At about four o'clock in the morning, the east had already revealed the whiteness of the fish's belly, and suddenly the originally bright moon suddenly turned black, and suddenly the entire Yellow River beach also became pitch black.

"It's the tengu eating the moon! It's the queen of heaven eating the moon! ”

Several old men who had been hired to do the work exclaimed.

Most of the workers working on this site are villagers from the nearby three towns and five towns.

Living in the city, you may not know the rhythm of life of our rural people, the farming season, but everyone who can go out to work will not be idle at home, and even women go out to find work. Old men over the age of 50 can't do heavy work, and they can't go far away, so most of them go to the nearby construction sites to do chores.

These shouting old men should be nearby when they hear the accent, and "Tengu eats the moon" is a legend known to women and children in our area.

I've only heard a little bit about the legend of "Tengu eating the moon", and it seems that all the old people don't want to mention it, but when they talk about other things, they accidentally mention it, but it's only a few words.

It seems that there will be a "heavenly dog eating the moon" on the beach of the Yellow River every ten years, and every time it appears, there will be an incomparably huge disaster, I heard that there was a celestial phenomenon of "heavenly dog eating the moon" before the three-year drought in the sixties, and there was an earlier year when the Yellow River burst its banks......

The old men looked up and watched the black moon slowly kneel down, as if praying, and they were very religious.

That was pretty much the way things happened that night, and at about five or six o'clock, the entire construction site was almost cleaned up, and the bodies were transported back to the district overnight.

It's just that what to do with this huge bronze statue has become a problem.

Before dawn, Yang Guoshan rushed over with two people from the cultural center, and when he saw this huge bronze statue, he was so shocked that he didn't know what to say.

Recently, I have had frequent accidents in the cultural center, antique Li, Professor Gu and his two students, in just half a month, four people have died.

Yang Guoshan was also exhausted, he circled around the bronze statue twice, judging that the bronze statue was hollow, otherwise the weight could reach several tons, and the ship would not be able to carry it at all.

"Take advantage of the large number of people and the tools, let's help this bronze statue get to the river embankment! I'll report it as soon as dawn and this thing should be of great archaeological value......"

Yang Guoshan said to everyone.

It is said that there is a lot of strength in numbers, but in fact, to carry such a big thing, isn't it a drop in the bucket to rely on the strength of people alone?

Fortunately, the crane was still there, and it took an hour for the bronze statue to be moved to an open field under the embankment.

After all the tinkering was done, it was already eight or nine o'clock, and after staying up all night, everyone was tired and had a sore back, and was about to drive back, when I saw a lot of people pouring out of the village across the river embankment.

The men wore white hats on their heads and a willow stick in each hand.

Big morning, this is a funeral?

On the afternoon of the third day, the filial sons wore linen and filial piety, holding mourning sticks (all willow branches, meaning homophonic "stay") to send the ashes of the deceased to the cemetery, calling it a funeral.

In those years, there were also those who did not revitalize, and the "funeral committees" at all levels turned a blind eye, and only in the next few years did they investigate very strictly.

The way of mourning varies from town to town, but I have never heard of a mourning in the morning.

More than a dozen cars parked on the embankment of the Yellow River left one after another, and our car also started, but after seeing this group of people, we asked the driver to wait first.

At that time, in addition to me, Zhang Kailong, Chen Laosan, and two beautiful forensic doctors in the same car with us, these two sisters had been working for 20 hours in a row, and they were already physically and mentally exhausted.

I saw the group of people slowly walking towards the Yellow River.

I have good eyesight, I have been observing, and after looking at them for a while, I feel that they don't look like they are in mourning, and if they are mourning, they must at least have a coffin! But they were carrying a statue about two meters high. It was easy to see the four people carrying it, this sculpture should be made of wood, the lower body of the sculpture is surrounded by yellow cloth, and the top of the head is covered with a brown square cloth, so I can't tell which god this is the statue.

As the group walked, they didn't know what they were talking about.

When they reached the embankment, they suddenly stopped, and first an old man led by him raised his hands above his head, and then slowly knelt down, and then the others followed his example and knelt on the ground with their hands folded.

When they knelt, I roughly counted them, about seventy or eighty people, in front of them were all elderly people wearing white hats on their heads, and behind them were some young people, most of them holding shovels or pickaxes, etc.

Suddenly, at the back of the crowd, I saw two special people, and I immediately got goosebumps all over my body, it turned out to be the old man and the child I had seen three times before, which also indirectly verified that the two people I saw on the side of the road last night were them.

The group kowtowed and went up the embankment along the embankment.

When the leaders stood on the embankment, they saw the huge bronze statue we had placed on the other side of the embankment, and then knelt down with a plop.

At that time, the bronze statue was between the two of us, and the distance between the two sides was about 100 meters.

By this time, I was pretty sure that the group was not mourning, but rather performing some kind of ritual.

Could it be related to last night's "Tengu Eating the Moon", I thought to myself.

"Xiao Zhen, they're kowtowing to the bronze statue! It looks like ...... I seem to know this...... This woman...... O river woman! ”

Zhang Kailong wanted to say "know Nuwa", but as soon as the words came out, he remembered what Chen Laosan said before, this bronze statue is not Nuwa's, but her twin sister Hepo.

I nodded, pointed to the stone statue in the center of the crowd and whispered to Zhang Kailong, "Do you see that sculpture?" Why do you hold it so tightly! I think there's something strange! ”

Zhang Kailong and Chen Laosan looked carefully, only to see the wooden statue wrapped in yellow cloth and brown square cloth.

There is another reason why I think this wooden statue is strange, that is, the mysterious boy I have seen three times, his whole body is also wrapped, faintly, I always feel that there is something between this wooden statue and the boy.

I couldn't hold it back, so I said hello to Zhang Kailong, saying that I seemed to know the two people in the crowd and wanted to go over and have a look.

Zhang Kailong was stunned for a moment, and said dryly: "Let's go with you!" So many people belong to the collective event, and I can't sit idly by! ”

The three of us slowly leaned in, and my attention remained fixed on the old man and the young man at the back of the crowd, who knelt reverently on the ground like the others, and the child still stood with a blank face.

When we were less than twenty meters away from the crowd, the group was still kneeling, and by this time I could already hear their voices chanting, but they were speaking so fast that they couldn't hear what they were chanting.

This group of people turned a blind eye to the arrival of a few of us, and they didn't even raise their heads.

I'm also curious about their behavior, but the most curious are the old and the young behind the crowd!

"Do you still know me?"

I walked over to the old man from the crowd and spoke slowly.

The old man raised his head very calmly, looked at me with a very strange smile, and said slowly: "I have already said before, we will have a date later!" ”