Big Bodhi - Chapter 14-1

Chapter 14: False Mountain Gods (1/2)

Midday.

There was a rustling sound coming from beneath the worn wooden bed, and from time to time there was an ear-piercing “creaking” sound.

Wang lowered her body and rolled up the sleeves of her torn cloth garment on her arms, revealing the hunched shape of her body.

“Go! Go!” She held a sparse broom in her hand and swatted at several mice under the bed.

“Squeak!”

Relieved to have finally chased the rats out of the house, Wang put the broom down, only to suddenly smell a burnt smell in her nose.

Her brow furrowed slightly, her already wrinkled face creased even further, and she said sharply, “I’ve been so preoccupied with them that I’ve forgotten about the rice!”

At that moment, she took three steps forward and two steps back into the room, and lifted the lid off the iron pot, ignoring the scalding.

In the small corner of the wooden house, the only bottles of salt and pickled vegetables were arranged in an orderly manner, and there was a low stove with a burnt smell coming from the iron pot.

Wang fumbled with a rag in her hands and brought the iron pot down from the stove before she had time to blow on her reddened fingers.

She served the rice in a large bowl and saw that only a small part of the bottom of the pot was mushy, and her brow relaxed slightly.

“Mother, I’m back,” a boy of about eight or nine entered the wooden house with a happy face, carrying a small piece of raw meat tied with a rope in his hand, “I followed Uncle Zhang and the others on their hunting trip today and helped them out, and ended up with a small piece of roe deer meat!”

Wang looked lovingly at the boy and placed the bowl of rice on the wooden table, smiling: “Are you tired from the hunting trip? Did you get hurt? Although your Uncle Zhang and the others are looking after you, you must be careful.

The boy’s eyes were sharp and he saw Wang’s red fingers, so he became a bit anxious and said, “Mother, what happened to your hand?”

Wang shook her head and said, “It’s just a little burn, it’s nothing, hurry up and eat, you’ll grow stronger with more food.”

The large bowl was almost all clear soup, with only six or seven vegetable leaves floating on it, among which were luxuriously interspersed two pieces of fatty and lean meat, and the boy’s mouth was almost watering when he smelled the meat.

The boy picked up the large bowl and was just about to eat it when the boy seemed to think of something and blinked, “Mother, you can eat these two pieces of meat, I won’t eat them.”

Wang scraped the paste from the pot and put it into her bowl, while shaking her head and smiling, “Mother has already eaten, she ate several pieces of meat, the rest is a bit pasty.

The boy looked at Wang, lowered his head, picked up the bowl and ate his meal in silence.

Wang was an orphan girl who had given birth to a boy, Xiao Fu, whose husband had died in the mountains while hunting.

In this small village on the edge of the Qingluan Mountains, the absence of men means that there is no food source. After all, this small area is barren and barren, and nothing can be grown. The food source of the whole village is only a small hill by the village. It’s just an ordinary beast in the house.

Strangely enough, the mountains around the Qing Luan mountain range are surrounded by mountains, and this small mountain peak at the very edge has been eaten by the village for generations for so many years, but the variety of beasts has never decreased, but on the contrary, has become more and more abundant.

People think it is the blessing of the mountain gods, but this small mountain peak is also a mountain without a name, so every household in the village has a statue of the mountain gods, will be called the nameless mountain gods, extremely revered and devout.

Although she was not yet forty, he already looked like an old woman due to the ravages of the years. Xiao Fu was a sensible child, and knew how to help his mother with the household chores.

Wang could not help but ask Brother Zhang next door to take him. Xiao Fu was also a hard-working boy, with good eyesight, and was always the most diligent one whenever he went out, so everyone in the village praised him.

So even though he was only nine years old, he was able to bring home a piece or two of animal meat from time to time to improve his diet.

When he finished his meal, there was a slightly larger piece of meat left at the bottom of his bowl, and he yelled, “Mother, I’m full.”

Wang looked at the piece of meat at the bottom of the bowl, shook her head slightly and smiled, “Okay.”

Silently, she gathered the dishes and put the remaining piece of meat inside the worn cupboard.

“It’s time to worship the mountain god statue.”

When she finished packing, Wang pulled Xiao Fu and knelt down in front of the statue of the nameless mountain god, kowtowing respectfully a few times.

As usual, after kowtowing, Xiao Fu subconsciously glanced at the dark statue of the Mountain God when he raised his head.

The statue of the mountain god was made by the village people a long time ago, carved from ebony wood and painted with simple colours.

But Xiao Fu’s heart suddenly trembled hard, his scalp tingled, and an extremely frightening feeling came over him, but this feeling came and went quickly.

After a few more careful glances at the statue of the mountain god that he worshipped every day, and not finding anything different, Xiao Fu couldn’t help but feel a little dazed.

“Little Fu? What’s wrong?” Wang’s wrinkled face was filled with concern.

Xiao Fu’s heart ached, his mother was not yet forty!

She only ate two meals a day, nothing but green vegetables and wild vegetables, and had to do so much tiring work, she was ageing too quickly.

When he thought of this, he couldn’t help but say what was in his mind: “Mother, I want to grow up quickly so that I can hunt myself, make you good clothes out of animal skins, and let you eat meat every day! I will also go out of the village and build a house in the rumoured ancient city of Tai Chu, so that I can take Mother with me to enjoy the blessings!”

The mountain paths here were treacherous, and the magnificent ancient city of Tai Chu, which was only a few hundred miles away, was as far away as a legend to this tiny, closed village.

Stroking Xiao Fu’s head gently, Wang only smiled, but in her heart she murmured, “Xiao Fu, when you grow up, I will be old.

It was late at night, but the village was exceptionally silent.

A few dogs barked occasionally, disturbing people’s dreams.