Wulong Inn

The Sacrifice Festival, or Summer Sacrifice, is the oldest festival in the Kaiyuan Kingdom with the theme of sacrifice. It has been passed down to this day because of the people's enduring worship of the natural gods.The prevalence of sacrificial ceremonies has also turned the ordinary nine days in the middle of summer into a special period of joy for all people and the whole country.As the first rays of the morning sun hit the ground, the festive mood begins to diffuse.

Cangzhou Heishui County

It was still early, and there were not many pedestrians on the clean streets, but the tranquility was quickly broken, and with the morning light, all kinds of noise followed.

Today, the main entrance of the county seat is extremely lively, because the first step of the memorial ceremony is held outside the city, and a large number of people gather here to prepare to leave the city.Gao Fei also mixed in with the crowd and slowly moved out of the city.

His eyes moved slowly among the crowd, and Gao Fei only felt that all men and women were well-dressed.The precious clothing and jewelry at the bottom of the box at home on weekdays have all come in handy today.

The bright costumes on people's bodies and the happy smiles on their faces formed a cheerful and joyful atmosphere. For a moment, it seemed that all the sadness and unhappiness had gone away.The relaxed atmosphere also affected Gao Fei. At this time, the faint anxiety and worry in his heart were replaced by a kind of tranquility and peace.

Because there were too many people, the narrow city gates were overwhelmed, and the crowd moved extremely slowly. They withdrew their gaze from observing others, and Gao Fei, who was extremely bored, simply began to recall the detailed records of the sacrifices outside the city in the book.

The summer festival is divided into two parts: "sacrifice" and "carnival". Only the morning of the first day is an extremely serious "sacrifice". Cainu', the three natural gods worshiped, but the entertainment of this period has obviously overshadowed its solemnity and solemnity as a sacrifice.As for the 'sacrifice' to be performed in this first stage of 'sacrifice'...

Gao Fei was trying to recall the complicated words in the book, when he suddenly heard a noise behind him.Looking back, he saw a carriage surrounded by many people slowly approaching in the distance.The leading rider rode his horse and came to the crowd first.I saw that he was dressed in a fast-moving officer's uniform, and his expression was extremely domineering.Seeing the congestion ahead, he frowned, and the whip in his hand greeted the nearest few civilians.Amidst the exclamation and screams of the crowd, he yelled loudly: "The magistrate is here, please get out of the way."

I don't know if it's because of his overly ferocious expression, or because of the title of the magistrate of the county.In short, as soon as he spoke, no objection was heard, and everyone immediately retreated to both sides of the road.Seeing everyone's reaction, the arrogant man on horseback seemed to be quite satisfied. He showed a smug smile, turned around neatly on his horse, and turned to the large army behind him. It seemed that he had returned to report.

As soon as he left, there was a burst of discussion around him.I only heard a male voice with a rather high-pitched voice say: "Isn't that Ma Kuima's arrest? Hey, it's so majestic!" There was no unwillingness or anger caused by the other party's scolding in his words, and his tone revealed The only thing left is a strong fear and admiration for power.However, this attitude is obviously quite marketable, as soon as he made a statement, it attracted a burst of echoing voices from all around.

But I heard a female voice say again: "Then there must be the magistrate sitting in the carriage behind." Her tone was quite charming, and it was not a good family.As soon as he made a sound, there was a male voice in a sultry voice: "Yo, Jiuniang asked why, maybe she wants to be the magistrate's wife." As soon as he said this, there was a burst of meaningful laughter from all around.

The woman named Jiu Niang was not annoyed either, she said softly: "This madam dare not think about it, but with her beauty, she can't be an aunt."

It seems that he is quite confident in his appearance, Gao Fei thought so when he heard the laughter accompanied by the disgusting voices of women around him.In fact, he was quite curious about this so-called magistrate.He is still very interested in knowing what the person who made himself suffer from a prison for no reason and then swindled him of 200 taels of cash looked like.

I don't know how long it took, and in the anticipation of everyone, the convoy finally came slowly.I saw the policeman named Ma Kui clearing the way arrogantly, waving his whip from time to time to drive away those who were accidentally squeezed into the middle of the way, or those who had ulterior motives to have a close contact with the county magistrate.And the somewhat overly ornately decorated carriage, guarded by eight strong yamen servants, accepted the attention of the crowd with a lofty attitude, and calmly slid through this congested street.

I'm afraid I won't be able to see this scene.Seeing the car windows covered with heavy curtains, Gao Fei thought to himself.There seemed to be quite a few people on the side of the road who had the same idea as him. Seeing the tightly covered carriage, many people sighed in disappointment.

It may be that the gods who happened to pass by heard the voices of the people, but saw a gust of wind blowing, and gently pulled up a corner of the veil. Therefore, looking from Gao Fei's angle, he happened to be able to see a rather simple and thick profile...

Before Gao Fei could take a closer look, he suddenly felt his shoulders sink.He was startled, and quickly turned his head to look, but it was Luo Shuyu who appeared behind him at some unknown time.At this time, the other party was holding his shoulder, looking leisurely at the carriage going away.Opening the opponent's arm, Gao Fei frowned and said, "Don't use this trick every time, okay?"

"Why don't you use it? It can scare you every time anyway." Hearing this, Luo Shuyu replied indifferently, glanced at Gao Fei who was quite angry, and said again: "I said, I didn't tell you to wait for me Together, why did you disappear as soon as I came back to my senses?"

It turned out that Gao Fei asked Luo Shuyu to go with him because he was not familiar with some details of the ceremony.Seeing that the other party agreed immediately, Gao Fei didn't think much about it.But he obviously forgot, Luo Shuyu's identity as the young master of the Luo family, Master Luo can tolerate his son's foolishness on weekdays, how could such an important festival allow him to act recklessly, not only sent his personal entourage to watch, but also greeted him. The servants went to take care of everything for Luo Shuyu's departure.

Therefore, Gao Fei, who managed to find Luo Shuyu's residence this morning, just entered the courtyard and saw a hectic scene, and...surrounded by many beautiful maidservants, Mr. Luo was quite enjoying it .For some reason, at that time Gao Fei was inexplicably upset, and thought of the arrangement between Yue Xiaomei and his own sister Shuyao in his previous life.He simply followed the flow of people on the street and walked out. Anyway, with so many people leading the way, he didn't have to worry about getting lost.Therefore, Luo Shuyu, who had just greeted Gao Fei, turned around and found in a daze that the other party had already disappeared.

Seeing Luo Shuyu's face full of accusations, Gao Fei felt embarrassed for a while, and quickly changed the subject to: "Aren't you going to follow the family's carriage?"

It's okay if he doesn't mention it, Luo Shuyu couldn't help but get even more angry when he talked about it, and saw him cut off Gao Fei's face, and said rather depressedly: "What's more, I wanted to make a carriage with you, who Knowing that you disappeared in the blink of an eye, I didn't even have a carriage to come out to look for you." After speaking, Luo Shuyu raised his eyebrows quite complacently, and put his arm on Gao Fei's shoulder and said, "How is it?" , Brother, I am righteous enough."

Seeing this, Gao Fei could only nod with a wry smile, and then he thought of another question: "Why haven't I seen a few carriages?"

But Luo Shuyu heard the words: "You used to perform sacrifices in Yuejia Village, no wonder you don't know, now this is the time for poor families to go out of the city, and those who can afford a carriage will be later. The horse's foot strength is always better than that of people, and it will be faster than this group of people no matter what." Looking at the congested road, he frowned and said, "Going out later can avoid this rush hour."

"Then the magistrate..."

Luo Shuyu said indifferently: "The county magistrate is in charge of the sacrificial affairs in the county. He has to coordinate and dispatch, so naturally he has to go earlier. Think about it, when is the sacrificial ceremony in your village not the village chief arrives first.".

Hearing the words, Gao Fei nodded understandingly, and Luo Shuyu said enviously: "Speaking of which, it's really good to be an official, and the one who shouts and embraces, the official prestige can be bluffed all at once. live together."

Gao Fei laughed and said: "Anyway, the big exam is coming soon, if you come out of the exam, you will have everything, and you still need to envy others here."

But Luo Shuyu's expression darkened, and he said in a lonely way: "I think so too, but unfortunately I'm not a student, and if I want to be a high-ranking official in this life, I must be afraid of things."

Gao Fei didn't expect that his teasing words would attract such a big reaction from the other party, and he was about to turn around when he saw that Luo Shuyu had returned to his usual appearance, and he grinned at Gao Fei and said, "Don't talk about that, today It’s rare to walk there, I have to experience it.” After saying that, he pulled Gao Fei into the crowd...

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The sacrificial ceremony was held on the bank of a small Qing River outside Heishui County. Gao Fei, who had finally arrived with the crowd, was a little amazed at the sight of human heads in front of him. It was the first time he discovered that Hei There were so many people in Shui County, and then he smiled wryly, thinking to himself that he should really come in a carriage with Luo Shuyu, so that he could get a good seat if he was afraid of trouble.Now, you can look at the back of your head.He was laughing at himself when Luo Shuyu patted him on the shoulder and pointed in one direction.

The author has something to say: By the way, the festival is finally here...

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