novelraw Chapter 13: River Pearls Attract Mountain Bandits
Chapter 13: River Pearls Attract Mountain Bandits
Question: Why would a bird's beak get stuck in a rock and unable to be pulled out?
Answer: Because it was gluttonous and wanted to steal and eat a river clam that could use earth escape.
The white crane neither admitted nor denied this, pretending as if nothing had happened, as if the fool being discussed wasn't itself but its guilty eyes betrayed it.
As the saying goes, when hitting people don't hit the face, when scolding people don't expose their shortcomings.
Li Qiuchen didn't want to continue entangling with this stupid bird on this issue.
Because he also hadn't thought of any particularly good method to extract pearls from this type of river clam.
This little thing's earth escape technique was very mysterious. As long as it sensed danger, it could instantly exchange positions with nearby mud and rock.
Unless you caught it off guard and kicked it into the sky, preventing it from touching the lake water and ground but right now Li Qiuchen had no tools in his hands. Even a clever housewife can't cook without rice.
The river clam's habitat was right here and wouldn't run away. He could come back to dig anytime in the future.
His main attention now was still focused on another aspect.In the morning, just as the sky was getting light, Li Qiuchen opened his eyes.
This time he didn't continue along the river. Instead, he climbed up the hill beside the lake.
Standing on the mountain with a broad field of vision, he could see very far.
He quickly discovered cooking smoke rising in the distance.
As they say, watching mountains can run horses to death. Although that cooking smoke looked only a few li away, who knew how much effort it would take to go around.
Li Qiuchen weighed things in his heart for a moment, then said to the white crane, "You fly over and check the situation. If they seem like good people, we'll sneak over. If they don't seem like good people, we'll take a detour."
The white crane looked at him like looking at an idiot.
What do good people look like? Would bad people write the two words "bad person" on their faces?
"Let's check it out first."
Li Qiuchen also knew this stupid bird was unreliable, but he had no other way. He could only place his hopes on this stupid bird. Then based on the intelligence it brought back, make further judgments.
The white crane spread its wings and flew over the mountain. Half an hour later it flew back. As soon as it landed, it began performing.
"Ga ga ga ga ga!"
"Someone died?"
Li Qiuchen's heart tightened.
"Ga wo ga!"
"Someone died in the village, people are holding a funeral?"
"Ga ga!"
Ah, that's okay then.
Li Qiuchen let out a breath.
Scared me to death. I thought the village was full of dead people.
Still having the mood to hold a funeral meant there wasn't too much danger.
In truly dangerous places, where would there be living people to hold funerals for the dead?
However, Li Qiuchen didn't completely believe the intelligence this stupid bird brought back.
He decided to sneak over and carefully observe.
Crossing over two mountain ridges, Li Qiuchen faintly heard the sound of music playing ahead.
That village was at the foot of the mountain, built along the river. Looking from afar, there were about dozens of thatched cottages and over a hundred mu of fields.
It did indeed look like a proper place.
Even so, Li Qiuchen didn't dare get too close. He stayed prone on the mountain until the sun set before carefully approaching.
The white crane sneakily followed behind him like a thief.
As soon as he entered the village entrance, Li Qiuchen smelled the scent of food and couldn't help swallowing.
A vigilant whimpering sound came from the courtyard. The local dog had smelled an outsider.
Li Qiuchen quickly waved to signal the white crane to hide far away.
He only had the scent of grass and wood on his body. Even wild beasts in the old forest wouldn't become vigilant.
That stupid bird was different. It was covered in a fishy earthy smell.
The white crane rolled its eyes, hopped away, spread its wings and flew into the air.
Li Qiuchen followed the fragrance of food and felt his way to the household holding the funeral. Looking, it was actually a landlord's estate. A shed was set up in the courtyard with a coffin inside. A table beside it was filled with food and wine.
This wasn't food prepared for the living, but offerings prepared for the underworld officials.
On the day of death, such a table had to be set. By the seventh day, another table had to be set.
Li Qiuchen only knew there was such a custom, but in Songlin Village, he hadn't eaten at others' banquets for a long time.
Songlin Village rarely had deaths, and ordinary families couldn't afford to set such spreads.
The food on the table was cold. He couldn't care about that. Grabbing a steamed bun, he gnawed it fiercely with pickles.
Not hungry, just purely craving it.
Food and such could be set aside first. When returning, he'd pack a portion for the stupid bird.
Li Qiuchen sneaked in at night mainly wanting to steal some useful things.
For example, rice and flour, salt, bowls and chopsticks, and so on.
If there were clothes that fit, he could also get one. The clothes on his body now were long torn to shreds.
Going around the back courtyard, finding a cleaver and a hoe, Li Qiuchen was very satisfied.
Farming in the mountains by himself was really too tiring. Without handy tools, he lived like a wild man.
With a cleaver and hoe, he could greatly improve his work efficiency, clear more medicinal gardens, plant more herbs, and provide more help for his cultivation.
He even wanted to carry away the iron pot too, but later thinking it was a bit excessive, he let it go.
Farming households didn't have anything valuable to begin with. The most precious thing might be that pot.
In the past, saying "smash the pot and sell the iron" meant preparing to bet all one's family property and fight to the death.
Although this family looked like they probably didn't lack the money for a pot, Li Qiuchen didn't plan to do things absolutely.
Carrying the sack back to the front courtyard, Li Qiuchen was just about to sit down and pack up the food when his footsteps suddenly stopped.
Another person was sitting beside that banquet table, holding bowls and chopsticks and wolfing down food with his head lowered.
The old man was still wearing burial clothes.
Is this right?
Even though Li Qiuchen was bold and careful, at this moment he was almost scared to the point of peeing.
The old man eating suddenly turned his head inadvertently. Seeing the ragged and disheveled Li Qiuchen, his hand trembled and he directly threw out his chopsticks.
He was also startled.
The two stared at each other in silence under the shed for a long time.
"You, old sir, this is..."
Li Qiuchen tentatively spoke. After calming down, he carefully observed and discovered the old man's body was quite healthy, not at all like a dead person about to be buried.
Hearing him speak, the old man also secretly breathed a sigh of relief and laughed quietly, "Little brother, you're not from the village, are you?"
"I'm from the mountains."
"Don't be afraid. I was just hungry and got up to grab some food..."
Then you want to lie back down, is that it?
Li Qiuchen sat beside him and asked, "I see your health is quite good. How did you end up having a funeral?"
The old man sighed, "An old person who doesn't die is a thief. I can't not die!"
"Your family is unfilial?"
"No, it's not a family matter."
The old man's face was full of vicissitudes. He poured himself a cup of wine, sucked it down in one gulp, and began telling Li Qiuchen his story.
"Our village is a pearl-diving village. Every year we pay tribute to the government according to custom, and merchants also come to purchase. In the past, life was pretty good..."
Pearls had distinctions between southern pearls and northern pearls.
The so-called northern pearls were freshwater pearls unique to the rivers and lakes of the northern frontier, a type of precious jewel.
The river outside the village was officially named Gou Ben River. Locals commonly called it Dog's Er River. It was a tributary of Blackwater River.
The river also produced pearls. Quality was average, but production was stable, enough to keep the villagers well-fed and clothed.
The old man was this village's village chief. It was said his ancestors were famous pearl divers. They'd once fished up the finest "dark pearl" from the river, bringing the whole family to a good life.
The pearls in this river were all naturally born and raised. Production could be guaranteed, but not quality. The finest dark pearls were even more things that could be encountered but not sought. In these years, not a second one had appeared.
Who would have thought this could also bring disaster?
About two or three years ago, a group of bandits came to Crotch Mountain seventy li away. The big boss "Xiao Tian" had over a hundred men under him, vicious and merciless. Who knew where this person heard the news from, saying this village had dark pearls. He brought his men to kill their way into the village, using the banner of his own father's birthday celebration to force the old village chief to offer tribute gifts.
No gold, no silver, just the best dark pearls.
If you couldn't produce them, he'd kill his whole family.
Before these unreasonable bandits, whatever reasons or excuses you made were useless.
Helpless, the old man could only change his approach. He told Xiao Tian there was a dark pearl in the river, but that old clam had deep cultivation. The village's pearl divers didn't have the ability to fish it up.
"There's really a dark pearl in the river?"
"There really is, but it really can't be fished up."
The old man sighed, "That stone clam that produces dark pearls isn't of ordinary origin. When I was small, I heard the family elders say those stone clams are all dragon-kind. Born with innate divine abilities. As soon as you touch them, they vanish without a trace. You fundamentally can't catch them."
Uh...
After all that talking, isn't this just what I saw by the lake last night?
This is also called dragon-kind? Is dragon-kind like roadside cabbage?
Of course, Li Qiuchen could also understand. Country folk didn't have much education. Seeing cultivators, they called them immortals. Seeing aquatic creatures, they said they were dragon-kind... Actually, this was a very simple wisdom.
When encountering something unfamiliar, whether it was human or ghost, addressing them with a higher title had no problems.
"Fishing them up is definitely impossible. That Xiao Tian won't give up easily either, so I thought of this trick..."
Seeing this disaster couldn't be avoided, the old man discussed with his family and told outsiders he'd personally go into the river to dive for pearls, ultimately drowning in the river.
The jianghu had jianghu rules.
Xiao Tian didn't openly rob. He used the name of celebrating his own father's birthday to demand tribute. Whether or not he had such a father, at least it showed he was still willing to follow jianghu road rules on the surface.
This was called having a just cause.
The old man, to keep his whole family alive, staked his own life.
This was called debts cleared by death.
Now this side was already prepared. It just depended on whether Xiao Tian would accept this approach.
The old man actually had no confidence in his heart either.
Tonight, encountering Li Qiuchen, he hesitated slightly before revealing everything. In his heart, he actually still harbored some hope.
Just because of that phrase Li Qiuchen said: "I'm from the mountains."
What child would live alone in the mountains with nothing better to do?
Saying he was from the mountains had only one meaning: it meant he was a mountain spirit.
Mountain spirits often had divine abilities. If he was willing to help, perhaps this deadly situation could also be resolved.