Folktales: Countryside Chapter

The soil and water support the people, but there are unspeakable taboos buried deep in the foundations of some villages. Under the smoke floating in the deep mountains and old forests, there are always some stories told by the octogenarians in a low voice - the resentment of failed scholars in the late Qing Dynasty is sealed in the old locust tree at the head of the village, the corpse of a woman in red hangs upside down in the depths of a dry well, the sound of the suona floating in the field at midnight coincides with the position of the Big Dipper, and the Wu family that has guarded the righteous village for generations, each of them has three pupils... These strange rumors that were spread by word of mouth among the villagers were inadvertently revealed by two outside reporters. When they were investigating an old "living burial" case that had disappeared for sixty years, black blood with body temperature gushed out from the cracked tomb in the barren tomb. An old-fashioned dressing mirror found in the field reflected an ancestral hall in another time and space. And on the statue of a social deity offering grain at the head of the village, were the candle tears or blood stains oozing from the corners of the eyes? As they dig deeper, they discover that every strange thing is related to the locust plague that covered the sky that year: the witch sacrifices held to pray for sweet rain, the boys and girls sacrificed to replace human beings, the blind storyteller who was filled in the well for violating taboos, and a horrifying record hidden in the cracks of the county annals - one night, eighteen villages were wiped out at the same time. When the rusty copper bell suddenly rings in the middle of the night, and when the ancient tablets covered with red silk ooze green mold, the debts and curses buried in the loess are quietly awakening, carrying the resentment of generations. It's too late to escape now, because the deepest taboo in this country is for you to become a footnote in a new folk tale... Some secrets should never be revealed.