Chapter 14: Transaction in the Forest
Today is the first day of October. The weather is bright and crisp in autumn, and the forest is much brighter than usual.
Lao Ba packed up his things and went to the forest outside the Valley of Mihun to meet Dalong at the time agreed upon with him.
A brown bear skin was tied around Lao Ba's waist. At the critical moment, this bear skin became his weapon.
Lao Ba has been in and out of the mountains for so many years without carrying a gun. This is a trick he learned from Lao Wang, called "using stillness to control movement." If there is an ignorant beast that dares to try, he just flips the bear skin over his head, lets the thick long hair hang outward, and the whole person becomes a tall and big "bear" that looks real, and walks with a swagger.
The difference is that back then, Old Wang didn't want to carry a gun because he was afraid of alarming the mountain god and scaring away the ginseng baby; but now, Old Ba doesn't carry a gun because he is doing shameful things and is afraid of making noise in the woods and bringing disaster upon himself.
Somehow, Lao Ba felt a little heavy-hearted along the way today.
In fact, he had been in a bad mood recently. Originally, after returning from this transaction, he would clean up the mess and return to Banpo Village to continue his life as a rural doctor, private school teacher and "spiritual godfather".
But recently he felt more and more strongly that nothing could be restored to the way it was before. In just a few months, he had turned living beings into hideous skeletons, and innocent women into soulless walking corpses. He thought he would be very happy watching the women screaming and crying under his ravages, enjoying the pleasure of revenge, but the expected happiness did not come, and nightmares tortured him one after another every night.
When he returned to Banpo Village, Lao Ba knew that he would no longer be able to live the peaceful life he had before.
It's over, it's over! It's time to end.
Dalong has been wanted, and his life will never be peaceful again. He decided to flee to a place where no one knows him, continue to hide his identity, regroup, and live out the rest of his life in peace.
As Lao Ba was walking, he smelled a fishy smell coming from the front. He smiled knowingly and took out a string of dried meat from his arms. It was the masterpiece of the mute woman. Every time someone died, she would light firewood and smoke a string of bacon. Lao Ba would bring him a string every time he went out.
In fact, the Mihun Valley is not far from Banpo Village, but people who usually go into the mountains cannot find shortcuts, so they walk a long way and naturally get lost. To enter and exit the Mihun Valley, you only need to pass through a key pass and you can reach the heart of the primeval forest in an hour.
It’s a pity that no one knows this secret except Lao Ba and the deceased Lao Wang.
The key passage in and out of the Soul-Losing Valley happened to pass through a forest of rocks and vines. There were dead trees and fallen trees with twisted branches and waist-high weeds everywhere. Even the most discerning hunter could not see the danger hidden inside.
Right here, there lived a large family of yellow wolves, large and small, old and young, at least dozens of them, making the entire forest stink. Every night, the wolves would come out and wander around with hungry eyes, and when they saw something they could eat, they would attack it in groups. At this time, even the bear skin on Lao Ba's body was useless.
In the past, when Lao Wang went into the mountains, a big fiery red rooster was an indispensable tribute. When Lao Ba went into the mountains to grow opium one year ago, he brought a half-grown piglet, dismembered it on the spot, and offered it up, so that he could pass through this "fortress" into the mountains smoothly.
Lao Ba knew that if he wanted to become the king of the mountain, it would be almost impossible without the recognition of the Wolf Family.
But he simply couldn't carry pigs and sheep back to the mountains as tribute. So he had a crooked idea and started to do favors: whenever he had the chance, he would treat anyone who might reveal his secrets in the mountains as a delicacy and reward the wolves that controlled the entrance to the Lost Valley for him. The dumb woman, the stupid man Erzhuzi, and his father, who was old and dim-sighted and dared to break into the forest alone to look for his son, were all among the unlucky ones who were killed by the wolves.
Going back further, after Old Wang died inexplicably under Lao Ba's stick, his body also ended up in this wolf pack.
It can be said that Lao Ba's friendship with the wolf pack is not shallow. In the eyes of the wolf family, he is absolutely honored. He never passes by empty-handed when entering and leaving the Valley of Enchantment, just like a rural person visiting relatives. He always carries one or two pieces of cured meat. When conditions permit, he will bring a living person who follows Lao Ba foolishly and believes in him without a doubt.
If wolves could express their emotions like humans, they would definitely give a thumbs up and praise their neighbor Lao Ba: What a brother!
A yellow wolf suddenly showed its head from somewhere. When it saw Lao Ba, it lowered its head obediently as if it saw its master, then sat down with its paws on the ground, staring at him expectantly.
Lao Ba threw the bacon in front of the old wolf, then walked past the wolf and went deep into the forest. Once you leave this forest, you will be out of the Valley of Confusion.
The meeting place is just outside the gate of the Valley of Ecstasy.
Today, Dalong came a few hours earlier than usual to wait for Lao Ba. He was a little absent-minded, looking around from time to time, as if someone was lying in ambush around him.
Now, he half-knelt in the grass, his hands were constantly busy, and beads of sweat kept falling down his face . Behind him, one after another wire sleeves with clips were hidden in the grass and bushes...
When he was in Banpo Village, Dalong, who was strong and energetic, was not the kind of man who could endure hardship and be willing to dig in the soil for a living.
He had an innate hatred for the days of "facing the loess and back to the sky" for generations, and had been struggling to find an opportunity to escape from this harsh living environment. Since leaving Banpo Village, he thought that his boring days would finally be over, but who knew that it would be difficult to make money by dealing with Lao Ba.
When Lao Ba heard that Da Long wanted to go out to find a job, he secretly found him and gave him money to help him get out of the mountains and into the city. Lao Ba's condition was that as long as he "took time to come back a few times a year" and sold the medicinal herbs he planted in the mountains, he could get a considerable income.
He didn't expect that this trip would be like a journey of no return. He got money and a beautiful and fashionable woman, but he lost his freedom.
Lao Ba wouldn't let him go back to the village, see his family, or look at oranges. He could only meet Lao Ba regularly in the small town outside the mountain, just like the spies in the past.
Leaving the mountain was his dream life goal; and leaving behind the tearful Juzi was such a cruel thing for him! There was no other way, Dalong dreamed of opening his eyes one morning and finding himself a millionaire.
But when he arrived in Harbin, he found that the reality was a far cry from his dream. The little money he earned from getting up early and working late every day, wandering the streets and delivering bread to people, was only enough for him to drink a bottle of "Harbin Beer" at dinner time when he was exhausted.
In order to make a lot of money, he would rather risk his life. But it was not until he started dealing with a group of smugglers and drug dealers that he suddenly realized that it was easy to get on a pirate ship, but life was hard.
Now I'm in trouble. I choked to death just after entering the water. Wanted posters have been posted everywhere on the streets of Harbin. Now I can only retreat to a small town near the primeval forest to live a miserable life. After today, I don't know what will happen tomorrow.
If I had known this would happen, I would have stayed at home to take care of my wife, have children, and farm! Dalong felt regret from the bottom of his heart, but how could he regret it?
To be honest, ever since he had another woman, Dalong had no intention of going back to Banpo Village, where even a living person could be suffocated to death, and living that kind of hard life that he never wanted to live out his entire life.
Gradually, he had forgotten about Juzi, and occasionally thought of her pretty face and slender figure, and felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart. It was not until the morning when he saw his wanted poster that Dalong suddenly felt guilty and started to miss Juzi.
That day, he rushed to Banpo Village from Waibo Mountain, which was more than a hundred miles away from Banpo Village, and gave some money to Juzi under the cover of night.
That night, when Dalong sneaked near the house, there was a wild man knocking on Juzi's door. Although Dalong felt a surge of blood rushing to his head, in order to save his life, he didn't even have the courage to beat the guy up. He could only throw a stone from the dark when he couldn't bear it anymore, and then scared the bastard away.
Dalong didn't even dare to enter the house. He just threw an envelope on the windowsill of his small, shabby house.
On the way out of the village, Dalong felt heartbroken. Juzi, a woman, was still keeping her husband's chastity for him. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that Juzi, a wife who had been alone in the empty house for more than a year, could be indifferent to the men knocking on the door in the middle of the night... Thinking about the things that happened to him when he was living outside, Dalong felt that he had no face to see Juzi again.
Who would have thought that once people start doing bad things, they can never stop?
For the sake of those two pieces of blood-stained money, he killed Erzhuzi , and threw his old and blurry-eyed father into the wolf's den near the gate of the Mihun Valley... He even did not hesitate to attack Goudan, Juzi's younger brother, who had followed him around since childhood and obeyed his orders!
That afternoon, he had led Goudan, who was infatuated with him, into the Valley of Enchantment, and then he escaped. One can imagine Goudan's fate. When night fell, he would be killed by wild beasts or by Lao Ba.
In fact, he had no intention to harm Goudan at that time. He just acted out of instinct and felt that if the villagers, including his family members, knew about this, his life would be in danger.
Even when he led Gou Dan'er into the Valley of Confusion, he was still making excuses for himself: Who told this fool Gou Dan'er to follow him? Didn't he know that his brother-in-law was a wanted criminal? This fool! Da Long really felt that he had no idea what to do.
That was all he could do.
Even if Juzi finds out about this one day in the future, he will explain it to her clearly.
But, I can’t say for sure whether I will have such a “future”, so what’s the point of thinking about these things now?
It was a terrible thing that his own hands had killed someone, but his brain had not felt anything at all. Dalong subconsciously looked at the two hands that were flying in the grass and moving very flexibly. He was stunned for a moment and thought that someone would die in these hands again. But he felt that he was still indifferent to what was about to happen.
Dalong didn't dare to imagine what he would do next. He felt like he had lost his footing and was rolling down the hillside. He would not be able to stop unless he crashed into a rock or a tree and was smashed to pieces.
Lao Ba will be here soon. Today's meeting is very important to Dalong. He has to grit his teeth and do what he needs to do neatly, so that he can act like a man who can do great things and make a fortune.
"No, I have to go to the countryside." Mother Juzi suddenly got up and moved slowly to the edge of the kang.
"What are you doing?"
"Go find the police."
"In this Banpo village... I've never heard of any family... going to the police for trivial matters. Wouldn't that make things even bigger?" Juzi's father looked at his wife worriedly, not knowing what to do.
"People are almost dying, this is not a big deal?" The woman continued to move under the edge of the kang, and was about to fall down when she was grabbed by the man.
"Let me think about it. Is there a better way?"
"Still wanting! If you think about it again, the child will be fed to the blind bear!" the woman cried.
"Okay, I'll go with you." Dad Juzi also started to move towards the edge of the kang.
The woman suddenly couldn't help crying, tears and snot: "Today we have to crawl out..."
"Hurry up and bring some dry food... and some water."
The woman burst into laughter again: "You want to eat now? It means you are well again..."
The couple supported each other and finally reached the gate of the yard.
They didn't expect that there were already quite a few people standing or sitting outside their front door, including Lan Zi's mother and her brother, and the annoying Cheng Da Kua.
The pitiful sun rays from behind the mountain made the faces of the people dark and gloomy. Orange's mother's eyes were already dim, and she couldn't see their expressions at all. She just felt that these people had some background and might be in danger.
Juzi's mother felt her head buzzing and she almost fell down: What on earth were they trying to do? Could it be that all the villagers were so upset just because of the little money in the envelope left by Juzi?
As soon as everyone saw Juzi's mother, someone came up to her and asked, "Where are you going?"
"Go to the countryside..." As soon as the woman said this, the man secretly pulled her back.
Unexpectedly, those people had already understood what they meant. A middle-aged woman came up and helped Juzi's mother. It was Lanzi's mother.
"Look at the two of you, you are so muscular. You can't even go to the village even if you are still in your hometown! You should find someone younger to go with you..."
Before Lan Zi's mother finished her words, two young boys had already stepped forward and said, "Let's go. If you want to report a crime, just let us know. Who in the village would not help?"
Orange's mother couldn't believe her ears: "Your mother...wouldn't she scold you?"
"Everyone has seen clearly that if the police don't come to deal with this Banpo Village, it will be in trouble. We can't sleep well at night..."
"That's right. In a blink of an eye, a living person dies. Who can just stand by and watch..." Cheng Dakua also came over and said.
"This Banpo Village has been full of strange things for decades. This time we should finally find out what's going on."
People were talking and discussing at once, but they stopped when they saw Xiaoduo's mother coming from the other end of the village.
"Oh my, why is it so lively here? Orange Mom, I had another dream..."
"Dreaming alone won't solve the problem, Xiaoduo's mother, let's do something practical..." Someone sneered at the side, and the people dispersed.
Lao Ba's ears suddenly stood up like a dog, in high alert.
He heard an unusual sound not far ahead, so he quickly jumped to the side and crouched down.
Today he wanted to keep Dalong's money and people. Only in this way could his plan of fleeing far away be perfect.
Originally, Lao Ba asked Dalong to help him do some work because he was young and could run away, so as to reduce his burden of going in and out of the primeval forest. But this kid was just a toad from the mountain valley, who had never seen the world, and he foolishly let the police target him. "Busy" did not help, but now it has become a worry for Lao Ba.
And there was the evil-minded Juzi. In the autumn, if Juzi could not return to Banpo Village, Dalong would come to his father, Lao Ba, to ask for him again as long as he was not dead.
These things really bothered Lao Ba, so he might as well cut the Gordian knot and put an end to them all. After all, he had already killed a lot of people, so one more and one less would not be too much.
So, Lao Ba was thinking about how to deal with that stupid guy Dalong all the way.
Now, the boy is probably hiding somewhere, with a lot of money on his body. Maybe he has brought the "old police" with him, lying in ambush in the woods, wanting to kill him!
For the cunning Lao Ba, he would never trust anyone except himself. He often used facts to remind himself: if Lao Wang and his daughter had not trusted him too much, they would not have lost their lives in a muddle.
The sound in front of me disappeared. Only the occasional falling of dead leaves nearby made a faint sound.
Lao Ba heard his heart beating strongly. He thought to himself with great pride: "Listen! How can this be the heartbeat of a 55-year-old man? It's so strong!" He would not let go of any animal's heart, including human's, which made Lao Ba feel that he was still young and strong.
He still has the capital to start a new business and live his life all over again. But he doesn't know if he has the luck...
Lao Ba peeked through the gaps in the grass and bushes, not missing any suspicious signs.
At this moment, there was no sound in the woods. Apparently, someone had startled all the small animals, and they were holding their breath, watching what would happen.
There is a strange shadow on the grass in front of me. Is it the shadow of a tree? But it is slanted, the opposite of the shadow of a tree!
Just when Lao Ba felt something was wrong, the shadow began to move slowly.
Without giving it much thought, he pounced on the big tree on the left like a hungry tiger. At the same time, half of a thick fallen tree fell from the sky and hit the place where he had just squatted with a bang, breaking into pieces.
Someone is plotting against me! Well, you bastard Dalong... Lao Ba was furious. He wanted to stand up and curse, but he couldn't find anyone to blame. And the most important thing was that making a fuss in the forest without knowing the situation would ruin the whole thing!
Lao Ba is Lao Ba, he never makes rash moves on trivial matters. He squatted quietly and looked around, but there was no one in sight. This made him a little less suspicious of Da Long.
Now, it was still quite far from the meeting place. Since there was nothing to do for the time being, we had to keep going! It only took Lao Ba two hours to walk out of the Valley of Confusion, who was familiar with the route.
Now, it is almost noon, and the autumn sun only makes people feel a little hot at this time. Lao Ba just feels sweaty.
He untied the bear skin wrapped around his waist, put it on his shoulders, and continued on his way, while muttering in his heart, will this little bastard Dalong set a Hongmen Banquet for me?
At this time, Dalong was hiding in the bushes not far from the fallen tree, waiting to watch Lao Ba's good show.
However, the fallen tree that he carefully designed and controlled with his own hands was not as agile as the cunning Lao Ba, so he could only watch Lao Ba escape like a rabbit that had escaped the net.
Now, it depends on Lao Ba's luck and his own luck, who is better or worse.
Dalong made a circle and hurried to the agreed location.
Maybe before he even arrived, Lao Ba had already surrendered!
Thinking of this, he felt a surge of pride, and his heart shrank into a ball with excitement.
He had just set up a few traps around the big rock, which was a common method used by ordinary hunters. Even if Lao Ba found out, he wouldn't think it was Da Long's doing. The trick to his traps was that once Lao Ba was caught in the traps above, the big iron clamps below would break his legs or ankles, and then... hehe.
The big white stone was looming in the woods. Dalong's heartbeat quickened and his whole body became hot, but his feet became stronger and stronger as he walked.
Even though he was so close, he still couldn't see Lao Ba. Something must have happened to him... Thinking of this, he slowed down his pace and walked forward tentatively. As he walked, he kept looking back to guard against what was behind him, fearing that Lao Ba would attack him from behind and smash the back of his head.
The big rock stood safely in its place, but Lao Ba was nowhere to be seen.
This cunning guy! What tricks is he playing again...
He guessed that Lao Ba must be hiding somewhere, secretly observing his movements, so he walked over as if nothing had happened, sat on a rock, took off his tattered straw hat, threw it on the ground, and began to look in the direction where Lao Ba should appear.
Time passed little by little, but Lao Ba still didn't show up.
What the hell is this guy doing?
Dalong was obviously a little anxious. He looked at his watch and saw that it was already more than ten minutes past midnight. He really wanted to yell, "Old Eight! Get out of here!" But he couldn't. He was a wanted criminal now and couldn't be so stupid...
He looked around, trying to find the poor yellow hair of Lao Ba in the woods, but autumn had arrived and there were too many yellow things on the mountain.
Did Lao Ba, that bastard, sense something? Da Long was a little confused. He pulled a dogtail grass from the bushes, put it in his mouth and bit it into pieces, then spat it out with a "Puh, Puh, Puh" sound, and the anger in his chest kept rising.
Suddenly, he spotted a brown-black bear, which staggered and disappeared into the bushes a hundred meters away. His heart leapt in his throat. Could it be that Lao Ba... had been eaten by the bear?
Dalong couldn't make up his mind whether to leave or stay. When he was hesitating, he suddenly saw Lao Ba standing on a fallen tree not far ahead, waving at him, indicating that Dalong should follow him.
Then he disappeared into the woods.
Lao Ba's mysterious look clearly told him that the bear was active not far away.
It turned out that Lao Ba was hiding from the blind bear!
Dalong thought for a moment: Okay, today I'll just give Lao Ba to the bear as a gift. Anyway, this old thing can't run as fast as me.
In this way, Lao Ba walked in front and Da Long walked behind, and the two walked in the opposite direction of the bear for a while. Da Long began to relax, thinking that they were far away from the bear. As they walked, Lao Ba disappeared. Da Long simply found a smooth fallen log and sat down, thinking that if Lao Ba didn't come up after a while, he would have to come back to look for him.
There hadn't been any blind bears on this mountain for years. It had been more than 20 years since Dalong's father was slapped into a meat pie by a blind bear when he was a child. Today, he encountered one...
He still remembered the appearance of his father's body after being beaten by the blind bear. The whole body turned into a pile of black and red things with unclear colors and no definite shape. The black part was his father's old cotton-padded jacket and old cotton-padded pants, and the red part was of course his father's blood and flesh.
Dalong was less than seven years old that year. He stood in front of the pile of things and heard people talking about it, "This naughty kid, damn it... His dad was beaten like this by a blind bear, and he still doesn't cry!" But he couldn't even cry. He was imagining what the so-called blind bear looked like? How could he have such a big palm to beat a healthy and strong person like this...
His father was buried, and Dalong became an orphan. In the countless days that followed, he always fantasized about avenging his father's death. But since he grew up, the bear family began to decline, and he hadn't heard any news about them for many years.
Today, he encountered it under such circumstances! Dalong had to admit that he had not made the necessary mental and material preparations at all.
Obviously, there is no way to avenge his father's death for the time being. Dalong is well aware of how powerful the blind bear is. Not to mention that he is unarmed, even if he is given a gun, he can't do anything to it!
However, today, God is helping me, Dalong. I will borrow Blind Bear's slap to get rid of Lao Ba first...
I looked around the woods, but there was no sign of Lao Ba.
This bastard is really lucky. He's circling right in front of you, but you can't do anything about him just by staring at him! This is fucking weird.
Dalong felt annoyed, but there was nothing he could do, as he knew Lao Ba was not easy to deal with.
"Old man, you run really fast! Want to compete with the blind bear?" Dalong just said to himself, and the brown-black bear suddenly appeared in front of him. He only saw a big black palm raised high, slapping down hard on his head...
Dalong only felt a dark shadow flash in his eyes, and at that moment, his whole body completely collapsed mentally.
Then, that heavy slap fell, and he fell down without even a groan.
