[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

After bathing, Yi Nan asked the trainee priestess Gashti to smear his body with clear oil for maintenance.

This is a kind of olive oil, and you can smell a burst of olive fragrance when you pick it up.People in this era also mixed olive oil and plant ash to make simple "soap" to cleanse the body before the big day.

But when Gashti brought the balm, Yi Nan politely refused, she really couldn't accept this kind of balm mixed with condiments.She can still accept olive oil, but as long as she thinks that she is exuding the fragrance of cumin, she feels like a small barbecue. When she turns over, someone will sprinkle her with a handful of chili powder.

Ever since Inan rejected Gashti's request, the trainee priestess has been silent all the time, just busy with her hands silently, after wiping clean oil, she changed into a clean and comfortable primary color linen robe.

Inan knew that Gashti had taken a huge risk to remind herself earlier, and she was also very grateful.But she flatly refused.

This refusal may have hurt the self-esteem of the trainee priestess to some extent. Since then, Gashti has ignored Yinan's various problems, but she has tried her best to satisfy Yinan's various requests.

Yinan secretly praised her: she is a good girl with a kind heart!

Gashti's information was very important, which allowed her to figure out Wu's plan—the other party was not a good person, and put on an attitude of "I only talk to young people about love", and secretly planned other things.

But Inan thinks it's a good thing.

She was ready to do something big on the day of the Holy Wedding—to change Uruk.

In recent days, the members of her tour group spent all day with the trainee priests beside the temple, also preparing for the ceremony—if necessary, Yi Nan would seek the help of the trainee priests.

What Yinan was most worried about before was that she might need to use "Inanna's Godhead", a weapon she least wanted to use.

After all, if she really wants to use it, the trouble is how she should prove that she is a "god"... She can't perform "broken boulder in the chest" in public.

This kind of worry continued until Gash came to remind him in advance——Inan suddenly felt refreshed and felt that he had no more worries.

Since the priest and witch also intend to use her, then she simply accepts the "good intentions" of the other party, and waits until Uruk's existing chronic illnesses are resolved before talking about other things.In short, this time she has to be careful, not only to gather the power of ordinary people, but also to break those blind beliefs that don't know the so-called.

Inan rested his chin in thought.While the apprentice priestess beside her was busy, she refused to say a word to Inando.Perhaps apart from the frustration of her self-esteem, the girl was also worried that Yi Nan would "sell" herself to Wu in the future.

Yi Nan turned his head to look at Gashti, his eyes darting around her, seeming very curious.

"Are you a trainee priest too? Do these chores by Wu's side all the time?"

Gashti ignored Yi Nan at all, and kept busy with his head down.

Yi Nan thought for a while, then immediately changed his tone to a gentle one, and said to Gashti: "I don't want to listen to you, it's because of your consideration—"

Her voice was soft and pierced into people's hearts. "If I just slipped away and left you alone to face the witch and the high priest, what would you do?"

Gashti's hand stopped suddenly: This girl seems to have never thought about this question.As soon as Yi Nan said that, she immediately came to her senses, her face flushed red, and she didn't know how to make up for the rudeness just now.

Yinan, however, chatted with Gashti as if there was no grievance between them.

"Do you remember your hometown? Who else is there? How old were you when you came to Uruk?"

Gashti looked like he didn't want to pay attention to Yi Nan, but after a long while he suddenly shook his head and whispered four words: "I don't remember."

Yi Nan continued to stare at her, waiting for her to communicate with him.

At this time, Gashti lowered his head, and a "V"-shaped amulet carved from hardwood was exposed from the collar of his robe.

Yi Nan's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly said, "Hey, I don't think I've seen this before."

Gashti reached out and grabbed the amulet, quickly stuffed it into the neckline, raised his face and stared at Yi Nan: "You...where have you seen it?"

"In a small village on the banks of the Euphrates River, there are vast fields and rolling hills outside the village. On the hills are scattered cattle and sheep grazing by shepherds..."

Yinan's description obviously triggered a little bit of vague memory in Gashti, but it was not enough to make her remember everything, so that she looked at Yinan with blank eyes.

"Right now I'm not entirely sure that I can help you. But the reason why I promised the witch to become a 'Saint', knowing that she would not hesitate to plot, is for many apprentice priests like you." Yinan said. Look into her eyes.

"I just want to use my ability to do something for you and help you." Yi Nan said with extra sincerity, "Are you willing to help me when necessary?"

Gashti's big eyes looked at Yi Nan without blinking, and then they blinked rapidly after a while, and tears welled up in his eyes.She quickly turned her gaze to the side, pretending to be indifferent and said, "Let me think about it again—"

Yi Nan was overjoyed: at least this girl who was most familiar with Wu's movements and knowledge of Wu had a high probability of being drawn into her camp by her.

She observed Gashti's appearance and age, and they all matched what Dumuzi said.Qashti is probably Dumuzi's sister.

So she lightly pressed her hand on the back of Gashti's hand and said softly, "Please have hope in life, your wish may come true soon."

Gashti's eyes were a little dubious, but he finally nodded.

New Years is just two days away.When this day came, the spring day had already returned, the weather was fine, and the sky was clear.

When the sky was getting late, the golden star hanging on the western sky looked particularly bright and moving.

In the city of Uruk, getting up early is a festive atmosphere.Every household has placed flowers outside the door, and the sound of drums and music will be played on the street anytime and anywhere. The wealthy households will put the little pottery figurines symbolizing the family on the windowsill in the west, hoping that the Venus will come in the evening. When it rises, the whole family can bathe in the grace of the goddess.

When people go out, they wear a garland of wheat ears or reed stalks around their necks, and the garlands are dyed in several colors.The most common are orange, yellow and ochre, but there are also rich people who can find a way to get blue garlands, wear them around their necks, and head out proudly, rushing to the towering temple in the center of Uruk.

The annual holy marriage ceremony, a sacrifice to Inanna, the goddess of love and harvest, is about to begin.

The holy marriage ceremony is held outside the temple, which can accommodate more spectators.The guests lined up on the steps one by one according to their identities, on both sides.

The front row is selected from all over Uruk, the candidates for the "Sacred Groom".It is said that they have completed the last bidding, but as long as the "Holy Maiden" has not officially come forward to invite, the groom's candidate has not yet been finalized.

Behind the "groom" candidates are young people "invited" from various villages to watch the ceremony.Most of them are young men and women. After the ceremony, they will have the opportunity to participate in the selection of "candidate priests". They start from low-level priests and work their way up step by step. It is not impossible to become high-level priests in the future.

Behind these young people are the "trainee priests" who work hard all day in Uruk.Inan guessed that they were also allowed to participate in the ceremony, probably because the shaman hoped that they would also be inspired during the ceremony, so they maintained devotion and worship to Goddess Inanna.

Behind the apprentice priests, the residents of Uruk gathered in the square.The city currently has a permanent population of about [-]. At this time, all of them gathered here, and the square was crowded with people.

As for Wu herself, Yinan reasonably speculated that she should wait for the "shift" at the place where the "wedding" was officially held.

The drums sounded.Accompanied by the high-ranking priests, Yi Nan climbed up the steps from the outside and passed the crowd watching the ceremony.Every step she takes is on the drums. It is not so much that she deliberately steps on the drums, but that the shrewd drummer has been observing Yi Nan's steps, making every step she takes an exciting node.

When walking up the stairs, the "Holy Maiden" wearing a purple robe shocked the people watching the ceremony just by her appearance.

The trainee priests were very excited for some reason, applauding and applauding together, causing the senior priests to stare at them more, thinking: What does this have to do with you?

The "Holy Maiden" passed by the groom candidates. These young people who were expected to become the "Sacred Groom" instantly stared blankly, blushed, opened their mouths wide and could not utter a word, and all of them were extremely excited— —The appearance of the "Holy Maiden" made them overjoyed.

Finally, Yi Nan stopped in front of the temple and glanced at the sky. The sunset had just faded, and Venus was hanging in the clear night sky in the west.

Once she stopped, the drums stopped.

The melodious flute sounded, and the melody was familiar.It was what she had heard in Tibila Village, and it was what she had blown to a young man with a leaf more than 1000 years ago.

Thousands of years later, the leaves have changed to flute sounds, but the melody has not changed.

Yi Nan stood in front of the tall temple, feeling mixed feelings at the moment. Facing these people who will be thousands of years later, she didn't know where to start with some words.

Fortunately, she didn't need to speak on this occasion.A high-ranking priest beside her spoke on her behalf to "speech", nothing more than the saint, as the spokesperson of God, thanked everyone for their hard work in the past year, and will surely bless Uruk with a bumper harvest and a prosperous population in the coming year.

Next, the "Sacred Groom" candidates who lined up at the front looked at each other, and one of them would become the only "Sacred Groom" this year - the "Guest of the Curtain" of the goddess. Imaginary.

Yi Nan took a glance, and sure enough, he found that the buck-toothed youth was among them, and he was giggling with his mouth open.

The high-ranking priests behind them whispered quietly: "It seems that the one who can take out the lapis lazuli is the one who can give the most."

Yi Nan felt depressed for a while: The buck-toothed young father and son could produce so many lapis lazuli, but in fact, lapis lazuli is only the most valuable to the priests.

If it is a farmer, wheat can provide them with food and clothing throughout the year; if it is a shepherd, the flock is the treasure that allows them to continue their livelihood.But the priests only had lapis lazuli in their eyes——

Unexpectedly, another high-ranking priest said: "No, I don't want that guy. The witch said, no matter how much lapis lazuli is given, I don't want it."

Yi Nan lowered his head and tried his best not to laugh.

It turned out that Wu Zai also had his own "persistence" in this matter.

But in fact, this is also quite unfair to the young people who came to participate in this holy ceremony and become the so-called "sacred bridegroom".

After all, they all thought that they would spend the spring night with a young and beautiful girl like Yinan, but who would have thought that what was waiting for them in the curtain was... although the other party's skills were indeed better.

Yi Nan said silently in his heart: I'm sorry, boys, this year, I may not be able to make your wishes come true.

The previous high priest nodded: "Understood."

So he took a step forward and said loudly: "This year's 'Sacred Groom' candidates will be decided by the Holy Maiden."

The trainee priests were still applauding vigorously, and the crowd who watched the ceremony had nothing to do with themselves. They heard that Yi Nanlai personally selected the "groom", and they also applauded one after another.

Only those candidate "grooms" looked at each other with confused faces, as if they wanted to ask: It seems that this rule was not used before!

Yi Nan immediately understood: If you don't follow the "old rules" to choose a groom, you will be blamed for the "saint" in the end.If others want to blame, they can't blame the priests.

This group of people, what can't you do, let's throw the pot No. 1!

But it gave her a chance to speak up.

An opportunity she had been waiting for.

The drumbeat sounded again, getting shorter and shorter, and stopped abruptly.The scene was silent, everyone held their breath, waiting for Yinan to speak——

The candidates for the "Sacred Groom" in front of him, except for the buck-toothed boy who is a little less elegant, are all handsome young men.Who will this beautiful girl in front of her choose to spend the spring night with?

Yi Nan didn't speak immediately - she sat down on the steps in front of the temple under the eyes of everyone.

Yi Nan sat down very gracefully, but also very lazy. She bent her right leg, supported her right elbow, tilted her head, and rested her mouth with her hands, so that everyone could see her waterfall-like hair flowing from the back of her head. Hang down.

Her left foot protruded from under the purple-red robe, and her snow-white foot stepped on the steps paved with clay bricks.

When the groom candidates who were closest to him saw this scene, their mouths became parched and they couldn't speak for a while.

Yi Nan's eyes flicked across their faces, and she seemed to be muttering something while watching, as if it was difficult to make a choice, and she didn't know who to choose.

People are very excited: after all, the rules are different this year.For a while, from the trainee priest down, everyone was guessing who the saint would choose as the groom for the "holy marriage".

But Yinan's eyes turned around on the faces of the young candidates, and then turned to the crowd standing in line behind.

There was a burst of exclamation from the crowd: What? ——

Could it be that the rules have been changed this year, and the saint chooses the bridegroom herself, but can she also choose from the guests who came from afar?

Behind Yinan, a high-level priest reminded anxiously and politely: "Saint..."

Unexpectedly, Yi Nan got up quickly, took a few steps forward along the steps, directly passed the groom candidates, and came to the crowd watching the ceremony, as if he wanted to see them clearly.

High Priest: ...?

There was a burst of fanatical shouting from the crowd, and everyone seemed to want to squeeze forward desperately so that the saint could see themselves clearly.

This is an opportunity that fell from the sky - which also means that the saint treats each of them the same.

Yi Nan made a hand gesture, telling everyone not to worry, let her watch slowly.

Her expressions and gestures are very contagious and appealing. The moment she gestured, someone immediately consciously maintained order: "Don't worry—how can the saint make such rash decisions."

The young people watching the ceremony immediately stood upright, pursing their lips, trying to show their most humble and polite side.

Yi Nan really looked at it slowly, and almost met everyone's eyes once.Her quick eyes almost seemed to say hello to everyone.

But she didn't stop—she continued, and came before the trainee priests and ordinary residents of Uruk.

The atmosphere at the scene became even more frenzied—countless people opened their arms and cheered Yi Nan. They shouted the name and honorific words of the goddess. —They never dared to hope to become the bridegroom of the goddess, but as long as they have a blessing from the saint, they can be encouraged to work hard for another year... no, a lifetime!

During this, Yi Nan felt that she saw Du Muzi's eyes.

Dumuzi should be wearing the robes of the apprentice priest at this moment, mixing among them.

According to the Sumerian myths handed down by later generations, Yinan should have selected Dumuzi from the crowd at this moment, announcing that he is the king and spokesperson chosen by the goddess for the world—from then on, this young shepherd Man pushed him to the throne of kingship and let him wrest control of Uruk from the temple of mysticism.

But Inan would never do that—at least not yet.

So when she looked in the direction of Dumuzi, she paused for a moment.

She seemed to feel that Dumuzi bowed his head to herself, saying: everything is ready——

I will support you wholeheartedly - Yi Nan seemed to hear the shepherd saying this to himself.

So she turned and walked quickly back to the temple and stood at the top of the steps.

In an instant, the entire temple was silent.People held their breath, waiting for the decision of the saint.The drummer sticks the drumsticks tightly to the drumhead, not daring to let the instrument make any sound.

"Why, are we holding a celebration here today?"

Unexpectedly, when Yi Nan opened his mouth, it didn't look like he was going to announce the groom candidate at all.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, even the high-ranking priests were dumbfounded.They couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in Yinan's gourd.

"Those who are devout to the goddess, please tell me why you came here, what kind of blessings are you praying for, and what kind of blessings do you want?"

Yi Nan's words made many people feel overwhelmed for a while, why did they ask this question in the "Holy Wedding Ceremony"?

But isn't this the original intention of them coming from afar to offer sacrifices?

"On the way here, I heard that in many villages, the land is becoming salty and barren, and it is impossible to cultivate crops that can bring everyone a good harvest..."

Before Yi Nan finished speaking, many of the guests who came from all over the steps to observe the ceremony were already nodding their heads.

"That's how we—"

"There is such a situation—"

The high-ranking priest behind Yinan couldn't hold back anymore, and reminded in a low voice: "Saint, what are you talking about? The witch is still waiting for you to make a choice!"

Yi Nan completely ignored the high-ranking priest, and continued: "Residents living in Uruk, you also face many problems-you usually exchange items for items, which takes time and effort; Not sure what the exact value of those shells is, just as troublesome..."

"There's something wrong with it!"

At the end of the crowd, the innkeepers and small merchants living in Uruk also heard Yinan's words clearly, and responded loudly: "I beg the saint to help me, find a way!"

When Yi Nan wanted to continue talking, the high priest quit.They didn't dare to be rough on the elected "saint" in public, so they thought of an opportunistic method-the high-ranking priest gave a wink, and the drummer immediately raised the drumstick and beat the drum with a "bang bang bang".The rumble of the drum quickly covered Yinan's voice.

This move immediately annoyed the large group of "apprentice priests" with the lowest rank below.They shouted in unison: "The saint's words are so reasonable, why don't others say it?"

"We usually ask this and that, and you all blame the goddess. Now that the saint has appeared on behalf of the goddess, you don't allow people to talk. What's the reason?"

"It's just... so unreasonable!"

Shouts came and went.Amidst the shouts, someone rushed up and directly pressed the drummer's drumstick, and the sound of the drum stopped.

Yi Nan only stretched out her hand and made a simple gesture, and the audience immediately fell silent again, everyone was expecting her to speak.

I just heard Yi Nan say: "There are also many of you who, in the name of 'apprentice priests', work hard all day long, but have never seen any rewards. Tell me, why is this?"

This move was too ruthless, and directly caused a large group of trainee priests under the ranks to blow up.

Many people knelt down on their knees, tears flowed, and stretched out their hands to the sky, thanking this "saint" for helping them speak their hearts.

Some people also turned their finger on the priest: "Yes, the priests say that this is the will of the gods all day long, but is this really the will of the gods?"

"So I ask you, you put so much energy on the celebration without solving so many problems, who told you this?"

There was a loud voice from below: "It's a witch!"

"It's the priests—"

At this time, the high-ranking priests standing in front of the temple were completely dumbfounded.They never expected that they just gave the saint a chance to speak, and she said so much.

And the scene is close to getting out of control.

Yi Nan continued to speak loudly: "My dear friends, you don't need sacrifices, let alone a 'holy marriage'; what you really need is a leader, a wise king who belongs to the world. His The responsibility is to lead you out of the current predicament and create your own abundance and happiness."

The atmosphere in the audience was close to frenzy, and a group of people shouted in unison: "Saint, saint, saint—"

Another group echoed Yinan's call: "Yes, we need a... wise king!"

"Beautiful and holy saint, please point us, tell us, where is our king!"

In front of this exciting and enthusiastic scene, who can still remember that what they were going to hold today was an indescribably fragrant "Holy Wedding".

Yi Nan calmly looked at the fanaticism in front of him.A figure suddenly appeared out of the corner of her eye—Yinan immediately received a signal: something new had emerged.