As the others recovered, Jiang Feng's expression grew grave. He pulled open the car door and got out to inspect the vehicle, but after fiddling with it for quite some time, it remained unfixable.
Seeing this, Fatty and I also got out, to see if there was anything we could do to help.
Thus, all four of us descended from the car, shining our flashlights on Jiang Feng as he attempted to repair it.
I knew absolutely nothing about cars, and while Fatty had some knowledge, it seemed to be a rather difficult problem.
I asked him what the issue was. Fatty replied, "It looks like the spark plug is broken…"
"How can we fix it?"
"Unless we replace the spark plug," Fatty sighed. "It seems we'll have to prepare for a night in the wilderness."
I pulled out my phone and discovered there was no signal either. This truly put us in a bind.
Fatty offered me a cigarette, "Brother Xiang, this trip of ours is really off to a bad start."
I reluctantly took the cigarette, lit it, and took a drag. "Indeed. If we hadn't encountered that incident on the train, we would likely have already reached Mohe by now."
"Hey, Xiang Fei, what do you mean by that?" Jiang Lingxi pouted. "Are you blaming me?"
I couldn't afford to offend this girl, so I quickly appeased her with a smile, "How could I be blaming you? Aren't I blaming that thief? Think about it, if it weren't for that stupid thief, wouldn't we all have arrived in Mohe by now?"
"Why don't you say that if it weren't for that stupid thief, we wouldn't have met either!"
Unable to argue with her, I quickly found an excuse, saying I needed to go to the restroom on the side.
When I reached the thicket, just as I was about to relieve myself, I noticed a firelight not far away.
I quickly called Fatty over. Fatty's eyes lit up, "It looks like we're set for the night! Someone must be living there. Maybe we can ask to stay the night."
I dispelled his thought, "Aren't you afraid it might be the ghost village Uncle Jiang mentioned?"
"Where are there so many ghosts?" Fatty said. "Brother Xiang, can ghosts make fire?"
We called Jiang Feng and Jiang Lingxi over. Seeing the firelight, they also seemed somewhat pleased.
It seemed that talk of ghost villages or not was no longer that important at this moment.
We tidied our belongings, locked the car, and headed towards the direction of the firelight.
The place didn't seem far, but we walked for over half an hour and still hadn't reached it.
The fog surrounding us had also dissipated considerably.
Upon finally reaching the area, we found a campfire burning in front of a thatched hut.
Behind the thatched hut, there were more houses.
Seeing this scene, none of us dared to move forward.
"Could this be the ghost village?" Fatty licked his lips and asked.
No one answered his question. After a moment of silence, Jiang Lingxi said, "Why are you all so superstitious? What ghost village? I think we got lost in the fog. We might have already left Laoye Ridge, we just don't know it."
She glanced at me, "If you're scared, I'll go take a look first."
With that, the girl walked forward carelessly, and no one could stop her.
Seeing this, we had no choice but to steel ourselves and follow.
Upon arriving in front of the thatched hut, Jiang Lingxi called out, "Is anyone home?"
After a minute or two, the door of the thatched hut opened, and an old man, over fifty years old, emerged.
He leaned on a cane, stooped, and seemed somewhat surprised when he saw us, squinting as he sized us up.
Just then, a dog squeezed out from the house and began barking ferociously at us.
The old man struck the dog with his cane and roared, "Stop barking, go back inside."
The dog seemed to understand, let out a whine, and turned to go back into the house.
"Grandpa, our car broke down. Could we stay the night here?" Jiang Lingxi asked, smiling sweetly as she approached.
The old man squinted and asked, "What do you do?"
"We're just passing through."
"Passing through?"
"Yes, we're on our way to Mohe, but we encountered heavy fog, got lost, and the car broke down," Jiang Lingxi explained.
While they were talking, Fatty nudged me with his shoulder, "Brother Xiang, this old man doesn't seem like a ghost... I see his heels touching the ground when he walks."
I said with a hint of annoyance, "Of course, I know he's not a ghost."
"How do you know?"
"Have you ever seen a ghost breathing? That old man exhaled white mist as soon as he opened his mouth, didn't you see it?"
"You're right!"
I felt a bit helpless, shook my head, and couldn't be bothered to talk to him anymore. I stepped forward and quickly took out cigarettes, offering one. "Grandpa, can you do us a favor?"
As soon as I spoke, his eyes snapped to me, and he sniffed the air, his gaze at me somewhat intriguing.
I thought perhaps there was some scent on me, so I sniffed myself too, but found no scent at all.
What was he implying?
"There is a place to stay, but it's only one room. Four of you should be enough, right?" the old man said.
"It's enough. As long as we have a place to shelter from the wind and rain."
"Alright then, wait a moment."
The old man said and went back into the house. After a while, he emerged wearing a military coat and holding a flashlight.
He led us around the thatched hut and into the village. We didn't see anyone along the way; it seemed everyone in the village was asleep.
After a few minutes, he led us to a larger tiled house. This place looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. As soon as the door was pushed open, a musty smell wafted out.
The room was about sixty square meters. At the very back was an altar, covered with a cloth. Beside it were several wooden chairs, and straw was spread on the ground.
"You can sleep here tonight," the old man told us.
I thanked him and offered another cigarette. "Grandpa, what should I call you?"
"My surname is Zhai."
"Thank you very much, Grandpa Zhai."
"Don't wander around tonight. We have bears here, understand?"
"Yes, yes, yes, don't worry, we definitely won't wander around."
After the old man left, Jiang Lingxi found a candle from somewhere, lit it, and placed it on a chair.
"Let's sleep quickly. When it's dawn, I'll find a way to contact a repair shop and have them come fix the car, then we'll leave," Jiang Feng said, looking somewhat tired.
After all, he had been driving all along, and after the car broke down, he had been tinkering with it in the icy, snowy wilderness for a long time.
Jiang Lingxi also yawned and sat down on the straw, leaning against the wall, looking tired.
For some reason, I wasn't very sleepy, possibly because I had slept for a long time in the car earlier.
Fatty also seemed quite energetic, so the two of us sat aside, smoking and chatting.
"Brother Xiang, have you noticed that the old man's gaze towards us was a bit strange?" Fatty asked me.
I thought I was overthinking it, but I didn't expect Fatty to feel the same way.