Yellow River Craftsman

Chapter 262 The Snake Plague
The village chief left, and the villagers gathered outside the yard also dispersed one after another.

When we left, the villagers were cursing, and some people spat at us, so angry that Xiao Guoguo tiptoed and cursed: "Uneducated! Uneducated!"

After all the hundreds of villagers gathered around dispersed, the small courtyard of Wan's family finally returned to tranquility.

Offending people in a village because of a little girl, but I feel that I am not wrong, and it is worth it. After all, it is a life!

There is a Buddhist saying: Saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda!
"Strong man, thank you for saving Wanning, please accept the worship of our whole family!" Wanshan pulled his wife and Wanning to come to us, without saying a word, directly faced us and knelt down on the ground.

"Big brother, what are you doing? Please get up quickly! Please get up quickly!" I quickly reached out to support Wanshan.

Wan Shan said: "I'm not very good at talking, you saved my daughter, you are the great benefactor of our Wan family!"

Wanshan's daughter-in-law said, "Then why are you still standing here? Hurry up and invite the two benefactors to sit in the room!"

"Yes! Yes! Sit in the room! The two benefactors sit in the room!" Wan Shan thanked us repeatedly and welcomed us into the hall.

Wan Shan made a pot of tea for Xiao Guoguo and me, and then asked his wife to go into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Wanshan's daughter-in-law is also quite capable, and quickly prepared a sumptuous dinner.

Wanshan's daughter-in-law rubbed her hands together and said, "People in the mountains don't have much to entertain, I hope the two benefactors don't feel disgusted!"

I said politely: "Auntie, you are welcome. There are vegetables, meat and wine here, which is very good!"

It's really good. Wanshan's daughter-in-law mixed a plate of unknown wild vegetables, fried a plate of home-grown corn, roasted a chicken, cooked a piece of old bacon from the mountains, and fried the bacon with dried bamboo shoots. The fragrance is tangy and mouth-watering.

Click!Click!
Xiao Guoguo, who has been starving for a long time, can't wait to swallow, every time this little girl shows such a look of eating, her goddess image will collapse in my mind.

"Miss Sister, I'll give you the chicken leg, thank you for saving me!" Wanning put a piece of chicken leg in Xiao Guoguo's bowl, and Xiao Guoguo was not polite, grabbing the chicken leg and eating it deliciously.

"Come on, two benefactors, I offer you a toast!" Wan Shan raised his glass and said respectfully.

I made a haha: "Big brother, don't be called by your benefactor, haha, I'm not used to it! My name is Tuoba Gu, and her name is Xiao Guoguo!"

"Okay!" Wan Shan was also a straightforward person, and immediately changed his tune: "Brother Tuoba, Xiao Guoguo, come, I'll toast you!"

I took a sip of the wine. The sake of the people in the mountains is all brewed by themselves. It is brewed with the sweet spring of the mountain stream. The aftertaste is mellow and the taste is no worse than those so-called brand-name liquors.

Putting down the wine glass, I ate and chatted with Wanshan, and I asked him: "What's the matter with the wizard in Fengxian Village? Did strange things happen in the village before? Why did the wizard ask the girls in the village to sacrifice to the river god?"

Wanshan took a breath of alcohol: "To be honest, some things did happen in the village before. Later, the wizard came to our village and wiped out all the disasters. The villagers respected the wizard like a god. His status is higher than that of the village chief, so no one dares to disobey the wizard's orders! We don't know what the river god is, we only know that after worshiping the river god, we can keep Fengxian Village safe and sound!"

Xiao Guoguo licked her greasy hands and asked curiously, "Then tell us, what happened in Fengxian Village before?"

Before Wanshan could open her mouth, Wanshan's daughter-in-law was quick to say, "Snake disaster! There was a snake disaster in Fengxian Village before!"

Snake plague? !
I touched my arm, and got goosebumps for no reason: "Let's hear it!"

Wanshan's daughter-in-law put down her chopsticks and narrated: "Fengxian Village was originally a paradise. Although it was not rich, the villagers lived and worked in peace and contentment, and lived happily. Nothing major happened. About half a year ago, the village Somehow, there was a snake disaster in the village!

At the beginning, every night, the chickens of the villagers were killed, and those chickens were poisoned.Within a few days, even large livestock such as sheep and pigs in the pen were attacked by poisonous snakes and died in groups.The villagers gathered together and lit torches all night to beat snakes everywhere. Unexpectedly, the village was full of poisonous snakes, and they could not finish beating them every day. Moreover, these poisonous snakes began to attack humans. Several young and strong boys were bitten by poisonous snakes died.

During that time, the entire Fengxian Village was enveloped in a gloomy atmosphere, people were panicked, and the villagers dared not close their eyes all night long.Because as soon as you open your eyes, maybe there will be a poisonous snake hanging on the beam of the house, or holding the snake's head up, spitting out a red letter beside your pillow! "

"That's right! That scene was absolutely terrifying!" Wan Shan interjected, "At that time, all the young and middle-aged people in the village were out to beat snakes, and I went there too. I remember that one night, Widow Zhang at the east end of the village asked us for help. We went to her house to help kill snakes. When we went to her house, we found poisonous snakes everywhere.

Poisonous snakes roam freely in the yard, there are big snakes coiled in the water tank of the stove, and there are also colorful snakes in the pot.The most frightening thing is that the cellar of her house has completely turned into a snake den, with hundreds of poisonous snakes of different sizes entangled in it, spitting letters and making hissing noises non-stop.

Several young people were terrified on the spot, leaving some of us who were more courageous, found some hay, and set fire to the cellar of Widow Zhang's house.Those poisonous snakes were scurrying around in the fire, burning with crackling noises, thick smoke came out, and a pungent stench filled the air! "

Xiao Guoguo and I felt our scalps go numb and our hands and feet were cold. Just thinking about the scene of poisonous snakes roaming around the village is enough to make one's heart shudder.

"What happened next?" Xiao Guoguo continued to ask.

"Just when the villagers were at a loss and were about to start a long-term confrontation with the snakes, a young man named Su Yongyu suddenly came to the village. He claimed to be a wizard and could quell the snake plague in Fengxian Village!" Wan Shan said. .

Wanshan's daughter-in-law interjected: "At that time, the villagers had no choice but to treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor. The solution proposed by the wizard was very simple, but it was also very cruel! He said that the reason why Fengxian Village was plagued by snakes was because he offended The river god of Heishuitan wants to quell the disaster, so he must use young girls from the village to sacrifice to the river god!
Most of the villagers disagreed at first, thinking that the wizard was lying. After all, no one would be willing to sacrifice their own daughters.But some villagers are still willing to give it a try, and they set their sights on the silly girl in the village.

Sha Niu was born with polio and was not cured, and her brain has always been a little abnormal.When Sha Niu's parents went hunting in the mountains in the early years, they stumbled and rolled down the cliff and fell to their death. Only the old grandmother and Sha Niu were left to depend on each other.

One night, a group of villagers broke into Sha Niu's house, kidnapped Sha Niu by force, and handed Sha Niu to the wizard.The wizard had someone make a big red dress for the silly girl, dressed the silly girl as a bride, and then brought a few bold men, dressed in red clothes and red trousers, as a send-off team, carrying wild boar cages all the way , Take the silly girl to the black water pool to worship the river god.

Strange to say, since the silly girl sacrificed to the river god, the snake disaster in the village really subsided.In just one night, the shadow of the poisonous snake was no longer seen in the village!
As a result, the villagers all regarded the wizard as a god, obeyed him, and enshrined him, serving him with delicious food and drink.

The wizard said that if Fengxian Village is to be free from disasters for a long time, a young girl must be sent to sacrifice to the river god every two months, so as to keep the village safe.Now is the sixth month, our family Wanning is suffering, and is the third sacrifice to the river god! "

Having said that, Wanshan's daughter-in-law couldn't help wiping away her tears, sobbing and crying, with a miserable look on her face.

"Why did the wizard choose Wanning?" I asked Wanshan's wife.

Wanshan's daughter-in-law shook her head: "I don't know, anyway, every sacrifice is hand-picked by the wizard, whoever he chooses is whoever he chooses!"

I picked up the wine glass, took a sip of the wine, and thought for a while: "Auntie, what are the names of the two girls who worshiped the river god before? How old are they this year?"

Wanshan's daughter-in-law said: "I just said one, Sha Niu, who has no name, and Sha Niu is her name. The other is Xiao Hua, both of them are the same age as Wan Ning, both 14 years old!"

I was slightly taken aback, 14 years old? !The three girls who were sent to sacrifice to the river god were all 14 years old? !Is this just a coincidence?

I remained calm and continued to ask: "Have any other strange things happened in Fengxian Village before?"

"No!" Wan Shan said, "I have lived here for half my life, Fengxian Village has always been peaceful! It is not uncommon to have snakes in the mountains, but we have never seen so many snakes, and there are quite a few poisonous snakes!"

I muttered: "That is to say, that wizard appeared within a few days after the snake disaster happened?"

Wan Shan nodded: "Three or five days, after three or five days of snake disaster, that wizard appeared!"

I hummed and didn't speak.

Could this be such a coincidence, why did that wizard appear as soon as the snake disaster happened?Could there be any connection between this plague of snakes and wizards?

I faintly feel that things are not as simple as they appear on the surface.

"Big brother, do you know where that wizard lives in the village?" I asked Wanshan.

Wanshan said: "I live in the mountain temple behind the village! The mountain temple was already dilapidated. Later, when the wizard came, he specified that he wanted to live in the mountain temple, saying that it would be convenient for him to clean up there. The villagers They respected him like a god, and they scrambled to renovate the mountain temple, so that the wizard could live in it comfortably! Usually, no one dared to approach the mountain temple without the wizard's order, because the wizard didn't like people to disturb him. Clean up!"

Mountain temple? !

I turned my head and gave Xiao Guoguo a wink, Xiao Guoguo understood, put down the chopsticks immediately, and stretched: "Oh, I've been driving all day, I'm so sleepy, I want to sleep!"

Wanshan quickly asked his wife to clean up the room next door, and then Xiao Guoguo and I said goodbye to Wanshan's family at night and went back to the room.

(End of this chapter)