The Miao Boy Who Journeyed Through the Pages and Became Everyone's Beloved

Chapter 41: Haven't seen you for a long time

Chapter 41

In the afternoon of April, the shadows of the trees were dancing.

The sun shone on the overlapping stilt houses, adding a bit of hazy light and shadow to the entire Qianjiang Wuzhai.

At the entrance of Qianjiang Wuzhai, under the four-cornered eaves made of wood, three old ladies were sitting and sewing embroidery.

They were wearing red and black long skirts, with their long hair tied up on top of their heads. A red flower was tied on the right side, and under the flower was a silver pendant composed of a phoenix and a butterfly.

These three old ladies did not wear any silver jewelry, and they looked about the same age, all around 60 years old. At this moment, they were chatting while embroidering the cloth in their hands.

"The Gu Zang Festival is in five days. I wonder how long the bulls can fight during the ceremony."

"Of course they will fight for a long time. After all, Shangling started raising bulls two years ago."

"This Gu Zang Festival is held in Shangling of our village. The terrain of Shangling is steep and it is never open to the public. I don't think outsiders will be invited."

"That's hard to say. By the way, speaking of outsiders, I heard from Xiaoyang this morning that a college student will come to our village to teach in two days."

"What! College student?" There haven't been any college students in Qianjiang Wu Miao Village for several years. In the past few years, every time a college student came to teach, he would eventually leave for various reasons. The one who stayed the longest only lasted for more than three months. "Is it a girl or a boy?"

"It is said that he is a very handsome boy."

The three old ladies were talking excitedly. At this time, a deep male voice came from the side of them—

"Excuse me, is this Qianjiang Wuxialing Village?" This voice is very pleasant, mellow and magnetic. The polite tone of asking for directions reveals a bit of unruly and casual laziness.

The three old ladies all looked at the person who interrupted their chat.

It was an outsider, carrying a black bag, taller than Xiao Yang, the tallest in their village. He wore a black hat on his head, and his face under the hat was very handsome, better looking than those stars on TV.

Facing the three old ladies' direct gazes, Lin Ye paused slightly.

Maybe it was because he had just arrived in this unfamiliar Miao village, or maybe it was because this was Xie Jinling's hometown. So at this moment, being looked at by the three old men from the same hometown as Xie Jinling, Lin Ye rarely felt a long-lost tension.

His lips moved slightly, and under the gaze of the three old men, he repeated what he had just said. But this time, his speaking speed was much slower than before.

Before coming here, Lin Ye had carefully learned about Miaojiang and the Miao people. He knew that the Miao people had more than 200 branches and about 40 different dialects and vernaculars. He

also specifically learned that the Miao people were divided into two major categories: cooked Miao and raw Miao.

Cooked Miao is the type of Miao people who have been almost assimilated by Han Chinese, while raw Miao is the opposite.

Just before he asked, he heard the three old men communicating in Chinese. Although there was a relatively strong accent between them, it should be no different from cooked Miao.

Because the map navigation on the mobile phone can only lead here, if you go further, you need the map drawn by Xie Jinling for him.

And he didn't see any stones with the name of the village engraved around him all the way here, so in order to avoid going to the wrong village, he asked the three old men.

"This is Qianjiang Wuxialing Village, young man, are you here to travel in our village?" The speaker was the old lady sitting in the middle.

Her face was full of wrinkles, but her eyes were bright and she gave people a warm and cheerful feeling when she smiled.

Lin Ye thought for a while and said, "I'm here to see a friend."

He had sent a message to Xie Jinling three days ago, but the other party has not replied yet. After that, he called several times, but none of them went through, probably because the signal in the mountain was not good and the network was not connected.

Lin Ye remembered that Xie Jinling had said that the village where he lived was a little special and almost isolated from the outside world. Lin Ye knew that generally only the so-called Sheng Miao would live in areas with few people and steep terrain, and these areas were mostly deep mountains and old forests.

The map that Xie Jinling drew for him had Qianjiang Wushangling Village written on it.

Together with the Xialing Village that can be led to on the map navigation, they are collectively called Qianjiang Wuzhai.

"Are you here to see your friend? Which family are you from?" The old lady who first spoke to Lin Ye asked while putting the embroidery in her hand next to the bench: "I'll show you the way."

Lin Ye was about to say that it was not troublesome and he could follow the map by himself, but the old lady had already stood up. It looked like she was ready to show him the way.

The signal in the mountains was weak. Lin Ye thought about it and realized that he couldn't contact Xie Jinling for the time being. It would be more convenient to have this old lady show him the way.

"Grandma, I'm going to Qianjiang Wushangling Village." Lin Ye said truthfully.

When the old lady heard this, she paused.

The other two old ladies also looked a little strange.

Noticing the change in the three Miao elders, Lin Ye was about to ask if there were any special procedures required to enter Shangling Village. The old lady who was going to lead the way asked him, "Does the friend you are looking for live in Shangling?"

When she said this, she tilted her head to look at Lin Ye, and once again looked at Lin Ye from head to toe, and confirmed, "Are you sure it's Shangling?"

Lin Ye nodded slightly, "The address on the map he drew for me is Qianjiang Wushangling Village."

"Drawn map?" The old lady who was going to lead the way heard it, as if she suddenly thought of something. She pursed her lips, thought for a few seconds, and then stretched out her hand to Lin Ye, "Young man, let me see the map first."

Lin Ye's fingers moved on the screen, and quickly enlarged the map drawn by Xie Jinling in the album, and then handed the phone to the old lady.

The old lady lowered her head, looked at the hand-drawn map carefully, and then asked, "What is the name of the friend you are looking for?"

"Xie Jinling, his name is Xie Jinling." Lin Ye didn't know if Xie Jinling had a Miao family name in Miaojiang, and if so, what his Miao family name was. He thought that since the other party didn't specifically mention this, it means that it's okay to just say this Chinese name.

And it turned out that he was not wrong.

When the old lady who led the way heard this name, her eyes looked at Lin Ye differently instantly. She raised her lips and raised a smile that was even brighter and more eager than before: "I didn't expect you to be Xiao Jin's friend!"

"Come on, I'll lead the way for you," the old lady smiled with her white teeth showing, her eyes were very kind, and she gestured to Lin Ye to go forward: "Let's go, young man, follow me." Under the guidance of the old lady, Lin Ye passed rows of stilt houses on the slope. Perhaps it was because he looked like an outsider in his dress, which attracted a lot of attention along the way. Lin Ye found that the clothes worn by the Miao people living in Xialing Village were relatively simple in style except for the complicated patterns. Most of them were dressed like the old lady who led the way. They didn't wear any silver jewelry. Some people even wore the same clothes as they usually wore. "Young man, I see that you are about the same age as Xiaojin. Are you a classmate that Xiaojin knew during those few months in high school?" The old lady who led the way took the initiative to talk.