Das Leben der Landbevölkerung in der Stadt während der Song-Dynastie

Kapitel 61

"Amitabha!" Just as we were about to leave, Shikong suddenly uttered a Buddhist chant. At that moment, I saw the mummified corpse of the guard standing to the right of King Sok on the platform suddenly collapse. His spear, by sheer coincidence, pierced Yudawa's chest. Normally, mummified corpses are very light, and there was no reason for the spear to pierce Yudawa's body. Yet, I watched helplessly as the spear pierced through Yudawa's body, the tip emerging from his back.

"Ah!" Yudawa screamed and fell off the stone platform, landing on his back in front of it.

Shuiying and I were stunned. All those words we just said were made up by us, but they really seemed like a spell protecting this ancient city from being stolen.

“Even in death, he has no right to sit on the stone platform with King Sok,” Kurada sighed, then turned and walked away.

We followed Kurada outwards.

"Wait for me!" Lamudu's cry was as shrill as a ghost.

As I reached the palace gate, I glanced back at the now-mummified King Sok. In that instant, I saw the palace ablaze with lights, King Sok and his subjects feasting, and women in colorful robes singing and dancing before the stone platform. The young King Sok raised his stone cup, and I heard him say to me, "Farewell, Aridodona."

"The city is about to collapse, run!" I heard Kurada shout, and then he grabbed my arm and dragged me away.

I awoke from the hallucination again to find the city shaking even more violently and slowly sinking.

By the time we reached the city gate, I was exhausted and almost collapsed on the ground. Shi Kong and Shui Ying ran faster, but La Mudu, probably carrying too much stuff, looked clumsy and fell behind.

"Sigh!" Kurada sighed, reached out and lifted me up, hoisting me onto his shoulder like a sack of rice, and started running quickly.

The sand outside the city was slowly settling down, and if we were any slower, we might be buried inside. I was being carried by Kurada, and although my internal organs felt like they were about to be shaken out, I didn't dare say anything at that moment, since I had become a burden to him.

When I reached the city gate, the sand had already surged up to the gate and was pouring into the city. The city gate was creaking, and I was afraid it would close at any moment.

Once we were outside the city gate, I asked Kurada to put me down, otherwise he wouldn't be able to climb up the sand with me on his back and would sink in.

As I crawled on the sand, I couldn't help but turn back to look at this ancient city—Zeland.

Just as I turned around, I saw another tragic scene. When Lamudu ran to the city gate, the two huge stone city gates suddenly closed. The speed at which the gates closed was beyond my imagination. With a "bang," the two gates slammed together, trapping Lamudu in the middle.

"Ah!" I screamed almost simultaneously with Lamu.

Blood splattered on the stone door, and Lamu was crushed flat by the stone. One of his hands was already stretched out of the stone door, as if he was still trying to squeeze out of the stone door.

Something fell from his hand and landed on the sand not far from me.

It was a ring.

It was a gold ring set with rubies, engraved with beautiful patterns. Wasn't this the very ring that King Sok had given me in my hallucination? I walked over, picked it up, and held it tightly in my hand. Was this King Sok's last gift to me? I glanced at the ancient city one last time and struggled to climb upwards.

The sand was flowing down faster and faster, making it almost impossible for me to climb up. Every two steps I took, I would sink back down.

Several times my feet sank into the sand and I could hardly pull them out. My shoes had fallen into the sand, and I was walking barefoot on the scorching sand. My feet hurt terribly, but I didn't dare to stop.

It was afternoon, and the sun was so strong I was almost dizzy.

"Grab the rope!" I heard Kurada's voice, and a rope fell down in front of me.

The three of them have already climbed up, that's great.

I slipped the ring onto my finger, gripped the rope tightly, and it began to pull upwards, dragging me across the scorching sand. The sand sank downwards, and I was pulled upwards.

Before I could even catch my breath, Kurada carried me on his back.

We ran forward as fast as we could, the sand cascading down behind us layer by layer, as if chasing us. One wrong step and we might sink in with the sand and become a dried-up corpse outside the ancient city.

Finally, we saw the people ahead. Several of Kurada's men were waiting for us with horses and camels. Seeing us running, they spurred their horses over and stopped a short distance in front of us, letting their horses turn around. As soon as we reached them, we mounted our horses and galloped forward, quickly leaving the cascading quicksand behind us.

My feet and body were covered in blisters from the sand. At that moment, I was no longer worried about life or death; the blisters were throbbing with pain. When it got dark, we stopped to rest, and Kurada applied some medicine he carried with him to the blisters.

"Where are Lamudu and Yudawa?" Kurada's other men asked us. "Didn't you see them in the city?"

“They…they…” Kurada hesitated for a long time, “They were trapped in the city by a spell.”

“Ah!” one of the bandits, named Siyabu, exclaimed. “I warned them not to go in, but they wouldn’t listen and insisted on going into the city to look for treasure.”

"Alas, one should not be greedy." The others also looked somber.

"By the way, Shikong, there's something I still don't understand." I suddenly remembered something and quickly turned to ask Shikong, "You've always said that we're old acquaintances, but even now that this matter is clear, I still don't know how we're old acquaintances?"

“Yeah, yeah!” Shuiying chimed in from the side. “We heard the old man telling a story on the walkie-talkie outside. At first, I thought Shikong was the young man who rescued Aliduodona, but I didn’t expect that in the end the old man would say that the young man was Kurada!”

“Hahaha…” Shi Kong laughed loudly, “I knew it long ago. I once cast a divination for myself, and the result showed that I had been reborn as an animal. It seems that the divination was correct today.”

"What does that mean?" Shuiying stared blankly at Shikong.

“I understand.” I smiled at Shikong.

“I understand now,” Kurada said with a smile.

"What have you all figured out?" Shuiying looked at us from side to side, glancing at me, then at Kurada, then at Shikong. After a long while, she suddenly slapped her thigh and stood up. "I understand too!"

"Hahaha..." We all burst into laughter.

"But do you believe all of this is true? I mean, about that beautiful story." Shuiying still seemed a little confused. Actually, she should have been the most clear-headed person in this whole affair. People say that those involved are often blinded by their own involvement, and we were all involved, except for her, who was just an observer.

"If you believe, it exists; if you don't believe, it doesn't," I said with a smile.

“I don’t know about that life, but in this life, I’m the one who carried Ziyue out of the city, I know that.” Kurada looked at me with a smile.

"Amitabha!" Shikong said nothing.

"Come on, you carried me like a sack of potatoes and you have the nerve to say that!" I grumbled. "And you even gave me so many blisters. I don't know whether to thank you or scold you."

"What? You're worried your skin will ruin your chances of getting married, right? Anyway, in that life I was your lover, so I'll reluctantly marry you!" Kurada retorted, not to be outdone.

"Go to hell!"

"Great idea! Ziyue has never been wanted, no, I mean she's never had a boyfriend!" Shuiying finally revealed my secret. I know she's always sad if she doesn't.

"Sigh, I made a bad choice in making friends, and met the wrong person." I sighed deeply, and then actually lay down on the ground and started having a sweet dream.

17. Going Home

I spent a few days recuperating in the small town. Fortunately, the injury wasn't too serious, and I recovered quickly.

The desert had encroached upon the outskirts of the town, but ultimately it did not engulf it. Layer upon layer of sand-resistant forests were planted outside the town, and we all hoped that these forests would keep the sandstorms away.

During the days I spent recuperating in the small town, I finally understood that the dreams I had back then were all closely related to this story. That

The dream of walking through the ancient city streets and feeling suffocated needs no explanation; it's quite obvious. The dream of riding a white horse at breakneck speed is the part where Alidodona escapes the city to avoid being pursued by King Sok. The dream I had after first entering the ancient city and escaping the curse—the girl in the red dress rushing towards the flames—is not a scene from the movie "A Terracotta Warrior's Tale," but rather the scene of Alidodona being captured and burned to death.

The happiest thing was that Sasha invited us on a trip to the country to express her apology for hiding the fact that she and Kurada were siblings from me and Shuiying.

Se-kong wasn't in a hurry to go back, so he went on a trip with us.

Actually, this country wasn't particularly fun, and there weren't many scenic spots. However, because its ethnic customs were different from what we're used to, it was still worth a visit. At least I got to appreciate some exotic culture.

Shuiying likes to go out with Shikong, maybe because she thinks it's cool to walk with a big monk.

Time always flies.

Before we knew it, Shuiying and I were heading back, and of course, Shikong was coming with us.

Sasha and Kurada took us to the airport. After Sasha hugged us goodbye, Kurada, still indignant, wanted to hug us goodbye as well. Shuiying nonchalantly hugged Kurada goodbye, and I had no choice but to let Kurada take advantage of me one more time.

As Kurada hugged me, he whispered in my ear, "Do you believe that story is true?" I paused for a moment, and before I could answer, he continued, "I believe it, I believe it's true. I will come to find you, wait for me."

Then Kurada returned the crystal necklace to me and helped me put it on. "This beetle is really intelligent. I can feel it moving every time there is danger."

Sitting on the plane, listening to Shuiying chatter on and on about this amazing trip, I was mostly in a daze and didn't really hear what she was saying.

After I got back, a bunch of troubles started. First, George called to ask if I had a good time on my trip to Europe. I immediately retorted, "Who said I went to Europe?"

"Huh? You didn't go to Europe? Then where did you go?" George's surprised voice was somewhat exaggerated.

"Haha!" I then said the name of the country I was going to.

“Good heavens! How dare you go there! Oh no, if your mother finds out she’ll break my bones.” George’s exasperated voice made me laugh. “You wait, I’m coming to see you.”

He hung up the phone before I could protest.

When George saw me, he looked me up and down. After seeing my darkened skin and the burns on my arms that hadn't fully healed, he expressed his anger with a scream that only a female animal could make.

Then my mom and stepfather kept calling me. My mom was crying and insisted on coming to see me, even though I told her everything was fine.

George then bought a bunch of whitening beauty products and spot-removing creams, forcing me to use them, so that he wouldn't be in trouble if my mom saw me looking like that. This guy also made soup for me every day and forbade me from going out, determined to restore my unhealthy pale complexion before my mom saw me.

As expected, my mom kept her word and came to see me. However, what bothered me was that Brad also came, and he kept pressing me for the location of the old city.

"The ancient city has sunk underground! Really! I didn't take anything out! Really! If you don't believe me, ask Shuiying. There's a curse there; anyone who takes anything will die! What? How did the ancient city appear? It was a hurricane, yes, a hurricane. I heard it was a once-in-a-century hurricane; only a hurricane could blow an ancient city out. But now, a hurricane is useless; the ancient city has sunk underground. Many people saw it. If you don't believe me, go ask them." I gestured to Brad in English, but he wouldn't believe me no matter what.

Shuiying was also brought up by him. My house is just... there are people everywhere, it's so annoying!

“Zi Yue is right, it’s true, the ancient city has sunk underground! It’s true!” Fortunately, Shui Ying was quite clever. Without much prompting from me, she could lie more convincingly than I could. “A strong wind blew the ancient city out, but unfortunately, it happened to coincide with an earthquake, and the entire ancient city was buried underground. We just went in and almost didn’t make it out!”

"My darling! How could you be so brave? What would I do if something happened to you?" My mom would also join in the fun.

Oh dear, this is terrible. I was planning to write this story down, turn it into a book, and maybe I'd become famous overnight. Now look what's happened, I'm in such a mess, how am I supposed to sit down and write? So I'm stuck in bed, waiting for George and my mom to keep coming up with new beauty recipes and then use me as a guinea pig.

Shuiying, on the other hand, has benefited quite a bit from my situation. She hangs out here every day, freeloading on food and drinks, or going to hang out with George. I can tell she won't be satisfied until she gets together with George.

I finally managed to sneak out during a break.

I went to the pedestrian street I'd visited before leaving the country, hoping to see the woman in purple who had told my fortune and given me the crystal beetle necklace. But I couldn't find her. I searched from one end of the street to the other, stall by stall, but still couldn't find her. Where could she have gone? Perhaps that night was just a coincidence.

Sometimes I think it's all a dream, but two things keep reminding me it's real. One is the knife Kurada stole from those black-robed men, and the one he gave me that I brought back. How did I do it? It was so simple; I just put the knife in my checked luggage.

Another one is that ruby ring.

Seeing it reminds me of the young and handsome King Sok I saw in my hallucinations.

2004/5/3

Story Six: Night Burial by Zhuang Qin (The End)

Introduction

The car was parked in the town closest to the destination, and then the four members of the expedition team drove for a full five hours along mountain roads. It was already nine o'clock in the evening when they arrived at Ezu Village.

When Weng Beibei reached the village entrance, she looked back at the team leader. Yu Guang spat the cigarette from his mouth onto the ground and waved to the village chief who was standing at the entrance to greet them.

Yu Guang, a history professor at a local university, along with three of his students, Shen Tian and Wu Yong, and his niece Weng Beibei, traveled to a remote village in the southwestern suburbs of the city to investigate a strange local funeral custom—night burial. Legend has it that in this remote, cursed village, people often die violent deaths due to natural disasters or human calamities, such as car accidents, hangings, murders, or drownings. According to local custom, such deaths are called "violent deaths." The villagers believe that the souls of such deceased are restless and carry heavy malevolent energy; burying them in the ancestral graveyard would cause unrest in the family and bring misfortune to their descendants. Thus, the custom of night burial arose. The body is carried by strong men from the village to a remote mountain valley on a dark, starless night, and buried far from the ancestral graveyard. The details of this night burial custom remain unknown, shrouded in mystery. This is precisely what Yu Guang has been eager to understand.

Before this trip, Yu Guang received a phone call from the village chief, who said that a female villager had committed suicide by drowning the day before and would be buried late the next night, a night without a full moon. Thus, the four-person expedition team came to fruition. Upon arriving at the cursed village, the first person they naturally needed to visit was the village chief, Wang Laomo.

Section 1

01

Wang Laomo's home was a mud-walled bungalow with a thatched roof. The main room was dark, lit only by an oil lamp, and emitted an indescribable musty stench and the pungent smell of cheap tobacco. The walls were pitted and uneven, with chunks of mud peeling off. If the village chief's home was like this, one could only imagine how poor the other villagers were; this was a truly impoverished mountain village.

"The woman who died was named Lü Guihua, thirty-four years old. Her husband went to work in the south and had an affair with another woman. I don't know what kind of bewitching potion she was under, but when he came back, he insisted on divorcing Guihua. Guihua couldn't understand it and took her own life. Alas... what a good girl..." Village Chief Wang sighed and tapped his shoe hard with his pipe.

Yu Guang quickly tossed a cigarette to the village chief: "Tell me about night burials, what are the customs involved?"

Wang, the model worker, glanced at the brand on the cigarette, then stuck it into his pipe and tried to light it with a match, but it wouldn't light. Weng Beibei quickly pulled out a lighter and lit the cigarette for the village chief.