In the early morning, it was slightly cold and the dew was heavy, and the corners of the entire Qingniu Village were covered with green moss.

In a small wooden house in the northwest corner of Qingniu Village, a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy in a leather coat was lying on a wooden bed with a red face and trembling all over his body, with a thin layer of straw spread under his body and a thin layer of straw on his body.

"Is the mountain baby up? Yu Gong has come in?"

The door was pushed open from the outside, and a gray-haired but sturdy old man walked in with a bowl of medicine.

When the old man saw the young man's template, his brows couldn't help frowning, and his movements couldn't help but speed up a little, and he casually put the bowl on the head of the bed, and stretched out his right hand to put it on the young man's head.

"It's so hot!"

It's only been one night, and it's so hot?!

It seems that it is the mountain baby, this time it is more than lucky.

This is a good child, but his life is not good.

His mother died in childbirth, his father was gone hunting, and he grew up eating a hundred meals, and finally became an adult, but he had a serious disease and died soon, what a poor child.

The old man sighed, although he had seen such a thing, but every time he encountered it, he still felt very uncomfortable.

Although the old man judged that the young man could not survive, but the medicine was decoctioned, and there was no reason to throw it, the dead horse was regarded as a live horse doctor, the old man raised the young man's head slightly, and fed the medicine to the young man spoonful by spoonful.

"Mountain baby, whether you can live or not depends on your creation. ”

This is the way of the world, what about people, too fragile.

If you are sick, you can live if your life is hard, and if you are weak, you can only die.

Everything is fate.

The old man sighed again, glanced at the boy one last time, and left the cabin with the empty bowl.

Outside the door, a young man waited there anxiously, looked into the house from time to time, saw the old man come out, hurriedly stepped forward, and asked, "Yu Gong, how is Brother Shan?"

The old man shook his head, glanced back at the cabin again, and said, "It doesn't look good, let's prepare for a mountain burial." ”

After hearing this, the young man was stunned for a long time before muttering to himself: "Brother Shan, Brother Shan, he fell into the water to save me, I, I ...... I was fine the day before yesterday, why did I fall ill yesterday, but I can't do it today, this, this ......"

The old man glanced at the young man and said, "It's all fate." Didn't you fall into the water too? You'll be fine, but the mountain baby is sick. This is the fate of the mountain baby, it is that he does not have that life, and you should not blame yourself too much. ”

It's easy to say, but, it's a life, or the life of a fellow countryman, or the life of someone who died of illness to save him, how can it be treated as if nothing happened?

Such a person, the old man has seen it, and knows that it is useless to say anything now, but if he talks too much, he will not be welcomed, so he didn't say more, just shook his head, sighed, and left.

He has done everything he can do, and the next thing is to leave it to fate.

The old man walked a few steps, turned a corner, and saw a majestic middle-aged man in a leather coat, standing there, obviously waiting for him, asking about the condition of the mountain baby.

The old man was not surprised when he saw the visitor, and took it for granted.

The old man stepped forward and said, "The owner of the village." ”

"How's it going?" the middle-aged man asked.

"It's no longer good, it's only a few hours, let's prepare for the mountain burial. The old man said truthfully.

"Mountain Burial ......"

According to this custom, after a person dies, he must immediately be sent to a specific location on the mountain and placed for the demon beasts in the heavenly forest to eat.

This is a custom that has been practiced here for thousands of years.

In addition to mountain burials, there are also water burials and wooden burials.

Just look at the customs and habits of various places.

Although Qingniu Village is close to the river and the mountain, it is a mountain burial.

"Shan Wazi's father and I had a fateful friendship, but I didn't expect that Shan Wazi saved the pillar's life again, alas, I originally planned to ......" The middle-aged man said with emotion while recalling.

It's just that I don't know what I thought, and the middle-aged man didn't finish his words, so he stopped and said to the old man: "I know, thank you Yu Gong." ”

After the old man left, the middle-aged man stepped forward, patted the shoulder of the young man standing outside the door and said, "Pillar, let's go, prepare for the mountain burial for your brother Shan." ”

After so many years of inheritance, mountain burials have long had their own set of etiquette norms.

"No, Brother Shan is not dead, not dead!"

The middle-aged man patted the young man on the shoulder, led him to look at himself, and said solemnly: "Look at me, child, the mountain baby has no father, brother or children, he only has you and a friend, you must handle the mountain burial for him, you can't let him go so undignified." ”

"Yes, yes...... Yes......" The boy finally chose to follow his father's advice.

For the sake of the dignity of the mountain burial, it is indeed necessary to prepare earlier, and the mountain burial will start immediately after the death, the time is tight, the process is many, and it is not possible to prepare in advance.

Born in Si and grew up in Si, although the pillar knows a general idea, he doesn't know the specific process.

"Father, what should I do?"

"First go to the Huanhe River next to the village to fetch a few buckets of water, then boil it, mix it with twice the water, pour it into the net pool together, and then put the mountain baby in it and wash it.

"There are at least two people for a mountain burial, and you need to find another person, and someone else will be responsible for collecting fresh grass and wood branches, and using them to weave a two-person stretcher.

After the mountain baby was cleaned, he put it on a stretcher covered with grass, and then the villagers in the village gave each of them a flower to cover him.

"Then, together with the two of you, send the mountain baby into the mountain and place her on the burial platform. ”

Speaking of this, the expression of the owner of the village became very serious, staring at the young man's eyes, and said: "Remember, when you arrive at the funeral platform, no matter what you see, don't make a fuss, keep quiet, put the mountain baby away, and leave immediately without looking back, and when you come back safely, I will ring the death knell and complete the entire funeral, understand?"

The pillar nodded solemnly.

This is the last thing he can do for Brother Shan, it is related to the last decency of the mountain baby, he must do a good job, and he can't let Brother Shan go undignified in the end.

With this in mind, Zhu followed his father and left the cabin where Brother Shan lived.

My father had something to do, so he left first, leaving the pillar alone.

"Who else are you looking for?"

The pillar thought about the candidates, one by one the people skipped from their minds, the number of people kept decreasing, and finally, when there were only two or three people left, the pillar had a choice.

Since it is necessary to be decent and require a lot of preparation, it is natural that serious and responsible people can do it.

People who have a good relationship with Brother Shan, and those who care about him, will be serious and responsible for Brother Shan.

Just like him.

Big Root ...... Seems to be the most suitable candidate.