Wow!
Amid the sound of flowing water, the Qi River flowing from south to north is like a jade belt in the night, reflecting the silver light of the stars and the moon, and rolling up a sparkling scene.
**Beyond the rippling reeds, on the dirt road, the creaking axles groaned one after another. Several men drove donkey carts along this road upstream along the river.
The moonlight shone brightly, and four or five people could be vaguely seen on the riverbank ahead. They were standing at the ferry with torches in their hands. When they saw the donkey cart coming this way, some of them hurried to meet it.
"Has the person been captured?"
"She was caught. She almost ran to Sikouguan and crossed the river to escape! Luckily, she didn't have money to take a boat..."
As he spoke, the man walked across the truck bed, untied the rope on the sack, and pulled open the top of the sack, revealing a young, pretty face, no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. His mouth was stuffed with strips of cloth, and there were bruises around his eye sockets and cheeks. There was a cut on his head, and half of his face was stained red.
Woo woo woo~~~
The girl in the bag saw the night outside and the light of the torches, and shook her head vigorously, begging the man to let her go. However, the man closed the bag again and frowned.
"How did she get hurt? How can she marry the God of Water Qi? Call some maids to dress her up."
"We've sent someone back to call them." said the men driving the coach.
"trouble!"
The man holding the torch waved his hand and asked them to drive the donkey cart to the ferry. Then he walked to the four people who were still standing there, clasped his hands together, and bowed respectfully to one of them.
"Great Immortal, the person has been captured, but she is a little injured. The women in the village will come over later and dress her up... I just don't know if the Qishui God will blame her for the injury."
Among the four men, one wore a blue Taoist robe, his hair was combed high with a hairpin inserted in it, he held a whisk in his hand facing the river, and kept counting with his fingers.
Hearing the man's voice behind him, he flicked his whisk, turned around, stopped counting with his fingers, and smiled as his goatee trembled:
"Don't worry, don't worry. The time has not come yet. The Qishui God will not blame you. Just be sincere. By the way, have you prepared the sacrificial animals and the betrothal gifts?"
The man nodded repeatedly: "It's all ready, just waiting for the immortal to cast a spell and marry this woman to the God of Water Qi."
"Okay, I will discuss this with Qi Shui Shen first. You guys urge the woman in the village to come over and dress her up quickly."
The immortal stroked his long beard lightly, then turned around and faced the long river reflecting the moonlight. He closed his eyes, and his lips moved rapidly, as if he was talking to someone. The man glanced at the Taoist boy with disheveled hair and his arms folded on both sides of the immortal, and did not dare to disturb him too much. He quickly ran to the ferry, changed his previous respectful look, and scolded the men driving the carriage.
"Why haven't the villagers come yet? Go and urge them!"
"Ergou has gone back. We should be notifying every household. He should be here soon."
Woof woof woof… Woof woof…
Crossing acres of fields, dogs were startled and barking in the distant village immersed in darkness. The man who had run back earlier was now knocking on the doors of every household. Without shouting, he just knocked on the door three times, two quick and one slow, and then ran to the next house.
Bang bang…
The dilapidated courtyard door rang, and a dim firelight was shining from the main room opposite. Lu Liangsheng turned his head when he heard the sound of the door. The old man who was speaking also turned his head to look at the wooden door outside, then stood up to pack up the dishes and take them to the earthen stove outside.
"The Qi Water God is very effective. I didn't believe it at first. But one time, when I went out to work early in the morning, a small ditch was dug out from the ridge of the field. The crops had been irrigated. It was not just my family, but several other families as well. Sir, don't you think it's magical?"
Lu Liangsheng frowned and glanced at the night outside, his fingertips tapping on the table. What the old man said coincided with what he had just thought. It should be that the little monsters nearby used magic to do things for the villagers, "earning" some incense, in the hope of achieving enlightenment.
But what was that knock on the door just now
Just as he was about to ask the old man over there, the old man put the dishes and chopsticks in the pot, wiped his hands and came out. Seeing the scholar walking to the door, he hurried forward to stop him and pushed him in.
"Sir, go to bed early so you can get up early tomorrow to travel quickly. This is what we agreed on before. Have you forgotten?"
Thinking back to when he was staying overnight in the afternoon, a man in the village did say the same thing. At the time, Lu Liangsheng thought it was just a rule to be wary of outsiders, so he didn't take it to heart. But now, when he heard the knock on the door and the old man mentioned it again, he couldn't help but become suspicious.
"Of course I still remember. Then I'll go to sleep."
"Okay, you can sleep on my bed. When I come back, I'll just put two benches together to make do for the night."
The old man waved his hand with a smile, sent the scholar to bed, then walked quickly across the courtyard, opened the gate bolt and ran out. He seemed worried, so he turned back and inserted a wooden stick into the handles on both sides of the door. The neighbors in the village were close to each other, and when the old man passed by, except for the sleeping children, almost all the adults in each household rushed out of the village and ran to the river bank.
The sounds of people and footsteps caused the dogs in the village to bark non-stop. Lu Liangsheng, who was sitting in the old man's house, did not make his bed to sleep. Under the shaking oil lamp, the Toad Taoist walked out of the small compartment with his frog flippers on his back. He could hear everything that happened there clearly.
"Master, do you feel the evil spirit?"
Lu Liangsheng stretched out his hand and pushed the two short legs hanging on the edge of the table onto the table. The latter didn't care too much. He yawned, curled up, and opened his eyes.
"Mind your own business... I don't sense any demonic aura."
No evil spirit
Looking at the burning wick, Lu Liangsheng knew that his master was most sensitive to demonic energy. If he said there was no demonic energy, then naturally there was none. Could it be that it was completely different from what I thought before
"If you want to go out and see what's going on, then go ahead. Why are you so anxious?" The Toad Taoist understood his disciple's thoughts and waved his flippers feebly. "Go early and come back early. I, the master, will get some sleep first."
Lu Liangsheng didn't say anything. He stood up and opened the door of the main room. He jumped up, stepped over the earthen wall, splashing some mud and dust, then rose up again and disappeared into the night.
On the muddy road outside the village, villagers swarmed to the riverside ferry. Even the elderly at home squeezed into the crowd with crutches, and followed everyone to kowtow and worship the "great immortal" standing on the big rock on the river bank in front.
"May the Qishui God bless me, and I will send my bride to the Immortal Palace soon!" "I hope the crops will have a good harvest next year..."
"Bless me, Master Zhao, please start soon!"
Probably amid such voices, the Taoist priest who was called Great Immortal, resting his head on his whisk, turned around, slowly opened his eyes, and smiled at the crowd of villagers who were kneeling and kowtowing.
"I have communicated with the water god Qi, and he has agreed to this marriage. Fellow villagers, please relax and marry the bride to the immortal's mansion. From now on, your village will have good weather and good harvests every year, and you will never have to worry about food and drink! However, communication with gods and spirits needs to be kept strictly confidential. Is there anyone here who is not from this village?"
Among the villagers who were worshipping below, someone shouted, "There is one, but a scholar who is staying overnight. He has already gone to bed."
The Taoist stroked his long beard, thought for a while, and thought that it was nothing for a scholar, as he was weak and couldn't cause any trouble, so he smiled and nodded.
"In that case, I will start my ritual and take the bride to the ferry!"
"Thank you, Master Zhao, for bringing blessings to our Li Village!"
"Over there, quickly dress up the bride and send her to the ferry!"
In the direction where the donkey cart was parked, there was a range of light from burning torches, the sound of iron chains rattling, and a girl in a red wedding dress was dragged over by several sturdy village women.
"Please... I don't want to get married... Please don't throw me into the river... Please..."
The man guarding the bridge brought a millstone and ignored the crying girl. He tied the iron chain around her neck to the millstone and waved his hand: "Send the bride!"
"Stop making noise!"
Several strong women carried the girl and shouted, then walked straight to the front of the bridge.
The wind blew through the night. On a solitary tree among the fields, Lu Liangsheng stood lightly on the branches, staring at the Taoist on the rock and the girl who was being carried across the bridge.
"I thought there was a real evildoer, but it turns out he is just pretending to be a ghost!"
Under the green shirt and white robe fluttering in the wind, the skin on his back was dotted with stars. On the surface of the flowing water of the distant river, a series of bubbles rose up.
There were waves of chill.