That night, Lin Shuo, who hadn't closed his eyes for several days, lay down with his clothes on and fell asleep.
The Lin family has a secret method, which can make the successor not sleep after entering the mountain. But this method is more expensive to the body.
Lin Shuo will never be polite when he confirms that the surroundings are safe and he is able to sleep.
Just as he was falling asleep, Lin Shuo was awakened by the sound of firecrackers outside the house.
He opened his eyes and looked out the window, it was still dark.
The two women on the bed sat up at once:
"what time is it?"
"Four thirty."
"It's so wicked to set off firecrackers so early, I thought I was back in the barracks again." Liu Qing muttered, and began to dress carefully, "Keep sleeping, I'll go out and have a look."
"Don't sleep." Listening to the movement outside, Lin Shuo said softly, "The envoy of the Dragon King is here."
…
When the four of them got up and went out of the house, they found that the old man's family was dark and silent, and they were no longer at home.
In the direction of the village entrance less than a hundred meters away from the old man's house, after the sound of firecrackers, there were bursts of gongs and drums.
The four of them followed the sound and turned around the entrance of an alley. Only then did they see crowds moving towards the entrance of the village, surrounded by three floors and three floors.
The villagers were very quiet, standing around the huge snake statue at the entrance of the village, most of them held torches, illuminating the surrounding area as bright as day.
From the innermost part of the crowd, there was a burst of humming that didn't sound like singing, and chanting didn't sound like chanting.
Not far from the crowd, there is a red-skinned spruce, more than ten meters high, quite strong.
A gray donkey is tied to the edge of the redskin spruce.
There was a bucket of beans in front of the donkey, and it was crunching like no one else. Lin Shuo and the others came over. It just looked up, and then continued to stick its head into the bucket.
Lin Shuo walked around the donkey, climbed up the tree in twos and twos, found a branch to set his feet on, and leaned his back on the trunk.
The two women, Liu Qing and Anne, also climbed up, their hands and feet were very quick, especially Anne, who came directly to Lin Shuo's side.
On the contrary, Yang Tuo, an old man, failed to come up after trying. He wandered around the bottom of the tree in a little embarrassment, and then simply sat down against the trunk.
Lin Shuo pushed aside the branches that blocked his view, and finally saw the scene in the crowd clearly.
Beside the huge snake statue, sat an old man in his fifties.
The old man was wearing a black coat, a blue-gray melon skin hat on his head, and a gray goatee, holding a sanxian in his hand.
Judging by his attire, he seems to be a traditional Chinese rap artist. At this time, he was humming and chirping, and he was indeed singing something.
However, Lin Shuo had never heard of this kind of singing in China. The voice is low and hoarse, with only those few tones coming and going. It sounds monotonous at first, but after listening to it for a long time, you will find it quite interesting.
With Lin Shuo's identity, he naturally knew many strange people and strange things in the world. This kind of rap artist is considered to be the lowest in the world, and Lin Shuo is no stranger to it.
Lin Shuo has never heard of this kind of singing in China, but he knows that this kind of monotonous rap is often used for narrative.
The tune is not important, and the instrument in your hand is even less valuable. What sells is the words in the mouth.
Lin Shuo listened carefully and gradually understood.
The words in the old man's mouth are actually telling a series of stories.
The protagonist of the story is the black water dragon king.
How was it born, how did it attain enlightenment, how did it become the dragon god in the sky, and what happened to it, why did it appear here, and how did it help people here.
The old man's physical strength is really good, this song lasted for more than an hour.
Lin Shuo listened, and really listened.
By the time the old man finished singing, the sky had already brightened, and the torches in the villagers' hands had already been extinguished.
"Mr. Lin." Seeing that the old man had finally finished singing, Anne asked softly, "Do you think what the old man sang is true?"
"Well done." Lin Shuo nodded, "This old man is quite capable."
"Ah? He finally finished singing?" Liu Qing shook her head, "I fell asleep listening to it."
After the old man in the crowd finished singing, he took a sip of the tea offered by the villagers, then stood up slowly, and said loudly:
"Listen up, everyone, Lord Dragon, I'm not happy recently, the group of foreigners on the other side of the river offended the old man.
The old man was merciful, and he didn't do anything to the group of foreigners, but drove them to the other side of the river.
Its elders can clearly distinguish that you are different from them, so they don't blame you.
But, the Dragon Lord loves us, so we can't be heartless.
In addition to erecting a statue of the old man, tomorrow, you prepare some sacrifices and go to the riverside to honor the old man, and this matter will be over.
Everyone, relax and live a good life. The Dragon King will protect us. "
After these words were finished, the villagers all smiled.
"Dragon King Lord Shengming!"
"I have long disliked this group of foreigners. But anyway, there are so many lives. If they really beat and killed them, it would be a crime."
"It's really great for the Dragon Lord to do this!"
"The Dragon King is kind!"
"I didn't say that, for tomorrow's sacrifice, our family will produce a sheep."
"Our family has five chickens!"
"Our family has a whole pig!"
…
Accompanied by a burst of high-pitched shouts, firecrackers were lit next to the crowd.
The villagers spread out to make a bigger space in the middle, the gong and drum team began to play and beat, and the Yangko also twisted.
The joyful atmosphere was just like Lin Shuo's New Year's Eve when he was a child.
The people here, in fact, celebrate the traditions that are very similar to those in the south of Heilongjiang.
It's just that after leaving their homeland for more than half a century, there is one more item in their tradition, and that is the Dragon King Festival.
The envoy of the Dragon King in black and blue hat presided over another ceremony after the villagers had had enough fun.
After he read a long prayer in front of the snake statue, he led the villagers to kowtow to the huge snake statue.
Hundreds of villagers knelt at the entrance of the village, kowtowed willingly, and their movements were uniform and very pious.
The sense of solemn ceremony is very shocking.
After finishing this, the villagers on the side set off another string of firecrackers. This ritual, which has been gradually established for nearly a hundred years, seems to be over. The originally solemn expression on the Dragon King's envoy's face also relaxed.
The people in the open space at the entrance of the village began to gradually disperse.
The old man took a bag of corn flour from the villagers and waved his hand again, as if declining something.
He walked out of the crowd with the small bag of flour and walked towards the red spruce where Lin Shuo was.
When he got closer, he saw Yang Tuo sitting under the tree. He was slightly taken aback, and without saying anything, he hung the flour bag in his hand on the donkey.
Then he took off his coat and put it in the bag on the donkey, and took out a short black jacket from the bag and put it on.
His lower body was originally wearing leggings and cloth shoes, but he changed into a top, and his whole body became compact and neat.
After changing his clothes, the envoy of the Dragon King looked up at Lin Shuo who was standing on the tree. With his usual expression, he untied the donkey and walked out of the village.
Lin Shuo found that there were a total of four bags of flour on the donkey he was traveling with. It seemed that this village was not the first stop of his trip, nor should it be the last stop.
As soon as Lin Shuo gestured, the four of them descended from the tree and stood up, hanging far behind the envoy of the Dragon King.
The old man's donkey was only used to hunch things, he didn't sit on it himself. However, the old man's legs and feet are far faster than ordinary people.
Followed him over a hill, the rest of the four were fine, Yang Tuo, who was a scholar, was already out of breath.
Liu Qing took out the walkie-talkie in her backpack and got in touch with Wei Xingshan on the mountain. Lin Shuo saw that this woman had already been arranged, so he abducted into the dense forest alone.
That huge recurve bow, Mr. Zhui, has been separated from Lin Shuo for a whole day, and it was originally under the care of Xiao Ba and Wei Xingshan.
Now that Liu Qing was contacting Wei Xingshan to intercept someone, he wanted to go back to the temporary camp immediately and bring Mr. Zhui with him.
Once in the mountains, with Mr. Zhui and Xiao Ba by his side, he felt more at ease.
After picking up Xiaoba and Master Zhui in the temporary camp on the mountain, and returning to the mountain road, Lin Shuo heard a commotion coming from ahead.
Listening to the movement, the envoy of the Dragon King who was walking fast on the mountain road had been stopped by Wei Xingshan and his mercenaries.