Such a picture suddenly appeared in front of my eyes: in an ancient well with four walls of blue bricks, there were two corpses, one large and one small, after the skin and flesh decayed, the two white bones slowly sank to the bottom of the well, and slowly covered with a layer of dust......

On the way back, I wondered: women and children should have no family, otherwise they would not die without a place to be buried.

As soon as I walked to the entrance of Donghu Village, I heard the sound of gongs and drums in the village and firecrackers, and I joked: What a good day is today, this is a marriage.

After entering the village, I saw from a distance that many villagers gathered at the intersection on the side of the small supermarket, all gathered together, and there was a circle in the middle.

This makes me wonder, I know the local wedding customs, and there is no such custom similar to street performers! Isn't it a marriage?

The closer I got, the more curious I became, and before I could squeeze in, I saw the crowd surrounding two people I was familiar with, it turned out to be Han Jianli and Wu Jinghan, both of them stood in the middle stunned, with a big red flower hanging on their left chest, and their expressions seemed to be a little reluctant.

Several old men on the left side of the two of them are holding suona, sheng, flute and other musical instruments, babbling and blowing, and a few young people on the right are beating gongs and drums.

What's the situation?

Before I could ask, someone in the crowd saw me.

"Yo? Our great benefactor, the great hero, is here! ”

Suddenly, everyone turned their heads to look at me, all with exaggerated smiles on their faces, and the black-faced temporary village party secretary and the black-skinny old man walked towards me with a smile.

"Brother, why did you come here! I called your phone many times and didn't answer. ”

Kindness? Called my phone, I didn't hear a ring! hurriedly took it out, and sure enough, there were more than a dozen missed calls on it, including the numbers established by Wu Jinghan and Han, as well as unknown numbers.

I thought that before I found Fa Dian, I also called his mobile phone several times, but he didn't answer, it seems that the mobile phone signal in this village of Qilijing is not good!

After a little distraction, I hurriedly asked the matter: "What is the happy event in the village?" ”

The thin black man smiled and shook his head: "Yes! What a happy event! You have saved dozens of lives in our village, this is a great joy, we have discussed it, and we think we should erect a heroic monument for you......"

Before he could finish speaking, I hurriedly waved my hand to interrupt: "Erecting a monument? What a monument I erected at such a young age! ”

The black-faced temporary village party secretary on the side hurriedly explained: "No, brother, it is the custom of this area to erect a hero monument, especially for those who have made great contributions to the village. ”

Actually, I think it's very awkward, and when I think about it, it's not a bad thing, it's better to follow the local customs.

It was not until five o'clock that the ceremony was completed when the stone tablet with my name engraved on it was delivered to the village.

At this time, I learned that there is still an ancient ancestral hall in the village, but with the development of the times, the ancestral hall has long since withdrawn from the stage of history, and in recent decades, it has been used as a place to store the hero's monument.

The ancient ancestral hall is in the old village, that is, next to the inlet where Fa Dian took me to catch Jiao that night.

The ancient ancestral hall as a whole is made of dark blue bricks, just a glance can see that some years, but this kind of green bricks look like people feel very twisted, I remember when I was a child digging ditches in the village, digging out some bricks for building graves, I remember that it is exactly the same as this kind of brick.

The ancestral hall is the kind of old wooden door, which is rare nowadays.

The thin black man said that there was an old man in charge of the ancestral hall in Donghu Village, and it was an old man with scars on his face, and after just one glance at him, I suddenly remembered the grimace of the old man who had been refining oil with Shen Gu outside the village.

It seems that Higashimura likes to find ugly-looking people to do the work of guards.

Probably this is just like the reason why almost all the door gods in the country have hideous faces, such as Brother Zhong Kui, it is said that these ugly-faced big brothers have the effect of suppressing ghosts.

The door creaked open, and I followed the thin black man into the house, and when I stepped in, I was choked by the dust and coughed repeatedly, which showed that no one had entered the house for a long time.

The first thing you see is a stone monument of different heights and shapes, which should be what they call a heroic monument.

Behind him, Li Bo led a few strong men to carry my hero monument in.

Standing on one side, doing nothing, I glanced at the stone monument beside me.

Zhang Guangmin: An entrepreneur, in the spring of 1989, he sponsored more than a dozen children in the village to build bridges and yards for the village branch.

Nie Jiayu: Doctor, who came to the village in 1975, has been silently dedicated for 30 years, has superb medical skills, and Hua Tuo has been reincarnated.

The text format of the stele is almost the same, in addition to the name and time, there is also a brief introduction to the so-called heroes.

In 2018, Liu Ludong used his unique technique to drive away poisonous snakes and healed 18 villagers who had been bitten by poisonous snakes.

My stele was carried into the ancestral hall and placed in the empty seat in the back, I looked twice, and when I looked around, I saw a large stele with more words on it than on the other steles around me.

Out of curiosity, I took a second look and saw the names of the heroes on the stone tablet.

Liu Mengyun?

After recognizing these three words, I felt as if I was being electrocuted, this is my father's name...... Is it the same name?

I walked over tremblingly, and a few columns of small letters with small letters gradually became clear.

In the late autumn and early winter of 2004, the river god was haunted, the plague god appeared, diseases were everywhere, and supernatural events were frequent.

I was stunned for five seconds, and then suddenly it all understood.

Where is the same name, this person is clearly my father, the time of the photo I saw in Shaanxi before was 2003, according to the archives provided by Liu Xili, he was killed in the second year, that is, in 2004, which happens to match the time on the stele.

I read a few columns of words on the stele repeatedly, and my brain was about to explode, it turned out that my father was willing to sacrifice to the river back then, which coincided with the information revealed by my uncle...... How could this be!

I never dreamed that things would turn around like this.

Seeing that I was stunned, Li Bo pushed me: "Look what! Excited, huh? You...... Brother, why are you crying? ”

I couldn't hold back my suppressed emotions any longer, and I cried so loudly that a dozen or so people in the ancestral hall looked at me blankly. After crying a few times, I pointed to the stone tablet engraved with my father's name and almost shouted, "You guys...... Tell me, why did this man sacrifice to the river? ”

A few people, you look at me, I look at you, all of them are stunned.

"Brother, you ...... Do you know him? "It was the thin black man who asked me first.

I wiped a handful of tears, didn't say I knew, didn't say I didn't know, but continued to ask why this person sacrificed to the river.

From the look on the face of the black and thin old man, I could see that he knew about this, and after being silent for a few seconds, he spoke: "It's been more than ten years!" He was already dead when he sacrificed to the river......" 89 Literature Network

"Nonsense! It is very clear that he is willing to sacrifice to the river, how can he still voluntarily sacrifice to the river when he dies? ”

The thin black man smiled bitterly: "I really didn't lie to you!" Sacrificing his body to the river is also doing things according to his suicide note...... At that time, he and several others were killed and buried outside the village, and we saw the suicide note on the third day, so we ...... So his body was dug up in the middle of the night......"

I only felt dizzy, and when I thought of the picture of my father being skinned with a dagger after his death, my heart immediately felt a burst of pain. On second thought, no! Although my father is the son-in-law of Donghu Village, as far as I know, he is not familiar with the people in the village, so how could his suicide note fall into the hands of the villagers after his death! The point is, why did he leave such a strange suicide note?

I asked the black thin old man again, and he said a person's name: Song Jianmin!

Uncle? Could it be that the uncle handed them the suicide note? Dozens of "No!" popped up in my head in a row. ”

The black and thin old man explained unhurriedly: "Back then, the river god was also angry, and we invited several feng shui gentlemen, but some died in the river, and some went crazy on the spot, and finally Song Jianmin took out a suicide note and sacrificed his body to the river, so that the people of the whole village escaped this catastrophe." ”

I was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly asked: "Such a big thing happened, why haven't I heard anyone say it in the past few days!" ”

In fact, from the first day I came to Higashido Village, I consciously or unconsciously wanted to know about the river sacrifice back then, and even ten minutes ago, I still thought that my father was killed and his body was used to sacrifice to the river.

It turned out that he was voluntary, although there was a big contrast in his heart, but anyway! It's better to be willing than to be forced, and when I think about it, I'm a little better.

After seeing that I was calm, a few people asked me rhetorically.

"Brother, do you really know this person?"

"His surname is Liu, and you are also surnamed Liu, so you won't have any relatives!"

I wiped the tears from my eyes with both hands and smiled bitterly, "He's my dad!" When I was less than ten years old, he left home and never came back, in fact, I came here to find out why my father was killed and sacrificed to the river. ”

Immediately, there was an uproar in the ancestral hall, and everyone, including the black and thin old man, showed an expression that was difficult to be confident on their faces.

"What! He's your dad? This...... That's too much of a coincidence, isn't it? ”

"Your dad? That is...... In other words, he is Boss Song's brother-in-law?

I didn't have time to explain, so I continued to ask the question: "What happened back then?" Everyone...... How much do you know about Dad's events back then? ”

The thin black man shook his head slightly: "I almost don't know anything, before your father's accident, a few people said they had seen him...... To be exact, it was someone who had seen your father's archaeological team, but I didn't expect them to be killed...... Because stealing corpses is also a crime, so the people who participated in this matter swore in the ancestral hall that no one could say anything about it. ”

I was very unhappy in my heart, and sneered: "Since you swore an oath, why did you tell me?" ”

The black thin old man frowned and said: "My brother saved more than a dozen people in the village, and he is also the benefactor of the village, since you asked, it doesn't matter what you oath or not."

"My uncle was involved in this?"

The black thin old man nodded, and said a little tactfully: "Your father's suicide note was given to us by him, and ...... And such an important ritual of sacrificing the river, who can complete it except him? ”

These words make me both painful and angry, I have seen my uncle's method of killing fish, very clean and neat, since he is the one who sacrifices to the river, then he is also the one who peels the skin.

When I got out of the ancestral hall, I only felt that my soul had been drained away, and my feet were soft when I walked, my head was extremely heavy, and my ears were buzzing. In a daze, when I looked up and saw three police cars, I noticed that I had come to the gate of the village branch compound at this time.

This is Hao Minyuan's car!

Realizing that something might be happening, I quickly restrained my emotions and strode in.

Hao Minyuan was sitting in the courtyard chatting with Fa Ying.

"Brother Minyuan, why are you here?"

Hao Minyuan smiled at me: "What, you kid has already taken this place as his own territory?" Not yet welcome! ”

"Nope! No! I just think it's weird......"

Fa Dian smiled: "I called, relying on the two of us, I'm afraid it won't work!" ”

That's right, too! Through these few contacts, it can be judged that Wang Huaiwen is not only ruthless, but also bold and careful, and it is estimated that he can't deal with me and Fa Dian.

Fa Ying had already told them about the discovery of Qilijing, and several people were discussing what to do next.

"Master, if I contact the household registration department of the local police station, can I find out the personnel of these four families, and I will know who this person is who is the ninth person to be sacrificed!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he was rejected by Liu Xili.

"Doing so will startle the snake, and second, it may not be found! The masters are all calculated according to the lunar calendar, and the household registration information in the countryside is relatively chaotic, some in order to escape the family planning fine, and some in order to have a second child, and there is a year difference between the household registration birthday and the real birthday. ”

Liu Xili explained.

I interjected and said, "I'm suspicious of one of the four families!" ”

Liu Xili and Hao Minyuan looked at me together: "Ao? Which one do you suspect? ”

I was a little embarrassed: "I have seen women in one of the four families, this ...... This Dharma Master should know better than I do...... But what I suspect is a person from another household......"

I told the coffin Li that I learned about it, and asked Fa Dian's opinion, but I didn't expect Fa Dian to show an embarrassed look on his face at this time, probably because I mentioned the fat woman.

Fa Dian smiled and said that he didn't know either.

They discussed until dark, but there was no conclusion, and in the end, Fa Dian slapped the table, saying that it was better to go to Qilijing at night to squat and monitor, and he estimated that Wang Huaiwen would also appear.

After all, this kind of thing can't be above board, and there shouldn't be too many people. After some discussion, me, Fa Ying, and Hao Minyuan went to the three of them.

At half past ten in the evening, the driver sent the three of us to the dam outside Qilijing Village, and the three of us quietly entered the village and found the ancient well in the dark rumbling.

"You're talking about these four households?" Hao Minyuan asked in a low voice.

I nodded and pointed to the coffin Li family: "That's what I suspect!" ”

At this time, the lights of the other three families had been extinguished, and only the coffin Li family had a pale yellow light, and it was even more suspicious when he looked closely, because the light from his house was emitted by an oil lamp.

What age is this, even if there is an occasional power outage, it will not be possible to use kerosene lamps, isn't there a more convenient candle! A few people chose a haystack under the big tree, hid it, and after hiding it, I looked at my phone, and it was already past eleven o'clock.

The position I was lying on my stomach happened to be facing the door of the coffin Li family's courtyard, and everything in the courtyard could be seen clearly, and at this time, I found that in addition to a dozen black coffins in the courtyard, there was an extra tricycle, and the words of the supermarket proprietress in the morning resurfaced in my mind.

Half an hour passed, and there was no movement in the darkness except for the occasional bird call, and the occasional noisy sound of small animals such as mice and weasels flashing by.