Chapter one hundred and sixty-eight sacrifice to the mountain
On the ninth day of the lunar month, I threw all the young bamboo shoots in my arms to the girls.
It turns out that the girls were sent out by Mi Li and the others to dig bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest because they were worried that their new sneakers would get dirty.
When the girl left, she spoke softly in dialect, and Chujiu smiled and nodded. But I saw some cunning in Chujiu's smile. Chujiu told me that my sisters would drink with me in the evening.
"Just drink, why are you smiling like a fox? You don't know how much I drink? By the way, how much do your sisters drink?"
Chujiu stretched out a finger, curled his lips, and said that was it.
One kilogram of alcohol capacity? It is indeed very powerful among girls.
"The ninth day of the ninth lunar month! Didn't I tell you to let your brother have a good rest and not to lead him around? You can't even see anyone, and your skin is itchy?"
Before they reached the bamboo building, a loud roar came. Uncle Zheng stood at the door, staring at Chujiu with his big eyes.
"Uncle."
I called out to my uncle, and Chujiu was already hiding behind me, looking very afraid of my uncle.
"Qin Feng, are you okay? There is nothing interesting in the village compared to the city. Are you getting used to it?"
When my uncle talked to me, he seemed to be a different person, much softer. Chujiu whispered behind me.
"Go in and get the tribute, and follow me to the mountain to offer sacrifices."
"Ah? Mount sacrifice? We just came back from the bamboo forest, can we not go?"
Chujiu's tone of voice was obviously different from usual, as if he was strongly disgusted with the matter of offering sacrifices to the mountain.
"Don't you want to know where my wine is hidden? Bring the bamboo cutting knife with you by the way."
"I don't want to know, I can just drink rice wine."
Facing her uncle's temptation, Chujiu curled her lips, still looking very reluctant.
"I know, I was afraid of things that happened when I was a kid. I thought I would become more courageous after going to college. Forget it, you better not go!"
"Who's afraid? I'll go!"
Faced with such a poor provocation from his uncle, Chujiu rushed into the house with his head held high, and happened to meet the silver-haired old woman coming out of the door.
The only woman in the room is Grandma Jian Shu.
"Hello, Grandma Jian Shu!"
When I looked at Grandma Jian Shu, she was also looking at me.
"Haha, the young man is very energetic, not bad! Not bad! Grandma doesn't have a gift for you, but grandma's gift may be the most expensive."
Just as Grandma Jian Shu finished speaking, a cough came from the room. Grandma Jian Shu said nothing more, touched Chujiu's head, and said softly: "How can the future owner of the village be afraid of the patron saint of his own village?"
It was Grandpa and Vidyadhara Master who came out of the house.
"Qin Feng, you should also go along and see what's going on."
Grandpa was wearing a navy blue tunic suit, with his hair neatly combed back. He looked more like a retired old leader of the agency.
The Vidyadhara Master, who was also wearing clean monk robes, smiled at me and made a face.
Chujiu came out carrying a big bamboo basket and a woodcutter on her back. After coming out, she stared at the super big cloth bag on Grandma Jian Shu's back.
"Don't look, the stars changed a bit last night, and they are still sleeping."
"Zhizhizhi."
Just as Grandma Jian Shu finished speaking, a cry came from the bag, followed by a shaking, and a monkey stuck its head out of the bag.
"Huh? The stars have woken up?"
Everyone looked at Grandma Jian Shu in confusion, and Grandma Jian Shu also had a face full of confusion.
Chujiu was about to reach out and touch the stars, when the stars chirped at me a few times, made a face, and then closed his eyes and purred.
Chujiu's hand stopped in the air and looked at me and the stars.
"Haha, it seems that Xingxing woke up and said hello to Qin Feng. This guy is really good!"
After arriving at the bamboo forest, we thought that my uncle would take us deeper into the forest, but we didn't expect that we only walked for more than ten minutes and stopped at an open space of a few meters in diameter.
A stone platform was set up in the center of the open space. On the ninth day of the lunar month, my uncle asked him to place the bamboo basket on the stone platform and open the lid of the bamboo basket.
It turned out that the bamboo basket contained some rice cakes, fruits, and a bowl of rice wine.
My uncle and grandpa stood in a row, and Chujiu and I stood behind them.
The uncle took a deep breath and shouted towards the depths of the bamboo forest:
"Old Ancestor, this disciple is here to visit. Thank you for your hard work in protecting Tuhai Village from wild beasts. I pray that Tuhai Village will have good wind and rain in the coming year."
I silently thought in my heart that maybe this sacrifice to the mountain is a sacrifice to the mountain god. As the uncle of the village owner, he should say some auspicious words when making sacrifices.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Chujiu standing next to him, standing straight with his head lowered and not daring to look far away.
It was the first time I saw Chujiu look so pious. I was about to praise Chujiu when suddenly there was a rustling sound from far away in the bamboo forest. It sounded like the sound of a giant beast walking quickly and crushing the grass and trees.
I was just about to ask Chujiu, but Chujiu's eyes flickered and signaled me not to speak.
In a moment, a long black shadow rushed along the ground.
When I saw the black shadow clearly, my legs couldn't help but feel weak. No wonder Chujiu didn't want to come to the mountain to offer sacrifices. At this time, the black shadow had already stopped in front of us, looking at us with his head held high.
The image of a dragon soul instantly appeared in my mind, and the one in front of me that my uncle called "ancestor" was a living dragon.
The body covered with hand-sized scales, and the eyes as big as bowls on the upper part of the long jaws were staring at everyone. The dragon opened its mouth, revealing its sharp cone-shaped fangs, and slapped its strong forelimbs on the ground.
It left five claw marks.
"Ancestor!"
The four of them, uncle and grandpa, all clasped their fists and saluted. Chujiu and I followed closely behind, clasping our fists and saluting.
The dragon's head in the air nodded slightly and turned slightly towards the direction of Chujiu and me.
When I saw "Old Ancestor" staring at Chujiu, there seemed to be a hint of mischief in his eyes.
"Ang" a soft chant sounded, and I heard the roar of a dragon for the first time in my life. Although it was not as high-pitched and loud as I imagined, it was full of might and domineering. I was so excited that I felt breathless because of my extremely fast heartbeat.
The "ancestor" picked up the bamboo basket on the stone platform with his mouth, glanced at everyone, and disappeared deep into the bamboo forest.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Chujiu raised his head to the sky and roared three times, then sat down on the ground, gasping for air regardless of everyone's eyes.
"Haha, look at how cowardly you are. From now on, if you become the leader of the village, we will offer sacrifices to the mountain every year. Let's see what you do."
My uncle picked up the woodcutter on the ground, walked to the right side of the stone platform, aimed at a bamboo pole and chopped it down.
The upper and lower ends of the bamboo pole were easily cut off by my uncle, leaving two sections of bamboo in the middle.
After cutting three bamboo poles in succession, my uncle threw the three bamboo sections to Chujiu.
Chu Jiu shook the bamboo joint, and there was a "swishing" sound of liquid inside.
Chujiu suddenly realized it, with an incredible look on his face. No wonder he searched every corner of the house and couldn't find the wine. It turned out to be hidden in a bamboo tube.