Chapter 12: Breath of Death
When it was getting dark, Goudan got lost in the woods and wandered around for a long time.
He shouted "brother-in-law" while running as fast as he could. His pitiful pale face and two hands that never touched grass were scratched by thorns and bled beyond recognition.
Goudan had heard the legend about the "wild man" more than once at home. It was said that the monster would come out to catch people at night, so he was scared and walked faster and faster.
The road became more and more blurry as he walked along it. Goudan thought his eyes were blurry and he kept rubbing them, but he could not see clearly what was ahead.
Suddenly, dense vines blocked the way. Goudan walked and walked and didn't know which way to go.
Goudan, who had never encountered such a difficult problem, felt helpless and cried anxiously. At this time, a dark shadow suddenly appeared.
"Savage! Savage!" As soon as Goudan'er saw the shadow vaguely, he screamed and ran. He ran less than 20 meters when he felt a strong claw grab the collar of his clothes from behind and fell dizzy into the woods.
It turned out that Goudan had already run to a place not far from Lao Ba's opium field in a daze.
Lao Ba, carrying the 20,000 yuan he received from Da Long, came back to the camp from the forest outside the mountain in high spirits. As soon as he reached the edge of his opium field, he could not help but stop.
He stood in the darkness, panting and taking a break, proudly imagining the unripe tobacco gourds still remaining on the endless tobacco plants, and imagining that they would be able to be boiled into a large piece of high-quality tobacco paste that could be exchanged for a large stack of RMB. Lao Ba felt refreshed.
Ever since that damn woman took away all his property and eloped with a strange man ten years ago, Lao Ba has been severely traumatized both mentally and physically, and he has not been able to be a man for quite some time.
Later, despite all possible means, she still could not recover to her healthy state. The lively and lonely old girl of Lao Wang hurt Lao Ba's self-esteem because she complained about his sexual function, and lost her life because of the unspeakable bed affair. This is a later story.
A stinky woman dared to betray Lao Ba, which he could not accept no matter what. Lao Ba therefore developed an irreconcilable hatred with all women in the world and was determined to kill them at any opportunity. On a cold and rainy evening, he went through many hardships and found the adulterous couple in a small town in Mudanjiang. He killed them without mercy and then fled to Banpo Village in the deep mountains to settle down.
Once you start killing, you can't stop easily.
Lao Ba followed Lao Wang to become familiar with all the mountains and forests surrounding the Valley of Mihun, and at the appropriate time, he sent the old man who was wary of him to heaven, and then got rid of his wife who was dissatisfied with his sexual ability.
He took advantage of the simplicity and ignorance, stupidity and numbness of the Banpo villagers, and took advantage of the remoteness of Banpo Village, which was like a paradise on earth, to fully satisfy his desire to control women, take revenge on women, and accumulate wealth.
Now, he will soon achieve his goal. In just one or two years, he will be able to carry a big bag of money, leave this hellhole of Banpo Village, and go to a prosperous place to enjoy a high quality of life... Whenever he thinks of this, the rekindled enthusiasm will make Lao Ba tremble all over and his teeth chatter, just like a heavy smoker who has stopped smoking.
Now, Lao Ba was so excited that he felt cold all over again. At this moment, he vaguely heard a sound, as if someone was following him. Who followed him in?
Lao Ba immediately crouched down alertly and hid in the ditch between the tobacco trees.
He heard intermittent crying and screaming coming from two or three hundred meters away, as if someone was committing a crime against another person.
Lao Ba will never tolerate anyone approaching his base without his permission!
He jumped up and flipped the bear skin around his waist over his shoulders, and the whole person turned into a hairy "savage". Then, he ran towards the target like a ferocious leopard.
Shadiuer's innocent and tragic death deeply shocked Orange.
She regretted it so much that her intestines turned green. The death of Shadiuer was purely caused by her eagerness for revenge and her hot-headedness.
In the past, the family used soul-stealing grass and ghost-painted face to light fires to smoke mosquitoes, and applied them to the lining of clothes in winter or when people don’t sweat easily. But when she and Shadiuer’s mother applied them on their bodies that day, they were busy sweating all over, and the poison was absorbed through the pores and killed people.
Because of this, Juzi had nightmares for several nights in a row. She dreamed that Shadiu'er's mother blamed her for applying poisonous grass juice on her body: "You are deliberately trying to harm me! You lied to me! What should I do with my poor Shadiu'er?"
Juzi was unable to speak when facing the purple-faced Shadiuer's mother, and saw drops of black poisonous juice dripping down her naked body. Juzi woke up with a scream, wishing that Lao Ba would come and call her immediately. She reached under the straw mat and touched a bunch of poisonous mushrooms, which were already dry and hard, without any juice.
Not knowing when Lao Ba would come to see her again, Juzi was like a person waiting for a date, her inner anxiety beyond words.
She was really afraid that she would die in such mental torment before achieving her goal.
Juzi couldn't sleep, so he got up and went out for some fresh air. Before daybreak, the fog had already spread, and autumn had quietly arrived.
The camp was dead silent, and the women, tired after a day's work, were still immersed in their dreams.
At this moment, she suddenly heard a strange sound coming intermittently from the woods. It was like a dying animal struggling, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes strong, sometimes very weak...
Orange's heart started beating wildly, and she wondered: Could that be a person?
The wild animals in the forest may have fallen asleep, and the wolves that were so arrogant every night have now calmed down.
Orange took courage and walked a few steps deeper into the forest. Then he listened carefully again, but heard .
Savages! She suddenly remembered the legend in Banpo Village. It was said that the savages would come out during the darkest time before dawn.
Could it really be that guy...
Juzi suppressed her heartbeat, moved lightly, and wanted to turn around and slip back.
The sound from before came again, and this time she heard it clearly. It was a fierce sound of biting and licking, accompanied by a few greedy grunts - it was a pack of wolves again!
The flapping sound she had heard just now must have been made by the animal being bitten by the wolf.
Juzi's hair suddenly felt as if it was bursting with pain. She ran towards the shack but suddenly bumped into someone.
The frightened Orange couldn't help but suppress a scream. She smelled a unique smell on that person... It was Lao Ba!
"What are you doing so late at night?" Lao Ba shouted in a low voice.
Juzi didn't dare to slow down at all. She ran back while answering, "I'm going to the toilet."
Lying on the bed, she was still shivering, her teeth chattering. She heard Lan Zi turn over beside her and said sleepily, "Don't mind your own business, go to sleep." It seemed that she knew exactly what Lao Ba did at night and was no longer surprised.
"It seems that Lao Ba fed something to the wolves..." Orange said tentatively.
"I've said it before, all the wolves in the forest are raised by Lao Ba, they are closer to him than his own children!" Lan Zi was awakened by Ju Zi's noise, turned around and faced Ju Zi's shop, lowering her voice: "After a while, Lao Ba got a man from somewhere, tied him to a tree and fed him to the wolves at night. Those bastard wolf cubs all know him, and they are about to regard him as their father..."
"Why is he doing this?"
"For the sake of peace. I heard that the animals in this old forest are the reincarnations of the mountain gods, so they can't be offended. Lao Ba goes into the mountains to grow opium every year. If he offends the mountain gods, wouldn't that be troublesome?"
"But how did those people get into the mountains? Did they come here on their own?"
"Who knows? Anyway, Lao Ba can always find wolf food when the time comes. Maybe, God helps him?" Lan Zi seemed unwilling to think about this meaningless thing anymore. She turned over and fell asleep again.
Juzi stared at the ceiling in the dark, thinking that in the fall, Lao Ba's "wolf food" might be women like them who have completed their tobacco planting tasks. If they run away then, it will be too late.
We must seize the time.
After daybreak, Juzi ran to the place where he heard the sound of wolves eating people last night and saw that there was no human skeleton tied up on the tree to feed the wolves as Lan Zi said.
But she didn't give up. After walking around for a long time, she finally saw the bloody grass under a pine tree with pieces of meat everywhere.
She glanced around and seeing no one was paying attention, she ran towards the "dead body pit" in the valley behind the mountain.
Sure enough, on top of the pile of bones, there was a fresh, red corpse.
This must be another man who helped Lao Ba carry supplies into the mountains, and was abandoned by Lao Ba.
Juzi wanted to see what the man's face looked like, but the body was thrown there randomly, face down. She sighed and was about to walk away, when suddenly, a pair of shoes on the dead body's feet attracted her very glaringly.
Why do these shoes look so familiar?
They were a pair of white sneakers whose original color could no longer be seen.
Dalong bought this pair of shoes for Juzi a year ago. After Juzi wore them for a while, Goudan cried and asked for them back. The thin Goudan wore her sister's shoes perfectly. Because she couldn't let go of them, Goudan wore these dirty shoes almost every day except when she went to bed at night.
There was a buzzing sound in Orange's head, and he knew nothing.
All the money that Juzi left behind when she left was cheated away, but Goudan has disappeared without a trace.
The anger took over their hearts, and Juzi's parents fell down on the kang together, unable to get up.
"Goudan, Juzi..." The old lady stared at the blackened wooden ceiling and hummed continuously. If you didn't listen carefully, you couldn't tell whether she was moaning or summoning spirits.
Juzi's father said nothing. Despair had overwhelmed him.
"Goudan, Juzi..." Juzi's mother's voice became hoarse and gradually disappeared, but her mouth still stubbornly repeated the pronunciation.
Her dry hand, which was placed on the kang mat, would twitch nervously occasionally, and a fly that had landed on it would fly up, turn around, and then fall back to its original place.
This money was definitely not earned in a legitimate way, otherwise how could it bring such a disaster to her family? Juzi hadn't been home for a month, Goudan was missing again, and grandma was dead. This family was finished.
When the old lady thought of this, her turbid tears rolled down the wrinkled furrows of her face and fell on the kang mat made of corn stalks with a "puff, puff" sound.
Suddenly, the door of the room was knocked open by someone, and a dark figure appeared on the edge of the kang. The person brought a gust of cool wind wrapped in the smell of sweat, and sat down on the edge of the kang.
The couple then saw clearly that it was Cheng Dakua.
Orange's mother's heart immediately sank. She tried to get up from the kang, but failed. She really had no strength left.
"You're such a jerk, Cheng Daku. You even swindled me of my money. Why haven't you returned Goudan to me yet?" This time, Juzi's father finally lost his temper. He used all his strength and stretched out a hand to grab Cheng Daku's clothes, but Cheng Daku had already dodged it.
"Why are you slandering me? When did I cheat you of your money? Goudan is not at my house, so why should I send him back to you?" Cheng Dakua swung his hips and jumped on the ground of Juzi's house, looking pitiful as if he had been wronged for no reason.
"You failed to borrow money, so you came up with another plan. Do you think I'm a fool?"
"You think you are a fool, aren't you? You don't even know who got your money, how can you not be a fool? Pah!" Cheng Dakua felt as if he had heard that his money had been cheated, and he felt very upset. He had come to Juzi's house again to try to get some money from him, but he didn't expect to hear such discouraging news. Damn bad luck!
However, if someone really kidnapped Goudan in this way, it would be no small matter and it would alert the government!
Apart from the land reform, nothing in Banpo Village had ever alarmed the government. Normally, no one was willing to report village affairs to the higher authorities. In this remote place, people's "concept of the rule of law" was almost zero.
Cheng Dakua thought that Goudan's disappearance and the money being cheated were serious matters. But he thought again, it was not right. Since his son was missing, why were they still lying on the kang? Why didn't they go out to look for him? He felt that the couple's words were not reliable.
So, he looked at them suspiciously and didn't want to mind their business. He had lost a lot of money playing mahjong these days, and what he needed most was money! Money, money, money, where could he find the money?
Thinking of this, he limped out of the room, looking around as he walked, wishing he could pick up a big gold ingot from this broken yard.
As soon as Cheng Dakua walked out of the yard, Juzi's father fell off the kang.
Like a stray dog looking for shit, Cheng Dakua wandered around the village without finding anything, and unknowingly arrived at the gate of Juzi's house.
He was not giving up and wanted to go in and try again.
After entering the house, she was about to sit on the kang when she felt her foot trip. She looked down and saw that it was Juzi's father lying on the ground. "Oh my god, who are you trying to scare? Get up!" Cheng Dakua pulled up the skinny Juzi's father and put him back on the kang without much effort.
Juzi's father was in a hurry just now, and he tried to catch Cheng Dakua but missed, so he fell to the ground. He is still in a daze.
Cheng Dakua was afraid of getting into trouble, so he stood up and was about to leave. This time it was Juzi's mother who grabbed his collar, and she took out a small ball of dirty stuff from her bosom and handed it to him.
Da Kua carefully unfolded the thing, and it turned out to be a crumpled wallpaper. On it was a line of words written crookedly in pencil:
"3,000 yuan will be put into the first fallen tree in Beishanzui until the person is released."
"This... how come they look so damn similar..." Cheng Dakua swallowed the rest of his words. His face suddenly became tense, and he grabbed the note and walked out of Juzi's house in two steps.
"Hey! Leave the note to me!" Orange's father shouted from behind.
"I'll borrow it to take a look and return it to you later." There was no one at the door.
