HPDBC Chapter 1601: 3 Sacrifices to the Mountain
Chapter 1601: 3 Sacrifices to the Mountain
Chapter 1601: Three Sacrifices to Pay Homage to the Mountain
Zhao Guofeng left in a daze. His departure and arrival did not affect the Zhao family's project. The house and backyard were bustling with activity.
It was just past nine o'clock, the temperature was already above zero, and water was dripping from the eaves on the north side.
But at this temperature, the ground is still frozen.
The open space where the Zhao family wanted to build the warehouse was in front of the north wall, a long way from the north eaves of the Zhao family's house. It would be exposed to sunlight on sunny days without being blocked by the house.
So the snow here had melted long ago. As the temperature rose over the past few days, the ground was frozen four or five centimeters below, but it could be dug out with a shovel. Further down, it was frozen more solid, but building a shed was not like building a house, so the foundation did not need to be very deep. The men in Xishan Village wielded their pickaxes and dug it out.
As the general commander of the Zhao family's shed construction, Zhang Yuanmin was arguing fiercely with several representatives from Xishantun about the construction plan.
After convincing these people, Zhang Yuanmin shouted at the top of his voice: "Come here with some people who can do bricklaying work."
The people of Xishantun are relatively poor in this aspect. Among so many people, only three of them know how to do bricklaying, and they only know the basics.
Fortunately, Zhang Yuanmin didn't need them to do anything, just build an earthen stove.
In this way, Zhang Yuanmin brought three junior bricklayers and two helpers to prepare to build six stoves under the east wall separating the two new houses of Zhao and Li.
This time, the Zhao family can really compete with the canteen.
These six stoves also needed supporting pillars and sheds. After Wang Meilan called Zhang Yuanmin to give instructions, Zhang Yuanmin nodded repeatedly in agreement and then took people to implement it.
At ten o'clock in the morning, Zhou Jianjun came on a bicycle with Zhao Chun on his back.
The old mother-in-law's family was undergoing a large-scale construction project, and Zhou Jianjun, who lived not far away, came to check and found that everything was fine. Zhao Chun left the child to Hu Sanmei and followed.
As soon as he entered the compound, Zhao Chun felt refreshed when he looked at the yard and the house.
When they arrived at the backyard, Zhou Jianjun wanted to help with the work, but Zhao Jun, Zhao Youcai, Wang Qiang and others were all idle, so how could they ask him to help?
So Zhao Chun and his wife stayed and chatted with relatives and friends.
Wang Meilan told her eldest daughter and son-in-law that she was the village chief, and the young couple were stunned.
"Oh my!" Zhao Chun reacted with a look of surprise and joy. He excitedly circled around Wang Meilan, then took her hand and said, "Mom, this is a great event. We have to tell my grandmother about it."
"Yes!" Wang Meilan nodded and replied, "I'll go after I finish this matter."
As she spoke, Wang Meilan raised her finger and pointed at Zhao Jun, saying, "Your brother is getting married soon, so you have to let them talk about it."
"Yes, yes!" Zhao Chun nodded repeatedly, while Li Ruhai, who was not far away, whispered: "Don't forget to tell your father when you offer sacrifices at home!"
As soon as Li Ruhai finished speaking, he was elbowed by Li Baoyu next to him. At the same time, Li Dayong also gently elbowed Zhao Youcai. The two brothers made such a small move, which meant that they had another plan.
"Lan," Zhao Youcai suddenly spoke up and asked Wang Meilan, "When are you going?"
"I think today is too busy, so I'll go tomorrow." After Wang Meilan responded, she felt something was wrong, so she said to Zhao Youcai, "After that, let's go see his grandpa and grandma."
It’s not good to be partial to one and ignore the other. Since you plan to visit the graves of your own parents, you might as well bring your parents-in-law along.
Few people visit the graves as frequently as Wang Meilan. Except for the Chinese New Year and a few special holidays, when Zhao Jun appears on TV and in newspapers, Wang Meilan goes to the graves and burns newspapers; even when she becomes the village head, she still goes to the graves.
If there really is an underworld, I think the old couple Wang Dabazhang and the old couple Zhao Dazhuzi must be living a very comfortable life just like the Zhao family in this world.
"Okay, let's go over and take a look." Hearing that Wang Meilan was still concerned about her parents, Zhao Youcai was very satisfied and responded immediately.
Then, Zhao Youcai said to Wang Meilan, "It seems that it has completely melted. Well... don't we have a bull head at home? Dig it out."
"Huh?" Wang Meilan was startled when she heard that, frowned and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Yes, the Zhao family also has a bull head, which came from the old yellow bull that Zhao Youcai rode and hit. Wang Meilan kept the bull head to make a pǎ bull face for her son when he got married.
"It's spring now." Zhao Youcai said, "After the New Year, we should go up to the mountains to hunt. We have to go up to the mountains to hunt. This is the hunting gang. After that, don't you still need to transport firewood? This is the wood gang. And then... my son wants to organize people to carry ginseng. This is the ginseng gang."
At this point, Zhao Youcai counted on his fingers and said, "The hunting gang, the wood gang, and the ginseng gang, all have to respect the mountain. Dayong said that this time we should do something bigger. It just so happens that we still have a sheep's head at home, and I also kept a wild boar's head that day, and add this old ox head, we will put them all on display."
Zhao Youcai only said half of what he said. Li Dayong told him that Zhao Youcai had been so unlucky in the past few months. He had to spend the night in the mountains and almost lost his life. He had accidentally killed livestock several times and lost face. It was obvious that Zhao Youcai must have done something wrong and should find someone to punish him.
The only person who knows this in Yong'an Village is Old Mrs. Han. But Zhao Youcai was furious when he remembered that the old couple took the initiative to come to his house and act as fortune tellers for him on the day he had a car accident.
Seeing that Zhao Youcai insisted on not using the Han family, Li Dayong proposed another way to worship the mountain god.
And this time of paying homage to the mountain was not just an ordinary homage, but a large-scale sacrifice in ancient times as Li Dayong knew, offering sacrifices of cattle, pigs and sheep to the mountain in the hope of safe, smooth and prosperous journey up the mountain.
If it was the whole cow, pig, or sheep, Zhao Youcai would definitely not do it. Even if he did, Wang Meilan would not agree. But if it was just the head, that would be easy, because the Zhao family already had it.
Zhao Youcai had just finished speaking, and before Wang Meilan could say anything, someone behind them said, "The village chief's son."
"I'm pretty!" Zhao Youcai was still quite well-mannered and only cursed Tong Youfeng in his heart.
Tong Youfeng came to get nails. Zhao and Li had built sheds in their backyards. Building such a large wooden shed would require a lot of nails. Zhou Jianjun asked someone to get a sack of foreign nails.
It took two people to carry a sack of nails. At this time, Wang Meilan and the others were standing in a row chatting, and Tong Youfeng and Qin Guangquan carried the sacks and passed behind them.
As they passed by, they happened to hear Zhao Youcai saying he wanted to offer a toast to the mountain. Tong Youfeng couldn't help but interrupt and said, "If you want to offer a toast to the mountain, why don't you bring some for us as well?"
"Give it to you as well?" Zhao Youcai raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are you going to do?"
As soon as Zhao Youcai said this, Wang Meilan gently rebuked him. Her tone was not good, and she was stubborn and depressed.
"We also respect the mountains." Tong Youfeng said: "We also hunt, and then..."
Tong Youfeng glanced at Zhao Jun as he spoke, and then said, “We heard that your eldest young master went up the mountain smoothly, which was a matter of respecting the mountain god.”
"My family what?" Zhao Youcai frowned and asked, "Young Master?"
As soon as Zhao Youcai finished speaking, Zhao Jun next to him gently pushed his arm and said, "You should be talking about me."
Zhao Youcai: "..."
Zhao Youcai looked at Zhao Jun, then at Tong Youfeng. At this moment, Zhao Baotou really wanted to curse. He is the eldest son, but I am the village chief. You are really bullying me! You really think I am not a big shot!
"No?" At this time, Wang Qiang took over the conversation and asked Tong Youfeng: "Master, who told you this? When did my eldest nephew worship the mountain god?"
At this point, Wang Qiang smiled and continued, "My eldest nephew has captured and beaten mountain gods."
Wang Qiang's words made everyone in the Zhao family laugh except Zhao Youcai.
Tong Youfeng and Qin Guangquan didn't laugh. When Qin Guangquan looked at Tong Youfeng, Tong Youfeng subconsciously said, "It was Little Broke Mouth... No, it was Master Li who came to our village and said that."
Tong Youfeng was very outspoken. When he changed his words and mentioned Master Li, he glanced at Li Ruhai in panic. If he hadn't looked at him, everyone might not have realized who the little broken mouth was for a while. But that look made everyone laugh.
"I'm so pretty!" Li Ruhai gritted his teeth and cursed Tong Youfeng in his heart. It turned out that the people in Xishantun called him like this behind his back.
Seeing that Li Ruhai looked at him with a strange look, Tong Youfeng quickly turned his head and looked at Wang Meilan and said, "Master Li came to our village earlier and told us that our eldest master went hunting and picked wild boar intestines and black bear intestines and hung them on trees as a tribute to the mountain."
Tong Youfeng said that Li Ruhai did say that. And Li Ruhai was not blind, Zhao Jun did all these things.
But in Zhao Jun's memory, he had only been hung up with wild boar intestines once, when he had just been reborn. Later, there were more and more dogs in the family, and there was not enough food for the dogs, so how could he take care of Jingshan?
As for the bear intestines, dogs wouldn't eat them, so the Zhao army hung them on trees every time, and called it respecting the mountain.
"We... don't ask for a fortune." Having said this, Tong Youfeng glanced at Zhao Youcai next to him and said, "It's enough for us to make some money with the village chief. What else do we ask for? We just want to come out and go in safely, without causing disaster or trouble."
After saying that, Tong Youfeng looked at Zhao Youcai again. It was said that the village chief's son killed an average of less than one cow a month. If this happened to anyone in Xishan Village, the family would be broken up.
It was only because the village chief's family was rich that they could withstand the harm caused by this prodigal man.
I don’t know why, but when Zhao Youcai saw the look in Tong Youfeng’s eyes, he suddenly felt very unhappy.
At this time, after hearing what Tong Youfeng said, Wang Meilan nodded slightly and said, "Yes, safety is better than anything else."
"Then why are you following us?" Zhao Youcai, who had been offended by Tong Youfeng several times, asked bluntly, "Just toast yourselves, don't you have a three-foot-three red cloth?"
In the traditional customs here, red cloth is indispensable. Red cloth is needed when putting up the beams of a house, it takes time to get married, and red cloth is also used to surround a pine tree when worshiping the mountain.
No matter how difficult your life is, you should have enough red cloth, right?
But as soon as Zhao Youcai said this, Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan pulled him back. They felt that Zhao Youcai was being too much.
Anyone who comes is a guest. Even if they come to your house to work, they are still guests and need to be provided with cigarettes, water and food. How can someone like Zhao Youcai do that?
"This..." Tong Youfeng was a little flustered. He didn't know how he had offended the village headman.
"We can pull up the red cloth..." Tong Youfeng said with a red face, "But we are a bunch of hooligans who don't know how to respect the mountain. Let's not be careless and offend the mountain god again."
Hearing Tong Youfeng say this, Qin Guangquan next to him also looked embarrassed.
"Hey!" Upon hearing this, Wang Meilan quickly stopped Tong Youfeng from speaking and said seriously, "Captain Tong, please be careful about what you say. We are not hooligans now."
Tong Youfeng was startled, then nodded repeatedly and said, "The village chief is right. I won't say that again."
Zhao Jun and others found it interesting to see the majestic Wang Meilan. Zhao Chun looked at her with admiration. Li Ruhai was envious and thought, "My aunt is really stylish, but her words are a bit watery. If she could say something like 'Captain Tong, be careful with your words', that would be great."
Wang Meilan had no idea what these people were thinking. At this moment, she looked at Zhao Jun and Wang Qiang, wanting them to help her come up with some advice.
Wang Meilan didn't understand what was going on with Jingshan, and she was afraid to ask Zhao Youcai, who might say something unpleasant.
"Sister, the more people who pay tribute to the mountain, the better." Wang Qiang said, "The more people there are, the more pomp and ceremony there is, and the mountain god will be happy too."
"Really?" Wang Meilan's eyes lit up, she turned around and saw Zhao Youcai. Seeing Zhao Youcai's gloomy face, Wang Meilan knew that Zhao Youcai was right.
"Qiangzi." Suddenly, Zhao Weipeng asked Wang Qiang, "If you are like me and want to do business in the mountains, do you also have to respect the mountains?"
"That's right." Wang Qiang said, "My brother-in-law just said that we are the wood gang when it comes to transportation. You are dealing with those old people. They live and eat in the mountains, so don't you have to respect the mountains?"
"Ouch." Zhao Weipeng heard this and said seriously with his fat face: "It's okay to be polite, and you can't blame the mountain god. Otherwise, what... I'm going to the city to buy something?"
"Uncle Zhao, please wait for a moment." Wang Meilan stopped Zhao Weipeng and called Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai, "Baoyu, Ruhai."
"Here!" As expected of brothers, Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai both stepped out and clasped their fists to Wang Meilan.
When Tong Youfeng and Qin Guangquan saw this scene, they seemed to understand something.
Wang Meilan pointed out two educated people and asked them, "What is the best thing to offer to the mountain god?"
"Whatever my uncle says is fine." Li Ruhai ignored Zhao Youcai's threatening look and said to Wang Meilan, "Cows, pigs, and sheep are the three animals that were used in ancient sacrifices."
"Just using your brain is enough?" Wang Meilan asked. Li Ruhai nodded and said, "That's enough, ma'am!"
After saying that, Li Ruhai took two steps back and left, dragging Li Baoyu, who looked unwilling, with him.
At this time, Wang Meilan looked at Zhao Jun and saw that her son's eyes were full of encouragement. She immediately turned to Tong Youfeng and said, "Captain Tong, go and ask how many people are planning to pay respect to the mountain, and give me a number when you're done!"