Chapter 103 Qianshan Miao Village, the Clear Past
It was evening, and the afterglow of the setting sun dyed the valleys orange-red. A gentle breeze blew, and the aroma of fireworks wafted through the air.
Wooden stilted houses stretch from the valley floor along the hillside, with winding roads weaving through them like ribbons, their arrangement seemingly regular. One after another, the stilted wooden houses are cleverly placed on the valley floor, creating a harmonious and picturesque scene.
Men and women dressed in dark blue and red embroidered clothing climbed the stone steps, carrying wooden baskets. Their silver ornaments jingled as they jingled. Warm yellow lamps flickered on, and the enticing aroma of simple, delicious food wafted through the air. Listen closely, and you might even hear children's songs mixed in with the jingling sounds—
The Miao family's main house, A-Ling's room.
The magnificent wedding dress lay quietly on the ground, and various silver ornaments were placed to the side, gleaming with a bright silvery light under the candlelight.
Ah Ling pursed her lips as she looked at them. The usually lively girl was unusually quiet at this moment, as if she was waiting for something.
Suddenly, the lights flickered for a moment, and softly, a man appeared behind the girl, his posture intimate.
"Someone has arrived at the Miao village."
...
Zhang Xuan looked up at the Miao village before him, and the young man smiled in amazement, "This is... the Miao Village of Yundi Qianshan—"
In the secluded valley, the stilted houses are arranged in a staggered pattern. As dusk falls, the lights are already on, and smoke rises. Red lanterns are hung everywhere, and some even have red silk ribbons fluttering in the air, creating a festive atmosphere for an upcoming wedding.
Qingyu took a deep breath, and the girl tilted her head back and smiled, "Miao Village, it's been a long time."
Her starting point in the human world, the land of clouds, the Miao village.
Dusk had fallen, and the sun was setting. Wen Chuan stood beside her, the gentle young man smiling slightly. "It's getting dark. We've come at an inopportune time."
At this time, everyone is busy starting fires and cooking, resting at sunset. Their arrival was somewhat unfortunate—
"What bad luck!"
Agu's deep voice came through, and the young man's honest laughter broke the silence.
Everyone looked toward the sound, and there was Agu smiling happily at them, holding the hand of a Miao girl who looked to be about ten years old.
Before anyone could speak, the little girl raised her head and asked loudly, her voice sweet and adorable, "Brother Agu, are they the older brothers and sisters you were talking about?"
Agu smiled at them, then patted the little girl's head, "Yes, quick, call someone over."
Qingyu smiled at the little girl, and the girl leaned down slightly to look at her, "Hello, tell me who you are, okay?"
Come to think of it, she seemed to have some recollection of this girl, six or seven years ago... was she Ah Zhi's little sister?
The girl, dressed in Miao ethnic clothing, wasn't shy at all. She laughed loudly and ran straight over, saying, "My name is A-Zhao, hello beautiful sister!"
She turned around and greeted them one by one, "Hello, brother! Hello, brother! Hello, brother!"
"This lady is so pretty! Hello!"
"Wow, there are chicks too! Hello, chicks!"
Cai Cai: "Coo coo coo".
Lin Fanxiang smiled at A Zhao. The girl pursed her lips and placed the vegetables in her arms in front of her. "Want to touch them?"
A Zhao's eyes were filled with curiosity. She thought to herself, "Well..." She glanced back at her brother A Gu, who was talking to Qin Tianshu and the others at that moment.
When Agu saw Azhao's pleading eyes, the young man hesitated. Zhang Xuan smiled beside him, "It's okay, Azhao is pretty, Cai Cai will definitely like her."
Cai Cai, this chicken, only likes to be touched by good-looking people; it's really been spoiled by those guys.
As they talked, they walked towards the Miao village led by Agu.
Azhao is the youngest of the three young ladies in the Miao village, and she is only eleven years old this year.
The little girl skipped and hopped along with them, sometimes walking inside and sometimes jumping to the front. She was very lively and lovable at first sight.
She held Cai Cai in her arms and reached out to stroke Cai Cai's fur. She even stretched out her arm to lower the silver ring on her arm so as not to hurt Cai Cai.
Agu: "You've come at the perfect time! Tomorrow is Aling's wedding!"
Qin Tianshu frowned slightly upon hearing this. He said, "I remember you said it was the tenth of the third month, didn't you?"
Agu laughed and scratched his head. "Times have changed. Back then, the date wasn't really set yet."
"Later, the clan elders did some calculations and said that tomorrow is an auspicious day. Look, all the red silk ribbons are hung up tonight, just waiting for A-Ling's wedding tomorrow!"
Ah Zhao smiled broadly as she touched the vegetables. The little girl, hearing this, chirped, "Sister Ah Ling is really looking forward to it! Tomorrow will definitely be very exciting!"
Agu: "Yes, you guys helped us a lot when we were in Jianxue before. It's such a rare coincidence that we happened to be attending the wedding banquet this time!"
Qingyu smiled, glanced at the festive Miao village, and said casually, "Tomorrow we'll be drinking wedding wine... By the way, we still don't know who the groom is."
Agu smiled. The young man was honest and tall, and he didn't hide his smile. He said frankly, "He's a merchant from Yizhou City. He's quite good-looking, but he doesn't have much spiritual power."
“A-Ling likes it, and Sister A-Zhi also supports it. After thinking about it, the clan agreed.”
"Although she is to be married tomorrow, it is considered that the mortal has joined my Miao village. A-Ling will still live in the Miao village."
Qingyu nodded, and the girl smiled, "That's fine, I don't have to leave home."
Unlike Azhi, who married far away to the far north and lived in a foreign land, where she suffered not only hardship and illness but also death, no one knew whether she lived or died.
Seemingly thinking of Azhi's experience, Agu also said helplessly, "Yes, Aling herself thinks the same way."
Ah Zhao held the chubby, yellowish-brown chick in her arms, the girl swaying as she walked along the pebbly path, taking long strides.
"Sigh, sigh, sigh."
Qin Tianshu looked down at the little girl and smiled, "What's wrong with A-Zhao?"
"Um?"
Ah Zhao looked up, and the girl blinked. "Hmm... I'm hungry."
She said it so cutely that everyone laughed. Agu slapped his forehead and said, "Look at me, none of you have eaten yet... Come on, come with me, I'll take you to eat."
Wen Chuan: "No need to be so polite, we came in a hurry."
"Harmful,"
Agu pulled them away, saying, "It's alright. If you had come here yesterday or this morning, we would still be busy with this happy occasion. Now it's perfect, we're almost done with everything, and everyone is just waiting for the wedding banquet tomorrow."
"I haven't eaten either. Perfect timing, I'll show you some of our Miao cuisine!"
"Stay here tonight, I'll make sure you have everything you need!"
"That's great!"
A-Zhao echoed A-Gu's words, and the girl's earnest and lively manner made them all laugh.
...
Agu led them to a room in a stilted house, which was probably where they would eat. A long rectangular wooden table was in the center, and the room was made of wooden windows, occasionally interspersed with dark green vines. The room was neat and clean, full of a simple and natural atmosphere.
Qingyu and the others took their seats one by one. Agu said that the elders had gone to bed early and that they would see each other again at the wedding banquet tomorrow. Aling was also not able to come, as she was getting married tomorrow.
Agu: "Sister Zhi will be here soon. You all sit here for a while. I'll go arrange the food. Azhao, keep your older brothers and sisters company and chat for a bit."
Ah Zhao raised her hand high: "Okay!"
After saying that, Agu left, leaving them and the little girl Azhao. Azhao sat at one end of the long table with Caicai in her arms, while Qingyu and the others sat on both sides. Qingyu and Azhao sat at a corner, very close to each other.
Behind Zhang Xuan was a window. The boy looked out through the wooden window and saw layers of wooden buildings at the bottom of the valley, the Milky Way in the sky, and a dense array of lights in front of him. He was filled with awe and wonder.
Zhang Xuan: "So this is what a Miao village is like. I used to wonder what the houses built on the valley would look like."
Qin Tianshu also glanced outside, and the scholar smiled, "Now that we've seen it, we'll know."
Qingyu poured a cup of tea, and the girl said leisurely, "When we get to Qishan, I won't be able to treat you to such a nice place."
Qishan?
Ah Zhao, who was standing next to her, immediately lit up. The little girl smiled at her and moved closer to Qing Yu. Qing Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, and then heard the little girl whisper in her ear, "Sister, are you really a monster?"
Qingyu lowered her voice, "Yes, my sister is a great demon."
"Then...then you really eat people?"
Ah Zhao asked this question with a mixture of fear and curiosity in her eyes, which was very cute. Instantly, everyone looked at the two of them.
Speaking of Qingyu, this great demon is really strange. Now everyone in the Nine Provinces knows that a powerful demon has emerged from a group of chicken-raising boys, but many noble families turn a blind eye to it, and even the official Demon Suppression Pavilion never bothers her.
Just a few months ago at the succession banquet in Xiliang, Qingyu directly paid her respects to the old city lord in front of many people. At that time, some people were actually shocked or frightened, but they were soon pulled aside to be educated about her deeds.
Nothing much, just a bloody battle with dozens of Heavenly-level cultivators from the Demon Suppression Pavilion in Shengjing, defeating Wuqing, one of the three great pavilion masters at the time, and buying the world's number one immortal sword sheath in Yunzhou (a scandalous story, supposedly bought by the demoness for her lover, yes, the man standing next to her). The battle at Meishan on the first snowy night was praised by all the cultivators, and before the news spread throughout the Nine Provinces, they went to kill the poison cultivator Shangguan in Youzhou, avenging dozens of cultivators. Oh, and a couple of days later, they went to the far north to kill the evil cultivator Wen Gu, saving the people of a city.
...He was indeed a powerful and influential demon who had done many good deeds.
It's true that no one dares to mess with her, and it's also true that she's a demon, but... will she eat people?
Qingyu: "Ah Zhao, not all monsters like to eat people."
Ah Zhao frowned, "So that's how it is..."
The elders and older siblings in her clan always told her that demons eat people, and they often scared her, making her afraid of the monsters in the Qishan area.
"Then... Sister, demons don't eat people, so can a human marry a demon?"
The little girl asked earnestly. Qingyu looked at her and suddenly found it very interesting. The girl leaned back and smiled lazily and casually, "Ah Zhao, why did you think of asking this?"
Qin Tianshu sat opposite Qingyu, with Zhang Xuan next to him. The two of them, Zhang Xuan and Qin Tianshu, were also watching this scene together.
Zhang Xuan: "Brother, something feels off."
Qin Tianshu: "...Let's see. Who knows what this kid might have seen or heard somewhere."
As he spoke, he added, "When did Xiao Qingyu and Wen Chuan get married? I don't remember."
Zhang Xuan: "When we saw the snow, Fan Xiang said that they were going to hold another big event later."
"Tsk," Qin Tianshu sighed at Wen Chuan, who was leisurely sipping tea across from him, "Really impressive."
Wen Chuan looked up, and the young man smiled – "Thank you for the compliment."
Lin Fanxiang sat next to Zhang Xuan, listening to their conversation. From her spot, she could see right outside the door. Before anyone could speak, the girl suddenly said, "Sister Azhi is here."
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A note from the author:
The seating arrangement in this chapter should be like this (commas can be interpreted as tables).
Ah Zhao, Ah Gu
Qingyu, Qin Tianshu
Wen Chuan, Zhang Xuan (Window)
Door, Lin Fanxiang
(I changed the cover these past two days, hehe. Actually, I quite like the current one, but it's a bit blurry for some reason [cheek rest]... Hmm, and some friends around me said it's too flashy [shrug]... [cat paw] It's okay, Xiaohe has changed to a pink one, hehe. It should be up in a few days, yay yay yay [heart])
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