JM Chapter14

“Xiao Ah Lang, shall we carry him back?”

 

I lifted Tai Wu’s upper body, only to see the strong young man take a leaf from a woven pouch at his waist. He waved it under Tai Wu’s nose, then gave him a bit of water to drink. “It’s fine, Master is just weak, this happens often. He’ll be better in a little while.”

 

“Really?” I laid Tai Wu back down, and sure enough, after a while, he coughed and slowly opened his eyes.

 

“Master Taiwu?”

 

My gaze focused on his eyes, and I suddenly realized that his eye color was very similar to mine—both were a lighter shade of amber than the usual for people from Jiangsu. Although he was older, with a waxy complexion and fine lines at the corners of his eyes, his features were still delicate. It was clear that he must have been quite a handsome man in his youth.

 

As I met his gaze, Tai Wu seemed a bit dazed. I called out to him a couple of times before he snapped out of it.

 

“Master Taiwu, are you feeling better?”

 

I helped him sit up, and Tai Wu glanced behind me. It seemed he noticed that Tunshe Nalin was no longer there. Only then did his scattered soul and spirit finally return to him.

 

“Master Taiwu, will you take me mining?”

 

He suddenly grabbed my wrist, his light eyes fixed on me. “You’re an outsider, why are you always staying here? Don’t your family worry about you?”

 

My response caught him off guard. “I enjoy the scenery here, and the people of your tribe are all quite interesting.” —Especially Tunshe Nalin.

 

“Interesting…” His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t. With a stiff expression, he stood up and walked toward the rock from earlier. I looked at the young man in confusion, but he averted his gaze and seemed unwilling to say much to me. He followed Tai Wu instead, calling out, “Master!”

 

So they’re master and apprentice. I thought they were father and son.

 

For the rest of the day, I followed Tai Wu and his apprentice through the valley near the forest, collecting minerals that could be made into pigments.

 

I have to say, although this vast primeval forest is fraught with danger, it truly is a treasure trove. By evening, we had collected seven or eight types of minerals, including cinnabar, hematite, azurite, malachite, realgar, turquoise… From a geological perspective, this was nothing short of amazing. For someone into painting, it was like the place hid a “dragon vein,” with surprises at every turn. Perhaps I was too enthusiastic, working even more quickly than Tai Wu’s apprentice. Tai Wu, who had been ignoring me, gradually softened his attitude toward me, occasionally responding with a few words.

 

As communication gradually became smoother, I finally dared to ask him about the situation with that child, Saibang, and told him about the bad people looking for their village and tracking me. I asked Tai Wu to inform the village chief and report it to the authorities, but his reaction was completely unexpected.

 

“They can’t get in,” Tai Wu said, while continuing to chisel away at the mineral. After a long period of silence, he finally spoke again once he had broken the entire rock into pieces. “This forest is much more dangerous than the outside.”

 

—That’s certainly true. I remembered the driver I encountered last night in the forest and those terrifying “people” like him, resembling ghoul-like creatures. A chill ran down my spine.

 

I helped him shovel the crushed minerals into the basket, unable to resist asking, “Master Taiwu, those… those monstrous people, have you seen them too? What exactly are they?”

 

“Corpse slaves,” Tai Wu murmured in reply, looking at the young apprentice not far away. “Those who are punished by the Corpse God Lord and have consumed blood will all become corpse slaves.”

 

“Consume, consumed blood?” I asked, confused and scared, unable to understand what he was saying. “Are those monsters related to your Corpse God Lord? What kind of god is it, Master Taiwu? Can you tell me the legend about it?”

 

“He is not a god… he is the most terrifying demon in the world. We are not from the same tribe at all. We are all slaves trapped here by him… the word ‘Nashe’ is a curse on us! He said that we are sinners and we can’t escape in our lifetime…” He smashed another piece of ore into pieces with a hammer, muttering, and suddenly closed his lips, stopped talking, and stood up. “You, follow me.”

 

The Neshe tribe isn’t a tribe? They are criminals and slaves? What…

 

“Master Taiwu, where are we going?” I was confused, but I still following him. After a few steps, I heard a horn sound. Tai Wu froze and stood there. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw a figure on horseback waving at us not far away.

 

“Tai Wu, don’t lose it! We have to hold a ceremony to send off the goddess consort!”

 

With a “bang”, the hammer in Tai Wu’s hand fell to the ground.

 

I quickly squatted down and carefully picked up the pigment ore and put it back into the backpack. I saw Tai Wu turn around and walk towards those figures step by step: “Let’s go back.”

 

Because I wanted to learn how to grind mineral pigments by myself, I insisted on following Tai Wu back to his tower studio on the hill. Tai Wu did not refuse, but when I stepped into the door, he ordered me to wait outside the door and then hurriedly put away all the paintings hanging on the beams, as if he was afraid that I would see the contents of the paintings.

 

Although I was curious, I didn’t want to offend him either, so I stood at the door as he said and waited for him to finish cleaning before going in.

 

I have to say that although Tai Wu is a bit neurotic, he seems to have a similar passion for painting as I do. He was very patient and generous in teaching me how to grind mineral colors, and he walked me through each process one by one. Although I have painted mineral colors in the past, I used finished products. I never knew that grinding colors from rock by hand is such a troublesome and interesting process.

 

The initial screening, washing, and drying took the whole day of the next day. Fortunately, everyone in the village knew that I was going to make up the painting for their shaman, so no one came to disturb us except to invite us to “eat the meal”. By the evening of the next day, the steaming was over, and after the last round of filtering and sifting, it was finally done.

 

Gazing at the jars of rich, vibrant mineral pigments I had painstakingly ground by hand, an indescribable sense of accomplishment filled my heart—if I use these colors to paint Tunshe Nalin, I am certain it will be the greatest masterpiece of my life.

 

Unable to suppress my excitement, I impatiently mixed some with water, tied my hair up, and painted the sunset and snow-capped mountains outside the window on the small paper that Tai Wu lent me to test the colors.

 

When the golden crow fell behind the snowy mountain, my casual painting was just finished.

 

When I looked up, I found that Tai Wu was staring at me in a trance.

 

I raised my hand and waved it in front of his eyes, calling softly, “Master Taiwu, what’s wrong with you?”

 

Tai Wu came back to his senses, lowered his eyelids, and looked at my painting: “Your painting is very good.” Like a dream, he paused and murmured, “You are also very good.”

 

This is likely a compliment for my dedication to grinding the pigment with care and my focus on painting.

 

I smiled and looked at the pair of eyes that were similar to mine. I felt that he was very close to me: “Master Taiwu, you are also a good person.”

 

He looked at me with struggling eyes, hesitant to speak. I put down my paintbrush and lowered my voice: “Master Taiwu, you always look at me like this, do you have something to say to me?”

 

“Xiao Ah Lang.” He grabbed my wrist, his skinny fingers gradually exerted force, and looked out the window. “Go, go in the opposite direction of the snowy mountain, go now.”

 

“Why?” Before I could finish speaking, a sudden ‘clatter’ caught my attention—it was the vulture Tunshe Nalin had raised, landing on the windowsill. Seeing its blood-red eyes peering inside, I suspected that it was hungry, so I stood up, grabbed the uneaten mutton jerky on the table, and came to it.

 

“Are you hungry?” I put my hands into my sleeves and carefully handed the dried mutton under its sharp beak.

 

The vulture’s red eyes glanced at me, then turned to Tai Wu, and slowly fell into my hand again. I gently brushed the edge of its beak with the end of the dried meat. The vulture was obviously stiff for a moment, hesitantly lowered its head, and took the dried meat away. Seeing that it accepted my feeding, I had an idea. I turned around and found that Tai Wu had shrunk under the table. He seemed to be very afraid of the vulture, probably because he was afraid of Tunshe Nalin. I had no choice but to take the small painting I had just finished, roll it into a small tube, and tie it up with the thin string tied to my hair.

 

“Since I fed you, can you bring him a small gift for me?”

 

The vulture looked at me with a sidelong glance, as if puzzled. It is said that vultures are very spiritual animals, so they must be able to understand what I said. I coaxed him, “Your master’s eyes are sensitive to the light and cannot stand the sun, so I want to give him the most beautiful moment of the day when the sun shines.”

 

The vulture’s pupils shrank, as if it was frightened by my words. It froze for a long time before lowering its head and picking up the painting.

 

Looking at the vulture flying away with the painting in its beak, I couldn’t help but laugh silently.

 

Qin Ran, Qin Ran, when have you ever chased someone like this?

 

“Cough, cough, Tai Wu?”

 

Hearing a noise behind me, I turned around and saw an old man with white, braided hair and a cane coming in from outside the door. He was wearing a luxurious dark purple cross-collared robe and several circles of pearl necklaces on his chest. He was hunched over as if he couldn’t bear the weight.

 

Behind him, there was an older man who looked unfamiliar and had not appeared during the past two days of “having meal”. His clothes were more elegant than those of ordinary villagers. I guessed that he was probably an elder with status in the tribe, and that old man was most likely the tribe leader.

 

During the past two days, when we were having meals together, I had mentioned to the villagers that I wanted to meet the tribe leader, but they all said that the tribe leader was busy with the sacrificial ceremony and had no time. Now that he has finally come out after much anticipation, I quickly helped Tai Wu, who had crawled out from under the table and followed him.

 

“Cough, cough, you are the Xiao Ah Lang that Sangbuluo rescued, right?” When I approached, the purple-robed old man looked me up and down, smiling. He looked kind and gentle, with a face as smooth as a waxed mask. It was no exaggeration to say that he had white hair and a youthful appearance, and he looked like an immortal. But somehow, I felt that he looked familiar, as if I had seen him somewhere before, and there was a strange tingling feeling in my heart.

 

“En.” I nodded. “You are?”

 

“Xiao Ah Lang, this is our tribe leader.” The middle-aged man behind him spoke, his tone faintly revealing majesty.

 

“Ah, tribe leader, hello.” It was indeed the tribe leader. I extended my hand. “My name is Qin Ran.”

 

Seeing him staring at me with a smile but no intention of shaking hands, I realized something and took my hand back awkwardly. A little embarrassed, I clumsily put my hands in front of my chest in a downward flower-picking shape and bowed to him. —This is the special way of greeting of the Nashe people that I learned when I was “having meal”. It is said to represent the blooming of the camellia flower, which means reincarnation and rebirth.

 

“That’s Sangbuluo—the village priest who saved you.” Tai Wu whispered in my ear. I was startled and looked at the man behind the tribe leader. He had deep eyes, high cheekbones, and a hooked nose. He looked a little sinister. He was the type with a serious temperament and didn’t smile. At first glance, he looked a bit like Professor Severus Snape in Harry Potter.

 

Is this a combination of Professor Albus Dumbledore and Professor Severus Snape?

 

I was amused by my own association and almost laughed out loud.

 

“Thank you for saving me, Mr. Sangbuluo.” I also bowed to him. “If it weren’t for you, I would have died long ago. I will definitely reward you guys after I contact my family.”

 

“Contact your family? Are you in a hurry to go back, Xiao Ah Lang?” The tribe leader said leisurely, “Don’t be so anxious, just stay here with us and get well. I heard from Saibang that there are bad guys outside who are trying to catch you, right? It’s safest to stay in the village.”

 

The author has something to say: 

The tribe leader is here, and he wants to trick Xiao Ranran into becoming a goddess consort. The ghost marriage is coming soon! Hehehehehe