"The bride has changed. What if they don't recognize her?" Nangong Yue was a little worried.
Song Che asked, "Didn't you grow up in Qingzhou? Have you never heard of living sacrifice?"
"That's a lot to hear."
Nangong Yue said: "I remember that there was a severe drought in Qingzhou one year and the Yellow River dried up. The government cleared the mud and dug out countless skeletons. Many of them were poor people who had stone weights and millstones hung on their feet and were sacrificed alive. There are boys and girls, boys and girls, it’s so cruel.”
Not to mention ancient times, even in modern times, there are many people. Therefore, there is a profession called "Yellow River corpse fishermen". Of course, this is beside the topic.
"In addition to praying for peace, does the sacrifice have any other purpose?"
“Let’s call on the folks and elders to donate money.”
Nangong Yue said: "The rich people in the city took the lead in donating money. They said that the money raised would be used to repair charity halls and build temples. In reality, it all fell into the pockets of corrupt officials and landlords."
"That's right."
Song Che said: "Sacrifice is to donate money to the stupid people. As long as the purpose can be achieved, it doesn't matter who does the sacrifice."
"But...but, what if...what if, there really is a river god and water ghost?" Lu Jingxiang in the sedan looked a little uneasy, "I have heard the legend of water ghosts. They lie dormant during the day and come out at night, and they are very powerful. Infinite, he likes to eat human blood and brains!”
"If there really is a water ghost in this world, the boss's head will be cut off and used as a urinal for you!"
"Boss, women don't use urinals..."
Between small talk.
Night falls.
Suddenly I saw several firelights appearing in front of me, accompanied by a burst of noise.
"It's so outrageous that he even dares to rob the River God's women! Tie those people together and sacrifice them to the River God!"
It turned out that the bearer who had been beaten away earlier gathered a dozen men and wanted to come back to snatch the bride.
"Hey, it's a sedan chair. The sedan chair is back!"
"The person carrying the sedan chair is the person who robbed the bride earlier!"
A group of men gathered around.
Song Che smiled and explained: "Fellow folks, how dare we steal the River God's hand? Aren't we sending the bride back to you?"
After saying that, he took the initiative to open the door of the sedan chair, revealing a young lady.
"Hurry up and put the sedan door down, so as not to reveal the joy and be disrespectful to the river god!"
The men didn't pursue the matter further. They just wanted to offer the sacrifices, so they grabbed the sedan and rushed to the port.
Song Che and Nangong Yue followed.
Port.
There is a simple pier.
There was a flagpole on the pier, and a red lantern hung on the pole. I saw a middle-aged woman wearing a yellow robe, holding a whisk in her hand, "showing off her power" on the altar, and she didn't know what the god was talking about.
Various sacrificial objects such as cows, sheep, and pig heads were placed on the table, and under the table was a stone weight tied with an iron chain.
From all over the country, two to three hundred men, led by a sixty-year-old man, stood neatly on the shore waiting for sacrifice.
"Bring the bride up!" Huang Xiangu shouted.
Two men dragged Lu Jingxiang out of the sedan, tied her hands and escorted her to the altar. Then they tied one of her feet to a stone weight with shackles.
"The Yellow River bursts its banks, which makes the river god angry. He chooses beautiful women to marry the river god, so that the rural areas in the east will not be troubled by floods, and the weather will be smooth in the coming year..."
After Wang Xiangu babbled for a while, she grabbed a handful of something and sprinkled it on the candlelight. There was a "boom" and a dazzling flame ignited:
"The sky is full of spirits, the earth is full of spirits, the river god's wedding will appear, and all living beings will kneel down and kowtow!"
The whole village hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed three times in a row, and chanted in unison: "The River God bless, the River God bless..."
"The third quarter of the hour has arrived, let's send the bride to the river god!"
"Wait!"
Song Che strode towards the pier and asked loudly: "Xiangu, how did you know that the River God was getting married? If you give a bride to someone for no reason, wouldn't it be a forced purchase?"
Wang Xiangu was stunned, and replied proudly: "Last night, I personally went down to the bottom of the river to talk to the River God. I learned that the River God's harem was empty, so I specially selected the female family members to send to the bride."
"Oh, so that's it. Fairy Girl is really capable and can actually enter and leave the divine palace."
"That's natural. I know how to avoid water spells. Even if I fall into a rolling torrent, I can still be safe and come and go freely."
"Have the fairy asked the river god clearly about his preferences? What if it doesn't like girls, but likes mature women like you?"
"Be bold!"
Wang Xiangu shouted: "Who are you? How dare you say such arrogant words and be disrespectful to me and the River God!"
"How can I be disrespectful to the River God?" Song Che turned to face the villagers: "Dear fellow villagers, worshiping the River God is a major matter related to the peace of the village. How can we appease the River God if we do it so carelessly?
Song is not talented. He studied art in Zhongnan Mountain since he was a child and knows some techniques of differentiating yellow. In our hometown, we offer sacrifices to the river god, the dragon king, the stove god, and the land. All kinds of sacrificial services were held by Song. , instead of one thousand, there are eight hundred;
Think about it, wouldn't this living person drown if he was thrown into the river with stone weights tied to his feet?
You are looking at this river, it is so turbid, the bride is so clean and beautiful, wouldn’t it get dirty if she throws it down?
In addition, there are many fish and shrimps in the river. What if the bride is chewed into pieces?
Think about it again, would the River God be happy if he brought back a dirty, disfigured bride?
In my opinion, not only is it unhappy, it will get angry again and bring disaster to us! "
"When Chad heard it, what he said made sense..."
The villagers whispered to each other, and many people agreed with Song Che.
"You...you're talking nonsense! Mayor Liu, I'm here tonight to pray for the villagers and eliminate disasters. How can you tolerate this person causing trouble?"
Wang Xiangu kept winking at the leading fellow villager.
The fellow village head understood and pointed at Song Che angrily: "We have been offering sacrifices like this for decades, and we have never seen the River God get angry. You, a foreigner, why are you coming to this hometown to point fingers? Drive this lunatic away quickly!"
"Let's see who dares to move!"
Nangong Yue stood up with her sword drawn, stopped several villagers, and said sweetly: "Master Song Xian is a direct disciple of Emperor Zhenwu. You can go out and ask for his name. If you don't believe his words, you will suffer!"
Several villagers were afraid of the sword and were intimidated by the heroine's courage, so they did not dare to step forward easily.
"Town chief, they didn't stop us from offering sacrifices. They just told us a better way. Why don't we believe him?"
"Yes, Immortal Song, what do you think we should do to make sacrifices to make the River God happy and let us in Dongyang Township go free?"
The villagers asked questions one after another.
"It's easy!"
Song Che raised his hand and pointed at Wang Xiangu and said: "Isn't it said that Xiangu can come and go freely in the flood? Then let her go and invite the river god to come up... Jingxiang!"
Lu Jingxiang used both hands to break the rope easily, pulled out the sword hidden under her robe, and cut off the shackles with one sword stroke.
Then he captured Wang Xiangu and tied the iron chain to her feet.
"Let me go! What are you going to do! Mayor Liu... help me quickly!"
Wang Xiangu panicked and called for help.
"Doesn't Fairy Girl know how to avoid water? Then let us see it."
Lu Jingxiang tied up the iron chain and kicked Wang Xiangu into the river with a stone weight.
"I...I don't know how to drink water! I don't know how to drink water...GuluGulu..."
After a few flutters, Wang Xiangu sank to the bottom of the river.
From this point of view, the River God still prefers mature women, otherwise why would he take her away so quickly?
