of waterfalls gradually came from the distance. After walking for more than a thousand steps, there were indeed several waterfalls, high and low, flying down from the heights of the rocks. They roared, forming a curtain of water, rising and falling in three folds, and merged into the winding road here. Long underground river.

At this point, the land route ends here.

Everyone had been traveling for half a day and felt quite tired. Mr. Wei ordered everyone to rest on the spot and quench their thirst with some tea and rice balls he had brought.

Wang Cai sat with Zhuge Xian and asked, "A Xian, where are you going next?"

Zhuge Xian said blankly: "I didn't go far last time, but I turned back at the big stalagmite in front of me."

Wang Cai felt worried after hearing this, so he stood up and observed the surrounding terrain.

Wang Heng had just swallowed a rice ball. When he looked up and saw Wang Cai's figure disappearing in the waterfall, he was so startled that he almost choked in his throat.He ran forward but there was no trace of Wang Cai.

"Xiaocai, Xiaocai." Wang Heng shouted.

When he was panicking, he heard Wang Cai's cheerful voice: "Master, I am here."

The voice came from the other end of the waterfall: "Everyone, come here and cross the river by touching the stones under the waterfall. The water is very small."

To be cautious, Mr. Wei asked a strong villager to tie a hemp rope around his waist and walked into the waterfall. The villager had a look of fear on his face, but he had no choice but to bend down and rush in. Soon after the figure disappeared, the hemp rope disappeared. After a while, a voice shouted, "I've arrived."

After doing this several times, everyone passed through the waterfall.Leave torches and other heavy objects on the rocks next to the waterfall.

Mr. Wei said: "At last we are not bad luck. The period before winter is the dry season. In my opinion, we will never survive the high water period."

Everyone was still looking around, and suddenly they heard Xiaocai shouting from the front: "Come on, come on!"

After taking a few steps forward, a ray of sunlight shone down.

Wang Heng suddenly realized that they had walked out of the cave.

A stream flowing out of the cave is still flowing forward, and there are mountains everywhere, towering into the clouds, the endless red frost leaves, and the dazzling autumn mountains.

"Aren't we in a fairyland?" Wang Cai was quite pleased with himself.

Wang Hengle said: "Just wait, there will be a fairy to show you the way later."

"According to the script, we narrowly escaped death and came to a secret place. It's time for the treasure to appear." Wang Cai suddenly thought of something and said cautiously: "If we find the treasure, it shouldn't be regarded as belonging to the Zhuge family, right?"

Zhuge Xian smiled and said: "You have a share in seeing me, brother Xiaocai, and I will not stop you from digging for treasures." Although he has been studying since he was a child and is talented, he lives in a remote country and has never read any story books. People's conversations are also very interesting.

Wang Heng patted his robe with his hands and said deliberately: "I only have one cloth pocket on my blouse. What should I do if I can't fit it in?"

Wang Cai sneered and said: "The villain died of greed. How can he escape with the gold and silver? It can only be used as a stepping stone for the protagonist. I have thought about it. I can only take one palm-sized gem at most."

Mr. Wei looked up at the undulating mountains and said, "We are probably at the bottom of a valley. We have walked so many miles and don't know where we are. Maybe we have left Lanxi County a long time ago."

He had extraordinary experience. When he saw that he could walk out of the cave and come to the green mountains and green valleys along the long underground river, he had already thought about it. I am afraid that this was not just a Feng Shui trick set up by the ancestors of the Zhuge family. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the Zhuge family came here to escape the chaos. , there must be some preparations, this is probably a secret passage to avoid the insurgents.It's just that it was abandoned for a long time after the world was at peace, and future generations don't know much about it.

The group of people went down the river, and the walk became more enjoyable in the sunshine.Ever since Wang Cai found a persimmon tree full of fruits by the water, and the fruits were extremely sweet for a group of people to share, he began to boast that he could walk from Nanzhili to Jinhua Mansion without any dry food. He was articulate and courageous. He is thick-skinned and speaks in a serious manner.

On the contrary, Zhuge Xian grew up in Gaolong Village since he was a child. Although his status was respected, he had not seen much of the outside world. Instead, he was frightened by Wang Cai. He listened with gusto and was inspired by it, saying: "As the saying goes, It is said that the top of the countryside is not as good as the top of the city. Only now do we know it."

Mr. Wei was secretly amused after hearing this. He was originally quite wary of Village Chief Zhuge, but he was relieved to see that Zhuge Xian's sincere friendship did not seem to be a hypocrite.

Although the mountains and rivers are beautiful, the roads are long.

After traveling for more than ten miles, Mr. Wei saw several bushes of flowers and trees by the water, forming a small forest, so he taught everyone to sit on the ground and take a rest.There are a lot of wild fruits here, and they fell and hit several villagers on their heads. The shriveled and yellow wild oranges were unappetizing at first glance.

Mr. Wei said to everyone: "It is probably late afternoon now, and in less than two hours, the sun will set. Let's search forward for another three to five miles, and we will definitely have to go back. We may make more preparations later. The supplies come in, or the Yamen sends servants, and we can discuss it later."

Naturally, everyone obeyed.

A few miles further and still nothing was found, so Mr. Wei asked everyone to turn back the way they came.

The return trip was somewhat listless. After a while, I walked through the forest where I had rested. A villager was hit on the head by a wild fruit.

"Ah, it's really evil." He couldn't help but stand upright and look around the woods intently.

Wild oranges naturally fell from the woods. There was only one very lush big orange tree among the trees, just five or six steps away from the village.Zhuang Ding looked up and down. He was young and had good eyesight. He broke out in a cold sweat and shouted to Zhuge Xian, "Sixth Master, what is this?"

The team stopped, and everyone looked in the direction where Zhuang Ding was staring blankly. There was something with an unidentifiable color hanging between the branches of the wild orange tree.

Mr. Wei's heart moved, and he approached the big orange tree. His eyes met another pair of eyes, sleepy and tired, but undoubtedly the eyes of a conscious person.

"It's a living person." Mr. Wei's voice trembled.

It was a man with a disheveled hood, lying under an orange tree, with his back leaning against an orange branch. The color and style of his clothes could no longer be identified. His face was covered with thick dirt, and his face was almost unrecognizable. He looked extremely miserable. .

Zhuge Xian took the water bottle from Zhuang Ding and gave the man a few sips.Judging from the look in his eyes, he was conscious, but he didn't know whether he was seriously ill. His mouth was moving but he couldn't make any sound.

As the sun gradually set, Mr. Wei discussed with everyone: "This man is too weak. He can't speak. Regardless of whether he is the He Xiucai we are searching for, we have to rescue him."

Zhuge Xian quickly said yes, took off his cloak and put it on the wounded man. Since the door panels and other bulky debris were abandoned at the other end of the waterfall, he ordered the village man to carry the man on the orange tree and carry him away.

Mr. Wei asked Zhuang Ding to be more gentle, as the man might be injured.

Several villagers took turns carrying people, so the team returned to the cave at a normal speed.

Carefully walking through the waterfall, we found the rock where the torches and door panels were placed. Two villagers carried the person on the door panel, and Wang Heng and Wang Cai consciously lit the torches to open the way.

The return trip took a little longer. It took more than two hours to return to the entrance of the cave where we entered by boat. The two boats were safely tied there, and everyone felt reassured.

Zhuge Xian shouted outside: "We are back."

There was an immediate response from outside: "You lie flat on the boat, and then shout "pull the rope" and I will pull the boat out of the hole."

The group was still divided into two boats and dragged out of the cave respectively.

The sky was full of stars outside, and everyone was overjoyed to see the sun again.

Unexpectedly, before we could distinguish the east, west, north, and west, the boat had just docked. Suddenly, a group of men dressed as peasants swarmed up and pushed everyone on the boat to the ground.

(End of this chapter)