Chapter 9

In the freezer, there were a few pieces of frozen beef. Zhang Lisheng took them out, didn't even thaw them, and threw them into a coarse ceramic pot. He added cold water, seasonings, and herbs, and then stewed them over a high flame on the stove.

When the beef was about seven or eight parts cooked, he turned down the heat and added some of his secret brown herbal concentrate, stewing the meat until it was tender and succulent. A pot of extremely nourishing medicinal soup was thus prepared.

This pot of medicinal soup was different from ordinary ones. It didn't have a strong, pungent smell, and the taste wasn't particularly special at first, but after a few bites, it gave a person a wonderful sense of satisfaction, making the body feel warm and comfortable all over.

Zhang Lisheng ate the well-seasoned beef stew with the broth, then took a deep breath, wiped his mouth, washed his face with well water, and walked into the side room of the old house. He lay down on his rough, sturdy wooden bed and soon fell into a deep sleep.

He slept for over ten hours, only waking up the next morning. Before he even got out of bed, he heard a voice from outside the door: "Shanchongzi, Shanchongzi, it's your Uncle Ah Lie. Open the door quickly."

Zhang Lisheng hurriedly put on his pants, slipped on a jacket, and shouted, "Uncle Ah Lie, wait a moment, I'll open the door." He walked quickly to the heavy, old wooden door, pulled the bolt, and opened it.

Standing outside was Tao Lielin. Seeing Zhang Lisheng in disheveled clothes, he was surprised and said, "What are you doing, kid? Your father is coming home today, and it's already this late, why haven't you gotten up yet?"

In Miaowei, the custom is that those who die away from home must be kept in the place of death for twenty-four hours, or two days and two nights, before being taken back to their hometown for burial.

Zhang Lisheng then remembered that today was the day he was supposed to go to the county to bring his father's remains home. He hurriedly ran back to the side room of the old house and said, "Uncle Ah Lie, I've been a bit confused these past few days. I'll go get dressed now."

"It's no wonder you're confused. Even grown-ups get muddled after such a big event," Tao Lielin said with a sigh. "I'm not rushing you, but today we need to not only bring your father back but also meet the driver, the traffic police, and the insurance company. If we don't hurry, we won't have enough time." As he spoke, he stepped into the courtyard of the old house, but as he lifted his leg, he suddenly felt a chill and shivered. He thought for a moment, swallowed, and put his leg back down.

For hundreds of years, since Guawo Village was still a Miao village, few people dared to enter the Zhang family's house alone.

Sichuan has always had a wild and rugged culture, with many legends of gods and monsters. When the indigenous mountain people need to bring back a family member who died violently, they must, according to custom, wear tube skirts and flower shirts, wrap their heads with red cloth, and wear gold and silver jewelry around their necks and wrists to ward off evil.

Zhang Lisheng had always worn cheap children's clothes bought by his father from the county department store. After starting middle school, he wore his school uniform all the time and never wore traditional Miaowei clothing.

Therefore, this time, to bring back his father's remains, he had no suitable clothes and had to search his father's room for something, hoping to find something by chance.

Although Zhang Lisheng and his father lived together, Zhang Daowu had always been strict with him. In fact, Zhang Lisheng had never entered his father's bedroom before.

Pushing open the door, Zhang Lisheng felt a shiver despite knowing his father was already dead.

The room was dimly lit, and the most prominent feature was a huge wooden bed, similar in material to the one in Zhang Lisheng's room but twice as large. On either side of the bedhead, according to Miaowei custom, were large redwood chests for storing miscellaneous items.

Zhang Lisheng hesitated for a moment, then climbed onto the bed and forcefully opened one of the heavy wooden chests. Inside, instead of clothes, he found dozens of palm-sized, lifelike animal statues.

Feeling disappointed, he suddenly felt a darkness in front of his eyes, and a vast, primitive land filled with tall grass appeared in his mind.

The grass seemed to be three or four meters high, and a group of giants, naked from the waist up and wearing grass skirts, were fighting with stone weapons.

In the distant forest, countless giant, fierce insects and beasts were lurking, eyeing the blood of the fighting giants.

Among the insects and beasts, four giant, fog-shrouded human corpses were carrying a huge stone bed. On the bed, a small, dark, and thin man sat cross-legged, his face faintly smiling.

The vision disappeared as quickly as it came. Before Zhang Lisheng could see the faces of the giants, the beasts, the corpses, or the man on the stone bed, everything returned to normal.

He shook his head and picked up one of the statues from the chest, a black, pointed-headed snake with a coiled body and a three-pronged tail.

Looking at the statue, Zhang Lisheng immediately recalled a passage from the ancient text "Commentary on the Waterways (Ruo Water)": "In ancient times, there was a hook snake, ten zhang long, with a forked tail, skilled in swimming, using its tail to hook prey in the water and swallow it."

One zhang is about three meters, or 300 centimeters. A ten-zhang python would be thirty meters long, standing as tall as a twelve-story building.

According to modern biology, even during the Cretaceous period, when large animals dominated the Earth and the air was rich in oxygen, such a large reptile would be impossible. The hook snake in "Commentary on the Waterways (Ruo Water)" is undoubtedly a mythological exaggeration in scientific terms.

But for Zhang Lisheng, who had become a shaman, things were not so simple!

However, now was not the time to ponder the authenticity of the myth. He quickly looked at the other statues in the chest, which were also mythical creatures from ancient Chinese texts, such as mountain spiders, Qin Yuan, Xuan Feng, and Huawu, which did not exist in reality. He then closed the chest.

Zhang Lisheng climbed to the other end of the bed and opened another wooden chest. Inside were neatly folded clothes.

After a quick search, he found a brand new set of traditional Miaowei ceremonial attire and a few ancient gold necklaces and bracelets suitable for him at the bottom of the chest.

Feeling that he had wasted too much time, Zhang Lisheng didn't stop to be surprised. He hurriedly took off his clothes and put on the Miaowei attire from the chest.

Although the clothes were loose, they looked neat after he rolled up the cuffs and tightened the waist. With the necklaces and bracelets on, he instantly became a lean Miaowei youth.

Dressed and ready, Zhang Lisheng ran out of the old house barefoot.

Seeing Zhang Lisheng in traditional Miaowei attire, Tao Lielin nodded and said, "Good, good," then pulled him toward the village entrance.

At the village entrance, hundreds of villagers had already gathered. Every household had left one person to watch the house, and almost all the adult villagers were present. Unlike the playful attitude of the young men who had gone before, this trip to bring back Zhang Daowu's remains was much more solemn.

"Helping one family in need is a duty of a hundred families" is an ancient custom of the Miaowei people, passed down through generations of mountain life, and it was not a matter to be taken lightly.

"Shanchongzi is here. Sit in the front of the first truck. The rest of you, get into the trucks in order: one, two, three, four, five... from the east, west, south, and north of the village. Don't cause chaos," a wrinkled, energetic old Miao man shouted loudly as he saw Tao Lielin pulling Zhang Lisheng along the stone path.

The old man speaking was Tian Jiushí, who had been the village chief and party secretary of Guawo Village for fifty-seven years. It was said that he had participated in the national uprising against the Japanese in Sichuan before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and he was highly respected throughout Damu Town.

"Yes, yes..." The villagers, hearing Tian Jiushí's command, climbed onto the trucks in a noisy but orderly manner, even the most unruly teenagers behaving obediently.

Tian Jiushí, however, treated Zhang Lisheng differently. Seeing Tao Lielin pull the young man to his side, he sighed and said gently, "Shanchongzi is here. Your father, Daowu, was so strong, but who knew he would pass away before me. You are the descendant of the Zhang family in Guawo Village. Today, bring your father back properly."

"Yes, Uncle Jiushí," Zhang Lisheng replied, his head lowered.

The Zhang family in Guawo Village had always been a solitary branch, not part of the village's lineage. From childhood, Zhang Lisheng called his peers by their names, and the elders were called Uncle or Aunt. He called both the eighty-year-old Tian Jiushí and the forty-year-old Tao Lielin "Uncle."

Tian Jiushí was not offended by Zhang Lisheng's address and sighed again. Turning to Tao Lielin, he said loudly, "Ah Lie, your grandfather is old and can't go to the county. I entrust this matter to you. Do it well and properly."

"Yes, Grandpa Jiushí, I understand," Tao Lielin replied, his face almost turning red.

"What?" Tian Jiushí asked.

"Yes, Grandpa Jiushí, I understand," Tao Lielin repeated, raising his voice awkwardly.

"Don't delay. Get in the trucks," Tian Jiushí said, satisfied, waving his hand.

Thus, at the command of the old village chief, a dozen trucks loaded with villagers from Guawo Village drove proudly toward the county town.

As the convoy passed through Damu Town, it caught the attention of some people. Halfway, two police cars marked "Police" intercepted the Guawo Village convoy.

Six police officers, fat and thin, tall and short, got out of the cars, all smiling and appearing to be conducting a civilized operation.