Chapter 126. Liúshuǐ People (2) The scenic spot is beautiful, but the characteristic is ‘poverty’.

     The upper level of the stilt houses in Miao villages is used to store grain, the middle level is for living, with bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens, and the lower level is for raising livestock. Most of them are four rows and three rooms, with a total of nine pillars in one house.

     There are many Miao villages across the country, but not too many. Many of them are connected by mortise and tenon joints, but the reason why this village is worthy of being a key protected cultural relic is that there are over a hundred pillars in the village made of golden nanmu.^[1]Nanmu (Chinese: 楠木) is a precious wood that is unique to China and South Asia, and was historically used for boat building, architectural woodworking, furniture and sculptural carving in China

     In the Mohist mechanical art, nanmu, camphor, catalpa, and cherry wood are all excellent materials for making formations. Among them, golden nanmu wood is the most top-grade. Since ancient times, it has been used by nobles in imperial palaces, altars, temples, and tombs.

     The golden nanmu wood artifacts that have been preserved to this day, apart from those remaining in remote mountain villages like the Miao village, are mostly imperial coffins, such as the ‘Huang Chang Ti Cou’ structure in imperial tombs.

     In fact, there are also subdivisions of golden nanmu and the most precious one in the Miao village is ‘the ancient golden nanmu wood of Yin Shenmu’ that has been formed for at least four thousand years, with a black exterior and yellow interior.

     They could be used to create very good mechanisms and weapons, but in this village they are directly used as roof beams and pillars, and there is no arrangement rule. It may be because they were moved by later generations.

     Ye Mo looked a little greedy: “Wang Xue, can I cut some of the good wood in this mountain?”

     “…Is it okay?”

     Ye Mo was certain that the imbalance of Yin and Yang in Miao Village was caused by the presence of golden nanmu, and possibly other factors as well. However, the presence of the submerged golden nanmu indicates that the imbalanced environment of Yin and Yang in this mountain village was mainly artificially created.

     These golden nanmu pieces are old materials from before the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This indicates that the esteemed expert may have already passed away hundreds or even thousands of years ago, passed down through generations by the villagers who are unaware of its true value.

     This village appears impoverished, but it is not poor at all. These golden nanmu sunken wood pieces are worth a great deal of money in the antique market.

     There are still other strange and mysterious things in the village, like these wandering ghost undead.

     The ghost undead are partly people who died in the village, and partly ghosts attracted here from the mountains. The time spans from the Qing Dynasty to the present. But the question is – why did so many non-Miao undead die in the village?

     Yes, non-Miao people.

     In the memory fragments of the ghosts with a long history, Ye Mo saw ancient scenes similar to reading and studying. Why did these ghosts come all the way to a broken mountain village in Yunnan Province and die?

     The ancients attached great importance to the idea of fallen leaves returning to their roots.

     …

     It’s already four o’clock in the morning, there’s no need to sleep anymore. Wang Xue hunted a rabbit that came to her door and a goat from the cliff. With practiced skill, she skinned them, removed the entrails, added seasonings, and started roasting them for today’s breakfast.

     The Miao village may be poor, but this mountain is rich in resources. Whether it’s nanmu, black truffles, or termite mushrooms, or wild boar, wild goats, squirrels, and deer, there are also wolf packs, clouded leopards, and pythons next door.

     In the past, the village relied on hunting for a living. Now, some villagers still have hunting licenses to hunt non-protected animals to maintain their basic survival. The village has a lot of special food, and it’s very authentic.

     Poor but not lacking in food.

     Wang Xue turned the roasting meat and said, “Their main sources of income are still hunting and farming. Occasionally, they will go down the mountain in their ethnic costumes to perform some shows, sing and dance, or do some rafting.”

     How can a normal village be full of ghosts? The ghost undead on the wall in the yard trembled. They felt the devil’s death sight again.

     Ye Mo took the whole roasted rabbit and tore off the browned rabbit leg meat: “There are too many ghost undead who have lost their minds. For the specific situation, we should start with the villagers first. If it doesn’t work, we will search in a carpet-style manner in the last five days, leaving no grass or tree untouched, and we will always be able to find a breakthrough point.”

     “Okay.”

     At 5:30 in the morning, when the first ray of sunlight shone on the earth, the ghost undead in the village drilled into the lowest level of the stilt houses in the village one by one. It turned out that these buildings could not only keep livestock, but also provide protection for the ghost.

     Wang Xue sighed and said that she didn’t plan to stay in this Miao village for a long time. She would move immediately after the copy was passed, and move to a place with strong yang energy, where there would definitely be no evil ghosts.

     Ye Mo: “…”

     The Miao family’s glutinous rice wine was also very mellow.

     …

     In the early morning, the green mountains were shrouded in white clouds.

     The voices of the Miao brothers and sisters echoed in the mountains. They were not the kind with lyrics and music. They were probably just a few words of dialogue and a tune that was not a complete song. The singing was loud and pleasant.

     If it is said that the Miao village at night is a yin land, with yin energy everywhere, the Miao village during the day is more yang than yin. The stilt houses on the cliffs also face due south, neutralizing each other with the night.

     Ordinary villagers will only feel that it is colder at night and warmer during the day, with a considerable difference in temperature between day and night

     If someone in the village gets sick at night due to the yin energy, the village’s only shaman, who is also a barefoot doctor, can find some ‘herbal remedies’ in the mountains to treat them, or hold one or two sacrificial ceremonies, kneeling and praying to the south.

     Wood counters yin, light counters yin, silver counters yin

     Even though Wang Xue only knew the basic five elements rules, she understood the purpose of some of the village rituals she had seen these days. There was really a principle behind them. I wonder if they really understood it?

     “I thought they were based on faith.”

     “In the beginning, wasn’t it the faith of the strong? Gods may have been individuals at first.”

     Ye Mo gave herself a short haircut and slightly altered her appearance. The main reason was that she was in a hurry and didn’t have all her masks with her. She could only borrow Wang Xue’s cosmetics to make do, and then went out with her.

     HawkEyes must be hidden in the palm of her hand.

     Wang Xue lives in a stilt house at the lowest row of the village. Following the stream that runs through the village upstream and climbing the bluestone steps, you can pass by most of the village’s households.

     “Riverside dwellings,” perhaps this refers to the stream flowing down from the mountain top. The stream water is crystal clear, said to be underground spring water from the mountain, refreshingly cool, a longevity spring.

     As soon as Wang Xue heard the word “cool,” and then thought of the refreshingly cool spring water she usually drinks, uh uh uh uh—

     Ye Mo shook her head: “The ghosts of the mountain stronghold have not yet reached the point of affecting matter, so don’t worry. The water quality of this stream is very good, and it is much cooler because it is underground spring water.”

      Wang Xue made an OK gesture.

     The two of them visited the old people in the village together.

     In Wang Xue’s eyes, the Miao village is a place full of hidden talents, with carpenters, blacksmiths, hunters, tailors, embroidery masters, and other skilled craftsmen. There are also mysterious shamans who are found in basically every village, and 80% of these are family businesses.

     Visiting these old people who are engaged in family businesses may be more useful than meeting the village chief who is only about 40 years old.

     Just as Wang Xue described, these villagers truly possess some skills. However, when it comes to the origin of the golden nanmu, their stories are all far-fetched, such as tales of immortals descending to earth, imperial gifts from the Guangxu Emperor, or bestowals from shamans. Hearing these stories, it would almost be better if they simply said their ancestors were the ones who cut the trees.

     On the way, they met many villagers from Miao villages. They would greet Wang Xue enthusiastically in Mandarin or dialect with a heavy accent. Most of them had clear eyes and simple smiles.

     Their clothes are mainly blue earth cloth, half-length shirts, long sleeves and long pants.

     Many girls do wear some silver bracelets, silver earrings, and other accessories, but they are not as exaggerated as the Miao ‘Golden Flowers’ that Ye Mo saw on television. Moreover, their clothing is mostly in cool tones like white, black, and cyan, lacking the bright and colorful pleated skirts or batik skirts.

     Wang Xue has traveled to many places alone. Some villages are indeed full of bad people, which has made her reluctant to help or intervene. At most, these bad people would go to the police station to report the case, but they wouldn’t dare to make a big fuss

     Even so, she still took precautions, from the very beginning concealing her real name to avoid trouble.

     This Miao mountain village, however, is one of the few villages where Wang Xue has felt warmth. This has little to do with her spending money, there are more good people than bad people in the village, and everyone has a sense of right and wrong.

     Upon seeing Ye Mo, they were a bit curious

     Wang Xue introduced her friend generously. As a special tourist who has stayed in the village for two months, she has always been a lone ranger, and the villagers really didn’t notice when her guests came.

     They all said: “Welcome to the Miao village.”

     For Ye Mo and Wang Xue, there are still differences between the real copy and other copies. The people here are closer to them and live on the same earth as them.

     …

     Finally, they came to the highest row, which is also the stilt house where the witch in the Miao village lives. From where they live, it can be seen that the witch in the Miao village is different from the witch in the village town and has a high status.

      The witch’s stilt house also has four rows of three rooms, with a total of nine pillars, all of which are made of golden nanmu wood. There is a banyan tree at the door, and under the banyan tree, there is a stone table and several stone benches.

     Before entering the stilt house, Ye Mo scanned it from top to bottom, using her mental power + Hawkeye.

    In the bottom level of the stilt house, a nest of locally known venomous snakes was swept out, including silver-banded kraits, golden-banded kraits, cobras, and pit vipers. It’s suspected that there were no king cobras because they prey on other snakes.

     In addition to the snakes, there were nine jars of poisonous insects, each buried beneath the golden nanmu coffin wood.

     Wang Xue once asked about the Miao Gu when she entered the Miao village. The villagers’ answers were that they didn’t talk about it, but only made some earth house medicines such as the Barrier Pills to treat diseases. Now it seems that these words are all lies, at least their witch is raising Gu.

     The second floor is where the witch lives. The bedroom, living room, kitchen, and medicine room were all cleaned very neatly. There weren’t many things inside, just basic necessities. However, Ye Mo’s eyes lingered a few more times on the kitchen cupboards and the medicine room’s safe.

     All of them were made of good wood, and not just that.

     As the granddaughter of an antique lover, although Ye Mo didn’t enter the antique business, she had come into contact with quite a lot of antiques since she was a child, and all kinds of them, especially porcelain and jade.

     The jar that contained the Miao family’s blood tofu, if she wasn’t mistaken, was the famous Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon lotus leaf cover jar. Its value cannot be measured by money; the largest Southern Song Dynasty Longquan celadon lotus leaf cover jar in China is listed as a national treasure-level cultural relic that cannot be easily exhibited, and ordinary people can only stare at pictures.

     And this blood tofu jar in the Miao village witch’s house is no smaller than a national treasure-level cultural relic.

     Ye Mo couldn’t help but repeat Wang Xue’s words: “This mountain village scenic spot is beautiful, but the characteristic is poverty.”