Chapter 9
There were a few pieces of frozen beef in the freezer . Zhang Lisheng tossed them into the rough porcelain pot without defrosting them . He then added cold water, condiments, and herbs, then cooked them on the stove over a big fire .
He turned down the intensity of the fire when the beef was 70 to 80% cooked . When the time was right, he added a brown herbal juice that he made himself to the mixture and continued boiling the concoction until the meat was all mushy . The ultimate nourishing herbal stew was ready .
The pot of herbal stew was different from regular ones . There was no pungent smell when one sniffed it . It did not taste like anything special on the first sip, but a couple of sips later, there would be a magical satisfying feeling . The body would become warm and comfortable .
Zhang Lisheng let out a long sigh of relief after finishing the entire pot of stew with big gulps together with the beef and soup . He wiped his mouth clean and washed his face with the well water . He then walked into the room on the side of the old house and laid on the rough, sturdy wooden bed before falling fast asleep .
After over ten hours of sleep, he woke up the next morning . There was already somebody shouting outside of the door before he even woke up, "Mountain Worm, Mountain Worm, This is your Uncle Ah Lie . Open the door quick . "
Zhang Lisheng immediately put on a pair of pants and a jacket as he shouted, "Uncle Ah Lie, please wait . I'll open a door in a minute . " He then walked to the heavy, old wooden door with large strides, removed the latches, and opened the door .
It was Tao Lielin who was standing outside of the door . Seeing Zhang Lisheng in his messy clothes, he said in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"Today is the day to bring your father home, why aren't you awake at such an hour?"
In the Miaowei people's customs, people who died in a foreign land would have to stay at the place where they died for 48 hours, which was two days and two nights before their family members could bring them back home for burial .
Zhang Lisheng just recalled that today was the day to head to county town to bring his father home . He then ran into the side room in the old house clumsily . "Uncle Ah Lie, I was a bit disorganized these two days . I-I'll put on clothes properly now . "
"It's not your fault . Sigh, even adults would have their minds all messed up if something big like this happened at home . "
"It's not that I want to rush you, but apart from bringing your father back today, we'll have to meet the driver who caused the accident, the traffic officer, and the insurance company agent . We won't have enough time if we don't rush . " Tao Lielin was about to step into the old house's courtyard as he spoke to him . However, just as he lifted his foot, he felt a chill come out of nowhere . His body shivered . He thought about it and put down his foot again as he gulped .
Since a couple of hundreds of years ago when Guawo Village was still Miao Village, hardly anyone dared to enter the Zhang family's door alone, which had existed for generations .
The ancient customs of Western Sichuan was barbaric with many myths of monsters and demons . When the aboriginal mountain people brought their dead family member home, according to the customs, they would have to wear cuffless pants, flowery shirts, and have their heads wrapped with red cloth, male or female alike . They would also have to fill their neck and wrists with gold and silver jewelry to chase bad luck away .
Since young, Zhang Lisheng had always been wearing cheap children clothes that his father bought from the shopping malls in the county town . When he entered junior high and started wearing school uniform, he had always been wearing it and never had to put on the traditional clothes of the Miaowei people any longer .
That was why he did not have any clothes that matched the customs when he was going to bring his father's remains back at this time . He decided to try his luck by going to his father's room to look for anything that was suitable .
Although the Zhang family only had the two of them, father and son, who depended on each other, Zhang Daowu had always been strict with Zhang Lisheng . Now that he thought about it, Zhang Lisheng had never been to his father's bedroom for as long as he could remember .
Although he knew that his father had passed away, Zhang Lisheng could not help but feel a chill inside of him when he opened the bedroom door .
The light in the room was dimmed, and the most obvious thing in the room was the huge wooden bed . Its material was similar to the wooden bed in Zhang Lisheng's bedroom but its size was twice bigger . Following the Miaowei people's habits, there were big, red wooden boxes filled with all sorts of stuff on both sides of the bed .
Zhang Lisheng was stunned . He then climbed up to the wooden bed and forcefully opened the heavy wooden box that was on one side of the bed . He realized that what was inside the box were not clothes but dozens of lifelike animal sculptures that were the size of a palm .
Just when he was feeling disappointed, a black and barren land with plants and trees suddenly appeared in his mind .
The grass on the piece of land was three or four meters high . A group of naked giant warriors from the waist up with straw kilts on their bottom-half to cover their genitals were fighting in a bloody battle with stone axes as their weapon .
In the forest far away from the battle, there were countless gigantic venomous worms and beasts with ferocious fangs eyeing at the giant warriors' flesh in the dark .
Among the worms and beasts were four gigantic human-formed corpses that were surrounded by a black fog carrying a huge stone bed . On the stone bed was a tanned, skinny man who looked silly sitting with his legs crossed . There seemed to be a faint smile on his face .
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