QG Chapter43

The rain was so heavy that even with an umbrella, Wan Ying was soaked. She jogged to the outside of the stilt house, her skirt heavy from being wet, looking quite disheveled. She glanced around nervously and said in a hurried, stuttering voice, “Li Yuze, the village, something’s happened outside. I came to bring you, some insect, repellent herbs.”

 

I was taken aback. “Insect repellent? What exactly happened? Shen Jianqing left in such a hurry.”

 

Wan Ying stepped onto the stilt house stairs and explained haltingly, “The mountains are dangerous, full of insects. Every few years, there’s a risk of, insect plagues. We, the Miao people, in the village, refine Gu to repel, those hateful insects. Just now, we discovered that the Gu insect forest, has a new ‘head insect,’ which is dangerous for the village.”

 

I was confused, but I had a rough guess. The mountains were humid and had many swamps, making them ideal breeding grounds for insects. These pests must be a huge threat to the villagers living here. I had read many reports about poisonous forest insects harming humans. This continuous summer rain undoubtedly provided excellent climatic conditions for insect proliferation.

 

I said, “Shen Jianqing just left with a girl in a hurry; he must have gone to figure out a solution.”

 

Wan Ying nodded. “In the village, the strongest in refining Gu, is the leader. Because the refined Gu, can repel those hateful insects. Shen Jianqing, like Aunt Ah Qing, is very powerful.”

 

No wonder he could become the next leader at such a young age; it turns out Shen Jianqing could provide protection for the village. I only now understood why the Miao people had looked at him with such reverence before. It seemed that this branch of the Miao people, having lived in these deep mountains for centuries, had long ago developed methods to resist and coexist with nature. Using insects to control insects—I just didn’t know how they tamed and refined them. Shen Jianqing’s “Honghong” seemed very well-behaved and intelligent. An insect’s brain is so tiny, not even the size of a fingernail; refining an insect must be incredibly difficult.

 

“My grandfather is old, and can no longer, go to the Gu insect forest. He will use his Gu, in the village, to protect us. I thought of you, alone, and worried about you, so I came, to bring this.” Wan Ying said, pulling out a small cloth bag, about the size of a palm, from her embrace. Because it had been kept close to her body for so long, it still carried Wan Ying’s warmth. “You sprinkle it, in the corners of the room, not much is needed, and the insects, won’t come.”

 

She was soaked from head to toe, yet she had kept this perfectly preserved. I couldn’t help but feel touched.

 

“You… why did you…?”

 

Wan Ying curved her brows and smiled. “Just, consider it, as me being, kind. Seeing, you, reminds me of, Shen Siyuan Ah Nai.”

 

When she mentioned Shen Siyuan, my heart felt like it was weighed down by a stone. I paused, then said, “You asked me before if I wanted to leave. Are you…?” After the last escape attempt, I understood very clearly that without help from the people here, it would be extremely difficult for me to get out of these mountains on my own.

 

Wan Ying’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She said, “If he treats you badly. If you want to, leave, I can help, you, find a way. But, not, now.” I knew she must be dealing with the village’s crisis and didn’t have the energy to worry about me. But this was already enough for me to be grateful.

 

Wan Ying quickly turned and hurried back into the rain.

 

By evening, the multi-day rain finally began to lessen, then stopped. Shen Jianqing had left food in the kitchen. After a quick meal, I returned to my room.

 

The sound of rain hitting fallen leaves outside the window finally ceased, and the surroundings turned into an eerie silence. There were no chirping insects, no birdsong, no croaking frogs, no rustling trees, there was nothing. It was extremely quiet. So quiet that it made me feel a bit uneasy, as if something was lurking in the shadows.

 

Following Wan Ying’s instructions, I sprinkled some of the herbs from the cloth bag in the corners of the room. These herbs were dried, grayish-green in color, and crumbled with a dry rustle when rubbed between my fingers.

 

With nothing else to do, I simply blew out the candle, preparing to sleep. There was no moon outside tonight; after days of overcast weather, the clouds were thick. Once the flickering candlelight was extinguished, the room became pitch black, so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.

 

This was completely different from city life. In the city, even with all the lights off, there would still be various neon colors casting a hazy glow, preventing true darkness.

 

I drifted into a light sleep, my mind hazy, caught between waking and dreaming. In a daze, I heard a strange sound.

 

“Rustle, rustle, rustle—”

 

“Hiss, hiss, rustle, rustle, rustle—”

 

Was I dreaming?

 

It was a sound that made my scalp tingle and my entire body feel uneasy, like fingernails scraping deeply across a blackboard.

 

“Hiss—” I vaguely opened my eyes, my mind still groggy. It was pitch black all around, so dark I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. The loss of sight, however, made my hearing sharper. To my horror, the eerie sound hadn’t disappeared!

 

It wasn’t a dream!

 

“Rustle, rustle, rustle—”

 

This sound was very familiar. It reminded me of those black insects I hadn’t seen in a long time! I had almost forgotten them, but once touched, the memory came flooding back uncontrollably. The fear they had once instilled in me now returned to my body.

 

“Rustle, rustle…”

 

Closer and closer… They were approaching me!

 

This realization made my hair stand on end. My body stiffened, and after a long moment, I managed to grope for the table and light the candle.

 

A pitiful flicker of flame shone in the darkness, illuminating a small, confined space.

 

I held up the candle and looked around, and my heart instantly seized up, stopping for a moment as I froze in place!

 

Countless black insects, like a tide, gathered on the walls and in the corners of the room. Their black shells gleamed with an oily sheen, looking slimy and disgusting.

 

This time, I finally saw clearly: the “rustling” sound was made by their mouthparts rubbing against their forelegs. Each movement produced this faint sound, but with thousands of insects moving at once, the “rustling” became a continuous symphony.

 

They swarmed in the room, like giant black shadows, like an abyss capable of swallowing everything. I nearly vomited from disgust! I dared not make the slightest move, fearing that any misstep would cause them to rush at me en masse. A single insect isn’t terrifying, but countless insects… I had no doubt they could devour me into a pile of bones in an instant.

 

Fortunately, these insects had almost no intelligence or cooperative awareness. If they were to attack simultaneously, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to bring down this stilt house.

 

I stood alert for a moment; they didn’t initiate an attack. A few hesitated, trying to advance, but after tentative steps, they seemed to be deterred by something and retreated. My heart stirred slightly, and I boldly raised the candle, moving closer to them. As I approached, the insects immediately recoiled, creating an opening for me.

 

Every time we had seen these disgusting black insects before, it had been at night, could it be that they fear light?

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T/N: Apologize if Wan Ying’s lines are always difficult to read. That’s how they are in the original text, most likely to show that her Chinese isn’t very good, so I’m keeping it that way.