In other words, for these villagers, this village is actually the place they want to escape from most, especially those with good-looking children at home.
Suddenly thinking of the rumors she had heard before, Qingyan asked the old lady: "Madam, I heard someone say somewhere else that a relative of his married to you, saying that he discovered a problem.
The wives of your village chief's family are all married to girls from the village, and none of them have lived past the age of forty. Is that true? "
The old lady was stunned by the sudden topic, "Listening to what you said, it's true, I have never noticed this situation.
It is true that the daughters-in-law of each generation of patriarchs do not live long. Every time the children in the family grow up, they either die of illness or die in accidents.
But the men in the patriarch's family are all famous longevity men in the village. Even the current patriarch is seventy-six years old this year. He is still very tough and can still take care of the affairs of the village.
His sons are all in their sixties, and when our patriarch took over, he was almost sixty. He died two years before the last one, and he died after eighty-four years.
So, none of the women in his family live a long life. I wonder if it has anything to do with the ancestors? "
At the end of the sentence, he lowered his voice a lot and pointed upward.
Qingyan felt that it must be related. There are not so many coincidences in this world, most of them were intentional.
Maybe people in the village think that the children are too old, and it is normal for the mother to have an accident or die of illness.
But it can't be like this for every generation. Plus the men in his family live longer, so there must be something wrong.
Qingyan also lowered her voice and guessed: "I don't know if the lifespan of the daughters-in-law is transferred to the men in their families. Otherwise, why would women be short-lived and men long-lived?"
Yin Keqin and his son both fell into deep thought after hearing these words. After a while, Yin Keqin said: "It's really possible, mother, do you remember that Ke Sheng's aunt originally wanted to marry Ke Chang's uncle, but she died before getting married? And the girls in our village, as long as they didn’t marry into the patriarch’s family, they either became sacrifices or died before they got married..."
I go! Qingyan was shocked. She just randomly picked a topic to ask, but unexpectedly she found another clue?
It seems that in addition to the so-called ancestor, the patriarch's family also has problems.
In other words, there are only two endings for women in the village, either becoming a sacrifice or marrying into the patriarch's family, and of course, the other one is death.
This is really miserable. Fortunately, there are few women in the village, otherwise it would be even worse if there were more women.
After that, a silence fell between the three of them. The mother and son thought of their daughter (sister) again, and Qingyan was thinking about what kind of family this was that was so hostile to women.
Although there will be a man among the sacrifices, it feels more like there are too few women. Except for the clan leader's family, the other tribesmen are more like captive sacrifice providers.
…
Although it was sunny outside, there was no sound of anyone moving around. Not to mention the footsteps and voices coming and going before, there was no sound even from the next door, as if it was late at night again.
Seeing Qingyan listening to the sounds around her, the old lady said: "Although there is no problem in moving around in the village, as long as you don't leave the village, it will be fine. We can't go out these days because we are afraid of offending the old man." Ancestors bring punishment to the family.
Today is also a little different from the past. In the past, weird weather like this lasted all day and would not disappear until the next day when the candidates were selected.
After it is confirmed, there will be no such weather, and the sky will become completely dark. Even if you want to, you will not be able to leave the village. It is not that there were people who wanted to escape before, but they could not find the way out of the village.
On the third day, there was no need to send the person away. The selected person automatically disappeared in the village. Some people also went to the patriarch's house to make trouble. The patriarch said that the person was fine and was taken away by the ancestors.
The patriarch told us that those people did not die, but went to serve the daily life of their ancestors.
The reason why I choose a good-looking person every time is because the person who serves me personally must be someone I like, so that everyone should not be too resistant. "
But none of the people who went there came back, which was no different from death. Of course, there was no need to tell Qingyan about this. Anyway, she couldn't change it, she could only accept it.
She had said so much before, but she had actually gone too far. This was because of her soft heart.
Looking at the sky outside, the old lady said to Qingyan: "Don't go out inside the house. I'm going to cook. I'll cook a little more for this meal. I'll cook it together for tonight and tomorrow. It will be dark all day tomorrow, can you?" If you go out, try not to go out."
Qingyan was indeed a little hungry when she heard that she had eaten. Chou Chou could take out food at any time when she was around. From yesterday to now, she had only eaten a bowl of millet porridge. The excess was just water. It could be said in her stomach It was already empty.
In addition, she still wanted to go to the toilet. Seeing that the old lady was about to go out, she quickly stopped her, pulled her aside and asked quietly, what should she do if she couldn't go out, and she wanted to go to the toilet?
The old lady was stunned, shook her head in amusement, and led her into the bedroom. She squatted down and pulled out a pottery basin with a lid from under the bed.
"It's inconvenient to go out at night, so I use this. Don't worry, everything has been washed."
Qingyan blushed and nodded. She felt that she could hold on for a while. After all, there was a man outside, and she was embarrassed to use it now.
The old lady smiled and clapped her hand, turned around and walked out, taking her son with her at the same time.
Anyway, Yin Keqin is already twenty years old, so even if he were to be chosen as a sacrifice, he would not be chosen. The other reason is that because he looks ordinary, the chance of being chosen is very small.
It can be said that he is more easy-going. Of the three children in the family, he is the only one who has the shortcomings of his parents. His eyes are not big, his nose is a bit wide, and his lips are neither thick nor thin. In addition, he has been working and hiking all year round, and his skin is dark and tender. Rough, it can only be considered as having good facial features.
His eldest brother and eldest sister both followed their parents' merits. The reason why they went out together to escape was because they were both likely to be chosen for their good looks.
Who knows, but in the end, people will be killed in advance. If I had known that, it would be better to stay in the village and wait a year later. If I am not selected, there is still half a chance of hiding.
It's just that it's too late to regret now, everyone is gone, it's too late to say anything.
Qingyan sat at the table and did not go to the door. Although she felt that if the other party was already targeting her, it would be useless to hide. She would feel safer inside the room.
The reason why I feel that the other party is targeting me is because I have already gone to the county town before, but the other party still got me here, which means that the other party's target is me.
And she heard what the old lady said. This was a normal three-year sacrifice, and it was not brought forward. It was most likely that the other party had made some changes in order to get her, and even the timeline was changed.
As for why she felt that the other party had this ability, of course it was because when Chou Chou used his spiritual sense to explore before, he didn't dare to continue because of the formation inside.
Although it is because Chou Chou has not returned to its heyday, it also shows that the other party is quite capable, at least better than Chou Chou now.
Thinking of this, Qingyan couldn't help but call Chou Chou in her heart again, and also called Xiang Xiang a few times. Chou Chou said that there was a contract between her and Xiang Xiang, and the mutual induction should be closer.
She just shouted for a long time without getting any response, so she had to give up. It seemed that she was really fighting alone.
I looked outside. I didn't have a watch on my hand. I didn't know what time it was. There was no sun outside. Although the wind and rain had stopped and the sky was getting brighter, the sun didn't come out. It felt like the sun was blocked. Same.
After a while, the old lady and Yin Keqin came in carrying a pottery basin and a bamboo basket.
The basket is full of thick flour pancakes, and the pottery pot is a large pot of stew, which is radish and cabbage stewed together. Although it doesn't look good, it smells like they have their own unique fragrance.
The old lady put down the basket and went out again. When she came back in, she had a small charcoal stove in her hand. There were charcoal inside but it was not lit. She was probably going to use this to heat up the dishes in the evening.
The old lady put the stove under the table and said to Qingyan: "We won't go out tonight. It's getting cold and eating cold food is not good for your health. Use this stove to heat it up before eating.
Heng Yue, sit down quickly. Let’s eat while it’s hot. I don’t know if it will rain again. "
Qingyan sat on one side of the table as she was told, took the cake from the old lady, and glanced at the door with some doubts in her eyes.
It had rained heavily just now, and the ground was wet, but no water accumulated. The cloth shoes on the old lady's feet were all dry. I didn't know whether it was because the yard was not well drained, or there was something wrong with the rain.
And they say it's warm after the wind and cold after the rain. After the rain, Qingyan didn't feel that the temperature had dropped much compared to before. At least she didn't feel cold while wearing these three layers of single clothes.
It suddenly occurred to me that she didn't seem to ask what season it was.
She took a bite of the pancake and said as if unintentionally: "I've forgotten all these days. Auntie, Brother Yin, what's the solar term now?"
The old lady replied: "It will be the Autumn Equinox in three days, and it seems to be getting colder day by day."
Not the autumnal equinox yet? No wonder it's not cold at all when wearing three layers of single clothes in the early morning. If it's still hot in the future, Qiu Huhu is not talking nonsense, but wearing three layers of single clothes here is just right.
When she and Chou Chou first came here, it was already late autumn and winter was about to begin. The wife of the clothing store also said that it would snow in ten and a half days, which meant that winter was coming soon.
Now that the time has changed, the season has changed, and Qingyan's heart that had been a little relieved was lifted again.
The unknown is the most frightening thing. If you know what is going on and what you have to face, you can still think of a way to try it. Now you don’t even know who the other party is, what time it is, where it is, really. It's blinding.
After lunch, the three of them chatted about irrelevant parents for a while, and then the couple went back to the next room to rest. There was nothing else to do anyway, so they might as well rest here.
Qingyan also returned to the room, went to the toilet first, and then lay on the bed.
Anyway, I couldn't change anything, so I simply lay on the bed and took a nap.
Qingyan, who was asleep, didn't notice that a faint line slowly appeared on her forehead, and the color became darker and darker...
When she woke up, she didn't know how much time had passed. When she walked to the outhouse, she saw that the Yin family's mother and son were not there. They were probably still resting in their own room.
She moved a bench from under the table and sat at the table. She picked up the clay pot on the table and shook it. When she found water in it, she poured herself a bowl and drank.
Soon there were footsteps from next door, and they must have heard the sound here, and soon the two of them came over.
The old lady was shocked as soon as she opened the door and came in. Qingyan asked without knowing why, "Auntie, what's wrong?"
The old lady came to her senses and sighed deeply, "It seems you can't escape. You were chosen."
Qingyan was stunned, then walked to the door with the pottery bowl in hand, looked at the water in the bowl, and saw a black vine-shaped mark on her forehead.
Just the color doesn't look good at first glance. It's like the villain on TV. Whenever there are any red and black marks, it means it's either poisoned or possessed.
But for Qingyan's appearance, this mark on her forehead turned out to be damn good-looking, making her face look whiter and a little more coquettish.
By this time, Qingyan was no longer as scared as before, and she felt as if another boot had landed.
She knew that the other party must have made her come here, and the purpose should be to make her a sacrifice. At this point, she couldn't run away anyway, and she didn't want to do any useless work, so she might as well wait for the other party to make a move.
She wanted to see what kind of sacrificial method it was. If she couldn't escape death, the most she could do was fight with the opponent!
Thinking of this, she reached out and touched the spiritual food in her satchel. She had not taken off her satchel when she went to bed, for fear of something unexpected happening.
This thing is not only her current hope, but also something she will use when she and Chou Chou go back. She just doesn’t know if there will be a chance to go back.
Seeing that she was not crying or depressed, the old lady felt relieved a little and said to her son: "Keqin, go take down the dried rabbit from the beam and soak it. I will make it tonight."
Turning back to Qingyan, she said, "Heng Yue, don't be too afraid. What if it's like what the clan leader said and you are just going to serve your ancestors? As long as you are alive, that's better than anything else."
Qingyan smiled at her, "Don't worry, ma'am, I'm not afraid. At most, it will cost you your life, and you will be a good man again in eighteen years!"
As he spoke, he patted his chest, as if he didn't care about life or death.
The old lady looked at her with some distress, knowing that she was also forcing a smile, but she didn't expose it, and instead laughed along with her.
The reason why she was so kind to Qingyan was because she reminded her of her daughter and eldest son, who were about the same age as Qingyan back then.
Moreover, good-looking people have some things in common, such as big eyes, high nose bridge, small mouth, etc., so she saw her daughter through Qingyan.
If she could escape, just like her daughter could escape, but God did not follow her wishes, and she still encountered it.
In fact, the moment she saw Qingyan, she had some guesses. How could her ancestors let such a beautiful girl go?
Although they didn't know what would happen to them as sacrifices, they never thought about the bright side. They just had some self-deception hopes that they were just serving people as the patriarch said, and they were not being eaten or killed. Encountered more cruel situations.
(End of chapter)
