Anding Road wasn't anywhere near the bus station. It would take us at least an hour to walk there.
I didn't want to waste time on the way. Besides, I was even more concerned about what lay behind this deception.
I glanced at the short man.
He was short and lean, and looked like a monkey. Even his face was a little simian, with a pointed mouth and sunken cheeks.
I couldn't tell whether it was just my imagination or whether I'd genuinely sensed something, but I felt that something was off about him.
I couldn't help thinking of the Stone Spirit.
Could this be a monkey spirit?
As I was thinking this, the tricycle drivers saw that Lü Qiaolan and I weren't saying anything. One by one, they fell silent and stopped competing to name their prices.
The oldest one looked rather unhappy. He said gruffly, "Hey, you two, give us an answer! Are you just going to stand there and watch us undercut each other?"
I came to my senses. After a moment's thought, I said bluntly, "We just checked, and we couldn't find Caotou Road. Are you sure you've got the right place?"
I was asking the short man the last question, my gaze fixed firmly on him.
The short man looked confused. "It's Caotou Road. I didn't get it wrong."
"You don't know your way around at all, do you, kid?" the older man immediately shouted. Then he turned to me and said, "You young folks have some kind of navigation app, right? You don't need someone who knows the roads. Just tell us where to go. Take my tricycle—I'll only charge you twenty yuan, and I can drive you around Huixiang."
The others chimed in, shouting and trying to win us as customers again.
The