The road where Wang Zihan disappeared is lined with poplar trees that have yet to bud.
On either side of the poplars are vast vineyards, with grape trellises supported by 1.2-meter high cement columns, stretching out row after row.
Every so often, there is a mound of earth piled up, beneath which are grapevines.
"Every year before winter, the farmers here bury the grapevines in the soil."
Old Bai was explaining to Lu Chuan why there were mounds in the vineyard.
"It's cold here in winter; the grapevines left outside would freeze to death in a single winter."
"The soil can preserve heat, and as the weather warms up, before the vines bud, the farmers have to dig them out of the mounds."
Lu Chuan nodded, he hadn't known this before.
Old Bai's kind of knowledge comes from years of experience.
"Along the roadside, look carefully at the footprints in the woods and in the fields."
