[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

The tour group did not leave the temple warehouse immediately as Guda had ordered.

A group of young people helped Cousin, who was slightly injured, clean the warehouse.Meanwhile, Yi Nan fetched some clean water to help Cu Xin clean the scratches on his arm.

She spoke deliberately to distract Cushing from thinking about those painful wounds.

"Kushin, where are you from? You came to Uruk when you were young... Do you still remember your hometown and your parents?"

Cushing shook his head blankly.

"I do not know either."

"...I don't remember either."

Yinan was not discouraged, and asked carefully, only to find that Kuxin was not a labor "dedicated" to the temple from villages within Uruk's sphere of influence, as Guda said.He said he was an orphan adopted by the temple when he was young.

"About your hometown, do you really not remember anything?" Yinan asked.

Kusin shook his head, remained silent for a long while, and finally raised the reed he had been clutching, and said, "This... the big river, the people fishing by the river, the water birds... I sometimes dream late at night, and I can dream about these things. "

Yinan also felt a little discouraged. There are two big rivers nearby, and the Euphrates is mighty and mighty, extending into the sea.There are reeds growing everywhere along the river, and Cushing's hometown may be anywhere-this information is useless.

Yinan asked again: "If you leave Uruk and take you for a walk along the Euphrates River, will you recognize your hometown?"

Kusin shook his head, then nodded suddenly after a while.Finally he said: "But Cousin . . . never got out of Uruk."

When Inan asked, he realized that Kuxin had been working here with the former apprentice priests since he was young, and basically never left the scope of the Inanna Temple.

On the way to bring everyone back to the hotel, Yinan was thinking silently.When she got there, she secretly went to Dumuzi and asked in a low voice:

"Du, you mentioned your sister to me once. Do you remember how she got lost?"

Dumuzi was taken aback, and asked Yi Nan: "How did you think of this? Could it be... What did Kuxin say?"

Inan shook his head.Dumuzi restrained his surprise slightly, and recalled little by little: "I don't really remember, I was too young at that time—"

"The day my sister disappeared, I just remember that my father asked all the people in the village to help. Everyone searched around the village with torches until night."

"Grandmother stayed with me. It was late at night, and I fell asleep in a daze. Abba came back suddenly and told Grandma that my sister was lost... He said, he said it was a dedication to the goddess. From then on The Goddess will bless her."

Dumuzi suddenly turned his head, stared at Yinan, and held her wrist with one hand: "Nan, did you ask something from Kuxin?"

Yi Nan shook his head: "There is no evidence."

But the more Dumuzi thought about it, the more it seemed possible: "My God, I remember, I remember, two days before my sister disappeared, the priests of Uruk came to the village... I have seen the blue robes on them, that is The last time I played with my sister in the village..."

"Nan, you mean, my sister may be in Uruk, and she may be a member of the trainee priests...like Kuxin?"

Dumuzi grasped Yinan's wrist, tightening his grip, and suddenly realized that this hope was actually very slim.He immediately let go, and his whole body softened as if he was discouraged.

"I'm just looking forward to you, knowing that this possibility still exists." Yi Nan comforted carefully.

She thought about the origin of the "trainee priest".There are so many villages in Uruk's sphere of influence, and most of them are very pious. Even if they are poor, they will not delay the sacrifice to Inanna.

Uruk has developed to the scale it is today, and it is in great need of labor.Some of the guests they "recruited" from all over the country would stay in Uruk as priests like Guda did.

Then, the best way is to teach them from an early age and train them to be hardworking and loyal laborers.

From this point of view, "apprentice priests" like Kuxin are likely to be orphans adopted by the temple from various places, or even "lost" children. As for the inside story, it is not enough for outsiders to know.

If you are lucky, Dumuzi's sister may live to this day, and maybe you can meet Dumuzi again.But the deep damage to one family has been done and cannot be undone.

The so-called "priest" system in Uruk needs to be changed urgently - the priests obviously have institutions similar to "schools", but they do not really carry out the responsibility of "education"; there are clearly grades and division of duties, but there is no fairness Words... Not to mention, those shady actions.

Seeing Dumuzi covering his face with his hands and trembling slightly, Yinan felt pity in his heart, stretched out his hand, and gently pressed Dumuzi's shoulder.

Unexpectedly, the young shepherd suddenly came up, knelt down in front of Yi Nan, put his face on Yi Nan's knee, and wept bitterly, unable to stop for a while.

Yi Nan could only stretch out his hand, gently stroking Dumuzi's soft and slightly curly brown hair, as a sign of comfort:

Cry, cry all you want.

Young man, pour out your sorrows—

And tomorrow, we still have hope.

When Gu Da came to find Yi Nan the next day, the hotel owner told him: The whole tour group had gone out.

Guda inquired all the way, and finally found Yinan and her people outside the wheat warehouse managed by Kuxin.

"You are..." Gu Da was very surprised.

"It's nothing, I just came to trouble Kuxin yesterday, and I'm here to help today." The young people said with smiles.

Gu Da believed it, and felt quite happy: In this way, at least before the New Year celebration, there will be a few more laborers coming to the temple's warehouse.

"I forgot to ask you yesterday, can I return my keepsake?" Gu Da asked rather embarrassedly.He was so excited yesterday that he rushed out to report to the high-ranking priest. While adding an extra "merit" to himself, he simply forgot about it.

Yi Nan asked, "Have you completed what I asked you to do?"

Guda: "I'm done..."

He suddenly realized that Yi Nan had never said that since the time when everyone "did not know each other if they didn't fight each other", they only asked him for one thing.

... Blame him for not asking earlier.

So Gu Da asked humbly again: "Do you have any orders?"

Yi Nan smiled and said, "This is the last one, I think you can do it."

"I want to meet the 'witch' of Uruk."

Gu Da bowed his body even lower: "You are right! I can indeed do it."

"I came to see you today to invite you to enter the temple in Uruk and meet Lord Wu."

Yi Nan clapped his hands lightly: "Very well, it seems that we want to go together."

"Then please come with me!" Gu Dabi gestured, but his body did not move.

Yi Nan raised his hand amusedly, and handed Gu Da a dagger carved from jade from his pocket.The other party finally learned to behave this time.

Seeing that Yinan was about to leave, Dumuzi rushed up: "Nan, let me go with you!"

Yi Nan shook his head: "According to what we discussed before, you are with everyone, so I can rest assured."

With a bright mind like Dumuzi staying with the young people, Yinan would feel nothing to worry about.

Du Muzi agreed, and watched Yi Nan leave.Just when the two of them were about to walk out of the courtyard, Dumuzi suddenly raised his voice: "Lord Guda, don't forget what you saw that night!"

He was reminding the other party: Yi Nan is not an ordinary person.

Gu Da suddenly shuddered all over his body, and left a sentence: "Don't worry, I will never dare to offend you." Then he took Yi Nan away.

Inan followed Guda, along the long steps, to the base of the Inanna Temple, and passed through the huge colonnades made of rare local giant trees in front of the temple.

Gu Da looked back, thinking that Yi Nan would be shocked by this majestic and majestic temple, but Yi Nan just casually looked around, nodding here, saying "oh" there, and even being a little picky expression.

How did he know that if the ancient relics from 8000 years ago wanted to shock a modern person like Yi Nan, Gu Da was a bit too strong for him.

Yi Nan's calmness touched Gu Da again, causing the priest to shout in his heart: Sure enough——

He led Yi Nan through the temple dedicated to the statue of the goddess and into the back garden of the temple.There is a small courtyard that is beautifully arranged: in the middle of the courtyard, there is a small lotus pond, and a water lily is opening shyly.

Around the lotus pond, there are huge ferns and tiger piranhas planted, creating a lush greenery.Coupled with the sound of gurgling water coming from nowhere, this small courtyard looks extremely quiet.

Yinan: This is a masterpiece created by the ancient working people!

Seeing this garden, Yi Nan had a little bit more expectation for that mysterious "shaman".

She casually asked, "Guda, have you seen Wu?"

Gu Da shook his head in embarrassment, and put his index finger on his lips to signal silence.Facing such a woman who is not afraid of anything, Gu Da...he has nothing to do.

Finally he brought Yi Nan to a small brick house at the end of the garden, and a maid in a primary color linen robe turned out of the brick house.When she saw Gu Da, she bowed deeply—this made Yi Nan realize that the girl in front of her was also a "trainee priest".

But this beautiful trainee priest did not talk to Guda, but turned directly to Yi Nan, bowed deeply again, then turned around and lifted the purple linen curtain hanging on the door of the hut.

Gu Da bowed and retreated, Yi Nan knew that the person in this room should be the present witch.

She stepped into the room without hesitation, and the novice priestess withdrew.Footsteps sounded outside the house, and the priestess and Guda retreated together.Gradually, the sound of water became the only sound again, and the whole garden belonged to Yinan and the witch in this house.

——Witch of this era.

—Successor of Wizard Dan.

Inan was extremely curious.But there were curtains hanging everywhere in front of her eyes, Yinan could only hear someone breathing gently on the opposite side.

She instinctively felt that the other party was secretly observing her, even testing herself.

But the more this happened, the more Yinan had to act calmly, like everyone else, even admiring the furnishings in the house at will.

She had seen three levels of priests earlier, light blue robes, sapphire blue robes, and dark blue robes. As the level increased, the amount of lapis lazuli in the robes increased in turn.

Now at the place of "Witch", the fabrics in the hut are all purple-red.

Yinan looked at it and nodded repeatedly: she knew the source of this purple color should be a kind of conch from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.Fishermen, who make their living by the sea, dive into the water to collect the snails, collecting a purple powder from the inside of their shells to use as a dye.

This kind of dye is very rare, only [-] conch shells can be used to extract a small box of dye.It is more expensive than lapis lazuli.

The use of this color by witches is obviously a level higher than that of priests.

"You are fine!"

In the depths of the hut, a slightly tired female voice sounded.

"I invited you here today to ask you if you would like to be this year's saint."

Yi Nan: Guess it!

She had guessed early on that the witches of this generation, the witches who never showed up, who lived at the end of such an elegant garden and were served by priestesses, should be women.

And she asked Priest Guda to arrange for her to visit this witch for the same purpose - she would become the "Holy Maiden" at Inanna's Holy Marriage Ceremony this year.

Of course, it was not for the purpose of choosing a handsome and rich groom to live with him, but to take this opportunity to gain enough appeal to make Uruk make important changes.

But the problem now is that Wu made the same decision as she did.

This is more interesting.

Before that, she deliberately showed her strength and presented the two-wheeled vehicle to the priest to help Kuxin come up with the idea of ​​burning clay tablets... Yi Nan was more concerned about the young people around her.How this action affected the decision-making of witches and priests, Yinan was not completely clear.

But it was clear that witches and priests valued her very much now.

Thinking of this, Yi Nan spread his hands out, "I...maybe I don't want to."

She refused ambiguously, and immediately heard Wu of this era laugh softly.

"You think you're going to 'marry' someone you don't like, right?"

Yinan: ...?I came to talk to you about power, but you talk about love with me?

Behind the curtain on the opposite side, the chubby figure stood up.Her figure is very beautiful, the lines are very elegant, and she looks quite young.

"I have been a witch for more than 20 years, and I have seen many girls like you."

"Beautiful, affectionate...the heart belongs to you, am I right?"

Yi Nan thought for a while and nodded.

If her heart really belongs, then her object is the splendid and fascinating civilization of Mesopotamia.Wu speculated about her thoughts like this, and really underestimated her.

"Don't worry, child! 'Holy Maiden' is just a cover. Only a witch can truly hold a holy marriage on behalf of Goddess Inanna, and sacrifice the most sincere joy in the world to the gods."

Wu raised the curtain hanging in front of him.Yi Nan immediately smelled an aroma—to be honest, it was closer to the smell that would be smelled in the kitchens of later generations. Yi Nan quickly identified it. The aroma of anise and cinnamon was quite obvious, and there seemed to be a little bit of cumin.

It wasn't until Wu came to Yinan that she saw Wu's face clearly.

Wu is a well-maintained woman with a graceful figure, even a young man like her feels a little ashamed.She was also wearing a purple linen robe, and the linen was wrapped around her chest, only covering her left arm, leaving her right arm covered with essences and ointments exposed.

Even though he was good-looking, crow's feet appeared at the corners of Wu's eyes, and there were faint traces of white snow between his black hair.

"I understand a little bit." Yi Nan said immediately.

She can already think of the scene of the Holy Wedding Ceremony: the beautiful saint, standing side by side with the groom selected from the world, walked to their newly married bridal chamber side by side amidst the loud blessings of the guests watching the ceremony at the ceremony.

In the new house, curtains hang everywhere, candle shadows flicker, and the light is dim—the relay between the saint and the witch has been completed, and the person who replaced the saint and the groom to complete the holy marriage is actually an experienced witch.

No wonder holy marriages always go smoothly—it turns out that one of the parties is not a novice!

"I see." There was a knowing smile on the corner of Yi Nan's lips, letting the other party understand immediately that she understood.

"But I still don't understand. As a witch, you should be the person closest to the gods in this world. You should understand the meaning of the ceremony. What can you get from such a ceremony?"

The witch who lives behind the temple of Inanna is at least the most powerful person in the city of Uruk.She certainly has no shortage of sex, but why does she insist on using beautiful and pure girls as bait to attract handsome and rich young people, and she does this at the holy wedding ceremony?

"You don't understand." Wu suddenly sighed.

"Without the Holy Marriage, Uruk would not be what it is today. Every year, the candidates for the 'Holy Groom' offer sacrifices to the temple, accounting for almost half of all sacrifices. It is God The temple's biggest source of income."

It turned out to be for important financial revenue.

"Beyond that, the divine wedding at the rising of Venus, the perfect union of man and woman, is the only way mortals can perceive the goddess Inanna."

Yi Nan was dumbfounded and froze on the spot: "...the only way to perceive the gods?"

Behaviors originally dominated by hormones and dopamine are considered to be a way to "perceive" gods in this era? !

Yi Nan once really wanted to apply to Daniel for a "rewind". She really wanted to go through the past 1400 years and see how this primitive god worship developed such a wonderful theory.

However, this is not an example.In other civilizations, there have also been sacrificial ceremonies that use this method to "perceive" the gods.

It's just that what made Yinan most dumbfounded was that the "god" that the witch wanted to perceive was himself standing opposite the witch at this moment.

It's just... even more outrageous.

Wu narrowed his eyes slightly, carefully examining Yi Nan's expression, wondering if her surprise was real.

"Now Uruk is facing some very difficult problems. At this time, I have no choice. I must let myself perceive the heart of the goddess Inanna—let her guide us on the next step." Wu sees Inan Already somewhat moved, strike while the iron is hot.

Yinan thought: Uruk has more than "some problems", it is simply a big problem.And the biggest problem is probably the witch in front of him.

She immediately nodded meekly.

"As long as you are willing to respect my wishes, I am naturally willing to fulfill your wishes."

A smile immediately bloomed on Wen Yanwu's face - she is also a very pretty woman.Just such a smile made the crow's feet in the corners of her eyes more obvious.

"That's great," Wu's frail and boneless right arm wrapped around Yi Nan's arm lightly, and she led Yi Nan out.

The trainee priestess had been waiting outside earlier, so she quickly opened the curtain for the two of them.

Wu led Yi Nan out of the hut, accompanied by the sound of gurgling water, along the pond with water lilies to the garden gate.

There is a large piece of blue robes in front of me, from dark to light, the gradient colors are arranged very nicely.

A considerable amount of balm was applied to the witch's arm, so that Yi Nan's nose was being poisoned desperately by the smell of cinnamon and anise.Just as she was trying to hold back her sneeze, Wu suddenly raised Yi Nan's left arm high, and said coldly, "Everyone, come and pay homage. This is the saint of this year."

Seeing Yi Nan's appearance, the priests already knew that she was firmly in the position of saint.Several high-ranking and mid-level priests who had met Yi Nan before, now saw Yi Nan with awe in their eyes.The middle priest Guda's knees were even weaker, and he almost knelt down.

Everyone took a step forward, and bowed down to Yi Nan and Wu in unison.

The trainee priestess who followed Yi Nan also lowered her head and squatted down.

"Gashti, send the saint to her residence." The witch ordered the apprentice priestess.Gashti quickly took Yinan's arm from the witch, carefully supported her, and led her away from the temple.

"She's a very smart girl."

After Yi Nan left, Wu looked at the backs of Yi Nan and the priestess and nodded.

"But she's just a smart girl—" Wu repeated.

"Then, our plan—"

The leading high-ranking priest pushed back all the low-ranking and middle-ranking priests, and even Guda was sent away by him.A handful of high priests surround the witch.Among the dark blue robes, the purple red on Wu's body was so bright that it seemed to be able to jump out.

"Just follow the plan." Wu made a decisive decision.

"But... what Guda said, he had an intuition that that one was the goddess herself." The high-ranking priest hurriedly added, "I think she is also quite strange. Other than that, everything else..."

When Wu heard this, he burst out laughing with a "ha".

"Let me remind everyone that there has been no true god in this world for more than 1000 years."

"However, it doesn't matter if she is a real god or not! Seeing that Uruk is about to get involved in the battle with the main god of Eridu." The witch's lips curled into a sinister curve, "If she is a real god, she should be protected The territory of Uruk is worthy of the sacrifices made by the people for so many years; if she is not...then hand her over to the Eridu people to appease the anger of the god Enki."

"Our crisis can be passed smoothly."

Only then did a group of high-ranking priests understand Wu's idea, and praised in unison: "You are still brilliant!"

Inan followed the priestess named Gashti to a separate hut on the east side of the temple.

The furnishings in the hut are very simple, and the room is almost empty. Except for a few containers, there is no extra decoration in this room, and it is not even as good as a small hotel in Uruk.But there are all kinds of fabrics piled up in the corner of this room, and at first glance, they are all purple-red.

She, a "temporary worker" saint, seems to enjoy the same treatment as witches.

Gashti asked softly, "Is there anything else you need?"

Yi Nan replied casually: "I need to go back and see the companion who came with me..."

Unexpectedly, when she turned her head, she happened to see Gashti kneeling beside her, clutching the corner of Yi Nan's robe, with anxious eyes.She whispered: "Beautiful girl, please leave here as soon as possible, leave Uruk as soon as possible. The witch chose you as a saint just to use you. You can't believe anything she says!"

Inan paused, stopped to look into Gashti's eyes, and what he saw was anxiety and sincere sympathy.

Oh huh... Yi Nan thought: This is more interesting!