We walked and talked until dawn, and arrived at Nanwupo Village at around six o'clock.
The road splits into two forks here, the north is Nanwupo and the south is Beisanpo. There is a bottomless ravine between the two villages. Although Beisanpo has two fewer slopes than Nanwupo, the scale of the village looks larger than Nanwupo. However, the feng shui here is very good. The two mountains in front are combined together to form an embrace, which can hide the wind and absorb the air. There is a winding stream on each of the north and south slopes, which flows around the village and into the deep ravine.
In Feng Shui, it is a perfect place where two dragons play in the water, surrounded by sand and water, with high terrain and plenty of sunshine. It is a rare and excellent place. If you are buried here after death, your descendants will surely be blessed, prosperous, and talented. However, if this road to the outside world is blown up, it is like cutting off the throat of Feng Shui, like a thorn in the throat, and all Feng Shui is ruined.
Walking up the South Fifth Slope, I asked Duck if this place was very rich before the Anti-Japanese War. Duck was stunned and asked me, "How do you know?"
I chuckled and said, "I can tell from the Feng Shui."
"Yes, I forgot that you are a fortune teller. How could you not see the Feng Shui of Nanwupo?" After saying this, Duck frowned and sighed, "There is a famous fortune teller in Beisanpo. He also said that the Feng Shui here was originally excellent, but unfortunately the main road was cut off and the Feng Shui was gone. In the past, the two villages in the north and south made a lot of money by digging ginseng and growing fruits. Because they lived deep in the mountains, they did not suffer from war and lived very comfortably. Since the main road was blown up, life took a sharp turn for the worse and has never been prosperous again."
We sighed, and Shen Bing asked, "Why don't you ask the government to build the road?"
The duck smiled bitterly and said, "Because this road is too long. Even if we only build it to Heixugou, it will take more than 70 miles. We have to open a road through the mountains. Who would be willing to pay such a price just for two villages?"
Gu Xiaoning added: "The government does encourage us to move out of the village and move to Heixugou. They promised to invest in building new rural housing. But most of the people left in our village are elderly, and they don't want to be unable to return to their roots after they die. Besides, as for new rural housing, the government has subsidized part of the money, but the remaining money is still an astronomical figure for us poor people and we can't afford it." Her words were filled with deep helplessness.
As we were talking, we climbed to the entrance of the village and saw a wide open plain in front of us. Surrounded by lush trees, flowers and plants, the village looked a bit old and worn, but it still looked very beautiful.
There were many elderly people in the village sitting on the street chatting. Gu Xiaoning greeted them warmly. One of the old ladies stood up, grabbed her hand, and said with a sullen face, "Your father is dying, but don't cry when you go home. He is still alive, so you should be happy to go home for good luck. Don't cry until he is gone, ah!"
Gu Xiaoning held back her tears and nodded, then covered her lips and trotted forward. Yazi led the two of us forward for a few dozen meters and entered a house. The yard was quite large, with a few jujube trees planted. The house was made of blue bricks. From the outside, it looked quite old. It was probably built before liberation when the village was rich. There were a few grasses growing on the eaves, which looked particularly vicissitudes and desolate.
Yazi led us into the house, which had only a brick bed. An elderly man was lying unconscious on the left side, and an elderly woman was sitting against the wall on the right side. Gu Xiaoning was wiping tears in her arms. A few other relatives came out of the house to make room for us when they saw that there were outsiders.