"Taro! Don't be a coward! You absolutely cannot be a coward!" The old lady was so excited that the wrinkles on her face seemed to tremble with excitement. "This is a centuries-old tradition of our Hundred Ghosts Village. We can't abandon it! Quick! Carry me up to the holy mountain! Just like you did that day!"
"Mother! I can't do this!"
The old lady scolded angrily: "What did I teach you when you were a child? Have you forgotten what I said? Don't you listen to me?"
"But mother...I can't do it!"
"I've told you since I was little that when I'm old, you'll have to carry me to the Holy Mountain... For hundreds of years, everyone in Baigui Village has done this... Your father, your grandfather, everyone has done this!" The old lady was overwhelmed with emotion. "Do you want the other villagers to laugh at us, saying we don't follow tradition? Do you want me, as a mother, to be accused of not being able to teach my children?"
The man burst into tears: "But I can't do it..."
"Have you forgotten how your father carried your grandmother all the way to the Holy Mountain?" The old woman glanced down at her son, who was clinging to her thighs. Her tone suddenly calmed, filled with kindness and love. "This has been a centuries-old tradition in Hundred Ghosts Village. I've always told you to eat well so you can be strong and have the strength to carry me all the way to the Holy Mountain when you grow up... And now, that day has finally come. Taro, look at you. It's one thing to be frail, but how could you be so cowardly too?"
The man shook his head frantically: "But...but..."
"Didn't you do it that day? Today, just be like that day..." The old lady gently comforted her son, "I will stay on the holy mountain forever and bless you with the mountain god..."
The man struggled for a while, then suddenly shouted, "There are no mountain gods on the mountain, only wolves!"
The old lady's face suddenly changed, and she slapped her son: "Shut up! How dare you offend the mountain god?"
The man covered his face and burst into tears, "Mother! Let's leave here! Let's leave Hundred Ghosts Village! I heard that there's no such tradition outside..."
"Shut up!" The old lady's face darkened. "You can't leave Hundred Ghost Village! No one can leave Hundred Ghost Village! Once you enter Hundred Ghost Village, you can never leave!"
The man began to tremble.
The old lady's tone gradually calmed down: "I met your Aunt Junko that day. She was wearing her favorite kimono... Ichiro has been braver than you since he was a child. When will you be as brave as Ichiro?"
The conversation between the two came to an abrupt end. After a moment, the man slowly carried the hunchbacked old lady on his back and climbed up the mountain with difficulty.
The setting sun, which was originally hanging on the hillside, gradually went down the mountain.
The setting sun was like blood, dyeing the small hill known as the Holy Mountain red.
Xiao Tangqiu looked at the mother and son in front of him silently, but a storm of emotions was rising in his heart.
Although he had already vaguely guessed something, he was still quite shocked after knowing the truth... It turned out that this Hundred Ghosts Village had such a strange and weird tradition!
"Holy crap! That's a lot of information!"
Tang Mianmian was also stunned.
"They're going up the mountain, chase them."
Xue Junli's eyes darkened.
He gave an order and everyone followed immediately.
But this time they had no need to worry about getting lost. Climbing a mountain is the most physically demanding thing, not to mention that the man was carrying an old lady on his back, and his steps were unsteady, making it difficult for him to move forward.
The crowd followed closely, because the person in front climbed too slowly, so they had to slow down their pace and even started chatting because they had too much free time.
Tang Mianmian turned around and asked Xiao Tangqiu, "Qiuqiu, what do you think is going on?"
Xiao Tangqiu pondered for a moment and replied, "Actually, I've heard of similar customs and traditions before..."
Tang Mianmian immediately became curious: "Oh? What kind?"
Xiao Tangqiu said, "I heard that there was once a poor mountain village. The whole village was so poor that they would carry their elderly and incapacitated people up the mountain and leave them to fend for themselves, saving food so that the younger people could survive."
Tang Mianmian was stunned. "Damn! Isn't that abandoning the elderly? Can they just watch their parents die?"
Xiao Tangqiu pursed her lips. "For them, this must have become a tradition, right? They abandoned their parents, knowing full well that they would be abandoned by their children in the future. Their parents sacrificed for them, but they will also sacrifice for their children in the future."
Tang Mianmian's mouth twitched. "What kind of bad custom and feudal dregs is this? Even if you're poor, you can't do this! How is this any different from killing your own parents?"
Xiao Tangqiu nodded. "This custom is so bizarre that I took note of it right away. Compared to the simple and crude cruelty of cannibalism during the Great Famine, this quiet cruelty... seems even more brutal."
Duan Hongzhen came over and interrupted, "What about the mountain god? Is there really a mountain god in this damn place?"
Xiao Tangqiu shook his head. "I don't know. Perhaps it's a local legend. Perhaps the ancestors of Baigui Village made up this legend to cover up their bad habit of abandoning the elderly. There's a sacred mountain near Baigui Village, and on that sacred mountain there lives a mountain god. They didn't abandon the elderly, but instead sent them to the mountain to be with the mountain god. Those sent to the 'holy mountain' will, together with the mountain god, protect their descendants and bless Baigui Village..."
Tang Mianmian immediately let out a "Puh!" sound. "If I were one of those old people sent to the mountains and abandoned, I would never bless my unworthy descendants and that lousy Hundred Ghosts Village! You're trying to kill me, and you expect me to repay you with kindness and bless you? Pah! You wish! I'll even curse you to a horrible death!"
Xue Junli suddenly sneered: "Are those elderly people sent to the mountains really innocent? Haven't they abandoned their elders before?"
Tang Mianmian was speechless. What Xue Junli said made sense... Those old people who were abandoned on the "Holy Mountain" had all carried their family members to the "Holy Mountain" and abandoned them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
