"I...I went to the temple to burn incense. Because it was midnight, my parents were asleep, so I didn't hear anything at all. When I came back, I found that the baby had already been born. It’s over, Xiuzhi also fainted, but the child disappeared again.”
Laixi looked at me and said with a troubled expression on his face.
"Why are you going to the temple to burn incense in the middle of the night?"
I looked at him speechlessly.
This is too ridiculous. Who the hell has nothing to do in the middle of the night and goes to the temple to burn incense?
"Isn't it the first day of the Lunar New Year? I went to burn incense in order to let my wife give birth to a son, but who knew that the child disappeared for no reason."
Laixi said and spread his hands, looking quite helpless.
Now I finally understood.
The practice of grabbing the head to burn incense does exist in some remote and superstitious areas. This is also caused by the concept of favoring boys over girls.
They all want sons to carry on the family line, so they have the absurd idea of competing to burn incense on the first day of the new year.
It is said that as long as you are the first to go to the temple and burn incense on the first day of the Lunar New Year, your wife will have a son.
Therefore, in these superstitious rural areas, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, people usually go to the temple after midnight to grab the incense sticks.
Laixi's daughter-in-law was pregnant and about to give birth. Under the influence of this superstitious concept, it was not surprising that Laixi went to the temple to burn incense in the middle of the night.
But the child his wife gave birth to disappeared directly, which is indeed a bit strange.
I thought this must be some kind of supernatural event.
So after thinking about it, I asked Laixi again, "Did you encounter anything strange when you went to the temple to burn incense in the middle of the night? For example, you encountered something evil, or did something follow you to your home?" Category?"
The reason why I ask this is because when he runs out in the middle of the night, it is easy for him to be followed by something dirty.
Besides, his wife is pregnant. If these dirty things want to take advantage of this opportunity to reincarnate, there is a high possibility that they will follow him back.
In a village like theirs, you don't need to know that there must be unclean things.
Mu Yong questioned this. Just relying on the superstitious thinking of the villagers could attract many unexplained things.
Laixi was obviously frightened by my words, and his face turned a little pale.
But he still recalled it carefully, and then said thoughtfully: "I haven't encountered anything evil, but when I went to the temple to burn incense, I found a large black stripe on the beam in the mountain temple. Snakes, they scared me at the time. But snakes are very common in our mountains, so it’s not surprising that they would come to the mountain temple.”
"That's true."
I nodded, then squinted my eyes and thought.
It is indeed not unusual for snakes to appear in the mountain temple. After all, no one lives in this temple, so it is normal for snakes to run in.
It is impossible that every time a snake appears in a mountain temple, it is the form of a mountain spirit.
Moreover, even if it takes the form of a mountain spirit, it will not harm anyone as long as people do not offend it.
After all, this kind of thing is popular among people, and it is still somewhat divine.
Besides, even if this kind of thing causes trouble and harms people, it is impossible to get rid of the child unless it is directly eaten by the mountain spirits.
"Okay, let me go see your wife first."
I held the tea cup and pondered for a while, then looked at Laixi and said.
None of their family knew the details of this kind of thing, so they had to ask the person involved to find out.
Even if Laixi's wife fainted from the pain when giving birth, she would have had some impression if there were any unusual phenomena at that time.
"Um...Mr. Li, Xiuzhi is still in confinement. Go in and see her. Will she be fine?"
When the old man heard this, he quickly asked me worriedly.
"The children are gone, what do you think will happen?"
I glanced at the old man speechlessly.
This superstitious concept is so strong that I don’t even know how to adapt it.
If his daughter-in-law is sick, shouldn't the doctor be able to see her during confinement?
"That's true. Dad, please don't worry about it. If the child is gone, why do you still have to confine yourself?"
Laixi said disapprovingly.
"I don't care about this, it's mainly because there is a custom in the village. If the rules are broken, I'm afraid that the villagers will gossip."
The old man said with some embarrassment.
"Then just don't tell the villagers about this, right? Who knew Mr. Li went in to see my wife?"
Laixi said slightly impatiently.
"That's fine, but don't tell anyone about it, lest people in the village gossip about it."
The old man agreed, but still gave a few words of caution.
After I nodded, I followed Laixi to the room where his wife was confinement.
Ma Boyi and Liu Yuheng also followed, but the three of them did not go in, they just waited outside the door.
I opened the door curtain and when I walked in, I immediately smelled a strong smell of milk.
This is a unique smell in the room of a woman who is in confinement. Because women have to feed their children, they naturally have this milky smell.
But Wang Xiuzhi didn't feed the child, so she didn't know why there was still such a smell in the room.
It may be a natural phenomenon after giving birth. Even if the child is gone, a woman who has given birth will still have milk.
Of course this is a good idea.
If it is a bad aspect, then it is possible that Wang Xiuzhi has actually been feeding an invisible child.
I looked around the room and found that it was very warm and the doors and windows were sealed tightly.
There was a girl in her twenties, or rather a woman, sitting on the kang, leaning against the wall, half of her body huddled in the quilt.
People in such remote rural areas usually get married very early.
If we were placed in a city, this kind of girl in her twenties might still be in college.
But in a rural area like this, she is already a wife and mother.
I stepped forward and stood on the edge of the kang, and looked at the woman sitting on the kang.
Although this woman was dressed simply, she looked extremely delicate, and her face was very pale, even sickly, giving people a very delicate feeling.
"Xiuzhi, this is Mr. Li whom I invited from Yong'an County."
Laixi quickly introduced me to his wife.
"Mr. Li, you...hello, come up and sit down."
When Wang Xiuzhi heard that I was the invited gentleman, he was obviously a little nervous and quickly invited me to the kang.
