Heavenly Eyes 5: The Hall of Three Grains
CHAPTER 2
6
I saw the little mountain demon again at a large market in a neighboring village. Zhang Laogou was selling his vegetables with the little mountain demon.
Vaguely, I heard Zhang Laogou instructing the little mountain demon to do something bad.
“Later, when I'm selling things, you sit on the hook of the scale, and when I'm buying things, you sit on the weight. Understand?”
He was trying to cheat people by short-changing them!
The little mountain demon's eyes were dark and gloomy, it didn't speak, and I couldn't tell if it understood.
But when Zhang Laogou started selling vegetables, I saw that the little mountain demon, who should have been on the scale hook, was actually sitting on the weight!
Things that originally weighed two or three catties, now with the scale tilting high, only weighed a little over one catty.
Zhang Laogou, however, was oblivious, looking puzzled. He took the money from the buyer, and the buyer left with the vegetables.
The woman who bought the vegetables even praised him: “Zhang Laogou, you gave a generous amount this time. I'll come to you again next time!”
Zhang Laogou thought the old woman was senile and easily fooled, and let out a disdainful sneer.
But gradually, Zhang Laogou noticed something was wrong. Half a day had passed, and his vegetables were almost sold out, but the money in his pocket was much less than usual.
He turned around, found an empty corner, and hit the little mountain demon with a bamboo stick:
“Are you messing with me?”
Seeing the little mountain demon about to be beaten again, I quickly ran over:
“Grandpa Laogou, don't hit it!”
Then I took out the five yuan Grandma gave me for snacks and handed it over: “Here's the money, please don't hit it!”
7
Zhang Laogou looked at me in surprise, a flicker of confusion in his eyes:
“You can see it?”
Then he snatched the five yuan from my hand:
“Good! I wondered why it's been so disobedient lately. It was you instigating it!”
“Go tell your Grandma Feng Axi that if she can't control her own granddaughter, so I'll do it for her!”
He also warned me that if I ever bothered his mountain demon again, he would throw me into ‘Dead Man's Gulch,’ to be with the other prematurely deceased children.
The originally listless little mountain demon's face changed instantly upon hearing those words.
I had never seen such a ferocious expression on its face before, as if it wanted to eat Zhang Laogou's flesh and drink his blood.
With a roar, it pounced on Zhang Laogou.
Zhang Laogou was knocked to the ground, rolling around and screaming in pain.
Outsiders couldn't see the little mountain demon, only Zhang Laogou rolling on the ground.
Unknowing people were surprised:
“What's wrong with Zhang Laogou? Why is he suddenly acting crazy?”
Those in the know, however, urged passersby to leave quickly:
“That's his pet mountain demon causing trouble! Hurry up, hurry up, if it gets hold of us, we'll be in trouble!”
At that moment, something magical happened.
The little mountain demon, which had been frantically biting Zhang Laogou, suddenly had many red threads inexplicably appear, binding its limbs tightly.
The little mountain demon couldn't move and could only watch helplessly as Zhang Laogou got up from the ground and viciously beat it with a bamboo stick soaked in charmed water.
“You damn thing, I feed and clothe you, and instead of helping me make money, you bite me?”
“I'll beat you to death!”
I wanted to help the little mountain demon, but Grandma suddenly appeared beside me and stopped me.
She seemed to see the red threads on the little mountain demon as well, and told me: “That's a blood contract Zhang Laogou and it signed before the Mountain Demon God. Until the contract is broken, it can never be freed.”
8
The Mountain Demon God Grandma mentioned was a notorious malevolent deity in our area.
Calling it a god is just a euphemism born from fear and awe among the locals; it's actually an evil spirit.
Legend says this ‘Mountain Demon God’ is extremely vicious and cunning.
It was originally brought back from the mountains by someone.
Unexpectedly, not only did this person fail to get rich, but the evil spirit also harmed his entire family of seven or eight people, leaving no survivors.
As the saying goes, it's easy to invite a god, but hard to send it away.
After harming that family, the Mountain Demon God started to torment their livestock.
All the chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep, pigs, and dogs in the village were killed.
Later, the village invited an expert to suppress it.
That person said that the Mountain Demon God's cultivation was too high, and even she couldn't deal with it. She could only build a temple to enshrine it, and the whole village would offer sacrifices daily, hoping to appease its anger and prevent it from harming people again.
This happened a long time ago, when Grandma was still a young girl.
That expert was Grandma's master, and she passed away decades ago.
The Mountain Demon God's shrine is on a hillside by the terraced fields outside the village.
There's no statue inside, just three huge stones piled together.
Normally, the villagers would respectfully offer incense, praying to the Mountain Demon God to protect the village and not harm the villagers or their livestock.
Some bolder, more unscrupulous individuals would also make blood contracts with the Mountain Demon God, taking a little mountain demon home.
Learning that the Mountain Demon God was such an unreasonable and malevolent spirit, and that it was holding the little mountain demon captive, made me very angry.
While I verbally agreed to Grandma not to interfere anymore, I was determined to confront the Mountain Demon God and make it release the little mountain demon.
No matter how powerful it was, it couldn't force the little mountain demon to obey Zhang Laogou! Especially since Zhang Laogou was so unkind to it.
This contract must be broken, I must free the little mountain demon!
9
The Mountain Demon God's temple was small, about the size of a land god's temple.
I had seen it when I went to the fields with Grandma to work.
Although I was young, Grandma wouldn't let me play near the terraced fields by myself.
But the older children in the village didn't have such restrictions and often ran around the village without a care.
After returning home, I used the excuse of going out to play with others and followed the older village children.
They knew my grandmother was the Flower Goddess, and since I didn't have parents around, they usually didn't include me in their games. Seeing me follow them, Gen Sheng, the oldest and strongest of the group, glared at me fiercely:
“Shen Tong, what are you doing here?”
How could I tell them I was going to the Mountain Demon God's temple to cause trouble?
I stubbornly said, “This isn't your private road, why can you walk here and I can't?”
Gen Sheng scoffed and tried to push me.
One of the children beside him stopped him:
“Forget it, don't bother with her! Aren't we going to catch tadpoles?”
Gen Sheng gave me a cold look and walked away with the other children.
I knew why Gen Sheng disliked me so much. His family thought my grandmother and I, a widow and orphan, were easy to bully, and they tried to take our land, only to be outsmarted by my grandmother.
Since then, the adults in his family dared not provoke my grandmother, but he, as the self-proclaimed king of the village children, always scared me and prevented others from playing with me.
I followed the older children out of the village to the terraced fields at the edge of the village.
They really ignored me, as they said they would.
But it didn't matter; I didn't like playing with them anyway.
To reach the terraced fields, I first had to descend into the valley and then take another path up the hillside.
The other children went to catch tadpoles by the irrigation stream, while I, with my short little legs, climbed the slope.
I was less than five years old at the time, and climbing the slope with my short legs was exhausting. I slipped several times.
But it was all mud, so I just got up and continued climbing after each fall.
After much huffing and puffing, I finally saw the legendary Mountain Demon God's temple.
A simple, small building of earth and wood, built against the hillside. The shrine, as expected, consisted of three large stones.
In front of the shrine were some offerings and an incense burner.
Incense was still burning in the burner; it must have been lit by the village elders that morning.
It was a seemingly ordinary small temple in the mountains, yet it felt incredibly sinister.
I shivered as soon as I approached.
But I've always been a brave child. I clenched my fists and stared intently at the Mountain Demon God's temple:
“You... release the little mountain demon from Zhang Laogou's house! It doesn't want to be here! You can't keep it captive!”
10
When people think of mountain demons (shanxiao), they often conjure up images from the Shan Hai Jing.
Some also say that the legends of mountain demons eating people are just terrifying tales, and that mountain demons are actually baboons.
But the mountain demons of our hometown legends are different.
It's a general term for things from the mountains.
Dead travelers, spirits cultivating their powers, children who died young, and anything with resentment clinging to the temporal world – all of these are considered ‘shanxiao’.
I stood before the Mountain Demon God's temple, which was barely taller than myself, fists clenched, looking fierce.
However, the temple remained completely unresponsive.
I suspected I hadn't been clear enough.
“The little mountain demon from Zhang Laogou's grandfather's house in Linchuan Village, it's my friend! Release it!
Otherwise, I'll have my grandmother deal with you! My grandmother is very powerful!”
After what seemed like a long time, a pair of blood-red eyes lit up from within the dark temple.
The Mountain Demon God, whatever its origin, was impossible to see clearly. Only a vaguely slender shadow could be discerned:
“Your grandmother is Feng Axi? Even her master couldn't do anything to me back then. Do you think she can do anything to me now?
However, you little girl are quite interesting.
Don't say I don't give you a chance. You want to break the curse? Fine! Use Zhang Laogou's promise in exchange!”
I was stunned. “What promise?”
The dark shadow in the temple seemed to have drawn closer, almost pressing against my face. It said, “His life!”
I was shocked, and the ferocious energy knocked me to the ground.
The Mountain Demon God laughed at this:
“Zhang Laogou promised me that as long as I gave him a mountain demon to help him get rich, after his death, he would become a new mountain demon under my control.
You want me to release his mountain demon and break the contract with Zhang Laogou? Then use yourself to replace him!”
Suddenly, I realized that there couldn't possibly be so many mountain demons in the world; this Mountain Demon God must be behind it all!
It tempted people to make deals with it, only to have them lose their souls, becoming mountain demons after death, controlled and manipulated by it, unable to find peace!
11
I said angrily, “Is that how you tricked the little mountain demon? It wasn't originally a mountain demon, was it?’
The Mountain Demon God didn't answer, only letting out a series of “hehehe” laughs, as if I had said something incredibly foolish.
“Little one, you're still too young... It voluntarily signed the contract with Zhang Laogou; I didn't force it!
The contract clearly states that unless the threshold stone in front of Zhang Laogou's house rots away, it can never betray its master!”
Just as I was about to speak, Gen Sheng's voice came from behind me:
“Shen Tong, take this!”
I froze. The third eye on my forehead began to burn. Though I didn't turn around, I vaguely saw a clump of cow dung flying towards me.
Instinctively, I ducked.
The cow dung splattered all over the Mountain Demon God's temple in front of me, scattering everywhere, its pungent smell filling the air.
Because the three stones of the shrine were simply stacked together and not secure, one of them fell down when hit by the cow dung.
The dark shadow in the temple clearly didn't expect this, and it froze, the surrounding air growing noticeably colder.
I angrily turned around and scolded, “Zheng Gen Sheng, what are you doing?”
Zheng Gen Sheng, grinning, quickly climbed the slope and said to me, “As expected of the granddaughter of the old fortune teller, you have eyes in the back of your head!”
“How's the smell of cow dung? Hahaha!”
Before I could respond, Zheng Gen Sheng had run to my side, glanced at the Mountain Demon God's temple, and sneered, “I wondered why you were following us. So you were here playing pretend, huh?
Did you light this incense? Are you trying to harm our family again?
Last time, my grandmother was forced to eat cow dung; it was your grandmother's doing!”
With that, he kicked the incense burner in front of the Mountain Demon God's temple and broke the incense sticks on the ground.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment