The courtyard has been surrounded by people on the third floor and the outer three floors, and these people are standing on both sides of the river and waiting for the people inside to come out, and all kinds of lanterns are floating on the whole river, reflecting the river water in various colors.

In the middle of the river was a flower boat with colorful ribbons, and several guards on the ship stood on the deck, and the thick curtain blocked the cabin, which could not be seen from the outside, and the eyes of those men were now hot at the faintly flickering curtain, as if they could shoot flames from their eyes.

Ruan Mianmian and the others did not continue to approach, but dismounted and stayed behind a big willow tree and watched quietly.

Ruan Mianmian's turquoise gauze skirt was too dazzling, especially on this occasion, it was strange, there were no girls present, so Duan Yan untied the black cloak behind him and wrapped Ruan Mianmian's whole person, and after the cloak was encircled, it really covered her figure, if she didn't look carefully, she looked like a slender little boy.

It's just that under the willow tree, not only Ruan Mianmian and her guards are standing, but also an old woman with timid eyes and seems to be looking forward to something, she has a gray headscarf on her head, her face is full of wrinkles and vicissitudes, her back is a little rickety, she is holding a broken wood as a cane, and in the other hand is a wicker basket, and in the basket are a few dry and hard vegetarian buns.

Ruan Mianmian tentatively took a step towards her, the old woman stared at the eyes of the flower boat and suddenly found the group of people around her, shrank back two steps, and saw Ruan Mianmian wearing a black cloak, and the people behind her were all dressed as iron-clad soldiers, and asked in a dumb voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, are you here to investigate my daughter's disappearance?" ”

As she spoke, her almost dry face revealed a strange brilliance, and even her curved back straightened a little, and suddenly she knelt on the ground with an ordinary sound, and muttered: "I'll just say, I'll just say, the government won't care, my daughter can get it back, she is a goddess, and she will have a good family affair after the New Year, how can she not send it back to me!" ”

Ruan Mianmian saw that although the old man was not very conscious, everything he could say could not be separated from this sacrifice and the goddess, she and Duan Yan glanced at each other and nodded.

Duan Yan cleared his throat and said, "Hello old woman, I am the chief of the guard of Ruliang City, and I am here to help you, I wonder if you can tell us in detail about the situation you know, and we will handle the case quickly." ”

Ruan Mianmian took the others to the side, and the old woman hurriedly followed them to a place that could not be seen by the river a little farther away, Duan Yan first took a piece of baked cake that Ruan Mianmian hadn't eaten and handed it to her mother-in-law, and then let her sit down.

"Young man, we have a tradition of sacrificing to the river god every year, and people say that if the river god does not sacrifice, it will send a big flood to wash everyone away, so we must choose the most beautiful chaste woman in the whole city to be the goddess and preside over this sacrifice." The old woman seemed to remember a long time ago.

"Three years ago, the day before the river god sacrifice, my daughter went to the city to catch the temple fair to sell steamed buns, but she didn't come back in the middle of the night, we all thought that she spent the night in the city inn as before, who knew that the next morning we waited for the official of the county government, they said that my daughter was selected as the goddess to preside over the sacrifice, as long as she presided over the day, she gave us ten taels of silver." The old woman wiped away her tears.

"My love of money, I immediately nodded and answered, and took ten taels of silver, but then my daughter Xiaoying never came back, I went to the county government to ask, they said that they had never heard of this person, let alone know where the goddess was, and then my head ran away with others, so I was left to wait for my daughter to come back, and I came to see it every year, which has not been waiting until now. I went to the county government to report to the officials, but they ignored me, I came here by myself, and they didn't let me get close, and I didn't know if my poor daughter was dead or alive! ”

Ruan Mianmian clenched his hands into fists, he didn't expect that the officials of Gaoyuan would rob the people's daughters, and they would say such a high-sounding thing and force the people to look like this.

"Old woman, since you have to choose a goddess every year, do you know what the situation of other goddesses is now? If the child is lost, will their family not look for it? Duan Yan was still calmer and continued to comfort the old man, hoping to ask for more things.

"Looking, why don't you look for it, there is a family in the village in the east that is also poor, and then the daughter was selected as a goddess and never returned, the family is crazy, but unfortunately nothing can be found, and then the family was also disheartened, moved into Ruliang City, and left this sad place."

"But I don't seem to have any other women here to attend, is there any explanation?" Duan Yan asked.

"Those feng shui gentlemen invited by the official said that women belong to yin, men belong to yang, and water is extremely yin, so women can't come close to the sacrifice on this day, otherwise they will attract trouble."

Ruan Mianmian snorted coldly, and said in a low voice: "It's just a trick to deceive people, there is no fixed number of water potential increases every year, who can guarantee that the wind and rain will be smooth every year, if a woman is really yin and can't get close, then why choose a goddess to preside over the sacrifice?" ”

Duan Yan made a slight gesture to stop her, and then turned to the old woman and said, "You go back first, give your address to my subordinates, and if there is any news, we will tell you as soon as possible." ”

Sent two guards to send the old woman home, Ruan Mianmian and Duan Yan were speechless for a while, this matter seems to have continued for many years, how can it be so easy to stop, and Jiang Xinyue and Mu Ruqing don't know what the situation is now, they don't know what to do, they can only take one step at a time.

Just as they were at a loss for what to do after listening to the story, they suddenly heard a frightened shout from the side of the flower boat, Ruan Mianmian raised his eyes and saw a rich boy wearing a silk shirt and a melon skin hat coming out of the cabin of the flower boat with his teeth and claws, and crawled to the bow of the boat.

Seeing such a change, Ruan Mianmian gave Duan Yan a look, and she put on a hood to cover her whole body tightly, only revealing her two eyes, and then remounted her horse, and the group arrived at the river.

The onlookers were a little panicked when they saw that the man on the boat suddenly went berth, but at this moment, when they saw a group of officers and soldiers galloping on horseback, they immediately gave way to a road, and Ruan Mianmian and they reached the river without hindrance.

Ruan Mianmian They also listened to this ritual of worshiping the river god just now, the most important thing is the goddess, the goddess does not appear in front of everyone, but just stays in the cabin of the flower boat, but everyone can go in alone to receive the blessing of the goddess, but everyone needs to pay some money, this regulation is really strange, Ruan Mianmian They have to pay extra attention.

Judging from the hour just now, it is estimated that this man who suddenly went crazy should be the first to go in to receive the blessing, but he didn't know what happened inside to scare him like this.

Ruan Mianmian walked in the front, Duan Yan followed closely behind, and the rest of the guards were also well-trained, and immediately dispersed to control the situation. The thief-eyed butler who was maintaining order on the flower boat over there immediately greeted him with a smile: "Ladies and gentlemen, are you also here to ask for blessings today, how many of you will ask for it first?" ”

Steward Xu smiled and handed Ruan Mianmian an an ambiguous color, and Ruan Mianmian had goosebumps when he looked at Ruan Mianmian under the cloak. The crazy boy over there has been subdued by several nursing homes, but he didn't let him fall off the boat, and after he couldn't move, he muttered something "ghost" and "scared" or something like that.

Ruan Mianmian pretended to be indifferent, and ignored the flattering Steward Xu, only glanced sideways at the crazy man, Duan Yan understood, and scolded: "What's the matter with this person? A few people came from Ruliang City, how did they see this as soon as they came? ”

"The military master is angry, it's all this kid who is deliberately bad, it's okay, nothing happened, if you want to see the goddess in and see it." Steward Xu wiped a cold sweat with his sleeve.

"Since you say so, then I will accompany our young master to go in and have a look, and still don't let go? Don't come close! Duan Yan looked like a loyal protector, stretched out his hand to protect Ruan Mianmian on one side and bent down into the cabin, the other two guards immediately blocked the door, Steward Xu had to stand far away, looking at the shiny silver knife in the guard's hand and did not dare to take a step.

Steward Xu didn't react to what was going on, the man was happy to pay the money and go in, but it didn't take long for him to cry and run out, Steward Xu thought that the goddess inside woke up and was making trouble, but he didn't expect to go in and take a look, the goddess was still lying on the bed safely, there was nothing unusual, and there was no sign of waking up, and then Ruan Mianmian and they arrived, and they didn't have time to think about it a lot, Steward Xu now just wanted to send these soldiers from Ruliang away.

Besides, Ruan Mianmian and Duan Yan entered the cabin, and I don't know what incense was lit in this cabin, which was so strong that it made people dizzy, and the unstoppable warmth poured into their hearts after smelling it, which made people particularly uncomfortable. There was not much in the cabin, except for the most conspicuous carved bed in the middle, on which a woman seemed to be asleep.

Ruan Mianmian was about to go over to find out, but suddenly a familiar voice sounded above his head: "Mianmian? Paragraph preface? How did you guys get here? ”

Looking up, Ruan Mianmian saw Jiang Xinyue and Mu Ruqingzheng hanging there on the beam above her head, her legs crossed over the beam, her back against the beam, looking at her with a smile.

Ruan Mianmian rushed in and turned to the side, Jiang Xinyue held Mu Ruqing and fell down gently, I have to say that Jiang Xinyue's kung fu is really good, and she didn't even make a sound when she dragged a person to the ground, as if she had no weight.

"Sister Yue, Brother Mu, why are you here?" Ruan Mianmian was surprised.

"We also want to ask how you were with Duan Yan, how did you escape?" Jiang Xinyue looked at her carefully and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that there was nothing wrong.

Ruan Mianmian quickly told the two of them what happened to him and the process of escaping, and after finishing speaking, Ruan Mianmian suddenly patted his head: "Oh no, Lu Gui also brought the soldiers to the county office, if I can't find me, I'm afraid that I will cause a big mess in a hurry, after dealing with it here, let's hurry into the county seat to find them." ”

"Lord Jingshu, why was that person so frightened that he was delirious? I'm afraid it's also the handiwork of the two of them. Duan Yan said with a smile.