Chapter 53: A small village in the mountains

The village was even more remote than I had imagined. From the town, we took a regular minibus to a certain township, then a three-wheeled cart to a certain village, then rented a horse from a certain village, and rode all the way to the next village. When we entered the last village, we could only walk, because the road was so remote and steep that even horses could not enter.

No wonder that a few years ago, the strange man I met, Gao Ning, told me that if I regretted it, I could still find him. He said that no one in the world could find that village except him.

Indeed, the journey I have taken over the past three days can prove how isolated and closed off this village is.

Unfortunately, Gao Ning was wrong. It turns out that there are still quite a few people in the world who know about this village, at least almost everyone in the Yueyan Miao village.

The mountain roads are difficult to traverse. These mountains in western Hunan look so beautiful and spectacular, but they are so difficult to walk on because there are no clear paths.

This reminds me of a saying by Lu Xun: In fact, there was no road on the ground, but as more people walked on it, it became a road.

Of course, I am just borrowing this to describe the situation here, and it has nothing to do with the profound thoughts in this sentence.

The mountains are quiet, except for the sound of our footsteps, and the constant noise of birdsong is our only companion. Although the occasional view is stunning, it is inevitable that we will get bored after seeing it for a long time.

Hui Gen is a child after all, and he can’t stand being tired. After walking with us for two hours, he was tired and refused to go on. I had to carry him on my back. I was not so lonely with Hui Gen’s noisy voice, but after Hui Gen fell asleep on my back, I was really a bit bored.

So I spoke to Ling Ruxue, “Hey, how do you know where this village is? I feel like everyone in your village knows where this village is.”

I had no choice. I felt awkward calling Ling Ruxue directly, and I didn’t feel like I was close enough to her to call her Ruxue. As a result, when I talked to her, it was usually me feeding her.

However, Ling Ruxue didn’t care at all how I called her, which disappointed me and made me feel that I couldn’t get close to her.

In response to my question, Ling Ruxue answered very directly. She said, “The existence of our Yueyan Miao Village is largely due to the fact that it is used to restrain the Heiyan Miao Village. So they know where we are, and we also know where they are.”

“Black Rock Miao Village?” It was the first time I had heard the name of that devilish village, and I couldn’t help but let out a cry.

“Yes, the Black Rock Miao Village. Our Yueyan Miao Village has existed for a long time, and it wasn’t always in such a secluded place. We belong to the Bai Miao, and the Black Rock Miao Village belongs to the Hei Miao. They weren’t always in such a secluded place either. There are many secrets that have caused this situation to exist.” When talking about these things, Ling Ruyue’s words were obviously a bit more, but she was unwilling to say what the secrets were.

When I was in college, I liked to read a lot of miscellaneous books, especially about history. I didn’t agree with the idea of black and white Miao, so I couldn’t help but ask, “Is there really a black Miao and a white Miao? In my understanding, the black Miao are the Yi people, and the white Miao are the Bai people. In the past, the classification of ethnic minorities was not so strict, so several ethnic groups, including the Yao, Bai, and Yi, were all classified as Miao. The Bai generally live in Dali and Chuxiong in Yunnan, while the Yi live in Xiangxi.

Ling Ruoxue shook her head and interrupted me, saying to me seriously, “This is just knowledge from books, and it can’t be said to be wrong. But in fact, in the past, there were really black and white Miao, and now there are very few descendants and villages of the real black and white Miao, and even fewer who know about certain secret villages. The only remaining black Miao village is the Heiyan Miao village, and in addition to our Yueyan Miao village, there are three other villages.”

So there is such a secret? It also has to do with history? I raised my eyebrows and thought to myself, what kind of conspiracy have I gotten myself into? It seems to involve history and even greater secrets. How did I get myself into these things?

“In fact, compared to the Black Miao, we Bai Miao are inferior in many ways. We prefer a stable life, while the Black Miao always have great ambitions, so in some areas, they are developing faster than us.” Ru Xue seemed to like talking about this, and I didn’t expect her to tell me so much.

“In what ways?” I asked.

“For example, the development of witchcraft and sorcery! Isn’t war the best catalyst for technology?” At this point, Ling Ruxue suddenly winked at me and said something very modern.

The charm of that wink directly stunned me. The mountain path was steep, and I accidentally slipped and fell. I was fine, but Hui Gen, who was sleeping soundly on my back, was accidentally thrown out and rolled directly into the nearby thicket.

I was worried and quickly got up to see if Hui Gen was okay, but Ling Ruxue was faster than me and had already reached Hui Gen. Hui Gen was sitting up dazedly, looked around, and said in a daze, “Is it time to eat? Do you have (any) eggs?”

I felt relieved and couldn’t help laughing out loud while pinching Hui Gen’er’s cheeks. Then I picked him up, but while laughing, I felt a little sad. When it came to eggs, I really missed Master Hui.

Seeing Hui Gen’er’s cute appearance, Ling Ruxue couldn’t help but smile, but it was just a gentle smile that disappeared in an instant, but I happened to see it. This smile was like throwing a stone in my heart, and my heart was really difficult to calm down.

To hide my embarrassment, I quickly turned my head and pretended to be indifferent, saying, “I thought you were an ancient person, but I didn’t expect you to say something like war is a catalyst for technology. I was really surprised, and it only occurred to me that you were also highly educated.”

Ling Ruxue had already regained her composure and said, “The Miao people are intelligent, not as conservative as you think. And learning and education are the truth that every intelligent people understand.”

This girl’s thoughts are quite profound. I don’t want to discuss this with her. After coaxing Huigen for a while, I picked him up again. I couldn’t help but say to Ling Ruxue, “I didn’t know you could laugh. I thought you were a facial paralysis.”

“Hmm?” Ling Ruxue gave me a sideways glance and stopped talking to me, as if she could only discuss serious topics with me. But I clearly noticed that her movement of lowering her head to tie her hair was a bit flustered. It turned out that this girl was not completely emotionless.

But this emotion came too quickly and too shallowly, always making it hard to grasp.

But I, on the other hand, really wanted to catch these feelings, because at this point I already knew very clearly that I really wanted to get close to her, really wanted to.

But I didn’t want to think about whether I liked her or not.

It was not by chance that we met, and we were drawn to each other from the moment we met! This was the beginning of my relationship with Ru Xue. Many years later, when I recalled it, all that remained in my mind was this sentence over and over again.Taoist priest

The mountain road is difficult to traverse, but there is always an end. Moreover, the village we were going to this time was not completely isolated from the outside world, so we didn’t have to wander in the mountains for too long. We only walked for 5 or 6 hours and then came out.

“Chen Chengyi.” After we came out of the mountains, looking at the outline of the village from afar, Ru Xue suddenly called out my name.

“Huh?” Looking at the village, I was just amazed that there were still people living in such a remote place, but I didn’t know what Ling Ruxue suddenly called me for.

“There are probably a dozen villages like this around the Black Rock Miao Village. After this village, there is another village, and then we will enter the dense forest. After passing through the dense forest, we will reach the Black Rock Miao Village.” Ling Ruxue said to me in a soft voice.

“You said this before. Why are you talking about it again?” I was a little confused.

“I was going to say that these villages are actually controlled by the Black Rock Miao Village. I just want to tell you that no matter what you see, you should restrain yourself and not ask too many questions, okay?” Ling Ruxue suddenly said to me.

I was confused and couldn’t help but ask, “Have you been to the Black Rock Miao Village?”