"What!"

Tang Ling stepped forward and grabbed the corner of Uncle Qiao's clothes who was about to go out, and asked eagerly: "Why did Sister Qiao become the bride of Lord Mountain God?" How could she agree? Isn't it your ······?"

"Tang Ling!" Gu Qingzhi behind him hurriedly pulled Tang Ling, who had lost his mind, but he clearly saw that Uncle Qiao's face was getting more and more ugly, Gu Qingzhi protected Tang Ling behind him, and said to Uncle Qiao with some apologies: "We know, thank you Uncle Qiao for telling us, then can we go in and see Lingxiang now?" After all, she is her good friend, and I want to congratulate her in person when I know that she has this kind of happy event. ”

"Hmph, okay, you guys go in by yourself, I have to hurry to discuss Lingxiang's marriage with the village chief." Uncle Qiao patted the clothes that had been grabbed by Tang Ling with his hand with some disgust, he snorted coldly, seeing Gu Qingzhi's well-behaved and polite appearance, his mood was a little better, and he was also in a hurry to go out with something important, Uncle Qiao didn't say anything, and quickly left Qiao's house.

Seeing Uncle Qiao leave, Gu Qingzhi breathed a sigh of relief, he was worried about Tang Ling's reaction and wanted to turn his head to take a look, but Tang Ling passed directly past him and rushed into Qiao Lingxiang's house at once, Gu Qingzhi didn't have time to stop it, so he had to reluctantly hurry up to follow.

As soon as Tang Ling pushed open the door of Qiao's house, she saw Zhou Xuemei sitting in the living room, holding a phone in her hand, talking about something good with someone with a happy face, seeing Tang Ling who suddenly broke in, Zhou Xuemei was stunned for a moment, and then glared at Tang Ling with some displeasure, and was about to turn around and enter the house without taking care of her, but she saw Gu Qingzhi coming in with Tang Ling, Zhou Xuemei saw that even Gu Qingzhi was here, and she was not very embarrassed, so she had to say to them impatiently: "Lingxiang is upstairs, you go to find her yourself." Then he turned his head and continued to talk to the person on the other end of the phone.

Gu Qingzhi pulled the anxious Tang Ling and nodded politely towards Zhou Xuemei, and then went upstairs with Tang Ling, and when he arrived at the door of Qiao Lingxiang's bedroom, Gu Qingzhi hesitated and knocked on the door, but before he could speak, the door was opened from the inside, and Qiao Lingxiang's voice came faintly: "Come in." ”

The room was a little dark, the curtains were closed tightly, only a bedside lamp was shining faintly, as soon as Tang Ling and Gu Qingzhi entered the door, Qiao Lingxiang, who was standing behind the door, locked the bedroom door, and when she walked out of the darkness behind the door to the light, Tang Ling and Gu Qingzhi's eyes widened.

Qiao Lingxiang lost weight.

Although she still has a somewhat fat body, it is smaller than the size that Tang Ling and Gu Qingzhi have ever seen, Qiao Lingxiang looks very haggard, with heavy dark circles under her eyes, and her face can't hide the tiredness, she doesn't have the gentle smile on her face when she saw them in the past, at this moment she just reluctantly hooked the corners of her mouth, and then regained her expressionlessness, sat on her bed, quietly looked at Tang Ling and Gu Qingzhi who were at a loss in front of her, maybe she wasn't looking at them, her eyes were a little distracted, It's like taking care of itself.

"Sister Qiao, are you okay?"

Tang Ling took the lead in running in front of Qiao Lingxiang, she looked at Qiao Lingxiang, who was pale and weak in front of her, and felt very distressed, how could she have ever seen Qiao Lingxiang so vulnerable, nothing would have hit her like this, Tang Ling stretched out her hand and held Qiao Lingxiang's hand on her knee, with great remorse and self-blame in her heart, why did she let herself be locked up for more than two weeks, so that she was not by her side when Qiao Lingxiang needed it most.

"Lingxiang, what happened? Why did you suddenly become the bride of the mountain god? Gu Qingzhi also slowly walked to Tang Ling's side, squatted down, and looked up at Qiao Lingxiang, who was silent in front of him, with a worried face.

The bride of the mountain god, as the name suggests, refers to the bride in the village who is about to marry the mountain god. This is what Gu Qingzhi and Qiao Lingxiang are the most disgusting to the younger generation, and it is also the most feudal and disgusting custom in the village. Every year, the village will select a girl who is about to become an adult and maintain a perfect body, as a sacrifice to the mountain god, they will get the best service before the sacrifice, she will be carefully dressed from the inside out, bathed in mountain spring water, and used fine silk as a wedding dress, with the best posture will be given to the mountain god who is respected by everyone, in this way, sacrificing a girl's life, in exchange for the next year's wind and rain in the village, except for Tang Ling, who has never seen the scene of the sacrifice because of her young age, Qiao Lingxiang, Gu Qingzhi and these people, under the leadership of adults, have seen the bloody and cruel scene countless times.

At the top of the mountain, in front of the ornate mountain temple, the villagers would surround the bride, and the high priest would preside over the ceremony, and then send two strong young men to carry the bride to the altar in the center of the mountain temple, where the village chief and other villagers worshipped on weekdays, and the high priest would preside over the ritual for a long time in the open space outside the temple, and then slowly enter the temple.

At twelve o'clock at noon, when the sun's light shines perpendicular to the statue of the mountain god in the temple, the sacred prayer knife is raised, and then a knife is inserted into the bride's heart, and at the moment when she breathes, the freshest and hot blood is immediately filled into the wine glass, until a whole cup is filled, and then placed on the tribute table in front of the statue, and then some sacred worship and prayer are carried out, and then the bride's body will be cut on the spot, at this time, the onlookers will rush up, trying to grab the best limbs, Because at this time, the bride's body has been blessed by the mountain god, and has become a sacred treasure, which will have a miraculous effect, and the villagers will take the treasure home and grind it into residue and sprinkle it into the cultivated field, so as to ensure a better harvest in the coming year.

What a ridiculous thing, the crops in the village actually rely on a woman's body to provide nutrients as fertilizer. Gu Qingzhi and Qiao Lingxiang had always felt that this kind of sacrifice was extremely disgusting, and after witnessing the bloody scene with their own eyes, they no longer dared to follow the adults to the so-called sacred scene where the mountain god married his wife, they were afraid that they would not help but spit it out on the spot because of the ugly and greedy faces of the villagers.

And now, Qiao Lingxiang is about to become the bride of the next mountain god, but before the time for the mountain god to marry a wife specified every year, Qiao Lingxiang has become a bride.

Why?

Gu Qingzhi couldn't figure it out, the people in the village had always been guilty of death, and it was impossible for them to easily break the custom they had insisted on for a long time, why did they suddenly start holding a mountain god to marry so long in advance? Why are Uncle Qiao and Zhou Xuemei so happy, and Qiao Lingxiang can become the bride of the mountain god? Gu Qingzhi thought about it carefully, and suddenly understood something. He remembered that some villagers were grief-stricken after learning that their daughter had become the bride of the mountain god, although they were sad that their daughter who had worked hard to raise and could marry in the future and earn money was now giving it to the mountain god for nothing, and they would not get a little money, and these villagers would just make a fuss in front of the village chief, and when the village chief gave some benefits, they would be silent and watch their daughter's marriage coldly.

"Lingxiang, what benefits did the village chief give to your parents?" Gu Qingzhi raised his head and asked towards Qiao Lingxiang.

"The ownership of the farmland leased by the Qiao family, and the compensation that is enough to support them until they die." After a long time, Qiao Lingxiang slowly spoke, probably because he hadn't spoken for too long, Qiao Lingxiang's voice sounded extremely hoarse.

"Then why did you become the sacrifice of the mountain god this time? It doesn't stand to reason that you shouldn't be a bride. ”

Gu Qingzhi couldn't figure it out, the first condition for becoming the bride of the mountain god was that a young, beautiful and slender girl, Qiao Lingxiang's figure would never let the village chief and the high priest allow her to become a sacrifice, what was the purpose behind this?

Tang Ling, who was listening to their exchange, suddenly flashed the appearance of a person in her mind, Tang Ling's face changed, she raised her eyes to look at Gu Qingzhi who was still pondering and Qiao Lingxiang who was silent, pursed her lips, Tang Ling stood up, glanced towards the bedroom door, and then patted Qiao Lingxiang and Gu Qingzhi's hands, motioned for the two to get closer to her, and said softly: "Sister Qiao, Brother Gu, I have something to tell you, you must believe what I say······"

When Tang Ling told Qiao Lingxiang and Gu Qingzhi everything she saw and heard that night, as well as all what happened to her at the beginning, she just deliberately concealed that she had killed Chen Rende with her own hands. After listening to Tang Ling's experience, Qiao Lingxiang grabbed Tang Ling's shoulder, at this moment her consciousness seemed to be finally awake, Qiao Lingxiang finally noticed the clearly visible scar on Tang Ling's face, her eyes were sad, her voice was hoarse, and she apologized vigorously: "Lingling, you have suffered." I'm sorry, I'm sorry······"

"Sister Qiao, it's none of your business, it's me who is too weak, so I will be targeted by bad people, but I also listened to you, and I successfully resisted." Tang Ling, like Qiao Lingxiang did to her on weekdays, stretched out her hand and touched Qiao Lingxiang's head, and comforted Qiao Lingxiang with a smile, Qiao Lingxiang couldn't help but gently hold Tang Ling in her arms, choked up, and kept apologizing.

Gu Qingzhi on the side also looked at Tang Ling distressedly, he couldn't imagine how much courage Tang Ling had at that time to successfully escape the clutches of the devil, and bravely explore these truths that they had no way of knowing. Gu Qingzhi patted Tang Ling's shoulder, not knowing what to say, but praised weakly: "Tang Ling, you did a great job." ”

Tang Ling, who was in Qiao Lingxiang's arms, blinked, looking at Gu Qingzhi's eyes on the side, his eyes turned red little by little, he touched his nose, turned his head slightly and stopped looking at her, Qiao Lingxiang who was holding her was also crying silently, Tang Ling pursed her lips, there was a wonderful feeling in her heart, she felt the warmth on her body, and Gu Qingzhi's praise, Tang Ling couldn't speak, she slowly grinned, with a little shyness and satisfaction, the fear, exhaustion, and fear for so long were released at this time.

They were willing to take her word for it.