Tong Xiaomeng told me that according to the "Ninghai County Chronicles" that she and Professor Gu read: more than 100 miles east of Ninghai County, there are river gods, who sing in the middle of the night, and worship them with living people.

Sacrifice to serve the river god alive in Hezi Village since the year of Longqing has been existing, every lunar calendar July 13, will be selected in the village no more than 15 years old yellow flower girl, wear a red dowry, to guard the boudoir, the whole village is lit up and colorful, with a big gift to serve it, in the Mao time, that is, around seven o'clock to eight o'clock in the evening, the girl is smeared with sesame oil all over the body, and when there is a river god on the water surface of the mouth of the two rivers, the girl will be thrown into the river, complete the sacrifice.

It is worth noting that in the eyes of the villagers of Hezi Village, the time of this day can be regarded as the day when they get married to the river god, the river god is the groom, the girl is the bride to be married, and they are all considered the bride's maiden family, before the sacrifice begins, they cannot get close to the river, otherwise it will be considered a broken marriage.

The tradition of living people worshipping the river god has been around for more than 500 years in this remote river village, and if it is held every year on July 13, at least 500 girls under the age of 15 will die tragically in the river.

"So, there really is a river god?" I asked, glancing at the river.

"This kind of haunted legend, most of them occur in places where people are rare, because the listener can not easily verify, we have been to many ravines and remote areas are said to be haunted, and the customs are not the same as superstition, Professor Gu brought me here this time, is to verify with my own eyes whether there is still a custom of living sacrifice in Hezi Village, if there is, we will record the evidence, go out and hand it over to the relevant departments, completely curb and cut off this backward and inhumane practice."

Seeing that Tong Xiaomeng's words were sonorous and powerful, I asked tentatively: "What about Professor Gu, can you still save it?" ”

"Save, of course saved!" She glanced at me and said, "But we have already identified ourselves with them, they should not do anything to Professor Gu, there is still time, the top priority is to find the bride who was chosen for the sacrifice before dark, we can't just let her throw herself into the river for nothing." ”

"You're going to get people out?" I asked.

She looked at me strangely: "Are you going to die without help?" Then there was a look of disdain in my eyes, as if I were such a person.

In the car, I found that this handsome Xinjiang girl didn't look up to me as a businessman, especially in the eyes of these people, like me, who engaged in an old goods store was no different from a thief and a liar, and I didn't bother to take care of her, thinking that since I couldn't find anyone here, I would have a reason to go back, but suddenly the girl in the yard had a pleading and helpless look in her eyes, and the idea of wanting to leave suddenly became dull.

Tong Xiaomeng saw me in a daze, thinking that I was frightened by her words, so she taunted me and said, "Let's go, let's go, I didn't expect you to do anything anyway." ”

"I know where people are." I said, "But there are villagers watching in the courtyard, so you can't get in." ”

I told her what I saw in the village, although Tong Xiaomeng seemed to be an impatient, but she would not do this kind of buy-one-get-one-free loss-making deal, she squatted on the ground and thought for a long time after listening, raised her head and asked, "Are you saying that they plan to send me and Professor Gu out together after they catch me?" ”

I nodded, "That's right." ”

She rolled her eyes, took off the travel bag she was carrying behind her with her backhand and put it on the ground, opened the zipper, took out a black Sony DV from it, turned on the monitor and said to me, "You take a look at this first." ”

I glanced at her suspiciously, and then my eyes fell on the display screen, and found that the video screen was aimed at an ancient ancestral hall, I had seen it before when I entered the village, it was the ancestral temple of Hezi Village, which looked like the architectural style of the Ming Dynasty, all wooden structures, the steps of the ancestral hall were paved with large bluestone bricks, and two stone carvings like fish and beasts were located at the door, the carving was fine, lifelike, especially the eyes, just like the living, as if a mistake God's kung fu, it can move, Tear up the outsiders who dared to trespass on the ancestral shrine.

In front of the ancestral hall stood the villagers of Hezi Village, and all the villagers who disappeared into the houses were gathered here, different from the imaginary villager gathering, these villagers all stood in a proper manner, although there were many people, but no one spoke, standing there quietly, staring at the ancestral hall with a pair of eyes. The eyes were unusually cold, as if this group of people had no soul, and a strange look that did not belong to human beings appeared on the faces of these men, women, and children.

Even through the monitor, I could feel the fear of law and morality pervading the crowd, as if they were performing a ritual that had something to do with the night human sacrifice.

The video looked like a still photo, and Tong Xiaomeng told me that she had only been able to take the footage for a few minutes before she was discovered, and Professor Gu covered her to leave, but she was caught by the villagers.

When the two were separated, Professor Gu asked her to wait under the dead tree, and only when they recorded the complete video footage of the girl throwing herself into the river to worship the river god, he could hand it over as evidence and let the relevant departments investigate the affairs in the village.

In fact, I don't agree with his words, this is the same as some remote mountainous areas that can't solve the trafficked women and children, sometimes even if people run out, the police may not take care of it, why, unless the police are used in other places, and the whole village is arrested in other places, otherwise the local police can't control so much at all, who would want to do such a big thing at their own doorstep, and in some places, the words "strong people" are really not just casually said.

However, judging from Professor Gu's background from Beijing, if he had made up his mind to take care of this matter, it would not have been completely without a turnaround.

Watching Tong Xiaomeng stuff the DV machine into my hand, I chuckled in my heart: "What are you going to do?" ”

Tong Xiaomeng pointed to the tree above her head: "I'll go find the bride, and when she comes, you will take her to hide on this tree, and then you hand over the video recording machine to Professor Gu, and he will find a way to take you out." ”

"What about you?" As soon as I opened my mouth, I felt that it was wrong, the bride and her son were rescued, and where did I record the video of the sacrifice to the river god.

"You don't want to pretend to be a bride and be thrown into the river by them, do you?"

I looked at Tong Xiaomeng in disbelief: "I can understand the idea of you intellectuals sacrificing your life, but you don't need to exchange your own lives for other people's lives, there is still a better way to discuss." ”

Tong Xiaomeng glanced at me and tied her shoulder-length hair into a ponytail: "Do you know the Ili River?" ”

Seeing that I was stunned, she put her backpack back on her shoulder, stood up and said to me: "Professor Gu will come to you after the sacrifice ceremony, I hope you will not be scared to pee your pants at night, and you will see you again." ”

Tong Xiaomeng left, I was stunned for a long time holding DV before I reacted, this girl is too despised by people.

I sat on the floor and thought about it for a while, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was not very reliable. The bride is definitely not thrown into the river to sacrifice directly into the river, that can swim is not all his mother ran away, and those who can't swim can also toss a few times to keep it uneven, and the five flowers are definitely indispensable, the most unfortunate, that body also has to tie a few stones of one or twenty kilograms, and sink directly into the river as soon as it is lost.

Although these things were no longer in my consideration, I couldn't help but think about it for a while with the attitude that there is no second time in life, and then figured it out, so I hung the DV around my neck and rolled over and climbed the tree.

This is an ancient locust tree, looking at the thickness of the branches, it must be at least a hundred years old to look up, the locust tree can grow to this age is not easy, but I ponder that the soil under the Yuzui Beach where the locust tree grows has been emptied by the river, and it has become a rootless willow, and it is natural that it cannot escape the natural law of soil decay.

Fortunately, it was relatively strong when it was alive, and the branches on the tree were intertwined one by one, and I don't know if it would be discovered during the day, but as long as I didn't say anything at night, no one should notice it.

But riding on it and watching the sun wane, the river flowing and rattling non-stop, I couldn't help but turn my head to look at the river, only to see the sparkling river, I don't know when, there were a lot of green and shining light spots.