Chapter 45: The female leader of the tribe bypassed Qingcheng...
After passing Qingcheng Mountain, there was no more demon so powerful that Fu Li would feel afraid just by hearing the name.
But they hadn't walked long before they encountered a vast, boundless swamp. Many people were paddling on wooden boards, piled high with stone and bone tools. There were also a few crudely crafted wooden tools.
Those people were in a hurry, and most of them had mournful expressions on their faces.
Fu Li had learned many dialects from the people who had fled to Mount Emei. From their brief conversations, he found the most similar one. He grabbed an old woman who had first come ashore and asked, "Auntie, where are you from?"
The old woman was alone, her eyes were red and she looked a little dazed, as she was moving stone pots and bowls down from the wooden board.
Suddenly being stopped and questioned, she was in a daze for a moment before she came to her senses. She raised her sleeve to wipe her eyes and said, "We all came from Dushan. We are fleeing here."
Fu Li asked, "Is there a demon causing trouble?"
At this time, more people climbed onto the shore. An old man with gray hair and a wrinkled face took off his shirt and wrung it out while saying, "Isn't it a monster? It's a big red carp. It turns into a human at night and comes ashore to eat people."
Another young man chimed in: "The old woman's two sons were both eaten by the red carp that turned into a human."
When the old woman heard this, she immediately burst into sobs.
Shu was isolated by mountains, and it wasn't until the rise of the Qin State during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty that Central Plains civilization spread. At this time, the ancient practice of group marriage persisted, and people only knew of the mother, not the father. Gu'u's two sons were both conceived during her interactions with neighboring tribes.
After finally raising him up, and when it was time for him to participate in the tribe's marriage proposal, he was suddenly killed by a demon.
The onlookers may sigh or cry sadly, but how can it compare to the heart-wrenching pain of their loved ones?
Red carp can also turn into humans.
These two conditions were enough for Fu Li to determine what kind of monster it was.
She took the drum-making old woman's hand and said, "Old woman, that's not a big carp, it's a croaker. It only dares to stay in the water during the day and only comes ashore at night, transforming into a human form. It can't be killed by a knife or penetrated by an arrow, right?"
Hearing her describe the fish's characteristics—not only were they completely correct, but they also described it in greater detail than they knew—Gu'ao excitedly shook her hand and nodded rapidly, "Yes, yes, yes, it only comes out to harm people at night. The tribe organizes young men to hunt it, and even the poisoned arrows they shoot at it can't even pierce its skin."
The crowd slowly gathered around, and a young woman added, "It can stir up water. If we provoke it, it will stir up a storm and collapse all the stone houses and foot buildings. Everyone has no place to live, so they have to run away and find a place to live."
As soon as the woman spoke, everyone fell silent. Seeing this, Fu Li knew that this woman must be very prestigious in the tribe.
She bowed and asked, "What is this elder sister's name?"
The young man who had come before said, "This is the leader of our tribe, his name is Ge."
Fu Li asked, "Is it the 'ge' in 'bingge'?"
Ge casually took a long weapon from a young man and smiled a little embarrassedly: "I don't know what the word is, it's just this Ge."
The long weapon was crudely made, with the blade made of ground bone, but judging by its shape, it was indeed a dagger.
"That's the 'Ge' in 'bing' (warring states), representing bravery and killing. It's a good name." Fu Li said, squatting down to pick up a branch and writing the characters 'Ge' and 'Fa' on the ground. "Look, this is the 'Fa' in 'shafa', and 'Ge' is just half of it."
She didn't write the characters of this era. In fact, there was no unified writing system at that time. She couldn't write the first unified writing system - small seal script, so the people at the foot of Mount Emei followed her and learned traditional Chinese characters.
At this time, she also wrote in traditional Chinese characters, which were neat and beautiful.
Seeing that she could write, everyone looked at her differently.
Ge walked over to her side and squatted down. He also picked up a branch and traced the character "戈" she had written several times. He tilted his head and looked at it carefully. His hearty laughter was filled with a bit of self-mockery: "Haha, it's not as beautiful as yours."
Fu Li said, "You're writing in the wrong order. Come, try it with me. First write the horizontal stroke, then the hook, then the stroke, and finally the dot."
Ge followed her stroke order and wrote again, feeling much more comfortable. Although his handwriting was still not as beautiful as Fu Li's, it was more correct than before. Fu Li said, "I've been practicing for years. If you practice more, you can write as beautifully as me."
Ge nodded vigorously and said, "I will definitely practice more in the future. If someone asks me what character my name comes from next time, I will tell them: it's the character for 兵戈 (weapon), which is exactly half of the character for 杀伐 (kill)."
Another person stared at the character "伐" for a long time, then looked up at Fu Li and asked, "Can you teach me this character too?"
"Of course." Fu Li picked up the pen and started writing. It was no big deal.
She thought it was a very small matter, but Ge studied it very seriously.
One of them was teaching the other, and the other was learning, both of them were very serious. An older woman, holding a little girl of three or four years old, and leading a bigger girl of seven or eight years old, came over at some point.
Like the people around them, they held their breath and watched Fu Li teach. Even the youngest girl did not make a sound to disturb her.
It was not until Ge said she had learned it that the little girl opened her arms and shouted to her, "Mother, hold me."
Mushi is their respectful name for their mother.
Ge stood up and took the younger daughter over with a smile, but he was reluctant to throw away the branch he was writing on. He waved to the older girl, motioning her to come over.
She stood in front of Fuli, holding her youngest daughter and hugging her eldest daughter. She said with some hesitation, "These are my two daughters. They haven't been named yet. You know how to read, much better than I can. Can you help me choose names for my two daughters?"
Fu Li's original intention was to get closer to them, so she naturally wouldn't refuse. She asked, "What are your expectations for your two daughters?"
Ge blurted out, "I hope they don't get sick, grow up safely, and become strong. The older one will be a leader like me in the future, and the younger one will help her sister manage the tribe. Together, they sisters will make the tribe stronger."
She said the first wish without thinking, but she said the following ones while considering them.
Regardless of ancient or modern times, hoping that children grow up healthily is the most simple wish of parents and does not require any thought.
The ones that come after are added gradually on the premise of ensuring healthy growth.
Fu Li pondered for a moment and said, "Both the pine and the crane symbolize longevity and good fortune. There's a lucky saying, 'Pine and crane live forever,' which captures this sentiment. How about we name the older one Song Tong and the younger one He Qing? What do you think?"
Ge Nian repeated it several times and found it very nice, better than his own name and the names of other people in the tribe.
She nodded happily: "Okay, let's call them Song Tong and He Qing."
As she spoke, she patted her eldest daughter on the head and urged, "Songtong, quickly bring out our cakes. We need to thank the young lady for naming them."
Song Tong nodded, turned and walked over to the older woman who had held He Qing earlier, tugged at her skirt and said, "Auntie, give the young lady some bread to thank her for giving him a name." Then he couldn't help showing off, "I have a name now. It's Song Tong."
The older woman smiled and touched her head, then turned around, opened a rattan box that had been moved to the shore, and took out two black cakes, of which no one knew what material they were made.
Fu Li has been practicing fasting, so she won’t feel hungry even if she doesn’t eat.
But she still took the two cakes with a smile on her face, took out a handkerchief from her bosom, wrapped it carefully, and put it in her bosom.
Seeing that she accepted it, everyone present was very happy.
Ge arranged for everyone to split up and go find some dry firewood to guard against wild animals after dark. He also arranged for a group of young men to go hunting.
They escaped in a hurry and the food they brought with them could not last long.
After the arrangements were completed, a few older men and women had cleared out a high, open area. Ge invited Fuli to sit over there, and Fuli didn't refuse.
He Qing kept blinking his eyes, looking at her with curiosity, and suddenly asked, "Young lady, are you a god?"
She heard her mother and sister call Fu Li that, so she followed suit and called her "Young Lady".
The little girl's voice is so sweet and tender, it's enough to melt anyone's heart.
Fu Li gently pinched her cheek, her voice softening eight degrees: "I'm not a deity, just a Qi cultivator."
"Qigong practitioner?" He Qing looked at his mother in confusion. "Mother, what is a Qigong practitioner?"
Ge said: "It is a god."
"Ah, that's still a god."
The little girl looked confused, which made everyone laugh.
After laughing, Ge handed He Qing to the older woman, her mother, and said softly, "Mother, take He Qing and the children to play together."
Song Tong, who was already seven years old, was kept by her side, and her intention to cultivate him was very obvious.
She asked Fu Li, "Young lady, since you know the water monster, do you know how to get rid of it?"
Fu Li didn't answer, but instead asked her, "Do you dare to go back and remove it?"
Ge said seriously, "There's a very fertile land within our tribe's territory, and everyone lives peacefully there. No one wants to leave unless absolutely necessary. If we can find the henggong fish's weakness and eliminate it, we can move back."
"You might die," Fu Li reminded her. "Your two daughters are still very young. At their current age, they can't be leaders."
In this barbaric era, ability is everything. The entire tribe works together for the sake of survival. Just because a leader dies protecting them, the tribe will not elect a less powerful descendant as their new leader.
That would be irresponsible to the entire tribe.
Ge said firmly, "You all elected me as leader because I can make everyone's life better. I should be the first to take on things that benefit the tribe."
If I die, that's my fate, and everyone will take care of my daughters. If my two daughters are capable, they will naturally take the position of leader again when they grow up."
Fu Li could feel that she was serious.
"You are a good leader." Fu Li praised sincerely.
Ge said: "I just did what a leader should do."
Little do people know that being able to do one's job well is already better than many others.
Fu Li smiled and said, "I was just joking with you. It's not that dangerous. Just find some black plums, boil them in water, and pour it on the animal. It will temporarily lose its ability to move."
While it's still unable to move, stuff it into the pot and cook it with two black plums. It will be cooked through quickly. Once the meat is cooked through, it's quite delicious."
In fact, Fu Li had never eaten it either. The reason she talked as if she ate it often was to gild herself and make Ge think that she had killed a giant fish before.
Because she could read, Ge did not doubt her. After hearing what she said, he really believed that she had killed a giant fish, so he immediately invited her to go with him.
This was Fu Li's purpose, so she readily agreed.
The two sides agreed to send people to pick black plums early tomorrow morning, prepare tripod axes, bows and arrows, and dry food, take a few tribesmen who are good at hunting, and paddle a raft back to their original territory, determined to kill the Henggong fish and take back the tribe's home.
The older men and women, along with the children, had already gathered some dry firewood nearby. Ge asked them to light a fire for the elderly and the weak, and then invited Fuli to sit over.
Fu Li refused, saying that she was young and strong and could be just like everyone else.
Seeing that she was very sincere, Ge did not force her anymore, but just treated her a little more intimately.
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