Chapter 15 Sacrifice
“You can’t tell Guanzhu Lu...”
“They will kill him, just like they killed Mr. Wang back then...”
Xu Erniu took two taels of silver and hurriedly went down the mountain. Before leaving, he took another look at the children who were watching happily and playing.
Then quickly turned around and left.
If he didn't leave, he was afraid that he would kneel down in front of Guanzhu Lu. Guanzhu was a good person, but he couldn't fight those people.
Lan Lan said: Telling Guanzhu Lu about this will only harm him, but our family cannot harm others.
Southern Xinjiang is surrounded by mountains. As long as you climb up to a high place and take a quick look, you will see undulating mountains, towering peaks and cliffs, rising miasma, and filled with evil fog. They look majestic, but are like hell. All kinds of evil things that destroy humanity are brewing.
Just like the miasma river beside the county town, it flows rapidly, and the water is cold and turbid. It is not a precious source of life, but a river full of miasma. This river water cannot nourish the soil or water the plants. People who drink it will easily get sick and die, and irrigation will pollute the land and poison the crops, just like the cultivators who are entrenched on this land.
Xu Erniu ran home panting and saw the "sick" He Lan, sitting on a bench watching the children eating chicken.
Even in Chixin Temple, this is not an ordinary delicacy that can be eaten. The fragrant white rice soaked in chicken soup is so delicious that Gou Sheng and Er Ya are very happy to eat it.
“A’niang, A’niang, you also want to eat chicken.”
Erya didn’t know why her mother didn’t go to work today and left herself and her brother at home to cook for herself and her brother. He wanted to eat the chicken, but Erya took a piece of chicken with the skin and stretched out her chubby hands to deliver it to Grandma’s mouth, so that Grandma could also eat the chicken.
"Aniang is not hungry, Aniang does not eat, Erya is good, Erya eat more."
He Lan sat on the bench and looked at his two children. Looking at it, I couldn't help but burst into tears.
Obviously I found a job, and my life is obviously getting better and better.
Why did that evil thing happen to my family?
“What’s wrong, Mom? Mom is not crying.”
Both Gou Sheng and Erya saw their mother crying. Erya stretched out her chubby hand to wipe her tears. Gou Sheng looked at the chicken drumstick in his hand, reluctantly took a bite, then put it down and ran to his mother's side to wipe her tears.
“Whoever bullies grandma, I will beat him!”
At this moment, He Lan could no longer suppress the emotions in her heart. She hugged her children and cried loudly. Her tears could not be stopped.
Xu Erniu stood by the door, watching the scene in the room. The man gradually clenched his fists and gritted his teeth to make a decision.
"Lan Lan, let's run away tonight. Even if we die if we run out and the whole family dies together, we won't let Gou Sheng and Erya go to worship the gods."
Washing dishes in He Lan At that time, Xu Erniu stood behind his wife and whispered like this.
He Lan suddenly turned around when he heard this. The woman looked at her usually dull and honest husband with some disbelief.
"Then... mother"
"I will go to Mangshan Mountain. You will never be able to run far with me. I have long missed the child's father. Besides, I can still live with my old bones." How many years? "
At this time, the gray-haired old woman came out.
“Aniang.”
Hearing this, Xu Erniu and He Lan both knelt in front of the old woman. The old and wrinkled palm gently caressed their foreheads.
midnight.
Xu Erniu and He Lan packed up some of their few belongings, woke up their sleeping children, and the family began to run for their lives. They have no destination, they just know to run as far away as possible.
Xu Erniu’s mother, the old woman, used a cane to send her family to escape. When she returned, she lit precious oil lamps to tell the neighbors that she Jia did not run away, and then sat peacefully on his bed.
“It is a blessing to die in your own home.”
The old woman murmured this calmly.
On the other side, Xu Erniu and He Lan walked cautiously on the night road. They didn't dare to make any noise. The two children couldn't run anymore, so Xu Erniu hugged each other and ran away.
Seeing her husband panting from exhaustion, He Lan regretted for the first time that during the Chixin Watch, she kept letting Gou Sheng and Erya eat more, taking advantage of the watcher.
However, if we could escape so easily, it would not be hell.
Suddenly, firelight lit up in the darkness all around. Xu Erniu and He Lan raised their heads in panic and fear. What they saw was that Zou Hu and Li Qing, with a group of young men, had already surrounded the four of them. Surrounded.
"Er Niu, it's so late, where are you going? Take them all."
In Zou Hu's eyes, Xu Er Niu is nothing more than a dog. He dares to take his whole family to escape, and he has already escaped from the divine sacrifice. It's because of the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard. There is no need to talk nonsense with him.
"I have silver, I have silver. Let me go and I will give you silver."
Xu Erniu took out the two taels of silver that Guanzhu Lu gave him during the day. It was already a lot of money for him.
But the Gu Masters around him just laughed and approached: If I kill you, the money will still be ours.
"Go."
A Gu Master called softly, and the poisonous scorpion with transparent wings lying on his shoulder was about to bite Xu Erniu to death.
“Wait a minute.”
But at this time, Li Qing, who had been silent on the side, spoke.
As soon as this beautiful female Gu Master opened her mouth, all the Gu Masters around stopped.
"Xu Erniu, He Lan, children are immature, you shouldn't be immature as well. You all know that our Shiyuan County can be as peaceful as it is now because of the blessing of King Gu, which holds a divine sacrifice every five years. This is It has been a rule since ancient times. In previous years, when I gave away other people’s children, I didn’t see any objection from your family. Why? , Now that it’s your own family’s turn, you can’t bear to part with it?”
“Our four families, Li, Tu, Zou, and You, have all given away their children. Why, it’s just your Xu family’s child Jin Gui?”< br>
Li Qing is different from her senior brother Zou Hu. She not only wants people, but also needs to be able to stand upright in theory.
But in fact, most of Shiyuan County belongs to their four surnames. There are always people in each surname who are disobedient. The heads of the four surnames will only feel that there are too few opportunities to establish their authority by offering sacrifices every five years. I don’t think there are too many sacrifices.
Xu Erniu wanted to resist, but was stung on the neck by a flying scorpion from a nearby Gu master. His skin turned purple and black, and he was poisoned to death.
He Lan wanted to resist, but a Gu Master came up and kicked him to the side. He hit a stone and his head was bruised and bloody.
“Aniang, Aniang!”
Gou Sheng and Erya cried loudly and struggled desperately.
The sound here gradually spread to the county. Fires lit up every house, but no one came out. Li Qing and Zou Hu didn't mind at all. The Gu master presided over the sacrifice, which made everyone in the county come out. So what if I see it?
This kind of fear is actually a kind of domestication of everyone.
(End of this chapter)