With a vision for the future, Long Yifeng and Xiao Jing maintained an ambiguous and intimate relationship, but due to Xiao Jing's insistence, the two never dared to break through the final bottom line. However, on the second night that the two had intimacy, Long Yifeng had successfully stood on the same starting line with Xiao Jing, and was no longer limited to three-point contact.

Friday is the most exciting day for students, as two days of free time are about to be ushered in. Junior high schools in remote mountainous areas are not as good as urban schools, and there are not as many after-school cram schools, and during these two days, the students are basically like herding cattle, free. For the boarding students, the two-day weekend vacation is the day to go home to supply food and help the family do farm work, although the family has a large population, Long Yifeng is no exception, if the school has nothing special, he still has to go home every week, and he has no place to go if he doesn't go home, and there are basically no students on the campus on weekends.

This Friday was the day of the market in the town, and Long Yifeng and his cousin finished their last class, simply packed up their things and rushed home.

It takes about two hours to walk from the town to Yumatang, and nearly an hour of it is a sheep's intestine trail, which is deserted. Although the previous section of the road is relatively easy to walk, it is only because there are many surrounding villages and the road is relatively wide, and it is not open to traffic. As a long-term pedestrian road, this is called Shengtungou Valley, with a small stream in the middle, and you can go up the stream to Yumatang, the hometown of Longyifeng.

From the downstream to the middle reach, there are more than a dozen villages scattered on both sides of the creek, and when it is time to catch the market, the villagers always carry a load full of crops to the town early to sell, in exchange for a load full of goods to pick up, sometimes buy fertilizer, sometimes buy grain, and also buy various farm tools and the like.

Under normal circumstances, when the villagers go to the market in the morning, they are in a hurry to take the materials to the town and sell them at a good price, and there are few halfway breaks for a long time, and after the materials are sold in the afternoon, the materials that should be purchased are also purchased, and people are relaxed. As long as the weather is acceptable and the time is still early, people who rush to the market often stop and go, while bragging and chatting with friends around them, and some people who are far away have to rest several times.

Gradually, several places with water and trees to hide from the rain became a fixed place for people to rest, and some villagers started small businesses here, buying snacks such as cigarettes, alcohol, melon seeds, and sugar. People who came back from the market found a place to sit down near here, and the parents chatted for a short time, in groups of three or five, talking highly, which was very lively.

Some people chatted happily, or met friends who had not been seen for a while, and would drag them to the small shop to drink two cups, which did not cost much, ranging from five cents to one piece, and then accompanied by a sugar or two or biscuits. There are not many things, and the cost is small, but it represents a kind of enthusiasm, and the courtesy is light and affectionate.

Those who are popular will have to drink several times or even more than ten times when they rush down. Therefore, along the way, there are many people who drink high. Of course, it is a kind of face to be able to have a drink. If no one invites or does not invite anyone at all, then others will say that the person has no friends or is too stingy. In this way, I invite you to the whole countryside, and the next time I meet you, the business of the small shop will be very prosperous.

Long Yifeng and his cousins in the same class generally no longer rest on the road every time they go home, except on rush days, because in the place where adults gather to rest, you can hear a lot of stories and interesting anecdotes there, and you can also learn a lot by watching the fortune teller who set up a stall there to help others do the math.

As usual, the two of them went to Fengmuping, the most populous village with the largest population, to find a place with a large number of people to sit down and listen to the adults talk about various topics.

There are a lot of people today, fortune tellers, drinkers, and people with children, and it is very lively. Suddenly, I don't know that the villager suddenly shouted:

"Look, there's two baskets flying up there, and they're fighting. ”

The back basket is flying!

That's big news. The so-called dog bites people is a common thing, and people bite dogs is definitely big news.

Everyone who heard the shouting stood up and looked to the side. I saw that on the field, two back baskets flew up in the air, like two confrontational roosters, entangled together, and the ground was scattered with common things in the countryside, which were probably dropped from the two back baskets in the air. Beside him, two women were screaming, presumably the owner of the basket. On the one hand, they were amazed by the grotesque scene in front of them, and on the other hand, they were also saddened that the things they had bought with money were thrown to the ground. Besides, if your back basket is broken, it will be a lot of expenses!

"Where did these two masters come from? ”

The more experienced people in the crowd muttered that this phenomenon was actually a Miao family wizard or witch fighting the law. The sorcerer is also called "Ba Dou Bear" in the Miao people, and the witch is also called "Grass Ghost Woman", "Ba Bucket Bear" can communicate between people, ghosts and gods, and enjoys a high reputation among Miao compatriots, and the reputation of "Grass Ghost Woman" is relatively much worse, almost a symbol of an evil group. The muttering villager was more tactful, and he was afraid of offending the wizard or the grass ghost woman who didn't know how to hide there, so he called him "Master".

Long Yifeng has always been very fond of listening to adults talk about all kinds of strange anecdotes, and his grandfather often talked about such things with a group of old friends around him in the village. He had heard his grandfather say that in the area of the Miao people, there were many kinds of existences similar to mages.

It is said that Long Yifeng's second grandfather has traveled many places, and it is said that he has seen a person who can borrow things empty-handed, that is, he can take out what he wants. However, it doesn't seem to be an arbitrary request without a price, if you borrow something from someone else out of thin air, you have to repay it with the corresponding thing, and if you don't pay it back, it is said that you will have to reduce your life.

At that time, Long Yifeng's second grandfather was very interested in such a spell, so the master said to him: "Now there is no one before and after, I will hand over my skills to you."

Long Yifeng's second grandfather has been doing things all over the year round, has courage, and has a lot of experience in the rivers and lakes, as soon as he heard this sentence from the master, he quickly replied to him: "How can there be no one, there are people before and after." I don't want to learn from you. ”

According to Long Yifeng's grandfather, in Miaojiang, anyone who learns some spells needs to "recognize the way", and the so-called "knowing the way" is to sacrifice something in exchange for the spells you have learned. He also listed the stories of many people, some "recognized the way" and said how they would die in the future, and some simply reduced their age, and then they all worked out one by one.

There was once a person who wanted to learn witchcraft, but he was afraid of "knowing the way", and he was even more afraid of falling into a bad ending, so he cunningly said that he would be bitten to death by a frog in the future. He thought that if the frog wanted to be immortal no matter what, then he would not die of the oath of "recognizing the way". However, he eventually died because of the frog, it is said that one day, a frog jumped on his instep in a hurry, he shook his leg at random, hoping to shake the frog away, but unfortunately a poisonous snake bit the blood vessels of the instep, and finally died in time (some speculate that the snake was able to chase the frog). In this way, he also died on the "way to know".

According to the analysis of the experienced grandfather, if Long Yifeng's second grandfather promised the master to learn his witchcraft, the master's potential meaning was to cut off his children and grandchildren, and the implicit meaning of the sentence "no one before and after" was that there were no descendants to follow, if the person who wanted to learn did not understand its inner meaning, just understood that there was no one on the road, and he could learn his witchcraft immediately, but even if he recognized the "road" of "cutting off children and grandchildren". Obviously, Long Yifeng's second grandfather understood the hidden meaning of his language, so he said that there are people everywhere, don't learn it.

"That's too dangerous."

Long Yifeng looked at the two backpacks that were flying and rolling in the air, and couldn't help but think of what his grandfather said. Grandpa also said that people who will know that kind of evil arts, they are not like the authentic wizards of the Miao people, after formal apprenticeship, hard training and finally learned a skill, can solve difficulties for the people, go up to astronomy, know geography, can also talk to the underworld, negotiate with ghosts and gods, is the Miao folk messenger of justice.

In fact, the situation of wizards varies throughout the country. In Guizhou, there are many kinds of witchcraft and legends about witchcraft, many places have records about "grass ghost woman" and also called "Gu woman", the real Gu woman's eyes are like cinnabar, there are red, green, green and yellow stripes on the belly, abdomen, arms and backs, there is no cobwebs and ant nests in the real Gu woman's home, and the woman has to place a basin of water in the middle of the hall every day, and spit the Gu worms into the basin to eat water when no one is around. The true Gu Po can do the Dharma in the mountains, or put a penny in the clouds for the dragon dance, or put a cloak in the sky to make a bird fly, but if it can't, it is fake. After all the true Gu women are killed, there must be Gu worms in their abdomen when they are cut open.

Generally speaking, Gu art is only passed on among women, such as a certain Gu woman has three women, one of them must practice Gu, and there are also other women in the village, if a woman goes to Gu Po's house to learn female red, and is photographed by Gu Po, she may secretly cast a spell, and suddenly inadvertently say to the woman one day, "You have it!" The woman will have symptoms after returning home, if you want to treat this disease, you have to turn to Gu Po, and Gu Po will learn Gu art as an exchange condition, and if you don't learn, the disease will not be cured. Because everything is done in secret, the rituals and incantations that are taught are unknown to outsiders.

In the minds of the Miao people, the sorcerer is the master of exorcism and communication between yin and yang, and belongs to justice. Whenever there is a disaster, sickness, or bad weather, you should ask a sorcerer to come and see it, and witches are purely a symbol of evil, and they are hated and feared by people. Generally, the use of the basket fighting method is mostly done by witches. It is said that after the witch's Gu poison reaches a certain level, if she does not find a target to vent, her eyes will begin to turn red, and then her whole body will ache, and life is worse than death, knowing that she will explode and die.

Therefore, the more experienced adults present believe that this basket battle is a way for the grass ghost woman to vent, and of course the possibility of the two grass ghost women fighting. Everyone looked at the two back baskets that were fiercely intertwined in the air, feeling curious and scared, and they didn't dare to speak casually, always worried that they would accidentally be heard by the grass ghost woman who might be next to them, and the suffering in the future would be enough.

The two back baskets collided many times in the air, and the grappling was estimated to be more than ten minutes without a win, and in the end they all fell to the ground, and people walked away scattered, and the closer people were whispering to each other, probably guessing which one was the grass ghost woman, and why they were fighting together so blatantly. Under normal circumstances, the grass ghost woman belongs to the shady forces and groups, who will do that kind of evil magic, it is to be alienated by people, because people are afraid of her. According to legend, before the liberation, some places even invited wizards to suppress and arrest the grass ghost woman and kill her.

Long Yifeng and his cousin Long Haigang were very excited and curious. After all, such opportunities and scenes are generally rare, especially after the liberation, the countryside has gradually opened up, there are many stories about the grass ghost woman, and I have heard that many people have been hit by the Gu released by the grass ghost woman, but I really have never seen such a fierce scene as today. Unlike the male wizard performances I have seen before, this kind of evil fight, it is estimated that many people will never see it in their lifetime.

With the episode of the flying basket, people have a taboo in their hearts, and they are unwilling and afraid to stay here for a long time, and they are even more afraid of saying the wrong thing here, so they say goodbye one after another and go to their respective hometowns.

Long Yifeng and his cousin had no choice but to go home, happily discussing what had happened.