Is the boss fine today?

Zhao Zhao and Xia Sheng were doing Tai Chi outside the temple in high spirits.

Tan Yue didn't sleep well all night, squatting listlessly under the tree to rinse his mouth, Zhao Zhao laughed at him.He wiped his face and went back to the temple to help Yi Yun pack the tent.Situ couldn't help, he walked around in front of the Buddha statue by himself, and almost stepped on the red futon covered with a thick layer of dust.Tan Yue had to pay attention to him while folding the tent.

Situ was still wandering around, getting closer and closer to the Buddha statue.Tan Yue saw that something was wrong, so he threw the tent to stop him, "Hey, stand still here, don't run into the Buddha."

"Do you believe this?" Situ asked, "Many people are atheists now."

"More people are polytheists. Now you tell Zhao Zhao that this stone has spirituality and is very famous in the local area. He will come to kowtow immediately."

"you too?"

"It doesn't count. From what you said, you don't seem to believe in religion. Is this the reason why you didn't go to the sacrifice?" Tan Yue grasped the point.

"Yes." Situ said frankly, "the existence of God has no meaning."

The more I talked, the more I was surprised. Meizhen is located in a remote area, the majority of residents are ethnic minorities, and the local folk religion atmosphere is particularly strong. This is a place where even Buddhism has declined and no one cares about temples. Situ grew up here but was an atheist. .

Wait, the Buddha statue—Tan Yue looked up, and the Buddha was looking at the two of them silently.After talking more, he clasped his hands together and said sincerely: "Don't blame him for the unintentional words."

After apologizing, Tan Yue pulled him aside again, and suddenly said: "You always seem to be different from what I imagined." He used a gossiping, homely tone.

"Who do you think I am?" Situ's answer was also a bit abrupt.

"I don't know." Tan Yue said, "I haven't thought about it."

They were standing by the window.Through the windows of the temple, you can see the four corners of the sky divided by the iron fence.The dark clouds in the sky are thick, rolling back and forth, a color between lead gray and grape gray.Compared with yesterday's sunny day, today's weather is much more depressing. During the rainy season in City W, most of the clouds are dyed gray.

Such a gloomy sky, happy people will be depressed when they see it, and neuropathy will be stimulated when they see it.Talking between the two, the heart is very peaceful, only a bug squats in the ventricle to tickle him.

It hadn't rained outside yet, and a little wind blew up, stroking Situ's clothes and hair, and slightly trembling eyelashes.Situ turned his face sideways in the direction of Tan Yue, lowered his eyebrows pleasingly, and looked very obedient.

Tan Yue knew that he couldn't see it, so he decided to describe the sky to him: "The sky is as big as a palm, gray, with dense clouds. Dogs want to bark when they see it, and people feel like vomiting when they see it."

"Then don't read it." Situ was amused by him.He stretched out a hand, touched Tan Yue's right eye from the pinna of his ear, and covered it, "Don't look."

Tan Yue grabbed his hand and lifted it down, a little light from outside the window spun and jumped on Situ's ring.The ring must have been old for some time, and the silver surface was turning black.The engraving on it is fine and strange. It is a bird with a slender tail and a beak like a hook.He remembered that the professor had told him in college that this kind of bird was called Kuer in the population of the Mei nationality in W City, which means the messenger of the gods.

Tan Yue asked him: "Is this ring handed down by the elders in your family? It looks like it has been around for many years."

"Yes." Situ didn't deny it, "it's not very antique, but the silver hasn't been polished well. Do you like it? Go to the jewelry store and buy an identical one and take it home."

An indescribable loss captured Tan Yue's thoughts, and he shook his head.

"Forget it," he said, "I don't wear a ring."

What's more, Kur was already dead.

In the 90s of the last century, it is said that a hunter saw Kur in Mount Mengla, which is also the last record of the envoy of God appearing in this world.Ku'er is extinct, Tan Kesheng and Yan Ni are also dead.Nothing, nothing left.

The return journey was much more difficult than yesterday, but fortunately they were lucky, it didn't rain all the way, and they returned to the inn smoothly.Several people carried their things on their backs, and went back to their rooms to eat and sleep.

Tired of talking, he fastened the door: "I won't open the door today, I'll rest for a while."

"Alright." Situ couldn't deny it, and said, "Tonight is the last bonfire party, do you want to go and have a look?"

Situ's words seemed familiar, last week he was bewitched and coaxed Tan Yue to go to the Sacrificial Festival in the same way.In fact, Tan Yue couldn't get excited, and felt that it was hard to come to W City, and the sacrifice was only once a year.

"Let's talk." He decided to take a shower and go to bed first.

I slept through the night.When he went downstairs, he found the hall was quiet and dark.In the dark hall, Situ was sitting behind the counter playing Rubik's Cube.Standing at the stairs, Tan Yue could only see his flying fingers and the twirling hair on top of his head.

He and Situ got closer and closer, and began to speculate on Situ's character traits, but the conclusion was not necessarily correct, because he knew that what Situ showed was not all his own nature.

Situ seems to need nothing, light, candles, society, friends, money... a strange person.Tan Yue turned on the light, and the strong light pouring down from the top of his head made Situ raise his head and squint his eyes, a pair of dark pupils shrunk into small circles.

"I'm going to see the bonfire party, please pay attention to your own safety."

Tan Yue went downstairs with his backpack on his back.

"Well, have fun." Situ smiled.

The more he talked, he remembered his other face in front of the guests. He seemed to be very good at this kind of false enthusiasm-there was no smile in his eyes. The more he talked, he speculated that it was because he couldn't see, so it was difficult to imitate the eyes, or , he is too lazy to be perfect.Apart from this shortcoming, in fact, his imitation is very capable of bluffing.The more I talked, the more I guessed that he didn't like hospitality.He's good at things he doesn't like.

The bonfire party is not far from the night of sacrifice.Compared with that night, there was one more drum and one less god.The sound of the drum burst out from the hands of a strong middle-aged man, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, Tan Yue stood too close, and felt his body trembling indiscriminately with the sound of the drum.

The crowd was denser than last time, Tan Yue saw many young men and women who were obviously tourists.Women dance to the beat of drums.The aroma of wine and barbecue, and the smell of burning fireworks surrounded everyone.Tan Yue noticed that the girl with silver ornaments who led the singing on the night of the sacrifice also came.This time she was not standing by the campfire, but on a grassy field away from the crowd.

Across the surging crowd, Tan Yue and her stared at each other for a while.

The girl was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with delicate features, dark and childish face.She still wore delicate silver ornaments on her head, and silver rings on her arms, thighs, and neck. Among all the women present, she was the only one who adorned herself in this way. The more she talked, the more she didn't know what role this girl played in the sacrifice.

The two stared at each other silently for a few seconds, and the girl suddenly smiled. Her smile was extraordinarily sweet, and the silver butterfly on her head fluttered its wings slightly.The girl opened her hands to her, an inviting gesture.The more unclear the conversation became, he hesitated for a few seconds before walking towards the girl.

He stood in front of the girl, but she still maintained the posture of reaching out.Talking more puzzled, he asked, "Is there something wrong?"

The girl chuckled, and suddenly grabbed Tan Yue's hand.

She said, "Let's go!" in Chinese.

"Where?"

The girl didn't answer, she dragged Tan Yue to a trot all the way.

The sound of the drum gradually faded away, and was left behind along with the noise of the crowd.They ran for a while, and the sound of the water gradually approached. Without saying a word, the girl pulled him to a bamboo building -- the bamboo building was built over a small stream and surrounded by bamboo forest behind it.In the night, the silent bamboo building stands quietly.

Tan Yue shook off her hand and asked, "What did you bring me here for? Where is this?"

After hearing this, the girl's smile suddenly collapsed—the slight expectation in her eyes disappeared all of a sudden.She seemed a little angry, her mouth was so pouted that she could hang a pot.

Tan Yue continued to ask, "Where is this?"

The girl glared at him, stomped her feet angrily, and then rushed into the bamboo forest.

Tan Yue didn't chase after her.

The night was thick, and there was something dormant in the bamboo forest, and the conversation became more and more hesitant.Seeing the bamboo building on the stream, he made a more dangerous choice.

In fact, he should have returned the same way, but—everyone has come, this is a sacrifice that only happens once a year.Tan Yue thinks so.

Tan Yue groped his way up the stairs made of bamboo.The moonlight was extraordinarily bright tonight, leaking through the gaps between the bamboo and the bamboo slices, illuminating the path under Tan Yue's feet.The doors of the rooms in the bamboo building were half-opened and half-closed, Tan Yue walked up quietly and suddenly saw someone inside.

A man is bent over, nose to straw, as if sucking on something on a table.The other man next to him did the same thing, a bony man with a strange look on his face when he looked up, a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Talking for a while, he suddenly thought of a possibility.

Are they... on drugs?Talking more is not sure.

He thought it was better for him to leave.Tan Yue's footsteps were lighter than before, he didn't expect that just after he took a few steps, someone shouted something inside the door, that person spoke in a dialect, fierce and cruel.

The more I talked, I didn't think too much, and ran away.The people behind him quickly chased after him, Tan Yue's heart was beating wildly, and he became a little excited again—maybe he would really die this time.He didn't stop, but instead of running in the original direction, he went to the back of the bamboo building.He quickly jumped down the stairs, without caring about his way, and plunged into the bamboo forest.

The bamboo forest was darker than the outside, and he stumbled over a stone before taking two steps.Tan Yue smiled, and simply squatted on the ground to pick up a sharp stone, and shook it in his hand.When he stood up again, he found a figure not far away.

The man was wearing a black robe and a red mask, the hood covering his forehead.Under the moonlight, he was like an evil ghost, walking lightly towards Tan Yue...

living god?

Tan Yue was stunned, but he held back and didn't greet him with the stone on his head.He opened his mouth and was about to ask him what he was doing.I don't want Living God's hand wrapped in a sleeve to suddenly grab Tan Yue's right hand, just like the girl pulled him away just now, and quickly led him to the depths of the bamboo forest.Behind them, the footsteps of several people gradually faded away.

Talking more and more, I heard the breathing of the living god when he was running, which was no different from that of a human being.

Does God need to breathe too?His imagination wandered.

Living God dragged him for an unknown amount of time, and suddenly stopped in front of a hill.It was too early to talk about physical strength, and now I hurriedly supported the bamboo to catch my breath.He gasped and asked, "Where is this..."

The living god raised an arm and pointed in the direction of a hill.He looked along his arm, and there were sparse bamboos on the hill, and there was a path in the middle where people walked out.

Tan Yue suddenly understood what he meant: "Walk this way?"

Living God nodded.

"Why don't you talk?" The conversation slowed down and began to ponder the intentions of this living god, "Where does the road end? Don't lie to me, I was tricked to go downstairs to the bamboo building..."

The Living God is tall and strong.Pushing Tan Yue, who was exhausted, to the intersection, motioned him to go.

Tan Yue smiled: "What are you in a hurry for? Can you let me see your face?"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to uncover the mask of the living god.

He was already mentally prepared that he would not be able to succeed and that he might be beaten to death by the living god.In the next second, a hand grabbed his neck, which hadn't recovered from his pulse, and slammed him backwards with all his strength and mercilessly, pressing him against clusters of bamboo as hard as iron.

Being strangled by someone around the neck and pinched by a bamboo on his back, he was in pain and out of breath, trembling, and he laughed hard: "Remember me..."

The hideous mask... the fire... the girl's singing...

On the sacrificial night, he once met the living god from a distance.

Tanyue never resisted in the face of death, his eyes gradually darkened, and he suddenly saw the living god lower his head, and the red mask approached him, stopping a few centimeters before Tanyue's eyes, holding the edge of the mask with one hand and lifting it upwards Open—Tan Yue saw a section of human wheat-colored skin, the neck.Then, a wet kiss fell on the side of his face near the earlobe.

The living god kissed him.

The shackles around his neck suddenly disappeared, Tan Yue took a deep breath, coughed and knelt down with his legs weak.The living god hugged his falling body, his mask had already been put on, Tan Yue had no chance to see his true face, when he bent down, his low laughter came from Tan Yue's ear.

Under the moonlight in the bamboo forest, a kiss.It sounded exciting, but since he was almost strangled to death by the living god just now, this kiss had nothing to do with charming at all.

If the worshiping god of night life lifted his mask and kissed him in front of the campfire without choking his neck, he might have other ideas.As for just now - the cold mask against his ear, the wet and hot tip of his tongue, the feeling of licking his skin...

He coughed and said slowly, "You took advantage of me..." His tone was not harsh, but sounded a bit ambiguous.

The more he talked, the more he saw the eyes in his eye sockets also crooked with a smile.He suddenly wanted to scold Living God.

What are you scolding him for?shameless?sexual harassment?Tan Yue was also amused by himself.

The living god looked up at the moon, let go of his hand again, and left without looking back, disappearing into the depths of the bamboo forest where he came.Tan Yue didn't chase him, and walked on the path pointed by the living god. About half an hour later, he found a street at the end of the hill.The more he talked, the better he knew the way. He bought a bundle of hemp rope in a shop on this road, and the quality was extremely poor.

Back at the inn, Situ was still playing Rubik's Cube in isolation.

Tan Yue looked at him from a distance and asked, "Why is the living god a living god? Because he is alive and his body is a human body?"

"Yes." Situ was perfunctory, "You are really smart."

"How old is he? Is he handsome?"

"do not know."

"He's quite tall."

"Ah."

About the same height as Situ.

Talk more and more.