Lan Ruling comes from Xiu'an County, Sichuan, Hunan and Guizhou, and is a resident of Fenghuang Village. The story of her mother and the old man is closely related to the choices of the entire era.
Twenty years ago, Xiangxi opened a port. Yueyang is close to Dongting Lake and naturally has an excellent river port. The former government decided to bypass Shatan, the provincial capital, and open a port for trade in Yueyang, and intended to use Dongting Lake as a freight hub in the southwest inland to change the closed and backward economic situation in the Lake Lane area. The Governor of Huxiang stepped up the process.
After receiving this news, the Hunan provincial government on the one hand built a new port to attract investment, and on the other hand, it also stepped up the deployment of civilian forces along the way to dredge the river and widen the river as much as possible to protect the upcoming frequent freight. On this premise, Xiangxi came to Many foreigners came here to survey the river to determine whether it was suitable for navigation. They also inspected the folk customs and specialties of western Hunan to determine what foreign shops to open.
Fenghuang Village is a village on the border of western Hunan. Near the village is the Huayuan River, which is connected to the Youjiang River and is connected to Dongting Lake. It is one of the larger routes in the inland of western Hunan. In order to examine the navigation capacity of the waterway, these foreigners were invited by the government Go to Huayuan County to communicate about the canal.
In the past, foreigners were restricted by the trade treaties of the previous dynasty and could only move around the Yangtze River Delta. As the treaties of the previous dynasty were signed, shipping has been opened to the southwest. They had just arrived and had never seen the green mountains. If there were no people familiar with the mountain roads, As a guide, you may not be able to get out of the Hundred Thousand Mountains until you die.
Being unfamiliar with the place, the foreign exploration team asked the local Baojia to find a guide to find the way. This person was Lan Ruling's mother, Lan Qingping.
At that time, Lan Qingping was a medical woman in Fenghuang Village. She used Gu as a medicine and treated villagers with acupuncture and prescribed medicine. When Baojia found her, she refused. Baojia said that the villagers would not open channels for trade. After suffering poverty, he was willing to take foreigners across the mountains and walk along the rivers.
In the process, she noticed a young man who was following the photographer. This young man had blond hair, blue eyes, a high nose and deep eyes, a tall figure, and yellowish skin. He was wearing jeans, hiking boots, and a pistol hanging on his waist. Click the shutter button.
She heard from the old people in the village that there are evil spirits living in the camera. As long as a person is photographed by the camera, three souls and seven souls will be immediately attracted to them. With the fear of the camera, she intentionally or unintentionally avoids the camera, even for young people. She tried to take pictures of him, but she avoided them.
This behavior aroused the curiosity of the young foreigner. One day, the young man couldn't help but be curious. He saw her avoiding the camera and asked in half-baked Chinese: "You are so beautiful, why do you always avoid my camera?" .”
"You foreigners don't have any rules. You take pictures of me and do whatever you want. We villagers don't like taking pictures. We will lose our souls." This statement made the foreigners laugh. This kind of laughter is not ridicule but feeling. She is very cute. The young foreigner took out the camera and handed it to Lan Qingping, asking her to play with the black lump and tell him what the lens is, what the shutter is, what the focus is, what the film is... three times five divided by two The principles of taking pictures with a camera are clearly explained.
Only then did she realize that the camera was a powerful machine invented by foreigners, just for taking good-looking photos, without absorbing people's souls or seducing them.
This experience became Lan Qingping's favorite topic of conversation. After returning home, she told the story to the old people in the village. She thought it would be an eye-opener for these old people. After hearing this, they blamed her for being bewitched by foreigners and could not believe their lies.
At this time, Lan Qingping felt that the old man was conservative, pedantic and boring. They said that the camera would enchant people, but in the end the camera photographed people as if they were real people. They also said that building rivers was bad, and it just made it easier for the government to plunder them. They also They said that foreigners all have red hair and green eyes, and at night they turn into beasts that eat people and drink blood... These statements gradually disappeared from Lan Qingping's heart. She no longer had any hostility towards foreigners. The two became friends, and so did she. Only then did I learn that this person's name was Joseph, a photographer from the United States and a business translator in China. He came here with these foreign businessmen to act as translators and also record this experience.
After that, she became friends with Joseph. She told Joseph about the legends of corpse exorcism in Xiangxi, Gu magic and Gu medicine, and the Luohua Cave girl. She would also bring her slate tofu, Zheergen, and Yeer Ciba.
Joseph told her that the god of Westerners is God, and also told her that on the other side of the ocean, there is a very prosperous metropolis. They are building the Empire State Building, which will be completed in a few years. The 100-meter-high building will have a blue and green screen. Don't even think about it.
She walked past the tallest stilted building, which was only four or five stories high. Didn't that person walk into the sky? Whenever she longed for a foreign country, Joseph would throw colorful toffee pieces to her. The outer packaging shone in the sun, brighter than the flowers in June. In the villages at that time, salt and rock candy were luxuries. , you can only lick it after the Chinese New Year. In the past month, Lan Qingping has been immersed in the sugar-coated bullets of Westerners and cannot extricate himself.
The six-month exploration and investment process ripened the relationship between the two, and also the love between them. It was also at this time that Lan Qingping became pregnant with Lan Ruling.
There is no such thing as a banquet. After the exploration was over, Joseph invited Lan Qingping to settle in his country. However, Lan Qingping felt that it was inconvenient to go to a foreign country. Joseph should stay and take care of her and her children. They both loved him so much. Since the other party refuses to give in, they can only go their separate ways.
Before leaving, Joseph said that he had a mission and it was inconvenient for him to stay longer. When he completed the mission, he would definitely come back to take them back.
After that, the two had nothing to do with each other, and the only thought left to her was the photo of the two standing on the top of the mountain. Lan Qingping had experienced a wonderful six months, but when he returned to Fenghuang Village, his mood and thoughts were already different.
After her daughter was born, she saw that her eyes were blue and named her Lan Ruling. Now everyone in the village knew that she was having an affair with a foreigner. The villagers initially introduced her to marriage, but when she refused them all Later, rumors began to spread that she had been seduced by foreigners and her heart was no longer in Fenghuang Village.
The mob often formed groups. The villagers thought that foreigners were monsters and the children left by foreigners were also monsters, so they expelled her and her daughter to Fengtou Mountain.
Here, apart from Yizhuang in Fenghuang Village, there is only the old corpse driver's house. This old corpse driver was ugly but had a good heart. It was pity for them to take in these two women.
In the next few years, Lan Ruling lived with her mother in Yizhuang. After the old corpse hunter took on his apprentice, the village became more lively. Lan Ruling had playmates, so she felt less lonely.
"Ever since she arrived in Yizhuang, my mother-in-law seemed to have been possessed. She didn't work or treat illnesses every year. She only washed herself and dressed up. On the day she died, the master found her by the river. He heard that she died. There was no pain on my face at all and I was just happy.”
"I don't know why I want to die if I'm happy."
