Heading west from Shiliu Village to Miyao Mountain, the road becomes more and more remote.
I have all the equipment here. I was carrying two big bags, and my back was soaked. I looked back from time to time on the road, hoping that a car would come over, even a tractor.
Damn it, no.
Maybe God saw me in pity, but later I met a small "cattle team" composed of Tibetans.
Anyone who has experienced traveling in Tibetan areas knows that Tibetans do not speak much Chinese. You can only talk to each other by "gesturing". Communication is very difficult. It took me a lot of effort to explain it to them and let them guide them.
I'm on my way.
I still remember that the leader of the ox team was a man named "Deji Gonpo" with dark skin. They happened to be passing by Miyao Mountain. I took the ox cart. They didn't pay for it. They just pushed me and gave me a pack of cigarettes.
The bullock cart moved slowly, and it was not until the afternoon that I received the call from the head.
"Hey, head."
"Don't be slow. Where are you going to find a car? The bullock cart I'm riding in now will probably arrive at your place in more than three hours."
He asked me: "You didn't get into any trouble when you left the village, did you?"
"No, I did a small job. You don't know how to do it, but it turned out to be a Xixia pit." The cattle team are all Tibetans who don't understand Chinese, and I'm not afraid of them hearing it.
He turned his head and hesitated for a few seconds before saying to me: "You are alone, try to do as little work as possible from now on. It's almost time to make a phone call. It's hard to find a place where we live. I'll ask Wen Bin to pick you up on the road."
At around eight o'clock in the evening, after driving all day, I finally met Brother Yu on the so-called "big road" at the head. He had been waiting for a long time.
"Why so late? Yunfeng, you should have arrived yesterday. Where is Lao Zhang? Why didn't you let him drive you here?"
Brother Yu took the two bags I carried, one in each hand.
Lao Zhang...I was vague and confused.
I stayed temporarily in a deserted, strange-looking three-story stone building at the foot of Miyao Mountain. Why do I say strange? Because I have never seen a similar house before.
I asked Brother Yu, who told me: "This is a stone building where Muya people do not live. The cattle and sheep are housed on the first floor, people live on the second floor, and food and hay are stored on the third floor. There are many similar stone houses here, and they are all empty.
."
I was confused and asked why it was all empty.
Brother Yu explained to me: "A few years ago, for some unknown reason, all the Muya people here moved to the Ersu gathering area, one of the eight upper forts, so there is no one left."
"Fengzi! Why are you so slow? We've been waiting for you!" As soon as we entered, Bean Sprout jumped out and shouted.
"Go aside, what are you yelling about? I have nothing to do and I am delayed."
Went up to the second floor of the stone building and saw the boss. The lamp was dark and a candle was lit in the room for illumination. Everyone was making beds on the floor here.
"I'm here to take the lead."
"Well, let's sit down and talk. We have everything in order."
"They're all here, a lot of them."
"Where's Xiao Xuan? Why didn't you see her?"
Pointing to the top of his head: "We haven't eaten yet. There is some hay on the third floor. Xiaoxuan is making a fire upstairs to cook. Without further ado, we will wait for a guide to come over after dinner, and then we will go into the mountain tonight."
I felt a little anxious, but I didn't ask any more questions and turned around and went up the wooden stairs.
It's said to be a staircase, but it's actually just a ladder standing upright against the wall. It's very narrow. You have to be careful when going up and down. If you fall down, you'll be stricken.
On the third floor, Xiaoxuan was lying on the ground concentrating on blowing the fire. Her face was so gray that I didn't even notice it when I came up.
"What are you doing!"
"oops!"
"You scared me to death!"
"Yunfeng, why are you walking silently? Look! The fire is out again."
"Whose basin is this big? Is this a washbasin?" I walked over and saw that this basin contained the most instant noodles, at least three bags by visual inspection.
"This belongs to Douyazai," Xiaoxuan said speechlessly.
"How can you cook it if the water doesn't boil? It's hard to soak in cold water?"
"What do you know? The noodles cooked this way are delicious," Xiaoxuan said harshly. I guess she was just trying to save trouble.
"Come here, I'll give you a good thing."
"What? Mysterious."
"Hands out."
I grabbed Xiaoxuan's wrist with my left hand, took out a gold bracelet from my back trouser pocket with my right hand, and put it on her gently.
"Gold bracelet! Where did you get it? Did you buy it for me?"
"Tch, you can't buy this even if you have money," I said, "This is a gold bracelet with plain patterns from the Liao Dynasty. It looks pretty good on you."
"Really, but it's a bit big."
Xiaoxuan's wrists were thin, and she shook them, looking very happy.
I'm ashamed to say that this is my first official gift to Xiaoxuan, because it was only during the day that I suddenly remembered that this day happened to be her birthday... Xiaoxuan didn't say it herself, so I was worried about it.
Don't know, but I remember.
"Xiaoxuan, happy birthday."
Xiaoxuan's nose twitched and she said: "Yunfeng, I just said it casually once before, I didn't expect you to still remember it."
"Haha, I have a good memory. Of course I remember your birthday, Xiaomi's birthday, and..." Before I could finish, I hurriedly ended the conversation.
I haven't had a birthday in several years either.
Xiaoxuan was very sensible. She raised her hand and wiped her eyes and said, "Yunfeng, I haven't celebrated my birthday in two years. I don't want to cause trouble to everyone."
Looking back, we all sacrificed a lot in those years, but we did gain a lot.
"Zhao Xuanxuan! Zhao Xuanxuan!
"Is the noodles ready? I'm hungry!" Dou Sprout's loud voice came from downstairs.
After dinner, around 10:30 p.m., the guide we were looking for came. This person was from Muya.
The Muya people are actually not very mysterious. What is mysterious is their origin and culture. Up to now, there are more than 8,000 Muya people in the Ganzi Ya'an area alone. Anyone can find them as long as they look for them with a little effort.
I can also speak a few words of authentic Muya dialect.
Eating is "Ga enough", sleeping is "A stuck", and getting up is "Hongfufu". This is what Muya people say, but the tone sounds strange. I can't describe it in words.
The guide is in his 50s, his head is wrapped with several circles of white cloth, and he wears a traditional local pleated suit. His clothing is mainly white. This man’s hidden name is unknown, his Chinese name is Fugong, I call him Uncle Fu, Lao Fu
.
There is a reason for looking for him. Not only can Lao Fu speak Tibetan, Chinese, and Muya, but he can also speak the extremely difficult Anon and Nusu languages.
From 1970 to the beginning of 2000, more than a dozen famous professors of history, linguistics, archaeology, etc. asked him to be their guide. Professor Deng from Sichuan University and Professor Wu from Southwest University were the ones who looked for him when they wrote the book "The Examination of the King of Western Wu".
Lao Fu helped me get in touch with someone early.
Of course, Tou Tou calls himself an "expert in historical relics and archeology", and we young people are all his students. Lao Fu doesn't know our true identities.
He didn't have a backpack. Instead, he carried a large bamboo basket covered with a raincloth. He smiled and said that he was used to carrying this thing, and a backpack was not as useful as a bamboo basket.
At a quarter past 11 p.m., we put out the fire, checked what we had brought, and followed Lao Fu into Miyao Mountain with flashlights.
The whole mountain was covered with darkness. A few of us, with the flashlights in our hands, were like glowing fireflies.
He raised his head and looked at the mountains, his face was very solemn. No one, including me, could guess what he was thinking.
"The mountain road is not easy to walk at night. Guys, watch your step. Follow me and don't run away."
I took out a cigarette and walked up to talk to someone: "Uncle Fu, do you know where the place we are looking for is?"
"Young man, please whip me."
He didn't take the Septwolves I handed over, but took out a hard-packed short-mouthed Emeishan cigarette and gave me it. This cigarette was not cheap at the time, it was more expensive than soft Yuxi.
"Haha, why are you looking at me like that? These cigarettes were given to you by those cultural people the year before last. I can't bear to buy such expensive cigarettes."
After lighting one, he stopped and said, "Professor Wang (head) said, aren't you looking for that kind of very tall stone tower?"
"Yes! Do you know exactly where it is?"
He blew out a puff of smoke, shook his head and said, "Young man, I don't know the exact location, but I know the approximate location. In other words, not many people know the exact location."
"What's the meaning?"
I didn't understand, and Dou Sprout was also curious and came over to listen.
He squinted and said: "The older generation of Muya people in our area all know the legend. It is said that there is a place in the deepest part of Miyao Mountain where there is heavy fog all year round. There is a stone tower in the heavy fog. The stone tower is more than 500 meters high and has reached the height of 100 meters.
When they reach the clouds in the sky, there are more than twenty small doors on the tower. Someone inside the door shoots arrows downwards. Anyone who passes by and gets close will be shot to death by the arrows from the sky."
"Fuck!"
Dou Sprouts exclaimed: "Five hundred meters high! That's higher than the Tower of Love! It's fake! If it were really that high, even Sun Wukong wouldn't be able to fly up!"
I said, "Fuck you, don't talk nonsense if you don't know. What's the Aifei Tower? That's the Aifeier Tower. Abroad, it may be more than 400 meters high."
This is just a legend of the Muya people. It seems outrageous when you think about it. Five hundred meters high?
There was no such technology in the Xixia period hundreds of years ago, so I didn’t believe it at all. Now, if it was really that high, we wouldn’t have to look for it, we could see it right out of Chengdu Railway Station.
"Uncle Fu, you just said you probably know where it is?"
"Oh, yes."
He threw away the cigarette butt, tipped the bamboo basket behind him, and said with a smile: "It takes about three days to walk upstream of the Dulong River and you can see a large natural basin area. Going down is the Wolf Valley. It is very big and can be seen everywhere.
We found a kind of artificially forged thin stone flakes, numbering in the tens of thousands, which may be leftover raw materials from previous tower construction.”
"However, further down... no one has been there."
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