The strange thing is that Yun Kong saw last night that the large leaves used by the big-headed ghost to make lanterns were covered with the broken part of his neck and stuck with dried blood.
He carefully removed the leaf and saw that the skin at the broken part of the neck was torn irregularly. It was obvious that it was not chopped off with a knife, but cut off.
Thinking of Changshun eating fruit with him, and recalling how much he had taken care of him during the past six months at sea, Yun Kong suddenly felt sad, and felt sore in his chest.
Changshun's head was nowhere to be found, and the merchant ship was about to sail again to transport the body back to his hometown, so he had to be cremated according to customs.
Yun Kong held a salvation ceremony for Changshun and read a memorial text for him: "... When you are a guest in a foreign land, don't forget your hometown. Changshun please board the ship and return home with the ship..."
As he raised the torch to light the fire, Yunkong found himself angry.
When lighting the fire, he whispered: "Changshun bless me and help me find your head." The flames exploded, covering up his voice.
A long time ago, his head was also taken away by the enemy.
He still remembers the pain of having his neck severed.
Moreover, there were too many unsolved mysteries about what happened that night, and he would not be willing to leave them alone.
When he told everyone what happened that night and mentioned the big-headed ghost holding the lantern, Liang Daobin immediately stopped him and said, "Ah, that's Bubuha!"
“What is Bubuha?”
When Liang Daobin was asked to give details, he couldn't tell. He only said that he heard it mentioned by the Tibetan people and his wife's family members.
"So the big-headed ghost is not Tandu Mara?"
Liang Daobin shook his head: "Tandu Mora is even shorter."
When the flames melted Chang Shun's muscles, Yun Kong stepped away from the cremation platform, found a corner, took out three ancient coins from the cloth bag, and made a fortune.
He still needs one last condition to stay.
When the copper coins were shaking in the palm of his hand, what appeared in his mind was the face of a little girl: "Hongye, can we meet again in this life?"
The coins fell to the ground, flipped, and hit each other.
After six such throws, the hexagram "Qian Jiu San" was finally obtained.
Yun Kong picked up the copper coin and held it tightly.
Today, the young man Dunda1 went to the river to fish.
He heard from his friends that there was a bay in the ravine where it was easy to catch fish. If he went there early in the morning, he would still have time to eat fish for lunch.
Dunda then took the fishing cage with him and went to a mountain valley that he had never been to before.
The fishing cage was made by himself from bamboo and rattan. It was in the shape of a triangular cone with inward spikes at the opening. As long as the opening faced the direction of the water, the fish would be sent in by the rapid current and would not be able to swim back out.
Dunda stuck the fishing cage in a place with big rocks in the river bend, where the fish can't easily escape, increasing the possibility of catching it.
Dunda was born to know how to fish. In fact, his name comes from the dragnet used for fishing.
While he was fishing in the fishing cage, Dunda looked around to see what kind of flowers, wild vegetables, herbs, birds and insects there were, and to see if this place was worth coming back to hunt again.
There was a calamus growing on the swampland by the water. He broke off one, washed it in the water, and moved it to his nose to smell the fragrance of the calamus root. Well, this root was not fragrant, so he threw it aside.
He found a wild berry tree. The berries were ripe and sour and sweet. His teeth were stained black from eating them. He went to the river to rinse his mouth, then returned to the tree to urinate. He saw some herbs for constipation. Knowing that his mother needed them, he picked them and put them in the bamboo basket on his back.
Two hours later, there were indeed several plump fishes in the fishing cage. Dunda was very happy and decided to go back home. He could pass by Jindi's house and give her two fishes to please her, and maybe they would get a kiss. .
As a result he got lost.
He walked for a while relying on his memory, but something seemed wrong the further he went.
He walked around, but found that he kept coming back to the same place.
It's true that he doesn't walk this part of the road very often, but there's no point in getting lost. He's quite proud of his sense of direction.
Just when he was confused, the air suddenly became heavy, and the sunlight passing through the forest leaves was scattered and softened. It turned out to be fog.
It was clearly not past noon, but fog started to appear in the mountains and forests, making the forest paths blurry.
He calmed down and tried to follow the way he came, but found that there was a large tung tree in front of him, which he had never seen when he came.
The trees were as high as his knees, and he stepped across them without thinking.
Crossing one, there is another thicker one in front of you.
After crossing this one, there is still another one.
The young man Dunda was very suspicious. He didn't understand why these tung trees fell so neatly. Such a coincidence?
The mist between the tung trees was particularly thick. I sucked in a lot of water vapor in my lungs, my breathing became heavy, my head began to feel dizzy, and it gradually felt like someone was beating a drum in my head. Dunda felt like he was drowning. He covered his nose with his hands, but he couldn't block the moisture at all.
After finally crossing the four tung trees, the thickest and thickest one appeared in front of me. Normally, I could cross it easily, but now I had to climb over it with great effort.
Finally crossing the fifth tung tree, after walking a few steps, Dunda felt more and more something was wrong. When he looked back, he was shocked and froze - all the tung trees lining the forest path were gone.
He was greatly surprised and ran back to see. Sure enough, the five tung trees had disappeared, but traces of being crushed were still left on the grass.
"What's going on?" Dunda finally felt scared.
The fog gradually dissipated, but the gauzy water curtain remained.
Among the misty tree shadows, a strange tree slowly emerged. It had no branches, let alone leaves. Instead, there were hairs hanging down all around.
Dunda was immediately horrified: "It's Long Gong!"
That's right, the mist has a sour smell, it's Long Gong's breath.
The thick fog dispersed because Long Gong stood up.
Long Gong is so huge that only its legs can be seen, and its body is above the top of the tree.
He had heard what grandma said. He must have offended Long Gong. Maybe the tree just now was forbidden to urinate on.
"Long Gong, Long Gong..." He begged for forgiveness, "If I have done anything disrespectful to you, please forgive me, I am just an ignorant child..."
The huge legs began to move towards Dunda. The huge feet stepped on the ground, and even the ground shook.
Dunda didn't dare to think too much and ran away.
He ran desperately, took out the hunting knife from his waist, and chopped off the branches blocking his way.
His father finally bought him a hunting knife as a coming-of-age gift. It has a curved, wide blade and a handle made of deer antler. It is a tool he cherishes very much, and it is a symbol of his becoming a man.
He slashed hard at the weeds blocking the road, and heard the sound of branches hitting each other from behind, leaves flying like snowflakes, and bursts of heavy rumbles, as if something huge had fallen to the ground.
He looked back and saw trees falling one after another along his escape route.
Long Gong is chasing him!
Long Gong was indeed targeting him!
He ripped off the bamboo basket on his back, threw away the basket full of fresh fish, and holding only a hunting knife, he ran desperately to save his life.
※※※
Yun Kong has never raised animals.
He has no fixed place to live, and he doesn't have enough to eat alone, so he has no need to raise animals.
But Liang Daoqing kept two cats on the merchant ship, which specialized in catching mice in the cargo hold. In the past six months, they had become familiar with Yun Kong at sea, and even gave birth to a litter of kittens on the ship. Before Liang Daoqing sailed away, he gave Yunkong two kittens, a male and a female.
"This cat is a species of Zhancheng, which was not found in the Song Dynasty," Liang Daoqing told him. "To be precise, it should be called 'racoon'. I heard that domestic cats are cats, and wild cats are called raccoons."
The two kittens were placed in a bamboo basket, making tiny sounds, which was very endearing.
The fur of the two cats is light yellow with slight tabby spots. Only the male cat has one front foot that is burnt black as if it has been roasted by fire. It is very strange. Liang Daoqing said: "This cat is called the 'scorched-legged tiger' and it is said that it cannot hunt mice."
The cousin Liang Daobin on the side laughed and said: "What's the use of not knowing how to catch mice?"
"Although I can't catch rats, rats don't dare to come wherever they are."
"So magical?" Liang Daobin couldn't help but look at the kitten.
Yun Kong smiled and said nothing, just caressing them gently.
"Then," Liang Daoqing sighed heavily, "it's up to Taoist priest Lao to build the temple jointly."
"Don't worry, Liang Weng."
Liang Daoqing glanced at the bag of books in Yun Kong's hand, and said reluctantly: "Taoist Master, the climate in Nanyang is humid, so take care of it carefully. When we come back next year..."
"Don't worry, Weng Liang. I am also a book-loving person, so I will definitely return them intact." Those volumes were borrowed by Yun Kong from Liang Daoqing. They were the books that the shipowner kept on the ship and read during the voyage. Now that he has been borrowed by Yun Kong, I feel more sad than leaving a good friend.
