Chapter 137 Old Things
Guo Lizheng couldn't make up his mind and simply went to the inner room to discuss it in detail with several old men.
"Now that things are clear, how do you think it should be handled properly?"
Mr. Kong was still the first to say, "Naturally, it is dealt with according to the consistent rules. Witchcraft must be strictly prohibited and absolutely not tolerated."
The other old men nodded and said yes. Mr. Feng said slowly, "Yes, there are some things here. Maybe you don't know much about them. In fact, this kind of evil thing has been rare here, but when I first remembered it, there was a descendant in the village who went out and married a daughter-in-law from Miaojiang. I still remember that the new bride was dressed in Miaojiang's clothes, embroidered with flowers on her head, neck and hands. There were many silverware hanging on the wrists and so on. At that time, the days were more bitter than now, which simply shook the eyes of the whole village.
"Yes, and the new daughter-in-law is very beautiful, which is better than the handsome girls and daughters-in-law in the whole village combined. She is still a cheerful person and usually gets along with people generously..." Mr. Kong smoked two puffs of cigarettes, sighed and interrupted, "Oh, this person can't be too good at everything. Well, it's easy to be jealous, and then it's also a coincidence. In her second year of marriage, the frost fell too early, and the crops in the field were beaten by frost without waiting for grouting. Many people in the village had almost nothing to harvest. A year's hard work was all in vain, and it didn't take long for some people't open the pot.
"At that time, it was not just a person who began to chew his tongue behind his back, saying that the feng shui here had always been very good, and there were very few disasters in previous years. Now this woman in Miaojiang has just married, such a big thing happened. It must be the bad luck brought by her." When Mr. Kong said this, his expression was heavy and he was silent for a moment before he continued, "At first, there were only some people gossiping behind their backs, but later they turned into bad words to each other face, and finally even quarreled about driving their husband and wife out of the village."
Guo Li heard a little about this past, but he only knew that it was because of the famine, and then there were disputes and so on. He never knew that there were so many inside stories in it. Hearing this, he couldn't help but be shocked: "It turned out to be such a reason. Alas, this matter was indeed unkind to the villagers, but this couple at that time If you leave the village directly, maybe so many things will not happen later.
"At that time, his parents had passed away. There were only some uncles and aunts and other relatives in the village, so he was not too nostalgic. At first, he promised to leave, but before he left, he found that his daughter-in-law had a body. It was very cold that year. In mid-October, the university had closed the mountain road. He went to the village at that time, beg for The people said that they could leave after this year, but the people in the village resolutely refused. In the end, most of the villagers rushed to his house and smashed it. In the end, I don't know who pulled out the full set of silver jewelry of the daughter-in-law's dowry from the box. People suddenly went crazy and robbed everything, and then in the middle of the snow, the little husband The two wives were driven out of the village. Mr. Kong smoked a few cigarettes vigorously, with deep fear in his eyes, and his hand holding the cigarette bag trembled slightly.
Seeing this, Mr. Feng took over and continued to say, "Brother Kong is a few years older than me. He was already sensible in those years. Seeing such a situation, it must be... Alas, let me continue to talk about what my eldest brother said later. If there is anything wrong, Brother Kong, you Just point it out to me again."
Mr. Kong nodded, leaned on the back of the chair with a tired look, slightly lowering his eyelids to cover his eyes, and only his cheeks from time to time revealed his restless heart.
"The young couple's family was robbed, and even the cows in the plow were killed on the spot, and even the cotton-padded clothes and bedding were not left behind. Finally, the man wrapped all the clothes and cloths he could find at home around his daughter-in-law. He pulled his daughter-in-law with a plow and left the village on the kneeless snow." Mr. Feng also had a little difficulty controlling his emotions. He took a sip of tea and continued, "No one knows what happened on the road. They only know that the man died on the road. Later, I heard from the adults in the family that he was tired, hungry and difficult to walk in the snow. He stepped on the air and rolled down and fell to death. I don't know whether the woman was frightened or something, and the child didn't Keep it, the man is gone again, and I don't know how she survived at that time.
"The atmosphere of the village was very strange. Those who grabbed silverware went out to pawn or exchange for food. Only then did they know that the jewelry was not pure silver at all, but a kind of mithril on the other side of Miaojiang. It was not worth much money at all and could not replace anything. Some people began to feel guilty. Some people felt unbalanced. At that time, some families in the village either closed their doors every day or simply went to nearby relatives to avoid it. They did not dare to appear in the village for fear of the same bad luck.
"Until the twelfth lunar month, there was no New Year's happiness in the village. If you don't have enough food, you don't have money to celebrate the New Year, and you don't dare to celebrate the New Year. Therefore, the whole village is as silent as death every day, and it is difficult to see any figure during the day. As a result, on the day of childhood, the Miao woman suddenly returned to the village. On a cold day, she wore the Miaojiang clothes when she married to the village, stepped on the snow with her bare feet, and knocked on the door from the village. She did not scold or make trouble. She just said that she was going back to Miaojiang and came to pay a greeting in the early years.
"After all, there are still some kind-hearted people in the village. Seeing her like this, they let her enter the house warm, or give her some hot water and food, and the other family is a little more rich. They put on a cotton coat and put on a pair of cotton shoes before letting her leave. In this way, when every family went to the end of the village, she suddenly disappeared and didn't know where she went.
Guo Li was speechless by Mr. Feng, but on a hot day, he felt so cold that he couldn't even drink a few sips of hot tea. He snored his arms and said, "Mr. Feng, what happened later?"
"Later..." Mr. Feng narrowed his eyes slightly and seemed to fall into his memory. After a long time, he continued to say, "Later, in less than 30 years old, many people in the village fell ill. Everyone's illness was different. Some people had a headache and hit the wall, some people rolled on the kang with stomach pain, and some hands and feet hurt. But without exception, it was so painful that I wanted to die clean at that time. At that time, I was only five or six years old. I only remember hearing all kinds of wailing and screams outside every day, and I was so scared that I huddled in the quilt and dared not come out.
"At that time, people who had nothing to do didn't dare to go out, and all the doors were locked to hide at home. At that time, my father even nailed the windows in the house with wooden strips. Three latches were added, and they didn't even dare to drink well water. Every day, they went out to pick up some clean snow and melted them, and then my mother used Filter the fine white cloth three or four times and boil it repeatedly before you dare to drink it. It was not until spring that there had been no noisy sound outside until the beginning of spring, and then did bold people go out to see the situation. Only then did they find that most of the people in the village had died.
"What?" Guo Li was knowing that many people had died in those years, but he was still scared and trembling. Seeing that several old men were also looking sad, he wanted to say that it must be true. He swallowed hard and asked, "Well, what happened later?"
"My mother didn't let me see what those people died like. Of course, I didn't dare to see them at that time. I only heard that they were very miserable. If it hadn't been for the cold here, the corpse would have been rotten. Later, on February 2, all the remaining adults in the village met in the grain field and chatted with each other for a few words before they knew that the families who had helped the Miaojiang women at the beginning were all spared. The families who had robbed her or bombarded her on New Year's Eve have died so that no one left.
After Mr. Feng said this in a calm voice, the room suddenly became silent. Several old men inevitably remembered what happened in those years. Whether they remembered or not, they always came from that time. After so many years, they brought them up again, and inevitably fell into memories.
"Cough." Guo Li was taking the lead in getting out of this strange atmosphere and breaking the silence, "Is it because of this that the village has decided that people who practice witchcraft should be burned to death in public?"
Unexpectedly, Mr. Kong shook his head and said, "This rule is not because of this matter."
"Ah?" Guo Lizheng was really surprised this time, and his voice trembled a little, "Is it possible that such a thing has happened in the village?"
"Yes!" Mr. Kong said in a dull voice, "This incident was so tragic that the villagers were scared, and the Miaojiang woman had long been missing. No one dared to find her or deal with her. The reason why this rule was set was almost seven or eight years later.
"There is a daughter-in-law in the village who had a good relationship with the Miaojiang woman. Previously, she said that she sent cotton-padded clothes and shoes, which was this daughter-in-law. In fact, she has always been a person. Although the man is a little lazy, he is flexible and often goes to the city to do some business. The family has been living a good life. Unexpectedly, just before her son was about to get married, the daughter-in-law found that her man had raised a woman in the city, and even had a seven-year-old boy. At that time, she I can't stand all kinds of noise at home.
"This disturbance made a lot. When the in-laws knew about this, they resolutely retreated. The son felt uncomfortable. When he went up the mountain to work during the day, he was distracted and was killed by the red pine that fell down the mountain. After such a big incident, instead of coming back to preside over the overall situation, her man secretly took away the money from her family, openly paired with the women in the city, and later took her daughter over.
"My parents-in-law complained that she killed her grandson and couldn't control the man. Her mother's family also disliked her shame and refused to care about her. In the end, even her daughter refused to follow her, saying that the stepmother in the city was better than her. This woman can't stand it anymore. Maybe she learned the ability of witching from the Miaojiang daughter-in-law, so when she took advantage of her mother-in-law's 60th birthday, she didn't know what to do and killed her parents-in-law, men and women in the city, as well as two children.
"This incident suddenly aroused the horrible memories of the villagers, and then Li was leading people to grab her and tie her to a pillar in the grain field. The whole village gathered out a bucket of lamp oil and burned all her and her things. After that, Li was in front of the whole village and set this rule. As long as someone does witchcraft, regardless of the reason, they must follow this rule.
Mr. Feng finished talking about this matter and said to Guo Lizheng, "That's why. Although Hong Yun is not well shud with its method, he is also a witchcraft after all. We must not tolerate indulgence."