From Qin Ye's expression of wanting to speak and stopping, Liu Hanshan saw that there must be something strange about this matter. The two hurried and hurried, and finally arrived at Dongze Township before noon.

Dongze Township is a small township consisting of eight natural villages, the largest of which is called Dongze Village, which is the seat of the Qin family. Among the eight natural villages, only Dongze Village is built along the river, the Dragon King Temple and the River Temple are built in this village, and the sacrificial activities over the years are also held in this village, and the place where the jade butterfly and the bride are found is on the river beach not far from Dongze Village.

According to Lizheng Qin Chuan, this initial sacrificial activity was very simple, just like Qin Ye said, choose a dignified girl, tie her flowers and put it on a paper boat, and let her go down the river until it sank in the river with the paper boat.

This ritual has never gone wrong for hundreds of years, until 20 years ago, when they chose Li Shuixian as their bride.

Li Shuixian first deceived the people of Dongze Township with a look of resignation, and then took advantage of his unpreparedness to swim up from the river. The people didn't know the inside story, and thought that the dragon prince was dissatisfied with Li Shuixian, so they chose Qin Xiaodie, the girl of the Qin family.

This Qin Xiaodie didn't say anything about appearance, she is the second beauty in the entire Dongze Township after Li Shuixian. Li Shuixian is scheming, and Qin Xiaodie is crazy. Li Shuixian was the first bride to escape from the sacrifice, and Qin Xiaodie was the first to float on the river beach. Since the big guy was inexperienced and didn't know what to do with Qin Xiaodie's body, he let her bask in the riverbank.

As soon as he recalled the situation at that time, Qin Chuan's whole person was numb.

He told Qin Ye and Liu Hanshan: "Due to the drought for several days, the entire river beach is full of locusts, and those locusts treat Qin Xiaodie as rice, and it only takes half a day to gnaw her body to pieces." What's even more terrifying is that those locusts only gnaw at her body, not her face, so that she has become that ghost, and she can still laugh. ”

"And then?" Qin Ye asked, he had never heard anyone mention this matter.

"That night, all of us in Dongze Township, regardless of men, women, and children, all had the same nightmare." Qin Chuan said with a white face: "Qin Xiaodie said that she was going to take eighteen brides from Dongze Township, and she wanted those brides to be like her, on the river beach. ”

"Are these eighteen brides chosen at random, or—"

"Who is this?" Qin Chuan seemed to have just noticed Liu Hanshan.

"My friend, surnamed Liu, is a headcatcher like me." In order to avoid trouble, Qin Ye hid Liu Hanshan's true identity.

The head of the willow catcher asked a point, these eighteen brides were not chosen at random, but the relatives of the eighteen people who were in charge of the sacrifice. There are their sisters, sisters, daughters and even granddaughters. ”

"Qin Ye said that there are already seventeen brides."

"The last one is my daughter." Qin Chuan glanced at the east wing: "My daughter Qin Ran is the eighteenth bride she chosen. ”

Different from the sacrifice twenty years ago, these eighteen brides were not sunk into the river, but took a sedan chair to the river, and according to the traditional wedding customs, after worshipping the dragon lord by the river, they walked into the river by themselves. Not only the bride chosen by "her", but even those who are blowing and beating the relatives will leave in various ways after the send-off ceremony.

"Can't you go if you don't go?" Liu Hanshan asked with a frown.

"Who wants to die if they can." Qin Chuan patted his thigh: "Look at our Dongze Township, how many people have died and how many graves have been added in the past 20 years?" Our Dongze Township was originally very prosperous, but now, there are few people and people are panicking. ”

As he spoke, there was movement in the east wing. Qin Chuan hurriedly got up, walked to the door, pulled out a crack in the door and looked inside. His daughter, who had been lying on the bed without eating or drinking, stood up from the bed in a daze, and walked to the dresser expressionlessly and began to freshen up and make-up.

Just when Qin Chuan was in a hurry, the sound of blowing and beating came from far and near, this was the team that greeted the relatives.

In the room, Qin Ran, who had already put on her makeup, stood up.

Her makeup is very strange, not like ordinary bridal makeup, but like the kind of paper bride in a paper shop. She painted her face very white, and drew two large red circles on her face. Her eyes were straight, but the corners of her mouth were tilted upward, revealing a shallow, eerie smile.

Qin Chuan originally hoped that the door lock would keep his daughter, but who would have thought that Qin Ran just broke the door with his hand, and the lock on the door fell in response.

Accompanied by the sound of the gong and drum team, Qin Ran pushed away Qin Chuan who wanted to stop her, and walked straight to the gate with her steps, just as Qin Chuan let out a desperate wail, Qin Ye slapped down and slashed on the back of Qin Ran's neck.

"Still stunned for what to do, hurry up and carry the person to the house." Qin Ye said to Qin Chuan, who was still in a daze: "I thought about it before I came, I must find out what happened to these brides in the river." I, Qin Ye, have gone out today, I want to pretend to be Qin Ran and go with them to have a look. ”

"Crazy, crazy, you're crazy." Although Qin Chuan listened to Qin Ye's words and carried his daughter Qin Ran into the room, he was very disapproving of Qin Ye's decision. It's not that he doesn't approve of Qin Ye taking risks, but according to his physique, there is no way to sit in that sedan chair instead of Qin Ran.

These brides' sedan chairs are just like the previous flower boats, they are all made of thin wood chips and paper paste, and it is just right to sit on a young girl, and Qin Ye's physique, even if it is stuffed in, it will fall down.

"If you fall down, you will fall." Qin Ye picked up the hijab and put it on his head: "It's all at this juncture, where to find a girl." ”

"I'll do it anyway." Liu Hanshan pulled the hijab off Qin Ye's head: "I also want to see what is hidden in that river." ”

"Let's let Liu catch the head." Qin Chuan grabbed Qin Ye: "The human willow catcher looks white and beautiful than you, and wearing this bridal dress, he looks more like a bride than you." ”

As he spoke, Qin Chuan took off his daughter's wedding dress and stuffed it into Liu Hanshan's hand: "It's hard work for Liu to catch his head!" Don't worry, I've mobilized our entire village. It's not just Qin Ye and Liu Zhutou who want to know what is hidden under the river, but we villagers also want to know. Our village can no longer withstand the toss. Early death and late death are deaths, and it is better to die clearly and happily. ”

Accompanied by the sound of the gong and drum team, Liu Hanshan walked into the sedan chair like Qin Ran. The sedan chair was indeed made of papier-mâché, and a gust of wind blew through, and there was a hula hula sound everywhere. There was a strange smell in the sedan chair, which looked like it was made of paper and like the floral fragrance of a flower.

When he was close to the river, Liu Hanshan heard a voice, and then got off the sedan chair in a daze, and when he woke up again, he was already in the turbulent river, but he was not carried away by the river, but stopped in the middle of the river, in a very strange posture.