Early the next morning, at six o'clock, Master Duan came knocking on my door. I was dazed by the strange face on the window last night, and looked at the window, thinking that I was probably dazzled.

I opened the door and found that Master Duan was ready to go, and I wanted him to wait a while so I could freshen up, but his attitude was very firm, and he insisted that I go with him immediately. Although I feel unhappy in my heart, after all, I am a guest, not to mention that this is the first time I have gone out to do errands for my father, and I don't want to go back and let his old man laugh at me. So, I just cleaned up and hit the road hastily.

Or the dilapidated Santana, this time, I sat in the passenger seat and asked, "Master Duan, where are we going this time?" ”

"Go to the mountains." Master Duan said lightly, he didn't seem to have any leisure to chat with me. I'm not a cheap bone, and seeing people's cold attitudes, I don't say anything more, leaning on the seat of the car and taking out my mobile phone while listening to songs while eating bread bought from the proprietress of the store.

The car headed southwest, and it looked like it was going into the mountains. At about ten o'clock, the car had already driven to a very remote small mountainous area, I didn't know what kind of mountain this was, and he didn't answer when I asked Master Duan. All I know is that there is no asphalt paved asphalt road here, but all dirt roads, and in front of it, there is only a path between the dense trees, and cars cannot drive into it.

At this time, Master Duan stopped the car, and I saw a burly middle-aged man standing at the edge of the mountain forest, wearing a white short coat on the upper body and dark blue coarse cloth pants on the bottom, which seemed to be the costume of an ethnic minority. Master Duan pointed to the man and said to me, "He is a Miao man, his name is Dazhao, which means tiger in Miao language, you just follow him." ”

I got out of the car with seven points of doubt and three points of anger, thinking to myself, could it be that I was thrown here like this? It is said that the ethnic minority mountain people in southern Yunnan are fierce, looking at the appearance of the man with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, and then looking at the people around, I am really a little frightened.

Master Duan seemed to see my thoughts, and said directly: "Don't worry, follow him, there is nothing wrong, I will pick you up here when the time comes." ”

I nodded, not wanting Master Duan to see my timidity, so I got out of the car and walked straight to the plainly dressed Miao Dazhao.

As soon as I came to him, he nodded at Master Duan, who understood and drove away.

"You're Fan Peixi?" As soon as Nadazhao spoke, I immediately recognized his voice, and this was not the man who had spoken at the door of my room last night, and I could not mishear that thick nasal voice. I nodded, and he continued, "Come with me." ”

So, I followed the Miao man into the forest path. At the beginning, there was still a road under my feet, but as I walked, I found that there was no road under my feet, and I was completely stepping on weeds. If it weren't for this calling to guide me, I would have been lost here. I used to hear my father say that there are many poor mountains and dense forests in southern Xinjiang, and daring to break into the mountains and forests alone without a guide is tantamount to killing yourself. I didn't believe it at first, but as soon as I came today, I felt it deeply. As far as the eye can see, it is as if the scene around you will always be the same. Moreover, the mountain is extremely undulating, and when you walk up and down, you look up to see the sun, but the shadows of the trees are mottled, and you can't tell exactly which direction the sun is in at this time.

Probably because I lacked exercise, I didn't go far, I was already tired and out of breath, but Da Zhao didn't mean to stop at all, seeing me panting heavily, he just said lightly: "There is still a long way to go, I can't rest now, otherwise I won't be able to reach the village before dark." ”

"Before dark?" As soon as I heard this, I almost didn't sit on the ground, and I dared to think that this was going to go for a day. But I have no other way, and if I don't keep up with the calling, I'll probably get lost in this mountain forest very soon.

We walked for a full three hours, and we only rested for a while at a small stream in the middle of the way.

As the sun was about to set, I could finally hear someone's voice, so I asked Da Zhao, "Is it almost there?" ”

Da Zhao nodded and continued walking. However, as I walked, I had doubts in my mind. This Ashuna actually lives in such a remote place, although I also know that there are little-known small villages in the mountainous areas of many provinces in the south of the province, and they live a life like a paradise, before, I was quite envious of their life, but now I think about it, where they don't want to contact the outside world, but this mountain road is tortuous and long, which really blocks the communication with the outside world.

My father said he had been here to investigate, and I believed that, but I didn't believe him when he said he had been kidnapped by a gang of robbers. If there can be a gang of robbers in such a deep mountain and old forest, then this gang of robbers is estimated to drink the northwest wind every day, and if they want to play the game of "I drove this road" in such a poor and remote place, it is estimated that only the mountain people here. I thought to myself, could it be that my father was kidnapped by these mountain people back then, and then saved by the so-called Ajuna Witch?

As I was thinking, it suddenly dawned on me that a small village on a narrow plain between two mountains had appeared in front of me. I glanced at my watch, it was almost four o'clock, and it was almost time for dinner, and I thought to myself that there would not be even a meal here.

Fortunately, Da Zhao said to me as he walked, "I'll take you to my house to eat something first, and then I'll go to see Ajuna when you're full." ”

I was overjoyed, and said that he finally mentioned Ashina, and along the way, I wanted to ask him about Ashuna from the beginning, but he always didn't say a word, so I couldn't find an opportunity, and now, I just pretended to ask casually: "Big Witch?" Is that Ashena a witch? ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Da Zhao suddenly stopped, turned around and glared at me viciously. I knew that I had inadvertently offended him, so I hurriedly changed my words: "Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to disrespect her old man, and I don't understand your customs here, I'm afraid that I will say the wrong thing when I see her old man for a while, and I ask you to give me more advice, more advice." ”

Da Zhao turned his head and said, "Ashuna is indeed a wizard, but she is by no means the ignorant liar that you Han people understand. ”

I nodded yes and asked, "So, the Witch has a very high status in your village?" ”

"Supremacy."

"Then your villagers also respect her old man very much, right?"

"That's nature."

"Then her child, you all respect it too."

"What are you talking about?" Da Zhao was angry again: "Ashuna has never been married, how can she have children!" ”

I hurriedly smiled and said: "Brother Dazhao, don't be angry, I'm a hairy boy, from the Northeast, I don't understand anything, I said the wrong thing, I don't mean to disrespect your Ashuna, don't be surprised." ”

Da Zhao ignored me and continued walking. At this time, we have entered the village, surrounded by very typical Miao buildings, most of which are wooden houses, antique. The people in the village are also dressed in traditional clothes, especially those young women and Miao people, wearing a lot of silverware on their heads, if they are outside the mountain, they must be very eye-catching, but now in this mountain, my sweatshirt and jeans look out of place, those Miao girls can see at a glance that I am an outsider, from time to time the girls who walk by look at me and look at me and smile. Such a place, if well developed, will definitely become a well-known tourist attraction.

However, I do not have time to enjoy the views of these villages now, because I am already in a great state of doubt. What he said just now was clearly different from what my father said. The first to bear the brunt are the descendants of my father's so-called life-savers, that is, the descendants of Azina. But since this Ajuna is a great witch admired by everyone here, and she has never married, how can she have descendants? Secondly, I always felt that it was a little strange that Ajuna was going to entrust her so-called descendants to my father. Since Ashuna is a great witch, she must not worry about food and clothing, especially the Miao people, a nation that still attaches great importance to witch culture to this day, and wizards are undoubtedly equivalent to their spiritual leaders. Such a person, even if she really has descendants, she doesn't need to entrust it to my father, who is far away in the world, in this village, I am afraid that if it is handed over to a certain family, the other party will take care of it wholeheartedly.

At this time, I had a ridiculous but very logical conjecture in my heart - could it be that my father had something to do with this Azuna back then, which caused this Ajuna to become pregnant, and that Ashuna's descendants are actually my father's illegitimate son? If this is the case, then it makes perfect sense for Azuna to entrust her descendants to my father.

That is, I am here to pick up my half-brother? That's! Although such an explanation is impeccable in terms of logical reasoning, it is impossible for me to do such a thing as I know my father.

I was thinking that before I knew it, I had arrived at Dazhao's house. His home was no different from many of the surrounding homes, and when we walked in, the food was already on the table. Da Zhao's wife is beautiful and a little shy, and in addition, he has an eight-year-old son who looks exactly like Da Zhao. I wanted to be simple and polite to the lady, but unfortunately the lady couldn't speak Chinese, so I directly ate with Da Zhao's chopsticks. I thought there would be any special dishes, but when I saw it, I was disappointed, they were all ordinary home-cooked dishes, but the home-brewed rice wine was particularly delicious. In fact, this is also normal, although the Miao people are a minority, but they have the closest relationship with the Han people, the two ethnic groups have intersected as early as the ancient legends, when the three Miao Jiuli tribe of Chiyou and the Yan and Huang clans competed for hegemony, the two ethnic groups have met. In the future, the exchanges and collisions between the two national cultures will become more frequent. Although I don't really like history, I know a little bit about it since I was a child.

After eating, Da Zhao finally took me to meet the rather mysterious Azina. It was getting late at this time, so I followed his lead and walked around the village path, unable to discern the direction at all, and walked for a long time, until I finally came to a secluded wooden house far away from the village.

The hut was not as good as the other houses in the village, but it was larger, and was made up of five or six huts. I walked forward under the leadership of Da Zhao, and even a few black-faced Miao people blocked us, I saw Da Zhao and they said a few words in Miao language, and those black-faced Miao people looked at me suspiciously, and then let the two of us go.

Azina's house was old, and it looked like it was some year old, with some strange wooden decorations hanging from the eaves, which swayed in the wind like wind chimes. Da Zhao asked me to stand in front of the door and wait for a while, and he was going to go in and make a report. I waited outside for a cigarette before Da Zhao came out of it and said to me, "Go in." ”

I hesitated for a moment and asked, "You're not going in?" ”

Da Zhao just shook his head and didn't speak, so I had to walk in by myself.

As soon as I walked into the room, I couldn't help but frown. Although the wooden house was clean and simple from the outside, there was a bad smell inside the house, like something was moldy, and at the same time it looked like the smell of some herbs. Presumably many people also have this kind of experience, young people go to the old people's homes as guests, no matter how clean and tidy the house is, but they can still smell a strange smell, this smell can only be emitted by the body of the old man, that is a kind of smell that is approaching, half a foot has stepped into the coffin.

The room I walked into was the smallest of the five or six cabins in the row. The room was dark, the small windows were covered with coarse cloth, and the light source was only two candles, which shone brightly. As I adjusted to the light, I noticed a beautiful young Miao girl sitting in the corner of the hut, wearing traditional Miao silverware, who looked dressed up and the silver decoration on her head made her look a little top-heavy. I said in my heart, could it be that this person is Azina? It's too young, it looks like it's a few years younger than me.

I walked up to the Miao girl, and she didn't say anything, and she didn't look at me. I said in my heart, the people in this mountain are really not enthusiastic at all. I was just about to talk to her, but an extremely old and hoarse voice suddenly sounded, saying, "Jiyun's descendants? ”

I don't know if it was because of the gloomy atmosphere in the room, or if the sound was really scary, I was really taken aback by this sound. When I looked up, the source of the sound was coming from the southeast corner of the room, where there was no light from the candles, and when I went in, I saw a brown coarse cloth curtain hanging there.

I replied, "Yes, my father is Fan Jiyun, and you are Azina?" ”

The man in the curtain answered. After a while, I saw an old withered hand come out of the curtain and wave at me, as if it were beckoning me over. I saw that the old hand was as bony as wood, and that beckoning seemed to be swaying gently by the wind. It seems that this Ajuna is already very old, and I am surprised that a person of her age, living in such a remote mountainous area, can speak fluent Chinese.

I stepped forward, not knowing what to say. I heard the man in the curtain say again, "Come closer." ”

I took two steps forward, feeling very close to the man, but the man said, "Come closer." ”

This time, I finally understood what she meant, and it turned out that she wanted to touch my face. I know that blind people always like to touch a person's face with their hands to remember a person's face, and it seems that Azuna in this curtain is an old blind man.

Although I was very reluctant in my heart, but after thinking about it, since my father had already said that this Azuna was his savior, not to mention that I was a junior, it was not easy to disobey my fate, so I leaned down and put my face in front of the dry old hand.

When the old hand touched my cheek, I didn't know what to do, and immediately felt a chill down my spine and didn't dare to move. The old hand was far more dry than I imagined, and when the hand stroked my face, I only felt that the hand was simply a skeleton, without the slightest sense of flesh, and the palm was extremely hard and rough, and the palm of the palm was like sandpaper, and it was scribbled on my face.

Gradually, I had a strange feeling that the old hand didn't seem to be caressing my cheek, it was just using the two fingers of my index and middle fingers to draw something crookedly from my forehead to my chin, and it felt like, like- ghost drawing!

But ghost drawing talismans have always been a Taoist trick to drive away evil spirits and suppress ghosts, and I have never heard of any Miao wizards also playing this set of things.

While I was hesitating, the old hand had stopped and retracted into the curtain.

After a while, Ajuna in the curtain seemed to be a little dissatisfied, and said, "Your father should come in person." ”

I said in my heart, could it be that this Ajuna thinks that my father sent me here is a little disrespectful, and picks on it? So, he said: "My father had a serious illness five years ago, and now he is in his sixties, and his body is not as strong as before, so he entrusted me to come here." ”

"Did you know that I saved your father's life?"

"Zhilu Dao." I replied, "When I came, my father told me about it. My father has never forgotten that you rescued my father from the bandit gang, but he is really inconvenient to move now, so he sent me, and there is really no disrespect. ”

Although I couldn't see the appearance of Azina, I could clearly feel that she seemed a little surprised, and said, "That's what he told you?" ”

"What? Is there something wrong? ”

Ashuna paused for a moment and said, "He doesn't say that he has his own reasons, probably because he doesn't want you to get involved in right and wrong, this time, you just need to complete your task." ”

I was shocked, and I said that it was indeed as I expected, and I thought about it all the way, and I had long felt that there were many unreasonable things in the story that my father told me, and that there were indeed some other secrets that were difficult to open. However, the assumption that my father had an affair with this Ajuna had long since been ruled out, for it was evident from the old hand that Ajuna was even much older than my father.

I asked, "Right and wrong?" What does that mean? ”

Unexpectedly, Azuna and my father are the same character, and they naturally like to sell lawsuits, so they just diverted the topic and said: "I also crossed paths with your father decades ago, you are his descendant, this is the first time I have seen you, so I will send you something." ”

After speaking, the dry old hand stretched out from the curtain again, this time holding a necklace pendant in that hand, I took it, and said in a voice: "This is really embarrassing, I came empty-handed, as a junior, I am really ashamed to accept your gift." ”

Unexpectedly, Ajuna was not interested in my polite words at all, and ignored me, as if she didn't hear what I said at all, just retracted her hand and said, "Bu Jin, come here." ”

I was stunned for a moment, and when I looked back, it turned out that Azuna was calling the Miao girl sitting in the corner. The maiden obeyed, stood up, and as soon as she moved, the silverware on her head rattled. As soon as she came over, a thick but fresh aroma followed.

The Miao girl stood beside me, and I had the opportunity to take a closer look at her appearance. She has fair skin, delicate facial features, not very big eyes, but pure as water, all in all, her expression and demeanor have a kind of simplicity peculiar to mountain people. However, to my surprise, as a southern minority girl, she is about the same height as a northerner. I was a standard northerner, tall and strong, but the girl was shoulder-tall.

Azuna in the curtain said, "This is my descendant." Bu Jin, you have to remember him, and you will follow him in the future. ”

The Miao girl nodded silently and quietly.

I said in my heart, what kind of descendants, this deceptive measurement is too bad, at least I will greet me with that Da Zhao. I then asked bluntly, "I heard that you have never married, so what about you?" ”

Na Azuna replied in a flat tone: "I am not related to Bu Jin by blood, to be precise, she is my heir." ”

"Heirs? You mean, she's your apprentice? "I can't believe it, could it be that such a young and beautiful Miao girl around me will become this chattering old witch like Ajuna in a few years. I sighed while thinking about it, and said in my heart that it was a pity to have such a beautiful embryo.

Originally, I wanted to ask Ashuna why she entrusted this Miao girl to my father, but I was afraid that she would mistakenly think that my father did not want to take in her descendants, so I didn't ask again. Azuna was not interested in continuing to talk to me, I always had a feeling that Ajuna seemed to feel very sorry because my father did not come, and there were some things that she didn't seem to want to say, but she didn't want to say it to me, but at the same time she hoped that I could convey some information to my father, probably because of my limited comprehension, I really didn't feel that she had any hidden information for me to convey to my father.

Later, Da Zhao took me back to his house, and Ashuna asked me to leave early tomorrow morning with the girl named Bu Jin. To my surprise, as soon as I came out of Ashina's house, Dazhao's attitude towards me changed drastically, and he even felt a little deferential to me. On the way back to his house, whenever I met the Miao people, they seemed to be taboo against me and seemed to be a little afraid of me. On several occasions, several children rushed up to me and looked at me curiously, but they were all shouted back by the Miao women.

Strange to me, I asked him why, but he remained silent as always. When I got back to his house, I was placed in a hut, and I took out the pendant that Ajuna had given me, and when I looked at it, I saw that it was a pendant carved from mahogany in the shape of a cow's head, which looked like it was supposed to be an amulet. I didn't pay much attention to it, I put it around my neck, and looked at the mirror in the room, and it didn't matter, I saw me in the mirror, my face was bloody, and I looked like a person whose face had been torn off.