On the day of the beginning of winter, Jiang Yunzhu had no mood to think about new food, so she made meat pancakes to sell, which sold quite well.
At noon, she plans to sell dumplings, which come in two types: mutton and cabbage filling and pork and cabbage filling. Her regular customers trust her cooking skills, and since eating dumplings today is also a festival, quite a few people have placed orders for dumplings.
When Jiang Yunzhu returned to Changshi Village, Gu Yanzhou just happened to be coming from there.
"Miss Jiang, I'm afraid I don't have time to teach you how to read today. The teacher asked me to meet him in the afternoon and said he would introduce me to some of his friends. I may not be back until late." Gu Yanzhou said.
Jiang Yunzhu pursed her lips and thought to herself, "Here it comes." Gu Yanzhou is going to the county and will be back very late. Or, he will not come back tonight. After all, the county gate will be closed at twilight hour, and he will not be able to make it in time, so he may stay at his teacher's house.
So in his dream he escaped the disaster of tonight.
But I don’t know whether this is lucky or unfortunate for him.
It seemed that everything was consistent with her dream. After being nervous for a while, Jiang Yunzhu slowly relaxed. This was good. She was still worried that because she and Jiang Yunxiu had exchanged fates, it would affect what happened today, but now it seemed that would not be the case.
"Miss Jiang?" Seeing Jiang Yunzhu's solemn expression, Gu Yanzhou explained apologetically, "The teacher said that they were some of his very important friends and asked me to go."
"It doesn't matter, just go. There's no rush for us to learn characters." Jiang Yunzhu smiled.
Gu Yanzhou also smiled and turned away.
Jiang Yunzhu looked at his back and thought of Xu Qingshan. In her dream, he also escaped the disaster that night, but she didn't know why.
It was almost 3 p.m., and after Xu Qingshan had picked up a passenger going to Mengjia Village, he wanted to hurry to the mine. It was almost time for the miners to get off work, so he had to go back to pull the rickshaw.
At this moment, a person suddenly rushed out from a nearby house and shouted, "Help, help!" It was a man. He was extremely panicked and stood there yelling.
"What's going on?" Xu Qingshan was a kind-hearted person and immediately got off the donkey cart and asked.
The man grabbed his hand and said, "My wife couldn't give birth. She lost a lot of blood. The midwife said that she..." The man didn't finish his words and burst into tears.
It was a difficult delivery. "Hurry up and send her to the town. No, send her to the county. There are good doctors in the county. Maybe they can save her life." Mengjia Village belongs to Changling Town, but it is on the edge of Changling Town and the roads are all mountainous. Instead of sending her to the town, it is better to send her directly to the county. Although it is a little far, the road is flat. The mother was afraid that she could not withstand the bumps, so Xu Qingshan said this.
The man seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and kept saying, "Go to the county town, yes, go to the county town."
But how do I get to the county town
"I'll take you there." Xu Qingshan said immediately. This would definitely delay his business, but he couldn't just stand by and watch someone die.
"Thank you, thank you." The man grabbed his hand and was about to kneel down to him.
Xu Qingshan quickly grabbed him, and together with him, they carefully lifted the woman in labor onto the donkey cart, and then rode at full speed towards the county town.
Jiang Yunzhu naturally didn't know about his fate. At this moment, she was just staring at the western sky.
At the hour of You, the miners got off work. Today was the beginning of winter, and the family ate dumplings. When I thought of the family sitting together eating dumplings, everyone had a smile on their face, and they wished they could fly back home immediately.
It gets dark early in winter, and it was already pitch black all around.
The last group of miners were about to leave. At this moment, someone suddenly pointed to the west and asked, "What is that?"
Everyone looked in the direction the man was pointing, and saw a fireball falling from the sky and landing on a mountain peak.
"It's Xifeng Mountain." Someone who knew said that the mountain was Xifeng Mountain.
Everyone was attracted by this vision.
At this time, some people outside Changshi Village also saw the fireball and immediately shouted to the people inside, "Come out and see, there is a fireball over there."
When the people in the house heard this, they put down what they were doing and came out to watch.
Nothing, no, another fireball fell from the sky.
"What's going on?" A fireball fell from the sky. Is this a disaster? The timid ones immediately prayed to God for help.
Even the brave ones were wondering in their hearts, hoping that nothing would happen.
Everyone gathered together unconsciously, looking to the west and discussing in low voices.
"Village chief, what's going on?" someone asked Gu Yongde quietly.
Gu Yongde had no idea and just frowned without saying anything.
"Do you want to go and take a look? There seems to be a temple on Xifeng Mountain, and there are people living inside." Someone else said.
Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, should we go or not
At this moment, three more big fireballs fell, and then in the bright light, a five-meter-tall goddess in red suddenly appeared, floating as if she was stepping on auspicious clouds, and towering like a vast star.
Everyone was stunned. Although the scene just now only appeared for a moment and seemed real or illusory, they did see it. The goddess appeared!
"It's the Queen Mother of Heaven. Everyone, go and pay your respects to her!" A clear child's voice came from the sky. Then, no one knew who took the lead, but everyone ran towards Xifeng Mountain.
Wang Bin at the mine naturally also saw this scene and immediately frowned, not knowing whether it was a blessing or a curse.
No, he suddenly remembered, the villagers were all heading to West Wind Mountain, what about his plan
For fear of being discovered by the Qilin Guards, the men he selected had already gone down the mountain disguised as miners two days ago. Now they should be in Qinglongao, sixty miles away, waiting for the right time to take action.
What to do? Change the plan, but after tonight, he didn't know if he would have another chance.
But if we don’t change it, the bait will be gone, so how can we kill the people of Qilin Guard
He fell into the chair, God was going to kill him!
Yang Sheng and Shen Fengming also saw what happened. Yang Sheng had been keeping an eye on Jiang Yunzhu these days and knew that she went to the Tiannv Niangniang Temple every day, seemingly to help the temple regain popularity.
Seeing this strange sight, he immediately guessed that it was Jiang Yunzhu who did it, and immediately clapped his hands and said, "Great! I said she was very clever and could actually do this. The fireball is fine, but what about the goddess? I must ask her someday, and I will make one for fun."
Shen Fengming's eyes also flashed with surprise, and then he asked, "Does anyone know that this strange image was caused by her?"
"It should be just a few people from our Qilin Guard. What's the matter?" Yang Sheng asked.
“Tell those people that no one is allowed to say a word about this matter to outsiders. You too.” Shen Fengming looked at Yang Sheng and said.
"Why..." Yang Sheng wanted to ask why, and suddenly understood Shen Fengming's worries. A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind. Moreover, doing so would be somewhat suspicious of misleading people. If someone with ulterior motives caught it, it would be bad.
Although, no one should pay attention to an ordinary citizen.
“Don’t worry, no one from our Qilin Guard will tell anyone a word.” After Yang Sheng finished speaking, he looked Shen Fengming up and down with a teasing look on his face. You are so considerate of others, right
Shen Fengming looked at him coldly.
Yang Sheng coughed and went about his business.
Zhu Liang led his men to hide in Qinglong Ao, sixty miles away. This place was too far from Xifeng Mountain, and it was a col with mountains blocking the view. Zhu Liang and his men did not see anything unusual in the west.
At the hour of Xu, Zhu Liang gritted his teeth, mounted his horse, and led his men straight to Changshi Village.
There were five or six hundred of them, all dressed like bandits, wearing colorful clothes, with turbans on their faces and big swords in their hands.
So many people riding by made a lot of noise. A villager heard the noise outside, opened the door and looked out. He was so scared that he immediately closed the door. Oh my god, bandits, so many bandits!
When they were still thirty miles away from Changshi Village, the Qilin Guard's secret sentry discovered their group and immediately blew a warning whistle with one short and three long blasts.
Soon, Yang Sheng got the news and hurried to tell Shen Fengming, "A group of bandits, about five or six hundred people, all riding horses and holding knives, are coming towards us."
"Bandits?" Shen Fengming's voice was hoarse. Are there such well-equipped bandits in Wuling County
"What should we do?" Yang Sheng asked. He was not in a hurry because all the villagers had gone to Xifeng Mountain, leaving only the Qilin Guards. Not to mention these bandits, they would not be afraid even if there were twice as many.
Shen Fengming walked quickly forward, stood on the hill and looked down.
At this time, Zhu Liang and his men were only twenty miles away from here. Based on their route, it was easy to judge that they were heading for Changshi Village.
His phoenix eyes immediately became extremely cold and fierce.
"Are they going to attack Changshi Village?" Yang Sheng, standing next to him, asked in surprise. Changshi Village is just an ordinary village, is it worth it for them to do this? Or... He thought of many things, such as what if they really wanted to attack the people of Changshi Village? What should they do
We certainly can't just watch the villagers being killed. If we go down to rescue them, how many can we save
Protecting people is much more difficult than killing them, especially protecting unarmed people.
Moreover, this group of people came in a strange way. Do they have any backup plan? If they do... Yang Sheng has experienced many life and death situations, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous at this moment. Fortunately, fortunately, the people of Changshi Village went to Xifeng Mountain, otherwise they would definitely be in a passive situation tonight.
Shen Fengming had already thought of everything he could think of, and even more.
Shen Fengming took out a token from his waist and handed it to Yang Sheng, "Go to the Hushan camp and transfer the garrison there."
"Yes!" When it comes to official business, Yang Sheng is Shen Fengming's subordinate. He immediately bowed, solemnly took the token, mounted his horse, and headed towards the Hushan camp stationed in Luzhou.
Shen Fengming looked into the distance and pulled out a knife from his waist with a shaking hand.
The knife was shining brightly and coldly, making a slight buzzing sound in the moonlight, as if it couldn't wait to kill someone and drink their blood.
At this time Zhu Liang stopped because the person sent by Wang Bin to deliver the letter arrived.
"The sky showed a strange sign, and the people of Changshi Village all went to Xifeng Mountain?" Zhu Liang thought to himself, how could it be such a coincidence. He did not suspect that someone was interfering, but immediately thought that God had opened his eyes, and it seemed that he could not bear to see innocent people being killed, so this strange sign appeared.
He had never agreed with tonight's action in the first place, and now that this had happened, he immediately considered retreating.
"General Wang said, you keep moving forward. If you meet someone from the Qilin Guard, delay for a while and he will arrive. If you don't meet them, leave quickly." This was Wang Bin's final decision.
After hearing this, Zhu Liang cursed in his heart. Those people were originally bait and his umbrella of protection. Now that they are not here, if he meets the Qilin Guards, wouldn’t he be serving food
What's the point of General Wang coming? He is now a bandit and anyone can kill him.
Is Wang Bin using him as bait
He won't do it. This is obviously not going to work today.
"Let's go back." He turned his horse's head and said.
The messenger was stunned for a moment, "Aren't you going to move forward?"
Go ahead, Zhu Liang ignored him and took his men away.
Changshi Village was silent, but Xifeng Mountain was bustling at the moment. Everyone knelt before the statue of the Goddess of Heaven and prayed sincerely, and then asked the old monk what was going on with the appearance of the Goddess.
The old monk also had a pious and surprised expression, saying that he didn't know why the goddess suddenly appeared.
Everyone gathered together and talked a lot. Finally, seeing that the temple was so dilapidated, they decided to pool their money to repair the temple. Perhaps the goddess would bless them.
Too many people means chaos, and this chaos can drag out simple tasks for a long time. It was not until the hour of Hai that everyone remembered that today was the beginning of winter, and they had not eaten dumplings yet, so they were very hungry.
It’s getting late, let’s go back quickly.
People went down the mountain in groups of three or four, talking and laughing.
However, the next day they heard something that made them unable to laugh.
Last night, just last night, hundreds of bandits came towards them.
Bandits, bandits who kill without blinking an eye. Wuling County has not had bandits for decades, but when talking about the bandits' brutality, everyone is still terrified.
Fortunately, they went to Xifeng Mountain yesterday, otherwise those bandits would definitely not retreat so easily. If they were caught by them... I dare not think about it.
Suddenly, they thought that maybe the goddess knew there would be bandits, so she appeared to lead them there.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that way.
If they had worshipped the Goddess of Heaven on a whim last night, now they were filled with gratitude and awe towards her.
Praying to the Goddess of Heaven can indeed eliminate disasters, remove misfortunes, and cure diseases.
Yesterday we discussed the matter of repairing the temple, but we couldn't come to any conclusion after discussing it for a long time. Today, we must come up with a plan, and do it quickly, otherwise how can we repay the life-saving grace of the Goddess of Heaven.
With this attitude, this matter will be easy to handle.
Soon, the village chiefs of several nearby villages discussed who would pay how much money and who would do what, and then went up the mountain together to tell the old monk.
The old monk heard what they said and realized that there were bandits last night. He was surprised and worried. The villagers thought that the goddess of heaven appeared to save them, but he knew that the fireball and the phantom were caused by him and Jiang Yunzhu. What about the bandits
After hastily discussing the temple renovation with several village heads, he went to Changshi Village in person. One reason was to thank Jiang Yunzhu and return the medical and medicine fees she had paid for Yayoi. The other was to ask about the bandits last night.
Jiang Yunzhu was surprised. "Could it be that the goddess of heaven really appeared?" She would definitely not admit that she knew in advance that the bandits were coming.
Seeing her like this, the old monk suddenly realized, could it be that the goddess of heaven had shown her her true colors? Did she specifically ask them to do that thing last night to save the people from the dire situation
It seems like the only way this makes sense.
The old monk put his hands together and chanted "Amitabha". He became more pious to the Goddess of Heaven and more grateful to Jiang Yunzhu.
"Master, this matter is known to heaven, earth, you and me." Jiang Yunzhu said to the old monk worriedly.
"I know." The old monk replied. Although the result would be good if this matter were made public, the fact that the goddess appeared was fake and would still chill the hearts of the people.
"Don't worry, benefactor. Apart from repairing the temple and offering sacrifices to the Goddess of Heaven, if there is any extra donation, I will definitely help the people." said the old monk.
Jiang Yunzhu nodded. That was good. After all, miracles were fake. The more good deeds the temple did, the longer the incense would last.
After seeing off the old monk, we saw a large group of people coming up the official road from the north. They were clearly heading for the Wuling Mine.
Jiang Yunzhu turned around and closed the door. It seemed that everything was finally coming to an end.
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