Chapter 120 The sound of suona horns brings joy and sorrow. Only this main room with its vermilion door stands out in the mountains...
The village chief's house was clearly different from the others. It wasn't built of bricks and stones, nor was it a mud-brick house. It was an impressive four-courtyard house. This house must have been old. The dark tiles stood out quietly and majestically against the white snow, like a stone that guards the mountain.
It doesn't look like the village chief's house, but rather like the villa of some wealthy tycoon.
Will all the ill-gotten gains that the God of Wealth collected end up being poured into this big courtyard?
The courtyard had no plaque or couplets, and was cold and desolate. If it weren't for the dark gate, it would have looked like a silent wall.
A divination stick container was also tied to the wall pillar.
Xue Chao knocked on the door, but no one answered. The old woman knocked twice, then pushed the door open. A boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old, wearing a padded jacket, bowed and walked in. After listening to the old woman's words, he welcomed Xue Chao into the door.
Before he even left or entered, he saw a few scattered young men and women dressed similarly working: sweeping the yard, hanging clothes to dry, and serving dishes...
The village chief not only lives in an old mansion, but also has a bunch of young boys and girls as servants. What a lord!
"Who are you people?" Xue Chao asked.
The boy kept his head down, not looking around, only staring at the road ahead, walking quietly with a respectful posture.
He was unfazed by the misunderstandings of outsiders and answered simply, "We are God's servants."
Xue Chao suddenly realized that the master in this deep mansion was not the village chief, but some evil god.
He scoffed. Normally, he's perfectly capable, yet he wanders around aimlessly, annoying everyone. Today, he's acting all pampered, needing a bunch of underage kids to serve him. What's wrong with him?
The bricks and stones in the courtyard were all black, as if they had fallen into this pale, dark, and oppressive background.
Xue Chao followed the boy into the depths of the courtyard, as if walking in a world of funeral portraits. The courtyard was large, but there were few people. They walked through two courtyards, and there were only a few silent “servants of God” who came and went without a sound. There was no human presence.
It was as if the huge courtyard was shrouded in something, and one could only feel an invisible force pressing down on them, making them afraid to speak or breathe.
The young man went to ask for permission, but seemed to have no one to turn to. He told Xue Chao to wait a moment and then went into the west wing.
He never returned. Xue Chao touched the door of the west wing and found it locked.
He paused, listened at the doorway, but there was no sound inside.
He would naturally try to pry open the door; such a courtyard door could be easily opened with a little skill. But he remembered Marco Polo's experience and the secret keepers he had read about on the forum: secret keepers should not get involved in the story before the investigation officially begins.
Their initial role was that of observers, but after the investigation began, their role shifted to that of guides and facilitators.
So he turned and left, entering the next courtyard through the small door at the junction of the walls.
The courtyard was even quieter; he paused in front of every room door, as if it were an empty courtyard.
Entering the last courtyard, everything changed as soon as he pushed open the door. The vermilion gate faced him directly, like someone's blood suddenly splashing in a black and white silent film, igniting a bewitching red.
That red was too bright; it made me uncomfortable.
From the entrance to the last courtyard, there were no plaques or inscriptions anywhere except for the main room with the vermilion door, which had the words "ancestral hall" written on it.
The inscriptions on both sides were illegible, the characters on the left were worn away by the wind and snow, and the characters on the right were barely legible, but Xue Chao had heard of them before, so he guessed that the broken first half of the inscription was "Blood is not offered to Heaven, life is not laid to the ground".
He gently touched the door, paused, and realized it wasn't locked.
All the ordinary doors he touched in the entire house were locked, but the most special shrine, where the gods were worshipped, was open.
Like a malicious invitation.
Xue Chao slowly untied the bandage from his wrist inside his coat sleeve, wrapped it around his fingertips, threaded it through the door knocker, and skillfully tied a knot.
As he left the last courtyard, he heard the door of the ancestral hall behind it move. He acted quickly, holding back the door that was about to close due to the wind, and returned the way he came.
The boy who had led the way stood quietly in the second courtyard, watching. When he saw him return, he was not surprised and led him to the main house.
The village chief was an old man around sixty years old, somewhat prosperous, but with a worried expression. Upon seeing him, he sighed three times: "Sister Li is thinking of me and the village. I really don't know what to do. Expert, please come in quickly!"
Xue Chao sat down, and the young man poured tea for them. He had no interest in tea, so he just took a sip as if it were hot water, thinking it would dispel the cold. However, he did not expect that the tea would be hot when it entered his mouth, but would slowly turn cold as it flowed down his throat. When it reached his internal organs, it felt like a handful of cold water had fallen into a pool, making his limbs shiver.
"This tea...?" Xue Chao frowned.
"Our village is famous for its snow-covered Pu'er tea, brewed with the first snow that rolls down from the mountain peak. It warms the mouth and tongue, cools the heart and liver, and clears the mind, preventing people from getting dizzy on snowy days!"
Why would someone be delirious in such heavy snow? Snow blindness? But Xue Chao did feel that the cold, oppressive weight of the entire house on him had lessened somewhat.
He fiddled with the lid of his teacup and smiled casually: "I dare not claim to be an expert. I'm just a stranger who was stranded by the heavy snow. Fortunately, some deity protected me and let me see a village here. Otherwise, I would have frozen to death in the mountains. This is the first time I've seen so many snow-capped mountains that are as tall and sharp as stone tablets."
The village chief, unsure whether to laugh or cry, sighed with mixed feelings, "Mount Xibei is like its spirit; no one can know the mountain god's temper! On days like this, it's impossible to travel. Going against the spirit will bring bad luck. I'll have someone prepare a room for you in a little while, so you can stay here in peace and wait for the snow to stop and the road to clear before continuing your journey."
“I knew there was always a way out. God helped me, and those blessed by God also helped me.” Xue Chao looked at the village chief. “I also want you to be rewarded for your good deeds. Sister Li said there was something I could do to help, but did something strange happen?”
"Well, to be honest, it's not a big deal. It snows a lot here, and when it snows heavily, it can cause disasters. If you slip and fall, you're in trouble. If there's a small avalanche, you can get buried by the snow falling from the mountain. But there's nothing we can do. Our village is built among the mountains, and we live off the mountains. If we get buried by the snow, it's like our souls have returned to the mountains to serve the mountain god. We can only remind the villagers to be more careful in their daily lives."
The village chief hesitated for a long time, looking like he couldn't get the words out.
Xue Chao then asked, "But this snow looks quite heavy."
"It's not just about the snow anymore." The village chief sighed. "The nearest snow-covered mountain outside the east gate collapsed, burying the road to the east. That road leads to the town outside the mountain. Villagers usually use that road to go to town to sell things. This is not just cutting off the road, it's cutting off everyone's livelihood. I'm so worried that I can't sleep day and night!"
Xue Chao raised an eyebrow slightly and joked, "You want me to bring in a construction team?"
Otherwise, even if there were landslides or avalanches, no matter how strong he was, he couldn't clear them all by himself.
The village chief shook his head: "No, no, we villagers can clear the mountain road ourselves. The problem is that it's not a labor-intensive task. The villagers who left the town that day were all trapped under the mountain. Everyone who went to clear the snow and rocks said they heard crying inside. The crying didn't stop and the snow kept falling. If this continues, I'm afraid another mountain will collapse."
Xue Chao said, "But Sister Li said the snow will stop today."
The village chief smiled warmly and said, "Well, we've been waiting for you! The people chosen by the Red and White Gods are always right!" He then bowed in the direction of the ancestral hall.
Xue Chao belatedly felt a chill.
"So they want to be found and buried in peace?"
“They have been found, but they don’t want to be taken away; they’re just wandering around,” the village chief said.
If they haven't moved at this point, they're either trapped or there's something there. Xue Chao asked, "Are they all going to town to sell things?"
"Some families would also persuade their parents to go to town for fun. There was a market there, lots of new and interesting things that kids liked, and there were also opera troupes and acrobatic performances."
"They went there the day before yesterday?"
"They went there the day before yesterday and left before dawn. When they came back that night, there was an avalanche and the mountain broke off at the East Gate. Then it started snowing."
So it actually started snowing the night before last. Since Xue Chao entered, there had been a divination stick container at the entrance of each of the four courtyards. He recalled the divination stick containers that were everywhere: "Didn't the gods give them any guidance that day?"
The villagers respected the Red and White Gods much more, regarding him as the mountain god of Xibei Mountain, unlike the God of Wealth Temple which was relegated to the south gate. He was enshrined in the deepest part of the village's main house, with a group of servants.
Judging from the tone of Sister Li and the village chief, they also have unwavering faith in Him. Every time they mention Him, they even bow to Him from afar, which shows that His daily divination slips must be of reference value, or even accurate.
If it's a very bad omen, the villagers who believe in Him shouldn't go out.
"Only they know what the divination slip is." The village chief shook his head and said nothing in the end, but Xue Chao felt that what he wanted to say was, "It's hard to persuade a damned ghost with kind words."
Xue Chao glanced at the remaining time, got up to say goodbye, and headed to the East Gate.
Baitou Village has four gates in total, one each in the east, west, south, and north.
As he walked towards the East Gate, he felt the weather getting colder and colder. Every time the wind blew by, the snow seemed to be covered by dust.
From afar, you can see the collapsed rocks. The once sharp and strange mountain that stretched straight into the sky has been broken into an ordinary mountain. The snow is compacted under the new mountain or flows in the cracks between the rocks, mixing with the red soil.
Xue Chao leaned closer and discovered that the red soil was not the essence of the mountain; it was actually fragments of opaque red crystals.
The texture of the crystal is strange; it's like sand squeezed together, but it feels as smooth as a natural gemstone.
Xue Chao tapped it, and the crystal crumbled, emitting a sharp and hoarse cry.
So this monumental mountain is actually as fragile as dust.
But when he entered the mountains, he touched them and tested their hardness. They were so hard that they were practically indestructible. So, did they only become vulnerable after they collapsed?
The villagers have cleared away some of the rocks, which have crumbled into red soil and sunk to the bottom through the cracks, revealing a cave above that looks like a passageway, as if something had crawled through it.
Xue Chao raised his shovel and smashed one side, breaking another large piece of rock and revealing a corner of a hideous and terrified dead face.
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