As for the children of the common people who did not give money, they could only resign themselves to fate and take out the satin ball from the box in person. If they got a green satin ball, it meant that they had been selected by lot and were determined to be the candidate cat boys.
There is no doubt that these children are definitely not children of clan elders or wealthy gentry. In the past twenty years, the children selected are only children of a few years old from poor families. They are still ignorant of their age and may not even know what sacrifice means. All they know is that they have caught the green ball, can enjoy good food, drink, wear fancy clothes, and are happier than anyone else.
As for their parents, no matter how much they begged for mercy, it could not change the result at all. They could only let the clan elders canonize their children as Cat Fairy Boys and wait for the sacrifice.
The entire lot-drawing ceremony is actually the oppression and abuse of the poor people by Yuping Town clan elders, greedy customers, landlords and wealthy households.
The sum of the bribes given to the clan elders amounted to thousands of taels, and there were so many benefits even before the nuggets were paid. How could these clan elders, knowing their taste, let go of such a good opportunity to make money? He said that he stood unswervingly on the side of ritual customs and used rural authority to maintain these horrific customs of the Tanuki Immortal Festival!
You want to say that these poor people can go to Anyuan County to report to the official. If the official is one of the parents, how can you allow these strange customs to harm the people?
Sorry, that’s really the case!
Since ancient times, Qianquan belongs to the same family. Half of the money earned by the clan elders over the years has been given to the prince of Anyuan County. Even if the poor people go to beat the drum, they will only be scolded and slapped away by the county prince. Come out, even if there is an inspector who wants to investigate, they have already prepared their excuses.
Who said these cat boys are dead? How could the raccoon fairy’s blessing of a good harvest in Anyuan County harm the children? These children are following him to enjoy the blessings in the paradise of cave heaven. Maybe there will be a few more fairy boys in the future. Sir, please inspect. If you don’t believe it, then we will send you to the area near the Lixian Temple in person. You will know where those children are if you see for yourself.
Saying this makes it difficult for the inspectors to deal with it. Who would stand up for a few poor people if they have nothing to do? Even if some inspectors know about this matter, they will often use it as an excuse to ask the county magistrate and Yuping Town. benefit.
Not only did these tragedies fail to awaken the sympathy of these officials, they even took advantage of the suffering of the poor people to extort money. This in turn made the poor people no longer human beings inside and outside. They were offended everywhere and were manipulated by Yu Ping Town. Very miserable.
After so many years, even the people who complained had lost their courage. They no longer had the courage to complain, so they could only save some silver and bribe the elders when the lot was drawn to buy a life for their children.
What to do with the money of these poor people?
The common people's money is divided into three to seven accounts, and the wealthy gentry's money is paid back in full. This kind of empty-handed business cheats the poor and eats up the landlords.
Zen Master Gu Ming saw this situation and felt pain in his heart. He wanted to remind the people not to mistakenly believe in evil gods, but unfortunately no one listened to him. He was a lonely old monk until a wandering Taoist named Yunyangzi came here. He was in the town. Li learned about the suffering of the poor people and decided to enter Tiexa Mountain to eliminate harm to the people and kill the wild immortals.
This Taoist priest has a good heart, but his ability is too poor. The demon is as high as the Taoist. After he entered Tiesha Mountain and found Li Langjun, he was injured by the Li Langjun and had to be raised in Baoping Temple for half a year. Get better.
During these six months, Yunyangzi and Zen Master Gu Ming became friends. They became each other's confidants through Buddhist and Taoist exchanges, and agreed that their respective disciples would meet once every five years. This year happened to be the fifth time that the disciples met!
After Xu Xiake finished telling the story about Zen Master Gu Ming and Yunyangzi, everyone was dumbfounded. Just before they came back, they were pitiful about the murder of the children of the landlords in Anyuan County. Before the day passed, they heard that the gentry and clan elders It is sad to join forces to take advantage of customs to make money and kill people.
In this way, Zen Master Gu Ming was unwilling to mention the boy and hid something from them. In fact, he could not recall the painful experience. It was indeed reasonable to think so, but if they had not gone to Anyuan County to investigate, they would have missed it by mistake. A lot of information.
"Little Taoist priest, do you know that I also know your master Yunyangzi, and he once gave me a tiger tooth as a gift back then."
After Sun Daqiao finished speaking, he showed the tiger tooth talisman in Hualing's neck. The little Taoist priest looked closely and saw that it belonged to his master. His eyes lit up: "I see, my master asked me to enter the pass to visit Master Gu Ming. The purpose is for me to meet you."
"Meet us?"
"Yes~"
The little Taoist priest's face was filled with excitement: "Yes, my master told me before I left that he had seen the footsteps of Mr. Li Lang in Fengtian, and he almost subdued Mr. Li Lang. Who knew that this year would be unlucky? One move was missing, and the beast ran away."
"If that's the case, your master has been targeting Mr. Tanuki for a long time?"
Sun Daqiao looked back on the past and found that Yunyangzi's appearance was indeed not an accident. It was more like he was found deliberately by Yunyangzi, but Yunyangzi pretended to be too similar at the time, making him mistakenly think that he was looking for an expert.
The little Taoist priest nodded in response and his tone became mysterious:
"Yes, my master has been concentrating on training since he was defeated by Mr. Li Lang. He just wanted to eliminate Mr. Li Lang, but he never had the chance. He observed the sky six months ago and calculated the lives that Mr. Li Lang had killed over the years. There are too many, and it has become an obsession.”
