God's offering

The village head's house happened to have a spare room, and Lu Yinbai lived in the village head's house nearby. The room should have been cleaned in advance, and the bedding had also been changed. It looked clean.Lu Yinbai didn't have anything to tidy up, so he threw the backpack he brought on the table and thumped his numb legs, "Do you think they know we're coming and have prepared it in advance?"

Tang Ao didn't reply, he stared at the bottom of the closet for a while, then walked over slowly, reached out and took out something from the gap at the bottom of the closet.It's a photo sticker with some wear and tear on the surface. Tang Ao brushed off the dust covering the surface of the photo. The photo shows a young man and woman. It should not be someone from the village.

Lu Yinbai glanced at the photo and said, "Maybe it was dropped by a tourist who lived here before. By the way, did you find anything when you went out just now?"

Tang Ao put the photo in his pocket, "It's a good place with beautiful mountains and clear waters, full of aura." He paused for a moment, then turned his head to look at the darkening sky outside, "But I always feel uncomfortable."

Lu Yinbai felt that Tang Ao was a little unstable since yesterday. According to Luo Sheng's handbook, if the spirit body remains unstable, there is a danger of the soul flying away. He just didn't want Tang Ao to know, so as not to disturb Tang Ao's mood even more.He took out the jade pendant hanging around his neck and shook Tang Ao, "Do you want to come in and take a rest?"

Tang Ao immediately put on a standard idiot smile, stepped forward to hug Lu Yinbai and kissed him twice, "Is Abai worried about me?"

Lu Yinbai slapped him on the bear's face, "This is someone else's house, behave yourself."

"Don't worry," Tang Ao said with a smile, "If I can't bear it, I will tell you as soon as possible."

Lu Yinbai didn't bother to pay attention to Tang Ao, who was so skinny and shameless. He pushed Tang Ao away and walked to the window. The village head's house was located at a higher location. From here, he could overlook the whole village. The wind blows the branches and leaves rustling, and smoke rises from the chimneys of several families. It is indeed a peaceful and beautiful village.

Naturally, the dinner was settled at the village chief's house. Lu Yinbai had visited many villages for his thesis before, and most of them were very enthusiastic, but no village had ever been so enthusiastic. The dishes on the table were all rare game, even in Those who rely on mountains and eat mountains, these things are only specially brought out to entertain relatives and friends during the festivals.

"Eat quickly, you're welcome." The village chief greeted them enthusiastically, and even stood up and served them a bowl of soup.

No matter how polite you are, it will be hypocritical. Lu Yinbai began to move his chopsticks. The dishes on the table were all cooked with the freshest ingredients. They were light but had a special taste, which suited Lu Yinbai's taste.In order to show that he was a normal gregarious person, Tang Ao also ate the food bite by bite. Although he couldn't taste the taste, but seeing Lu Yinbai's rare appetite, the taste of the food should not be bad.

"I heard Grandma Sun say that you are here in a big city to do research?" the village head asked.

Lu Yinbai originally wanted to find a suitable time to ask the village chief about the sacrificial ceremony, but he didn't expect the village chief to take the initiative to raise the issue, so he just went on and said, "I study folklore. To put it plainly, It is to study folk customs, and I heard that there are very special sacrifices in Shanxi Village, so I came to take a look."

The village head suddenly laughed after hearing this, and he waved his hands and said: "That was all decades ago. At that time, our village was very closed and didn't know what science was, so we got some feudal superstitions, and later opened up the village." , there are comrades from above who come down to do ideological work for us, we have already abandoned the bad habits, and now everyone is busy making money, how can we have time to do these things.”

"We don't have any other intentions," Lu Yinbai explained, fearing that he would be burdened by his thoughts, "It's just an academic research, not aimed at anyone or anything."

The village chief held Lu Yinbai's hands and patted them. His eyes were not very good, and he had to get very close to see Lu Yinbai's face. He stared at Lu Yinbai with a pair of cloudy eyes, "Since you are Those who engage in academic research must be university scholars. When you go back to the city, remember to write an article to clarify for our village. Those horrific things have been in the past for decades, and people are still in panic. It is a tourist area that has been planned for years, and there are only a handful of people who have been here. Isn’t this a waste of such a beautiful scenery in our village? Moreover, in recent years, young people have gone out to work, and the remaining group of old and weak women and children have nothing to do. Why……"

Lu Yinbai still had some doubts, but seeing the sad look of the old man, he couldn't ask any further, "I'm not a great scholar, I've been wandering around the village these two days, if the situation is true, I will try my best to help. "

"Then thank you, little comrade." The village head happily poured wine for Lu Yinbai and Tang Ao, "This is homemade rice wine, the alcohol content is not high, and it won't affect your work tomorrow. Let's see how you react to the ceremony. He looks very interested, tomorrow my son will go to the mountain to collect firewood, let him take you to have a look."

It was his words that Lu Yinbai was waiting for, and he held the wine glass to drink first as a respect, "Then I will trouble you."

Satisfied with wine and food, Lu Yinbai was about to leave the table, but was pulled by Tang Ao, and sat down again. Tang Ao took out the photo from his pocket and handed it to Zhao Dazhu, the son of the village chief who was eating at the same table, and asked, "What is this?" I found this photo in the room, is it your family?"

The light in the room was a bit dim, Zhao Dazhu took a look at the photo under the light, and said with a smile: "This is my nephew and his girlfriend. They are working outside now, and they will only come back during the Chinese New Year. I will return the photo to him later. both."

Lu Yinbai and Tang Ao returned to their room. There was no electric light in their room, and the only lighting tool was the kerosene lamp on the table. The dim and flickering light was not even as bright as the moonlight.

"How credible do you think the village chief's words are?" Lu Yinbai asked.

"Half-truth, half-false," Tang Ao said, "It's hard to tell the truth from the false if it's mixed with the truth. Have you noticed Zhao Dazhu's movements when he saw the photo? He glanced at the photo and then at the village chief. , as if he instinctively wanted to ask the village chief for advice, and even his smile was a little unnatural."

When Lu Yinbai changed into his pajamas, Tang Ao had already made the bed. He lay on the bed with his head resting on his arms, "Actually, I don't think it's very reliable. If it's what the village chief said, The sacrificial ceremony has been abolished for decades, so there is no reason for outsiders to keep it secret. Shanxi Village is far from the remoteness and isolation of Morning Star Island, but there is not even a decent mountain road. It is obviously a self-enclosed village for some reason. .”

Tang Ao washed up and climbed onto the bed, and hugged Lu Yinbai into his arms with long arms and legs, "They probably have no good intentions. You must be careful when you go up the mountain tomorrow."

Lu Yinbai responded in a low voice, he was exhausted after climbing the mountain for a day, and quickly fell asleep in a comfortable position, but Tang Ao still had his eyes open, his head was buzzing, what's the matter? Things were trying desperately to drill into his body, even he, a ghost with no temperature, felt a bit of a cold breath, this is not a human breath, and it seems to have no effect on humans, because Lu Yinbai was not affected at all.

Tang Ao held the jade pendant around Lu Yinbai's neck, thought for a while, and then slipped in.

The next morning, Lu Yinbai and Tang Ao followed Zhao Dazhu up the mountain. To be on the safe side, Lu Yinbai brought his own mountaineering bag, which contained odds and ends of tools for emergencies.

The place where the sacrificial ceremony was held was at a place called Sun Moon Cliff, not very far from the village chief’s house. Zhao Dazhu led the way with a firewood basket on his back and a chopping knife. This road was overgrown with weeds, and no one had walked for a long time. pass.

Zhao Dazhu is a person who has been walking in the mountains all year round. He has very agile legs and feet. Even Lu Yinbai, a young man, can't keep up. He was very silent all the way. Is there any reason for the ritual held?"

"It was all a long time ago. I listened to it as a story when I was a child, but now I forget it." Zhao Dazhu said without turning his head.

Judging from the results of observation during dinner last night, Zhao Dazhu is a timid but honest person. Lu Yinbai guessed that the reason why he was silent was because he was afraid of making too many mistakes. In short, it is easier to dig information from him than from the village chief. Much more, "Then what kind of gods are you offering sacrifices to?" Lu Yinbai asked again.

"It's not a god," Zhao Dazhu said, and then he looked back at Lu Yinbai, repeating very seriously, "It's not a god, it's a human being. They are very powerful, but they haven't reached the level of a god."

people?them?Lu Yinbai grasped the key words in the words, he and Tang Ao looked at each other, "How many of them are there?"

"Two." Zhao Dazhu answered honestly.

Just based on the two sentences Zhao Dazhu said, Lu Yinbai knew that the truth must not be as simple as the village chief said. Tang Ao took out a bottle of mineral water from his bag and handed Zhao Dazhu a bottle, "Brother Zhao, you said I If you don't believe me, people can live up to a hundred years, and I have read the information in your village, the ritual was created hundreds of years ago, how can anyone live so long?"

Zhao Dazhu's hand holding the bottle suddenly tightened, and the water bottle rattled when he squeezed it. In just a moment, he returned to normal, and said with a smile: "The cap of this bottle is a bit tight, let's go quickly, or we won't wait until later." The way down the mountain is not easy."

After walking for more than an hour, they finally came to Sun Moon Cliff. Zhao Dazhu led them to a cave, pointed to the cave and said, "This is it."

Lu Yinbai couldn't see what was going on in the cave, because there was a door outside the cave, a classic door, carved and hollowed out, it looked like it had been around for a certain period of time, but on this cliff, there were overgrown vegetation and simple Such a door standing outside the cave looks very incongruous.Moreover, the door has not suffered any wear and tear after being exposed to the wind and the sun.

The door was unlocked, and it was only half-hidden. Tang Ao stopped Lu Yinbai behind him, and pushed the door open. The cave was pitch black, except for the occasional patter of water droplets, which was quiet and eerie.