In the time of waiting for the second baby and the boat, we appreciated the intangible cultural heritage of the Tujia family, such as the Nu opera and the hand-waving dance.

I stood in the audience and looked at the dancers wearing new national costumes, I couldn't help but feel a wave of disgust, these people were smiling and dancing those dances from nowhere, I couldn't see the real appearance of the Tujia people from them, in the end, they were all a group of migrant workers, they danced how others asked them to dance, as for what was the opera, and how it should be danced, they didn't care at all.

Just when I couldn't stand it anymore and was about to leave, Qiu Yan next to me grabbed me.

I turned my head to look at Qiu Yan and saw that she was looking at the stage tensely, as if she had seen something amazing.

I hurried to look on the stage, and I saw a man with a mask coming out of the middle of the crowd, and as soon as this person appeared, he became the center of the stage, and the mask on his face was almost exactly the same as the one we found in the coffin.

"Ghost Head Village?!" I cried out.

"No, the host introduced it just now, this is a puppet mask, and he also said that the puppet masks are all the same, with the faces of ghosts and gods engraved on them, but I didn't expect this mask to be so similar to the one we found!" Qiu Yan explained to me.

At this moment, the puppeteers on the stage suddenly raised their canes and faced the sky, while the others knelt on one knee, and they whispered songs that I didn't understand.

Suddenly, the kneeling figures slowly stood up and formed a circle around the masked man, and then they slowly dispersed, and when they dispersed, two lying figures appeared on the ground, and the masked man took his cane and made two strokes on one of them, and then two more on the other, as if he had transferred something from one to the other.

The others then carried the first person off the stage, while the other lying slowly stood up, while the masked figure retreated behind the scenes and the other dancers bowed to the person who stood up.

The dance ended here, the dancers bowed, the audience applauded like thunder, and the host came to the stage and said:

"What I just performed was the sacrificial ceremony of the Tujia people, which means that the Tujia people carry on the past and live endlessly, well, the following performance is ~~"

I didn't want to listen to the host anymore, because my mind was already a mess.

Before the performance began, the host introduced some of the Nu opera culture, although I didn't listen to Qiu Yan as seriously, but I still remember a little bit, what I remember most clearly is that the host said that the Nu opera is actually a kind of Tujia sacrificial culture, in fact, the Nu opera is the same as those indigenous dances in Africa, it is a kind of rituals of sacrificing, praying to the gods, and asking ghosts.

According to the host's introduction, combined with the dance just now, I thought to myself that this soul-shifting thing should not be true, right?

I was thinking about it, Qiu Yan suddenly pulled my sleeve and asked me to go with her, I looked back at Xiang Wei and them, only to see them munching melon seeds, their eyes staring at the stage with relish.

I smiled wryly and followed Qiu Yan out of the crowd, Qiu Yan was in a hurry, I didn't know where to go, I silently followed her, and suddenly found that she was walking to the back of the stage.

I didn't have time to stop it, so I saw Qiu Yan lift the curtain of the backstage and get in, I heard someone inside immediately shouting that this was the backstage, and asked Qiu Yan to go out quickly, I was worried that there would be an accident, so I also opened the curtain.

When she opened the curtain, she saw that Qiu Yan didn't care about others yelling at her, and walked directly to the dancer who had just taken off her mask, Qiu Yan said something to him, and then the dancer smiled and followed Qiu Yan out.

Qiu Yan led the dancer and me to a quieter place, and then she asked the dancer what the mask meant.

The dancer shook his head, and suddenly stretched out his right hand to Qiu Yan, who also shook his head, and then took out two hundred yuan and put it in the dancer's hand.

"Can you say it now?" Qiu Yan asked with a little disdain.

The dancer took the money and put it in the sky, looked at it twice, then put it in his trouser pocket, and said:

"I'm just a dancer, I don't know too many things, but I've worn a lot of masks, and I remember the choreographer told us that he had to wear different masks for different performances.

For example, if you pray for rain and worship God, then you have to wear a human mask to ward off evil spirits, then you have to wear a mask of ghosts and gods, so ah, although these masks are similar, they actually have their own uses. ”

"And what about the one you just wore? Is it a god or a ghost? Qiu Yan continued to ask.

The dancer smiled and said:

"What I danced just now was the bridge of resurrection, of course, wearing a mask of a god, and that mask was engraved with Chi You's face!"

I was stunned for a moment and said:

"Chiyou? It's the first time I've seen someone ask God for Chiyou, why, he still cares about people's life and death? ”

The dancer squinted at me and said disdainfully:

"This is the sacrifice of the Tujia family! Each ethnic minority has its own characteristics, is it possible that I have to explain them to you one by one? ”

I was so choked that I couldn't speak, so I had to retreat to the side, and after Qiu Yan chatted with him a few more words, she let him go.

After the dancers left, Qiu Yan said to me:

"It seems that there are still some clues in this village, and we can't let them go easily."

I nodded, and then went back to my accommodation with Qiu Yan.

......

Two days later, Xu Jinshan arrived with Erwa, who was very happy to see us and brought us tea made by Old Man Peng.

"Brother Zimu, you don't know, the things you gave us, you sold a pot, and it sold for tens of thousands of yuan, if all those things were sold, I would make a fortune with him!" Erwa pulled me and said excitedly.

I thought to myself that the old man was moving quite fast, and he had already sold things after only a few days of our separation.

I asked Erwa if the stone was sold, and when Erwa heard this, she immediately took out a small cloth bag from her pocket and turned the stone out.

"Brother Zimu, you gave me this stone, I can't sell it!" Erwa said to me holding up a stone.

My heart is sour, this kid is wild and wild, I didn't expect to be so affectionate.

I don't know how long Miao Gu lasts, I was worried that Erwa's carrying the stone with him would affect his health, but seeing Erwa like this, I really can't bear to ask for the stone back.

At this time, Long Quan came over, he patted Erwa's head, made a joke with him, and then took the stone from his hand and looked at it, and said:

"It's just an ordinary jadeite, it shouldn't have any effect, Erwa, if you don't want to sell it, let your grandfather make a pendant for you, and you won't lose it if you wear it around your neck."

When the second baby heard this, she immediately grabbed the stone and smiled:

"If you want to, I'll go back and let me go down the mountain to do it for me!"

After that, Long Quan took the second child to play in the village.

Looking at Long Quan's back, I had some doubts in my heart, what he said just now seemed to be answering my questions, but it was like he didn't say anything, I thought back to the scene of contact with him during this time, I always felt that this person was very insightful, and behind his hippie smile, there seemed to be some ulterior secrets.

Not long after the second baby arrived, our boat also arrived, and the eldest brother ran to our hotel with his mobile phone in a hurry, saying that he had found two boats for us in one go.

We ran to the river to take a look, and found that the two boats were quite big, but they were too comfortable to talk about.

It turned out that these two boats were the kind of ferries that were specially used for ferrying, and there was only a small wheelhouse on board, and the rest of the space was a platform for loading cars.

To be honest, one of these ships could hold all of us, and two would be a bit redundant, and the eldest brother seemed to see that we were a little dissatisfied, so he explained:

"No one goes down to the river now, and the rafts are too small, so I spent a lot of energy on a boat like this."

I looked at the eldest brother's somewhat embarrassed look, then looked at the two boatmen in their fifties and sixties, and nodded to Qiu Yan.

The Qiu family has money, and they have already given a deposit of 1,000 yuan before, and now they can pay up to 2,000 yuan to cover both boats, including the introduction fee of the eldest brother.

Three thousand yuan is just a drop in the bucket for Qiu Yan, but for these two boatmen, more than 1,000 yuan per person may be equivalent to them running a boat for half a month.

Qiu Yan nodded to me, and then called the two boatmen ashore, and Qiu Yan gave each of them a thousand yuan, and then said that one would give a thousand yuan when they came back.

The eldest brother took out the previous deposit of 1,000 yuan and asked Qiu Yan how to divide the money, Qiu Yan smiled and said that even if it was his introduction fee.

So it's good to have money, after Qiu Yan sent the money, these three people were all overjoyed, and nodded and bowed to Qiu Yan, saying that if they have any requirements, they will definitely do their best to meet them.

That night, Qiu Yan asked Xiang Wei to call everyone and make some simple arrangements in the room.

Qiu Yan divided the people into two groups, one group was led by Xiang Wei, who was responsible for inquiring about the affairs of the Guitou Village near the ancient village of Wutang, and the other team was led by Qiu Yan and was responsible for going to the upper reaches of the Youshui River to find a place for sacrifice.

In addition, the two boats were also divided into two waves, one took us upstream, and the other stood by, Xu Jinshan left to take care of the equipment and luggage, and once the upstream was found, Xiang Wei took the equipment over.

Erwa and I are naturally in Qiu Yan's group, in this regard, Xiang Wei raised objections, he said that it is not safe in the deep mountains and night forests, he wants to stay by Qiu Yan's side, but Qiu Yan is not at ease, saying that she can only feel at ease if Xiang Wei stays, and Xiang Wei reluctantly agreed.

Early the next morning, we took our hiking bags and the dry food we had touched in the village yesterday, and set off early.

In the early morning, the river is surrounded by mist, sitting on the boat and looking at the green mountains and green forests on both sides, if it were not for the earth-shattering diesel engine on the ferry, this road can be regarded as refreshing.

Because the boat seemed a little slow when walking against the water, I was looking at the scenery while thinking about some things, and after passing through the incident of Pukeiling, I found that any small details may affect the future plan, so I wanted to try to think clearly before and after.

Suddenly, I thought of the conversation I had with the bosses last night, and from their words, I could tell that they seemed to know what was going on in the mountains, and that it had something to do with the exploration team.