CH 11

“Brother Gu, what’s wrong with you?”

“Bai Gu?” 

“I’m fine.”

Soon Bai Gu hid his face and calmly helped Wu Rong put on the national clothing. Compared with the Miao women, the Miao men’s clothing was relatively simple. There were no layers of silver ornaments. Wu Rong had a left overlapping tunic material like silk, dark blue-purple almost black, it is said that men should wear soap, this body full of ethnic style made Wu Rong more indifferent and handsome, walking in the fortress, he won many bold and enthusiastic stunning eyes.

“We have several strongholds near and far together. There are Miao people and Dong people in our stronghold.”

Bai Gu resumed his normal conversation, and he was clear about the history of the village. His Mandarin was very standard, and he was really a very good tour guide. 

The Miao people lived in the mountains, while the Dong people lived in the waters. Ai Qiao was a Dong people. As soon as she entered the village, she went to worship and walked to a small blue stone bridge. She took out the freshly embroidered sachet from her arms and gently put it under the bridge. Her face turned to one side, talking and laughing, as if she was listening to something, but there was no figure on the other side.

“That is the bridge of Ai Qiao. The bridge has a special meaning for Dong people. Almost every Dong people will claim a bridge. A family will serve this bridge for generations. Every time they pass by, they will have small sacrifices and big sacrifices to get the blessing of the bridge.”

Bai Gu explained: “All things have spirits…”

“Bai Gu, let’s go quickly. The bridge said those people are coming again.”

Ai Qiao, who came back in a hurry, no longer smiled. Bai Gu’s face froze and looked at Wu Rong apologetically: “Now something has happened in the stronghold. Let’s go to see the Grandma Wu first, and I’ll show you around some day.”

It can be seen from the naked eye that there were few people in the stronghold. Most of them are men who patrolled with guns. They have a murderous spirit. It was clear that there is a way to go directly to Grandma Wu’s stilted building, but Bai Gu and others took him to turn left and right. He walked for an hour and a half before finally arriving at the destination.

“Only this road is the only safe one. Other places have poisonous Gu.”

The situation looked really serious. Wu Rong thought of the dialogue between Ai Qiao and Aredo on the road, but his face didn’t show anything. There were many Miao people gathered outside the stilted building, including men and women, most of whom were wrinkled and not very young. When they saw Wu Rong, some of them were kind and generous, while others were frowning. 

“It’s Wu Rong. We have been waiting for you to come back for a long time. Your Ada (Miao language: Grandma) also talks about it every day. I hope you and Cuicui will come back.”

An old man with an old face and bright eyes looked up and down at Wu Rong. Seeing his bandaged left arm, he said, “What’s the matter? Is it important, where is Cui Cui?”

“I’m the only one coming back.”

Wu Rong’s mother’s name is Wu Cui, which is also called “Cuicui” by the old woman. He was not used to these greetings. He nodded a little and went straight into the Diaojiao Building. 

“Hey, wait –”

“Old Zhai, Wu Rong’s train had an accident on Qingwu Cliff, and the whole car overturned the cliff.”

Bai Gu said at the right time, “He was still recovering. It was because Leader Wu broke her leg that he came back with us immediately.”

“Alas, he is a good filial child. It’s a pity that Cuicui didn’t come back. It’s a boy again.” 

The old man sighed helplessly, and everyone else was sad. Someone squatted on the ground and smoked dry cigarettes. He gnashed his teeth and said: “It must be the evil Miao people who did it. They will play dirty tricks to make our stronghold completely rooted!”

“Leader Wu is so old and seriously ill. How can she fight them?”

Hearing all the talk, the old man raised his hand and pressed: “Don’t worry, everyone. I’ll go ahead and have a look. You must be careful when patrolling the cliff today. The news of Wu Rong’s arrival will not be long hidden, and there must be something happening there.”

“Tfr.” 

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“Grandma, I’m here.”

Wu Rong walked inside, and suddenly the toe of his shoe was heavy and it hissed. He looked down and saw a small green snake with thick fangs on his shoes. It was like a guard. It was alert to the threat “Wu Rong”. The snake scales were green and dripping, and its fangs are sharp.

“Mi, is it Xiaomi?” 

Mi was Wu Rong’s nickname of the Miao family, and Miduo meant “boy” in Miao language. Grandma’s voice was vague and trembling, as if she was not very conscious. Wu Rong stood at the bedside with the small green snake. Her eyes were still looking blankly at the door.

“Grandma.”

“Here you are…”

Grandma finally looked over, her cheeks were thin and out of shape, her nails were yellow, black, and her breathing was light, and he could hardly see the rise and fall of her chest

Suddenly, she became energetic, just like a reflection. Her face suddenly stiffened, and she said to Wu Rong fiercely, “Get out, get out of here! This is not where you should be. Go, get back home to me. The stronghold does not welcome you, and you are not welcome here!” 

“Grandma, Wu Rong has come a long way. You can’t let him go as soon as you meet him. He also had an accident on the way. Don’t you feel sorry for your grandson?”

“Shut up!”

The old man in the village hurried to persuade her, but Grandma Wu was very determined. She cursed dirty Miao words and threw anything at the old man without even looking at Wu Rong. “Get out of here! Get out of here!”

The old man didn’t dare to hide, so he stood next to her. The clean room was like a passing wind. Her body was already weak. This big move made Grandma cough and pant, as if she was out of breath. Even so, she would stare at Wu Rong fiercely, like an old wolf with withered hair. 

The village was always anxious and worried. It was worried about both the body of Grandma Wu and Wu Rong’s departure. No one dared to resist the angry Leader. Even the respected old man of the stronghold had no courage. He was white haired and obedient as a child after being trained. He bowed his head and dared not to contradict. He was very worried. At that moment, the old man saw a figure walking past him.

Who’s so brave!

“Go away, go away, can’t you understand?”

He raised his hand to catch the water cup thrown by Grandma. Wu Rong went to the bedside, picked up the brass kettle on the table and poured a cup of water. 

“Drink water.”

“I won’t!”

Wu Rong did not take back his hand. The grandparent and grandchild were the same in temperament and obstinacy, and they were frozen there. The dignified village elder lost their his faster.

Suddenly, Wu Rong felt cold on his legs. He looked down and saw that the little green snake was wrapped around his leg, threatening to show its venomous teeth like a guardian. He was eager to give Wu Rong such a blow. Wu Rong hadn’t responded yet Grandma suddenly burst out an angry old Miao saying, in just a second ago, the small, manly snake leaped down like a flaming butt. Dejected, climbed into the jar in the corner, only showing the tip of his tail. 

The atmosphere seemed stiff again. Grandma turned away from him.

“You see, this is not very good, was it very good?”

The old man wanted to relax the atmosphere and suddenly there was a noise under the stilted building. The old man of the village listened and his face suddenly changed: “Not good.”

He hurried out without saying a word. Wu Rong and Grandma were left in the room. The old woman did not speak. She looked cold and closed her mouth, as if she was in a daze or looking through the wall. After a long time, she finally moved her mouth: she pulled off the cold skin full of thorns, revealing the old woman’s aging fatigue: “Xiaomi, listen to Ada’s advice and go.” 

“The stronghold is about to be gone. You are Cuicui’s only son. If anything happens, Cuicui will hate me for all her life.”

After saying this, the old woman stopped talking. The noise also came to the door. There were only three knocks at the door. The outsiders were worried and respectful and said, “Leader Wu, Gou was attacked when patrolling the mountain. Until now, they can’t solve the problem. Only you can save his life.”

“Come in.”

Several Miao men carried a person in on a stretcher tied with simple branches, and the pungent and foul smell filled the room immediately. His abdomen swelled up as if he were pregnant, but it was different. The belly was as thin as a piece of paper, and the thick slurry flowing inside could be vaguely seen. From time to time, long strips like blood vessels passed through the lower reaches of the skin, and the top belly seemed to be full of raised blood vessels and channels. 

The man’s face was pained with cold sweat, his face was pale, he wasn’t breathing. The eyes and nose were bleeding outwards – when the seven orifices bled, it’s time to die.

Grandma was not in a hurry. She looked at it and told one of them to find a cooked egg. He reluctantly sat up with Wu Rong’s help, and did not know what to say. He picked up the little green snake, pinched its mouth, and pressed its fangs among the people.

The man was so angry that he was about to die. After the injection of the poison, he even had convulsions all over. All of a sudden, he stood up and began to vomit wildly. The stench was pervasive. What he vomited was yellow foam like bean curd dregs, mixed with blood. There were many white worms like roundworms in it, which were still wriggling when he vomited it out.

“The fire pool is burning, and the ash should be buried under the maple tree in the east of the village.” 

At Grandma’s command, those people immediately put away the vomit mixed with worms. At this time, the people who went to look for eggs also came back. It should have just been cooked, and the egg was still steaming hot. Grandma Wu took it and rolled it on the man’s shriveled stomach. Her mouth murmured, down to the belly button, up to the chest, meticulous and slow. It was five minutes before she finally stopped.

The old man of the village took the cooked egg. He carefully removed the shell and white to show the yolk to Grandma. Wu Rong also saw that the inner side of the protein was as black as ink, swollen and deformed, and there was a layer of black insect eggs thick with needles at the junction with the yolk.

Grandma looked at it and nodded: “Take the yolk to feed the rooster, and put the egg white and eggshell into the fire pit to burn. As long as Yingou drinks herbs every day after returning, he will be fine in a week.”

After solving this problem, Grandma Wu could not hold on any longer and fell asleep. Wu Rong was temporarily placed on a stilted building in the village – he had to stay for at least a week since the previous road collapsed. The old man of the stronghold came back and forth, smoked dry smoke and told him about the past of the stronghold. 

Many people died in the early days of the miraculous ghost recovery. Although the stronghold was far away from the city and there were no ghosts who could kill millions of people at once, it was extremely difficult to survive. People dies every day, but the most desperate thing was that the Gus used in the past were basically useless to ghosts. Occasionally, some useful ones were extremely precious. It was difficult to cultivate them. Many people died when the world’s yin was getting heavier and heavier.

In this case, the Miao people split out, lost their original intention and lived in the ghost land, and cultivated ghost Gu with souls by killing living people. The method was extremely vicious and people who did that was called evil Miao. Among the Miao people who chose to stay in the world and insisted on not doing evil, the biggest one was Grandma Wu. Because they had a special Gu King.

Only the blood of the Wu can awaken it. This Gu king can reproduce many new Gu without being affected by the aura of the ghost domain. They are called Zhong Gu by the stockade. The evil Miao came here in preparation to capture these Gu.

“There are many evil people. Although Grandma Wu beat them down last time, she was injured and couldn’t keep them well. There is no other Wu bloodline in the stronghold, so the Gu king cannot be awakened.” 

The old man of the village was worried: “When Grandma Wu was in good health, she would unite with other strongholds around and make a life and death battle with the evil Miao in two years. But now it is only half a year ago, and the small strongholds around were basically destroyed by the evil Miao by cunning means, so we can’t stand alone. The evil Miao still dare not find it directly, because it is afraid that Grandma Wu will burn the stones and destroy the Gu.”

“There is no way to ask Cuicui to come back with you this time. Your grandmother didn’t want to let others take risks, and she was going to go there by herself in a year and a half. But she broke her leg the day before yesterday, and her spirit was gone. Alas.”

“You should rest at ease.”

The old man of the stronghold kept smoking all the time. His eyes and eyebrows were solemn and desperate, but he smiled at Wu Rong and comforted him: “The Wu’s are kind to the stronghold. Don’t worry, we can’t be treacherous beasts. After the Wu’s are cut off and the surrounding forests are surrounded by evil Miao. I’ll find a chance to send you out.” 

The old man and Wu Rong talked for a long time, and the light was always on. As long as they talked, Bai Gu lingered far away. Looking at the willow shoots on the moon, his gentle expression faded away in the daytime, his eyes were gloomy, he wore a towel to cover his face, and quietly went down the mountain along a path.

There were many dense forests and moonlight. There was a clear spring in the mountain forest. Fireflies lived among the vines, shiny and dreamy. The grass was full of lilac flowers, reflecting the moonlight.

This was a very romantic rendezvous place.

When Bai Gu arrived, a man had stood by the spring and waited. Seeing him, he responded with a smile. 

“Baby really made me wait.”

He opened his hand to embrace, but he only received the sharp light of a dagger. The man drew back his hand, looked affectionately at Bai Gu who was holding the dagger, and murmured in an affectionate voice: “Why are you so wary of me after you and I have been seeing each other for so long? Athe matter is done, the Zhong Gu and the good things in the stronghold are yours. Then you can live freely in the ghost land. Why should you be angry for the Wu’s? ”

The man was also dressed by the Miao ethnic, but their clothes were pure black without any motley colors. He was very handsome and even looked a bit romantic. His eyebrows were full of gloom and evil spirit, showing that he wasn’t a good man.

“A-Gu, you are so excellent. The Wu family has only one blood line. It’s said that today’s newcomer is just an ordinary person, and I can crush him to death with one finger. Why do they keep the Zhong Gu for that long? They say we are evil Miao, but the world is based on strength, and those weak people deserve to be our blood food.” 

“It’s been a long time. If I hadn’t persuaded the elders of the stronghold, they would have come in long ago. Then where would you be? You didn’t even tell me the way to the stronghold.”

“A-Gu?”

It seems that he finally sensed Bai Gu’s distraction, and the man raised his voice with displeasure, which finally attracted Bai Gu’s attention.

“Go away, I quit. Let’s break up.” 

Bai Gu coldly threw the dagger to the ground. He seemed to sneer. Facing the man who could not believe it, he lifted his lips in contempt and said, “You want to crush him under your feet?”

“His dog alone can kill you.”

The author has something to say:

The false protagonist: Wu Rong

The real protagonist: Wu Rong’s dog