novelAbuy 0014 Gun Wound
0014 Gun Wound
Late Ming Dynasty, on Longtan Mountain.
Just as Sun Lu was leading several clansmen up the mountain path with difficulty, a noisy commotion of gongs and drums suddenly rose from the distant forest.
In the distance, from a stone-built village nestled in the mountainside, a group of men, women, and children emerged, each wielding a sharpened bamboo spear.
Although these mountain people looked somewhat malnourished, like the Sun family, and were all thin, they had extremely tall and strong frames. Holding identical bamboo spears, they lined up in a row, making them look quite imposing.
The middle-aged man leading the group was wearing half a rattan armor, carrying a rusty long knife in one hand and a bamboo rattan shield in the other, while constantly making strange noises.
However, upon recognizing Sun Lu, who was drawing her bow and arrow, the man immediately stopped shouting, shoved his knife into the ground, and yelled from a distance, "So it's you, young lady from the Sun family, who's been trespassing on our village! Young lady Sun, our Zhou family village and your Jiyun village have always kept to ourselves. What are you doing here with your weapons?"
Sun Lu immediately recognized the man as Zhou Ren, the second-in-command of the village, and replied, "Second Brother Zhou, I have something important to discuss with Brother Zhou Gang."
"Important matter? What important matter?"
Zhou Ren was somewhat confused about the situation, and his eyes showed a hint of wariness.
The five villages in the mountains had a secret agreement: to advance and retreat together and not disturb each other. If the government sent troops to search the mountains, they would join forces to resist.
However, because Jiyun Mountain stretches for tens of kilometers, bordering Ruixian County to the south and extending northward to Li'ao and Ouhai in Wenzhou Prefecture, each family occupies a large area of the mountain, making transportation extremely inconvenient. This resulted in infrequent private communication.
When Zhou Ren suddenly saw the people from Jiyun Village coming, he thought that government troops had attacked the mountain, so he ordered the whole village to be on guard.
"To be honest, Brother Zhou, a celestial being has descended to earth in our village! The immortal has ordered us to contact all the villages to discuss important matters at noon," Sun Lu told the other party truthfully.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ren's face immediately turned wary. "A deity descended to earth? What nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight! Madam Sun, you haven't sided with the officials and are trying to wipe us all out, have you?"
"I know you probably won't believe me, Brother Zhou, but the immortals really did descend to earth. If you don't believe me, look at these two items bestowed by the immortals. Don't they resemble anything found in the mortal world?"
In order to persuade the other party as soon as possible, Sun Lu had her clansmen hand over the bamboo tubes and bundles they carried with them.
"An object from the immortals?"
"Really?!"
Zhou Ren was a little suspicious. He first took the bamboo tube and looked inside. A handful of crystal-clear, plump Wuchang rice came into his view.
"This is... polished rice!"
"No, the polished rice sold in the city isn't this good."
Zhou Ren's eyes widened, and somewhat disbelievingly, he picked out a grain from the bamboo tube, popped it into his mouth, chewed it, and tasted it.
The rich aroma of rice made his expression change.
Even the finest rice grown in Wenzhou Prefecture doesn't have such a full and delicious flavor.
When Zhou Ren opened the bundle again and saw a colorful printed spring quilt inside, his voice trembled: "This...this...Miss Sun, what is this?"
Seeing that the other party was intimidated by the celestial quilt, Sun Lu quickly explained, "This is a celestial quilt bestowed upon our Jiyun Village by the immortals, woven by celestial maidens from Heaven. Almost everyone in our village has one. If Brother Zhou doesn't believe me, you can send someone with me back to the village to see for yourself."
Touching the soft, fluffy modern plastic blanket and smelling its fragrance, Zhou Ren was momentarily stunned.
If the fine rice in the bamboo tube could be explained by the government selecting some high-quality rice as tribute to win people's hearts...
There's no way to explain the colorful printed quilt in his hand.
The dyeing and printing techniques, textile techniques, and polyester fiber filling all exceeded the limits of the imagination of people in the Ming Dynasty.
If it wasn't woven by fairies, how could there be a quilt as soft as a cloud in the world?
As for the officials and wealthy households in the county town, they certainly wouldn't need such an incredible fairy quilt.
There is no other possibility than that it was bestowed by a deity descending to earth.
"Sun Xiaoniang, are there really immortals descending to earth?"
Zhou Ren looked up and asked, his eyes now showing a hint of doubt.
"Brother Zhou, that immortal lord is incredibly powerful. He can appear out of thin air, riding a gleaming silver iron chariot and wielding a magical artifact that emits light and thunder. He comes and goes without a trace, always appearing alone. If he weren't a celestial being descended from heaven with immortal magic, why would over a hundred of us from Jiyun Village obey his commands?"
Sun Lu smiled and, with added embellishments, described Zhu Shiting as an omnipotent and great being.
The mountain people were already ignorant, and with the constant natural and man-made disasters at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the people were suffering. In order to find spiritual sustenance, there were countless gods and deities worshipped in Zhejiang and Fujian.
There are rice gods and grain gods, as long as they can bless peace and good weather. Even the life-saving staple food from foreign lands, the sweet potato, has a shrine built for it.
Suddenly, the people of Zhoujia Village, who had gathered around, heard that a real celestial being from the Heavenly Court had descended to earth and bestowed celestial rice and blankets upon them. They all became agitated.
Zhou Ren paced back and forth, staring at the fairy quilt, muttering to himself, "If that immortal is truly as omnipotent as you say, Sun Xiaoniang, perhaps... perhaps my elder brother can be saved!"
Upon hearing this, Sun Lu's expression changed, and she asked in a low voice, "Second Brother Zhou, has something happened to Brother Zhou Gang?"
In the past, Zhou Gang, the leader of Zhoujia Village, had always been in charge. This time, the second-in-command was replaced, which made Sun Lu a little suspicious.
"To be honest, young lady, my elder brother went down the mountain last year to rob a wealthy family in the city. After being shot in the back by a musket, he fell seriously ill and is beyond medical help. If there truly is a deity descending to earth, I hope that you, young lady, can put in a good word for my brother before that deity and bestow some miraculous medicine to save his life!"
Zhou Ren explained the reason, and immediately, with red eyes from crying, he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed to the old quilt worth 20 yuan that he had recycled.
Since it is a gift from the immortals, this immortal must be imbued with spiritual power.
Bowing down to it is the right thing to do!
"Is this really true?"
When Sun Lu learned that Zhou Gang had been shot by a bird gun, she panicked for a moment.
The mountains were already short of supplies, lacking food and medicine. If ordinary people were injured by firearms like muskets, they would almost certainly die.
However, remembering the supernatural powers Zhu Shiting had displayed, Sun Lu quickly regained her composure and suggested to Zhou Ren, who was kneeling and kowtowing, "Second Brother Zhou, why don't we find a stretcher to carry Brother Zhou Gang to our Jiyun Village? That immortal said he would descend from Heaven at noon to observe the people's conditions. If we sincerely beg the immortal for mercy, perhaps we can heal Brother Zhou Gang's gunshot wound."
"Alright! Let's do as Miss Sun says and set off to seek a miracle cure."
Zhou Ren was already at a loss because of his brother's injuries, and now he finally found a glimmer of hope for a rescue.
Although he was still somewhat skeptical about the existence of that deity, he had no choice but to try anything for his brother's sake.