The muffled oil bottle grabbed me, and my heart skipped a beat. My first reaction was: when did they get there? We live in a city and are used to looking straight ahead; when we arrived here, we generally didn’t think to pay attention to the mountain tops. So, when we first came, I had no impression of whether there were people on that slope or not. If they had been up there early in the morning, then they definitely would have noticed us climbing into the high stilt house, which would have been a bit troublesome.

Moreover, looking at their expressions, they seemed rather unfriendly, with a cold, watchful demeanor. It was reminiscent of the expressions in old black-and-white movies when the common people looked at traitors. I felt a bit at a loss and stopped to make eye contact with them. These few people looked to be in their forties to fifties; the hardships of mountain life made them appear older than they actually were. Two of them were carrying a shoulder pole, seemingly just having brought something down from the mountain. They made no move, just stared at us intently.

I wasn’t well-liked back in my hometown of Changsha, and I had experienced this kind of situation before. I recognized that expression, which indicated that they were very wary of us but still unsure of who we were. It seemed our earlier actions had likely been observed. In a mountain village, you absolutely cannot offend the locals; otherwise, the consequences could be dire—at best, you’d be driven away, and at worst, you’d be directly taken to the police station. The incident in Changbai Mountain, where Brother Chu betrayed us, had left us with a tainted record, and I didn’t know if we were being wanted. If we ended up in the police station, they would check the network, and there could be even bigger trouble.

At this moment, trying to climb back in would be asking for trouble. The fat guy behind me made a few “beep” sounds, signaling us to leave quickly and not to stare back at them, as it could be seen as provocative and might anger them enough to come rushing down.

Being a thief already put me on edge, and now my heart was racing even faster, feeling a pressure descending from the mountain. But when I glanced at the high stilt house, I felt I couldn’t leave. This easily obtainable thing was just out of reach, like reading a novel where the answer is about to be revealed, but the author keeps throwing in twists, which is very frustrating.

For a moment, I didn’t move. The fat guy blocked me and whispered, “Let’s come back at night; a few hours won’t make a difference.” He pulled me back.

The three of us stiffened our bodies and tried to leave as casually as possible, walking into the village. After walking quite a distance, we turned back to see that the villagers hadn’t followed us, and we finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This scene reminded me of when I was a child and went to steal oranges with Lao Yang. After we finished stealing, we ran into the orchard owner, both of us with our pockets full of oranges, terrified and having to pretend we were just passing by. That kind of tension made it hard to move your feet. Of course, I wasn’t as scared now as I was back then, but it didn’t feel good, and it was somewhat amusing.

Relying on my memory, we took a few detours and returned to Ah Gui’s house. Ah Gui wasn’t there; his eldest daughter was weaving a winnowing basket. When she saw us, she asked why we were back so soon. I replied that it was too hot to bear.

The fat man went straight back to the room and hid the iron box under the bed. Only then did we feel relieved, thinking that this matter had passed. The fat man said, “You learn from your mistakes. From now on, we shouldn’t be so impatient during the day; we need to observe our surroundings first. Also, I think we should make some arrangements with A Gui. He’s a local, and we need to bring him into our group. At critical moments, we need someone to speak for us.”

I thought to myself that it might not help; he probably wouldn’t want to get involved in this murky water. Besides, my impatience had its reasons. Given the situation, any unexpected developments could trigger a butterfly effect, so it was better to be somewhat hasty.

After saying this, the fat man went out to get some water. I was preoccupied with the unseen photo, feeling hot and restless, so I lay down to force myself to calm down. Not long after, I heard the fat man asking A Gui’s daughter where the mountain path behind the wooden house led and how many people usually traveled that way. A Gui’s daughter said that it led to a melon field in the mountains, and since it was summer, watermelons were ripe, so people often went up the mountain to pick them. The old wooden house had been there for a long time; I had heard that an old woman used to live there.

I glanced at the dull oil bottle and thought, “An old woman? Could it be that the dull oil bottle used to live with an old woman? Those fifteen blank years might have been spent there as a sex slave, which would be too tragic.” I was then surprised at myself for having such sordid thoughts; it was probably because I had heard too many of the fat man’s dirty jokes along the way.

However, A Gui’s daughter mentioned “before,” and the time span was unclear; it might have been much earlier or perhaps after the dull oil bottle left.

Then, the fat man asked A Gui’s daughter about the disheveled man, and it turned out there really was such a person. This madman had been around since she was born; no one knew who he was. The villagers called him “A Yu’s son.” He seemed to have been a hunter before going mad for some reason. He lived in a dilapidated house on the mountain and was sometimes seen coming down to scavenge for leftover food. Nowadays, he was rarely seen; perhaps he had grown too old to move around much. Some elderly people took pity on him and would leave food at the mountain’s entrance, covering it with a jar. At night, he would move the jar and take the food back with him.

I found it strange; the man I saw today ran like a bull and didn’t seem old at all. Could it be that the physical condition of us city folks was even worse than that of a crazy old man from the mountains?

It was indeed possible, because although they said he was old, no one really knew how old he was. He might only be in his forties; the lack of food and the harsh weather could make him look much older. But living on the mountain for years would definitely give him a different constitution.

The fat man came back in with a cup of water and said to me, “Did you hear that? It’s the watermelon harvest season over there, and there are too many people. You need to keep your cool. This place is not the wilderness; you can’t just do whatever you want. Rather than take that risk, it’s better to wait a little longer. I think waiting until late at night is the most suitable; a little patience can prevent a big mess.”

I calculated in my mind and thought it wouldn’t work. If he was indeed a madman, his behavior would be unpredictable, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t crawl back to take a look. For him, climbing into an abandoned old house in the village was no big deal; who knew what he might do inside? So I decided I couldn’t wait. After lunch, I would go for a walk, and if I could get in, I would resolve this concern.

The fat guy gave a wry smile, unwilling to talk to me any longer, and just said to do as I please. To keep it short, after lunch, I went back outside the old house with the silent oil bottle, and we found a few old men sitting under the big tree at the entrance, enjoying the shade.

The difference between stories and real life is that in stories, you can always speed up the pace at critical moments, but in real life, unexpected things just happen. I squatted under the tree, waiting for the old men to leave, and by the time my forehead was burning from the sun, they were chatting more and more happily.

It’s hard to describe the anxiety that was stuck in my chest. Not wanting to go back and be laughed at by the fat guy, I spent several hours in a state of unease. The fat guy eventually came looking for us, thinking we had been caught since we hadn’t returned for so long.

By this time, I had gradually calmed down, or rather, I was in a “hot” calm because the blazing sun was high in the sky, and the air was filled with humid heat. Even with banana leaves fanning ourselves, it was useless; we were practically steaming. All that anxiety seemed to have evaporated through my pores. I truly admired the silent oil bottle; even in such heat, he remained unmoved, showing no signs of irritation, although he was just as soaked in sweat. Even a cool guy like him couldn’t escape the scorching sun of Guangxi.

The fat guy teased me a bit, and I didn’t have the energy to retort. Having spent too long in Beijing, he couldn’t adapt to the humidity and heat here, which made him even more uncomfortable. He said to us, “Come on, let’s not just sit around waiting. Let’s go out for a walk and find a stream to cool off in, or I’ll go crazy.”

There was a mountain stream outside the village that we had seen when we arrived. It wasn’t wide, but the water was quite swift. I thought it would definitely be a good place to escape the heat, but I didn’t know how to get there from the village.

I was really feeling the heat, so as soon as I heard this, I agreed and got up, and the three of us headed over together. Along the way, we asked a few villagers for directions, and they pointed the way for us. The fat guy held a banana leaf over his head, cursing the sun as we twisted and turned out of the village.

The village was basically adjacent to the stream; mountain villages are usually built next to streams. Between the village and the stream was a rocky beach, which would get flooded during heavy rains, with these stones serving as a buffer. We looked out from the embankment and found quite a few people playing in the water. It seemed the locals weren’t afraid of the heat after all.

The clear stream water was calmer than what we had seen downstream, and as we reached the riverbank, a refreshing coolness hit us. Most of those playing were children; girls around fifteen or sixteen were wearing only shirts without bras, their wet clothes clinging to their bodies, revealing their graceful figures. The fat guy suddenly got excited, stripping off his clothes in a few moments and rushing into the water like Zhu Bajie seeing a spider spirit.

Feeling that wearing just my briefs was inappropriate, I put on my sports shorts and got into the water. The stream was a bit warm under the sun, so I walked to the shaded area under the rocks. The silent oil bottle did not go into the water; he sat under a tree nearby to cool off.

After soaking for a while, the heat dissipated completely, and a sense of leisurely comfort washed over me. The fat guy was playing with the girls, while the silent oil bottle dozed off. I looked up towards the village and could see the tall wooden house of the silent oil bottle not far away; this was much more comfortable than just waiting around at Agui’s place.

It’s like a candidate waiting for the exam results in front of the announcement wall; it’s a bit more comfortable than waiting at home. The anxiety I felt earlier made me pity myself a little, so I told myself not to be nervous. This time we are not digging for treasure; nothing will happen here, there won’t be any sticky rice dumplings, just take it slow.

So, I lay down, immersed my body in the water, closed my eyes, and stretched out. I don’t know how long I lay there, but when I was a bit dazed, I suddenly heard someone calling me. I gradually woke up, and just as I sat up, a splash of water hit my face, waking me up completely. After I got up, I noticed that the children playing in the water had all run back to the shore, shouting and running in one direction. The chubby boy splashed me while calling out, “Wake up!”

I stood up and saw that in the distance, a place in the village was actually billowing with smoke. I asked what was going on. The chubby boy said, “It seems like a house is on fire.” I looked in that direction, where the high stilt house of the “Dumb Oil Bottle” was located, and suddenly felt that something was wrong.