The old woman led them deeper into the village. Those along the road lowered their heads, said nothing, and took a step back.
"By the way, everyone here calls me mama. If you don't mind, you can call me that too."
She turned around and rolled her cloudy eyes, not sure whether she was asking or looking at Yin Xiu.
The strange thing is that from the moment she entered the village, her eyes seemed to be only on Yin Xiu, regardless of others.
The place where grandma lives is in the corner of the village. It is no different from other houses. It is a stilt building built with wooden piles and a roof made of iron sheets.
Ma Xiaoyu has only seen such buildings in Southeast Asia, where people live in tropical rainforests and always face endless rain, as well as miasma and poisonous insects emerging from the ground.
For defense, they built their homes high and away from the ground.
Perhaps because Wujian World is also damp and stuffy, the people in Taoyuan Township also imitated that place and formed almost the same architectural style.
After climbing up a small wooden ladder, the three of them followed Grandma into the inner room.
The house was really not big, and the entire "living room" could be filled by just a few people sitting down.
"I'm really sorry. There aren't many things here to entertain you. After all, this is not on the ground. You can buy whatever you want as long as you are willing to spend money.
Underground, except for asking salesmen to look for it, other times, you can only guard whatever you want by the river, and whatever floats upstream is what you want.
It would be best to have it. If not, that would be God’s will. You can’t force it. ”
Grandma poured tea leaves from the bamboo tube, poured a little into each bamboo quilt, and then added hot water, so that a cup of tea with a light aroma was ready.
She handed the teacups to the three of them in turn, and the atmosphere was as calm as if a few people were visiting an elderly person in a nursing home.
Yin Xiu took the tea cup and took a sip. A fresh aroma with the taste of moss and water plants came out of her mouth, and her previous nervousness also dissipated a little.
He had no intention of staying here any longer, after all, this was the enemy's territory.
Even if those Qi refiners really didn't care about their previous grudges, the sixteen-sided dice in Yin Xiu's hand really tempted them.
The common man is innocent of the crime. If they didn't take revenge before, it was because it was unnecessary.
At that moment, it was very necessary to seize the dice from Yin Xiu, because it was related to the progress of a certain undertaking of theirs.
Putting the tea cup down, Yin Xiu got straight to the point.
"I want the fortune teller. You hand him over to me, and I hand over the dice to you. As long as you stop digging through the ground, we have nothing to do with each other."
After Yin Xiu finished speaking, she thought it was a good deal, but she didn't expect that her mother was not very interested.
Mammy said calmly: "It is not uncommon for young children to exchange things for things and things for people underground. I heard that in Africa, two bottles of whiskey can be exchanged for a strong adult man."
"This was last century, these transactions are not popular now."
Yin Xiu stretched out two fingers and said, "Now you have to pour two bottles before you can board the ship."
"I know that my sons borrowed money from those brokers and went to Jinshan to dig for gold.
I heard that agent say that in the place called Jinshan in America, there is gold all over the place. You don’t even have to dig for it. If you fish your hand in the river, you will get it back full of gold sand.
As long as they work in Jinshan for a few years, anyone can come back to build a house and marry a wife. ”
"Then your son and the others are back?"
Yin Xiu originally wanted to ask this, but he subconsciously realized that this was a cruel question and he couldn't ask it.
So he just said: "According to the rules, I will exchange the dice for the fortune teller. You give him to me and then find someone else. There are many famous masters in Hong Kong Island, it is not difficult to find one."
Grandma shook her head, "There are many masters, but there is only one Master Liu."
"Mommy, what do you mean, my dice can't be exchanged for him?"
"That's right, young boy, you can't change it. And what I have to tell you is that I want them both, Dice and Master Liu."
Hearing this, Luo Wei, who was sitting cross-legged on the mat, couldn't help but lean into Yin Xiu's ear.
"Yin Xiu, this old woman seems to have convinced you."
Yin Xiu glanced at him and said, "Why, do I look like the kind of person who respects the elderly and loves the young?"
Ma Xiaoyu said first: "Of course not. I heard Shisan say that before you..."
"Enough!"
Yin Xiu stretched out her hand to interrupt her, "That stinky bitch Thirteen, she made me sound like I was born a murderer. Can I believe what she said?"
After complaining, Yin Xiu turned her head and smiled at her grandma.
"Mommy, why don't we talk about it again, whether it's money or anything else, it's easy to discuss. At worst, we can let him be your guest consultant. You don't have to stay underground all the time, right?"
Mammy still shook her head: "Impossible, we need him to stay under the ground all the time and not go anywhere."
"Damn old woman, I've told you well and you won't listen, right? Aren't you afraid that I will kill your whole village later? Tie the men up and sink them into the bottom of the lake, and the women first..."
Before Yin Xiu finished speaking, he was pulled back by Ma Xiaoyu, who kept patting his chest, looking shocked.
"It's not that serious, it's not that serious. I was just joking. Everyone knows that Yin Xiu is a good person. An ant would not bear to trample one to death. Please calm down and let me talk to her."
Ma Xiaoyu got in front of Yin Xiu and sat between him and her mama, separating them.
When she was about to speak, grandma had already untied her belt and said to Yin Xiu: "Young man, you have to be trustworthy when you come out to hang out. Since you have said it, you must do it. Don't even lie to grandma." Ma Xiaoyu saw She regarded death as if the threat was no longer effective. She sighed helplessly and looked at Luo Wei.
Luo Wei shook his head, "I've never been a negotiator, so I can't talk."
"Alas."
Ma Xiaoyu sighed again, "In that case."
She flicked her wrist, and the terrifying green-faced and fanged evil ghost mask poked out from her sleeves, its blood-red eyes staring directly at the old woman.
At this moment, the old woman stood up straight.
"If you want to take action, do it. This village is full of old, weak, women and children. No one can pose a threat to you. Kill them if you want. But before that, I want to show you something."
Ma Xiaoyu looked at Yin Xiu, seeking his opinion with her eyes.
Yin Xiu stood up first, "Let's go. Since grandma wants to show us something, it won't be less than half an hour."
When several people got out of the house, Yin Xiucai found that the outside of grandma's house was surrounded by villagers holding torches.
Each of these villagers held kitchen knives and sticks in their hands, and there were even a few relatively strong ones holding firecrackers.
After waving her hands at these people to indicate that there was no danger, the villagers retreated and made way for them.
"Let's go to the ancestral hall."
Mammy pointed to the house located at the highest point of the village. It was inconspicuous but very large.
She stopped making any sound, and just walked upward silently, her steps a little laborious.
Yin Xiu and the other three walked behind her without making a sound, thinking about the next negotiation or fight.
Creak...
The old door of the ancestral hall was pushed open, revealing the appearance inside.
Unlike Yin Xiu's imagination of a sacred table filled with tablets, there are no traditional sculptures.
There was even just a small earthen platform, with several flat surfaces of clay sculptures used as offering tables, and a few pottery candlesticks and incense burners placed there.
Behind these utensils, there is a yellowed painting hanging on the yellow earth wall, more like a scroll, more than five meters long.
Mammy approached the painting, made that strange gesture, and bowed deeply.
"The unity of blessings and life, the heart net of Bodhi."
She saluted very reverently, much more seriously than when she greeted her before.
After a pause, grandma turned back and looked at Yin Xiu and the others.
"The ones enshrined in this ancestral hall are not our ancestors, but our mothers."
【Mom? 】
Yin Xiu had heard the conversation between the two Qi masters in Sophora Tree Jing's memory before, and they frequently talked about their mother.
Yin Xiu was only interested in Liu Banxian's affairs, and did not take her seriously as she was a god they believed in.
Now that he heard his grandma say this, he recalled the content of that paragraph and looked up at the painting on the wall.
Perhaps due to moisture erosion, or perhaps due to age, the drawing paper is a little yellowed and wrinkled in some places, but the content drawn on it can still be seen clearly.
On the left side of the picture, there is a woman in plain white with flying clothes.
She looks quite dignified and elegant, with an air of fairy in her maturity, not like a mortal.
I think this is the old mother that Mammy said, and this is her portrait.
The old mother in the picture is standing on a mountain, with prostrate people and soldiers in armor at her feet.
On her left and right, there were boys and girls holding wishful things, peaches, and jade liquid.
Behind her, there are elephants, tigers and leopards, white deer and rhinos, and all kinds of rare and exotic animals, surrounding the old mother.
Above the head of the painting, several dragons are soaring in the sky, soaring into the clouds and mist, and in the corner of the clouds, a phoenix is looming.
This is a scene that often appears in folk immortal images of ascension. To sum up, it means stacking all kinds of auspiciousness together to create a very harmonious, grand, and even somewhat festive scene.
Not only immortals and Taoists, but also pictures of emperors ascending to heaven after death, there are often such things, which is not surprising.
But there is one thing about this painting that is similar to something else, but yet different.
Those are the guiding priests who descend from the sky in the picture. They are all dressed in white and holding lanterns. The direction they point to is not the Paradise, but a mountain hidden in the clouds.
The palace on the top of the mountain was faintly showing a corner, emitting light.
This corner alone reveals its majesty and holiness.
Grandma looked at this picture, her eyes were filled with water, and her expression was full of reverence and emotion.
"The white jade capital in the sky, the twelve floors and the five cities, the immortal caressed my head, and I tied my hair and received immortality." (End of this chapter)