The cuckoo took the small pendant from his bosom. The small pendant was made of bone, three centimeters wide and five centimeters long, with a dry brown color, and the front was simply engraved with the face of an old man with a long beard.

I don't know how many years the pendant has existed, exuding an ancient and mysterious atmosphere.

Walking to the side of the earthen kang, the cuckoo saw that Ling Zikai did not wake up, so he had the courage to put the pendant on his chest, and said silently:

"Ancestral God of the Mountain, please bestow your great and noble 'Kut' on this kind boy, and let him become a brave 'shaman' to protect all living beings in these 100,000 mountains!"

Immediately, while the cuckoo kept muttering some words that he couldn't understand at all, he stared at the small pendant on Ling Zikai's chest with his eyes.

Time is passing slowly.

The pendant on Ling Zikai's chest did not change in the slightest.

Cuckoo was a little disappointed.

Could it be that what the ancestors left behind is just a legend?

In a trance, the cuckoo seemed to see a ray of white light emitted from the pendant, and it suddenly burrowed into Ling Zikai's chest.

The cuckoo thought he was dazzled, but when he looked again, he found that the pendant was gone.

Looking at Ling Zikai's empty chest, Du Juan trembled with excitement, and kept saying in his mouth: "The ancestral god has appeared!

Immediately after, she knelt down and bowed respectfully to Ling Zikai three times.

This night, Ling Zikai had a strange dream.

He found himself in a dense forest: green trees, wild flowers, sika deer strolling gracefully by the stream, monkeys wandering among the trees...... It's like entering a fairyland.

Suddenly, an old man with white hair and white beard appeared in front of him, and asked himself with a kind face:

Child, would you like to be a shaman?

What is a shaman?

The shaman is the guardian of this forest, and his duty is to protect all the creatures in this forest from harm!

Are you willing to be this Guardian?

Are there fierce beasts in this mountain?

Of course there are! There are tigers, black bears, wild wolves, poisonous snakes, etc., are you afraid?

Of course I'm afraid, how can I destroy them with my strength?.

Hahaha!

Rest assured, as long as you become a guardian, I will give you wisdom and strength!

Then I'm willing to be a guardian!

When you become a shaman, your life, your soul, will merge with this mountain and this forest, and you will never be separated!

Remember?

And the mountains, the forest, never separated!

When Ling Zikai woke up, it was already the next morning.

The dream I had just had was still in my mind, not only the scene was clear, but even the voice of the white-bearded old man was still in my ears. Ling Zikai felt a little strange, he was obviously dreaming, how could he have a real feeling!

I remember when I was in college, I once listened to an old professor's lecture on religious beliefs.

It talks about a religious belief in the northern minority areas called shamanism.

The shamans in the religion seem to be called shamans.

It is said that he thinks about it day and dreams at night, and he has never been in contact with shamanism before, how could he suddenly have such a strange dream!

Just when Ling Zikai was thinking wildly, the door of the wing room opened gently, revealing a delicate face, without any decoration, plain and fresh. After seeing Ling Zikai sitting on the kang with crystal eyes, he pushed the door and walked in: "Are you awake? There are many people in the town, all of whom want to send my father up the mountain!"

Ling Zikai also heard the voices of many people outside the wing, and he was busy getting off the kang at the moment.

After walking out of the room, brushing his teeth and washing his face, the cuckoo brought him a breakfast and said, "Hurry up and eat, there will be a funeral later!"

The tone was still calm, but it was less polite than yesterday, more casual, and there was a faint feeling that Ling Zikai was his own family.

The burial site was chosen in the Yunhai Forest Farm contracted by Ling Zikai's father before his death. It is seven or eight miles away from Yunhai Town.

There were more than 50 people who followed the funeral, and the funeral was presided over by Wu Dashan.

Ling Zikai and Du Juan wore white cloth on their heads and walked at the front of the team with soul flags in their hands. The urn was placed on a horse's back. The rest of the mourners followed.

After walking for nearly an hour, we arrived at the forest farm and selected a birch forest as the grave site. With the help of everyone, digging the pit, burying it, filling the soil, the whole process did not take much time.

There is a newly built tomb in the quiet birch forest. The spirit flags on the grave made a rattling sound in the mountain wind. Only two people were left in front of the tomb, Du Juan and Ling Zikai.

"Zikai, since you have come here, let's go and see this forest farm left by your father!" The cuckoo did not allow Ling Zikai to refuse, and took the lead in walking towards a few wooden houses outside the birch forest.

Ling Zikai hesitated for a moment and then followed.

There are six cabins in total, and each cabin is about two meters apart. It is made of wooden rafters with a diameter of more than 20 centimeters, and doors and windows are open on the sides of the house. Judging by the color of the rafters, the wooden houses have been around for many years.

Cuckoo pushed open one of the spired wooden houses, and after entering the door, he turned his head to look at Ling Zikai and motioned for him to follow.

There is more than 20 square meters of space in the wooden house, because the windows are relatively small, so the light is a little dark. In addition to an earthen kang, there are several wooden boxes. There were some cups, clothes and other daily necessities thrown on the box.

On the wall facing the door hung a yellowed map. At the top of the map are written a few words: "Yunhai Forest Farm Area Map".

A large area in the shape of a lotus leaf is circled with thick red coils on the map, which must be the jurisdiction of the forest farm. In the area, thinner lines are used to draw blocks of different sizes, and some numbers are marked next to them.

"This wooden house is where my godfather lives!"

Seeing that Ling Zikai was paying attention to the map, Du Juan walked to his side and introduced, "This is the map of Yunhai Forest Farm. The forest farm is located in the north of the Xing'an Mountains, on the left side of the upper reaches of the Yunhai River. The whole field has an area of more than 100,000 acres. There are five canyons, seven rivers, a lake, and a meadow. Except for a primeval sub-forest in the north, an agricultural area is in the west. The rest are new planted forest areas. ”

The cuckoo spoke in one breath, obviously knowing the entire forest area well.

"What do these numbers mean?" Ling Zikai asked.

"The numbers indicate the number of trees planted in the area, and the year in which they were planted, and what varieties they were."

"Yunhai Forest Farm was originally a state-owned forest farm in Yunhai County, but because of excessive logging of forest resources, the original dense forest has become a barren barren mountain. Ten years ago, your father contracted the entire forest farm. The contract period is 70 years. According to the forestry policy at that time, the first five years of the contract period were free of contract fees, and half of the fees were paid for the second five years. Ten years later, that is, from this year onwards, the full contract fee will have to be paid, which will be five million per year. ”

In other words, the forest farm is now facing a debt of nearly 27 million. Ling Zikai asked in disbelief: "So how much does the forest farm earn every year?"

"The current forest farm has not been able to generate any economic benefits. The cuckoo said bitterly: "Moreover, in the next five years, the forest farm will not have much profit!"

Ling Zikai calculated for a moment and said in a deep voice: "In five years, the debt of the forest farm will reach sixty million. ”

The cuckoo shook his head and said, "Every year, the forest farm needs to invest two million in seedlings, fertilizers, manual management and other aspects. Five years is 10 million. ”

Ling Zikai couldn't help but feel the urge to scold his mother. No wonder at the time, Wu Dashan said that these debts were a bottomless pit.

"Why didn't you plant fast forests in the first place? Some of them can grow into mature forests in seven or eight years, or even four or five years. ”

"When I contracted the forest farm, my godfather planned to plant an instant forest, but I stopped him. ”

"Why?" Ling Zikai asked puzzled.

"Because of the single tree species in the fast-growing forest, the plant community is simple, which will seriously damage the ecological environment and cause soil erosion. Moreover, fast-growing forests have a short growth cycle and require the use of a large amount of chemical fertilizers, which can poison the soil over time. ”

Du Juan felt that he was still unsatisfied, and continued: "In addition, most of the fast-growing forest species introduced are alien species, which have strong vitality and are difficult to break their roots, which threatens native species and will change the entire natural ecological balance. Native trees in fast-growing forests are difficult to survive and can be used to grow other crops in the future. ”

"Fast-growing forests usually have the ability to absorb water and fertilizer, which often makes the plants around the fast-growing forest unable to survive and destroys the diversity of vegetation. ”

"He also has a nickname called Pump! After planting an instant forest, the soil will become loose and desertified. Usually, in the cols with dense vegetation, we can find springs and streams. However, where fast-growing forests grow, it is difficult to find springs and streams in even the densest areas due to frequent logging. So ......"

Ling Zikai quietly listened to Du Juan's eloquent talk: "Do you think that the purpose of our contracting forest farm is to make money, soil erosion, and the ecological environment, which is something that the state should manage." ”

"Back then, my godfather also thought I was stupid, saying that other people's families were planting fast forests, and the state didn't object, so how could I get to our house, it wouldn't work!"

Ling Zikai nodded with some sympathy.

"There are several other forest farms around Yunhai Forest Farm, all of which were contracted in the same year as us. They are planting fast forests, and now they have begun to harvest a lot of timber, earning tens of millions of dollars a year. If it weren't for my opposition at the beginning, perhaps, there would not be the current predicament, and my father would not have suffered this flying disaster and left this world. ”