God's Gift

None of the students got a good rest that night. Although some people took turns to stand guard, those who went to rest were unable to fall asleep because of the cold and gloomy air lingering around them.

The night was particularly long. After staying up all night, everyone finally fell asleep reluctantly when it was dawn, feeling extremely sleepy.

But after a while, the sound of roosters crowing rang out in the village, and the sound echoed far away in the valley.

Fang Ziang, who was in a deep sleep, had not figured out why there was a rooster crowing in the deserted village before he fell into a deep sleep again.

Until a broom fell on Fang Ziang, waking him up from his sleep.

"stand up!"

Fang Ziang's face was covered with dust from the broom, and he coughed. He suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the old woman in front of him with gray hair and a hunched back. He asked in astonishment:

"who are you?"

"Who am I?" The old woman snorted angrily, and then picked up the broom and hit Fang Ziang on the butt. "You all ran into my room to sleep, and I haven't even asked you who you are?"

"Your home?" Fang Ziang widened his eyes and was about to ask how a ruined building with only a wall left could be the old woman's home. But when he looked up, he saw that the yard where he lived last night had changed drastically.

The originally dilapidated house seemed to have been repaired, the collapsed earth wall was stood up, the holes caused by worms on the beams disappeared, the weeds in the yard disappeared, and instead there were several vegetable plots planted with cabbage and green vegetables.

Fang Ziang was stunned for a few seconds and subconsciously uttered an exclamation.

"I rely on..."

Isn't this another attempt to do the same thing as the Swamp Castle?

The old woman looked at Fang Ziang's constantly mumbling mouth, narrowed her eyes, put her ear close to listen carefully, and just heard the words "Oh my god".

Her eyes widened, she raised the broom and hit Fang Ziang again.

"Hey, hey, don't hit me!"

Fang Ziang quickly withdrew his hand in pain, climbed up from the ground, and ran to the other end of the yard.

The old woman was about to chase Fang Ziang with a broom and hit him, when Shen Minghua and Ye Li walked in from the door.

They had already walked around the village at dawn and had already discovered that something was wrong with the village. When they came back and saw the old woman appear out of nowhere, they were not too surprised.

Shen Minghua paused for a few seconds, then took a step forward to the old woman, stopped her from sweeping the broom at Fang Ziang, and said gently:

"Granny, don't be afraid, we are not bad people."

There was a faint smile on his face, his eyes were as gentle as the misty rain, and his posture was like a bamboo. He looked like a gentleman.

When the old woman saw Shen Minghua, she hesitated for a few seconds and put away her broom.

"Mother-in-law, we came to see the Buddha Worship Festival in Lijia Village because of its reputation. However, we got lost while looking for the village yesterday. It was already late at night when we arrived at Lijia Village."

He looked somewhat guilty and bowed to the old woman.

"We saw that the door to my mother-in-law's yard was not closed, so we thought that no one lived in the house, so we stayed here without permission. I didn't expect to disturb you. I'm really sorry."

Seeing Shen Minghua like this, the old lady didn't want to attack him. "Since you are here to observe the Buddha Worship Festival, and today is a good day, I won't say anything."

"Hurry up and leave." The old woman waved her hand. "The sacrifice will start soon. If you are late, you will miss the chance to see it later."

"Thank you, grandma." Shen Minghua smiled and thanked the old lady.

The old woman stuck the broom on the ground, called them again, and pointed outside.

"The parade will pass by here in a while. If you can get close to the dogs, you will have good luck."

After she finished speaking, she seemed to have thought of something, and added with some pride, "This year my dog ​​was also chosen to be a servant dog, and is now in the parade. If you go there at the right time, you might be able to see it."

Shen Minghua acted a little surprised, smiling warmly, "There is still such a good thing, then we have to try our luck."

The old woman's wrinkled face broke into a smile. When she talked about her dog, even her bent back straightened a little and she immediately started talking.

"I brought that puppy back from Ah Chou's house two months ago. Her big dog just gave birth to a litter of puppies, and I told her a long time ago that she should leave the best-looking one for me, so I was able to get it back."

"It has also been doing well. It has grown into a well-known dog in just two months. It was even selected by the village chief to join the team of trained dogs this year. This has given me a lot of face."

Shen Minghua and Ye Li stood there, not interrupting the old woman, and listened to her carefully.

Seeing that they were willing to listen, the old woman waved to the two of them and asked them to come closer.

Shen Minghua and Ye Li looked at each other and walked towards the old woman.

The old woman looked around and whispered to Shen Minghua and Ye Li:

"I'm telling you this, and you have to remember it. My little cub is called Youyou. When the team of dogs comes over later, you find the smallest one and call its name quietly, and it will come over."

When Ye Li heard the old woman say the puppy's name, he was stunned for a second and repeated, "Youyou?"

"Yes, it's Youyou." The old woman nodded affirmatively. "It was Ah Chou who helped to come up with this name. I, an old woman, have not read much, so I was going to call it Stinky Egg."

"But Ah Chou said that the name didn't sound nice. Seeing that Youyou was only the size of a palm when he was born and looked so cute, we named him Youyou."

When Ye Li heard this, he realized that the old woman might not be talking about "Youyou" but "Youyou".

Ye Li raised the corner of his mouth slightly in a smile, but it was quite a coincidence that this puppy had the same name as Yu Youyou.

Although Yu Youyou chose the wrong trial, it was quite interesting to meet people like her... and her dog in this way.

Shen Minghua also understood what the old lady meant. He didn't think as much as Ye Li did. He nodded and said to the old lady, "Okay."

The old woman waved her hands and said, "Although this is not a good thing, I like you two young people very much. It's okay to let you have a good start."

"Okay, it's getting late, you can go now."

-

On the other side, Lu Keming stood in front of the yard, looking at the houses in the village.

These houses are built with loess, with a few pieces of wood as beams on the roof, covered with blue-gray tiles.

Strings of red lanterns are hung under the eaves, red couplets are posted on the wooden door frames, colorful paper-cuts are posted on the window frames, and the house is decorated with lights and colorful decorations, exuding a festive atmosphere.

"Master, it seems that the plot has already begun. Yu Youyou should appear in the plot." Anthony stood behind Lu Keming, "But we have no way of knowing the role that Yu Youyou has chosen. If she doesn't want us to know, we probably won't be able to find her."

Lu Keming lowered his eyes, rubbed his fingers twice, and said firmly: "She won't."

"That's right." Anthony agreed somewhat after hearing what Lu Keming said, "Yu Youyou didn't have to hide it from us."

While the two were talking, a call was heard outside. Lu Keming looked in the direction of the sound and asked:

"What are you doing over there?"

"That is a unique ritual of the Buddha worship festival in Lijia Village. The villagers carry the dog in a parade to thank the dog for leading them to the Ten Thousand Faces Buddha and pray that the dog will pass on the message to the Buddha for them to receive blessings."

Anthony told Lu Keming what he had found out, and commented at the end, "It's a kind of superstition."

"Let's go and take a look." Lu Keming walked into the crowd and headed towards the direction where the sound came from.

Anthony quickly followed.

The path in the village was crowded with villagers. Strips of talisman paper with strange runes drawn on them were hung on the ridges of the fields. A group of men were walking towards the village from the fields outside the village.

Their faces were painted with ancient and complex runes with red cinnabar, and they all wore floor-length black gowns with runes also painted on them with yellow and red pigments.

These men stood in a row, four in a pair, carrying a small wooden sedan on their backs, on which sat a number of Tibetan terriers wearing gold and silver ornaments, dressed exquisitely and luxuriously, and were carried towards the village by sedan bearers below.

Every ten steps the man would shout a slogan, his voice so loud that it echoed throughout the valley.

As the sound of the horn got closer and closer to the village, the villagers who had been waiting at the entrance of the village gathered around, holding various tributes in their hands, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the messenger dog.

As the team got closer, the villagers waiting around became excited and gathered around the dog, handing over their tributes.

But these servant dogs sat upright in the sedan chair and ignored the tributes that were offered.

Except for a little white pine cub at the end of the team.