These mountain roads are becoming more and more difficult to walk. In addition, only the tree-cutting villagers have left the previous roads, but if they continue to go up the mountain, they will not be the same roads as the tree-cutting villagers.
"Doctor Xiao, look, this should be the place where Yang Laowu and the others cut down trees." Xiao Chen and the others have been walking for more than an hour now. They are already two to three hundred meters up the mountain. They see many branches left behind, but
, these branches have long withered and must have been cut down for a long time.
If it were here, there would be nothing suspicious about it.
"Brother Yang, Yang Laowu and the others usually cut trees here and bring a few days' worth of dry food up the mountain, so where do they live?" Xiao Chen went over to take a look and found that they were indeed precious trees such as camphor trees.
Moreover, looking at the remaining tree head, it would take about three or four people to hold it. Looking at the tree rings, they should be hundreds of years old.
If such an old tree were somewhere else outside, it would probably have been cut down long ago.
Xiao Chen looked around and saw that several old trees had been cut down, and the branches that were left behind could actually be used to make very good furniture if they could be carried away.
However, all these were wasted and thrown here, but no one from the Yangjiazhai villagers dared to come here to take them back.
"They? I suspect they sleep directly in the trees. If it's a rainy day, they might find a cave to rest."
If there is no thunder, it is safer to sleep directly in a tree. If it is underground, there will be more venomous snakes and even other poisonous insects. However, if it is in a tree, it is fine.
Of course, if it’s a rainy day, it’s definitely not possible to stay under a tree. Even if you can hide from the rain, it may trigger thunder.
There is no doubt that being outside on a rainy day and hiding under a tree is the most dangerous thing.
That's why Brother Yang said those people might be hiding in the cave.
Xiao Chen and Dr. Liu saw Brother Yang worshiping the chopped tree heads, but they didn't know what the Miao dialect was.
Anyway, in the opinion of Xiao Chen and Dr. Liu, the Miao people here should believe in these gods.
"They are all tree gods. Unexpectedly, they were all chopped down by Yang Laowu and the others. This is the tree god's punishment for them!" Brother Yang looked at Xiao Chen and Dr. Liu and said.
"Do you believe it?" Xiao Chen asked.
"I believe that my grandfather taught us the lesson," said Brother Yang.
However, how can people like Dr. Liu who have accepted modern scientific and cultural knowledge believe in these things? Of course, they know that ethnic minority areas naturally believe in these things.
"Dr. Xiao, you don't believe it?"
"Maybe!" Xiao Chen said.
That's not what he was talking about, but many things happened and were destined in some mysterious way. He guessed that the death of Yang Laowu and the others must be related to the felling of trees.
There is nothing good to see here, and if Yang Laowu and the others were not greedy and just cut down a few old trees here, nothing would happen. Unexpectedly, the greed of these people harmed them.
When Dr. Liu and the others were drinking water and resting, Xiao Chen did not bring water up just now, but Brother Yang brought two horns. These two are buffalo horns, which are very large and can hold a lot of water at one time. Moreover,
When this buffalo horn is not filled with water, it can make a loud sound, which can scare the animals outside, and even attract the attention of others if something happens.
"Doctor Xiao, do you want some water?" Brother Yang thought that a high-ranking official like Xiao Chen must come from a big city and have a superior status, and must be different from ordinary villagers like them.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Chen's walking was no worse than that of a young Miao man like him.
In fact, in the past, when Xiao Chen was in Xiaojia Village, he or his senior sister would often go to the back mountain to play.
So where is the back mountain?
It is Shennongjia, which is now very famous in China. The mountains over there look much more terrifying than here.
Therefore, Xiao Chen really seems to be walking very easily now. On the contrary, weak scholars like Dr. Liu used to stay in the laboratory and do research, and rarely went out to do research. Now they are climbing mountains and wading, and they still have nothing to do with it.
The developed mountain road made them extremely tired.
When Xiao Chen followed Brother Yang and continued to walk up the mountain, Dr. Liu and the others were panting from exhaustion. They didn't know if Xiao Chen could really find the source of the spread of the plague.
"Dr. Xiao, the further you go up the mountain, the more careful you must be. The venomous snakes on this mountain are not poisonous, even Luo Tietou has them."
What is Luo Tietou?
It is a very venomous snake. Its appearance looks similar to the outer walls of those stones. If you don't pay attention and guess it, you will definitely be bitten. If you don't take antivenom in time, you will definitely die.
After Xiao Chen heard this, his expression was still normal. However, when Dr. Liu and the other five people heard this, their expressions became obviously different.
Although they guessed that there might be some venomous snakes outside, they didn't expect that there was Luo Tietou here.
Xiao Chen cut a few branches and gave them to Dr. Liu and the others. Each of them took one and walked away, then followed Xiao Chen and Brother Yang.
After all, the one walking in front is definitely the most dangerous now, and the one walking behind may not be that dangerous.
"Brother Yang, tell me how Yang Laowu and the other old men usually cut down these old trees. These trunks are so heavy, how can they be brought down the mountain?"
"I heard that they first opened a small road, then a few people tied the tree trunk, and then carried it all the way down the mountain. It shouldn't be difficult, but it is more difficult to go down the mountain. Several people carried it together."
If this is how everyone earns 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, Xiao Chen thinks it is unlikely.
After all, there are even venomous snakes like Luo Tietou here, and it’s still so difficult to move these old tree trunks down. Of course, there’s more.
These are valuable camphor trees, which are very profitable. How could they be sold to those bosses in the south so cheaply?
Xiao Chen continued to follow Brother Yang and the others up the mountain. In fact, many of the trees above were not damaged, so Brother Yang could quickly recognize where they had been cut.
Now he took Xiao Chen and Dr. Liu to the place where the old trees were cut down for the second time. Xiao Chen saw that they were all camphor trees, and the leaves and branches were all withered. It was obvious that
These are at least half a year old.
Here, there are those branches left everywhere, and there are also branches with a radius of twenty or thirty centimeters. They are all left here. Xiao Chen feels that it is too wasteful.
But Brother Yang still looked very cautious, scared, and worshiped the old trees with a pious look on his face and didn't know what he was muttering.
Xiao Chen shook his head and didn't say anything. After looking carefully, he felt that it would take at least a week for these trees to be cut down, and it would still require the combined efforts of several people.
"Don't they all use chainsaws?"
"They all use this, provided by the boss in the south. In addition, they also brought axes." Seeing the chopped branches, Xiao Chen could tell that in addition to the chainsaws, axes were also used.