"Come on, try it." Miaoxi River took a small wooden tripod and put it in front of the young man. He opened the lid. There were some very scary poisonous insects inside. They kept rolling and biting, making trembling sounds.
"Don't be afraid."
"I'm not afraid." The young man put his hand into the wooden tripod without hesitation.
A magical thing happened. The insects in the wooden tripod seemed to be very afraid of the breath in his hand. They didn't dare to come close. They hid everywhere. The place where his finger fell formed an area of vacuum.
"As expected." Miaoxi River was very pleased.
"Knife." A person immediately handed him a sharp knife. He wiped it repeatedly.
"Xiao He, I want to take some of your blood. It won't hurt."
"Okay, chief." The young man was not afraid at all.
Miaoxi River gently cut his wrist and let out half a bowl of blood.
"It's done." He quickly applied ointment on the wound. Soon, the bleeding stopped and the wound healed.
"Xiaohe, tell me the truth. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere in your body?"
"No, I'm fine," the young man said.
"Is it because you don't want to stay here?"
"Yes, I'm used to it," the young man said.
"Bear with it. It won't be long before you can leave." Miaoxi River held him in his arms and comforted him softly.
"It's okay, chief." The young man was very sensible.
"Good, good." Miaoxi River nodded hard. He was very pleased.
He accompanied the young man and talked for a while.
"Xiao He, let's go out and walk around."
He led the young man out from another path. This was an extremely dangerous path. In the depths of the cave, it was almost a hole in the cliff, leading directly to a cave halfway up the mountain. If it was an ordinary person, even with the help of a rope, it would be very difficult to get in and out. This was because this was not just a problem of the cliff, there were also a large number of strange insects like centipedes on the cliff. Just by their ferocious appearance, they were highly poisonous.
"Come, I'll carry you."
"I can do it myself."
"Come on."
Miaoxi River carried the young man on his back and climbed up the steep cliff like an agile monkey. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the entrance of the cave halfway up the mountain.
The sun was shining brightly, even a little dazzling.
Under the sunlight, the young man looked no more than twenty years old. His face was ruddy and his eyes were bright. He looked up at the blue sky and was lost in thought for a long time.
"Xiao He, I'm going to read a paragraph from a medical book. Remember it well," Miaoxi River said.
"Alright, Patriarch."
Miaoxi River then began to recite. His voice was not loud and he spoke very slowly. His words were very clear. He repeated one sentence after another three times.
"How is it? How much have you remembered?"
"I've memorized everything," the young man said.
"Is that so? Recite it for me," Miaoxi River said.
Xiao He immediately recited it once. It was very smooth, and not a single word was missing.
"Good, very good. When you're free, think about what's inside. It's good for you."
"Yes, Patriarch," the young man said.
The old man and the young man sat halfway up the mountain and quietly looked into the distance. After a long time, the young man stood up.
"Let's go down, Patriarch. It's been too long. They should be worried."
"Well, okay." Miaoxi River looked at the young man with mixed feelings.
He was too obedient and cooperative. How good would it be if he was his son?
The two of them went down the cliff and went back into the cave.
"Xiao He, I'll come again tomorrow."
"Take care, Patriarch." The young man watched Miaoxi River leave the cave.
After diving out and confirming that there was no one around, the two of them came out of the water and went into the forest.
"Xiao He is a good child," Miaoxi River said.
"Yes, he is very obedient and cooperative, which surprised and gratified us. Patriarch, you didn't take care of him for nothing all these years," the middle-aged man next to him said.
"Feng Xing, if something happens to me this time, the stockade will depend on you in the future," Miaoxi River stopped and said to the man next to him.
"Patriarch, why did you suddenly say that? The stockade can't do without you!" the middle-aged man hurriedly said.
"Feng Xing, I have never treated you as an outsider," Miaoxi River said. "I even treat you as half my son. This time, the disturbance outside is too big. Some people are very dissatisfied. I'm afraid that the peaceful life in our stockade will come to an end."
Recently, more and more people came to the stockade. The people from the outside brought in things from the outside world, and the people in the stockade were against it. However, this was only temporary. It was the inherent traditions of the stockade that bound them. Sooner or later, someone would accept it because the things from the outside world were too exciting and too corrosive. If one person accepted it, there would be a second and a third. It was like a dam bursting. Once a hole was opened, it would be too difficult to block it again. Sooner or later, the dam would burst, and by then, there would be earth-shattering changes. At that time, people's hearts would change, and the stockade would not be so easy to control.
"I didn't expect that the old patriarch's words back then would come true in my hands." Miaoxi River stretched out his right hand.
He tried hard to stop and protect it, but he was helpless. When the general trend came, it was like a surging river. He could not stop it. He could not stop it. What he was protecting would change sooner or later.
When the two of them walked into the stockade, they saw a group of outsiders. There were four men and two women carrying backpacks. They were looking at the paradise with joy and curiosity.
"Look, they are here again." Miaoxi River pointed at them.
"Bring them to see me," Miaoxi River said.
"Yes," the middle-aged man next to him said.
In Miaoxi River's house, in the wooden house, six young outsiders looked around curiously. This old wooden house, and the middle-aged man sitting in the seat of honor, was also staring at them. There were many rumors about the patriarch of the paradise on the Internet. It was said that he was a firm guardian of the stockade's policy of isolation from the outside world. He had done a lot of bad things in the stockade. He was a local tyrant and was not a good person.
"Hello, welcome to our stockade," Miaoxi River said with a smile.
"Ah, the situation seems to be different from what the rumors said!" The few of them looked at each other. To be honest, they were still on tenterhooks when they came in.
"Thank you. Hello, Chief Miao."
"Do you know me?"
"There are many rumors about you on the Internet."
"Oh, what do they say?" Miaoxi River asked with a smile.
"Well, it's not anything good," the man who was the leader of the six people said with a smile.
"To be honest, I really don't welcome outsiders like you," Miaoxi said.
"Can you tell me why? This is such a good place. If more people come, it will definitely bring you a lot of income. Moreover, the road here is so bad. It's not convenient for you to go out, right?"
"We are not that desperate for money," Miaoxi River said. "We live here and can be self-sufficient. It doesn't matter if the road is bad because we basically don't go out. You may think that our life is very isolated and backward, but we think that our life is very comfortable and very happy. If you don't believe me, you can ask around. I can't guarantee that everyone will say so, but more than 95% of people will think so."
"But do you want to live like this forever?"
"Then why did you come here? Why do you think this place is good? Is it because of the words' paradise, 'right?"
"Yes, there are no factories, no cars, no smoke, and no hustle and bustle here. There is only nature, the most primitive nature, which is intoxicating."
"You are used to life in a big city," Miaoxi River said. "You will be surprised when you encounter a place like our stockade. You will like it and yearn for it. But think about it. If we open up and build roads, we will still be like this. I estimate that in less than 10 years, this place will change a lot. There will be factories, cars, bars, restaurants, and it will not be so quiet and so natural. It will be like Lijiang Old City."
"Have you been out?"
"Yes, and I have been to more than one place," Miaoxi River said with a smile.
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