Lujia Village is a village mainly populated by the Dong people. The houses in the village have different forms and can be roughly divided into the lower village, which is mainly a cellar house, and the upper village, which is mainly a stilt house.
The cellar house is a traditional building of the Dong people. Outside the wooden structure house, there are high masonry walls and high horse head walls, which are both fire-proof and anti-theft. Only relatively wealthy families can afford to build such houses. house.
Shangzhai is basically a two-story stilted building with three bays, four rows and a bucket-style structure suspended from the top of the mountain.
Yang Fuming is both the village head and the clan leader. He speaks with authority in the village and is very dignified.
He quickly gathered the villagers who lived in the stilted building at the east end of the village and asked them to stay in other people's homes tonight, freeing up the house for Li Zian and his party to stay temporarily.
The stilted building at the east end of the village is the newest in the village. It seems to have been newly built in recent years. It is also the farthest from the village temple and the pond.
The villagers all left obediently, but almost everyone had some kind of baggage in their hands.
Shen Tianshu thought they were bringing valuable things from home, so he didn't pay much attention to them.
However, Minghui slipped when she was walking up and bumped into a villager who was about to go down to find a place to stay.
"I'm sorry, it was all my fault." Minghui apologized hastily, squatting down to help her pick up the baggage.
Unexpectedly, the other party also squatted down in a hurry, trying to pick it up for himself.
The two of them each grabbed a corner of the baggage and pulled the baggage open. A mask with a burgundy primer, a crooked mouth and a strange expression, green face and fangs rolled out of the baggage.
"Ah!" Minghui was startled.
The villagers hurriedly picked up the masks, stuffed them into their arms, and walked quickly down the mountain.
Yang Fuming stood aside, frowning slightly, his expression a bit indescribable.
Seeing that Minghui was frightened, Shen Tianshu explained: "That should be a mask used in the Nuo opera of the Dong people."
Yang Fuming didn't expect this young lady who always wore a mask to know this, and was quite surprised.
"This lady is right. It is indeed a mask used in Nuo opera. This girl does not need to be afraid."
After the villagers left their homes one after another, Yang Fuming took everyone to take a look at the layout of each house in the east end of the village, and said enthusiastically: "You are welcome, just arrange your own accommodation. The pots, pans, firewood, rice, oil, and salt in the house are all provided." There is also cured meat dried in the stove, just use it as you like."
But before leaving, he emphasized again: "Don't think I'm verbose, old man. One thing I must remind you is to close the doors and windows after dark, and don't go out no matter what sound you hear!"
Although everyone was puzzled, they also understood the principle of doing as the Romans do, and they all agreed wholeheartedly.
After Yang Fuming left, Li Zian immediately arranged for people to chop wood and fetch water to prepare dinner.
They had brought dry food with them, and they had not finished eating all the way from Juzhou.
Fan Yuru brought people to pick him up this time, and even brought double the amount of food.
So you just need to get some firewood from the villagers' homes.
Even so, Li Zian still ordered that no matter what was used, he must remember to leave some money for the villagers' families and never use it for nothing.
The accompanying soldiers found their own accommodation, put down their luggage, and then began to work together to prepare dinner.
The largest stilted building at the east end of the village was bypassed by them, so naturally the two of them were left to Li Zian.
Li Zian placed Shen Tianshu's master and servant on the second floor, while he and Fan Yuru divided the two bedrooms on the first floor.
Not long after, Yang Fuming, perhaps because he was afraid that Li Zian and his party would be embarrassed to eat food from the villagers' homes, sent someone to deliver some vegetables freshly pulled from the ground and a basket of eggs.
This time Li Zian did not refuse, but firmly gave the money.
We have been on the road these days, and everyone has basically been eating dry food to cope with it. Now when we see fresh vegetables, we are even more greedy than meat.
In the evening, everyone felt comfortable eating with the sweet and refreshing vegetable egg soup.
Seeing that it was getting late outside, Li Zian ordered everyone to quickly pack their things and go back to their rooms.
Two people are left in each stilted building to take turns keeping watch at night, but they must bear in mind Yang Fuming's instructions and are not allowed to go out.
Minghui boiled two pots of boiling water and mixed it to the right temperature. Shen Tianshu wiped his body and soaked his feet warmly.
It was rare to have such a treat while on the road. Shen Tianshu felt refreshed and soaked his feet to relieve fatigue. He quickly fell asleep at night.
At midnight, the bright moon is in the sky,
The village, which was originally very quiet and could only hear the singing of summer insects, suddenly became noisy.
There was also a strange drumbeat, which was not loud and had a unique rhythm. One hammer after another, it seemed that everything was falling into the heart, which made people feel panicked.
Minghui, who was sleeping in the outer room, was also woken up. She walked over quietly in the dark to see if Shen Tianshu was affected.
Shen Tianshu was afraid of scaring her, so he said when she was still far away: "Please hold the lamp, I'm awake too."
Minghui took out the fire bag, lit the oil lamp on the table in the inner room, wrapped her coat tightly and said, "I don't know what we are doing outside. The sound of the drum sounds weird."
"Maybe it's some special custom in the village!"
Shen Tianshu traveled around a lot in his previous life, so he was no longer surprised by this. He especially understood that when encountering this kind of thing, he must respect the habits of the local people, otherwise it would easily lead to unnecessary contradictions and conflicts.
"Didn't the chief tell you not to worry about any noises at night?" She said, reaching out to lift up the quilt, calling Minghui up and saying, "You won't be afraid if you two sleep together."
The two masters and servants huddled together in the same bed, and they seemed to feel much more at ease.
But before the two of them fell asleep again, the noise outside became louder and louder, and the sound of creaking footsteps going up the stairs was heard.
Minghui boldly asked: "Who is it?"
"Ms. Tong, when I saw the lights on upstairs, I guess you were woken up too, so we came up to take a look." Fan Yuru's voice came through the door.
Shen Tianshu stood up and put on his coat before asking Minghui to open the door. Li Zian and Fan Yuru were standing outside the door.
Shen Tianshu welcomed the people into the outside room and asked, "Were you also woken up by the sound of drums?"
"This drum sound feels weird and makes people very uncomfortable." Li Zian frowned.
Fan Yuru also nodded and agreed: "This village is really weird. There are many people wearing masks outside at this time, doing strange behaviors. I don't know what they are doing."
"You guys went out to see it?" Shen Tianshu raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"That's not true, but this stilted building has air leakage from all sides. There is no need to go out. You can see most of the village through the cracks in the windows."
After hearing this, Shen Tianshu turned around and walked to the window. Through the gap that was almost two fingers wide, and through the moon like a silver plate in the sky, he saw at a glance dozens of people wearing colorful headscarves and expressions on the ground at the entrance of the village temple. Weird and exaggerated masks, people wearing similar costumes gathered together and danced with weird movements under the moonlight.