Gui Yuan

Chapter 26

Village head Liao was not a talkative person, he just quietly led the way along the way, no matter whether they followed or not, he didn't even look back.Along the way, I felt a little strange. Although it is a village in a corner, there are not so few people. The scattered people on the street are children and women. Occasionally, men are like those hawkers, aged five or sixty. .

It really doesn't make sense that the whole village didn't see a man in his prime.

Ning Qing took two steps forward, walked behind Village Chief Liao and asked, "Village Chief, this village is a bit deserted, why haven't you seen any young men?"

Village Chief Liao paused, glanced at him and said, "Don't listen and don't talk, young people shouldn't be so curious."

Ning Qing closed her mouth wisely, retreated to Wei Yao, and said in a low voice, "I assure you, if there is no weirdness here, there will be ghosts."

Wei Yao responded: "He obviously doesn't want to say more, let's hold back for now."

The most important thing right now is to treat the fever, which is not uncommon in the Nanman. If you ask someone rashly, it will be like writing the word "outsider" on your face, but it will attract people's precautions, and the gain outweighs the gain.We can only deal more with the southern barbarians and take the opportunity to inquire.

After Village Chief Liao brought the two of them home, he went to the ground to dig wild vegetables for evening rations. Ning Qingyuan wanted to help, but was rejected with a serious face.

Village Chief Liao said: "Since you come to my house, you are guests. There is no reason to let guests go to the field. You have traveled so many wrong ways like a lack of heart, now stop and have a good rest."

Ning Qing had nothing to say, and smiled politely: "Then you go."

Village head Liao disappeared into the distance with a hoe on his shoulder. Ning Qing looked back and asked calmly, "What are you going to do now?"

Wei Yao tied Taxue to a wooden stake in the yard, and fed two golden bamboo shoots, Taxue chewed happily, making a crisp "crack, cluck, cluck" sound.

After doing this, Wei Yao patted the crumbs on his hands, turned around and said, "Let's go for a walk in the village."

The two walked side by side on the loess road between the villages. Looking around, the street was empty, even colder than the road they had just entered the village.All of a sudden, a woman's cry was heard from somewhere, crying so pitifully, it was horrifying to hear.

Ning Qing grabbed Wei Yao's sleeve, looked around and said, "It seems like someone is crying?"

"Yes. Go and see."

After walking a hundred steps, I saw an elderly woman crying in the yard, surrounded by two people who were persuading her.

The woman said: "Son, my child! Mother worked so hard to raise you, why did you die? If I had known earlier, even if Mother died of illness, she wouldn't let you go to that evil place to collect medicine!"

A woman with a big mole on her face persuaded, "Sister-in-law, you are still sick, don't spoil your body like this."

The woman burst into tears and cried, "God will take my life, so take it. I only want my child to come back safely!"

The woman cried out in agony, and suddenly she gasped violently, unable to catch her breath, and passed out.This frightened the woman next to her. Some people rushed to support the woman, while others stomped their feet anxiously: "What can we do, we can't bear Cheng Wenniang's weight."

At this time, Wei Yao who had walked to the gate of the courtyard said, "Let me help."

The two women felt ashamed when they saw him, but it would be great if someone could help at this time, so they didn't care so much.

Although the fainted woman was still in good shape despite her illness, Wei Yao let out a muffled groan when she carried her back, which happened to be heard by Ning Qing who was at the side, and she was very compassionate.

Helped the fainted woman back to the room, everyone retreated into the yard, and one of them sighed: "Cheng Wenniang is just pitiful, her husband died early, just such a son, he ended up like this, if it were me, I would also die." Can't take it."

Another short woman said, "That's right."

Ning Qing asked, "What happened to sister-in-law's son?"

The son-in-law looked at him: "These two look strange, are they from outside?"

Ning Qing said: "Yes."

The shorter woman suddenly said: "Then no wonder I don't know."

It seems that there are indeed some things in this village, and the villagers should know about it, but they keep it secret.Maybe it's because they helped the leaders just now, these two are not as wary of them as Village Chief Liao.

The woman glanced furtively, and whispered: "It's not the 'fox demon' who made trouble."

"Fox demon?" Wei Yao obviously didn't expect to be involved in the theory of supernatural ghosts.

The child said: "It's the fox mountain outside the village. There is a fox temple on the mountain. I don't know which generation of ancestors built it. We always worship when we meet on the mountain. But for some reason, half a year ago, there were people from the village. What's even more strange is that the missing people are all the young and strong men in the village. The old people, women, and children are gone, but there is no problem. Everyone said that it was the fox spirit on the mountain who arrested the young men and wanted to suck them. Their yang energy improves their cultivation!"

These words sound quite unreasonable. Leaving aside whether the "fox demon" is true or not, even if there is, why did they live in peace before, but suddenly changed half a year ago?Could it be that the fox demon has been peaceful for hundreds of years, but was stimulated half a year ago and his temperament changed drastically?

The child continued: "Cheng Wenniang was ill a few days ago. The barefoot doctor in the village said that there are herbs on the Fox Mountain that can be cured, but now no one in the village dares to enter the mountain. Cheng Wen is a filial child, so he went alone. In the evening Cheng Wenniang found out He didn't go home, and he only found out about it after asking the doctor, and he was crying. Village head Liao took two people into the mountain, only to find the herbs picked on the road, but they couldn't find them."

Ning Qing raised her eyebrows slightly: "There is such a mysterious thing?"

"That's right, no one dares to mention this now."

Ning Qingfang wanted to ask more clearly, but an angry shout came from behind, interrupting his words.

"Tell you to stay well, why are you still wandering around!"

The voice was familiar, Ning Qing and Wei Yao turned around and saw that it was Village Chief Liao.That angry look made people suspect that he would swing the hoe over at any time.

Those two people were talking enthusiastically, but when they saw Village Chief Liao, they shut their mouths and their eyes were evasive.Village Chief Liao taught him a lesson: "Why are you two talking so much? It's getting dark, so hurry home and stop talking nonsense!"

Those two didn't dare to say more, they immediately shut their mouths tightly and left as if fleeing.

Village Chief Liao's sharp eyes glanced at the two of them, and he snorted angrily: "Whether it's intentional or not, you two are really not safe. It's getting late today, so I'll keep you overnight, and I'll pack up at dawn tomorrow morning." let's go."

I thought that the village chief would let them go directly according to this situation. Fortunately, the village chief was kind and didn't let them sleep on the street.

In the evening, the village chief brought them a meal, but he didn't say a word, obviously he didn't want to mention the "fox demon" again, and they didn't make fun of themselves.

Ning Qing said: "This is weird, but we have important things to do now, so we don't have time to distract ourselves."

Wei Yao was packing his luggage and replied, "We can't avoid it."

"Why?"

"The village chief has already suspected us. We definitely can't stay here any longer. We can only continue to go to a place with a lot of people. There is Yunchu Town in front of us. If we take a detour from other places, it will take an extra day." Wei Yao packed the bag and turned to look at him, "I've seen the map, Fox Mountain happens to be on the nearest road."

Ning Qing: "..."

-

In the early morning of the next day, after the two of them bid farewell to the village chief, they rode on the snow all the way to Fox Mountain. After walking about three miles, there was indeed a mountain in front of them, with deep green shade, accompanied by the rustling wind, which looked a little strange.

Ning Qing said: "The fox demon should not have woken up early in the morning, right?"

Wei Yao smiled: "Perhaps after a long drought meets nectar, I don't know if I'm overjoyed to meet two people suddenly."

After walking for about half an hour, there was a small temple made of stone in the distance. I didn’t see it until I was close. Because no one paid attention to it for a long time, weeds had grown around the fox statue in front of the temple, leaving only the open space in front of the temple. clean.The shadows of the trees were mottled under the sun, and there was no one around. It was not surprising that something mysterious happened in such a barren mountain.

Ning Qing glanced almost inaudibly, and asked, "Since we are here, we should go to the countryside and dismount to worship the fox demon."

Wei Yao didn't mean it: "That's natural."

Wei Yao tied the horse to a nearby tree, and ate the grass on the ground while stepping on the snow.

The two walked to the front of the temple, knelt down and worshiped twice, and were about to get up when a gust of wind whizzed past their ears, and a pain hit the back of their head, Ning Qing fell to the ground and lost consciousness.