Boji Fairy
Ye Jing'an discovered that anyone living near the mountains loved eating insects. He decided to avoid such mountainous areas in the future, as his appetite had diminished considerably. However, this rice noodle dish was unique. You could add whatever shredded vegetables you wanted, topped with minced meat and sour broth. It was incredibly appetizing. Ye Jing'an didn't eat much this morning, but after three bowls today, he was still craving more.
"I'm full. This rice noodle is so delicious!" Ye Jing'an praised.
"I'm glad you like it. We usually eat rice noodles in the morning." The man's wife cleared the dishes.
"That's great. What's your last name, Auntie?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"My last name is Bai," said the man's wife.
"And there's the surname Bai, I met him for the first time."
"We are a minority here, and our surname customs are very different from your Han Dynasty."
"Now that you're full, I'll take you out for a walk." Wang Zhiyi asked, "By the way, Uncle Fan, how's the girl from the last sacrifice?"
"She has followed the fairy lady to the fairy mountain to live a fairy life." Uncle Fan said with a smile.
"What the hell, following the fairy lady to the fairy mountain?" Ye Jing'an sneered.
"Well, this is a rare opportunity." Uncle Fan warned the others, "By the way, there's really a sacrificial ceremony going on at the foot of Qiling Mountain. You'd better not go there. If you offend the fairy, you'll be in trouble."
"Well, we will pay attention." Wang Zhiyi said.
"Was the sacrificial girl also abducted like Ren Heshu?" Ye Jing'an asked.
Wang Zhiyi shook his head: "No, they are all from here."
"There aren't many of them here. If this continues, their family line will be extinct sooner or later." Ye Jing'an said.
"This is a big town with a lot of people. However, the mountainous terrain makes it difficult for people to live together, so they are divided into six groups, all near Qiling Mountain, with the same customs and habits." Wang Zhiyi explained.
"No matter how big a place is, it takes time to hold a sacrifice for one person a month. Don't the police care?" Ye Jing'an asked again.
"I don't know about that. I came here to buy herbs. I don't care about their sacrifices. What does it have to do with me if a few people die?" Wang Zhiyi's tone was very calm. He had seen many people dying, and everyone had their own destiny, so he really couldn't control it.
"How can you think like that? These are human lives, how can it have nothing to do with you?!" Qiu Zimu retorted.
Wang Zhiyi felt a little aggrieved by Qiu Zimu's words. He wasn't human to begin with, so of course it had nothing to do with him. Besides, humans had killed so many insects, so it was lucky that he didn't cause any trouble. Wang Zhiyi didn't know how to refute him and stared blankly at Qiu Zimu.
"That's right! How can it have nothing to do with you?" Ye Jing'an raised his chin and laughed strangely, "Qiu Zimu is related to you!"
Wang Zhiyi honestly corrected himself and said, "Well, I was wrong. It does matter."
Wang Zhiyi continued to introduce the village. They were currently in the fifth group, which was relatively sparsely populated and located north of Qiling Mountain. The sacrificial ceremony was held in the south, and they had to go around a long way to get there.
"Can you borrow a car to get there? It's so difficult to get there." Ye Jing'an said.
"Yes, I ate too much and can't walk anymore." Qiu Zimu nodded in agreement.
"There's nothing interesting to see in the sacrificial preparations. Just go watch the sacrifice tomorrow. I'll take you to the back mountain today." Wang Zhiyi said.
There was a bamboo forest on the back mountain, with an endless supply of bamboo. The people there built their houses with bamboo, and most of their daily necessities were woven from bamboo. Wang Zhiyi didn't go up the mountain from the main road, but took them up a small path on the side.
"Why don't you take the same route as before?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"This road is closer, we can go straight up." Wang Zhiyi said.
"Where are you going?" Qiu Zimu asked.
"A special cemetery." Wang Zhiyi said.
The road becomes steeper as you go further in. There are no traces of people walking on it. The soles of your shoes will slip, and you will slide down after taking two steps. You have to use your hands and feet to climb up by clinging to the bamboo.
After climbing the steep slope, they arrived at a flat area. There was a road on the left that went up the mountain in a winding way. It would take at least two hours to walk up. I think it was the road they had not taken just now.
In the yellow bamboo forest stood a marble tablet with the words "Yunbu Fairyland" engraved on it. Wang Zhiyi said, "Except for designated worshippers, no one else can enter this place."
"Forget about the broken rules, let's go!" Ye Jingan said.
As they walked into the bamboo forest, one or two stone sculptures began to appear on the ground. Ye Jingan reached out and touched them, then asked Wang Zhiyi, "What are these stone sculptures used for?"
"I didn't ask them. I just knew they brought the girl here when I saw the sacrifice," said Wang Zhiyi.
"What did they do to the girl?" Qiu Zimu asked.
"Except for the person in charge of the sacrifice at that time, no one else was allowed to enter, so I didn't follow." Wang Zhiyi said.
The further you go, the more stone sculptures you'll see. The shapes of the sculptures vary, but most are of animals, some a bit anthropomorphic. Occasionally, there are human sculptures, all of them women, with dignified faces and a uniform smile.
"This looks creepy." Ye Jingan said.
Wang Zhiyi knocked on the stone sculpture and said, "There's a real person inside."
"What? Damn, are these people crazy?!" Qiu Zimu retreated behind Wang Zhiyi.
"Just call the police and arrest them, it will save you a lot of trouble." Ye Jingan said.
"This place is autonomous, with dedicated regional police. Besides, the people in the clay sculptures are all volunteers. It can be considered suicide at most, and the police won't intervene," said Wang Zhiyi.
"Who would be willing to die?" Qiu Zimu asked.
"That's true. Uncle Fan said that the young women in each group are rushing to sign up." Wang Zhiyi said, "They all want to follow the fairy lady and become immortals."
Ye Jingan cursed inwardly: "They are all sick."
Qiu Zimu roughly counted and found that there were twelve stone sculptures of women in total.
"Are there any clues you need here?" Wang Zhiyi asked.
"No, they all volunteered and have no complaints," said Liu Muzhe.
"Let's go." Wang Zhiyi was afraid that Qiu Zimu would slip, so she held his arm tightly.
"Can we get to the sacrificial site in front from here?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"No, Qiling Mountain is very large, and the sacrifice is held on another mountain." Wang Zhiyi said.
They didn't dare to walk the way up the mountain just now, otherwise they would have to slide all the way down, so they returned along the main road. Ye Jing'an asked Wang Zhiyi some questions along the way, but he couldn't answer most of them.
Qiu Zimu complained that he was unkind, but Ye Jing'an could understand. Wang Zhiyi was originally a trouble-making bug. He came here to find some medicinal herbs and would definitely not meddle in human affairs.
Ye Jingan thought about going back and asking Uncle Fan and Aunt Bai. The custom here is that everyone must stay in Qiling Mountain for three days before and after the sacrifice, so that they can receive the protection of the fairy.
Ye Jingan returned home and shouted, "Uncle Fan, do you have any wine? We want to drink some!"
"Yes, we have a lot of wine at home, and they are all good wines." Uncle Fan came out with two large jars of wine, smiling.
"Uncle Fan also likes to drink?" Ye Jing'an asked.
"He's an old drunkard." Uncle Fan poured each of them a full bowl.
"That's perfect. Uncle, come drink with us!" Ye Jing'an said with a smile.
"Okay, ask your aunt to prepare some snacks to go with the wine!" said Uncle Fan.
"Thank you, Uncle Fan!" Ye Jing'an asked, "Uncle Fan, I heard other people talking about the Fairy of Boji on the road. What's going on?"
"The Fairy is the deity we worship. You see, a lot of our income comes from bamboo. More than a decade ago, a disaster killed all the bamboo. It was the Fairy of Boji who saved them all. We worship her every year." Uncle Fan said, "Stop chatting, have a drink!"
"Uncle Fan, is this the wine from last time?" Wang Zhiyi asked.
"Yes, I will definitely give you good wine to drink." Uncle Fan said with a smile.
Wang Zhiyi poured Qiu Zimu half a cup and said, "Drink some. This wine contains some medicinal herbs that can dispel cold and dampness. It's good for your health."
"Okay." Qiu Zimu took a sip. It tasted even worse than the baijiu he was used to. But after hearing Wang Zhiyi say it could dispel the cold, he forced himself to pour it down his throat. It was good for dispelling the cold, so he didn't have to hold her in his arms when he went to bed.
Ye Jing'an looked at Qiu Zimu's indescribable expression, took a sip with a skeptical attitude, and immediately stuffed a chopstick of cold beef into his mouth. This wine was too spicy for his throat, and it was nothing compared to the osmanthus wine that Brother Liu drank.
Ye Jing'an looked at Liu Muze, who didn't show much expression. He took small sips, and it was hard to tell whether he liked it or not. Ye Jing'an asked, "Brother Liu, is this wine good?"
"Well, not bad, you should drink more." Liu Muzhe said.
Ye Jing'an silently poured all the wine he had just taken a sip to Liu Muzhe, and continued to chat with Uncle Fan, asking him about the Fairy Boji.
Uncle Fan told them that Qiling Mountain had been a master of bamboo since their ancestors, and that in an era without high-end furniture, bamboo was used to make furniture. It's unknown when this began, but people began holding up winnowing baskets to summon spirits. The spirits would write on the ground to predict the next year's harvest and disasters. It's said that each visit to the winnowing basket was accompanied by a gentle breeze, seemingly always like this. People said the winnowing basket fairy was a woman, and they called her the Winnowing Basket Fairy.
At the end of each year, they would call upon the immortals, and whenever disaster struck, they would also ask for help from the immortals. However, during the recent disaster, the immortals were not summoned, and the calamity worsened. In their despair, a young girl arrived, claiming to be a disciple of the Boji Fairy. She told the Qiling people that she had escaped secretly, and that the Boji Fairy, now without worshippers, had lost her magical powers. Unable to help them through their hardship, and unwilling to burden them, she was about to fall from grace.
The little girl begged the villagers to help the fairy. The villagers were very anxious and asked her how to offer sacrifices. The little girl told them that they should offer different livestock to the fairy every month. At the end of each year, a pious woman should be chosen to offer sacrifices. The fairy would accept her as her apprentice and help her become a fairy.
Ye Jingan said with a smile: Nonsense.
"Where is that little girl?" Liu Muzhe asked.
"We should be preparing for the sacrifice now," said Uncle Fan.
"We still have time in the afternoon, why don't we go over and take a look?" Ye Jing'an suggested.
"No need to go over there. I've seen that girl and I'll tell you later." Wang Zhiyi said.
Uncle Fan had drunk almost half a jar of wine by now and had started talking nonsense, praising how well the bamboo in his family grew and how beautiful the bamboo weaving was. He even boasted to a few people that the fairy lady was his relative.
"I told you to drink less but you didn't listen! You drank most of the wine given to the guests!" Aunt Bai cursed and helped him back to his room.
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