Liaozhai: A scholar should draw a sword

Chapter 194 Sacrifice Ceremony
Zhou Yu knew that it was difficult to communicate with these common people, so he investigated the truth of the matter and spoke with facts.

So, he yelled at Feng Yuanwai: "Let the captured children go first."

Feng Yuanwai hurriedly said: "No way, no way, tomorrow is the day of offering sacrifices, let the children go, what shall we offer as sacrifices then?"

"That is, when the Dragon King gets angry, it will be our common people who will suffer."

A crowd of people also shouted.

Zhou Yu turned to face the people and said, "If it was your child who was arrested, would you remain indifferent?"

All the people suddenly fell silent.

"Please rest assured that there must be something hidden about this matter, and we will definitely investigate and find out."

"Then what if the Dragon Lord is angry and brings disaster?"

"As I said before, either the Dragon King violated the rules of heaven, or the monster pretended to be the Dragon King.

No matter which point, there is a solution, please don't worry. "

Having said that, how could the common people not be worried?
Zhou Yu also lazily explained to these people, and ordered Yuanwai Feng to hand over the two pairs of children he had captured immediately.

In desperation, Feng Yuanwai could only order his servants to bring out the four children, two boys and two girls.

The youngest of these four children was only three years old, and the oldest was only six years old. They cried and cried as soon as they came out, looking for their parents and mothers.

"God..."

Gu Yuanming rushed forward to pick up his son, weeping with joy.

Afterwards, Zhou Yu came to Gu Yuanming's home with two other students in order to further inquire about the truth about the Dragon King's sacrifice.

Upon arriving home, Gu Yuanming's wife, Fang Shi, saw her son who had been lost and recovered, and cried bitterly on the spot, holding her son tightly.

The little guy was only four years old, and he didn't know what happened. His mother cried, and he also cried loudly.

Gu Yuanming wiped his tears, cupped his hands at Zhou Yu and the three of them, and said, "I made the three of you laugh."

Zhou Yu waved his hand: "This is human nature, how can you laugh at it? What is going on with the Dragon King's sacrifice?"

"Sit down in the house and talk."

From the looks of it, Gu Yuanming's family background is not bad, although the yard is not too big, but the basic kitchen, room, hall, study, water well and so on are all available.

After sitting down in the hall, Gu Yuanming made a pot of tea and poured it, and then told the reason.

"There is a big river in our county, the river is abundant all year round, and it is an important waterway. Many people along the river banks also rely on fishing for their livelihood.

Our town is by the river, and there is a Dragon King Temple not far from the town. It is a long-standing traditional custom to sacrifice to the Dragon King.

But the sacrifices in the past have always been normal, using common sacrifices such as incense candles and livestock.

Four years ago, a new county magistrate came, namely Master Liu.

Not long after he took office, the Qingshi River suddenly became restless for some reason, and accidents often happened to ferries or fishing boats.

As for the drought and heavy rain, they are actually not too serious. The main reason is that the Qingshi River often inexplicably swells, flooding a lot of farmland and sinking a lot of boats.

At this time, there were rumors that the Dragon King was angry because the people were disrespectful to the Dragon King.

Common people have heard some of the high-ranking people Feng Yuanwai mentioned before, but they don't know exactly what it is.

In short, after that, the county government sent people to the townships to inform them that the way of offering sacrifices to the Dragon King would be changed in the future, and virgins and virgins should be used for sacrifices.

Every three months, two pairs of children will be sacrificed to the Dragon King, and the villages and towns will take turns to select children of the right age to sacrifice.

All of a sudden, the people panicked, but this was what the county government said, and the people were also afraid of Lord Dragon, so they had to follow suit..."

Hearing this, one of the students who accompanied him couldn't help but ask, "Why is no one going to the government to complain about such a ridiculous thing?"

Gu Yuanming sighed: "Yes, there are, I also went to the government office once, but it was useless.

The rich and powerful people don't care at all, because they can't be picked.

Taking a step back, even if they are picked, they can still spend money to buy children from other places to make up for it.

Although Bucai is a soft-spoken person, he is also deeply displeased with this method. He has gone to the county government several times to argue, and for this reason, he was once imprisoned for a month.

This time it's our town's turn to sacrifice children. According to the rules they made, a lottery is adopted. Whoever has a child of the right age must participate in the lottery.

Later, he refused to participate in the lottery. As a result, Yuan Wai Feng sent a few servants to forcibly take the dog away while my wife was taking my son to the street to buy vegetables.

You also saw what happened after that..."

"What is the relationship between Yuanwai Feng and the county magistrate?" Zhou Yu asked.

Gu Yuanming sighed: "The two often communicate with each other, and they are still called brothers."

Hearing this, Zhou Yu nodded thoughtfully: "This matter should not be that simple, there must be something inside.

In this way, these two students will temporarily stay at your house, and if the other party comes to kidnap someone again, they will be able to help. "

"Thank you sir, thank you very much!"

Gu Yuanming was so grateful that he repeated his thanks.

Then, after hesitating for a moment, he couldn't help but clasped his hands and asked, "Is it Zhou Jieyuan, Mr. Dare?"

"En!" Zhou Yu nodded.

Gu Yuanming was overwhelmed with surprise, took a step back and made a long salute: "I didn't expect it was really Mr., I have admired Mr.'s name for a long time, and I have long wanted to go to the academy to see it, but I have a wife and children at home, so I haven't been able to do it for a long time."

"Well, I saw that you still have some skills before, so you must have practiced on weekdays, right?"

"Yes, I often practice boxing and kicking on weekdays, firstly to strengthen my body, and secondly, I also think that I can protect myself in case something happens to me.

It's just that I'm not good at training, so I was bullied by those evil slaves today. "

Zhou Yu smiled and said, "It's pretty good that you can train yourself to this level, and those servants are also proficient in boxing and kicking."

After chatting for a while, Zhou Yu left and found other students outside the town.

Zhou Yu never stayed in hotels when taking students out on trips, and rarely went to restaurants to eat. He always slept in the open so that students could experience life firsthand.

"gentlemen……"

A group of students gathered around.

"Ah."

Zhou Yu responded, sat down on the ground, first talked about what Gu Yuanming said, and finally asked: "What do you think, you might as well speak freely."

"Students think that what Mr. said before is correct. How can there be a reason for the dragon king to eat children in the world? How is this different from demons?

Therefore, either the Dragon King violated the rules of heaven and proposed the conditions privately.Or the monster pretends to be the Dragon King to fool the people. "

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Who is the expert Feng Yuanwai mentioned? Or, is there such a thing?"

"Yes, I also think this is a suspicious point..."

"Usually, the government will not interfere with folk sacrifices. After all, there are customs in different places, and it is impossible to force people to sacrifice children."

"That's right, how can the government force the people to sacrifice their children to sacrifice to the heavens? It is impossible for the royal family to sacrifice the living to the heavens, right?"

"It's not uncommon to have the bad habit of sacrificing living people, but most of them are in remote mountainous areas where wizards are worshiped..."

"Students think that there is a big problem with the magistrate of this county. He changed the local customs as soon as he came..."

A group of students chattered and analyzed various possibilities.

Finally, Zhou Yu said: "Well, what everyone said is reasonable, but what is the truth of the matter, why not wait until tomorrow..."

On the other side, Feng Yuanwai's mansion.

"Bang bang bang..."

"Trash, it's all trash..."

Feng Yuanwai threw things and cursed at all the servants at the same time.

After all, he suffered such a great humiliation today, kneeling in the street in front of so many fellow villagers, how could he save his face?
In fact, he knew very well in his heart that the servant in the mansion had tried his best, and he didn't even have the ability to do anything in front of the other party.

However, the fire in my heart must be released, right?
You have to find yourself a wall ladder, right?
Therefore, the servants in the mansion became his punching bag.

The servants also knew it in their hearts, hooked their heads and kept silent, pretending not to hear or see...

Seeing that Yuanwai Feng was almost venting, Steward Zhang bravely stepped forward and asked cautiously, "Master, tomorrow's sacrifice..."

"What else is there to sacrifice? All four children have been taken away. What do you say will be sacrificed to the Dragon King?"

"But……"

Butler Zhang hesitated to speak.

"Hateful!" Feng Yuanwai slapped the table heavily: "Why did people from Wendao Academy come here suddenly? Are you meddling in our affairs?"

"Master, this may be just a coincidence. I have heard people say that the students of Wendao Academy often travel abroad."

"Steward Zhang, master, I don't care what method you use, go and snatch the child back overnight."

"what?"

Steward Zhang has always been obedient and never dared to contradict, but this time he never dared to agree.

He used to do things smoothly, no matter how big the matter was, as long as he brought a few servants and a vicious dog with him, the people would be terrified.

No matter how many people there are, most of them dare not speak out.

The situation is different today, the opponents are not ordinary people, but the teachers and students of Wendao Academy, the important thing is that there are more people.

"Why? You can't handle such a small matter?"

"Is this a fucking trivial matter? Why don't you go, old man?"

Of course, this was just Zhang Butler cursing in his heart, and he didn't dare to scold even if he borrowed ten more guts in front of him.

"Master, you also know that those students are all very skilled... They, they saved the children, they will definitely protect them, the little ones... the little ones..."

"Snapped!"

In a rage, Yuan Wai slapped him across the ear.

Why doesn't he know this?To put it bluntly, it was nothing more than words of anger and face.

The butler in this chapter usually has a very active mind, but now he is acting stupid. He only knows how to complain, but doesn't know how to make suggestions. Of course, Yuanwai Feng is very angry.

"Master, little one..." Steward Zhang covered his hot face, looking aggrieved.

"You don't even admit that you're a bastard, but they can still protect the children of all the families in the town?

The sacrificial ceremony will be held at noon tomorrow, and there will be no children at that time. Could it be possible that you asked the master to carry a few pigs to make up the number? "

Having said that, Steward Zhang finally came to his senses, dare you, is the master asking him to snatch another family's child?
This time, he regained his composure, and immediately regained some energy, and hurriedly said flatteringly, "Yes, yes, I am a little confused, I am a little confused..."

After being slapped, he was finally fanned awake.

"If you know that you are confused, go to work quickly. If this thing goes wrong, come and see me!"

"Yes, yes, the small one must be done, please rest assured, master."

Not far from the door, Butler Zhang glanced back, then spit on the ground, and muttered softly, "Bah, you old bastard..."

No matter what you scold, he still has to do his best to handle this matter well.

It was impossible to rob the previous four children, and the town was not safe, so they had to go to the countryside overnight.

Not long after, Steward Zhang quietly left the town with a few servants...

"Sir, we have rescued the four children, so will tomorrow's sacrifice be postponed?"

In the woods outside the town, some students couldn't help asking.

Zhou Yu shook his head: "It's hard to say, this kind of sacrifices are all optimistic about the date in advance, and generally will not postpone it. Therefore, they are very likely to jump the wall in a hurry."

"What do you mean, sir, that they will go and get those four children back?"

"It doesn't matter whether they rob or not. Whether they are robbing the four children or taking children from other families, we don't have to worry about it for now. When the sacrifice starts tomorrow, we will see for ourselves."

The next day.

Soon after dawn, someone beat gongs and drums on the street to inform the people to prepare for the sacrificial ceremony.

By noon, hundreds of people had already come to the river beach outside the Dragon King Temple, and many ordinary people came one after another.

Some brought joss sticks, some brought sacrifices, and some donated some money to show their hearts.

At noon, the sacrifice officially began.

Yuanwai Feng was supposed to preside over the sacrificial ceremony, but after yesterday's incident, Yuanwai Feng felt ashamed, so he appointed a younger brother of the clan to preside over it with several elders in the town.

Of course, a great dancer is also indispensable.

Zhou Yu and his party took time to arrive at the scene when the sacrifice had just begun.

Because all the people's attention was on the front at this time, and they were not so eye-catching standing behind. After all, there were almost a thousand people on the scene.

"Sir, they really kidnapped four other children."

"Well, I see, keep your voice down, don't disturb them, it's not too late to save people when the time comes."

"Ok sir."

After going through a series of rituals, it finally came to the stage of offering sacrifices.

The four big men took the four children out of the sedan chair respectively, ignored the children's mournful cries, put them one by one on a small boat moored by the river, and then pushed them to the middle of the river, letting them flow smoothly. And drift.

"Sir, sir..."

Some students saw that the critical moment had come, but the teacher still didn't respond, so he turned his head anxiously to remind him.

As a result, the gentleman who was standing beside him disappeared at some point.

"Lord Dragon, please bless everyone with good weather, and the safety of humans and animals..."

"I ask the Dragon Lord to bless..."

"Dragon Lord bless our sailing smoothly..."

A group of people also murmured in a low voice.

In the river, the four children were frightened and cried desperately, and the boat swayed with the waves in the river.

Suddenly, a huge vortex appeared in the center of the river, as if a monster hidden in the river opened its bloody mouth.

The boat lost control instantly and quickly slid towards the vortex...

"Mother, mother..."

"Father, help..."

Although the four children were young, they also knew that disaster was imminent, and they cried even more fiercely.

……

(End of this chapter)