In short, this time, the charlatan has been lingering in Hangu Pass for a lot of days.

He has never been here, after all, this place does not conform to his usual "aesthetic" preferences. In his opinion, haunted, supernatural, and scary places must have the value of visiting and studying.

Since you reach Hangu Pass, where should you start?

Unable to avoid being vulgar, I bought the scenic spot tickets for the Zhanglinggu Hanguguan Cultural Tourism Zone, and it cost 50 yuan. I felt very heartbroken. I seemed to see countless fragrant KFC chicken wings flying away.

After walking around, I looked at the building and looked at the inscriptions and heads. I was despised as begging for several times, and I was looked at by the staff of the scenic spot with suspicious eyes and asked for ticket checks.

I didn't find it, but I got it. When I came out, I looked at the introduction at the gate. What is "reconstruction of Taichu Palace in 1987" and "reconstruction of Hangu Guanguan Building in 1992"? It turned out that it was a new monument. Where can I find traces of Lao Tzu from more than 2,000 years ago?

The charlatan is so depressed.

While I was raising my chin to think hard, two foreign tourists passed by. The two were probably disappointed with the scenic spot and had a single answer.

——These scenic spots now look the same, it’s really boring.

——If you want to see real things, you must avoid these famous attractions and big developers, and you must truly go deep into the people and only remote places have the essence.

It really shocked the dreamer, side, far, side, and strange. Isn’t it my usual guidelines and route? How could I forget this?

The charlatan was very happy, and turned into a shuttle bus to a van, a small pickup truck to a tractor. He followed the route of the imaginary journey from Hangu Pass. He was not afraid of encountering a robber with ulterior motives. As long as he hid his phone, the robber would probably give him two dollars.

Passing by many small villages under the banner of Laozi's tourism and culture, they usually leave with excitement and return with disappointment. In depressed, they sent a message in the group.

——Hangu Pass is not fun.

It's not fun, but it's the first fortress of the eternal gate that "you can know me when you look at the air, and you'll be shocked to this world forever."

At dusk that day, I got off the tractor and arrived at a village. The village was very small, with more than a dozen households scattered on the hills. On the red brick wall at the entrance of the village, there were a line of large characters painted in plaster.

——Laozi’s tour stops, cultural tourism village.

The charlatan guessed that it should be the unified task of the county’s propaganda department, and the villagers probably didn’t know who I was.

The charlatan climbed to the top of the mountain and looked out for a while.

This place should be very far from the Hangu Pass scenic spot. I don’t bother to check which provincial charlatan belongs to, but I just think that the location of this village is very wonderful.

To be precise, it is a large area of ​​Hangu Pass, and its location is intriguing.

The Qinling Mountains in the south and the Loess Slope in the north can be seen by the Yellow River. If we look at the large terrain, it is located at the intersection of the Daxinganling-Taihang Mountains and the Qilian-Qinling Mountains. This area may not be China's political and economic center today. However, a long time ago, at the beginning of China, it was the place of origin, the place where the Yan Emperor, Huang Emperor, and Jiuli tribes competed.

At that time, the rich middle section of the Yangtze River was just the Sanmiao that the imperial family had no time to look south.

The loess under my feet have a long history. I looked at it and mixed with countless stories. What a pity that no history museum is willing to dig it out and collect it.

The charlatan clapped his hands and went down the mountain.

Halfway through the mountain, I met a child playing marbles. The older one was in his teens, and the younger one was only wearing open-crotch pants. He was half lying on the ground and narrowed his eyes and aimed at him. His legs were covered with yellow mud. When he saw the charlatan coming, he looked up curiously at him. There were probably very few outsiders in this village.

The charlatan asked: "Doll, doll, do you have attractions in your village?"

Since it is called a "cultural tourism village", there must be one or two affordable attractions: for example, when passing by a previous village, the villagers took him to see a square bluestone, saying that when I left Hangu Pass, I leaned on this stone to rest. The stone has been warm in winter and cool in summer. I even asked him to touch it enthusiastically, and after touching it, I charged him five dollars.

After asking, I felt a little bit literary. These dolls don’t know what “attraction” means, should I explain it?

Unexpectedly, the older child understood and said, "Yes, there is a gossip observatory in our village."

The charlatan was shocked all of a sudden.

It is not a cultural and elegant name like "I'm resting place", "I'm drinking cows" or "I'm falling", but a cultural and elegant name like "Gaggard Observation Platform"!

He couldn't help but feel excited: "Can you take me to see?"

The dolls were very excited and surrounded him in one direction, pulling or pulling.

The next moment, when the Bagua Observation Platform appeared in front of the charlatan, he felt as if he was being pounced on the face by a broom. After the broom was removed, his face was still slapped.

It is a stone, with the lower half buried in the soil. The exposed part is about the size of a basin, tilted, covered with moss, the lower half of the body is concave, and there is turbid rainwater accumulation inside, and mosquito larvae are happily paddling around the water.

Is this called the Bagua Observation Platform?

It’s awkward to stand up, and it’s unstable to set up a grounded telescope. I’m so embarrassed to give such a majestic name?

The charlatan said goodbye to a group of dolls in disappointment. The older child named Shuanzi and followed him and shouted: "You don't have a car to leave. The tractor will stop driving when the sun rises."

The crow actually made the point.

The charlatan waited at the intersection until the moon came into the sky. The only means of transportation passed by was a donkey, which was free-range. When he passed by, he blew his nose and looked disdainful.

The charlatan had to turn up the mountain again. Coincidentally, the first household he knocked on was Shuanzi's family.

Shuanzi's parents worked in the city, and he and his grandfather were the only ones at home. The country man was really good. After collecting him ten yuan, he set up a bed for him and made a meal.

The supper was made of pumpkin porridge and green peppers, which was quite fragrant. The charlatan rolled the pancakes and leaned against the door to enjoy the cool breeze.

A dark shadow walked on the small road outside the fence courtyard, hunched over. Looking closer, it was an old man with gray hair and holding a brass pipe in his hand.

Lao Shuan came out to fetch water and greeted the man: "Yin Erma, are you going to go to the Bagua Star Observation Platform to sleep again?"

There was a bit of ridicule in his tone.

Yin Erma seemed to have not noticed it, and calmly replied: "Yes."

Then walk away slowly.

The sage moved his heart: Yin Erma gave people the feeling that he did not look like an unsavvy country farmer.

Lao Shuan turned around and explained to the charlatan: "That person has a problem. He usually speaks and does things normally, but he will get sick at night."

The charlatan was excited and became sick, which meant that things were strange and abnormal, which was exactly what he tasted.

"How to get sick?"

Lao Shuan said while sneering: "Every night, at about this time, he goes to the gossip observatory, saying that he is watching the stars. In fact, many people have encountered him. He just goes to sleep, lie down on the ground, lie for a while, then pats his butt and gets up home. It rains and snows, and never stops."

He seeks a sense of identity from the charlatan: "What do you think is this not a disease?"

This is not necessarily a disease. A more scientific term is called obsessive-compulsive disorder, a more literary term is called personal hobby, and a more perfunctory term is called willfulness.

The charlatan was tickling and said, "I'll go and have a look."

***

Tips on his heel.

Lighting is no problem. The moonlight in the mountains seems to be brighter than elsewhere. It shines on the ground, shining like silver.

Soon we arrived at the so-called gossip observatory.

Lao Shuantou said it was not bad at all. Yin Erma inserted his cigarette into the white cloth belt where he tied his clothes and lay down. Strictly speaking, it was not lying on his side, lying motionless, no different from going to bed.

Is this called looking at the stars?

The charlatan not far away turned his head in wonderingly as he learned his posture: From this angle, you will never see the stars even if you die, your eyes were blocked by the stone half buried in the soil...

Slowly...

The charlatan came back to the taste. Yin Erma was actually looking at the stone.

Just as he was thinking, Yin Erma was done on the other end, he got up and patted the mud on his butt, and put his hands behind his back, and then he returned slowly.

As he looked at him and walked away, the charlatan trotted, then went to the Bagua Observation Platform, lay down, and moved and lying on his side according to the position of Yin Erma in his memory.

The stone had a black wing, as if it was blended with the night, but there was another bright side on the stone, as if it was a mirror placed in a tilt at a low angle.

I remembered that this was the accumulated water in the low-lying stones.

The charlatan squinted his eyes and looked at it.

As I looked at it, I suddenly had a strange illusion: Although the water surface was small, thinking deeper, it might have reflected the entire sky.

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt that Yin Erma was a bit out of touch with the surrounding environment: he might be really looking at the stars, and even looking at the stars may not really have to look up, but he can just lower his head.

Suddenly, a little brightness appeared on the water.

It was either the kind of brightness that was seen or reflected by light, or it appeared out of thin air. The charlatan even subconsciously looked up at the sky: Tonight, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse, and there were only a few vaguely visible. It was impossible for a big star that could be projected on the water surface so clearly.

The charlatan holds his breath.

The second light immediately appeared, and it was a little distance from the first point.

That brightness is really like a star hidden in the water with uncertain brightness. Yin Erma may be really star-gazing.

The charlatan felt that he had seen something secret, and his heart was pounding nervously.

The third point, the fourth point... the seventh point.

Arranged in the wrong order, shaped like a spoon.

Big Dipper?

That's right, it's the Big Dipper.

How could the water accumulated in a rocky depression in this ordinary small village look like a small Beidou?

The charlatan was extremely surprised, excited and confused. He quickly took out his phone, switched it to camera mode, and focused.

When I was filming, my hands still trembled with excitement. The image was a little blurry, but the seven highlights were barely distinguishable.

Just after the shooting, the images on the water surface changed again. Judging from his position, the three at the bottom and the one above slowly disappeared, turning into dark red colors, and the remaining three points seemed to be brighter.

However, this scene lasted only a few seconds.
To be continued...