The Witch of Xiangxi

Chapter 5 Cowhide Gu

Xia Xiangxi hurriedly agreed, while getting up from the bed.Then she saw that the left sleeve was rolled up high to expose her arm, the sleeve was stained with blood for some reason, and there was a strange smell on her arm, which was stenchy, she put her nose close to it, and the smell was strong It got into her nose, so disgusting that she wanted to vomit when she opened her mouth, but after vomiting for a long time, she didn't spit out anything, only a mouthful of dark green mucus.It is estimated that there is nothing in the stomach to vomit, so the bile was spit out.

Xia Xiangxi frowned, thinking about the dream she had last night, and felt that the stench on her left arm was the same as the stench that the woman with bleeding from the seven orifices splashed over in her dream.She began to wonder, was it a dream all night, or did those things really happen?She thought about it for a long time, and her mind was wandering between dream and reality, and then she couldn't tell the difference.

Grandpa called her outside again, Xia Xiangxi agreed, quickly changed into a suit of clothes, went out to fetch water, and washed off the strange smell on her left arm with soap.

Aunt Ma lifted the lid of the pot on the stove, the heat in the pot was boiling up, and a scent of rice wafted over.Xia Xiangxi suddenly felt extremely hungry, as if he hadn't eaten at all last night.

Today is Sunday, and the youngest daughter of Mabo's family, who is in high school in the county, has also returned.There are four children in this Mabo family, three daughters and one son.The two eldest daughters both married to a village far away from here.The third eldest son was doing business in Yunnan, and it was he who took Grandpa Ma's family to Yunnan.The youngest daughter is in the first year of high school in the ancient city of Fenghuang. Because she is a boarding student, Xia Xiangxi has only met the girl once in the long time she has been here.The girl's name is Majuni.

Grandpa said that it is enough to call a girl of the Miao nationality "Da Beer" and a boy "Da Min".

Xia Xiangxi likes Majuni very much, because she can speak Chinese, and she finally found someone to chat with, and Majuni can also translate for her.

Majuni also had a good impression of Xia Xiangxi, she was in the cardamom season at that age, she was innocent and romantic.After dinner, he pestered Xia Xiangxi to play with her for a while.Xia Xiangxi glanced at her grandfather, who nodded to her, and she agreed.

When the two girls left the house, they met a few soldiers in camouflage uniforms coming to the stockade. Xia Xiangxi saw the soldier who smiled at her and almost caused her to fall into the Tuojiang River, and felt a "thump" in his heart. The fleshy skin on the face felt tight, a little unclear.

At this time, Ma Zhuni told Xia Xiangxi to follow her quickly, and Xia Xiangxi just passed by those soldiers.When she saw the people Ma Zhuni was pointing at, it turned out that there were many Miao people with shovels walking out of the village together.Majuni said that the leader was the village head of their village, and that something serious must have happened, because Ma Po followed.There is nothing serious in the village, Ma Po will not leave her stilted building easily.

Then, without asking Xia Xiangxile if he was happy, he dragged her hand and followed the team.Not too far away, they were spotted by the people in front, and a Miao Min wanted to drive them back like a duck.People have a natural curiosity, the more they are not allowed to participate in the matter, the more it is like a small bug getting into their minds, and it will be itchy and uncomfortable if they don't make a fuss.

Ma Zhuni blinked at Xia Xiangxi, and the two of them formed a tacit understanding. The spy-like cat secretly followed those people in the grass by the roadside, all the way to the back of the mountain.

Behind this mountain is a large cemetery, just like the cemetery Xia Xiangxi dreamed about last night.Seeing this familiar scene, Xia Xiangxi shuddered, and a gust of cold wind went into her bones.

Those Miao people were digging a grave with a shovel, and the Ma Po was directing.What are some people talking about while digging?Without Majuni, Xia Xiangxi wouldn't be able to understand a word.

"They're digging the grave of a soil ghost!" Majuni said to Xia Xiangxi a little excitedly after listening to those people's conversation.Xia Xiangxi shuddered, and in her dream she heard Ma Po scold the white old man as a soil ghost.

Seeing that Xia Xiangxi's face turned a little pale, Ma Zhuni patted her on the shoulder and said she was fine, don't be afraid, is Ma Po here?
Xia Xiangxi said in his heart, if you know what I am afraid of, I am probably not so calm anymore.

"What is a soil ghost? Do you know?" Xia Xiangxi asked Ma Zhuni in a low voice. Seeing that the little girl was so excited when she heard those people talking about ghosts, I guess this girl's courage is really big.

"We call those outsiders who died unexpectedly called soil ghosts. This is a mass grave. Generally, people in our place dare not come here during the day. They say that those outsiders who died have become soil ghosts. I'll come out and hang around." When Majuni finished speaking, she trembled, as if suddenly frightened.

Xia Xiangxi casually asked Ma Zhuni, "Then do you think there are really ghosts in this world?"

Majuni immediately said with a pious look: "Yes! Anyway, we Miao people believe in this." After she finished speaking, she saw a green grass at her feet, chewed it in her mouth, and handed Xia Xiangxi one , Said: "You chew, the grass juice is sweet."

Xia Xiangxi laughed all of a sudden, thinking that a little girl is just a little girl, and she has a serious heart for fun, so why are you scrambling now?

Unexpectedly, the more you chew the majuni, the more delicious it seems. Seeing that Xia Xiangxi refused to chew the grass, she said, "If you don't like it, I will eat it all!" After speaking, he reached out and took the grass from Xia Xiangxi's hand He snatched it away and chewed it greedily as if he was hungry and seeing delicious food. This time, he didn't spit out the grass after chewing it, and swallowed it into his stomach.

Xia Xiangxi felt choked when she saw Majuni eating the grass, worried that Majuni would get upset if she ate wild grass like this, so she reminded her, "If you are hungry, it is better to go home and find something to eat. You are stronger than weeds!"

Majuni shook her head and said, "I often eat this! I like to eat this!" Xia Xiangxi was a little dumbfounded by these two sentences.Majuni clapped the mud on her hands, pulled Xia Xiangxi's hand to stand up and said, "It's boring here, don't stay here anymore, let's go play elsewhere. I'll find you wild fruits to eat!"

Xia Xiangxi didn't dare to go. Only two days ago, a Miao citizen was bitten by a snake in the field. There are many snakes in the mountains, and her grandfather specifically asked her not to let her wander around the valley or the terraced fields.

Ma Zhuni had no choice but to follow Xia Xiangxi home, looking rather disappointed, drooping his head on the road, and refused to talk to Xia Xiangxi.No matter how Xia Xiangxi teased her, her eyelids also teased Xia Xiangxi.

When he got home, Majuni went back to his room.Grandpa was smoking dry tobacco in the yard, so Xia Xiangxi sat down on the stone bench and talked with grandpa for a while.At noon, I helped Aunt Ma make lunch.Shouting Majuni while eating, the little girl slept soundly on the bed, she didn't seem to wake up no matter how much she shouted.

Aunt Ma spoiled the youngest daughter, and said to let her go to sleep, and put the rice in the pot for her to warm.Grandpa took a look at Aunt Ma, and then took a puff of the dry tobacco with a "click, click", the smoke dispersed, and the acrid smell of smoke made Aunt Ma cough.She glared at her grandfather with some displeasure.

Grandpa slowly asked Aunt Ma in Miao language. Xia Xiangxi didn't understand Miao language at the time, but after listening to his grandfather, he knew it. Grandpa asked Aunt Ma, "Your man asked you to kill your cock last night. Are you Are you unwilling? You caught one from the neighbor’s house?”

Aunt Ma's face changed, and she strongly denied it.Uncle Ma was stunned for a moment and said, "I saw the chicken my woman caught from the coop with my own eyes. Is it fake?"

Grandpa knocked the cigarette rod on the table with a "snap", and shouted loudly: "You stole other people's chicken, and the retribution will be on your daughter in a blink of an eye. Don't you still admit it? Take a closer look and see your daughter's chicken!" Did you get a cowhide Gu?"

Aunt Ma trembled in fright when Grandpa yelled so loudly. After hearing what Grandpa meant, she hurriedly got up from the stool.She ran into the house, and when she came out, she was already crying loudly, and bowed her head to her grandfather, saying she was wrong while thanking her.

Uncle Ma also knew that everything was right by his grandfather, so he scolded his wife, and then urged her into the house to wake up Majuni, and dragged her to the gate. Pulling the majuni, he cursed loudly with anger and hatred, "I'm bewitched, I'm bewitched. I already know who put the bewitched person who was cut off by a knife. If she doesn't take it back quickly, I won't forgive her." Hers! One day I will pour dung over the door of her house and throw stones on the roof of her house, so that everyone will know that there is a voodoo in her house, and some sons and daughters cannot be married!"

This way of scolding the village is to control evil with evil. When the person who cast the Gu hears it, he is afraid and will automatically take back the Gu that he placed.

Xia Xiangxi found out through his grandfather that he needed some rooster blood last night, so Uncle Ma asked Aunt Ma to go to his chicken coop to catch one and slaughter it.Aunt Ma felt sorry for the big rooster in her family and was reluctant to kill it. Uncle Ma scolded her and stared at her to catch it in the chicken coop. Unexpectedly, after Uncle Ma turned and walked away, Aunt Ma put the rooster back. The chicken coop secretly went out and caught the chickens raised by the neighbor next door in the stilted building. Unexpectedly, it would be retribution to my daughter immediately. It was known that Aunt Ma stole the chicken and injected Gu on Ma Zhuni.

Aunt Ma was still cursing that she lived with her neighbor for so many years, and she didn't know that the woman in his family was a grass hag. Thanks to her helping them a lot in the past, she was really blind.

This was the first time Xia Xiangxi knew about playing Gu.She remembered that Majuni was grazing outside before, and it was abnormal at that time, but she found it strange and never imagined that Majuni was bewitched.

Grandpa frowned, and called to Aunt Ma to stop her from cursing, and asked her where was the chicken she killed last night?
Aunt Ma blushed and said, "I've already stewed it, I thought I'd save it until night to secretly nourish my daughter's body..."

Uncle Ma started to scold, he was naturally angry that his woman treated the guests slowly, and asked her to quickly bring the chicken, if Grandpa hadn't been sharp-eyed, he would have seen that their daughter had been infected by cowhide gu, and it would have killed their daughter after a long time.

Aunt Ma quickly brought out the chicken.Grandpa's face was quite ugly. This was the first time Xia Xiangxi saw his grandpa so angry. Is it because Aunt Ma didn't bring out the chicken for everyone to eat together?Xia Xiangxi didn't think so, but he didn't understand why grandpa was so angry?

Grandpa seemed to be greedy. He picked up the chopsticks and pressed them into the big porcelain bowl containing the chicken. The chopsticks stirred in the pile of chicken, and then he yelled, "I was struck by lightning, but the sky was changed by lightning." Killed my granddaughter..."

(End of this chapter)