The night was completely dark.

I looked at the time on my phone, it was 8:06 pm.

I stopped a taxi and said to the taxi driver, "Building 11, Deng Deng Hutong, outside Xizhimen!"

The driver responded and then stepped on the accelerator, and the car rushed out with a strong push on the back.

The driver was very talkative. Along the way, he talked to me about the national economy, human geography, and the quality of passengers to the international situation. I had something on my mind, so I didn’t make much of a fuss. I just listened to the driver talking nonsense.

Flying vernacular.

The driver was not embarrassed, and when he saw that I was silent, he started singing by himself.

"I once dreamed of traveling to the end of the world with my sword and seeing the prosperity of the world..."

Although the driver's singing was full of passion, the five notes were indeed a bit incomplete, which made me more or less speechless when I was forced to listen.

However, fortunately, there is no traffic jam in Beijing at this point. After forty minutes, I finally escaped from the sea of ​​misery.

I paid and got out of the car and stood at the entrance of the Dengdeng Alley, but instead of walking inside, I lit a cigarette.

The Deng Deng Hutong outside Xizhimen is not remote, but few people are walking around at this time.

I stood at the entrance of the alley and took a few puffs. Five or six minutes later, a lady in her late fifties came out of the alley.

This eldest sister was dressed plainly and was carrying a plastic bag in her hand. The bag was full of stuff. I didn’t know what it was.

When I saw someone coming out, I stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, let me ask you about a place!"

The eldest sister was startled when she saw me suddenly appearing, but seeing that I meant no harm, she patted her heart and said, "Young man, you scared me to death! What's the matter with you?"

I smiled and said, "Sorry! I just wanted to ask you about a place!"

The eldest sister looked me up and down for a long time, then asked: "What place do you want to inquire about?"

I said: "Is there Building 11, Building 3 in our Dengdeng Hutong?"

The eldest sister glanced at me and asked with a surprised look on her face: "Are you here to see Lao Li's family?"

When I heard what the eldest sister said, I asked, "Sister, do you know this family?"

The eldest sister snorted coldly and said, "I don't know them! Who would know such an unruly family?"

After saying that, the eldest sister stopped paying attention to me, rolled up her sleeves and left angrily.

The eldest sister's reaction made me stunned, and I thought to myself: "What is going on? Is there something wrong with the Li family she said?"

I didn't think about it any further, but decided to go into the lantern alley myself and take a look.

It happened that at this moment another man, about forty years old, came over. This man had obviously just come out of home after drinking. He smelled of alcohol and burped from time to time.

Perhaps it was because I saw an outsider, the middle-aged man stared at me with unfriendly eyes.

I felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by him, so I smiled and asked, "What, brother? Is something okay?"

The middle-aged man tapped me with his chin and asked: "It's so late, who are you looking for?"

I smiled and said: "I'm here to find Building 11, Building 3... "

Before I finished speaking, a very strange expression suddenly appeared on the middle-aged man's face, as if he had seen a ghost.

When I saw this expression on the middle-aged man, I couldn't help but be even more surprised and asked hurriedly: "Brother, what's wrong with you? Is there something wrong with the people in Building 11 and 3?"

"No...no!" Hearing that I was looking for someone from Building 11, Building 3, the middle-aged man seemed unwilling to say a word to me. He turned around and ran forward quickly, even shaking off his left slipper.

When he went out, he didn't bother to pick it up, as if he was afraid that if he was too late, he would get involved with the people in Building 11 and Building 3.

I looked at the back of the man running away in embarrassment, and couldn't help but said to myself: "Good guy, why does everyone feel like they have seen a ghost when they hear the words 11 Building 3? Is this place more evil than No. 81 in Beijing?"

"

After saying that, I strode into the lantern alley.

Although Chuandeng Hutong is not one of the most famous alleys in Beijing, it is also an old alley.

It is said that famous people lived in this place during the Manchu Dynasty. One of the famous swordsmen Jiao Yu and Jiao Qiuhua, one of the masters of Shan Tianfang's masterpiece "Tonglin Biography", lived here.

Of course, that's all a joke, and I don't know exactly whether it is in this place.

However, although the Deng Deng Hutong is old, there is no trace of its age at this time.

In the 1990s, in order to expand the area of ​​their homes, most of the families living in Beijing's hutong courtyards built their own self-built houses, making the already not very affluent hutongs even more narrow.

Thinking about other alleys, this Deng Deng Hutong is quite good. Although it is not big, it is not small either. After hearing a row of cars on the right, there is still room for two people to pass side by side on the left.

I walked all the way into the alley, and when I was almost at the end, I suddenly saw a worn-out iron piece hanging on a house on the left, with the words: Building 11, No. 3!

"This is it!" I thought to myself.

Thinking of this, I stepped up the steps and was about to knock on the door, but found that the door of Building 11 3 was unlocked.

I gently pushed the door open a crack and asked in a low voice: "Is anyone here?"

I asked three times in a row, but no one responded.

I was surprised, so I opened the door and walked in.

There were no lights on in the room and it was very dark. I subconsciously took out the mobile phone in my pocket to illuminate it.

But the moment I raised my phone, a person suddenly appeared in front of me, which scared me so much that I couldn't help but take three or four steps back.

Fortunately, I'm as brave as an ox, otherwise I would have been scared to death.

After I stabilized my body, I asked sharply: "Who is it?"

Seeing me speaking, the person opposite smiled disdainfully and said, "It seems I should be the one to ask you this!"

The room was very dark, and even though I couldn't see out my hand, I still couldn't make out the person's appearance. I could only judge by the sound. The person standing opposite me was a woman, a young and not too light woman.

I hesitated for a moment, then asked sharply: "What do you mean?"

The woman snorted coldly and said, "You entered my house and then asked me who I am? Are all the young people in the house so unruly now?"

When I heard this, I was stunned and asked in surprise: "How did you know that I was a burglar?"

"Hmph..." The woman snorted coldly when she heard this, and said: "The smell of Saturn on your body cannot be smelled by others, but it can't escape my nose, the old lady. Tell me! Boy, you can come to me.

What do you want to do here?"

After listening to what this woman said, I couldn't help but ask: "Do you know about stealing the door? So you are also from the lower eight doors?"

The woman said disdainfully: "Xiabamen! Humph... a bunch of rabble, who cares about you people here? I said... boy, do you want to tell me why you came to my place? If you don't tell me, just give it to me as soon as possible.

go out!"

I saw that this woman had such a weird temper, so I didn't go around in circles and said directly: "I came here to find someone. I saw that the door was open and I shouted a few times but no one answered, so I barged in without permission. I really can't help it."

."

The woman hesitated slightly and said, "You are here looking for someone? Who are you looking for?"

I said: "Two people, one is a young man named Hou who is about the same age as me in his thirties, and the other...is named...Li Xiaohong..."

The woman froze when she heard the three people "Li Xiaohong". After a while, she slowly said: "The person named Hou you mentioned does not exist here! Don't say there is no one! I have never even seen the old woman.

Passed. Another person, you said...you want to find Li Xiaohong?"

I nodded and said, "That's right!"

Although it was very dark here, I could still feel the woman looking at me up and down with her eyes. After a while, she said, "Why are you looking for Li Xiaohong?"

I shook my head and said: "To tell you the truth, I don't know this either! It's just that the elders in my family asked me to come here to invite Li Xiaohong, so I had no choice but to come here. So, if you know where Li Xiaohong is? Please still ask.

Please do it for your convenience and let me know!"

I said it very politely, but the woman opposite did not make any movement for a long time.

It took a while to hear the woman say word by word: "If you find Li Xiaohong..."

The woman spoke very slowly, as if she was deliberately prolonging her tone. It took a long time before she continued: "Then you are late!"

"What?" I asked in surprise, "What do you mean? I'm late?"

The woman nodded and said: "Yes! You are late... three years late... "

I repeated in surprise: "I am three years late? What do you mean by that? Li Xiaohong is not here anymore? If she is not here, can you tell me where she went?"
Chapter completed!