The Strange Story of a Small Town Gas Station

In the autumn of 1991, unemployed young man Li Weidong went to his distant cousin Zhou Dashan to work as an apprentice at a remote gas station next to the provincial road in order to make a living. He thought it was a stable job, but unexpectedly, since he arrived at the gas station, strange things have happened one after another: strange noises outside the courtyard wall late at night, the "nighttime taboo" repeatedly warned by his cousin, loose floor tiles deliberately covered up in the utility room, and looming pry marks on the copper locks that were quietly replaced. People here seem to be hiding secrets - cousin Zhou Dashan always has an unconcealed vigilance in his expression, cousin Zhao Caifeng often hesitates to speak, and even veteran employee Master Wang is very secretive about the courtyard's past. There is no supernatural thriller, no nonsensical absurdity, all the weirdness is hidden in the details of daily life: deliberately avoided topics, whispers in the middle of the night, and vague shadows by the river. Li Weidong's curiosity was aroused, and he gradually discovered that under the calm appearance of the gas station, there seemed to be a secret past related to the town's past buried. As he tests the boundaries of taboos again and again, the truth that has been sealed by time is emerging according to clues, and he himself has long been involved in this web woven by reality and suspense, and is in a dilemma. This is a realistic suspense story focusing on the atmosphere of a small town in the 1990s. It lays out the plot with "everyday suspense" and uses the rhythm of peeling off cocoons to reveal the strange truth hidden under the ordinary appearance. There are no fantasy elements, only the chill of the intertwining of people's hearts and reality.