Personal security

Chapter 14: Strange Nation

Nong Lan was squatting under the tree and thinking about something. There was a rustle of leaves, and Zhao Jianhui appeared in front of her with a bag of clothes in his hand.

Nong Lan opened the small bag and took a look, only to see inside it a white coat, black knee-length trousers, flat sandals with straps... Wrapping these clothes was actually a bright red turban.

Zhao Jianhui was already wearing a white coat, straight pants, a pink ribbon tied around his waist, and a pair of camouflage high-waisted canvas shoes. That look is really ridiculous no matter how you look at it.

"Hurry up and try it on to see if it fits. I went through several stores before I found it." Zhao Jianhui sat under the tree and took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Seeing Nong Lan looking over, he smiled a little embarrassedly and said: "Anyway, I became a thief once. Stealing clothes is also stealing, stealing cigarettes is also stealing. I'm just taking advantage of others."

"What are you thinking about? I want to say that you must keep this lighter, maybe you can use it if you go forward." Nong Lan hid behind a big tree and said while still wearing clothes. What surprised her was that after she put on the clothes and shoes, she found that the size was just right for her figure, and even the shoes were neither too big nor too small.

Only then did I remember what he had just said, "Hurry up and try it on to see if it fits you. I went through several stores before I found it." This man really means it. It's hard to believe that he didn't measure his body and small feet, so the stolen items fit him so well.

Seeing Nong Lan walking out from behind the tree after passing on his clothes, Zhao Jianhui laughed happily: "Well, it's not bad. If your neck grows longer, wear some shining gold necklaces, just like the ones in the village. You look more like a woman. No, you are much whiter than those people, and you are also more beautiful than those people..."

Nong Lan listened to his muttering to himself, and there was a hint of praise in his voice for his good looks. He couldn't help but smile to himself, and then he suddenly reacted and asked in surprise: "What did you say? What did you say about the inside of this village?" Most women wear gold necklaces and have long necks, right?”

"Yes, the women here all wear a bunch of gold collars around their necks, and they look like giraffes. What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, it turns out it's them. What you met is a very strange nation. It's just that there are very few people in this nation, probably only a few hundred people." Nong Lan said with a smile.

The so-called peculiarity is because women of this nation start to put rings around their necks when they are four to five years old. There are six rings in one layer. As they grow older, the number of layers increases. The more rings, the more beautiful they are. The longest neck is 70 centimeters, which is as long as 36 collars. The largest neck rings can weigh more than ten kilograms. Their collars are usually made of brass or pure gold. After wearing the collar on their necks for more than ten years, they have become accustomed to this kind of support, and once the collar is removed, they will suffocate to death.

Tribes of this ethnic group generally choose gold-producing rivers and mountains as their residences, and their people make a living by panning for gold. The chief leads the men to pan for gold in inaccessible mountains following the secret gold-producing trail passed down from their ancestors, and the gold is distributed evenly. Men took gold to Buddhist temples and exchanged it with monks to support their families. Women weave at home, take care of their children, and collect wild fruits. They believe in animism and worship nature. Men are good at alchemy and witchcraft, and women are good at singing and dancing. Women are quite independent in marriage. Each woman initially determines her lover based on dreams, and then finalizes it through a divination method.

"So, as long as there is a place where this ethnic group lives, it must be in the remote mountains and old forests that are inaccessible. So how long will it take for us to go out?" Zhao Jianhui asked a little worriedly.

"I can't say that." Nong Lan shook his head and said.

"By the way, since women will suffocate to death if they take off the collar, why do they still wear such a heavy copper collar?" Zhao Jianhui asked in confusion.

Nong Lan looked at the thatched houses at the foot of the mountain and said quietly: "Actually, no one knows the real reason why women of this nation wear so many collars around their necks, but there is a legend that has always been circulated in our country. This is a very sad and tragic legend.”

"This ethnic group is called the Butang tribe. They have lived in the mountains of the Golden Triangle for generations and gathered in the form of tribes. The background of the time was social unrest, with tribes fighting for each other and the weak and the strong. Everyone wanted to occupy one side and dominate the world. The Butang tribe is a tribe with a very small number of people, and they have wealth from gold mining. They may be invaded at any time. In this vulnerable situation, they have no choice but to flee into the deep mountains and forests. "

"When foreigners invaded, once a woman was caught, she would be chopped off from the neck to vent the anger of the men when they fought. In order to better protect their wives and daughters from this harm, the Butang tribe invented the method of killing women. Neck collars are copper collars or gold collars that are more flexible than other metals, and this custom continues to this day.”

"Nowadays, this custom has evolved into an aesthetic demand. In order to meet this weird aesthetic standard, women in Butang do not hesitate to destroy their bodies. This is exactly the same as the bad custom of binding feet that was popular in ancient times in your country. I personally think this is The tragedy of the male-dominated world’s spiritual domination and even physical destruction of women.”

"That makes sense. I didn't expect you to know so many things." Zhao Jianhui looked at Nong Lan and said with a smile.

Nonglan snorted: "What do you think? I'm well-educated. My grades in Oxford are among the best."

Zhao Jianhui then realized that the woman in front of him was not really a drug dealer, but a princess. "Can we go now, Princess Nonglan? Let's go down and ask someone for directions and find some necessary things. Otherwise, do you really want to fish all the way back to Mae Sai?"

"You want to go to Mae Sai? I don't even know where this place is. Anyway, let's go back to Thailand first." Nonglan said, glancing at Zhao Jianhui, and whispered: "You dare to go down, you just stole someone's clothes, it would be bad if someone recognized you."

"It's no big deal, right? I just took the things from the westernmost ones. Let's go to the easternmost ones. Ask that family. I found that there are almost no men in this village. All the women are weaving and taking care of children at home. Even if we are discovered, it won’t be a problem for the two of us to run away, right? "

"Yes, that's true. Speaking of which, the women of the Butang tribe are quite pitiful. Their men go to the primitive mountains and forests to pan for gold, and they can only go home after four or five months or even half a year. Usually, in the tribe, except for a few men who stay behind to perform protection duties, there are only women and children at home..." The two people went down the mountain while talking, and soon they arrived at a family in the easternmost forest.

There are three women of different ages in this family. They wear self-woven white cloth, with colorful lace embroidered on the collars and corners, and their thick black hair is wrapped in emerald green headscarves. Their clothes are bright and eye-catching. Of course, the most conspicuous thing is their long necks supported by layers of metal collars.

Zhao Jianhui observed carefully and found that the faces of these long-necked women, whether little girls or adult women, were oppressed by the cold metal collars on their necks. Their facial features were squeezed very close together, and they were so deformed that they couldn't see where their beauty was. Zhao Jianhui smiled secretly, thinking that it might be because of my lack of aesthetic sense. This is not beautiful at all, it is simply extremely smelly.

What Zhao Jianhui did not expect was that these long-necked women were very hospitable. As soon as Zhao Jianhui and Nong Lan entered their hut, they were warmly received. They took out wild fruit preserves in a familiar manner, and seeing Zhao Jianhui, a big man, they enthusiastically took out their own brewed rice wine and poured it for him to drink. Just now, the two of them only shared a fish, and walked for nearly two hours on the mountain road. Now Zhao Jianhui was really hungry, so he took it without hesitation and ate and drank.

Just as Zhao Jianhui and Nong Lan were eating and drinking, a woman went out and gathered five or six gorgeous girls to perform primitive songs and dances for them. They beat tiles and copper instruments and sang in chorus. The sharp and exciting rhymes were like a strong spring breeze passing through the narrow aisle, with passionate and powerful penetration. They danced, simply imitating the movements of worshipping the sky, worshipping fire, digging the ground, sowing seeds, weaving, giving birth, as well as some insects, animals playing and mating, vividly showing primitive life forms such as sacrifice and labor. It was really hard for them to carry a heavy collar on their necks and still perform such a wonderful performance.

Nong Lan quietly touched Zhao Jianhui's shoulder and whispered: "If I have to carry such a heavy thing, I might as well die directly." Looking at the girls, Zhao Jianhui also felt that his neck was heavy, and his mood became heavy.

Night had begun to fall while singing and dancing. Zhao Jianhui stood up and wanted to ask where this place was. A long-necked woman thought Zhao Jianhui was going to leave, so she came over and stretched out her hand to press his shoulder, smiling and said: "In the name of the mountain god, as long as we meet in the mountains, we are destined to meet. The distinguished guest can stay and leave when the sun rises tomorrow."

As he spoke, someone brought delicious food. It turned out that it was just an appetizer before the meal. Zhao Jianhui and Nong Lan looked at each other and were dumbfounded by the food on the table. They had eaten too much just now and were almost full. Now, where should they put all the food?

After the meal, these long-necked women cleaned up the table very quickly. What was quite surprising was that there was a small generator in the bamboo building for power supply, an electric water heater was installed on the bamboo drying platform, and the bamboo tube drained the spring water. The shower head was in the open air, and hot water could be used for bathing at any time.

However, the bathroom in this bamboo building, with a bamboo frame about two meters above the ground, with a starry sky above and banana leaves covering the surroundings, was pure naturalism.