Chapter 3 third quarter

After an unknown amount of time, the driver woke him up: "Student, get off the bus." Chu Haiyang rubbed his eyes in a daze, and the driver said, "My car can only go here." Chu Haiyang asked: "Not open?" The driver nodded and said, "I'm delivering supplies to the front. The pass only goes to this place, and I can't go any further. Besides, there is a landslide ahead, so I can't get through." Chu Haiyang pushed Xia Mingruo, who was sleeping like a dead pig, and got out of the car to check. Lao Huang followed like a chief inspector. He saw that the dirt road was built against the cliff, and there was a thousand-meter-deep valley under the cliff. It was like a white line in a deep ravine, and about half a kilometer ahead of the road, through the white mist, I saw several huge boulders as high as two people lying across the middle, and the car could not pass it no matter what.

Chu Haiyang asked the driver: "What about the supplies?" The driver said, "I'll wait here, and the military depot will send someone to pick it up." It was naturally impossible for Chu Haiyang and the others to accompany them, so they bid farewell to the driver and walked forward.Xia Mingruo was hungry while walking, Chu Haiyang handed him a compressed biscuit and said, "You are so annoying, why did the old man choose you?" Xia Mingruo didn't leave at all when he heard it, and sat on the side of the road to play with the cat.Chu Haiyang had no choice but to rest. He took spring water from a small pot on the side of the cliff, added alum to precipitate it, and boiled it. He took a sip himself, but Xia Mingruo snatched a few sips, and then poured the rest into the kettle.

Xia Mingruo cautiously looked down the cliff, and after feeling dizzy for a while, he sighed: "The wall stands a thousand feet high! Wonderful, wonderful!" Chu Haiyang said: "The road here was only dug after liberation. In the past, people used rattan to go up the mountain." Xia Mingruo smiled boldly: "Rattan, I'm good at it." Chu Haiyang said: "Just wait, there are plenty of times to use rattan. There is no way to Yongcui Mountain, and I won't care about you when the time comes." After a while he urged Xia Mingruo to go on the road, saying that he wanted to camp at the ferry before dark.Xia Mingruo dawdled with his backpack, saying that lazy people are lazy. A caravan passed through the gaps between the boulders one by one, and slowly approached with the jingle of bells.

Xia Mingruohuan rushed over with a cry, and the lead horse carried two bags of tea cakes, exuding a strong tea fragrance. Chu Haiyang knew a few minority languages, so he discussed with the leader of the caravan—the locals call him Ma Guotou—and gave him a pack of cigarettes and tied his luggage on the horse's back. Xia Mingruo also wanted to climb on the horse, but Chu Haiyang stopped him and said, "If you ride today, you won't be able to walk tomorrow." Xia Mingruo asked: "Why?" Chu Haiyang said: "It's all mountain roads. If you don't have that level, it's easy to fall. Besides, the ethnic minorities here don't use saddles, just put a piece of felt, and your tailbone will be worn out in a day."

Xia Mingruo had no choice but to follow the horse. Chu Haiyang walked behind him with the cat in his arms. Xia Mingruo asked him, "How long until we reach the ferry?" Chu Haiyang compared the hand-painted map inside the Academy of Sciences, and said visually, "Twenty kilometers." Xia Mingruo wanted to climb on the horse again: "It's better to have a smooth butt than a broken leg." "You're still doing archaeology. Isn't it good to go home to raise birds, water the flowers, and listen to operas?" Chu Haiyang said. "Isn't that what my dad did?" Xia Mingruo grinned at the pain of the horse's spine, but still insisted, "No, at least I want to be better than blue... Hey, Haiyang!"

He pointed to the mountain across the river valley and said, "What's that black thing on the cliff? A hanging coffin?" There was rain and fog in the valley, and Chu Haiyang raised his binoculars to look at it for a long time before saying, "Maybe, you have really good eyesight." "There are also hanging coffins here?" Chu Haiyang said: "In the thinking of some ethnic minorities, the ghosts of the murderous are particularly vicious, and they must be buried in a special place—usually on a barren hill far away from the stockade—in order to keep them away from the world and prevent them from harming the living. A while ago, Xiao Zhu also saw hanging coffins when he was inspecting the Wa area, and those bones were all beheaded."

Xia Mingruo snatched the binoculars and looked at it for a while, then suddenly lowered his head and asked in Chu Haiyang's ear, "Is there a big tomb in Yongcui Mountain?" Chu Haiyang froze for a moment, then nodded, "It's possible." Xia Mingruo looked at the sky left and right and said, "I'm not good at digging." "You were not asked to dig." Chu Haiyang put the cat on the horse, "And there is an 80% chance that someone else has already dug it." "Tomb robber?" "That's right." Chu Haiyang said, "So we have to go over quickly to have a look. If it is really stolen, we have to report it to the country for protective excavation."

"Yes!" Xia Mingruo said, "I still have to dig it in the end. Last time, I dug the tomb of the king of Yue, so I wanted to die! We shouldn't be in charge of this matter. Why did the Yunnan Archaeological Institute raise it?" Chu Haiyang didn't listen to his ramblings, only then did he realize that the road became narrower and narrower, and when he turned into a fork, it was only about a foot wide.And this caravan also had to cross the river, all the way down, the dirt road was muddy and slippery, and they had to beware of falling rocks on the mountain, which was dangerous.

Chu Haiyang pulled Xia Mingruo off his horse and forced him to walk with the team.A group of people arrived at the riverside before dark and slept on the river beach. Ma Guotou is from the Yi nationality and can speak a few sentences of Chinese.He asked his son to make an extra pot of rice, poured a large bowl of water and wine for Chu Haiyang and Xia Mingruo, and sat down to talk with them about the local customs. Daddy Yi smoked a waterpipe and was very talkative. He also showed them how to use sheep bones for divination, which was good and bad.Chu Haiyang responded with great care.Later, when asked about the situation of Yongcui Mountain, the father shook his head and couldn't explain clearly.

The rice was almost cooked, and the aroma was overflowing. Xia Mingruo wagged his "tail" around the firepit, and his saliva flowed into a river.Father Yi saw that he was having fun, so he filled a big bowl full for him first.Xia Mingruo picked up the bowl and ate it, and went to bed after eating. He was clean and neat. Chu Haiyang was deeply impressed by the animal instinct he showed. Although it was summer, the bottom of the valley was icy cold. Fog began to form on the river beach in the middle of the night, and gradually dispersed in the early morning. The horse team had breakfast and began to cross the river.

Xia Mingruo originally planned to take the ferry with the horse team, but Chu Haiyang insisted on using the zipline. "I'm afraid of heights." Xia Mingruolai was on the ferry. "You don't understand." Chu Haiyang forcibly pulled him away and tied him tightly to the zip line. "They had no other choice but to walk by water. Traveling in the wild would rather cross mountains than swim. Water is the most dangerous." Sure enough, the two had reached the other side of the river. The caravan ferry was still circling in the middle of the river. The mules and horses neighed uncomfortably on the boat. "Am I right?" Chu Haiyang said proudly.Xia Mingruo turned around and ran away, only Lao Huang raised his paw and "meowed" twice to show his appreciation. Chu Haiyang said dejectedly, "Thank you for your encouragement." An hour later, the caravan also crossed the river, and the two continued to walk with them. It was another day on the road.At night, I stayed in a family of Yi nationality in the mountains. Men and women slept in the same room. There was a big hole in the roof, and the starry sky was visible when you looked up. Next to the bed was a livestock pen, not to mention the smell.But nothing can compare to a fighter jet-sized mosquito buzzing towards you. Fortunately, these two people are used to living in the wild, and they are quite tough, so they should come here to send blood to the frontier. The next day I got up and walked seven or eight kilometers on foot, and finally met a tractor bound for Yun County. Xia Mingruo threw the luggage into the trailer, and leaned on the car, humming a Jiangnan ditty: "A straight purple bamboo seedling, give it to my brother to make a pipe flute... the melody of flowers is blown out of the flute, and I ask my brother, is this pipe flute good?" it is good?……" He also taught the two little Yi girls in the same car to sing: "Ask Guoguo (brother), then (this) Guan Xiaoer is good or not (no) good..." Lao Huang also shook his head along with the singing, "Meow Meow". The little girl looked at Xia Mingruo and giggled, Xia Mingruo also laughed and gossiped: "Ashima, do you go to school? What grade are you in? Have you ever been to Beijing? I go to school in Beijing, come to me when I arrive in Beijing, and I will take you Go see Tiananmen Square." Chu Haiyang stole a few sweet potatoes from the roadside field (children don’t want to learn), wrapped them in mud and roasted them deliciously when they stopped for a rest, and distributed one to the tractor driver, one for each girl of the Yi nationality, and one for Xia Mingruo. But that doesn't stop them from enjoying baked sweet potatoes together. The scenery on the road is pleasant, the mountains are green and verdant, the tractor is rushing forward, the breeze is mixed with the fragrance of the soil, and a few wild monkeys are seen squeaking and jumping from the treetops. Unfortunately, the road conditions are really bad. It's all gone. When Xia Mingruo got out of the car, he staggered a few steps before learning how to walk. Chu Haiyang looked at his watch and said that he had missed Sutou again, and the county guest house would never have any vacant beds.Xia Mingruo didn't care, and sat down at a noodle stall that wasn't closed, and said, "It's okay to go up the mountain overnight." Chu Haiyang can think about it. Unexpectedly, the owner of the noodle stall made a gesture of stretching his teeth and claws: "Go to Cuishan? What's more, there are leopards in the mountain!" As soon as Chu Haiyang heard him speak, he asked, "You seem to have a northern accent?" "No." The boss said, "My ancestors are from Jiaodong. During the Anti-Japanese War, my grandfather went to Burma to fight, and he came here to fight devils." "Hero," Chu Haiyang gave a thumbs up, "Old hero." The boss was coaxed into joy, and added a few spoonfuls of spicy pepper to their noodle bowls. Xia Mingruo was so hot that he cried, and asked tearfully, "Is there really a beast in the mountains?" The boss counted on his fingers, wild bears, leopards, and wild boars. He also said that a few days ago, many people went into the mountains and did not come back. The township reported to the county, and the county sent people to look for it. Only the bones were left. "A lot of people go into the mountain?" "Hey, they are all foreigners. We locals—except those who collect herbs for a living—are not afraid to enter Yongcui Mountain." "why?" "The mountains are really evil." The boss asked Xia Mingruo, "Brother, do you want more chili?" Xia Mingruo waved his hands hastily, and the boss continued, "It's haunted. At night, the will-o'-the-wisps can be seen from more than ten miles away." While talking, another person sat down in front of the noodle stall. The boss immediately pulled him and said to Chu Haiyang, "Ask him, he knows best, he is from that village." The man was a young man in his early twenties, a little confused: "What are you asking?" "The will-o'-the-wisp!" said the boss. "Don't ask, I'm scared to death." The young man said. Chu Haiyang asked: "Did you see it?" "I wish I didn't see it!" said the young man. "You people ran desperately into the mountains one by one, and in the end you all fed the wild animals, causing us to search for dead bodies all over the mountain." Xia Mingruo asked him: "What kind of ghost fire?" "Blue and green," Chu Haiyang replied for him, "You don't see much?" "Just asking." Xia Mingruo lowered his head to eat the noodles, "What if the phosphorous fire here is made of flowers?" "That's called fireworks." Chu Haiyang was annoyed, and continued to ask the young man, "Who are the people who entered the mountain?" The young man stopped sucking, rubbed his hands on the greasy rag, and looked up and down the two with suspicious eyes: "Just like you, with a big bag." Chu Hailiang's certificate, the six characters "X Academy of Sciences Archaeological Institute" are dazzling in golden light, the young man squinted his eyes to look at the official seal, and his attitude changed immediately after confirming that it was true. "Oh my god, I'm finally looking forward to the people from the public house. They are all here to rob the tomb, trying to steal the treasures in the empress's tomb." It's no secret that there is a baby in the Empress' Grave. It was supposed to stay in the county town and wait for Sun Ming to come, but if Chu Haiyang and Xia Ming dared not delay, they went to the countryside early the next morning, and then wept farewell to Lao Huang (because there were wild animals in the mountains, Comrade Lao Huang was taken care of by the township government) ), then hit the road and went straight to Yongcui Mountain. Yongcui Mountain is not very high, the highest peak is about 2,800 meters above sea level, and there is no snow line, but as the name suggests, the mountain can be described as a primeval forest specimen, with vines overgrown. The young man from yesterday led the way for them.This young man is surnamed Chen, Han nationality, an accountant of the grain station in the township, he is not tall, dark and thin, and he is more nimble than a monkey when he climbs a mountain.If Xia Ming is not good at climbing mountains, he can keep up at first, but after a long time, he will only be able to yell. Chu Haiyang took the opportunity to urge Xiao Chen: "Great, let's go! Just leave him here." Xiao Chen opened the way ahead with a long machete: "Really?" "Really," Chu Haiyang said, pointing to the back, "the monster has changed." As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a scream from the "monster", and Chu Haiyang retreated angrily, "What's wrong?" Xia Mingruo lowered his hair for a while, then picked up something from the ground. "Gun?" Xiao Chen also rushed over, "It's okay, it's okay, people in the mountains here have shotguns." Xia Mingruo raised his hand higher, it looked like a submachine gun in his hand. Chu Haiyang and little Chen Qiqi retreated, Chu Haiyang shouted: "Don't believe me! Calm down, calm down." Xia Mingruo smirked, and slowly aimed his gun at Xiao Chen: "Your, lead the way." Then he aimed at Chu Haiyang, "Your, eight-way job? Where can I find Hua girl's?" Chu Haiyang rushed over and slapped him hard on the forehead, Xia Mingruo covered his head and screamed, Chu Haiyang snatched the gun with his hands: "There are no bullets, and it was made in the Soviet Union... Who are the people who entered the mountain? " Xiao Chen said, "Militiamen?" "The regular army on the front line is not equipped with this kind of gun." Chu Haiyang looked around, and after pushing away the bushes, he found an inconspicuous dried blood trail. Walking along the blood trail for two to three hundred meters was a cliff. Below the cliff is the rolling Lancang River. "It may be that the tomb robbers fought among themselves and threw the dead down." Chu Haiyang said, "Let's go quickly." Xiao Chen became frightened: "Still...still going?" "Nonsense!" Xia Mingruo said.