That night, Lin Shuo, who hadn't closed his eyes for several days, lay down in his clothes and fell asleep.

The Lin family has a secret method that allows the heirs not to sleep after entering the mountain. However, this method is more depleting to the body.

Confirm that the surroundings are safe, and when there are conditions to sleep, Lin Shuo will never be polite.

While he was asleep, the sound of firecrackers outside the house woke Lin Shuo up.

When I opened my eyes and looked out the window, it was still dark.

The two women on the bed sat up at once:

"What time is it?"

"Half past four. ”

"It's so immoral to set off firecrackers so early, I thought I was back in the barracks. Liu Qing muttered a sentence and began to get dressed, "You guys continue to sleep, I'll go out and have a look." ”

"Don't sleep. Lin Shuo listened to the movement outside and said softly, "The Dragon King's envoy is here. ”

......

When the four of them got up and went out of the house, they found that the old man's family was silent in the dark light, and the people were no longer at home.

In the direction of the village entrance less than 100 meters away from the old man's house, after the sound of firecrackers, there were bursts of gongs and drums.

The four of them followed the sound and turned around an alley, only to see that the direction of the village entrance was crowded, and it had already surrounded the three layers inside and three layers outside.

The villagers were quiet, standing around the huge snake statue at the entrance of the village, mostly holding torches, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

In the innermost part of the crowd, there was a humming sound that did not look like singing, and chanting did not look like chanting.

Not far from the crowd, there is a red-barked spruce, more than ten meters high, quite sturdy.

On the edge of the red-skinned spruce, a gray donkey is tethered.

In front of the donkey lay a bucket of beans, crunching and chewing, as if no one was around. Lin Shuo and the four of them came over, it just glanced up, and then continued to stick its head into the bucket.

Lin Shuo bypassed the donkey, went up the tree in three or two clicks, found a branch to settle on, and leaned his back on the trunk.

Liu Qing and Anne, two women, also climbed up, their hands and feet were very sharp, especially Anne, who came directly to Lin Shuo's side.

On the contrary, it was Yang Tuo, a big man, who tried and didn't come up, so he walked around the bottom of the tree with a little embarrassment, and then simply sat down against the trunk.

Lin Shuo pulled away the branch that blocked his vision, and finally saw the scene in the crowd clearly.

Next to the huge snake statue sat an old man in his fifties.

The old man was dressed in a black coat, with a blue-gray melon-skin hat on his head, a gray goatee, and a handful of three strings in his hand.

Looking at his outfit, he seems to be a traditional Chinese rap artist. At this time, he was humming and chirping, and he was indeed singing something.

However, Lin Shuo has never heard this kind of singing in China. The voice was low and hoarse, just a few tones back and forth. At first glance, it sounds monotonous, but after listening to it for a long time, it will feel quite enjoyable.

Lin Shuo's identity naturally knows a lot of strange things on the rivers and lakes. This kind of rap artist is considered to be the lowest level in the rivers and lakes, and Lin Shuo is no stranger.

Lin Shuo has never heard this kind of singing in China, but he knows that this kind of monotonous rap is often used for narrative.

The music is not important, and the instrument in your hand is even less valuable. What is sold is the word in the mouth.

Lin Shuo listened carefully and slowly understood.

The words in the old man's mouth are actually telling a series of stories.

The hero of the story is the black water dragon king.

How was it born, how did it attain enlightenment, how did it become a dragon god in the sky, why did it come down to earth, why did it appear here, how did it help people here?

The old man's physical strength is really good, and this singing lasted for more than an hour.

Lin Shuo listened to it, and he really listened.

By the time the old man finished singing, it was already dawn, and the torches in the hands of the villagers had already been extinguished.

"Mr. Lin. Anne saw that the old man had finally finished singing, and asked softly, "Do you think this old man is singing true?"

"It's a good edit. Lin Shuo nodded, "This old man has some ability. ”

"Ahh ”

After singing, the old man in the crowd took a sip of the tea handed by the villagers, then slowly stood up and said loudly:

"Listen up, Lord Dragon, I've been unhappy lately, and the group of strangers on the other side of the river have offended the old man.

It was merciful to the old man, and it didn't do anything to the group of strangers, but drove it to the other side of the river.

It is clear that you are different from them, so it does not blame you.

But ah, the dragon lord loves us, we can't be heartless.

In addition to erecting a statue of his old man, Ming'er, you can prepare some sacrifices and go to the riverside to honor and honor its old man, and this matter will be over.

Everyone relaxes and lives a good life, and there is a dragon lord to protect us. ”

After saying this, the villagers all smiled.

"Dragon Lord Shengming!"

"I've long been displeased with this group of strangers. But there are so many lives, if you really kill them, it will also be a crime. ”

"It's really good that the Dragon Lord did this!"

"The Dragon King has a good heart!"

"I didn't say it, tomorrow's sacrifice, our family will have a sheep. ”

"We have five chickens in our house!"

"We've got a whole pig in our house!"

......

With a loud shout, firecrackers lit up around the crowd.

The villagers scattered in all directions, leaving a larger space in the middle, and the gong and drum corps began to blow and beat, and the Yangge also twisted.

That kind of joyful atmosphere is the same as Lin Shuo's New Year when he was a child.

The people here, in fact, celebrate the tradition very similarly to the south of the Heilongjiang River.

It's just that after leaving their homeland for more than half a century, there is one more item in their tradition, that is, this dragon king sacrifice.

The envoy of the dragon king in black shirt and blue hat, after the villagers were lively enough, presided over another ceremony.

After reciting a long prayer in front of the statue of the snake, he led the villagers to kowtow to the huge statue of the snake.

Hundreds of villagers knelt at the entrance of the village, kowtowing willingly, and their movements were uniform and very religious.

That solemn sense of ceremony is very shocking to watch.

After doing this, the villagers on the side set off a string of firecrackers, and this set of rituals that had been slowly established for nearly a hundred years seemed to be over. The originally solemn expression on the face of the Dragon King's envoy also relaxed.

The people in the open space at the entrance of the village began to disperse gradually.

The old man took a bag of corn flour from the villagers and waved his hand again, as if he had refused something.

He walked out of the crowd with the small bag of flour and walked towards the red-barked spruce where Lin Shuo was.

When he got closer, he saw Yang Tuo sitting under the tree, he was slightly stunned, didn't say anything, but hung the flour bag in his hand on the donkey.

Then he took off his coat and put it in his donkey's bag, and took out a short black suit from his bag and put it on.

He was wearing leggings and cloth shoes, but after changing into a shirt, his whole body became compact and neat.

After changing his clothes, the envoy of the Dragon King glanced up at Lin Shuo on the tree, his expression was as usual, and he took off the donkey and walked out of the village.

Lin Shuo found that there were a total of four bags of flour on the donkey he was traveling with, and it seemed that this village was not the first stop on his trip, and it should not be the last stop.

Lin Shuo made a gesture, and the four of them got down from the tree, stood up, and hung far behind the Dragon King's envoy.

The old man's donkey was only used for camels, and he did not sit on it himself. However, the legs and feet of this old man are far faster than ordinary people.

Following him over a mountain, the others of the four were nothing, and Yang Tuo, who was born as a scholar, was already so tired that he couldn't breathe.

Liu Qing took out the walkie-talkie in his backpack and got in touch with Wei Xingshan on the mountain. Lin Shuo saw that this woman had already been arranged, so he simply walked into the dense forest alone.

The huge recurve bow, Chasing Ye, had been separated from Lin Shuo for a whole day, and was originally guarded by Xiao Ba and Wei Xingshan.

Now that Liu Qing is contacting Wei Xingshan to intercept people, he wants to return to the temporary camp immediately and bring Master Chase with him.

As soon as I entered the mountain, I was always relieved to be accompanied by Chaiye and Xiaoba.

Picking up Xiaoba and Chaiye in the temporary camp on the mountain, and then returning to the mountain road, Lin Shuo heard a commotion in front of him.

Listening to the movement, the envoy of the Dragon King, who was walking quickly on the mountain road, had been intercepted by Wei Xingshan with the mercenaries.