Chapter 4 In Human World

  The dam was built, and Yun Zheng was overjoyed. He turned to He Jianqiang, who looked curious, and said, "Just hold on a little longer, we'll have fish to eat soon, five or six of them, enough for us to have a full meal."

  Yun Zheng jumped into the bay and stirred up the mud, waiting until the water was murky before starting to catch fish. The fish were foolish, swimming with their heads stuck out of the water, and Yun Zheng quickly caught six fish by hand. Regretfully looking at the small bay, he saw that there were only a few small fish inside, each about the length of a finger. He then jumped onto the sandy beach and started a fire to roast the fish.

  The fish meat was delicious, but the roasted fish craftsmanship was poor. He Jianqiang ate two of them and finally felt full. The hot weather made it impossible to store food, so Yun Zheng ate all four remaining fish, which gave him a full stomach for the first time in two days.

  Yun Zheng was washing his hands when He Jianqiang, who had nothing better to do, suddenly shouted and pointed at the cliff, telling Yun Zheng to take a look. Yun Zheng covered his eyes with his hand and looked over carefully, only to find that the cliff was densely packed with coffins.

  The Bo people's hanging coffins are still familiar to Yun Zheng, who is extremely happy to finally know where he is. Heaven knows why he suddenly moved from the northwest wilderness city to Yanjin County at the junction of Sichuan and Yunnan. When he traveled to Yunnan before, he had visited Yanjin County specifically to see the Bo people's hanging coffins. The mountain peaks looked a bit similar, but why were there so many hanging coffins here? He only saw a dozen or so coffins at most when he first came.

  Thinking of the arrow he found, Yun Zheng had already made the worst preparations. The Hongshui River Basin was not a developed area, neither in ancient times nor now.

  Yun Teng carried He Jianqiang to the banks of a large river, where he also saw a crowd, but he didn't dare to get close, and sat under a mulberry tree holding He Jianqiang in distress.

  Good heavens, what kind of people are these? How can they be so dark and short? But that little girl picking mulberry leaves from the tree is quite a pretty thing. It's just that she's dressed in such an ugly way - either blue or black, it's like wrapping a piece of cloth around her body. I've never seen clothes like this even in my dreams.

  "Slap me! I couldn't bring myself to do it." Yun Zheng turned his head and said to He Jianqiang.

  He Jianqiang's fist landed on Yun Zheng's nose, and Yun Zheng, who was crying, suddenly remembered that this kind of hemp clothing was only worn on a large scale before the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Later, with the advent of cotton, people began to wear cotton clothes.

  "We've probably arrived in the Song Dynasty." Yun Zheng said to He Jianqiang.

  He Jianqiang seemed very nonchalant, relying on his childlike face to ask the woman in the tree for mulberries to eat, and he got away with it. The mulberries fell down like raindrops, and those women had already fallen in love with He Jianqiang's chubby cheeks.

  Two people sat on the ground, constantly eating mulberries. After a while, He Jianqiang seemed to have taken an interest in the food in the basket of the mulberry-picking girl again, got up and ran to the side of the basket, took out two rice balls from inside and quickly ran back, handing one to Yun Zheng. Looking at the mulberry-picking girls who were laughing and chatting, Yun Zheng's face turned red with embarrassment.

  "Come on, we haven't had a proper meal in ages. Now that we have the chance, let's make the most of it. I'm still young, no one will blame me." He Jianqiang took big bites of his rice ball and encouraged Yun Zheng to hurry up and eat too.

  The benefits of being young and tender are many, heaven knows how He Jianqiang communicated with those mulberry-picking girls, and he even managed to bring back two eggs, which is absolutely a precious food at this time.

  "Why don't you marry her, we'll get rid of your current girlfriend. Now I'll help you cheat on another one. Look at that little girl, although she has a few smallpox scars on her face, she's still quite pretty. I've asked around, her family is wealthy, if you marry her, we can immediately live a life of luxury."

  Yun Zheng didn't say a word, lifted his leg and kicked He Jianqiang's butt with one foot. For a moment, he forgot that this guy had become a three or four-year-old child, and was actually kicked into the air.

  He Jianqiang suddenly burst into loud wailing, a large group of mulberry-picking girls rushed over, picked up He Jianqiang and surrounded Yun Zheng, making a fuss and scolding him. He Jianqiang comfortably lay in the arms of the mulberry-picking girl, squeezing his eyes at Yun Zheng.

  A tall and slender mulberry-picking girl hugged He Jianqiang and walked towards the village, Yun Zheng couldn't think of a way to get He Jianqiang back, they didn't give him back, language barrier made it impossible to communicate, so he had no choice but to follow her as they walked into the village.

  A small basin stands with thirty or fifty bamboo buildings, a yellow dog with its tail curled up lazily sunbathing, seeing Yun Zheng this stranger barking randomly twice, then continues to lie down and sunbathe.

  The mulberry-picking girl came to the edge of the largest bamboo building, opened her throat and shouted twice. Her voice was crisp and her tone was gentle, but unfortunately Yun Zheng couldn't understand what she said.

  An old man with a black cloth wrapped around his head, with white hair and beard, appeared at the edge of the bamboo building. He saw Yun Zheng and was stunned for a moment, then hurried down from the bamboo building. To Yun Zheng's surprise, he spoke in a thick Guanzhong accent, "Young Han, how did you end up here?"

  "In a lower place with his younger brother unfortunately separated from family, asked the old gentleman, whether this land belongs to Dou Sha Guan jurisdiction?" Yun Zheng clumsily made a courtesy.

  At the riverside, Yun Zheng saw the four large characters "Dou Sha Gu Yi" engraved on a stone tablet. He had seen this kind of thing in later generations and naturally knew that this was the original appearance of the famous Dou Sha Ancient Town. Not far away was the majestic Dou Sha Pass.

  The majestic natural landscape has created a magnificent pass, the key to entering Yunnan from Sichuan, and the strategic location of the "Five-Chi Road" during the Qin and Han dynasties. Due to the steep cliffs on the opposite bank, the river has been split in two, forming a massive stone gate that locks up the ancient road between Yunnan and Sichuan, hence also known as "Stone Gate Pass".

  The old man looked at Yun Zheng, who was in a sorry state, and then at He Jianqiang, who was lying in the arms of the mulberry-picking girl. He sighed and said: "What you said is true, this is indeed Dou Sha Guan's Dou Sha Ancient Town under his jurisdiction. The five-foot path has become increasingly unsafe, two years ago there were tigers, merchants stopped for half a year, the tiger harm was gone, and then strong men occupied Wuyeshan, look at your brother without long objects, first settle down in the stockade, we will discuss it later."

  The old man's words were exactly what Yun Zheng wanted to hear, and he thanked him repeatedly.

  The people here are extremely simple, so simple that Yun Zheng doesn't know what to say. In the village, there is an old and dilapidated bamboo house with no one living in it, and the two brothers want to settle down here. The villagers gave them a dipper of rice, another family gave a dipper of beans, the bedding was old but washed very clean, and the old tribal chief even gave Yun Zheng an iron pot and a small bag of salt, which is already considered a generous gift, especially when Yun Zheng learned that it is now the fourth year of the Qingli period in the Great Song Dynasty.

  The mulberry-picking girl helped Yun Zheng sweep the entire bamboo building, and then lit the mugwort to heavily smoke the bamboo building. He Jianqiang was terrified to see centipedes and various insects fleeing from the gaps in the bamboo building, and what's even more outrageous is that a green snake as thick as He Jianqiang's arm also ran out of the bamboo building.

  Yun Zheng and He Jianqiang were afraid, but the mulberry-picking girl was not. A little girl with round eyes grabbed the green snake and threw it back to the bamboo building, still muttering to herself.

  The old clan leader smiled and said to Yun Zheng, "Don't be afraid, this is a guardian snake, harmless, specializing in eating mice and insects. If there wasn't one on the bamboo building, it wouldn't be safe at home."

  The tall girl with a red face put a small yellow dog in front of Yun Zheng and ran away, the old patriarch laughed very heartily, other girls also cheered up, He Jianqiang smiled very slyly, only Yun Zheng was puzzled.

  As the sun was about to set, a wisp of smoke rose from the old bamboo building. The fire in the stove crackled and popped, casting a warm glow on the two people inside. The flames illuminated their faces as they savored the aroma of rice wafting from the iron pot. He Jianqiang swallowed hard and said to Yun Zheng, "The Great Song isn't bad either, is it?"