Walking out of the house, there is a small courtyard outside, which is only about 100 square meters.

The old lady was cooking in a small shed on the right side of the yard, which had no door, and she could be seen working in it.

After walking a few steps to that side, she could see that there was a fire burning in the stove, and the chimney on the roof of the shed was smoking, and the old lady lifted the lid of the pot and stirred it twice with a spoon, and the small shed was immediately filled with heat.

Some of the fragrance in the pot came out, it should be millet porridge.

There is a water tank outside the shed, quite large, the water tank is covered with a wooden lid, there is no trace of a man, it should be to fetch water again, the water tank must be a bucket of water is not enough.

The old lady apparently heard the door open, and stepped out of the shed, the kitchen, and wiped her hands on her rag apron.

smiled and said: "The girl is awake, I am making breakfast, we don't have any good things in the township, so I boiled some millet porridge, drink this in the morning to warm the stomach, there are some small pickles at home, let's make do with it."

I'll ask later, who in the village is going to the town today, and if it doesn't work, let my son give you a ride. ”

Qian Yan hurriedly smiled and thanked her, "Then it's troublesome Auntie, it's really troublesome for you." ”

"The girl is polite...... the two said politely, and the old lady went back to the kitchen, and the old lady wanted to help, but the old lady refused because the two of them couldn't turn away from the kitchen.

Tilt Yan didn't insist, she also wanted to know about the situation in this village, even if it was a dream, now she was a little curious.

There is a stone wall around the courtyard, which is not high, only about one meter and a half, and she can look out through the wall.

As long as the person who is a little taller can see the inside from the outside, and the inside can also see the outside, and you can rush in with a little leaning.

Qian Yan looked around, there was the same yard on the left and right, and the size was about the same, this should be the southernmost row in the village, this house sat on the north and faced south, and the south was the mountain and the bare stone wall they had seen before.

The courtyard door was not closed, it should be for the convenience of the old lady's son to carry water back.

Tilt Yan went directly out of the yard, stood on a path outside, and found that there was a vegetable garden under the opposite stone wall, which should have been planted by these people.

Looking back, it's a little strange, wasn't it just a moment when people came and went? There was no one here, and there was no well nearby.

No, there was a sound behind the yard.

Qian Yan took a few steps to the side, looking back at a small alley between the small courtyard and the next yard, and sure enough, there was a relatively wide road behind her, which was where people came and went.

In other words, the voice she heard before was so clear because it was separated by a stone wall.

There are two more rows behind this row of houses, one row has almost a dozen yards, and the third row has a total of thirty or forty houses, which is in line with the dozens of families I heard before.

But there is also something wrong, didn't you say that there are hundreds of people in this village before? According to this family, there are only two people in a family, and there are only a few dozen people in thirty or forty households, where are hundreds of people?

Of course, it may not be necessary that someone else has a large family.

At this time, a young man in his twenties walked in the alley, a man dressed in blue and gray cloth, carrying two buckets on his shoulders, walking towards this side one by one, and a little water spilled out of the buckets.

When he looked up and saw Qian Yan, he smiled and said with a mouthful of white teeth: "Girl, you woke up, yesterday the girl fainted, what is the discomfort now?" ”

Tilt immediately determined that this was the old lady's son, and the person who was said to have brought him back from the entrance of the village.

She was actually a little curious about the conversation between the mother and son last night, especially the old ancestor in their mouths, and the old lady seemed to be in a hurry to send her away, I don't know what it means, is it the reason for the old ancestor?

It's just that I don't know how to ask these questions, after all, I overheard.

She smiled and nodded to the man: "There is no discomfort, thank you eldest brother for saving me back, otherwise I don't know what will happen if I faint there alone."

I don't know what to call my eldest brother, but when I return to the county, I can bring my family over to thank me. ”

"That's not necessary, it's just a gesture, my surname is Yin Keqin, our prayer village is this surname, they are all from the same ancestor, I am the ...... of the Kezi generation"

Yin Keqin was very talkative, and when Qian Yan just asked, he almost explained his family affairs.

This saves the cliché of Tilt Yan, and I know the general situation of this village at once.

But it was also certain that she was not in a dream, and she didn't think she could dream such a specific dream.

I just don't know what kind of means this is, I can separate myself from the ugly, and I can still let myself appear here.

She was a little suspicious that this was a phantom mirror specifically for her, because she came yesterday, and when she came, she was wearing this body, and the other party should not have seen the situation after she went to the county seat, so the other party didn't know that she had changed her clothes.

As for the ugly, it should be that the other party's target is himself, and he is worried about ugly and bad things, so he deliberately isolates the ugly from himself.

At this time, the man had already walked up to her, and Tilt Yan turned sideways to get out of the way, and walked back behind while listening to the other party.

Back in the yard, Yin Keqin poured water directly into the water tank.

At this time, there was a wooden basin next to the water tank, and the water in it was steaming, and the old lady stood at the door of the kitchen, and when she saw them coming in, she said to Qian Yan: "I didn't see the girl when I turned around, and I thought you went to the house to rest again, but it turned out to be out, and the hot water in the basin was just drawn, and the girl washed it quickly, and she could eat immediately." ”

Qian Yan smiled embarrassedly, "I heard a voice outside and went out to take a look, the eldest lady just called me Hengyue, the girl's call is too polite." ”

Heng Yue is her name in Hong Kong City, her father gave her a unique treasure, and Qian Yan was given by her mother, representing a unique beauty, she likes both names very much, but the name Qian Yan is used more, after all, she is on the mainland most of the time.

The situation is unclear here, she doesn't want to use her common name, and she doesn't want to make up a random one, for fear that she won't know that she is calling herself, and it will be easy to show her stuffing.

The old lady smiled and nodded, "Okay, okay, then I'll call you Hengyue, come and wash up, I'll take out the porridge and eat it while it's hot." ”

Tilt Yan rinsed her mouth and washed her face in the past, and it was over, no way, she didn't bring anything, even if she brought toothpaste and toothbrush, it was not easy to take it out.

After washing, he followed the old lady into the hall, Yin Keqin did not come in, he directly took a bowl and went to the other room to eat, only the two of them ate in the hall.

Qian Yan lowered her head and drank porridge, her eyes flashing.

The mother and son are so polite, and they speak in a measured manner, they are really not like the village husbands, if they are not passed down from their ancestors, or the people in the village are like this, subtly, everyone is used to it.

This shows that the people in this village are not ordinary.

Thinking of the tomb that Chou Chou said before, Qian Yan thought, will this village be like what later generations said, what kind of tomb keeper?

These villagers may be the descendants of the people who are waiting for the mausoleum, just like the later generations, there are not some clans who have made mistakes next to the imperial mausoleum and the like who run there to guard the tomb, and slowly the descendants of those people have become some villages and towns.

Ugly Chou said before that the tomb has a history of thousands of years, and it is normal for a thousand years to develop into a village, not to mention developing into a county.

Another is Chou Chou, who also said that the stones used to build houses in this village are of the same material as the stones in the tombs, and they may have been built together.

There is also the sudden disappearance of the village before, and the ugly ugly used his divine sense to probe the village in the tomb, but there was no breath of living people in it at all.

So where did the villagers go? Is it a living person? If you are not a living person, you can't say it, so many people in Yunling County know Qinian Village, and there are often people who marry into the village, which means that it should be a living person.

But if they are all living people, why are they all suddenly gone, and where have these people gone?

Thinking of this, Qian Yan couldn't help but shudder, can't there really be some kind of ghost door closed?

At this time, the old lady's voice sounded next to her, "Hengyue, what's wrong with you?" Isn't it a little cold? You are indeed a little thin, and I am ashamed to say that my family is poor, and there are no extra thick clothes for you to wear. ”

Qian Yan came back to her senses, smiled at the old lady, shook her head and said, "No, auntie, I just drank a mouthful of porridge and didn't pay attention to scalding it." ”

The old lady smiled when she heard this, "The porridge is just out of the pot, it is a little hot, don't be in a hurry to drink the porridge, you have to blow it." ”

Tilt Yan nodded, blew on the edge of the bowl, and took another sip of porridge.

She did take a sip of hot porridge just now, and she didn't notice it at all just thinking about it, but now her tongue is a little numb and crispy, and it seems that it is really hot.

At this time, there was a sudden rumbling thunder outside!

Qian Yan was stunned, when she just went out, the weather was obviously very good, although the sun had not yet risen, but she could also see that the blue sky and white clouds did not look like there was rain.

And it shouldn't rain anymore this season, especially in the northwest, it will snow in another ten days and half a month.

She looked up and just wanted to look outside, but she found that the old lady's expression was wrong, and the light from the door, the old lady's face was dark and uncertain, and Qian Yan looked at some scalp explosions.

What's going on? Are you going to transform?

Then I heard the old lady speak, "It seems that it is still a step too late, from now on you should not go out of the door of this house again, it is better to stay in the house, do not go anywhere, and try not to make a sound, just wait for three days." ”

Qian Yan was stunned again, what does this mean?

I didn't feel any malice in the old lady, and I knew that the other party shouldn't want to harm her, so I relaxed a little.

However, he still asked cautiously: "Auntie, but what happened?" Can you tell me? ”

The old lady looked at her with complicated eyes, and paused for a while before she said, "When I said that this is Qinian Village before, your face was a little surprised, and I thought that you should have heard the name of our village. ”

Qian Yan nodded hesitantly.

A complicated expression appeared on the old lady's face, "Then you must have heard the legend of this village, right?" ”

Qian Yan nodded honestly, wanting to know other people's secrets, of course she couldn't pretend to know nothing.

The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, "Since that's the case, then I'll tell you, anyway, you won't be able to go out in the past three days, and you can also be prepared for the future."

I think you've heard that our Prayer Village disappears for a few days every three years, and others think that Prayer Village can communicate with some gods or ghosts, and once every three years it opens the ghost gate or goes to the fairy world.

At first, when the people in our village went out, everyone avoided it, thinking that we were also some kind of ghosts, but after a long time of contact, they knew that we were ordinary people, and slowly a daughter-in-law from other places married in.

The reason why the Prayer Village disappeared in those days was that at least it seemed to be missing from the outside, but in fact it was not, our village was still there, but it was just isolated by the formation.

Every three years is the time to worship the ancestors, and whenever that time comes, the opening of the altar will be accompanied by the formation, and the village will be hidden by the formation, so that outsiders will not come in and disturb it, and the people in the village will not be able to go out......"

Qian Yan still didn't understand, "Worship the ancestors, I can understand that people from outside can't come in, and people from the village can't go out, why?" ”

The old lady looked at her and paused for a while before she whispered: "Because every time we sacrifice, we use human sacrifices, in case the family is reluctant to send people out in advance." ”

She was shocked that it was a living sacrifice!

Although I knew that there was such a bad custom that violated heaven and harmony in ancient times, like the use of boys and girls to sacrifice to the river god or something written in the text, I didn't expect that this Qinian Village also had this custom.

The old lady didn't let her go out, she could understand, probably because she was afraid that the people in the village would not want to give up their children, so use her to give up the number, this is kindness, she receives this love.

Sure enough, the old lady continued: "Every three years a young woman and a young man are sacrificed, both of whom are fifteen or sixteen years old, and each time the best in the village is chosen.

This is not chosen by the people in the village, but by the ancestor himself, who he chooses, on the day of the sacrifice, a vine pattern will appear on his forehead, so that it can be seen directly.

The reason why I won't let you go out is because today is the first day, if you go out, with your looks, you are better than the best-looking girl in the village, and the ancestors don't distinguish whether they are from the village or not, and directly choose you, then you can't hide.

Because when it's time for the sacrifice, you will appear directly on the altar, and now I just want you to go, and you can't go, you see the sky outside. ”

Qian Yan looked out through the door, it was still bright just now, but now it has become dim, the outside began to fly sand and stones, and the light inside the house has also dimmed, looking like the mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of buildings......

(End of chapter)