Chapter 9: Old Song
After bringing the remains back, Mr. Changba enjoyed the deaf woman's respectful gaze.
"Ahem, I'm afraid that I got cold feet tonight..."
The deaf mother-in-law smiled and answered:
"How could Master Chang Ba have backed down from the battle?"
"You always want to borrow Grandma Mai's help to go out and bring in reinforcements."
Chang Baye was very satisfied with this answer.
With a smile, he and the decapitated ghost returned to their own hall in the side room.
Uncle Li asked:
"Deaf woman, now that you have skin, what else do you need?"
The deaf woman sprinkled the remains with incense ashes and replied:
"And more rosin."
"Ordinary rosin won't work. I want the old pine on the top of the mountain."
Wang San was curious and asked:
"Mom, you asked me to run under the old pine tree in Dongshan last night."
"Is he also an immortal?"
The deaf woman gently tapped Wang San on the head:
"Children, don't ask questions that shouldn't be asked."
Uncle Li couldn't bear to see the tired look on the deaf woman's face.
"You can rest at home, I'll go to the top of Dongshan Mountain to get rosin."
After saying that, he put on his animal skin cotton-padded jacket and walked out.
The deaf woman quickly stopped her:
"Old man Li, you can't get rosin by yourself."
"Let's go together later."
Wang's third daughter-in-law was very clever and had already made a small quilt out of silly roe deer skin at dawn.
Since the skin was not enough, she even took apart her own coarse cotton-padded jacket.
In rural areas in the 1980s, especially in bitter cold places deep in the snowy mountains, fabrics were more precious than animal skins.
People who have not experienced those difficult times will not understand.
The deaf woman wrapped the baby tightly in a small quilt, brought some tributes, and went out with Uncle Li.
Afraid of encountering a blind bear when entering the mountains, Uncle Li specially brought his shotgun.
Although bears hibernate, they are more ferocious when they come out to look for food.
The weather is still cold, and white mist is sprayed out with every breath.
My feet stepped on the thick snow, making a crunching sound.
Rural people go to bed early and wake up early.
The villagers who were cleaning up the snow greeted the two old men enthusiastically:
"Uncle, are you going out so early?"
"Did a wolf cub enter the village last night? It howled for half the night."
The deaf woman smiled secretly in her heart:
Where there is a wolf, it is clearly a ghost.
But she wouldn't say it out loud to avoid causing panic.
Dongshan is neither far nor close to the village.
The two old men didn't climb to the top of the mountain until noon.
Looking from a distance, a green pine stands proudly in the snow.
Occasionally, a cold wind blows by, making a slight whooshing sound.
The deaf mother-in-law knew that Uncle Li had an aversion to things involving gods and ghosts, so she said:
"Old man Li, just wait here and I'll take the kids over."
After carefully arranging the sacrifices and lighting three sticks of incense, the deaf mother-in-law spoke.
"Song Lao, the little girl is here to see you."
A gust of wind blew by, and the green pine branches and leaves swayed, as if responding to the deaf woman.
In the distance, Uncle Li couldn't help but laugh secretly when he heard his deaf mother-in-law calling herself a little girl.
But then I thought about it and it was right:
In front of this eternal green pine, the deaf woman is really just a little girl.
How did the deaf woman know what Uncle Li was thinking, so she sat cross-legged in front of Qingsong, minding her own business.
"Song Lao, it was forty years ago that I first came to pay my respects to you."
"If you hadn't taken action that time, I would have been harmed by something dirty."
"These days go by so fast."
"In a blink of an eye, I have grown old, and you are still the same, unchanged at all."
The deaf mother-in-law seemed to be chatting with her elders, helping Qingsong sweep away the snow while talking.
"In a few years, I just want to see you grow old, but I'm afraid I won't have the energy to climb the mountain."
"I came here this time to ask you for some rosin to save this poor child."
After the deaf mother-in-law finished speaking, a gust of wind suddenly blew up.
The snow on the ground was blown away by the wind, forming the word "fierce".
The deaf mother-in-law was not surprised and said:
"Isn't it fierce? It's even more fierce!"
She told everything that happened last night.
"Hey, if the snow corpse hadn't suddenly appeared, you wouldn't have seen me!"
The deaf mother-in-law said no more, but carefully cleaned up all the snow at the feet of the green pine trees.
Another gust of wind blew by, and a branch and leaf fell off the green pine, and a few drops of golden pine oil flowed out.
The entire mountaintop was instantly filled with fragrance.
One of the drops fell in the wind and landed right in the baby's mouth.
The little guy, who was a little hungry, immediately fell into a contented sleep.
The deaf mother-in-law was first surprised, then overjoyed, and hurriedly collected the pine oil in a porcelain bottle.
Immediately afterwards, he hugged the fallen pine branches tightly in his arms.
"You still love me, a little girl!"
"With your ten thousand-year-old pine tree, those lonely ghosts will no longer dare to bully me!"
The deaf woman talked to the pine tree for a long time until the sun went down.
The setting sun shines through the pine trees, forming a big "hui" character on the snow.
The deaf mother-in-law smiled very happily:
"Hey, you are always worried about me and asked me to go back early."
"Okay, okay, little girl, I'm leaving now."
"I'll see you again after a while."
"If I can no longer walk in a few years, I will let my third child and this child serve you."
On the way back, Uncle Li asked curiously:
"Deaf woman, didn't you say that dirty things would come to the doll after dark?"
"Why were you in no hurry to go down the mountain just now?"
This chapter has been completed!