Gu Zhong Village (1) XiuSe Village
Xin Meng fiercely opened his eyes and found himself lying on the hard and cold ground. He tried to get up, but his head was dizzy. He caressed his temples, he vaguely felt that he had forgotten something, but he couldn"t remember what it was.
He slowly recalled everything that happened until now. They seemed to have entered a horror game, there were zombies everywhere. Then, finally, he cleared the task under the protection of his new teammate You Yi and then… And then?
He looked around the strange environment, did they go to the second game?
Dense forests, undulating mountains, birds singing, and Xin Meng is somewhere high and through the sunlight, you can see a valley below.
There"s a large village in the valley, irregular brick houses can be seen scattered, and it"s also possible to see many people coming and going on the dirt road.
This is a village in a valley surrounded by mountains, there"s only one road leading to the outside, at Xin Meng"s foot. Turning back to look, he only sees darkness, like there was an invisible wall standing there, blocking any attempts at retreat.
It seems that he can only go forward.
He doesn"t see his other teammates, he doesn"t know where they are.
Xin Meng didn"t hesitated, picked the backpack that had rolled off his feet and turned it over. There were some food on it and two bottles of water. He carried the bag on his back and slowly followed the dirt road. He walked down for almost half an hour before entering the village.
The village had no guards or fences, neither did it have a formal entrance. The village can be entered from anywhere. The people inside are dressed plainly, walking at a leisure pace, men and women comfortable under the sun.
He only spent a few days surrounded by disgusting monsters and corpses, but it felt like a lifetime, so when he saw living people, he thought they were very cute. Xin Meng wanted to go talk to them, but was afraid of being too abrupt.
However, he didn"t have to worry about such concerns. When a new face appeared in such closed village, it immediately attracted everyone"s attention. They looked at him curiously and soon many young people came over to him.
“Who are you? How come you are here?” A youth asked enthusiastically. “I haven"t seen you before, are you looking for someone?”
“Who are you looking for? The village has not been visited by outsiders in many years!” A 18-year-old girl next to the youth said, with a thick braid behind her head hanging all the way to her chest. She had no makeup on, but was still very pretty. The purity and kindness of those people made him very comfortable. Now, many pairs of big eyes looked at Xin Meng with curiosity.
Xin Meng began to shook his head, but thought about it and said, “I traveled with my friends. When we got here, we separated. I wanted to see if they were here.”
“Oh, then I will go to my dad, he can get someone to help you!” the girl smiled cheerfully. “My dad is the village"s chief. We have a big horn at home, it can be used to call them, come with me!”
After that, she turned around and ran, her braid fluttering in the air. Others enthusiastically followed her, some pulled his arms, some pushed his back, and the group all smiled, following the braid girl and asking embarra.s.sing questions to Xin Meng. He attracted many stared, youngsters looked at him with curiosity, and the elders showed him a gentle smile.
Xin Meng, who was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the villagers, was put in a good mood by the kindness. He took the initiative to keep up with the crowd and walked deep into the village.
The girl"s home, the home of the village"s head, was located in the middle of the village. It was better than the other houses, bigger, but is still a bungalow. After pa.s.sing by a few chickens, the door was opened.
“Dad! There"s a guest!” The girl screamed before she even arrived at the door. When they reached the house, a man on his 40s came out to meet Xin Meng. His eyes were inexplicably bright, and he came forward with light steps, smiling as he said, “How strange, this village hasn"t received outsiders in a long time. Are you alone or did you come with friends?”
Xin Meng felt that the village"s head words were a bit strange, he didn"t ask why he was there, but how many of them were? But because he wasn"t sure of the situation, it was hard to point it out. He just repeated what he had said to the girl. The man touched the beard on his chin and laughed. “That"s nothing, I"ll get the horn. The villagers will help you, they will be found soon. Wait.”
After that, he entered the housed, Xin Meng looked up at the rook and indeed saw a shabby big horn there. It seemed to be very old.
Soon, the voice of the village"s chief was head through the horn and Xin Meng found out he had a dialect, he couldn"t understand a word.
Xin Meng"s a bit curious. Before, he heard the accent on the youngster"s words, but he thought they were speaking all in mandarin. Turn out they had a dialect? But that was really weird, generally speaking, in villages that have dialects, that should be the main language. But he heard mandarin all the here, was the situation somehow reversed?
He left the question on his heart and carefully listened to the village"s chief.
His speech was brief, but it was repeated four or five times, the sound of the horn was loud and exaggerated, the family who lived in the corner of the village could hear as good as those close to the center. Xin Meng was standing right under the horn, and after it, he could feel his ears turning deaf. He quickly covered his ears and didn"t dare listen again. When he looked around, he found out that the crowd had blocked their ears long ago.
Xin Meng: “…”
Why did no one tell him…
Soon, he saw people coming out of the surrounding houses. There were men, women, old and young, looking at the village"s head house until they saw Xin Meng, then they smiled and went out to search for someone.
Xin Meng was greeted by the braid girl. A dozen of people didn"t know where to go and saw down. Xin Meng, who saw everyone sitting, also saw. The girl took out a tea pot from the house and there was clear water inside it, which was handed to Xin Meng.
Xin Meng silently looked down at the tea stain on the inner wall of the pot and all the smudges around it. He thanked them and held it on his hands. He looked at his both sides, people talked and showed they were not thirsty at all.
The girl stared at him expectantly for a while, and seeing he didn"t drink, a flash of disappointment flashed on her eyes, but Xin Meng missed it because she turned her head to say something to the person next to her. She twirled her fingers around the tip of her braid and whispered something/
While chatting with the people around, Xin Meng asked about this village, so he knew the basic situation of it.
This village is called Xiu Se village. It was named because of the beautiful scenery and beautiful spring colors of the mountains around during the whole year*. Xiu Se village has been around for many years, it was impossible to say since when, but their grandparents have been farming and hunting here. Occasionally, the youngsters would go down the mountain to take a look outside, but very few stayed there, it was said the people of the Xiu Se village were very close to their families.
That seemed a bit unbelievable for Xin Meng, since the world outside is so prosperous, how can they stay inside this small village. But thinking it was all due the game"s settings and were not real anyways, he didn"t pry too much into it.
There"s more than a dozen men and women from this generation, all in similar age and they all get along well. Xin Meng can see they are all in good terms with each other, and, among them, the youth that talked with him and the braid girl appeared to be their leaders.
The youth introduced himself as Wu DeLi and the girl was called Wu XueHua. They are cousins. In fact, not only those two, but everyone are relatives in some degree. The village was really small, that"s why all of them had the surname Wu and no one had other. If their ancestors didn"t name the village Xiu Se, it would be called Wu village.
The villagers are very charismatic and Xin Meng felt very good. The young girls surrounded him and asked about the world outside. Xin Meng has never been outside, he doesn"t knows who it looks like, so he only answers vaguely. Fortunately, no one was much real and were satisfied with it, making him feel relieved.
He also asked about their dialect. When they heard about it, they froze and looked at each other. After some time, Wu DeLi explained the dialect was also pa.s.sed by their ancestors, so when they made public announcements, they used the dialect. They didn"t know why.
Xin Meng thought about it, it is because they are afraid of forgetting the language left by their ancestors?
Soon it was noon and his teammates were still not found, and those villagers who went out hadn"t returned yet.
Wu DeLi and Wu XueHua warmly invited him to have lunch inside their house. Xin Meng was embarra.s.sed to trouble them and refused at first, but the other teenagers also coaxed him to eat at the chief"s house. They would all cook and eat together, it would be quick and not a bother at all. Xin Meng couldn"t really refuse and thanked them. He tried to go to the kitchen to help, but was blocked by a dozen of people, half who went to the kitchen and half that sat down with Xin Meng to continue talking. Wu XueHua took out a plate of melon seeds, the group chatted and talked, the seed peels thrown right to the ground.
Those people were very simple, naturally good-hearted and straightforward.
It was just like they said and after half an hour, the rice was ready. Since there were many people, they ate on the yard. Wu DeLi moved two big tables together that he had taken from the house and folding chairs. Xin Meng wanted to help, but they didn"t even let his b.u.t.t leave the chair.
Wu XueHua laughs and blinks at Xin Meng with playfulness, “Where"s the reason to lest guests do it, all you have to do is sit and wait for the food!”
Xin Meng was left with no choice, he couldn"t refuse their kindness, so he just nodded.
Soon, everyone was seated. Wu XueHua"s father, the village"s chief, sat on the main spot. Others were mixed around. Wu DeLi and Wu XueHua were responsible for the kitchen.
When the meal was arranged on the table, Xin Men looked at it surprised.
Braised pork ribs, beef stew, hot pot meat, sauteed meet, fried meat, pan-wrapped meat, beef sauce…
Most of the dishes are made out with meat, besides that, the was only one dish with fried potato and one with cabbage.
He moved his fingers, with the background of everyone picking their dishes, and quietly took out the card from his pocket, reading the back of it:
[This is not a paradise for vegetarians.]
[But it must be h.e.l.l for the meat eater.]
TN:
Xiu Se (秀色) means beautiful/good looking. Great job author. Anyways, what do you guys think? I already have a few guesses…