That night, I didn't sleep all night. It's not that the bride's tomb left a deep impression on me, but I just couldn't figure out the reason for this trip to Yaowang Mountain.
Walking alone in the courtyard, looking at the dark sky, a crescent moon exudes a faint silver light, not blocked by clouds and fog, which is rare to see in normal times.
In the distance, houses are scattered on the mountain, and all the lights have been extinguished. The tiles on the roof reflected the silvery moonlight, and the sky turned blue in this light.
"I know you haven't slept yet." Huai Rujin walked out of the house. A group of us stayed at a villager's house, all in the same courtyard. The lights in her room were originally turned off, but now she suddenly came out, obviously well prepared, as if she was waiting for me.
"What a coincidence, you haven't slept yet."
"I know you can't figure it out, so I came to chat with you."
"Oh?" I looked her up and down and asked, "Miss Huai, why don't you just say it if you have something to say?"
"You don't really think I will use this to test your abilities?"
"That won't happen."
"Do you remember the last email I sent you?"
"Of course. I thought you would go straight to the tomb, but I didn't expect that you would go around and end up at Yaowang Mountain."
"Based on your experience, how confident are we that we can escape unscathed after entering that tomb?"
"With Master Gu here, even if there is a ghost country down there, it will be taken care of." I said, "However, I guess there seems to be something in Miss Huai's words?"
The look in Huai Rujin's eyes when she looked at me was much gentler than the way she looked at other people, so even though my tone of voice was a bit direct, she didn't care and said, "I consulted the seniors in the family when I went back this time. I heard from my uncle that the Yi people who have lived in Yunhe Canyon for generations migrated from Yaowang Mountain, so this is actually their ancestral land."
"Really?" I pondered for a while and said, "So, when Miss Huai comes back here, she plans to continue eating at the Yunhe River Valley line?"
"It's convenient to deal with smart people." Huai Rujin said with a smile, "So, my dad set this as the first stop of our trip. Even if we can't find many useful clues here, we can at least explore some. Hidden secrets.”
"Having said that, I think it's a waste of time for us to do this. This village has been settled for hundreds of years, and the villagers here are obviously not Yi people. Even if you are willing to investigate, there won't be many valuable clues. .”
"Yes." Huai Rujin sighed, "It's up to people to make things happen."
"No wonder, I have long seen that you are indifferent to the bride's grave. In fact, you don't have much hope yourself."
"That's exactly what my dad meant."
"It seems that you obey Mr. Huai's words."
"Dad is the head of the family, so I have no reason to refuse what he says."
"Then what does Miss White plan to do next?"
"The tomb in the email is also in Panlong. According to the person who took the photo, that tomb was also found in a Yi village. They fought with each other and escaped with a narrow escape. Since then, several groups of people have Attempts were made to find the tomb, but in the end there was no news.”
"Then where is this person now? Can't you just come to him directly?"
"He is dead."
"Dead?" I paused, "What a pity. How can we find it with just one photo? He didn't provide any other clues?"
"Even this photo took us a lot of trouble to get. The email I sent you at the beginning was a scanned copy that my uncle bought from an American antique dealer at a high price. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a fake. "
"Then how did you get the later one?"
"The photo has been treasured by the antique dealer, and few people can see it with their own eyes. The photo in the email was taken by one of his friends when he was not paying attention. Although it is very blurry, it is extremely precious. It is currently our only clue to understand that ancient tomb.”
"If the American antique dealer knew that his friend was poaching him, he would be so angry that he would vomit blood." I joked.
The next day, when the morning light was slightly bright, we left Yaowang Mountain.
According to Huai Rujin's news, their people found clues in a place fifty miles away from Lipanlong County. Fatty Yu was dragged out of the quilt by me, but he fell asleep in the car.
"I said, Fatty, how can you sleep so well? Fortunately, Master Gu is not in this car, otherwise I will scold you to death."
“你说那怪老头啊？”俞胖子眯着眼睛，笑道：“要不是胖爷我尊老爱幼，早揍死他了。”
When the car reached halfway up the mountain, the car in front stopped and ran back to report to Huairu Jin that there had been a landslide on the hillside a few days ago, and the falling gravel cut off the road.
"Brother Li Rui, we have to go there on foot this time," Sissi said.
"That's all it can do."
"Kid." At this time, Lord Gui came over with a knife and the others, knocked on the car window, and said, "I have no choice but to walk up the mountain. In this way, I will explore the way in front with the knife, and you and Miss Huai Let them come together and we will take care of each other. This place can collapse at any time and cannot be concentrated together. It is too dangerous."
"Is it too dangerous for you to go? How about I go?"
"Hey, I know it, it's not your turn to show off for this kind of thing." Ghost Marquis refused.
"Okay, okay, then you must be careful."
At this time, Huai Rujin also came over. The Ghost Marquis said hello to her and led the four young men to climb up directly from the rubble. Huai Rujin admired Master Gui so much that she even nodded to him to thank him. I smiled and said, "Miss Huai admires Master Gu a lot, right?"
"The number one Gu in Lingnan, who dares to be disrespectful? You dare to make a mistake in front of him, but I don't dare to do it anyway!"
"Master Gu wants us to follow them to avoid any accidents."
"Master Gu is still thoughtful." Huai Rujin gave the men behind him a look, and they formed their own team and climbed up in batches. It seemed that these people were well-trained and did not look like tomb robbers. More like a mercenary. But everyone called her Miss, and she was probably from the Huai family.
I climbed on the gravel pile for nearly an hour before I managed to climb over a hill. Fatty Yu was panting and scolding me again, "I didn't even eat breakfast, so I came here to climb the mountain. This is going to exhaust me to death." !”
"Here, drink some water." I handed him a bottle of water, "It's time for you to gain weight."
"roll!"
"Hey, Sissi is back." I saw Sissi running down the mountain road on one side and asked, "Sister Sissi, why are you back alone? Where are Master Gu and the others?"
"Master Gu asked me to urge you, saying that you are walking too slowly." When Sissi spoke, her expression was a bit exaggerated, as if she had been frightened.
"Don't worry." I asked, "What's wrong with you? Why are you sweating so much?"
Sissi looked really nervous and gasped: "I...when I came back, I saw the Grass Witch!"
"Grass hag?"
"Yeah, it's so scary." Sissi said nervously, "My mother often said that the grass hag specializes in harming girls. I was so scared when I saw her."
"Wait, don't be afraid." I comforted, "Tell me slowly what's going on."
"Yes, little sister, my fat brother is here, and the idiot will not dare to bully you."
Sissi looked at me with flashing big eyes and said: "That old witch has a hooked nose and a long chin, like two hooks almost touching each other. Her greasy hair is half white and half black. .Wrapped tightly in a heavy black cloak all day long."
"It's ugly enough." Fatty Yu said with a smile.
"Fat man, shut up."
"She grinned at me, and I saw that there were only a few shaky teeth in her mouth that were extremely yellow. She squinted her upper eyes slightly, and her upper cheeks were sunken and full of wrinkles. She looked like a mummy. It was so disgusting. !”
The poison is commonly known as "grass ghost" in the Xiangxi area. According to legend, it only attaches itself to women and can cause serious harm to people. And those so-called women who can cast poison are called "grass hags".
Therefore, "grass ghost woman" is also called "gu woman". Gu Po's eyes are like cinnabar, and there are red, green, and yellow stripes on her belly, abdomen, and back of her arms. According to legend, no spider webs or ant nests can be seen in these Gu women's homes, and no white insects can grow around them. There are snake voodoo, frog voodoo, ant voodoo, caterpillar voodoo, sparrow voodoo, turtle voodoo and so on. When the voodoo multiplies in the person with the voodoo and cannot find food, he will attack the voodoo owner and ask for food. If the voodoo owner feels uncomfortable, he will release the voodoo to harm others.
Every morning when the grass ghost gets up, she puts a basin of water in the middle of the main room and spits the poisonous insects into the basin when no one is around. Legend has it that Gu Po can do magic in the mountains, pray for rain in the clouds, and fly in the sky with her cloak.
"It's really weird. It's so dangerous here. What is the witch doing here?" I thought.
"Forget it, you should leave quickly, Master Gu is waiting impatiently."
"Yes, yes, leave quickly."
Huai Rujin followed me from behind and asked me what happened. She was quite interested in the grass ghost woman and said: "Generally speaking, the art of poison is only passed down among women. If there are three women among the poison women, There must be a girl who practices Gu. It is also passed on to other women in the village. If a woman goes to the Gu Po's house to learn nvhong, and is caught by the Gu Po, she may secretly cast spells. If she wants to be cured, she has to ask the Po Po for help, and the Po Po will In exchange for learning the art of Gu, if you don’t learn it, your illness will not be cured. Because everything is done in secret, and the rituals and spells taught, outsiders have no way of knowing the details."
"I didn't expect you to know this."
"I only heard about it from some elders in my family, so I only know a little bit about it."
"However, there is one thing I don't know if you have noticed. This grass ghost woman belongs to the Miao people. What we are looking for here is the Yi village. Are we looking in the wrong place?" I reminded.
Almost the entire Miao people believe in voodoo, but the degree of it varies from place to place. My words hit the mark. Huai Rujin was also a little at a loss and doubted: "The news shouldn't be wrong, but..."
