Chapter 15 God Accepts Sinners Like Us
The night after Dafeng died, Juzi stared blankly all night and dared not sleep.
She was afraid that the sinister mute woman would break into the shack at any time and attack the unarmed women.
When he woke up the next morning, Orange felt dizzy, his legs were weak, and he walked as if he was walking in the clouds.
She had to find something to do, otherwise she would go crazy! While washing the dirty clothes, Juzi was thinking about how to escape, but she had no idea.
The sky gradually darkened as waves of terror came over her.
The strange smell of cooked meat wafted out again. Orange knew that the mute must have gotten the meat from somewhere again. But today, there must be some special rules for cooking meat. What is the reason?
Although it was impossible to guess exactly what was going on, there was no doubt that there would be a bloody massacre before Lao Ba left the mountain. Juzi, Lanzi, and the crazy woman would probably be left alive, and any survivors might ruin their "great cause."
Juzi knew this very well. She wanted to save her own life and rescue the two women who had suffered the same fate. This was a very difficult task, but how could she do it? There was no clue at all. Every time Juzi thought of this, she felt breathless.
Dinner time is coming soon.
When Juzi realized this, she was suddenly terrified. She felt that this might be their last dinner.
The soup in the rice might have been poisoned by the mute. After they ate it, the women would be poisoned on the spot, and they could get rid of this big burden without any effort!
Thinking of this, Juzi couldn't help but turn over and climb up from the straw mat. She reached her hand under the straw mat and without thinking, she took out the soul-stealing grass root and the ghost face that she had hidden for many days, then pulled Lan Zi with her and left.
"Do you see the pot with white steam coming out of it? Pretend to be looking for water to drink and go to the stove. As soon as I wave my hand outside Lao Ba's shack, you quickly throw these things into the pot and don't make any noise! Remember?"
"You, you, you...what are you going to do?" Lan Zi was so scared that she stuttered a little.
"Don't ask anymore. I'll tell you after we're done!" Juzi said as he pushed Lan Zi away and ran behind Lao Ba's shack.
Looking through the gap in the shack, I saw the mute woman giving Lao Ba a back massage.
"Massage service" only became popular in cities many years later, but Lao Ba had already enjoyed it without leaving the mountain.
I saw him lying on the bed with his limbs stretched out lazily in four directions, like a dead crow.
That mute woman was really good. Her methods of dealing with men were so varied that it simply stunned Juzi. She thought to herself that men like Dalong had never experienced such a thing. No wonder he hooked up with other women as soon as he arrived in Harbin.
I saw the mute's two thin and long hands rolling back and forth on Lao Ba's waist and back, and flying up and down on his thighs and buttocks. Lao Ba hummed with pleasure under her control.
Just then, Orange was startled by a voice:
"When do you want to go back?" This voice was very unfamiliar, but it was clearly coming from the mouth of the mute woman. "I guess tomorrow morning?"
Juzi felt as if her head had exploded with a bang, and her brains were splattered everywhere. This accident was enough to scare her to death! It turned out that the mute woman had been pretending to be deaf and dumb to deceive them! But how come no one found out when she was in the village? Juzi thought this was too absurd, and she couldn't wrap her mind around it for a while.
Everyone in the village thought that the mute woman was poisoned after taking the medicine to commit suicide, so they didn't care about her silence. How could they have expected that this woman was so cunning?
The mute woman used this method to fight against the injustice that life had brought her, and also used this method to ensure that her mysterious relationship with Lao Ba would not be noticed by the villagers. Who would pay attention to a mute woman with a numb expression and a dull demeanor?
All of Orange's ominous premonitions were ruthlessly confirmed by the mute woman's sudden speech.
Lanzi slid to the stove nervously, looked around, drank some water and washed her face. But after waiting for a long time, Juzi didn't wave to her, and she was so anxious that sweat broke out on her forehead.
Only now did she gradually understand what Orange wanted to do.
So, she cleverly looked at the door of Lao Ba's shack, and finding no one there, she quickly opened the lid of the pot a little, threw the soul-stealing grass and the ghost face in her hand inside, and then tiptoed back to the shack.
Here, Orange was still listening to the conversation between the mute woman and Lao Ba, and only heard the mute say:
"As for money, no matter how much you earn, it's never too much. People never get satisfied with making money! If you don't have money... you can still live your life."
"Soon, I'm going to quit."
"You told me the same thing last year...Your words are unreliable. I will be satisfied when I don't have to worry about you anymore."
"A woman's knowledge! What are you afraid of?" Lao Ba moved his legs impatiently.
"There are so many ghosts on this mountain. I can't sleep at night these days..."
“……” Lao Ba didn’t say anything.
"When you went into the mountains last year, how many women did you bring with you? I don't think they were all from our village, were they?"
"Why are you asking this?" Lao Ba retorted to her impatiently.
"But in the fall, you went back alone."
"They all left with other people."
"Who are you kidding? You can let someone else take over the woman you touched?"
"The woman I supported even eloped with someone! What do you know..." Lao Ba's voice was filled with anger.
"Alright! Over the years, you have recovered all the debts those two women owed you from other women. If you count them all, there is still more than enough. Calm down, I still want to spend a few days of peace and quiet with you!"
"..." Lao Ba became gloomy and silent again.
"Don't be embarrassed. If you don't want me, just tell me in advance, and I will go back to Banpo Village to be a widow."
"You are such a nagging person! Didn't I tell you that I won't go back this year? Let's go to heaven together in the Valley of Confusion and live a truly good life. Once there, I guarantee you won't have any worries at all!"
"Don't lie to me, haven't you packed all the opium?" The mute woman curled her lips and pointed to a white cloth bag placed in the corner of the shack, which contained the last batch of brewed opium paste.
These opium pastes were originally intended to be given to Dalong, but since Dalong is dead, these things were saved.
Now, it is quietly emitting a faint and exotic fragrance there.
"That's something I promised to someone, so I have to prepare it for them and wait for them to come and get it." Lao Ba remained calm.
"Well, I feel relieved after hearing your words. Anyway, I followed you and didn't want to go back to Banpo Village. You killed Erzhuzi too. If his family members ask about it when I go back, I won't be able to explain myself!"
"That's good to know. Stop thinking about it. Give me a massage here...here..." Lao Ba leaned forward again and asked Ya Ya to massage his waist. "Tonight, we will hold a ceremony. Then, you and I will ascend to paradise together. The troubles of the world will no longer bother us..."
Juzi finally understood that the lame and stupid Erzhuzi had accompanied his wife into the mountains to pick wild vegetables, but was killed by the mute and Lao Ba. Now, Lao Ba was going to kill them, and his so-called "ritual" was nothing more than a grand excuse to kill them.
Juzi has made up her mind that she must not let Lao Ba's conspiracy succeed, she has to act quickly!
"Is the meat cooked?" Lao Ba asked vaguely while lying on the bed, enjoying the attentive service of the mute.
Juzi was suddenly awakened by Lao Ba's words. She then remembered to turn around and look at Lan Zi, but she found that Lan Zi was no longer next to the stove.
She hurriedly tiptoed back to the shack to find Lan Zi: "Did you put the thing I told you to put in the pot?"
"I put it in a long time ago. You didn't give me a signal, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to put it in later, so I took the initiative."
"Okay, you're not stupid, Lan Zi." Juzi patted Lan Zi's shoulder, forced a smile, then looked at the two women with a dull look, scaring them so much that they kept shrinking back.
"What did you see? Why are you so scared?" Lan Zi asked her nervously.
"I heard the mute talking! She's not really mute, she's just pretending!" Juzi's lips were pale, and she trembled as she packed the things on the bed, putting the dry and hard steamed buns and a few matches into her pocket. She also found one or two pieces of clothes, which were the clothes that the mute gave her after she came into the mountains. Now she knew that these were all left behind by the women who were killed.
She put the clothes on one by one.
The weather is getting colder, and autumn seems to come especially early in the mountains.
While she was doing this, she said to Lan Zi and the crazy woman, "Hurry up and put on all the clothes you can wear. We will go home soon!"
"Really? Lao Ba is going to let us go back?" Lan Zi jumped up innocently, but was blocked by Ju Zi. Ju Zi leaned close to her ear and warned her, "Don't make any sound. You have to follow my instructions and take good care of the crazy girl. Don't let her mess around."
"Who said I'm crazy? My name is Yuhuan!" The woman who hadn't spoken a word for days suddenly came up to me, her eyes sparkling in the dark shack: "I'm not crazy, I'll go with you, anywhere is fine."
"Oh my god, you're almost scaring me to death!" Juzi patted his chest, took a deep breath, and then pulled them up one by one: "Hurry up, Yuhuan, follow Lanzi closely, the two of you hide behind the hill in the forest and wait for me, I'll be there soon!"
Unexpectedly, the three women just walked out of the shack and bumped into the mute woman! Orange's heart was about to jump out of her chest. She saw the mute woman's gloomy eyes, looking at them up and down suspiciously in the dim sky, as if she would not stop until she saw through their minds.
Orange waited for the mute to speak. But the woman, as usual, started to act dumb and deaf. She made a gesture of putting food into her mouth and pointed at the stove, meaning it was time for dinner.
Juzi didn't dare to expose her trick. She winked at the two women and pointed to the woods: "Let's go to the toilet first and eat later. You can eat first."
The mute woman's eyes rolled, and suddenly she noticed the layers of clothes that Juzi and the others were wearing. She suddenly grabbed Lanzi's arm, turned around and dragged her towards Lao Ba's shack.
Lan Zi was frightened by this sudden change and screamed. She tried desperately to break free from the mute's hand, but in vain. The mute was as strong as an old cow and dragged Lan Zi forward by the collar of her clothes.
Lan Zi sat back and kicked the ground with her feet, struggling like a lamb about to be taken to the slaughterhouse, refusing to move. Her skinny hands, which were too weak to even tie a chicken, tore at the dumb man's big hands, but no matter how hard she tried, the dumb woman's pliers-like hands did not move at all.
It's over, Juzi thought, the mute must have noticed their intention. Once Lao Ba's ritual begins, none of them will be able to escape...
Juzi wanted to take Yuhuan with her and run to the forest first, but she was unwilling to let Lanzi follow Lao Ba to die, so she reached out and grabbed Lanzi's collar. When Yuhuan saw Juzi's action, she also ran up to help.
The three women huddled together, confronting the big mute, who was about to give up. Orange saw the mute's face and eyes suddenly turned blood red, like a beast that wanted to eat people.
The mute woman was anxious and angry, and finally she couldn't help yelling: "Myna! Come and help me, these crazy women are going to rebel!" Although they already knew that the mute woman was not mute, when they heard her finally speak in public, the women were still frightened.
As soon as the mute woman finished speaking, Lao Ba immediately appeared at the door of the shack.
He was wearing a brand new black cloth jacket, with a snow-white shirt collar showing through his neck. He walked towards the women slowly, swaying step by step, and said to the breathless mute woman calmly, "Let them go, let them go on their own."
The mute hesitated and refused to let go. She looked at the women and then looked at Lao Ba worriedly.
"Are you still afraid that they will escape? In this Valley of Confusion, no one can get out without me, Old Eight, leading the way."
Having said that, he glanced at the women majestically and shouted in a low voice:
"Kneel down! You sinners..."
Yuhuan and Lanzi seemed to be overwhelmed by Lao Ba's arrogance and knelt down on the weed-covered wasteland. However, Juzi stood there in a daze, refusing to give in.
The mute woman walked up and kicked her hard in the knee, and Orange fell down heavily.
"Since you can't wait any longer, let's start now." A fierce blue light radiated from Lao Ba's eyes. "Mute, you kneel down too... Good! Today is the day when we enter the mountains to practice and finally achieve the right result. Everyone should be happy! In order to save sinners like you and also save my own soul, I would rather sleep in the open air, sleep on straw and taste gall, and accompany everyone in this deep mountain forest for two weeks and forty-nine days, and suffer eighty-one hardships. Now, I can report to the heavens. Each of you will have a good life in the next life, and you don't have to be like the ignorant people in Banpo Village, who have been muddle-headed, stupid and evil for generations... You should be happy! You should thank the heavens for looking at you differently."
As he spoke, Lao Ba also knelt on the ground, facing the west, and chanted: "Pray to God to accept our sinful subjects..."
Juzi heard someone crying excitedly and muttering to herself, "Oh God, oh God, if you have eyes, please let me meet a good person in the next life. I don't want a cripple or a fool, nor do I want a heartless person. Please let me meet a good person..." She turned around and saw a mute woman kneeling in the grass with her head down and eyes closed, sighing, looking very pious.
Yuhuan was so scared that she started crying too. She called out the name of her dead man and murmured in despair: "Desheng, desheng, I'm coming with you, please wait for me!"
Lan Zi was trembling all over, like a frightened puppy, lying on the ground, not daring to move.
Juzi's mind raced, racking her brains to think of ways to avoid Lao Ba's cruelty. She tried to guess how Lao Ba would kill them, with a stick or a rope? With a sharp blade or with opium?
"Go, bring the meat in the pot and share it. Let's all go on the road together." Lao Ba tilted his neck to the mute. Hearing the mute woman, she wiped the snot and tears from her face twice, then got up and went to the stove to busy herself.
It's time, Orange thought.
As long as they delay a little and don't eat the poisoned human flesh, as long as Lao Ba and the mute eat it first, they will win. But how can they make them eat first?
The meat arrived in a large aluminum basin. The leg meat had been cooked to a pulp, looking loose and without any elasticity. The basin was full and exuded a strange aroma.
The women looked at each other, no one dared to make a move. Juzi was quick-witted, and tore off a piece of meat, holding it in her hand while suppressing her nausea, and then returned to her original position and knelt down, staring at Lao Ba, pretending to be waiting for orders obediently.
She held the piece of meat carefully in her hand, and she knew how deadly the poison was.
Juzi saw Lao Ba's eyes. He stood there, trying hard to hide his gloating expression, and motioned the mute woman to eat too.
The mute walked forward, tore off a large piece of meat, and handed it to Lao Ba: "You can eat it too. The meat is cooked very well today."
Lao Ba glanced at the black meat with disgust, and unexpectedly said to the mute, "You try it first, I'll eat it later."
"Eat it, this is a good piece of meat, without any foreign smell at all." The mute raised his hand stubbornly to Lao Ba's nose, his bloodshot eyes staring at Lao Ba's yellow eyeballs that were rolling and dodging.
"I told you to eat first, so you ate first! Why are you so difficult to deal with?" Lao Ba suddenly got hysterical. He waved his dry big palm and slapped the piece of meat that had been close to his nose away. The piece of meat flew away without a trace. Then, he put his hands together, bent his knees, knelt down again, and pretended to pray to the sky.
Deathly silence.
This silence, which was filled with the smell of gunpowder, lasted only for a moment. Juzi suddenly heard the mute woman screaming, "Old Eight! You bastard!" She shuddered with fear, and the meat in her hand fell into the bushes.
At this moment, she suddenly saw that the mute woman had suddenly changed into a different person. Her usually calm fair face was now distorted into something extremely ugly.
This woman was like a crazy King Kong. She didn't know where she got so much strength from. She jumped up, kicked over the meat basin on the ground, rushed over and grabbed Lao Ba's collar, quickly pulled out a kitchen knife from her arms, swung it over his head in a bright semicircle, and chopped down...
Xiaoduo's mother watched with eager eyes as the two young men left the village and headed out of the mountain...
Gradually, their backs could no longer be seen clearly. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and went home.
Xiaoduo's mother felt as if her heart was being pulled out. She couldn't describe the feeling and she wished she could rush up and pull the two young men back.
She felt dizzy and trembling as she groped her way home until she entered the yard, not knowing how she got back. Once she entered the house, she hurried to her son's room and looked at the torn wallpaper, tilting her head, staring, looking up and down, left and right, and then sitting on the edge of the kang in a daze.
If her son really killed someone else's child, he would have no way to survive... Xiaoduo has been missing for so many days, and her brother has gotten into this kind of trouble. How could she have worked so hard all her life and raised such a beast?
The woman understood that as long as the two young men arrived at the village and reported the incident in Banpo Village to the police, her Han family would be destroyed!
She really hoped that Xiaoduo and his brother would go far away and never come back! She didn't want to see anyone, and if they never came back, she didn't want to...
The scene in which Xiaoduo was unwilling to enter the house in her dream appeared in her mind again.
It is said that once a person dies, he cannot enter the house again. It seems that Xiaoduo has most likely turned into a ghost... I only have one son left and he has been involved in such a serious lawsuit. How can I live like this?
As if possessed by some mysterious force, she suddenly stretched out her dry fingers and desperately began to tear off the patterned wallpaper on the wall until her fingernails drew blood.
After tearing off the wallpaper in this room, I suddenly remembered that the other two rooms were also covered with the same wallpaper, so I went to tear off the wallpaper in another room.
Xiaoduo's grandmother stumbled up on her two pointed feet, which were as sharp as rice dumplings. She tried to stop them but failed. In a blink of an eye, the walls of several rooms were completely destroyed. The distressed old lady kept nagging:
"It's such a good wall, but it's so ugly when it's ruined like this. There are still several months before the New Year when we can paste new paper on it! Oh...what should we do? What should we do..."
Xiaoduo's mother seemed not to have heard the old lady's words, nor did she see the old lady's existence. She tilted her head and looked at the torn wallpaper, which was in tatters and pieces, and felt that it was still not good enough.
So she walked to the stove, pulled out a red-hot piece of wood with flames from the bottom of the pot, and lit the remaining paper on the wall.
First, a puff of white smoke floated out of the window.
Then the flames jumped up the wooden ceiling and out of the roof.
Xiaoduo's father, who was farming on the hillside, saw a wisp of black smoke rising from the village from afar. He suddenly had a bad feeling, dropped his sickle, and ran home crawling.
As soon as he ran to the village entrance, he sat down on the ground, unable to move any further: he saw that his house had turned into a giant burning torch...
