Chapter 192: Reborn in the Nineties: The Tyrant Flower Chapter 193 Shadow Play

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Protagonist:

Chai Mi

Chai Youqing wouldn't be back for a while, and Chai Xiu dug up a Mongolian textbook from somewhere and started pretending to read.

But it was all comic-book textbooks...

Before long, Chai Xiu had self-taught herself to mastery, read a lot of stories, and muttered as she read: "Sister, that story about the white rooster inviting the sun has me a bit puzzled. Wasn't the sun shot down by An Enuna? How come there are still several suns..."

"What if... the white rooster invited it before An Enuna shot the sun down..."

"Then why a white rooster, not a dehulled chicken?"

Chai Mi lowered her head and said nothing.

After a while, Chai Xiu asked again: "Sister, the Moon Princess is on the moon, and Chang'e is also on the moon. Do you think the two of them stay up at night counting stars?"

"Change the subject... don't ask me things I don't know."

"Okay." Chai Xiu said aggrievedly.

Chai Xiu read some more stories like the origins of the Kharachin, the origins of the Forty-Eight Banner Princes, the Monk King and Amo Sanata, and every so often she'd start asking Chai Mi.

At first Chai Mi patiently explained a bit to Chai Xiu.

Until Chai Xiu asked again: "Sister, in 'Kangxi Marrying Off Daughter' it says Kangxi married his own daughter to a Mongolian prince. Was he afraid?"

"That's a given. Kangxi not only feared the Mongolian prince, marrying his daughter off for a peace alliance. Kangxi even fears you... you just read on later." Chai Mi yawned and got ready for her nap.

"Sister, are there still white deer on our mountain? The book says white deer can talk..." Chai Xiu asked carefully, but Chai Mi had already turned her back.

Actually Chai Mi knew, many stories in Eastern Mongolia were passed down by word of mouth, which caused many stories to be lost in later generations. Even those not lost had many versions. Every version was a bit different.

For example, An Enuna shooting the sun — many later versions changed it to Wuen shooting the sun. For example, Eastern Mongolia worshipped the Ninety-Nine Heavens, but later it became Eternal Heaven. For example, the story of Huang Taiji marrying a Fujin became Kangxi marrying a Fujin in later generations.

No other reason — because Kangxi's fame was greater...

Ke County actually has many relics, like the one-of-a-kind Prince's Mansion, Kangxi Spring, and the high school named after the Ancient Pagoda — Gaota High School, which is No. 1 Middle School.

Chai Mi was very interested in that Ancient Pagoda. In later generations when the pagoda was repaired, a huge underground palace was excavated beneath it, containing a great many cultural relics and ancient texts. But the most crucial thing was, at the pagoda's top, a gold Buddha was unearthed.

It's said that gold Buddha was personally forged by Kangxi...

Of course Chai Mi felt this wasn't very reliable. The fact that Kangxi could do blacksmithing — the Great Qing never recorded it in the archives...

The key point is that gold Buddha weighed over a hundred catties of gold. If one day she passed by the Ancient Pagoda and the gold Buddha fell down...

It would just knock her awake...

"Sister, the book has a legend about a gold hoe. Do you think our family's hoe might also be made of gold? How about you go polish the hoe later — if it's made of gold, the two of us will get rich."

Chai Mi finally couldn't stay lying down. She left Chai Xiu alone in the room reading Eastern Mongolian folk stories and went out to enjoy the cool.

Children are just like that — when they study, they're ten thousand whys.

Chai Mi had just come out when she heard the village's big megaphone start blaring.

"All villagers please pay attention, all villagers please pay attention. I am Liu Zhanggui, I am Liu Zhanggui. The County Quyi Art Troupe starts tonight, performing Dragon King Shadow Play under the Big Willow Tree at the village east side. For three consecutive days... three consecutive days..."

The megaphone kept broadcasting. Chai Mi yawned: "Shadow play is still quite good to watch. I'll go take a look then. It'd be great if my mom were home."

Chai Mi's mother Su Wan especially liked watching shadow plays.

Actually not just Chai Mi's mother — in this era, the vast majority of people liked watching shadow plays. Many could even hum a segment.

And locally performing shadow plays was a bit like wealthy families in ancient times hiring people to perform Peking Opera.

On the Fifteenth of the First Month performing Lamp Festival Shadow Play — generally on the Fifteenth of the First Month there's a lantern festival, and the village hires people to perform shadow plays. As for the Third Day of the Third Month performing River Sacrifice Shadow Play, it's to pray for a year of favorable wind and rain. By the Twenty-Eighth of the Fourth Month performing Niangniang Shadow Play, it's actually also praying for rain... legend says Lady Li presides over the Dragon King Temple...

By the Fifth Day of the Fifth Month performing Hail God Shadow Play, still praying for rain.

The Thirteenth Day of the Fifth Month performing Guan Di Shadow Play, also praying for rain. Whether Lord Guan can manage rain or not is unimportant — what's important is that performing shadow plays is the right thing to do.

By the Twenty-Fourth Day of the Sixth Month performing Dragon King Shadow Play. Probably because the previous rain prayers didn't bring rain, they were forced to pray for rain again and invited the protagonist Dragon King himself.

Ke County has many droughts. Nine out of ten shadow plays became rain prayers.

Now the weather is in severe drought, and it has indeed reached this rain-prayer stage.

The village basically every year has a rain-prayer segment.

As for scale, it depends on how severe the drought is. In Chai Mi's memory, in later generations the 17th year had a catastrophic drought — three or four whole months without rain. The crops in the fields spontaneously combusted, and even pine trees dried to death.

You have to know, pine trees are the drought-resistance champions. Pines and cypresses stay evergreen, yet they all dried to death — you can see how severe that year's drought disaster was.

This year actually isn't the most severe drought disaster, but it's not much better either.

Drought disasters are extremely common locally — almost every year. But first, Ke County is remote with blocked information, so the outside world mostly doesn't know; second, the local commoners' attitude toward life is also positive and upward. Even with natural disasters, they don't make a fuss, don't run to the internet to be positive discussants, but wholeheartedly think of ways to fight drought.

From the government organizing drought-relief campaigns down to commoners carrying water themselves to fight drought. Save one crop, that's one crop.

What the village can do is pray for rain.

Although outsiders would say this is feudal superstition and such.

But locally rain prayers mostly involve hiring people to perform shadow plays, or beating drums and gongs to perform Liaoxi Puppet Opera, beating Liaoxi Taiping Drum.

Sometimes when drought is especially severe, several villages gather together, do community fire festivals, twist yangge, or twist yangge while beating Liaoxi Taiping Drum parading through streets and alleys, praying for rain.

In Chai Mi's memory, praying for rain has always been the main theme...

Ten years nine droughts in Liaoxi — basically every year praying for rain. The programs are many, the deities prayed to are many too. Like Dragon King, Lady Li, Horse King's birthday, Lamp God, Rain God, Queen Mother of the West, sometimes also praying to the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady.

Local customs differ from many pure Han culture customs. The deities worshipped aren't quite the same either. Different from Daoist culture, also different from Buddhist culture — it has its own cultural system.

Mainly featuring cultural fusion.

Like Ke County's most famous Tiancheng Guan — on one side it enshrines the Three Sovereigns (Fuxi, Yellow Emperor, and Shennong), on the other side it enshrines the Jade Emperor. On one side it enshrines the Three Officials Hall (Heaven Official, Earth Official, Water Official), on the other side it also incidentally enshrines the Quanzhen Seven Sons. Of course, in the Three Sovereigns Temple, the one enshrined in the center isn't Fuxi and Yellow Emperor, but Medicine King Sun Simiao... And in the Three Officials Hall, the Three Officials Heaven Earth Water Officials normally sit in the hall. When rain-prayer season arrives, people swap the Three Officials' positions, invite the Dragon King out, and enshrine him up there.

When favorable wind and rain, peace and prosperity arrive, the temple transforms again, invites Medicine King Sun Simiao back down, and invites the Nine Heavens Mysterious Lady up.

So Ke County's worship system is comparatively complex, yet comparatively pragmatic.

Whoever is more useful gets worshipped.

Like the easternmost part of Sanjiacun has a small temple. Other villages also have temples, and the deities enshrined inside can be said to each have their own merits. Sanjiacun's main seat is Doumu Yuanjun, while the other two are Ling Mountain Old Mother and Qiangba Great Buddha.

Mainly giving outsiders a state of shaking their heads and being completely unable to understand.

Actually, situations like this are very common locally. Doumu Yuanjun is Taoism, Ling Mountain Old Mother is Buddhism, and Qiangba Great Buddha is Tibetan Buddhism.

Here, several cultures did not come into conflict, but coexisted, and lived together particularly harmoniously.

Of course, if there is a severe drought, when praying for rain, the Dragon King will also be placed in the center again...

Of course, actually when not praying for rain, they also sing some normal shadow plays. Such as singing Magpie Shadow on the seventh day of the seventh month, singing Birthday Shadow for rich people's birthdays, and singing Mooncake Shadow during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Chai Mi suddenly thought, should she arrange a shadow play for the girl's full moon celebration, and the opera troupe happens to be here too.

Only rich families here hire people to sing shadow plays when they have a child.

Chai Mi naturally doesn't belong to the rich, but...

Chai Mi looked at the old house still smoking, and muttered in her heart: "Should hire someone to sing a shadow play, to anger them."

Chai Mi was calculating, when Chai Xiu leaned on the window and asked: "Sister, where are the Front Grave and Back Grave? I read in a book that those are Gege's graves, maybe we can go visit them another day, and perhaps even find gold and silver jewelry."

Chai Mi gave Chai Xiu a look: "Xiu'er, you might as well go to the Grandmother Temple in Nangongyingzi, that temple buries a Princess. A Princess is higher than a Gege, and has more gold and silver jewelry, you go. Maybe you can pick up a gold ingot."

"Really?"

"Fake." Chai Mi sighed: "Sigh, learn something good, don't always dream of getting rich. Not to mention grave robbing is illegal, even if you really pick up a gold ingot, can you carry it? One gold ingot is over ten catties, with your physique, forget it."

"That's for our dad to pick up!"

"Even if your dad picks up a gold ingot, it will be confiscated, his awareness is too high, don't think too much, just honestly read your book."

Chai Xiu helplessly continued leaning on the kang to read.

Speaking of which, Chai Xiu really likes those little stories, reading them with great interest.

Although she doesn't recognize many characters, fortunately they are all common characters, Chai Xiu is smart and has a photographic memory, so she can understand them.

The village loudspeaker was still shouting, Chai Mi looked at the time, and looked at the sky.

She cursed: Damn the old heavens, the south is flooding, but we still have to sing shadow plays to pray for rain here... Life was already tight, if it doesn't rain the crop harvest will be poor, making it even harder.

Chai Mi was cursing, when in a blink Song Qiushui swooshed over.

"What are you muttering about? Chai Mi, I'm telling you, you have to be careful." Song Qiushui said impatiently: "My dad said he met Sun Yuguang when he went out, Sun Yuguang said you have a hurdle this year... My dad didn't feel comfortable telling you at that time, I just heard him say it, so I came over to tell you."

Chai Mi frowned: "A dog's mouth can't spit out ivory, he says I have a hurdle this year? Why doesn't he say he himself has a hurdle today? He and Chai Chunfang went back to her mother's family, they can't even eat a meal, doesn't he have a hurdle? Tch..."

Song Qiushui hehehe laughed: "That's true. They haven't cooked yet? It's already two o'clock..."

Chai Mi pursed her lips, shook her head: "Can't cook now, unless we dismantle the kang. I threw the bricks, I know the situation. If the old man and old woman don't dismantle the kang, there's no way to cook."

Song Qiushui covered her mouth and laughed.

Chai Mi also laughed: "You say when it gets dark later, the big fellows all go to watch shadow plays, and the old man and old woman dismantle the kang at home, will the two of them start fighting?"

This era has no mobile phones or televisions, and even radios are very rare.

Rural commoners have very few entertainment activities; when not busy with farming, two or three playing cards, playing mahjong, or playing chess counts as pretty good entertainment.

And the liveliest activity is watching shadow plays or Liaoxi's unique ping opera.

And compared to ping opera needing many, many actors and costing more, shadow plays are more direct and cost-effective, becoming the best choice nearby.

Some shadow play troupes have only three or five people, driving an ox cart to perform in the countryside, which fits the actual situation of this era better.

Sanjiacun organizes several rain prayer activities every year, more than the neighboring villages. Sanjiacun can be considered a large village nearby, with more wealthy people in the village.

The villagers actually don't need much mobilization; as soon as a shadow play troupe comes, they go to the village east early to wait for nightfall to watch the play.

Old people and children all go.

Chai Mi also knows that Chai Zhongxiao can actually sing a few lines, and he really likes watching shadow plays. She guesses he should go.

But the old house's kang is still blocked, cooking can't be done, so Wang Huirong will surely grumble, and maybe they will start fighting.

"It would be good if they fight, just right to eat melon while watching the play." Song Qiushui didn't care: "Your grandparents have offended everyone they could offend. I've been giving my Second Uncle lessons these past two days, I told him: Song Qingshu, you have to fight like a man!!!"

Chai Mi frowned: That sounds very... Song Qiushui.

"Your Second Uncle didn't pay attention to you, right?"

Song Qiushui nodded: "You really guessed it, my Second Uncle didn't pay attention to me. He said, after all we are in-laws, we can't always be estranged."

"Hmph. How many in-laws get along?" Chai Mi laughed: "I haven't seen many in-laws getting along, basically it's all chicken flying dog jumping. It's too late today, tomorrow I'll think about picking up my mom home. Do you have anything to do? If not, let's go to Dasha Gou to wander around together."

Chai Mi's maternal grandmother's home Wenjiagou is indeed a big mountain ditch.

"Let's go. I heard that your maternal grandmother's side has yellow sheep, if we can catch a few, maybe we'll get rich."

"Catch that thing for what? Want to eat mutton, my family has sheep, catching yellow sheep you might as well forget it." Chai Mi shook her head: "That thing runs faster than rabbits, kicks up high as if walking on flat ground, I don't have the skill to catch yellow sheep."