Although Xiaoduo is already an eighteen-year-old girl, she looks like she has never grown up because she is thin, has a bad complexion, and has a flat chest.
Although Xiaoduo's sexual awareness has matured, those men who only focus on women have never paid much attention to her, which makes Xiaoduo feel indignant.
In the few months since he met Lao Ba this spring, Xiao Duo's body and mind have undergone amazing changes. His face has become rosy, his hair has become shiny, and the two little buns on his chest have become two little rabbits that are eager to try, as if blown up by air.
So much so that one morning, Xiaoduo came back from the toilet with her clothes loosely wrapped around her and her eyes half asleep, and she actually scared her father who was meeting her.
After returning home, the old man could not help but say to his wife mysteriously: "I haven't taken care of Xiaoduo for a few days. It seems that he has become a spirit..."
Early this morning, Xiaoduo, who had something on his mind, acted sneakily.
While eating breakfast, her eyes kept sneaking around her parents' faces. She thought to herself that she would leave the village soon when they were not paying attention!
When she thought of this, Xiaoduo felt her chest was full, as if something was blocking her. She was so excited that she couldn't swallow a single mouthful of food. After taking a few bites, Xiaoduo put down her bowl and chopsticks and got off the kang as if nothing had happened. She wanted to wait until her father went out to work in the fields, and then she would go look for oranges...
Orange has been unable to sleep or eat these days because of the rumors about Dalong.
When she woke up this morning, she was worried about the money in the envelope of unknown origin on the windowsill. Her younger brother Goudan came running to tell her that her grandmother, who was nearly 70 years old, suddenly had a high fever last night and the whole family was in a panic.
This is really a double whammy!
At this moment, the silly girl Xiaoduo dodged and sneaked into Juzi's room like a petty thief committing a crime.
Juzi didn't usually interact with Xiaoduo because she was still young. Women would often talk about men when they were together, and Xiaoduo hadn't married yet. Besides, Xiaoduo didn't look like a girl. She walked with big strides and spoke in a loud voice. Compared with Juzi, who was fair-skinned and well-mannered, Xiaoduo looked much more vulgar.
You know, Juzi is a unique woman in Banpo Village who is both smart and elegant, and has a high spirit. She is very picky when it comes to people.
Xiaoduo's arrival surprised Juzi.
She listened quietly to Xiao Duo's long-winded words, and then she understood what Xiao Duo meant: she said that she knew where Lao Ba grew medicinal herbs, and asked Juzi to go into the mountains with her to find Lao Ba. As long as Lao Ba came back, the dark cloud covering the village would dissipate.
Originally, Juzi was sitting at home at a loss, but after hearing Xiaoduo's suggestion, he quickly packed up, got up and was ready to leave.
It would be boring to stay at home anyway, so I might as well go into the mountains, find Lao Ba, ask him to come back and give grandma some medicine, and then pick some mushrooms, fungus, etc. on the way. That would be great.
She had no idea of ​​Xiaoduo's thoughts. In fact, Xiaoduo had her own ideas for going into the mountains to find Lao Ba. For this childish idea, Xiaoduo's brain was already hot and dizzy, and she was willing to take risks.
Juzi only knew that Xiaoduo sometimes went to Lao Ba's house several times a day, and she thought Xiaoduo was superstitious and believed in his nonsense about heaven, earth, people, and gods.
Juzi didn't really believe in Lao Ba's "exquisiteness", but sometimes when she encountered something she couldn't understand, she would just use Lao Ba's theory to make up for it. But if she was asked to get close to Lao Ba, she would never be willing to do so. She had a disgusted mentality towards all the women in Banpo Village who had contact with Lao Ba. She looked down on them and thought they were just a bunch of brainless fools who couldn't even see through the ambitions of a man like Lao Ba.
Now, she kept convincing herself in her heart: I just want to find a doctor and go home to save grandma, no matter if he is the eighth or ninth child!
Thinking of this, Juzi felt somewhat calmer. She quickly combed her long, tangled hair and tied it up with an elastic band. Usually, most women in Banpo Village don't comb their hair in time, because they always feel that no one is watching. The men are numb to it. Women don't care much about their appearance because they don't have a clear "pleaser" in front of them.
Especially for Juzi, since Dalong was not at home, she felt there was no need to dress up.
She looked at the old white shirt on her body that she could not wear out, and then she took out a maroon cloth shirt from the closet and put it on. Xiaoduo hurried over to help her smooth out the wrinkles on the clothes.
This dress was bought by Dalong from a town outside the mountain when he got married. It was very fresh when it was new, but now it has faded a little.
"How do you know that Lao Ba is in the medicinal herb field on the mountain?" Juzi suddenly stopped and turned to ask Xiaoduo.
"I...heard it from Lao Ba."
"When did Lao Ba tell you this?"
"That day, my mother and I went up the mountain to pick mushrooms and met Lao Ba. He said he was going into the mountain to collect medicinal herbs. He asked me and my mother if we were willing to help out and said he would pay us two dollars a day."
"Then why don't you go?"
"I had my period during those days and had a stomachache. Besides, my mother wouldn't agree."
"So you've never been to Lao Ba's medicinal herb farm?"
"...But it's not that far. He said that if we walk in from Beishanzui, we'll get there in a few hours."
"Why did Lao Ba go to the mountains to grow herbs? There are empty fields everywhere in Banpo Village. We can't grow any herbs." Juzi muttered, looked at herself in the mirror, combed her hair, and then said to Xiaoduo:
"We must not get lost. I heard that the Soul-Losing Valley is just over the North Mountain Mouth..."
"It's okay. I've walked up many hills while picking mushrooms. How could I get lost so easily?"
"Haven't you heard that once you enter the Valley of Confusion, there's no way out? Even Lao Ba's father-in-law hasn't come back yet, let alone us..."
"As long as we find Lao Ba, we won't be afraid even if we encounter the Valley of Confusion. Lao Ba is very familiar with the roads there..."
"Who told you that?" Juzi stared at Xiaoduo suspiciously and asked.
"...Don't ask anymore. Let's go. It's getting late. Let's go early and come back early!"
"You damn girl, when did you learn to be sneaky?" Juzi thought that Xiaoduo was probably a little obsessed with Lao Ba. She knew that many women in the village liked to hang out with Lao Ba, including the silly Xiaoduo. She took a closer look and found that Xiaoduo had become more beautiful without knowing when. She had gained some weight and her face seemed to be more moisturized. Could it be that Lao Ba's tricks could really make women look better?
Thinking of this, Juzi felt uncomfortable and didn't know whether to go out or stay.
Xiaoduo seemed to see through her thoughts, and pulled Juzi up and walked out of the room in two or three steps: "Your grandma's illness can't wait, don't dawdle."
Juzi's parents live at the southern end of Banpo Village.
There are three wooden houses with tall beams and even the rafters on the eaves are all made of red pine.
In Banpo Village, if one can build such a house, he can be considered a "prominent" family.
But ever since Juzi got married, the family's spirit has faded. Grandma has been sick every other day, and my parents' hair is getting whiter and whiter, and their backs are getting more and more hunched.
The only younger brother in the family was Goudan. Goudan was not very smart and not in good health. Even in his twenties, he still looked like a thin and curved green bean sprout.
Alas! What a waste of this magnificent house! Some of the sharp-tongued people in the village sighed in private.
Hurrying into the yard, before Juzi could even call out "Mom", the half-white-haired woman - Juzi's mother - came out of the house in a panic:
"I heard you were going to look for Lao Ba? Do you know the way?"
"Xiaoduo said she recognized him. I'll go with her." Juzi saw the conflict in her mother's eyes. She wanted her to go into the mountains, but was also afraid that something might go wrong on the way.
She added nonchalantly, "It's okay. If we hurry, we might be back tonight."
As she walked into the house, she asked, "How is my grandma?"
"Don't call her when she just fell asleep. She was tossing and turning all night last night."
"When she wakes up, give her something to eat. She's old and can't handle the stress any more."
"Got it. You guys better be careful on the road! I heard there's something behind this..."
"You mean the Lost Soul Valley? That's nonsense! Don't believe them. Besides, I'm not that stupid. I can't go into an unfamiliar path. Don't worry."
"Alas! All men are useless, and women have to take the lead in everything..." Juzi's mother's eyes were a little wet. She tried hard to see Juzi's face clearly, but Juzi's shadow became more and more blurred in front of her.
Orange's grandmother was originally a robust old lady with snow-white hair, rosy cheeks and clear eyes. But now she was tortured by a high fever and looked like a completely different person overnight.
Juzi looked at the old lady's flat sleeping posture and for a moment she even doubted whether she was still breathing. She hurried over to feel the old lady's breath and then she breathed a sigh of relief.
When she turned around, her eyes, nose and throat were all burning.
She felt that all were swept away, replaced by a sense of mission that she had no choice but to fulfill.
Juzi's mother stood at the door, raised a small finger, and kept wiping the corner of her eyes. Her eyes followed Juzi's figure closely, as if she was afraid that she would suddenly fly away.
"Mom..." Juzi looked around and saw that no one was in the room, so she went over and stuffed a manila envelope into her mother's hand. "Put it there for now. Don't touch the money unless it's absolutely necessary. If there are outsiders passing by, ask them if they have any medicine with them. If they do, buy them no matter how much it costs. Saving lives is the most important thing!"
Juzi's mother was so shocked by this sudden incident that she lost her reaction. She just held the big envelope in a daze and didn't even know when Juzi left the house.
Juzi walked out of the yard and looked back at her house, only to see her mother had followed her out involuntarily. She wanted to say, "If I don't come back in three days, don't wait any longer..." But after looking at her mother's cloudy eyes, she felt she couldn't say it.
But she had to say something...
"Don't forget to feed the chicks for me!" Juzi didn't expect to say such a thing. She saw that her mother's face, which was already a little ugly, suddenly changed color.
Juzi pretended not to see it and waved her hand helplessly, as a signal for her mother to go back quickly, and then she fled from home without looking back.
Juzi's mother stood at the gate of the yard, wiping her tears, but was suddenly hugged from behind by a figure.
"Mom..." A thin young man with a lisp suddenly handed over a black object, "I picked it up in the woods."
The person who was speaking was Juzi's younger brother Goudan.
With a bit of childish pride, he solemnly handed his mother a wicker basket of wild vegetables, oval in shape with a handle in the middle, which looked like a cradle for a baby. Inside the basket was a small pile of various wild vegetables, mixed with some black and white mushrooms.
Mother Orange took the wicker basket, glanced at the contents cursorily, and then looked up at her son who was waiting to take credit.
She wanted to praise him, but she couldn't help but feel sad when she thought about how she had raised her son so much and he could only do these childish tricks. She handed the basket back to Gou Dan'er: "Okay. Take it home, pick out the pieces, and I'll make you some soup tonight."
It's getting late, time to make dinner.
Orange's mother walked listlessly to the firewood pile at the side of the yard, intending to pick up some broken wood and take it home. Then she realized that she was still holding the envelope in her hand. Could it be that the envelope was filled with money?
Mother Orange was so frightened by this thought that she quickly turned around and walked into the house. She had to check the money carefully and then hide it in a safe place.
Before she could turn around, she heard Goudan'er's scream coming from the yard.
I rushed over in two steps and saw my son's hands raised high, just like a Japanese surrender. His usually white and thin hands had turned purple and black, and there was something sticky on them...
When Juzi and Xiaoduo left the village, they were clearly heading north.
As they climbed up the valley to the top of the mountain beside the village, the morning sun was rising from the east. However, when they looked from the height, the sunlight was blocked by the high mountain behind the village, casting a huge shadow on the entire Banpo Village.
Somehow, now as Orange looked at the dark shadow of the village, he felt his steps become lighter.
In her subconscious, she wanted to walk out of this village under the shadow of the sun and into the sunshine! Maybe if she left this place, her life would be different.
She thought of the women who had disappeared in the village recently. Their mood when they left was probably the same as hers now. Following another man to a desired place, to find the happiness of their dreams, that must be a pretty good feeling, right?
Juzi couldn't help but think of Dalong again. She thought that if Dalong didn't go out to work, the two of them might still be able to live a decent life.
Now she really felt a little regretful. Why did she let Fang Long go so foolishly?
Juzi looked back at the shadow of Banpo Village and let out a long sigh.
Although the two women rarely go out, they grew up in the mountains after all, so they walk very fast. They soon got into a dark forest. There was no road in the forest, so they just walked wherever they thought was easy to walk.
In this way, we quickly climbed over a mountain.
Climbed over another mountain.
Orange felt very strong under his feet.
The forest became denser and denser, and it was impossible to see the sun when walking inside, as if the sky had been overcast.
Orange felt a chill on his back, with the cold rising up from under his feet in waves. It was not at all like the warm early summer outside the forest.
Later, as they walked, they found that they seemed to have changed direction.
The sun, which stubbornly cast some spots of light through the branches of the forest, ran to the front and then ran to the back.
What's going on?
This went on for a few times, and both Juzi and Xiaoduo were a little flustered. But no one wanted to be the first to speak out and break this "window paper".
In the afternoon, the two people, hungry and thirsty, entered a long and narrow valley. The dense forests on both sides trapped them in a ravine in the middle.
We had no choice but to go up along the ravine... and then we arrived at the "Valley of Confusion" which was exactly the same as the legend.
As soon as he entered this long circular valley surrounded by dark mountains on all sides and with no light inside, he felt as terrified as if he was thrown into a deep well.
Looking up, I saw mountains covered with dense forests all around me, like a barrier. The most terrifying thing was that every mountaintop was exactly the same, just like an old lady's paper-cut window decoration, completely symmetrical!
Juzi stood in the middle of the valley, turned around and looked around, and immediately became flustered and broke out in a cold sweat.
"Where did we come from?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"It seems to be over there." Xiaoduo pointed to the left, "It seems to be over there?" She pointed behind her again.
Soon, Xiaoduo stopped talking. She stared at Juzi with two timid eyes. Suddenly, she was frightened by the scene in front of her and her own ambiguous attitude...
Orange hurriedly lowered his head to check the ground for footprints, but in the forest covered with a thick layer of leaves and fluffy lichens, he couldn't find even a trace of the way he came.
A creepy name suddenly flashed through her mind: "Valley of Confusion"!
This "Valley of Confusion" is located in the deep mountains and forests of Northeast China. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it was a place where the Anti-Japanese United Army often appeared and dealt with the Japanese devils.
That winter, after the mountains were closed due to heavy snow, a team of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces entered the Mihun Valley despite being outnumbered by the enemy. The Japanese relied on their large numbers and pursued them relentlessly, intending to kill the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces soldiers in the harsh situation of being in a remote area with no village or store and insufficient supplies.
As a result, until the ice and snow melted and spring came, no one was seen coming out of the mountains, and both teams disappeared without a trace.
From then on, there was a legend of the "Valley of Confusion", which said that there was a place in the mountains that could only be entered but not exited. No matter whether it was a human or an animal, once they stepped into the valley, they would never be able to find the way out, and would eventually die of hunger and cold or be killed by a tiger.
During the land reform, a group of stubborn bandits were forced into the Mihun Valley by the People's Liberation Army and never were seen again.
In autumn, even the ginseng pickers in Banpo Village who were familiar with the mountains and forests within hundreds of miles would occasionally enter the Valley of Mihun and never return, with no trace of their bodies ever found.
In the eyes of the people in Banpo Village, the mysterious Mihun Valley is like a giant monster with a bloody mouth, which keeps swallowing people into its stomach without spitting out even the bones.
Therefore, the curse words of the villagers in Banpo Village are not cursing the father or mother, but "I told you to go to the Valley of Confusion!" Juzi usually jokes with her husband: "What do you want to do when you want to go to the Valley of Confusion?"
However, people's previous knowledge of the Valley of Confusion was limited to hearsay, so in the minds of young people, the Valley of Confusion is just a "terrible symbol".
Only by stepping into this forbidden land filled with the breath of death can one truly understand the extreme horror of the Soul-Losing Valley. Because no matter who it is, once they step into this forbidden land, their lives will be in danger.
In Banpo Village, there are also those young people who are full of vigor and unwilling to admit defeat and like to brag to show off. However, once someone makes a bet and says, "Come on, take us in with you!" they immediately become as helpless as eggplants hit by frost.
"Why does this place look so much like the... Mihun Valley that the ginseng-picking old man in the village talked about?" Xiaoduo's trembling words just confirmed Juzi's thoughts. She immediately felt limp and powerless as if her muscles and bones had been pulled out...
"Didn't you say that you knew where to find the eight kinds of medicinal herbs?" Juzi glared at Xiaoduo, angry that she lied.
"I heard it from Lao Ba. Last time, my mom and I were picking mushrooms in the mountains and we met Lao Ba. He described it in great detail. The route he described was the same as the one we just took."
"Did Lao Ba say it was here?"
"Anyway, we are heading into this mountain. I have no idea where we are..."
"You crazy girl, you are such a daredevil!"
Just as Juzi and Xiaoduo were wandering around in despair, they suddenly discovered a large field of beautiful red flowers in the middle of the woods not far ahead. At the end of the flowers, there was a triangular shack under a big tree, and it seemed that a woman was hanging colorful .
"Look!" Xiaoduo suddenly screamed as if startled, "There's someone!"
Seeing a human figure in such a place was like seeing a savior for Juzi and Xiaoduo, who were in fear and helplessness.
Without even a second thought, they scrambled through the woods and headed straight for the shack...