September is full of flowers

"pat-"

"pat-"

In his dream, Shen Man was suddenly awakened by a chilly feeling on his face.She immediately sat up and touched her face, seeing the sticky liquid on her hands, her little face instantly turned pale.

This... Could this be the saliva of some kind of beast?

She didn't dare to continue thinking, and Tang Jiuyue beside her was also awakened by her actions at this moment.She opened her beautiful eyes, sat up lazily and confusedly, stretched her arms, and yawned.

"Huh? What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I don't know what was on my face..." Shen Man desperately winked at her, signaling that if there is danger, don't ignore him and run away first.

Tang Jiuyue blinked innocently, "Don't you wipe off the magma water all over your face?"

"Magma water?" Shen Man was slightly surprised.So there are no scary beasts or ghosts behind her?Thinking of this, Shen Man calmed down a little, and wiped his little face with his sleeve.

It was already bright outside, the mountains were covered with mist, and there were bursts of birdsong in my ears, accompanied by the gurgling stream.

Tang Jiuyue took a deep breath of air, then coughed awkwardly, "It stinks."

Shen Man also smelled a bad smell, frowned and said, "It's strange, the air in this countryside mountain should be good in the morning. But it's foggy and smelly here, I don't know what's going on."

Tang Jiuyue's face became serious, but her voice was still calm, "There is fog on the mountain, and this stench is..."

"Keng-Keng--" There was a harsh gong sound suddenly in the quiet morning, accompanied by bursts of hurried footsteps and hurried shouts.

"What are they talking about?" Shen Man asked with a frown.She couldn't understand the words of this group of people at all.

"Their elder is missing." Tang Jiuyue grabbed the railing and stared outside.

"Do you understand Hmong?"

"I don't understand, but I have experienced it." Tang Jiuyue said quietly.The strength in her hand suddenly strengthened, but when she heard a crisp "click", the vine that was as thick as an arm was shortened by her.Under Shen Man's astonished eyes, Tang Jiuyue pushed the broken "door" outward, bent down and walked out calmly through the broken opening.

"Still leaving?" Tang Jiuyue turned around and asked.

Shen Man hurriedly followed, staring at Tang Jiuyue's back as she walked all the way, thinking, since she could come out so easily, why didn't she leave last night?She said she had been through these things, but what had she been through?Why did the elders disappear for no reason, and why did Tang Jiuyue go out at this very moment?

The former paused, and Shen Man also stopped.Looking around, it seems that this is not going out, but going to the center of the village.

"Miss Tang—" Shen Man hesitated slightly and asked in confusion.

"You guys, how did you escape?!" Unfortunately, standing in front of the two of them was one of the aunts who Shen Man failed to steal carrots.She was flustered at the moment, a little at a loss, as if she was thinking whether it is more important to catch these two or find the elder first, after all, it is the elder who is missing at this moment, and according to usual experience, the longer the elder is missing, the more ominous it will be. .

"Ms. Yang, leave these two people to me. Go and find the elder first." A cold voice came from behind the aunt. Seeing him, the aunt nodded and continued to run in a hurry with a hoe. to find someone.

There were people running all around, all holding weapons in their hands, and the expressions on their faces were also anxious.No one paid any attention to Tang Jiuyue and Shen Man standing here.

It was Ding Lou who came to "greet" them.

"Aren't you going to find the elder?" Shen Man asked with a hint of luck.

Ding Lou raised the corner of his mouth and said coldly, "The elder disappeared as soon as you came, don't you think it's too coincidental?"

"We were locked in your prison last night, how could we capture your elders?"

"Didn't you escape?"

Shen Man was choked, and after calming down a little, he continued, "We ran away as soon as we ran, what's the use of catching your elder? Besides, where can we hide him?"

Ding Lou said sadly, "Then I'll ask you guys." He slowly walked up to Shen Man and Tang Jiuyue, looked them up and down with unkind eyes, "Where did you hide the elder?"

For a moment there was peace, save for the disorder of footsteps and the piercing sound of the gong.

A lot of flustered figures flitted across the calm lake, and there was a slight shimmer of light from nowhere, circle after circle.There was a huge black shadow under the water gradually approaching the water surface, but after seeing a person, the black shadow quickly sank again.

Shen Man was about to speak again, but Tang Jiuyue took a step forward, and said slowly in a colder voice, "Your elder is on this cliff, in a certain crack."

Shen Man turned his head to stare at Tang Jiuyue's profile in disbelief.

How could she know... Could it be that she kidnapped the elder of the Miao tribe while I was asleep?No, this is really impossible. Tang Jiuyue has no reason to do such a thing, nor does she have any reason to do such a thing.But why did she know the elder's whereabouts so well?Wasn't it because she had just woken up at dawn that she chose to escape at dawn and her defenses were loose?Or was it because she had known for a long time that the disappearance of the elders would cause chaos, so she took the opportunity to escape?

Ding Lou's face became more and more gloomy.

"It's really you..."

"There must be a misunderstanding," Shen Man quickly explained, "Isn't it, sister Tang...?" She was winking at Tang Jiuyue vigorously, hoping to turn the fight into friendship and leave here as soon as possible.

But Tang Jiuyue was ungrateful as always, "It's not us, but I know he's on the cliff and he's dead, believe it or not."

Shen Man covered his face, oh no, it's going to be bad luck.

Tang Jiuyue saw what was going on in Shen Man's heart, and wrote lightly, "It's not that I made you unlucky, but that you were destined to commit evil, and it's you who have always implicated us."

Shen Man said dissatisfiedly, "It's all reduced to this point, you still have the mood to criticize me."

Ding Lou called two people to escort them, "You guys go with me."

The Miao people were surrounding this place, and a piece of land was specially vacated in the middle, so that Shen Man and Tang Jiuyue standing in the middle could be more conspicuous.

Several Miao people with ropes wrapped around their bodies looked back at the two men, and said indifferently, "It's them? They look very delicate, can they transport the elders up? This rock wall is slippery and steep, even if we It was very difficult for a few of them to go up by themselves, and it was hard to imagine that these two little girls could do it."

Shen Man looked up along the rope and saw a few holes punched in very high places, presumably these were the marks left by the ancestors.Generations of Miao people have used the oldest and smartest way to transport the entire coffin up. Although they cannot visit the tomb during the festivals, they can worship in the open space on the cliff. This is where Shen Man is standing now. The reason why the soil color is not the same.

"Take these two demon girls up." Ding Lou ordered the two Miao people, and after saying that, he wrapped a rope around his waist, as if he wanted to go up together.

"Ding Lou, you have to be careful." An old lady couldn't help telling.

"You are the son of the village chief, you can't be troubled." Another uncle walked over tremblingly and said.

"Well, don't worry." After Ding Lou finished speaking, he stared at the cliff and began to climb up.

When the Miao Min was about to approach, Tang Jiuyue quickly knocked him unconscious with a knife in his hand, and then she wrapped the rope and led the Miao Min up smoothly.But in the eyes of the people below, they naturally thought that Miao Min was still leading Tang Jiuyue up.

Shen Man vaguely saw the situation on Tang Jiuyue's side. She didn't have Tang Jiuyue's skills, so she could only let the big man behind her take her up.

During the thrilling journey, Shen Man watched his feet get farther and farther away from the ground, and became more and more worried that he would fall.Miao Min seemed to have noticed her nervousness, and comforted her with a kind heart, "Don't worry, little girl, I've spent more time on this than walking on the road, and you will never fall off."

Shen Man swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked, "How often do you go up there?"

"That's not certain," the Miao man smiled. "When someone dies, we have to go up there. Occasionally, in special times, we have to bring some sacrifices from the family, but this is very expensive. , very few people can afford the cost.”

"You put people here, aren't you afraid of being eaten by birds?"

"Being eaten by flying birds is their blessing. This is God's pity, and ordered the flying bird messengers to pick them up for eternal life."

While talking, they passed by the lowest crack, Shen Man couldn't help but look inside, but saw two coffins arranged in a mess, the innermost one was only wrapped in straw mats.The straw mat had rotted away due to the age, revealing a thick leg bone...

Shen Man was so frightened that the blood on his face faded away, he didn't dare to look again.

"Little girl, don't be afraid."

Shen Man asked, "Is there any particularity to the height of the cliff burial?"

"Everything is important," the Miao man explained patiently, and did not regard her as a demon. "Like the village where we live, the higher the status among the clan, the higher the people live. Living in low-lying places will cause people to live in a higher place. There are puddles that will flood when it rains heavily, and no one wants to live there."

"So, the higher the place, the more important the person buried?"

"you can say it this way."

"Then who is buried in that gap at the highest point?" Shen Man pointed far away, pointing to the depths of the fog.

The Miao people's expression changed instantly, "No one dares to go there, and our Miao people can only get as far as three feet below it."

"So no one has gone up there?"

"No," Miao said nervously, "there is said to be a curse there, and whoever dares to disturb her will suffer retribution."