Chapter 127 Staying as the Bandit's Wife
Before she could even speak, the old man, who had been sitting there like a withered tree, suddenly rushed over with a speed beyond his years and grabbed the scale-patterned snake pendant around Qin Suisui's neck: "￥#￥%……%……&?"
He spoke in a language Qin Suisui couldn't understand, his expression very anxious.
Qin Suisui frowned and stared blankly at Paman, looking at him helplessly.
Paman frowned and said something to the old man in the Li language.
The old man seemed to realize then that Qin Suisui couldn't understand their language, so he quickly repeated in broken Chinese, "Where did you get this snake pendant?"
His expression had calmed down when he said that.
Qin Suisui had her answer. She looked into the old man's eyes and tried to express herself clearly, word by word: "It was given to me by Comrade Huang Weimin. He said that I could only enter your tribe if I had this."
Sure enough, upon hearing Huang Weimin's name, a hint of excitement appeared on the old man's withered face. He opened his lips, as if trying to adapt to the pronunciation of Chinese: "Huang Weimin, is his wife named Zhang Hongmei?"
Qin Suisui nodded quickly: "Yes, but Comrade Zhang Hongmei is no longer with us."
Upon hearing the news of Zhang Hongmei's passing, Qin Suisui expected the old man to be sad, but to her surprise, his expression became somewhat agitated, and even... indignant. He quickly babbled a few words in Li language, then repeated them in Mandarin: "Zhang Hongmei is dead, why didn't she come back?"
Qin Suisui was taken aback, not expecting this reason. She hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Um... his leg is broken, he might... not be able to come back?"
"What? His leg is broken? What happened?" The old man and Parman exclaimed at the same time.
Qin Suisui didn't know exactly what had happened, since Huang Weimin had already broken his leg many years ago when she met him. But she took this opportunity to tell him about how Huang Weimin had been abandoned by his children during the super typhoon a few days ago and how he had been rescued by Pei Jiuyan, and also mentioned the purpose of their visit.
After listening to Qin Suisui's words, the old man remained silent for a long time, his hand holding the pipe trembling. Suddenly, he picked up the now-cold bamboo teacup from the wooden table, drank it all in one gulp, and then slammed the empty teacup down on the table with a resounding thud.
"Okay, I can promise to give you the antidote, but you also have to promise me that you'll bring him back!"
Qin Suisui hesitated for a moment, then gently shook her head.
The old woman was surprised, thinking she would definitely agree, but this was the unexpected result: "What? You don't want to save your husband?"
Qin Suisui looked at him with a solemn expression: "Of course I want to save him. I came to the deep mountains to find you for this very reason, but I cannot make the decision for Comrade Huang Weimin."
“I think that many years ago, he was able to leave the wilderness and his tribe for the sake of the person he loved. Now, many years later, he certainly wouldn’t want to be separated from the person he loves. We Han people have a saying: ‘In life, we share the same bed; in death, we share the same lungs.’”
"Of course, this is just my personal opinion. Whether Comrade Huang Weimin wants to come back or not is up to him. I can't make the decision for him."
The old man had started smoking his pipe again, and the swirling smoke didn't smell unpleasant. Qin Suisui guessed that the pipe probably didn't contain tobacco leaves, but rather some kind of plant similar to tobacco.
Silence fell over the courtyard for a long time, so long that Qin Suisui thought she might not get an answer today, when the old man suddenly spoke again: "I heard from Parman that you are also an animal tamer?"
As he spoke, his eyes kept glancing at Big Yellow, who was squatting obediently next to Qin Suisui, and Big Flower, who was rubbing its snake head against her from time to time.
Qin Suisui realized what he meant and quickly waved her hand: "No, I don't know how. I'm probably just more attracted to animals."
The old man nodded: "Some people are born this way, it's a blessing from heaven. You are a lucky person. Nuwa rarely treats people this way."
Nuwa? Qin Suisui turned to look at the big flower nestled beside her. So the big flower's name was Nuwa? Such a beautiful name. No wonder Paman's expression was so strange last night when he heard her name it Big Flower.
“I know about this. Your husband saved my brother. We owe him a life and should repay him.”
After saying that, he tapped his pipe again, looked at Qin Suisui, and said with a serious expression, "But I still want to ask you for help. When you get back, ask him if he is willing to come back. We can go and pick him up."
Qin Suisui nodded quickly: "No problem."
It turns out that this old man is the younger brother of Comrade Huang Weimin. No wonder she felt that she had seen him before when she first met him.
After the old man finished speaking, he chased them out.
After hearing Qin Suisui's description of the toxin, he already had an answer in his heart, but he said nothing, only that he needed time to prepare the antidote and asked them to wait.
Qin Suisui was uneasy, but the door was already closed and they couldn't go in, so they could only follow Paman back.
It was only then that Qin Suisui learned from Paman that the old man's name was Palong, and he was the high priest of their tribe. However, in recent years, due to the increasing influence of Han culture, their sacrificial atmosphere was no longer as strong as before, except for major festivals.
Of course, they also retain the tradition of snake training. In their view, snakes move silently and can lurk in the mountains and forests and waters. They are believed to know the secrets of nature and are messengers between heaven and earth.
Furthermore, the snake's shedding of its skin is regarded by the snake witch tribe as a symbol of "rebirth." They believe that snakes have the ability to be immortal or reincarnated, and are related to the continuation of the ancestral souls.
The reason they chose to live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, far from the crowds, was to protect the "snake spirit".
Paman also took them on a tour of the tribe. Qin Suisui discovered that most of the tribe's houses were built against the mountains or against the trees, making full use of the natural conditions and truly integrating their lives into nature.
However, perhaps because they live deep in the mountains, the land area is insufficient, resulting in low food production. The staple food of the people in the tribe is mainly sweet potatoes and cassava.
In addition, wild boars would occasionally come and cause damage, which greatly reduced the already limited grain production.
Moreover, because wild forests are tropical rainforests, the humidity is high, making it difficult to store food.
According to Paman, their tribe originally lived high in the mountains, but a landslide occurred there decades ago, destroying their tribe and killing many of their people, forcing them to migrate here.
Compared to modern society, traditional slash-and-burn agriculture lacks stability. Qin Suisui felt that she could live in this environment for a while, but she probably couldn't endure it for a lifetime.
When they returned to their cabin after their walk around, someone had already prepared the meal and placed it on the small wooden table.
Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen were starving; they hadn't eaten anything since emerging from the miasma forest yesterday. Paman probably didn't have the habit of eating breakfast either; after getting up this morning, they went straight to Palong's place and drank a bellyful of camellia tea.
I thought they would eat sweet potatoes or cassava, but I didn't expect them to eat bamboo rice. The Li ethnic group's specialty, mountain rice, is stuffed into fresh bamboo tubes and roasted over a fire until it is charred and fragrant. When eating, you pry open the bamboo tube and eat it along with the bamboo membrane. The rice mixed with the aroma of green bamboo is extremely refreshing and appetizing.
There's also smoked pheasant, seasoned with wild peppers and ginger to remove any fishy smell, and stewed in water—it has a truly unique flavor.
Qin Suisui found it very novel and even asked Paso what was used to smoke the pheasant meat. Paso said it was lychee wood. Lychee wood is hard and resistant to fire, and when burned, it produces a sweet aroma of fruit wood that permeates into the texture of the meat, giving it a fruity fragrance.
Qin Suisui secretly made a mental note of it. She also had several lychee trees in her space. When she returned, she would secretly collect some dead lychee wood from the wilderness and bring it back to smoke the two wild boars in her space. Pei Jiuyan might like to eat them too!
In addition, there were steamed rice paddy fish wrapped in banana leaves, cold-dressed centella asiatica, fresh betel nuts and banana hearts on the table. Although there were not many dishes, each one was very generous in portion, which made Qin Suisui feel flattered.
After all, the tribe's food was truly precious, and Paman was surprised that he was willing to offer so much to entertain them.
Then a jar of Shanlan wine was brought up later.
Qin Suisui originally didn't plan to drink, but Jia Zhenzhen was tempted by the aroma of Shanlan wine, so the two of them drank some.
The low-alcohol sweet wine made from fermented mountain rice is somewhat similar to the sweet rice wine she makes, but it has a slightly higher alcohol content, around 15 degrees, while the sweet rice wine has almost no alcohol content.
The flavor may differ slightly depending on the ingredients and preparation methods, but it's still very delicious.
Before they had even finished their meal, Parman was suddenly called out, seemingly for some urgent matter.
After Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen finished eating, they rested in the house. It was only then that they learned that the house belonged to Paman, who was probably a rather important figure in the tribe.
Jia Zhenzhen patted her round belly, her face full of contentment: "Sui Sui, what do you think? How about I stay here and be the bandit's wife?"
Qin Suisui looked at her in shock: "You've taken a liking to Parman?"
Jia Zhenzhen nodded and chuckled: "It's not so much that I'm attracted to him, but when he rescued me from the cliff yesterday, it felt exactly like something out of a martial arts novel."
"But later, I felt he was too rigid, boring, and uninteresting. On the other hand, life in this tribe is wonderful. Every day we hunt, gather fruit, and there's such delicious bamboo rice and such wonderful mountain wine. If I could live like that every day, it would be so great!"
"That's because we're guests, so they're treating us to good food and wine. When you were touring the tribe earlier, didn't you see that most people were eating sweet potatoes and cassava? Besides, this is deep in the mountains, so rice production is definitely low. You're expecting to eat bamboo rice every meal!" Qin Suisui ruthlessly interrupted her fantasy.
Jia Zhenzhen let out a wail, then looked at the various kinds of smoked meat hanging under the eaves, and added, still unwilling to give up, "These smoked meats are delicious too, and we don't need to grow them, right?"
“That’s true, but we can smoke them ourselves when we get back. With your strength, hunting pheasants and wild boars is a piece of cake, right? We can take them back and smoke them ourselves.”
After a few words of flattery from Qin Suisui, Jia Zhenzhen immediately perked up: "You're right! It's so much more comfortable back home. This mountain must be lacking in oil, sugar, and salt. I can't stand this tasteless life! Why don't they come down from the mountain?"
Qin Suisui didn't answer her again, closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. Every tribe has its own beliefs, but in fact, beliefs and integration into the community are not contradictory. Qin Suisui felt that if one day they were willing to come down from the mountain, she would be very willing to help them.
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