Sister Dies, Sister Remarries (Part 4)
The mountain people poured out of their tents and gathered around to watch, and I and the others from Yanziping also squeezed into the crowd.
The shaman picked up the broken bamboo divination stick, stood up and said to the coffin bearers, "There's a disturbance at the funeral. Go and fetch the headman."
The coffin bearers seemed to wake from a dream, parted the crowd of onlookers, and hurried to the mountain area.
Ercuo's father shouted angrily, "Where is she? Drag her away!"
Zhimo gripped the white sheet tightly, raised his head, and shouted fiercely, "Who dares?! Mountain God and Elder Zhu are above! My elder sister's wronged spirit refuses to enter your Agu family's grave!"
The onlookers, mostly mountain folk, stirred up a commotion.
Ercuo's mother was furious and said, "Zhimo's father! Zhimo's mother! Your family doesn't want to return the betrothal gifts, and you don't want your daughter to become a concubine, so you're just making false accusations and playing the victim to ruin our family's life?! When the headman comes, he will definitely clear our name. You, you can just wait to be expelled from Niumendong!"
Zimo's father and mother knelt on either side of her, pulling on her arms and pleading, "Zimo, get up quickly, you'll be beaten to death for making a scene at a funeral..."
“Zimo, your eldest sister is already gone. If something happens to you, how will your mother, your father, and your two younger brothers live?”
With bloodshot eyes, Zimo roared at his weeping parents, "Mom! Dad! Nii—your eldest daughter! Do you know how much she has suffered so that our family could have a better life? She didn't commit suicide! She wanted to live! She wanted to live! Do you know that?"
The onlookers pointed and whispered. After hearing Qu Bu's account, Wang Yunhui and Aunt Xu were already wiping away tears. Suddenly, a soft cough came from behind me. I turned around and saw Liu Yu.
Liu Yu, with his head hunched, waved to me, and I followed him through the crowd to an empty spot in the tent. Liu Yu looked around cautiously and said, "I just squeezed through to take a look. The white sheet covering the face was partially visible, and although I couldn't see the whole picture, the ears were faintly purple. It didn't look like hanging; it looked more like strangulation."
“Just as I thought.” I looked at the chaotic Gafang. “Niyi’s love for this younger sister was not in vain. The people from the state government should be arriving soon. Let’s do our best to help her hold on until then.”
Liu Yu nodded: "But I heard from Qu Bu that the headman of Niumendong is Ni Yi's husband's maternal uncle. Such a shameful thing as murdering one's wife and children has happened in the village. I'm afraid he not only doesn't want to expose it, but also wants to cover it up."
“Yes,” I said with a sigh, “In the eyes of these people, justice for the dead is far less important than the interests of the living.”
On the mountain path, a group of people hurried towards Gafang. The leader, holding a rattan whip, was none other than Zhebierjia, the chieftain of Niumendong. Over the years, in the struggle with Bajiaodong, Niumendong, despite its smaller population, had never been at a disadvantage, which was largely due to this strong-willed chieftain.
"The chieftain is here!"
"The chieftain is here!"
"Get out of the way, get out of the way!" Zhebierjia stepped into the room and asked in a deep voice, "Who's causing trouble at the funeral?"
Ercuo Ama pointed at the kneeling Zhimo family and said through gritted teeth, "It's them, a family of five!"
Zhebierjia glanced at them, his expression cold and stern, and said, "Elder Awu checked this morning and confirmed that your little sister has indeed hanged herself. Why don't you let her rest in peace? What are you doing here?"
Zimo, head bowed, asked the wizard, "Elder! Mountain God, Elder Bamboo, tell me! Did my eldest sister really commit suicide?"
The shamans in the village also serve as shamanic healers. When a villager dies unexpectedly, the shaman is the one who comes to check on the situation. In order to ward off disasters and avoid misfortunes, some people even need to perform a house cleansing and exorcism ritual.
Faced with Zimo's questioning, the wizard lowered his eyes and replied, "According to the divination, your eldest sister's lifespan has come to an end. The dead cannot be brought back to life, so let her enter the cycle of reincarnation as soon as possible."
"You're talking nonsense!" Zimo seemed to be going crazy. "I saw my sister yesterday at noon, and she was perfectly fine! She asked me to sew her a few more baby clothes! She also said—"
"Enough!" Zhebier interrupted her sharply, "What do you know at such a young age?! The Agu family has only had one son for three generations. Are they possessed by evil spirits and want to harm the pregnant woman in the family?"
"Everyone in Niumendong knows your sister is a stubborn woman. When she gets angry, she even slaps her own husband! She couldn't stand being wronged and committed suicide, taking Agu's grandson with her! If you know what's good for you, get out of the way. If you keep causing trouble here, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Zimo's mother, father, and two younger brothers wept together: "Zimo, Mother begs...please, let's go...go..."
"Second sister, let's go home!"
Zimo slapped her brother across the face as he tried to reason with her: "You heartless bastard! How did our eldest sister treat you when she was alive?"
Zhebierjia raised his rattan whip: "If you don't leave by the time I count to three, then you'd all be lying down!"
Zimo snorted coldly, straightened his back, and knelt before Nii. His two younger brothers also knelt down, weeping. Seeing this, Zimo's father tried to pull the three siblings away, but he couldn't budge any of them. Desperate, he clung to the legs of the coffin bearers, pleading, "Help! Help me, help me!"
"one!"
"two--"
"Wait!" I pushed through the crowd and entered the house. "Chief Zhebi, the Agu family is having a funeral today, and strange phenomena are happening frequently. Tomorrow is the 'August Festival,' which is also a big day for sacrifices. Why don't you let your sister speak openly, so that the villagers in the village and all the gods and ghosts in the sky won't be thinking about it?"
"Otherwise, no matter how you deal with their family now, you will inevitably be criticized by those with ulterior motives in the future. As the saying goes, 'three men can make a tiger,' and Chief Zhebi certainly doesn't want to damage his own and Niumendong's reputation because of this matter."
Zhebierjia's sharp eyes swept over me: "I saw you at the border market down the mountain—Qingniangzi from Bating Road. You have no relation to Niumendong. What do you mean by coming here when Agu's wife is in mourning?"
“That’s how it is,” I replied slowly. “Niyi quit her job at the weaving workshop in Yanziping a few days ago.”
“Early this morning, a group of people from Agu’s family went to inform Ni Yi’s former employer of the death. For some reason, they insisted that the weaving workshop pay them twenty taels of silver before they would stop. I happened to find out about this, and I thought there might be some misunderstanding, so I came over to ask them.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the onlookers in Dong Village erupted in uproar.
Someone scoffed, "Who goes to their former employer to report a death? They must be crazy for money!"
"Exactly, why doesn't he just rob it!"
Some people joked, "Twenty taels of silver! Is there really such a good thing? I might as well just die and save some for my wife so she won't keep scolding me for being useless."
"Shut up! If your wife hears you, she'll really kill you."
Agu's family looked resentful, exchanged glances, and then glared at me in unison.
I didn't take it to heart and continued, "I have no relatives or friends in Niumendong. I am only accompanying them to the funeral today, not because I am a busybody."
"It was only because in April, Prefect Wei and Inspector Guo came to Yanziping to settle the exiled people under the 'military administration'. The two officials passed by the inn and specifically instructed me to pay attention to the surrounding area so as not to cause discord between the locals and the Han people due to language barriers and different customs, which would damage the hard-won harmony of our Nanguangxi Dong."
Zhebierjia's face was ashen as he coldly looked at Agu's family, his tone filled with suppressed anger: "What exactly happened with these twenty taels of silver?"
“No, that’s not true!” Ercuo’s brother-in-law hurriedly replied, “Qing Niangzi is right. It’s a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!”
Zhebierjia turned to me and said, "Qingniangzi, you heard what he just said. Since it's a misunderstanding, and you said you don't like meddling in other people's business, then please take your Han friends and leave this place as soon as possible."
"Oh?" I crossed my arms and met his gaze, calmly saying, "But right now—I don't think this is a trivial matter."
Zhebierjia angrily retorted, "Who do you think you are?! Just because you're using the names of Prefect Wei and Inspector Guo, you think you can disregard me, Zhebierjia, and cause trouble at Niumendong?"
I sneered, “Zhebierjia, I would like to ask—when Yan Yi invaded, who risked going into the mountains to carry salt; and who risked their life to beat the bronze drum to deliver the message?”
"If it weren't for my parents risking their lives for the people of Nanguang, this area of streams and caves would have been deserted long ago! Do you think you could stand here peacefully, holding a rattan whip, and beating your own people?!"
"You!" Zhebierjia was so angry that veins bulged on his forehead. He pointed at me and said, "Guards! Tie her up and take her to sacrifice to the mountain god!"
"Don't do anything foolish!" I coldly swept my gaze across the crowd. "Treating kindness with enmity, the mountain god will surely punish his entire family!"
A moment of silence fell over the room and its surroundings.
With a loud thud, Zhebierjia slammed his rattan whip onto the empty coffin: "I, Zhebierjia, am the headman of Niumendong! The master of the mountain area! This half-barbarian has come to cause trouble at the funeral, tie her up and put her aside!"
"Zhebierjia!" I shouted, "As a chieftain, you are protecting your own clan and disregarding the lives of other clansmen!"
"A mere mountain stronghold owner dares to act tough in front of me! My mother and daughter are both eagles from Nanguang Mountain who can cross sinkholes and beat bronze drums! My Qingcheng Inn has been located on Bating Road for over thirty years, relying on the word 'righteousness'!"
"Tie me up and sacrifice me to the mountain god, then go and cast a divination over there to see if your lifespan is long enough!"
"Fine, I'll fight!" Zhe Bierjia flung away the rattan whip, pulled seven copper coins from his blue turban, glared at me, and said, "You old hag, by the mountain god's grace, I'll wager my life on you with the Seven Star Divination, do you dare?!"
"Seven Star Divination" is a gambling game widely popular in the Mahu, Nanguang, and Shimen Fan areas. It involves taking seven copper coins with different year marks, with the face side being yang and the smooth side being yin. The coin with more yang sides wins.
This was because the people of the "Three Barbarian Tribes of the Bo Road" were too enthusiastic about gambling, betting on money, goods, and people—they gambled on everything. The large-scale betting of copper coins further complicated border controls on copper and iron. Therefore, both the Dali Kingdom and the Song Dynasty strictly prohibited this vice.
I raised an eyebrow at him: "What's there to be afraid of?"
Just then, Qu Bu led the people from Yanziping into the house. Wang Yunhui and Aunt Xu grabbed me from both sides and said urgently, "Qingcheng, don't act rashly!"
"Yes, be careful not to fall into his trap!"
"Don't worry." I patted them both and whispered, "If I win, I'll decide; if I lose, I can just deny it. There won't be any danger; Mr. Liu has a way to help me."
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