Baylor Village has undergone earth-shaking changes in recent decades. Every family has been replaced by small villas, streets covered with asphalt bricks, and various high-end cars for transportation. It has bid farewell to the old society and entered the new era.
But what has been preserved completely according to the ancient style coefficient is the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, as well as the temple fair celebration the night before. The village was overcrowded on this day, and all wanderers who were studying abroad had to ask for leave to go home to participate in the celebration. Even children from abroad had to go home early, otherwise the family tree would be expelled.
The old people will even burn incense and bathe in accordance with the ancient method, and change into the treasured Qing Dynasty costumes. The old men all wear ponytail wigs, making you think that you have traveled back to the Qing Dynasty.
And on the square in Baylor Village, there are stalls of various handicrafts, snacks, and games. No matter what you eat, drink, play, or sell, you don't need money. These things are brought out by every household to share with the neighbors. Tude is a lively and festive scene, and many families have spent half a year preparing the goods.
For example, the snuff bottles made by a family, and the small porcelain bottles painted by hand, are all unique treasures worth thousands of dollars outside, but here, children like it, and it doesn’t matter to give them two.
On this day, the way everyone pays is the smile on the face, as well as the love for gifts, such as guessing lantern riddles, fishing for goldfish, and kneading dough, it always makes the children very happy. And the beautiful brocade costumes made by ancient methods make young girls enjoy it.
Such a day, such a land, how can people not love it? Where did the mortal hatred come from
The courteous people around Shen Ming always nodded and smiled politely, feeling that the construction of spiritual civilization here far exceeds that of Europe and the United States. It's a pity that he couldn't integrate into this relaxed festive atmosphere at all. The route he walked was always close to the wall, the X slingshot was in his sleeve, and the other finger in his purse held a silver steel ball between his fingers.
His sharp eyes scanned everyone on the street, looking for suspicious targets. But the number of crowds exceeded his imagination. There were 500 households in Baylor Village as promised, but 4,000 people were crammed into the streets!
Baylor Village is considered a minority, and the family relies on the head to share dividends. After marriage, it is basically a special birth. Some housewives even have to have another child when they are 40 years old. It's normal.
In addition, the medical level of Baylor Village is close to the world-class level. Many doctors in the department go out to the province and are famous doctors who can sell a thousand yuan for an expert account. cold legs. And even if you are terminally ill, you will be sent to the nursing home in Baylor Village to enjoy free 24-hour recuperation until you die.
In such a good environment, besides being incompetent, who is not desperate to give birth to a baby? As a result, Baylor Village was overcrowded when the temple fair was held.
This invisibly also increased the difficulty of Shen Ming's battle. In this environment, it is difficult to find the mountain ghost, and it is even more difficult to take action after discovering it.
Just as Shen Ming was gradually approaching the square night market with the most crowds, an iPhone 6 with a bluetooth headset suddenly rang quickly from the phone in a phone booth next to him.
A rich village is good, it can be said that the road does not pick up lost things, try it in a big city, let alone put a telephone booth, even if you put it in your pocket, you can find it.
Looking at the phone, Shen Ming did not step forward, but completely hid his body in the darkness of the street corner.
Until the ringing stopped, and when I thought about it for the second time, a child who stood on tiptoe and couldn't reach the phone came to the phone with a wave lollipop in one hand and a small maza in the other, and took out both the mobile phone and the Bluetooth headset by stepping on the maza. After getting down, he turned his head and walked in front of Shen Ming.
"Uncle! You are too lazy, you don't even want to take your mobile phone by yourself." The little ghost taught seriously.
"Thank you kid. It's not that uncle is lazy. It's that uncle is playing hide-and-seek with his friends. You can't be caught easily." Shen Ming smiled and stroked the little ghost's hair.
"Is it a girl friend?" The little ghost asked, licking the wave lollipop.
"no… "
"That must be a good friend?"
"Where did you learn this word?"
"On the Internet, uncle is nothing to be ashamed of. In this world, if you don't have good gay friends, you are too embarrassed to say hello to others. The puppy next to me always touches my legs."
"Hehe, children cherish life, stay away from the computer." Shen Ming silently checked the location program of the phone, turned off all of them, and then connected the call.
"It took me a long time to answer the phone, and I even found a kid to help you, are you so afraid of death?" Yaozu's words were full of provocation.
"You must be the most talkative sniper in the world, don't you always use your tongue to pull the trigger?" Shen Ming retorted.
"I admit that you are awesome. Before I met you, I always thought I was one of the best snipers in the world, whether it was my teammates or my enemies. But you completely refreshed my understanding The knowledge of sniping, how did you do that kind of sniping? Although I can predict the enemy's movement trajectory, but when you shot me, you didn't even see my early action!" Yao Zuchun It is a professional instinct to ask.
"Want to learn? Call Daddy, kowtow 3 times, I'll teach you!" Shen Ming played with taste, "By the way, I forgot that you are the kind of beast that even I would kill. Bad."
"You don't understand my grievances with him at all, and you don't know what he has done, so shut up." Provocative generals are a kind of tactics, but Yaozu is obviously not as hot as Shen Ming, "Now you only have Two options, either kill me or be killed by me."
"There are never only two choices in life. Even I can be reborn from Nirvana. It's still too late to look back now." Shen Ming advised with a sigh.
"Unfortunately, I have nowhere to go. I still don't know your name after fighting for so long, can you let me know?" Yaozu's voice was full of sadness, and the sound of gongs and drums from the temple fair could be heard in the background.
"Shen Ming." When Shen Ming spoke, he walked along the entrance of the night market and walked into the street with the most crowds in the temple fair.
"Life? Good name. My name is Yaozu. The old man probably wants me to revive the glory of the Aixinjueluo family? Unfortunately, he will be disappointed." Yaozu smiled lightly.
"Do you want to chat with me all the way to death?" Shen Ming didn't like this way of talking.
"Don't be so cold, at least it's a life-and-death relationship. I haven't been back to Baylor Village for a long time. It's really changed." Yaozu seemed to be squeezed at the moment and had nowhere to say, "Do you like this place? ?A land full of hypocritical amiability, floating with pedantry, selfishness and greed."
"I haven't come here for long, and you've been stuck in the prince's mansion all the time, so I don't have a chance to feel the warmth and warmth of the people here." Shen Ming was also carefully looking for the trace of Yaozu when he was speaking, and the slingshot in his sleeve had naturally fallen into his hand .
"I'm sorry, it was my fault. I should give you a chance to experience the characteristics of Baylor Village. Since I have time, I will explain it to you." Yaozu never tired of it, "If you pay attention carefully, the color of each house here is different. , divided into three types: gold, silver, and green iron. Gold is the 'noble'. They are all the children of the Eight Banners who came here with my ancestors in the past. For 'common people', they are all descendants of soldiers brought over by the Prince's Mansion, because they had meritorious service in protecting the lord back then, and the treatment was not bad; Tie Qing was for 'untouchables', when the ancestors founded Baylor Village, they brought a lot of gold, silver and jewels. They all need someone to pick them, right? Then building a village is a big construction project, and people need to work like slaves, right
Those who did the hardest and most tiring work and survived were the ancestors of the untouchables.
In Baylor Village, untouchables need to bow 90 degrees to greet nobles, and 45 degrees to commoners. If someone is found to be ignorant of etiquette, they will beat their palms with rattan according to village rules.
In the village you can drag any untouchable child to see who has never been whipped. "
"I'm not a member of the Human Rights Association. There are many places in the world where people are born unequal. The caste system of the three countries has been written into the constitution, so what?" Shen Ming showed no sympathy.
"That's true, but the most unnatural rule of Baylor Village is that no one in the village is allowed to marry outsiders. Inside, the nobles can at most marry the commoners, and the commoners can marry the untouchables at most, but the nobles are absolutely not allowed to marry. untouchable."
"Let me guess, Wen Jing should be the child of a pariah?" Shen Ming easily said the name that made Yaozu's soul linger in his dreams.
"You actually know Wen Jing... The old man seems to have told you a lot of stories about me..." Yaozu trembled slightly, "I guess he must not have told you that when I left Baylor Village at the age of 18, Wen Jing was already With my flesh and blood."
"It's bloody enough, can it be a little more bloody?" Shen Ming's heart was like a rock.
"We have decided to live our lives privately. After the college entrance examination, we will leave this hypocritical place together and live the life of ordinary people. Even if we don't become the head of this village, even if we live in poverty. But Wen Jing can't let go of her elderly parents. Her parents are only her. Daughter, at that time, my father was seriously ill and needed someone to take care of me. She promised me that within 3 months, when her father was admitted to the nursing home in Baylor Village, she would come out to find me. But 3 months later, I I completely lost news of her. And on my 18th birthday... the old man told me a family secret, that is... there is no sanatorium for the terminally ill in Baylor Village, there is just a hell on earth called 'Secret Land'!"
"Such a nice name, even if it's hell, it won't be so bad, right?" Shen Ming didn't integrate into the story at all.
"Look around you, don't you find anything wrong?" Yaozu sneered.
Shen Ming never kept looking around all the time, but he paid more attention to people, and when he expanded the search scope to objects, he immediately found the "wrong" that Yaozu said, because here, no matter the decoration of the storefront stalls It is still a figure of a kind of red flower on the top of the girl's head.
This kind of flower has petals as big as leaves and red leaves like blood. It has a strange floral fragrance, which is not like wild bouquets in the mountains and forests that can be seen everywhere. Shen Ming's pupils widened and he said to himself, "Poppies?"
"That's right, it's the devil's flower. It's not a harmless ornamental poppy, but a real poppy fruit. Do you think Baylor Village's wealth really comes from antique calligraphy and paintings? Don't be kidding, those The outflow of antiques is very limited. Selling the belongings of the ancestors is considered a sin. How to face the ancestors after death? But selling drugs has become an understandable way to make money. What an interesting Baylor Village? " Yaozu sneered.