He chose to redeem it without hesitation and immediately confirmed the use. Cheng Yu felt as if the muscles on his face were squirming.
He took a look at the selfie mode of his mobile phone. What appeared on the screen was a completely unfamiliar face. He was extremely ordinary in appearance, neither good-looking nor ugly. He was definitely the kind of face that almost no one would be able to pass by on the street. The face that makes the impression.
Looking at himself again, there was dirty mud everywhere. Under the wash of the rain, the mud eroded his clothes to a terrible shape. Cheng Yu then ran quickly towards the only light that was on in the rainy night. passed.
Knocking gently on the door, an old voice came from inside, probably in the language of the Yao people. Coupled with the heavy rain that sounded like a mechanical roar between the sky and the earth, Cheng Yu couldn't hear what the other party said.
He could only continue to knock on the door.
Finally, with a creaking sound, the door slowly opened from both sides, revealing a face full of wrinkles and dark skin. But Cheng Yu noticed that the old man's eyes were not at all like those of an ordinary old man. Muddy color.
There was a look of confusion on the old man's face, and he had one hand behind his back. Cheng Yu could probably guess that the old man had probably taken something for self-defense, most likely the knife he had used to carve under the lamp just now.
Cheng Yu hurriedly explained: "Hello, old man, I'm a photographer. I came to the mountains here to shoot some material. But I didn't expect that the weather suddenly changed. I..."
The old man still looked at Cheng Yu in confusion, without any intention of moving away. He just said in Mandarin with a slight accent: "Where is your camera?" Although there was a slight accent, it was quite standard. Cheng Yu confirmed that he did not You guessed it wrong, this old man is obviously one of the very important people in this Yao Village. Asen introduced to Cheng Yu before, saying that most of the old people in this Yao Village cannot speak Mandarin, and the young people who can speak it all have accents. Ji Zhong, Asen was quite confident in his Mandarin, and told Cheng Yuyao that the people in the village could only speak Mandarin at the same level as Ade.
These were all questions and answers that Cheng Yu had already thought about that might happen, and he said: "I was on that hillside to take photos of Yao Village at night." Cheng Yu turned around and pointed to the place where he had been hiding for a long time. It's a hillside, which is really suitable for a longer stay. The trees cover the sky and the sun, and the terrain is just right and gentle.
"I arrived in the afternoon and have been there all the time. I took a lot of photos of people working in your village. I originally wanted to take a photo of the night scene and then leave, but the lights are always on here, so I can only wait for you to turn off the lights and go to sleep. But Unexpectedly, the rain came so fast. I was not prepared at all. I just saw a flash of lightning and the rain came down hard. I could only wrap the photography equipment in a waterproof cloth and put it on the hillside. I fell into the hole of a big tree, and I wanted to come here to take shelter from the rain. Photographic equipment is relatively expensive, and I didn’t dare to bring it down from there. Fortunately, I didn’t bring it with me. I slipped several times on the road. If I had brought it with me, The photographic equipment must have been broken."
The old man looked Cheng Yu up and down, still doubtful, but he seemed to feel that Cheng Yu did not look like a fierce-looking person. While hesitating, the old woman in the room slowly spoke.
The old woman spoke a Yao language that Cheng Yu couldn't understand, but after the old woman heard it, she finally stepped aside.
Cheng Yu hurriedly stepped in with gratitude. The old woman had already put away the pickling vat, stood up slowly, and said something to the old man. Although she couldn't understand it, her tone was soothing and soft, and it was obvious at first glance.
An old lady with a very good temper.
The old man nodded and said, "This is my wife. She asked you to follow her to the back room."
Although Cheng Yu was puzzled, he still nodded and said, "Thank you, old man."
The old woman smiled slightly, and the wrinkles on her face were deeper, but it gave people a feeling of peace of mind.
Following the old woman, Cheng Yu entered the back room. The old woman took out a set of clothes from the box and placed them in front of Cheng Yu. Then she waved her hand gently to him. Cheng Yu probably understood.
This is to tell him not to rush into it.
Then the old woman took a basin from the house and went out. Cheng Yu heard the sound of water rushing from the outer room. Soon, the old woman was holding the basin of water. Steam was rising from the basin, and there was water on the edge of the basin.
Put on a towel.
"Hot water... wipe..." The old woman managed to say two words, turned around and went out, and closed the door of the back room for Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu immediately took off his soaked clothes. In fact, he didn't care about this at first, but since the old lady prepared hot water for him to wipe off and a change of clothes, Cheng Yu naturally
But he changed it disrespectfully.
After getting dressed, Cheng Yu opened the door and returned to the outhouse with the basin in hand.
Seeing this, the old lady hurriedly stepped forward, stretched out her hands, and said something. The old man translated on the side: "I want you to give her the basin and the dirty clothes, and she will help you soak the water and dry them."
Cheng Yu hurriedly said: "Please tell Auntie not to be busy, I can do it myself."
"Give it to her as long as you want it, there is so much nonsense."
Seeing that the old man seemed a little unhappy, Cheng Yu stopped talking. After handing the basin to the old lady, he went back to the house and took out the clothes he had changed.
The old lady took the clothes with a smile and simply washed them with the basin of water. Cheng Yu was a little embarrassed and didn't know where to stand.
When the old man saw this, he snorted and said, "You still understand the rules. Come on, sit here."
Cheng Yu then moved to the old man's desk, looked down, as if seeing it for the first time, and asked, "Are you carving?"
The old man snorted, thought for a while, and then said: "Put on a small pendant and you can exchange it for dozens of dollars when the salesman comes."
Cheng Yu took a closer look and found that it was not a particularly outstanding craftsman, but it was more than enough for an ordinary handicraft.
"This kind of hand-carved craft can be sold for two to three hundred dollars outside."
"More than that." The old man didn't seem to like talking very much, but he still explained: "This is sandalwood, gloomy, and they are all scraps found from those old and dilapidated houses that no one lives in. Even if it is not carved, it will
You can sell it for a thousand pieces in the provincial capital."
"Then you will sell it to the salesman for a few dozen yuan?"
"How about I, with my old arms and legs, can go out of the mountains and sell it myself? This salesman is not bad. If he sells it for a good price, he will make up for it for me when he comes back."
Cheng Yu nodded, knowing in his heart that the salesman the old man mentioned was probably the Dong man, Asen's father.
"Is the salesman you are talking about a Dong person?"
The old man stopped carving in his hands and raised his head to look at Cheng Yu, with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
"Do you know Ava?"
Cheng Yu was stunned for a moment, and then realized that Awa was the name of the Dong traveler. He shook his head and said, "I don't know him, but I have heard people talk about him. Moreover, I can come to your village because of a man named
Asen's child showed me the way. He said his father was a walker, so I guessed that the salesman you mentioned was his father."
The old man then lowered his head and continued to squint his eyes as he scratched the carving knife across the surface of the sandalwood, bringing up a sawdust.
"It turns out that boy from Asen brought you here. How did you know about our village?"
Cheng Yu shook his head and said, "I don't know. I just heard that there are many ethnic minority villages in Shiwan Mountain, some of which are very old. There are no villagers anymore. I just wanted to take a picture of the feeling of this ancient village, so
I asked someone to inquire, and I happened to meet a driver who lived near the market town. He told me that there were many villages near the market town, especially yours. He said that this Yao village had hundreds of households in the early years, but it was later lost during the war.
Almost none of the young men came back. The number of people in the village has decreased a lot. In the past two or three decades, people have been moving to the city to work. Now there are only more than a hundred people left. The village is very large, but many houses are vacant.
It has been uninhabitable for many years. When I heard that this was exactly what I was looking for, I asked the driver to take me here. But he didn’t know the way, so he recommended the Dong guy..."
"Ava."
"Yes, it's Awa. He didn't tell me what the man's name was. He just said that he was a wanderer traveling to a nearby village. But unfortunately, Awa went to other villages to collect things, but the little guy Asen said that he was like this
The road is very familiar, so I drive the family's donkey cart to make some money."
The old man finally showed a smile. He probably also knew that the boy Asen always wanted to make some money for the family like an adult. Especially when Cheng Yu mentioned the donkey cart, the old man finally believed Cheng Yu.
"That boy Asen is very annoying. Every time he comes here, he lowers the price for his father." He said he was annoyed, but the smile on his face was genuine.
"How much did you give Asen?"
"I thought that kid was very smart, so I gave him three hundred."
The old man frowned when he heard this and said, "How can you give him so much? What if he..."
Cheng Yu hurriedly explained: "I told him to hide the money and don't tell anyone when he returns to town. He must wait until his father comes back to give the money to his father."
The old man waved his hand and said seriously: "I'm not worried about his safety. We are no better than your city. There are very few people who are interested in wealth. But he is just showing you the way. In our place, he is only thirty or fifty."
As a reward, if you give him three hundred, it will make him feel that it is easy to make money. This will do him no good."
Cheng Yu was stunned, and felt that he might have gone too far, and said with some annoyance: "I ate some bread and drank a bottle of drink on the way. I saw that the child was a little greedy, so I gave him a portion, but he was reluctant to eat it.
He was reluctant to drink it, saying that he had never eaten or drank before, and insisted on taking it back to his father to try it together. I was a little..."
"You sympathized with him, so you gave him a little more money. You thought that was probably not too much in the city."
"Yes. But now I know I was wrong. When I go to the market town, I will go to him and tell him that money is not that easy to make."
The old man snorted again, seeming to be quite satisfied with Cheng Yu's attitude, and said: "That's not necessary, Ava is a stable person, he will know what to say to his son."
It seemed that it was difficult to concentrate on carving the pendant. The old man simply put down the carving knife in his hand, gathered it and put it into a cloth bag.
"Are you really here to take pictures?"
It seems that the old man still has doubts about Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu estimates that this has something to do with Cheng Fu who arrived here the day before.
"It really is."
"Are you a reporter?"
"That's not true. I am an independent photographer. Oh, I just take photos everywhere, and then provide these photos to companies or individuals in need in exchange for some compensation."
The old man didn't seem to understand this. He squinted his eyes slightly and said, "You can actually make a living in this way now? It seems that society has really become very good. Our parents went out to fight in vain.
"Speaking of this, the old man felt a little sad.
Cheng Yu noticed that when the old man was chatting with him or carving, he would often raise his head and look at the side window. Outside that window was the cliff that Cheng Yu had seen outside before. From the old man's perspective
, looking out the window, it seems that you can just see the black shadow above the cliff.
