Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 53 - 52: The Village Shaman Hong Huai

Chapter 53: Chapter 52: The Village Shaman Hong Huai

After the sound of the two children going downstairs faded away, Li Quqi finally started to talk about inviting Zhu Shijun over to their home today.

"Zhu Xiaoxian, your grandfather looks much younger than the last time he was here," Li Ye was also happy to serve the meals. With guests at home, he didn’t know where to place himself, but once he picked up the lunch box and stepped out the door, he felt uncomfortable all over. After some thought, the reason seemed to be Zhu Xiaoxian. Whenever she got close, Li Ye felt he couldn’t control his limbs properly, something was always off.

But if he walked away a few steps, he felt even more uneasy.

"That’s because he took some great nourishing medicine," Xiao Xian vaguely answered. She had just secretly imitated Li Ye by sipping a little bit of the Miao family’s homemade liquor, and now she felt a bit tipsy, deciding she shouldn’t drink in the future.

"What great nourishing medicine, I’ll exchange it with you for a silver block," Li Ye still held the warm lunch box. Kids are easy to fool. Xiao Xian casually mentioned it and he took it seriously. Li Quqi had sent him to deliver the meal to Granny Hong, who belonged to the Dongnan Miao Village and is the Great Wizard Hong Huai. The Great Wizard is over sixty years old this year, about the same age as Zhu Shijun, but judging by appearances alone, especially after Zhu Shijun consumed the sugarcane seedling’s seed leaves, there was a big difference.

"I don’t want silver blocks, but if you have iron blocks, we could discuss," Xiao Xian listened to Li Ye’s earnest tone, recalling Li Quqi and his wife’s expression just now, she currently didn’t need iron products, as the iron container in her space was useful enough. These past few days, she went to the space every day to check on it, it only lacked a cover and she guessed it would last quite a while.

"I’m being serious, no joking. We’re near Granny Hong’s house now, if you really have great nourishing medicine, anything I have, I’ll trade with you," Li Ye became serious, his expression more solemn. He also stopped walking, placing down the lunch box, and pointed to a suspension house in Dongnan Miao Village located on the highest terrain.

The suspension house Li Ye pointed at appeared shadowy in the night, unlit as it was night, Xiao Xian would usually just consider it an ordinary Miao house. But under the cold winter moonlight, she could see a temple bell hanging from the old building.

"My mother-in-law lives there, the village’s Great Wizard; she’s very old now, said to be as old as your grandfather, so old she’s nearly dying." Li Ye wanted to explain clearly to Xiao Xian. Seeing his father keep Zhu Shijun and send them out, he knew adults had serious matters to discuss, perhaps hoping Zhu Xiaoxian’s grandfather could find a way to save the Great Wizard.

Ever since Zhu Shijun briefly diagnosed the disease of the Miao family’s white tea tree last time, everyone from Yezi’s mother down to Yezi himself had greatly improved their view of him.

The Great Wizard Granny has been bedridden for over half a year, and when Yezi went to deliver her meals earlier, her hair had turned completely white, her eyes shrunk in their sockets like dried grapes.

"How can you speak like that, saying she’s so old she’s nearly dying? My grandfather is only sixty-three. Listen carefully, ’only’ sixty-three. He could live another fifty years," Xiao Xian got fired up from his words, this damn kid, once given a bit of face starts talking nonsense. It’s like judging people from a crack in the door, looking down on the ’grade of space’. The iron-grade space’s immortal seedling could extend life, as long as there’s a will to live, even someone with missing limbs could recover.

"Hey, I didn’t mean that, I wanted to say your grandfather maintains himself well. Could you pass on any methods to my mother-in-law, or just tell me the recipe for the great nourishing medicine. If she could live another fifty years, you’d be our village’s great benefactor," Xiao Xian’s outburst made Li Ye speak softly, such a scene, if his friends saw it, he’d be the laughing stock.

"That’s a unique prescription, just one dose, and it’s gone now," Indeed, it’s been a long time since the sugarcane seedling in the space grew two buds. It’s uncertain when it could become a copper-grade space and grow leaves again. Moreover, it’s unknown whether the leaves grown after the space upgrades will retain their original effects.

Li Ye, disheartened, walked ahead silently, leaving a lonely silhouette for Xiao Xian.

Where in the world is there such a unique formula? It’s just that the Han people are stingy and refuse to reveal the recipe, even to replicate father’s silver jewelry.

"Come back," Xiao Xian couldn’t stand such scenes, thought for a moment, then chased after them.

Suddenly, a north wind blew in Black Mountain, and the copper bell hanging under the old wizard’s suspension house began ringing as if it preempted the arrival of the small guest.

In the Li Family’s suspension house, Li Quqi was also discussing serious matters.

"Master Li means to say that neither the village chief nor you have the final say in repairing the dam? Does it still need the Great Wizard to decide?" Zhu Shijun listened and, after a moment of thought, also believed what Li Quqi said. The Miao Clan’s beliefs differ from the Han; within a village, a wizard is almost a symbol of divinity, handling everything from praying for rain to solving disasters.

"Dongnan Miao Village has been set up in Black Mountain for several hundred years. Throughout these centuries, whether it was natural disasters or man-made calamities nearby, Dongnan Miao Village has always safely made it through, and not a single person has died due to external disasters over these hundred years, there’s a reason for this," Li Quqi believed Zhu Shijun was a reasonable person. Initially, he wanted to inquire how Mr. Zhu maintained his health; however, after hearing that all Mr. Zhu did was visit a hospital in Guiyang, lay there for a few days, and returned with darker hair and clearer eyes, Li Quqi couldn’t discern the real reason and gave up on having Mr. Zhu visit the Great Wizard for medical treatment.

However, the village chief still entrusted Li Quqi to clarify with the Han village that the reason they can’t repair the dam has to do with White Dragon Lake, where Black Mountain and Leigong Mountain meet.

Legend says there is a Divine Dragon living in White Dragon Lake; the two mountains opposing each other create a dragon’s horn form, effectively containing the dragon energy from leaking. The villages atop both mountains can thus coexist peacefully. If the mountain terrain were altered, breaking the dragon energy, it would disrupt the dragon energy, turning the Divine Dragon into a disaster dragon. Back when the Great Wizard was still healthy, he could suppress the Divine Dragon, but now that the old wizard’s energy declines year by year, a disruption might no longer restrain the disaster dragon, possibly endangering the peace of both villages.

To Zhu Shijun, this still sounded steeped in feudal superstition. He watched White Dragon Pond daily and saw nothing special there, but since every clan has its own rules, breaking them as an outsider might provoke conflicts between the two sides.

Having reached this point in conversation, Zhu Shijun didn’t know how to persuade further. Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from the stairs, and Li Ye rushed in, panicking and out of breath, exclaimed, "Zhu Xiaoxian, she, she’s gone"

"How can someone just vanish?" Li Quqi and Yezi’s mother dropped their chopsticks to the floor.

"She was following right behind me, but when I turned back, she was gone," Yezi caught his breath, his voice filled with regret as he had just entered Granny Hong’s suspension house, hadn’t even put down the food box when he heard Xiao Xian behind him, and then she disappeared.

**

Thank you to Tianhe Ranxin for another little yellow chicken reward~ Comments and rewards fly together~ Secretly delighted~