Chapter 11 Chapter Ten Rescue the "Second Moon"

Later, he talked about this journey to others, and said: "It is true that every second may be smashed to pieces. Later, he became numb, but he admired the extremely beautiful scenery of Miaojiang. One night, the sunset, Reflecting the clouds, it turns into hundreds of incomparably gorgeous colors, just like a fairyland—but, if you ask me to go there again, I don’t have the courage anymore.” Along the way, I passed many Miaodongs, and all the Miao people respected the Miao people from Lanjiadong. When I entered Lanjiadong, more than 200 Miao people gathered in the cave, surrounded by Wen Baoyu, welcome The ceremony went on for several hours until midnight.

That night, it was the night of the full moon, the Miao people sang and danced, and the joyful atmosphere permeated everyone's expressions and movements. A kind of fragrant and sweet wine was stored in a big bamboo tube, regardless of gender. Young and old, everyone is free to drink.All kinds of game turned on the fire, the smell of meat and wine are mixed together, which makes people feel relaxed and happy. Among the Miao people, there were quite a few beautiful young girls, but they obviously knew Wen Baoyu's identity, so they kept a certain distance from him and just smiled sweetly at him.

Miao girls all have big black and white eyes, and when they dance, their eyes are full of waves. In addition, Miao girls' clothes are very revealing (remember the situation when Wen Baoyu saw Lansi for the first time?) So, under the moonlight, There is also no lack of lively and fragrant gorgeous scenery. After Wen Baoyu got a little drunk, he also danced to the music. At this time, his only regret was that Lansi was no longer by his side. The owner of Lanjiadong is a tall, but very thin old Miao man with blue tattoo marks on his face and body.He seemed to be loved by the Miao people, and he didn't speak much. When Wen Baoyu first arrived, he warmly welcomed him. He used "Bunu" at first, but when he realized that Wen Baoyu couldn't understand, he switched to Chinese to express his appreciation. welcome.

Dongzhu's Chinese is not very fluent, with a very strong Yunnan accent, but Wen Baoyu can understand more than enough, which naturally makes him very excited. Dongzhu's attitude was very peaceful. During the song and dance meeting that night, Wen Baoyu saw many young men and women dancing and singing. After flirting with each other, they held hands. With a nod, the young men and women ran away happily, melting into the soft darkness of the moonlight, to enjoy their lives. Wen Baoyu's nature is unruly and open-minded, but he was born in a very conservative Chinese family, so when he saw this situation, he felt extremely free and liberated, and felt that life should be lived like this.Therefore, in this Miaodong, he feels like a fish in water.

In such a mood, he kept drinking, feeling a little drunk, so Wen Baoyu didn't know when all the people stopped moving, even the music stopped completely.He just saw the twelve Heavenly Officials suddenly appear in front of him, and all of them looked serious. He knew that something must have happened, so he naturally stood up. At this time, the cave master swayed and came to him.Dongzhu is tall and thin, and when he moves, he looks like a tall skeleton. The surroundings suddenly changed from noisy to silent, and important people in the cave appeared in front of him again. Although Wen Baoyu felt a little drunk, he knew that there must be a very important ceremony that was about to take place.

While sipping wine, Wen Baoyu straightened up.Dongzhu slowly raised his right hand, stretched out his middle finger, and pointed to the sky. When he pointed to the sky, he himself and the twelve heavenly officials looked up together, Wen Baoyu also naturally looked up, the full moon was at the top of the zenith, it looked extremely bright, and the shadows in the bright moon were clear visible. No matter which corner of the earth people live in, as long as they have eyesight, they are used to seeing the moon, so Wen Baoyu looked at it for a while, but he couldn't see anything else. At this time, the owner of the cave had already lowered his hands, pressed Wen Baoyu's shoulders with both hands, and said in a low voice, "We have a great secret - all people in the world only know that there is a moon, and only we know that there is a moon in the sky. There are two moons, not one."

Wen Baoyu could understand what Dongzhu said, but he still shook his head vigorously, thinking that he had drunk too much wine and was confused.He thought about the cave master's words again, and then said "um", "Two moons, um, two moons." He raised his head again, trying hard to find the second moon in the sky, but after looking around, he always saw one.So, he lowered his head again and looked at the cave master.At this time, he was face to face with the owner of the cave, and the distance was very close. Only then did he realize that the face of the owner of the cave was full of wrinkles. I don't know how old he is.

Before Wen Baoyu opened his mouth, the owner of the cave already understood what he wanted to ask, and he stretched out his finger to the distance: "Do you see that mountain?" The place where Lanjia Cave is located is surrounded by overlapping mountains. Wen Baoyu looked at the mountain pointed by the owner of the cave, and the owner of the cave added: "The tallest one." Wen Baoyu nodded, under the moonlight, that mountain was higher than other mountains, much higher, rising from the ground, with clouds and mists around the mountain peak, it seemed so illusory. Wen Baoyu is smart, and he knew that Dongzhu suddenly said something inexplicable to him like "two moons" in this situation, there must be a lot of profound meaning, so he listened attentively. Dare to neglect.

He replied loudly: "I saw it, the highest mountain, so high." Dongzhu paused every word: "Another moon is on the halfway of this mountain peak. That other moon is different from this moon. This moon rises every day and its shape will change. That other moon is not the same as this moon. It often rises, and sometimes it only rises once every few decades, and every time it rises, it is a full moon, which is rounder and brighter than the moon in the sky now, and people dare not look at it." Wen Baoyu blinked. Although he had a rich imagination, like a powerful and unconstrained style, it was difficult to imagine the scene when "another rounder and brighter moon rises", so he had to agree vaguely.

The owner of the cave continued: "The last time the moon rose was many years ago. At that time, I was only seven years old. Now in the cave, the person who saw the second moon rise is still alive. Twenty-two. When the moon rises, it illuminates all the mountain tops, emitting a layer of silver light, which is a rare spectacle." Wen Baoyu tried his best to weave such a wonderful scene in his mind.He still had no choice but to agree. The voice of the owner of the cave sounded a little excited: "A long time ago, this second moon existed. Our ancestors knew it. It has been passed down from generation to generation. This is the big secret of Lanjiadong."

Wen Baoyu didn't think of a question until this time: "The second moon is round and big. When it rises, all the mountains that can be seen will emit silver light. Then, all the Miaodongs should be visible. , how could it be a unique secret of Lanjiadong?" Wen Baoyu's question was extremely reasonable, but when Dongzhu heard this, his eyes widened, as if he had never thought of this question before. Wen Baoyu was baffled at first by the reaction of the owner of the cave, but then suddenly realized that Miao Dong and Miao Dong had very little contact with each other, and each maintained its own mysterious way of life.Like this kind of "two moons" legend, maybe every Miao village has it, but they all regard it as a secret of their own village and cave, and never mention it to outsiders. Once he realized this, Wen Baoyu not only didn't ask any more questions, but instead showed his true nature of being a slicker - most of the Miao people were very simple and didn't know how to play tricks, so Wen Baoyu was more than enough to play tricks in front of the Miao people. He raised his hand and slapped himself on the head: "Really, of course that is a secret that only Lanjiadong knows, and only Lanjiadong knows, there is another moon." The owner of the cave looked at Wen Baoyu for a while, and then he seemed to forgive Wen Baoyu for asking such a stupid question. Then, he sighed: "From generation to generation, a question has been handed down: Why does the moon only appear once in such a long time?" Dongzhu looked at Wen Baoyu, as if he wanted him to answer this question.But Wen Baoyu naturally couldn't answer, so he could only blink, sometimes he didn't know what to say. Dongzhu sighed again: "There is a very wise Dongzhu who found the answer: there is an evil force that is preventing the moon from appearing, so our warriors should eliminate this evil force and let the moon come out. That moon can appear every day." As Dongzhu said, Wen Baoyu nodded his head in agreement—this kind of folklore is mostly similar, and it sounds plausible and quite touching. Wen Baoyu nodded, halfway through, he felt that something was wrong!Naturally, he looked towards the peak, took a breath, and asked himself: What is the purpose of the Cave Master saying this?It wouldn't be to ask him to go up the mountain, to eliminate that evil force, to save that moon. When he came to Lanjiadong, he didn't just drink, sing and dance, but had something to do. He wanted to "pan the ladder", and he still didn't know the content of the ladder. If the other party asked him to do that, he would can not refuse. The mountain was so high that Wen Baoyu was naturally intimidated, but he thought that it was just climbing and it was not a big deal, so he calmed down again.And he also asked actively: "Do you want me to drive away that evil force, so that another moon will come out every night?" Dongzhu was stunned for a while, and then loudly interpreted Wen Baoyu's voluntary invitation.The aroused reaction was so intense that Wen Baoyu never imagined that everyone cheered one after another, regardless of men and women, they all held hands and surrounded Wen Baoyu, shouting and jumping, even the couple who had left one after another just now The right young men and women also rushed back. Singing, dancing, and drinking continued again, Wen Baoyu only knew that the voluntary invitation to cherry blossoms had been accepted, and he was also happy to drink to his heart's content, so he passed out drunk in a room that night until noon the next day. When he woke up at noon the next day, he was thirsty and had a headache. He opened his eyes, only to disturb the extreme silence around him. He struggled to stand up, put his head on his hands, and walked out unsteadily. As soon as he opened the door of the bamboo house, he gave the boss a fright. Since the surroundings were so quiet, he never expected that he would see so many people when he opened the door. The open space outside the bamboo house was crowded with people. It seemed that everyone in Lanjiadong was here, but no one made any noise at all. This situation was really strange and inexplicable. Wen Baoyu was stunned for a moment, and the remaining trace of alcohol was also wiped away.He saw the cave master and the twelve heavenly officials standing in the forefront.As soon as he appeared, all eyes were on him. Wen Baoyu tried his best to make the atmosphere more relaxed, he took a breath, and greeted everyone with the limited "Bunu" he knew. He was sure that he spoke loudly, everyone should be able to hear his greetings, but all the people still didn't say a word, they just looked at him fixedly. This situation was quite strange, which made Wen Baoyu feel a chill. He looked at the cave master and the twelve heavenly officials. The cave master and the twelve heavenly officials walked forward, and Wen Baoyu also faced them. Only then did the cave master point to the distance again, still referring to the peak. At this time, looking into the distance, the scenery seen is quite different from that seen under the moonlight at night. Although the sky is blue and the sun is bright, the field of vision is extremely wide, but the peak is still shrouded in clouds and mist, with strands of clouds, some of which are deep in color, some of which are shining brightly, some are like shredded cotton wool, and some are like weaving. The finished brocade belt, from below the peak, is at least seventy-eight traces long, and it looks magnificent and eye-catching. Wen Baoyu was watching, and the cave master had already said, "You said last night that you can go to that peak to save that moon." Although Wen Baoyu was drunk at night, he did not forget what he said and did, so after listening to it, although he knew that the other party took this matter so seriously, there must be very insurmountable difficulties, But he was born with a fearless personality, so he immediately said loudly: "Yes, I'm leaving today." Dongzhu immediately translated Wen Baoyu's words, and in an instant, all the people cheered thunderously, breaking the silence.Wen Baoyu saw that every Miao person looked extremely excited, as if he had succeeded. The owner of the cave was also very happy, and put his hands on his shoulders. Even his tall and thin body was trembling slightly. While speaking, Wen Baoyu understood a little bit, and he knew that the Twelve Heavenly Officials were showing their merits to the Miao people in Quandong—because they brought a person who dared to rescue the moon trapped by evil forces. At that time, Wen Baoyu didn't know why the Miao people were so excited.Later, after living in Miaodong for a long time, he realized that although the Miao people may be said to be uncivilized and extremely backward in many aspects, they have certain principles, but they are also very advanced, fully in line with the principles of an open society, and even in many so-called civilizations. There is no such principle in any region. One of the principles is that a Miao person will never force or force another Miao person to do something he does not want to do.Even if the status is as high as the Dongzhu, like the Twelve Heavenly Officials, they will not force others to do things. This is a big principle they believe in. Therefore, when the Twelve Heavenly Officials and Wen Baoyu came to me to discuss the "Ladder to Heaven", in fact, the Twelve Heavenly Officials never forced Wen Baoyu, but repeatedly emphasized what Wen Baoyu promised, so it is not easy to talk back. In fact, if Wen Baoyu turned back at that time, there was nothing they could do, because they would not force others to do things by nature. Naturally, they could despise Wen Baoyu extremely because of this, but they still could not force Wen Baoyu to do anything. When Wen Baoyu arrived in Miaodong, he took the initiative to invite Ying with arrogance, and everyone in the cave was inexplicably happy. They stayed up all night and gathered outside Wen Baoyu's bamboo house early in the morning, waiting for Wen Baoyu to come out. Who knew that this boy Wen Baoyu drank too much wine and fell asleep until the sun was high, but there was still no sign of him.The more the Miao people waited, the more anxious they became. It was only when Wen Baoyu was about to say something yesterday that he regretted it now, so he hid himself and saw no one, so there was a dead silence. Because if Wen Baoyu suddenly expressed his unwillingness to go, none of the Miao people in Dongdong would force him to go, they just looked down on him from the bottom of their hearts. Wen Baoyu only found out about all these festivals after the fact. He was proud: "Fortunately, I have the courage to go forward. Hehe, if I were a little less timid, I would become a bastard in the eyes of the Miao people." Wen Baoyu repeatedly affirmed that he was willing to go up that mountain, and the Miao people were naturally overjoyed. He was brought by the Twelve Heavenly Officials, and even the Twelve Heavenly Officials have a lot of face. The owner of the cave said in an excited voice: "You are a warrior sent by the heavens, and the will of the heavens will definitely make you successful." Upon hearing this sentence, Wen Baoyu remembered what I said about the "Ladder to Heaven", and he immediately asked: "Did I pass the Ladder to Heaven after completing this task?" The owner of the cave nodded repeatedly, and the short old man among the Twelve Heavenly Officials, after knowing Wen Baoyu's question, said louder: "That is the highest honor, if Miss Lansi is willing, you can be the owner of Lanjiadong. " After hearing this, Wen Baoyu was speechless for half a minute—being with a Miao girl and living in a Miao cave was already unprecedented in life. Master of a cave, what kind of adventure is this? At this time, he had a question in his mind: What dangers would he encounter when he climbed this mountain? He is very clear that he is by no means a warrior sent by the heavens, and when encountering danger, God's will may not necessarily be on his side, and poisonous snakes and beasts may not not attack him. Just as he was about to ask this question, the cave master said again: "You can choose the eight strongest men from all the strong men in the cave to go with you." Wen Baoyu's heart moved, and he quickly asked: "Anyone who is good at mountain climbing?" The owner of the cave immediately yelled loudly, and all of a sudden, at least thirty or twenty people, with extremely vigorous figures, moved forward more and more, and lined up in a row. Wen Baoyu looked at them, and saw that each of them looked eager to try, and obviously regarded being picked as the greatest honor. At this moment, Wen Baoyu couldn't help being very puzzled: the Miao people lived in the mountains, they climbed the mountains as if they were walking on the flat ground, and their ability to climb mountains was better than their own anyway, so why didn't they save the second moon by themselves? Want to go by yourself? If it is said that they were timid and dare not go, that is not necessarily the case, at least none of the thirty or twenty people backed down. After completing this matter, he could even become the owner of the cave, or at least a warrior of the whole cave. Why didn't anyone try it? At this time, Wen Baoyu didn't have a chance to ask this question. He thought about it for a while, and he didn't have an answer, so he kept it in his heart. He looked at the thirty or twenty people, and thought that if he randomly picked eight people out, one, it would be impossible to pick the best one, and two, the losers would laugh at them. Although Wen Baoyu was young, he was very capable, and he immediately thought of a good way. He said to Dongzhu: "Please tell everyone, whoever thinks that there is someone better than him, may as well withdraw by himself." Miao people are honest by nature, who is good and who is not, everyone knows it well, and they will not cheat.As soon as the owner of the cave sent the word, half of the people backed away, and the remaining half hesitated for a while, and then withdrew a few more. The remaining eight young men looked as strong as leopards, and Wen Baoyu came to them In front of him, he couldn't help but gasped. Compared with those eight Miao youths, he may be far superior to them in terms of wisdom and knowledge, but in terms of physical strength, Wen Baoyu knows that he is too far away from them.If those eight Miao youths are iron bars, then they are not even wooden branches, but reed poles. When he came in front of those eight young people, they all naturally stood up straight, their chests puffed out, their muscles were coiled, and they were full of vitality. It seemed that each of them had the ability to rip apart tigers and leopards. Wen Baoyu knew that if he wanted to climb this peak, these eight youths would surpass him by a large margin in terms of physical fitness. His question came again: Why didn't they go by themselves, but as his assistants?At what point is he better than any of these eight young people? This question has been circling in his mind. At that time, he knew that if something dangerous happened in his actions, these eight young people would be the main force to help him overcome the crisis, so he was very polite to them, and his voice was extremely sincere, he said : "I'm not very good at climbing mountains, everything depends on your help." Dongzhu followed Wen Baoyu and translated these two sentences. The eight young people had the same expression, and they admired Wen Baoyu so much that they almost regarded Wen Baoyu as an idol. Wen Baoyu didn't know why they had such an attitude, so he said again that he should rely on their help more.The eight young men suddenly raised their arms and shouted together, at the same time, they pulled out the sabers that were hanging around their waists and were wrapped in buckskin knives, held them up high, and shouted together again. Wen Baoyu couldn't understand what they were calling, but from their actions and expressions, it could be seen that they were making an oath with a very solemn mood. It was noon at that time, and the eight shining Miao Dao were held high, giving people a feeling of coldness.The Miao warriors attach great importance to the Miao sword they wear. Since Wen Baoyu has met the Miao girl Lansi, he naturally pays attention to the behavior of the Miao people. He knows this. Since childhood, the Miao people have prepared for themselves to have a good knife in the future.This includes bartering with game, or even keeping an eye out for good iron ore yourself.Miaojiang has its own unique research on metallurgy, and there is an untold secret in refining refined steel. They can produce excellent steel, which is called "Myanmar steel". After being cast into Burmese knives, Due to the softness of the blade, it can be tied around the waist like a belt, and its purity can be imagined. And a seedling knife, after the Miao strongman reaches adulthood, will accompany him all his life. When he meets a tree, he cuts the tree, when he meets the vine, when he meets the vine, when he meets the tiger, he kills the tiger, and when he meets the snake, he kills the snake. Until the strong man dies and returns to dust. In most cases, this seedling knife is buried in the ground with the strong man, and in a few cases, it is given to others before death. At this time, those eight youths held up the Miao Dao to swear, which was naturally a very solemn ceremony, and Wen Baoyu also had a solemn expression, looking at the gleaming sharp blade on the man's handle, he did not dare to talk nonsense. The eight-handled seedling knives are naturally not as magical as the legendary Burmese steel, but you can tell at a glance that they are extremely sharp. The lengths of the knives vary, but the shape is the same, with a slight crescent shape-the length is according to each It depends on the strength of people's habits. Looking at the eight knives, Wen Baoyu felt his blood boil all over his body. He also wanted to raise his hands to respond, but when he thought about the knives in other people's hands, he was empty-handed. , There was a chill, his hand tightened, and he looked down, and there was an extra knife in his hand. The shape of the knife is the same as the eight-handled knife held high, but it is quite short, but the blade looks translucent, straight like a pool of autumn water, unfathomably deep, and the edge of the blade is faintly covered with a layer of silver light, which is extremely strange , and there was a chill coming out from the blade. The one who handed him the knife was the little old man of the Twelve Heavenly Officials.