Cat Gu Notes

With the sweetness of plants.Chu Haiyang and Xia Mingruo took a deep breath at the same time, feeling happy all of a sudden.

Ma Guotou did not stop, his son was standing on the river beach, holding the sapphire bone jar in his hand.

The old man took the jar and said to his son, "Let's go."

His son smiled at Chu Haiyang and Xia Mingruo, picked up the farm tools, and gradually walked away along the forest path.

The old man squatted down with a long sigh, spread out a clean white cloth by his feet, then reached into the sapphire pot with his dry hand, took out a gray bone, and slowly scrubbed it in the clear river water.

Xia Mingruo watched quietly while holding his breath, Chu Haiyang whispered: "Bone washing."

Bone washing is a custom of many ethnic minorities, and each ethnic group performs it differently.

Take the Liuerzi Miao, a branch of the Miao nationality recorded in the history books as an example, often within one or two years after the death, family members pay homage, open the coffin, and take out the bones to wash.After cleaning, wrap it in a white cloth and bury it again. After three years, take it out again and wash it as before.How many times this bone-washing ceremony should be repeated, some books say it is three times, and some books say it is seven times, it has not yet been determined.But if the family members are sick, they will think that it is caused by the unclean bones of the ancestors, so they will take the bones again for cleaning. This is how the name "washing bone seedlings" came from.

The Yi nationality, like the Miao nationality, has a mysterious origin and many branches, some are called "Axi", some are called "Nasu", some are called "Sani", and there are also "Taliu" and "Huayao".According to the pronunciation, it is guessed that it should be called "Pusu".

The horse pot head was very attentive. After each one was scrubbed, it was carefully placed on the white cloth, and then the next one was taken.

Chu Haiyang couldn't open his mouth, so Ma Guotou took the initiative to say: "It has been washed for 3000 years, and it will continue to be washed."

Chu Haiyang looked at him.

The horse pot head held up a long bone and said, "It's all inside, it can't be washed off, and it can't be burned."

Chu Haiyang nodded. This means that some kind of poison—the possibility of Gu—is hidden deep inside these bones, causing the bones to remain unbroken and rotten for thousands of years. Many methods such as washing cannot expel it. The only way is to use fire, but it is absolutely impossible for these people to burn the bones of their ancestors.

There is a word called "maggots attached to bones", and Chu Haiyang can only understand its horror now that it is in front of his eyes.

Xia Mingruo said: "The leopard didn't touch the empress's ossuary."

Ma Guotou raised his head and said, "There is more than just the empress in the cave."

The two immediately understood: there were still martyrs in the cave, and the leopard's first foot down the cave was on the martyrs.Maggots attached to the bones, since the empress has them, how could the martyr not have them.

But since they went to the tomb together, why was it only the leopard who got the trick?

After Ma Guotou had finished washing the bones, he tied the bones with a white cloth and put them back into the sapphire urn, and gestured to Chu Haiyang to go back.Chu Haiyang pulled Xia Mingruo and followed silently, knowing in his heart that what he saw today might be the top secret of the Pusu clan.

Ma Guotou became talkative, especially when he returned to his home, he asked with great interest: "Where is your academy of science?"

"In Beijing." Chu Haiyang replied with a smile.

"Oh—" Ma Guotou suddenly realized, "Chairman Mao sent it!"

Chu Haiyang said vaguely, "Mmm, yes."

"How is Chairman Mao, old man?"

Chu Haiyang didn't even thump: "Okay, you're in good spirits, you can eat three bowls of rice for one meal."

"Ho!" Ma Guotou laughed heartily, "Good! Good spirits! Chairman Mao is good!"

"Uncle Ling," Xia Mingruo asked with a smile, "Why do you think we are nice?"

Ma Guotou held back for a long time, unable to express himself, and only reported his personal name: "Li Changsheng."

"Ah?!" Xia Mingruo opened his mouth wide, his jaw was about to dislocate.

Who is Li Changsheng?Isn't Li Changsheng the old man with diarrhea who couldn't come after eating snails?

Xia Mingruo and Chu Haiyang looked at each other, and finally Chu Haiyang slapped his head: "Oh, that's right. I mentioned it to Master Ling!"

Xia Mingruo asked: "Did you mention our old man?"

"It was mentioned on the way." Chu Haiyang said, "He asked why we came, and I told him it was for archaeology; he asked who sent us to do archaeology, and I said, it was our teacher, Li Changsheng; he asked again What does Li Chang look like, I say he is short and fat, with no hair."

"Yes, that's him." Ma Guotou rummaged through the room and brought an old photo.

The photo has long been yellowed, and the corners have been gnawed by mice. Look at the date, May 1939.There are five or six men side by side in the photo, with Ma Guotou standing in the middle.Xia Mingruo looked at them one by one, and couldn't help sobbing.

"Yang Hai, look at how cruel fate can be to a man." He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, "Master, he has actually started to bald since he was 20 years old."

The young old Mr. Li stood on the far right with his usual expression, with his chest and stomach protruding, and he was upright.

"I stepped on the trap and died. Li Changsheng saved me and gave me an injection." Ma Guotou said.

Chu Haiyang nodded, presumably the wound was infected, and Mr. Li gave him a dose of antibiotics.

"In 1939, what was he doing in Yunnan in 1939?" Xia Mingruo asked.

"Southwest Associated University," Chu Haiyang replied, "Have you forgotten? He is from Tsinghua University. After the fall of Peking in 1937, the school was transferred."

He smiled at Ma Guotou: "You are lucky. Our teacher Li is not a big deal. The rest of you are all figures in the world of archaeology."

Ma Guotou started to smoke with a half-understood understanding.

The barefoot doctor surnamed Cheng walked in in a mess at this moment: "It's a fierce battle! Comrades of archaeology, do you have any soap?"

"Yes." Xia Mingruo stood up, "Let's go to your house."

The barefoot doctor surnamed Cheng climbed ashore wetly and asked Xia Mingruo, "Do I still smell?"

Xia Mingruo said: "There is still a little bit of cow smell."

The doctor turned and jumped into the river again.

Xia Mingruo laughed and said, "Why do you love being clean so much and become a doctor? How long have you been here?"

"The Yi language name of this river is translated as Taohua River." The doctor squinted his eyes and said, "In 1966, I was a young literary boy with a delicate mind, but I was deceived by the name."

"Because I was too lazy to cook, in 1970, Mr. Ling used a hatchet to force me to go to the county health school for a month's class. After returning, I became a barefoot doctor. But there is one advantage in the mountains, it is quiet, and I can do what I want to do. , I can assure you that one-third of the manuscripts in Yunnan come from me.”

"Still a writer." Xia Mingruo asked, "What do you write about? The Plum Blossom Party? The Heart of a Girl?"

The doctor smiled lewdly, Xia Mingruo took a step back and said with a smile: "Stop, don't talk!"

On the Peach Blossom River, the water mist seems to be soaked in the fragrance of trees and flowers. The green hills on both sides of the river confront each other, and there are big trees in the upper reaches, and there are people releasing discharges on the river.Most of the dischargers were young Yi people, dark and stocky, naked, with a pocket cloth around their waists.

The doctor laughed when he saw this: "I'm not afraid of being seen by the girl!"

The group waved at the doctor, and when they came to a bend in the fast-flowing water, they began to shout hoo ho ho ho.

"They are another branch of the Yi nationality. The stockade is on the other side of the mountain. The pronunciation is 'Shasa'. I don't know how to spell it."

The doctor went ashore and said with a sigh of relief: "I just love this landscape of mountains and rivers. Let's go to Mr. Ling's house to beg for food!"

Xia Mingruo praised: "What a boldness!"

"A man." Dr. Cheng said as he walked, "My family background is not good. My father is Xiaokai (Shanghai dialect, the boss's son or son of a son) on the beach. He wears a suit and white leather shoes all day long. 1966 Wu Dou, I was 14 years old, my house was also stolen, and my house became a bottle cap factory in the alley, and I was locked in a private cell set up by the school. Later, I found out that my parents were gone. Concerned about it, he escaped in the middle of the night and sneaked onto the coal train."

"Alone?"

"My friend smashed the window and let me go. Later, I heard that he was severely punished." The doctor said, "My fate belongs to him. It's a pity that it's been 15 years, and I don't even remember what I look like."

The two walked and chatted, and when they entered the village, they heard a loud commotion, as if a woman with a high voice was yelling something hastily.

The two hurried to look, only to see Leopard wrestling with a Yi peasant woman.

Xia Mingruo shouted: "What are you doing?"

Leopard was panting in pain from being pulled by his hair: "Xiao Xia! Xiao Xia! Come and save me! This woman has gone crazy for some reason! Suddenly she jumped out and beat people!"

Xia Mingruo walked a few steps quickly and then stopped: "Leopard, what are you holding in your hand?"

The leopard got two ear scratches and screamed: "What did you take? I took a wooden stick!!"

Xia Mingruo said to the peasant woman, "Kill him!"

The peasant woman thought that I still need you to say it, so she raised the hatchet and rushed forward.

Chu Haiyang was talking with Ma Guotou, and he came out when he heard the voice, and he couldn't help it if he saw the situation.Unexpectedly, women in rural areas do rough work for a long time, with great strength, not only Chu Haiyang can't hold back, but even a doctor can't hold back.

But the peasant woman saw that the leopard could not be killed for a while, so she spat hard, stuck the hatchet in her waist, and walked out of the village.

Before Leopard could heave a sigh of relief, the doctor said, "It's not good, I called her man from Shangdi. The Yi people in Pusu have a strong custom, and the custom of beheading enemies has not been completely eradicated. You will be lynched. Comrade Leopard, hurry up, or it will be too late if you don’t leave.”

Leopard was still in a daze, Chu Haiyang took the wedge-shaped stake from his hand, sighed and said, "Don't you understand? Pack your bags and go."

Leopard said: "This..."

"It's going to be circumcised." The doctor said seriously.

Chu Haiyang looked at Ma Guotou's house,