Chapter 11: Orange's Conspiracy
Juzi hid behind a rock and watched Lao Ba and the crying woman gradually walk away, then he ran into the woods in panic.
The man who was alive and kicking just now was now lying beside a mountain stream. On the stone slab beside him was a large pool of blood that had not yet completely solidified.
His face was unfamiliar, and he didn't look like a native of Banpo Village. Juzi took a closer look and saw a bloody gash on the man's exposed chest, with some slimy internal organs dug out, just like what the wolf had dug out when Xiaoduo died.
Why did Lao Ba cut open the man's chest? Was he afraid that he wouldn't die? Juzi was puzzled.
When he looked again, Juzi was shocked: the man's pants had been pulled down to his knees, and his penis had been cut off from the root! Juzi took a few steps back in disgust, his head buzzing.
It was getting dark, and the wolves on the mountain would soon smell the blood and come to enjoy the delicious food that Lao Ba had left for them.
Juzi ran back in a hurry. She thought that if Lao Ba returned to the camp and didn't see her, he would become suspicious and might kill her before she could escape from the mountain.
The aroma of meat wafted from the camp in the distance. The mute was probably using the pork that Lao Ba brought back to cook dinner.
Orange hadn't eaten meat for many days, and her saliva couldn't stop flowing.
As she was dodging and evading to the side of the shack, Shadiuer's mother suddenly grabbed her from behind:
"Oh my god! Where have you been? Lao Ba asked me to look for you, and I lied to cover it up. If you don't come back, Lao Ba will eat me alive!"
Hearing this, Juzi suddenly had a strange feeling. She felt that the aroma of the meat was a little bit wrong. It did not taste like pork, but had a bit of an evil fishy smell.
"What kind of meat is the mute cooking?" She grabbed Shadiuer's mother's arm tightly and asked anxiously.
"Who knows? Lao Ba wants to nourish his heart today and his liver tomorrow. From the smell, it's probably pig heart, right?"
Juzi immediately thought of the male corpse that had been disemboweled by Lao Ba by the stream, and she suddenly understood something.
The mute woman was squatting on the ground peeling a scallion, and behind her was a pot of boiling meat emitting white steam. Juzi was about to lift the lid of the pot while the mute wasn't paying attention, and at that moment, Lao Ba came out of the shack.
"What are you doing?" Lao Ba's dignified voice came over, and the mute and Juzi jumped up almost at the same time. Juzi pretended to look at the pot with greed, and turned to leave. Unexpectedly, Lao Ba came straight over with his pipe in hand:
"You are so kind! How far did you follow me when I went down the mountain that day? You fell into a trap, didn't you? I thought you had been fed to the wolf a long time ago! Are you still alive?"
Juzi had never expected that Lao Ba had this ability to grow eyes on the back of his head. It turned out that he had been staring at her with his eyes on the back of his head all the way!
Juzi suddenly felt scared. She couldn't help but think of the skeleton in the trap. Her scalp was tingling and she couldn't say a word.
As Lao Ba said this, he walked to the pot on the stove, opened the lid, took a look, and smelled the smell with great pleasure. Through the gap between Lao Ba's arms and body, Ju Zi saw a huge heart rolling in the boiling water! She turned around and began to retch.
Lao Ba glared at her in confusion, put down the pot lid, and turned back into the shack.
That night, the meals for Juzi and the other women were still the same three things: rice, scallion dip, and salted duck eggs.
The fragrant cooked man's heart and genitals were enjoyed by Lao Ba alone.
Juzi looked at the rice in the bowl and couldn't swallow it. She imagined Lao Ba's greedy look when eating human flesh. Her scalp felt numb and her whole body was covered with goose bumps.
The women ate their rice without complaint, and no one said a word. Juzi really didn't understand how Lao Ba could make these women act like they were not interested in the aroma of meat.
The mute woman was adding seasonings to the soup from the cooking meat in the pot. A handful of green onions and a pile of poppy shells floated on top, and the steaming "broth" was served.
Several women who were unaware of the situation scrambled to scoop up hot soup to soak their rice, but Orange vomited violently at this inopportune moment.
She ran to the woods, tears streaming down her face from nausea. They must have been eating their fellow men's meat and drinking their soup so often without even realizing it!
Juzi couldn't stand watching like this any longer, but it was not easy for her to make them understand what kind of bloody things Lao Ba was doing every day!
Not far from the opium field, there is a small birch forest.
Autumn is approaching, and the leaves of the birch trees have turned yellow, become thin and brittle, and even the veins inside can be clearly seen.
Orange picked up a leaf and placed it in his palm, looking at it from left to right. The more he looked at it, the more he was reluctant to throw it away.
Now, Juzi was reluctant to follow the others back to the shack after work. She often went to the birch forest alone, looked around, picked some yellow leaves and played with them for a while, and then reluctantly went back in the twilight.
At this moment, Juzi was playing with a few leaves in her hands, sitting on a fallen tree, lost in thought. Suddenly, a few lavender leaves in the grass in front of her caught her attention. Why did these lavender, heart-shaped grass leaves look so familiar?
Juzi walked up to her and plucked one, then put it under her nose and smelled it. It had a spicy, soapy smell, and tears immediately came out.
She remembered: this grass is called "soul-stealing grass". In the past, her grandmother often picked it and dried it at home, then hung it under the eaves, saying that it could smoke mosquitoes and poison flies. Sometimes when she couldn't catch all the lice, her mother would get some fresh grass juice and use it as soap, saying that washing clothes could kill lice eggs.
All of a sudden, Orange's mind seemed to open up, and he felt refreshed.
She looked around carefully and picked several of these soul-stealing herbs.
Then he picked a few handfuls of wild flowers to cover it, and returned to the camp excitedly holding it up.
As soon as he arrived at the shack, Juzi hurriedly pulled out the soul-stealing grass hidden among the wild flowers and stuffed it under the straw mat.
Orange ate a lot for dinner. The porridge and pickles that usually had no flavor tasted especially delicious tonight. She was like a lost fawn that suddenly saw its mother deer. She was so happy that she wanted to jump up.
Dafeng had looked at Juzi with surprise several times. Now, her sick eyes were still staring at Juzi, looking her up and down over and over again, guessing with suspicion.
Juzi hurriedly concealed her emotions and warned herself not to get carried away and ruin things!
The next day after work, Juzi pretended to go to the bathroom, and when no one was paying attention, he secretly ran into the birch forest.
This time, she also found several poisonous mushrooms called "Ghost Flower Face". Once this kind of poisonous mushroom is eaten, no matter whether it is a human or an animal, it will fall to the ground and die instantly.
Orange treated the ginseng as a treasure, just like a ginseng picker who had found a century-old ginseng. He wrapped the ginseng tightly in leaves, stuffed it into his trouser pocket, and slipped back to the camp as if nothing had happened.
The new woman was left in Lao Ba's room overnight. None of Juzi and the others had ever seen what she looked like. Usually, only the mute woman was allowed to freely enter and leave Lao Ba's shack. It turned out that every night after the other women left, it was the mute who stayed with Lao Ba overnight, and now that woman was added.
Juzi had never had such a big thing in her life. She felt that she was about to collapse and urgently needed someone to share this heavy burden with her.
But these women who were bewitched by Lao Ba were not reliable. Juzi was afraid that her grand plan would be discovered by Lao Ba accidentally, and then she would be doomed.
Perhaps, now only this new woman wanted to escape. She really wanted to tell the new woman about the dead body pit she saw in the woods behind the mountain that day, and what she was planning now, and then the two of them could deal with Lao Ba together.
But, I never had the chance to meet her.
She only heard the woman cry once or twice at night, which didn't sound like a normal person. Since the woman entered the mountain, none of the women except the mute had seen her face.
On this day, the women were picking tobacco seeds in the opium field when they suddenly saw a ghost-like figure flash by the door of Lao Ba's shack and come towards the tobacco field.
When Juzi saw the woman who had been locked up by Lao Ba for a long time, her face was pale and her body seemed to have shrunk suddenly. She was completely different from the one she saw from afar on the mountain that day.
The woman's eyes were hollow, reminding people of the black eye sockets of a skull. Orange knew that this woman was finished, she had gone mad.
The last ray of hope in her heart was dashed. She suddenly fell down into the ditch and wiped her tears in despair.
"Do you know her?" Shadiu'er's mother came to help Juzi, puzzled and asked suspiciously.
Juzi was speechless. She thought that she might become a wandering ghost in the Valley of Confusion like this crazy woman soon, and would never see Dalong, her grandmother, and her parents again. Her heart felt like it was being cut by a knife.
After dinner that day, the strange crazy woman was sent to the women's shack to sleep. It seemed that Lao Ba was tired of playing with her.
There were no vacant beds in the shack, so the woman was arranged to share a bed with Juzi. Since Xiaoduo's death, Juzi had been sleeping on the straw bed by herself, and now another person came, the bed became crowded again.
Juzi was both happy and disappointed. She was happy that she had a chance to get close to this new woman, but she was disappointed that the woman didn't seem to have any normal reaction. She lay down on the straw bed quietly, as if there was no such person, and even the sound of her breathing could not be heard.
Before it was dark, Lao Ba started calling people from the women's shacks again. Juzi's heart immediately started beating wildly, and her ears stood up high, hoping that the mute would come to her.
However, the mute called out "Da Feng".
Hearing Dafeng jump up nervously from the bed, hurriedly putting on clothes and combing hair, Juzi had to slowly retract her hand that had just reached under the straw bed. Hidden under the bed was a small pile of "soul-stealing grass" and "ghost face" that she had secretly picked in the forest these days.
She would touch those things secretly almost every night before going to bed, so that she could sleep soundly. Who would have thought that Lao Ba suddenly stopped calling her these days? Could it be that the old guy's dog nose smelled something fishy?
Juzi was thinking about all sorts of things and couldn't fall asleep. She repeatedly designed and thought about how to deal with Lao Ba with these poisonous herbs, and repeatedly overturned them, until she yawned continuously and fell asleep unknowingly.
After finally making it to the next night, Lao Ba called Shadiuer's mother again.
Juzi was so impatient that she couldn't wait any longer. She suddenly jumped up from her bed, grabbed Shadiu'er's mother, leaned over and whispered in her ear:
"I have something here with a special smell. Just apply it on your body to prevent the old eight from biting you!"
"Really? What is it?" Just as Shadiu'er's mother was about to ask for clarification, Juzi broke open the roots of the poisonous grass and smeared the thick juice on her body, neck, and breasts. Shadiu'er's mother heard that it could resist Lao Ba's wanton harm, so she rushed to smear it on her body.
The mute woman over there kept urging them to work. In the dark shack, Juzi and Shadiu'er's mother were busy sweating profusely.
When Shadiu'er's mother walked out of the shack, Juzi felt a bright light before his eyes. He was so excited that his whole body was hot and his heart beat faster: within an hour, Lao Ba would be poisoned from biting all over Shadiu'er's mother. After a dying struggle, this evil guy would die!
She was so nervous that she paced back and forth in the shack, sometimes lying down, sometimes sitting up.
Later, she simply crawled out of the shack and ran to the edge of the woods, took a deep breath into the dark forest... She forced herself not to shout out: "Oh my God, I finally made it to this day! Tomorrow morning, as soon as the sun rises, I can go home without worry and boldness!"
But just after a while, the mute came back again. This time she looked as panic-stricken as a dog that had lost its home. She kept barking at the women, and no one knew what she wanted to say.
The women were all confused for a while, and then they stopped paying attention to the mute. Only Juzi's heart was beating like a rabbit, she had a premonition that something had happened!
Is Lao Ba dead?
Thinking of this, she suddenly pulled Lan Zi and ran out.
Juzi ran to the door of Lao Ba's shack in one breath, but was shocked by the scene: he saw Lao Ba bending over, struggling to drag out the naked Shadiu'er's mother, and throwing her into the grass outside the door!
Juzi's legs went weak and she nearly fell into the grass. She couldn't help but put her hands on Lanzi's shoulders to steady herself.
With the dim light of the oil lamp at the door of Lao Ba's shack, Juzi saw Shadiu'er's mother lying limply in the weeds, her face looming.
She hurriedly went forward and checked her nostrils, but there was no breath at all.
Only then did Juzi realize that he had harmed Shadiu'er's mother and caused such a huge disaster!
Lao Ba's eyes were like those of a hawk, as he scanned the women coldly. He must have sensed that someone was going to attack him. Juzi felt a chill on the back of her neck, and her heart was secretly trembling, but she tried hard to pretend to be calm on her face.
The next morning, the mute woman was ordered to drag the blackened body of Shadiuer's mother and throw it into the woods.
Juzi was heartbroken as she watched her hopes shattered once again. She felt that she owed poor Shadiu'er and his brothers and sisters a blood debt that she could never repay in this life or the next. But at the same time, Juzi became more determined that even if she died, she would perish together with Lao Ba!
These days, Juzi's mother's eyelids have been twitching like drum beats, making her flustered and unable to sleep or eat.
As expected, what she had been worried about finally happened. Goudaner, like Erzhuzi, disappeared in the old forest of Beishanzui.
She didn't dare to think about the forest. When she thought about it, Erzhuzi's body with one arm missing was right in front of her, and she felt that Goudan was doomed. So she forced herself not to think about Erzhuzi, and she only thought about how to find Goudan. Although the child was not very smart, he was her only son. When Juzi was not at home, Goudan was her only hope.
The people of Banpo Village were shocked once again.
For a moment, the faces of the villagers looked a little gloomy, gray, and without any luster.
This is terrible, how can it be so embarrassing! Living people disappeared one after another without any clear reason, even worse than Erzhuzi, at least there is a corpse.
Juzi's mother went to Beishanzui again. She was not stupid, and brought a few half-grown children from the village with her to give her courage and help her shout Goudan's name. The adults and children entered the old forest. In order not to get separated , the old lady asked the children to walk with her. As they walked, they searched in the bushes and fallen trees, and shouted Goudan's name at the top of their voices.
"God damn——!"
"God damn——!"
"Dog...Egg..."
The whole mountain was filled with shouts, one after another, one mountain after another, and the momentum was spectacular. If Goudan was hiding in the woods, he would have jumped out long ago because of the noise.
But until dark, they had searched almost all the mountains and forests within a radius of ten miles, but found nothing.
Juzi's mother couldn't remember how many hollow fallen trees she had stuck her head into, nor how many bushes she had turned over, but Gou'er evaporated without a trace, just like a dewdrop under the sun.
She sat on the mountain and cried loudly. She could only cry there. When she returned home, she had to act as if nothing had happened and put on a smile because Juzi's father was still sick.
These days she has been telling him that Goudan must have run to the mountains to find his sister and he cannot be lost.
Juzi's mother didn't know how she got home. When she suddenly found herself sitting in the yard, her heart ached: Goudan hasn't come back yet, how can I sit here? Oh, by the way, there was another person in the house, and Juzi's father didn't know what had happened to him.
She hurried in to see the man, and then she remembered that he hadn't eaten for a day.
The man was lying on the kang weakly, his eyes closed, holding a piece of torn paper in his hand. Juzi's mother took it and saw a few big characters written crookedly on it, but unfortunately she didn't recognize any of them.
"I told you to take the money to redeem Goudan..." The man struggled to open his eyes and said to Juzi's mother.
"What? What do you mean by redemption?"
“Just buy…”
"Why should I spend money to buy back my own son?" The woman retorted unconvincedly, then suddenly realized: "Goudan is still alive? Tell me, where is he?"
"She's been kidnapped..." The man pointed at the note in her hand.
"Where was he tied to? Tell me clearly quickly!" Orange's mother was anxious.
"How would I know? If you don't send the money, how can they tell you where the person is?"
"Where can we get the money?" Juzi's mother said, and suddenly remembered the envelope Juzi left behind when she left. Saving Goudan now should be considered a "last resort", right? The woman turned over and rummaged around in the broken cabinet. After taking out everything, a small black cloth bag fell out. When she opened the black cloth, the envelope was inside.
"It's good to be poor. If it weren't for your envelope, how could such a big disaster have happened?" The man took a breath and then continued, "I heard about kidnapping in the old society. ... Now it happens again... It's all about money. How could such a thing happen when you were penniless?"
"It must be that bastard Cheng Daku who did it. I'll have the police arrest his grandson!" Juzi's mother cursed while counting the money. But as soon as the money was counted, she screamed, "Oh my God, this money is not even enough for three thousand yuan! This is only two thousand..."
"Who cares how much it is? Just send it first." The man closed his eyes and waved his hand impatiently.
"Where to send it?" Juzi's mother looked at the man blankly.
"At the top of the mountain at the north end of the village, go in and look inside the first fallen tree." It seemed that the man had memorized the blackmail letter by heart before Juzi's mother came back.
"Leave it there. Where is Goudan? Where can I find Goudan?"
"He'll tell you when he gets the money."
"That won't do. He's taken the money, and Goudan hasn't come back. What should we do?"
Yes, the man also felt that this was a problem. But what else could he do? Report to the police? I was afraid that Goudan would be dead before the person who reported the incident came back.
"Let's try our luck. It's better than waiting to die now!" The man mustered all his strength to say this and then said nothing more.
After delivering the two thousand new RMB to the fallen log cave on the mountain, Juzi's mother sat at home waiting for the second letter to be thrown in through the window like the first one, wrapped in a stone. The man said that the first letter was delivered in this way.
For this matter, the old couple kept the windows and doors open from morning to night, waiting at home obediently, not daring to even blink.
But until the third day, there was still no letter notifying the pick-up.
Juzi's mother thought something was wrong, so she crawled up the mountain to look at the fallen tree where she had put the money, but the money was nowhere to be found. Juzi's mother's legs went limp, and she sat down in the grass nest.
"Have you heard? Goudan is missing!" Xiaoduo's mother reported the news she had just heard from the village to her husband on the kang. "They say he was kidnapped." The woman suddenly added in a low voice mysteriously.
"What?" Xiaoduo's father was frightened and asked loudly. He had been in Banpo Village for quite some time, but he had never heard of such a thing.
"You don't know, last time Juzi's mother threw a bag of money on the ground in front of everyone. How could so many people not be jealous when they saw her family was rich?"
"Don't talk nonsense, who is like you?"
"What's wrong with me? I didn't kidnap anyone."
"I heard that your brother Cheng Dakua went to borrow money from others that day? As for the bangpiao incident, I think it might be Cheng Dakua who did it..."
"Don't mess around, this is a capital crime."
"Your brother? He has been a tough guy since he was young."
"He deserves to be kidnapped! Our Xiaoduo was taken away by her daughter Juzi, and now we don't know whether he is dead or alive..." Xiaoduo's mother sighed, putting an end to the dispute between the couple.
The man turned over on the kang and said, "Where's Xiaoduo's brother? Ask him to get some grass tomorrow and help me fix the leaking roof."
"He said he went to Harbin and just left today." The woman sounded a little listless.
"What did you do?"
“Selling ginseng.”
"Where did he get the good ginseng? Why would he have to go so far to sell it? He's just talking nonsense and wants to go out for a stroll instead of doing his job."
"Hey, why bother with them? We are all adults..."
"What's going on? Are both of you there?"
"Hmm!"
"Where do they get the money for the trip?"
"... Well, who knows? I was wondering about that, too..."
"These two unfilial guys walked so far without even saying hello to me! What's the point of raising them?" Xiaoduo's father was so angry that he coughed and gasped.
