Chapter 37 Pucang Village—A Handsome Man…
"Ring ring—"
A series of clear and melodious bell sounds, coming from afar, seemed to awaken people like a summons.
Cheng Ying suddenly opened her eyes. What came into view was a bed curtain covered with strange patterns and embroidered with blue butterflies. Two small oval silver bells hung on the sides of the curtain, swaying slightly with the breeze in the room and making a soft tinkling sound.
It turned out that the bell sound she heard in her dream was the sound of these two bells, each less than two fingers in size.
Cheng Ying stared blankly at the lifelike butterflies of different sizes on the bed curtains, which looked as if they were about to take flight at any moment. She remained stunned for a while before she remembered that she had fallen off Ayi Mountain and fainted.
She remembered hearing the voices of two young men before she fainted. Had she been rescued?
Cheng Ying tried to get up and found that the excruciating pain, the feeling of her bones breaking apart, and the inability to move her body that she had experienced when she fell off the cliff were gone. She was able to get out of bed, but her body was still in pain.
She looked down and realized that her green post office uniform was gone. She was now wearing a purple short-sleeved top with a wide collar and a matching pleated skirt. Both the top and skirt were embroidered with exquisite peach blossom patterns, flowers, birds, and butterflies in silver thread. They looked very beautiful and delicate, and the clothes were also soft, breathable, cool, and comfortable to wear.
In addition, her exposed arms, legs, and even neck were covered in dark green ointment, and she had a strange medicinal smell.
The smell was a mixture of strong, bitter medicinal herbs, strange putrid odors, blood, and fur; in short, it was very unpleasant to smell.
At this moment, Cheng Ying had already guessed that it was the Miao people of Pucang Village who had saved her. She was wearing Miao clothing and had Miao medicine applied to her, which was why she no longer felt the pain of being unable to move.
I just don't know who changed her clothes and applied medicine while she was unconscious for several days, and where Dahuang is? Do her parents know about her falling down the mountain?
Filled with questions, Cheng Ying looked around the room she was in.
The room she lived in was a wooden house similar to Zhuo Zuilan's. The layout of the room was no different from the rooms where Han people lived. There was a carved wooden bed at the back, and a bedside table next to the bed. On the table was a bowl with some dried-up, dark medicine. At the foot of the bed were two small carved wooden wardrobes. Opposite the bed, about five meters away, there were two wooden windows that opened outwards, and a cool breeze blew in from the windows.
Under the window, there was a long rectangular table with some bottles and jars and a stone mortar for grinding medicine on it. On the left and right sides of the table, there were some wooden chairs, wooden basins, clothes racks, and shelves for washing basins. There was also a white enamel water cup, a hot water bottle with a red tin shell, a silver fish mouth, and the words "Labor is the most glorious" printed on it. On the wall, there were several portraits of great men and some big red slogans such as "Break down feudalism, eliminate the four olds, and do not believe in superstition".
The entire house is full of Miao ethnic characteristics, yet it also keeps pace with the times, exuding a rustic and old-fashioned atmosphere.
There was a strong musty smell in the house. I don't know if it's because it's located in the valley below Ayi Mountain, in the dense forest of Pucang Village. The area at the foot of the mountain is always damp and it rains frequently, which makes the house smell damp and musty.
Cheng Ying got out of bed, wearing a pair of black cloth shoes with embroidered red flowers that were lying on the floor.
The cloth shoes were the right size for her feet; they fit her perfectly. The shoes had fine stitches, soft soles and uppers, and were very comfortable to wear.
Cheng Ying thought to herself that the person who saved her was quite thoughtful, as the clothes and shoes he gave her were quite suitable.
She put on her shoes, stood on the ground and moved her body a bit. Apart from some pain in various joints, there was nothing wrong with her, such as broken bones in her hands and feet, or internal organs that had been ruptured.
She looked down again to examine the wounds on her body. Apart from some abrasions on her limbs from falling down the mountain and scraping against the branches, there were no other obvious injuries, or rather, there were injuries but she couldn't see them.
For example, when she was going down the mountain, her right hand rubbed against the iron chain and bled. It was covered with a thick layer of dark green ointment. She only felt some pain in her palm and a slight coolness from the ointment. Other than that, she didn't feel much.
The windows in the room faced south. Cheng Ying walked to the two windows that were carved with many Miao ethnic features and stood by the windows looking out.
Between two towering, continuous mountain ranges lies a very wide canyon. In the distance, there is a dense, impenetrable forest, while closer by, there is a small river, no more than three meters wide and of unknown length, flowing with clear mountain water.
On the right side of the river, there is a relatively low mountain range, only about 200 meters high. On those low mountains, you can see a large number of stilted houses built against the mountainside.
Each stilted house has three or more floors, and the distance between each household is not far. Many stilted houses have a corridor-like platform on the second floor, where Miao people dressed in Miao costumes walk around, and some people stand on the platform, looking towards where she is.
Opposite those stilted houses, on the left side of the river, there is also a large area of low mountains, all of which have been cultivated into farmland.
The land was divided into plots by ridges, and various crops were planted in them. Half of the land was terraced, planted with rice, which was a yellowish-green color and had not yet been harvested. It was probably because the temperature in the valley was relatively low and the crops were not yet mature.
Below those low mountains, near the riverbank, lies a small, flat area no more than a hundred meters wide and of unknown length.
In these places, a row of stilted houses is built along the river. These stilted houses are very spacious and magnificent, and their roofs are all tiled, unlike other stilted houses on the mountain, many of which have thatched roofs.
Various guardian beasts are placed on the eaves of the stilted houses along the river, but like other stilted houses, the bottom is supported by thin and long wooden beams that densely support the weight of the entire house. From the outside, it has an incongruous and eerie feeling.
Among them, next to a very large stilted house, there is a wooden suspension bridge that connects to the opposite riverbank.
These stilted houses along the river seemed to be uninhabited, because Cheng Ying didn't see anyone walking around inside.
Beside the stilted houses by the river, there is a main road and several smaller paths leading in all directions. On the flat, empty spaces along these roads, some flowers, grasses, and medicinal herbs are planted, blooming with vibrant flowers, creating a beautiful scene reminiscent of a secluded paradise.
Cheng Yingwan never expected that there would be such a beautiful place in a remote canyon deep in the mountains.
No wonder Cheng Jiantong told her that the scenery inside Pucang Village was beautiful, but it was rainy and shrouded in mist and water vapor all year round. The surrounding area was full of dense forests with many snakes, insects, and rodents. People who didn't know the way could easily be bitten to death by poisonous snakes and insects if they wandered in.
For some reason, Cheng Ying recalled the swarms of colorful venomous snakes, insects, and spiders she had seen before she lost consciousness.
She was certain she had seen it, and it wasn't her imagination, but there were no bite marks on her body from these things. What was going on?
Her immediate priority was to find the person who saved her and get some answers, and also to find out where Big Yellow was.
The stilted house where Cheng Ying lived was located on the left side at the foot of a low hill in the middle. It was surrounded by a large bamboo forest with tall bamboo that almost completely covered the three-story stilted house.
Cheng Ying's room was on the third floor. When she stepped out of her room, there was a wooden corridor less than two meters wide. Her room was on the far right, and there were three more rooms like that on the left. It seemed that this stilted house was quite large.
She walked to the middle and went down a wooden staircase.
This stilted house is quite old; the wood is grayish-white. As she walked down the wooden steps, each step made a slight creaking sound.
Soon, Cheng Ying went down to the second floor.
The layout of the second and third floors is completely different. The second floor has no rooms, but a large, open living room.
The living room was both simple and complex in its furnishings, with carved wooden windows on all four sides, but all of them were closed, making the living room very dimly lit.
Inside, there were tables, chairs, and even a wooden sofa, as well as various other amenities for entertaining guests. In the very center was a square, sunken stove with a long, dark iron hook hanging from it, from which hung a kettle for boiling water. Around the stove were small pieces of firewood, indicating that the family usually cooked their meals here.
The entire living room ceiling was devoid of electrical wiring and light bulbs, and the room itself was dark and looked extremely outdated.
Cheng Ying looked around and her gaze was drawn to the darkest area of the living room, the wall closest to the cliff.
There was a long table with many bottles and jars on it. A tall, thin young man was standing in front of the table, holding an oval-shaped pebble and pounding something in a mortar.
Hearing Cheng Ying come downstairs, the man stopped what he was doing, turned around to look at Cheng Ying, and said, "You're awake."
The somewhat familiar, pleasant voice, and the young man's stunningly handsome face that could be seen even in the dim light, made Cheng Ying subconsciously hold her breath.
The man looked to be no more than twenty years old. He had long, narrow eyebrows, a high nose, thin lips, and fair skin. He had a face that was more beautiful, delicate, and alluring than any woman's.
Yet, there was no trace of femininity on his face; one could tell at a glance that he was a man. He also had short, ear-length hair with wispy bangs that partially obscured his long, slanted eyebrows, making his features appear less heroic and more gentle and beautiful.
He wore a deep blue Miao robe with a front opening embroidered with many blue butterflies and flowers, and matching trousers. He stood in the shadows, making it difficult to see his exact features, yet he still managed to amaze everyone who saw him.
Cheng Ying had seen many handsome men in her past life, but she had never seen a man as handsome as the one in front of her, so handsome that she stopped breathing for fear of disturbing him with her words.
Cheng Ying was stunned for a while before she reacted, "You saved me?"
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