The stew and cakes at noon are ready-made, and in the afternoon the old lady made a pot of stewed air-dried rabbit meat, although there are not many condiments, so I put some sauce stew, but the taste is very fragrant, after all, it is a meat.

Seeing that there was no fear on Qian Yan's face, she still ate and drank as usual, and she ate a lot.

The weather hasn't changed in the afternoon, no more rain or wind, but Tilt Yan always feels that something is wrong.

After the mark appeared on her forehead, she didn't care if she couldn't go out, so she went out of the house and observed in the courtyard for a while, there was no sun or clouds in the sky, and the fog was bright and bright, and it was not gloomy.

I always feel that something is strange, but I can't tell where it is strange.

She asked Yin Keqin's mother and son, and they said that it was not usually like this, there were sunshine, cloud, wind and rain, sun, stars, and moon, which was no different from the outside, only the sacrifice was like this for the three days.

After dinner, the sky suddenly darkened, and although she didn't have a watch, she could feel that the day was passing much faster than usual.

It started to rain at breakfast, and it didn't take long to make lunch, and after lunch plus rabbit stew in the afternoon, followed by dinner, the day passed.

But she always felt that it had not been as long, at least less than ten hours, for she did not feel hungry at dinner in the evening.

But just after dinner, it was already completely dark, and if you roughly calculated the time, even if you finished dinner, it should be five or six o'clock, and at least two hours before it was completely dark.

It was as if it was suddenly dark, not even excessively, like a light had been turned on and off.

There are some abnormalities everywhere here, and it doesn't seem to make a difference if there are more, anyway, there is still one day tomorrow, and she will study it tomorrow.

After a simple wash, I lay down on the bed, turned over, and fell asleep after a while.

It may be that the dust has settled, but that's it anyway, there is no tension from yesterday, but I fall asleep quickly.

What she didn't know was that when she fell asleep, a bright light crossed the sky, flashed like lightning, and quickly disappeared without anyone noticing.

……

Early the next morning, Qian Yan was still woken up by the sound outside, this time it was not the greeting of getting up early to carry water, but the sound of a group of people talking, as if it came from next door.

Qian Yan got up quickly, first made the bed, then tidied up the clothes on her body, and raised her arm to smell it, fortunately, although she didn't take a shower and change her clothes for two days, there was no smell on her body.

There was no way, she had no clothes to change, there were no women of her age in the family, and there were no extra clothes for her to wear, so she had to make do.

Qian Yan walked out of the house, the door of the outhouse was still closed, and she bolted it after Yin Keqin's mother and son returned to their house yesterday.

After drinking a bowl of boiled water in a clay pot, he pulled out the door bolt and opened the door, and the sound outside became clearer.

It was indeed from next door, and Qian Yan listened to those faint conversations, and it turned out that the patriarch had brought people to see who had been chosen to be the sacrifice.

Now they are asking where the youngest son of the next door is, and the old couple next door is saying that their youngest son is still sleeping in the house and has not gotten up.

An elderly man said that they should call the children up quickly, and they should make sure that the other person was chosen, whether there was a mark on his forehead, and if not, they would go to the next family with young children.

But the couple did everything they could to shirk it, saying that yesterday's heavy rain had caused their son to suffer some cold, and then saying that he had eaten a bad stomach last night, and that he had vomited and diarrhea until he fell asleep very late, and asked them to go to another house first, and when the child got up, they would let him go to the patriarch's house by himself.

Qian Yan shook her head amusedly, isn't this a place without three hundred taels of silver, the more this is the case, the more suspicious it is.

It seems that this youngest son is very likely to be chosen, and it is completely useless to do this.

Sure enough, after a while, the cry of the woman and the frightened cry of the boy in the voice change period were heard.

The boy shouted loudly that I don't want to go, I don't want to die, with tremors and hoarseness in his voice, probably terrified to the extreme.

Qian Yan didn't hear the voice of the family yesterday, and she didn't dare to say anything because she was selected, thinking that she could escape it if she was lucky.

The old lady said before that not only could the selected sacrifice not leave the village, but even if it wanted to hide and hide, it would be useless, and on the third day of the sacrifice, it would still disappear in the village, and it was said that it was taken directly to the altar.

So it's all useless.

Sure enough, I heard the old man's voice from before: "You don't have to be like this, this mark has appeared, it's a sure thing, and it's useless to toss it."

It is your honor to be chosen, this is an opportunity to get close to your ancestors, and you will serve your ancestors well in the future, and you will definitely have your benefits, just wait with peace of mind.

This is the clothes to be worn tomorrow, clean up well tonight, if it is still so unkempt tomorrow, it will make the ancestors unhappy, don't blame us for not reminding you in advance. ”

It seems that the patriarch only led the people to determine who the chosen sacrifice was, and did not take the people away or anything.

I heard them reprimand the old couple next door, and left, listening to the sound should be coming this way.

Qian Yan listened to the footsteps chaotically, at least there were more than ten people, and soon the footsteps reached the gate of this courtyard.

Outside the courtyard wall, many black heads appeared, and soon there was a knock on the door.

Only then did she realize that the inside of the courtyard wall was higher than the outside, and she could see the outside, and the people outside had to step on things to see the inside.

The old lady and Yin Keqin also came out of the house, and Qian Yan had already walked to the gate of the courtyard at this time, and without waiting for the other party to speak, she opened the courtyard door.

She has already been selected, and she doesn't want to make trouble for the mother and son, she can't hide anyway, so why bother to let the two of them have a fair training, it's completely unnecessary.

She opened the door directly, and a group of old men at the door were stunned when they saw her.

The patriarch and the elders next to him glanced at each other, and finally an old man in his fifties and sixties on the right spoke: "The girl is not from our New Year's Village, I think she should already know what is going on, and she may tell me and other names?" We will also tell our ancestors about it. ”

Qian Yan shook her head and said, "My parents once taught me that the name of the boudoir should not be revealed at will. ”

Although she used the name of Hong Kong City for Yin Keqin's mother and son, after all, it was also the name she used, and she was registered as a resident, so she told strangers casually, for fear that the other party would use it to do bad things, such as cursing or something.

More than a dozen old men heard her say this, and didn't say anything, just handed him a basket and said: "Even so, I don't force it, it is the girl's luck to be chosen by the ancestors, as long as the girl serves the ancestors well, the benefits you can get will not be less, this is the clothes you will wear tomorrow, you can clean up and change them tonight." ”

After speaking, without waiting for Qian Yan to reply, she glanced at Yin Keqin's mother and son in the courtyard, and a group of people left with a hula and cheer.

When I walked a little farther away, I guess because I couldn't hear it here, a few people's conversations came.

"When an outsider came to the village, we didn't even know."

"It won't be brought back by that kid Keqin, that kid is not as handsome as Keqin, but his vision is good."

"It's possible, after all, he's in his twenties, and he's already old enough to marry a wife, but he's just a little unlucky......"

"It's still not neat enough, if you marry someone home early, you won't be beaten like this, the ancestor will only choose a yellow flower girl, not a little daughter-in-law."

"This is not going to choose a day, bring people back at this time, isn't it just rushing to send it to the ancestors......

"Shut up! What nonsense, forgot what day it is? Hurry home and get the tribute and tools, there's a lot to do. ”

The last somewhat majestic voice sounded, it should be the patriarch, as soon as he spoke, the others were silent and did not discuss any further.

Seeing that she couldn't hear anything anymore, she closed her eyes and looked at Yin Keqin's mother and son, and saw that the two of them looked at her silently, and stopped talking, and said with a smile: "Auntie, Brother Yin, you don't have to worry, I have already accepted my fate, maybe it is really as they said, what good things will happen." ”

looked at the basket in his hand, inside was a set of red clothes and some jewelry, not valuable jewelry, just some wooden hairpins and silk flowers, but the shape was exquisite.

It seems that this has become a sacrifice, and you have to dress up, and you are wearing red clothes, how do you feel like you are going to be a ghost bride?

Of course, in ancient times, the three sacrifices and six rituals used in the sacrifice also seemed to be tied with saffron and covered with red cloth, which may have the same meaning.

The old lady saw her looking at the clothes and explained to her: "Every time a man or woman is selected for sacrifice, the patriarch will go and send a set of red clothes, saying that the ancestors like festive colors.

We don't have a bathtub or anything at home, so I'll boil you a pot of hot water in the evening, and you can simply freshen up with a wooden basin. ”

Qian Yan nodded, "Then it's troublesome for the aunt." ”

The old lady shook her head and turned to go to the kitchen.

Yin Keqin sighed, picked up the wooden bucket and the flat pole next to the water tank and went out the door.

Tilt Yan took the basket into the room, put it on the table next to the bed, and came out again. Asked the old lady if she needed help, and when she was refused, she walked around the yard.

Looking up at the sky, it was still cloudless today, and there was no sun, and the sky was foggy all the time, day or night, and the sky was not blue, it was grayish-white.

If it weren't high enough on this day, with mountains and trees next to her, she would have thought that there was a high gray-white ceiling above her head.

Thinking of this, she was stunned, and she was already about to go back to the house, and she stopped and fell back into the middle of the courtyard again.

When you look at the opposite mountain, the first thing you see is the high stone wall, the stone wall that goes straight up and down, like a wall.

The trees on it looked like they were green, but I don't know if it was because there was no wind, but those trees were quietly poked there motionless, as if they were fake.

It is said that it is so close to the mountain that you should be able to hear some birdsong during the day, but not only can you not hear the birdsong here, but there is not even a cricket at night.

Tilt Yan said to the old lady, simply opened the door and walked out.

The old lady leaned out of the kitchen and agreed, but she didn't stop it after a glance, thinking that Qian Yan wanted to make a final effort to see if she could get out of the village.

If she could get out, she thought it would be good, after all, she was a little girl in her prime, and it would be great if she could hide from it.

With a sigh, he went back to the kitchen to make breakfast.

After she walked out, she first walked to the west, because she looked at the stone wall over there and wanted to see if she could go up the mountain to have a look.

After walking a short distance, listening to the voices of people in the courtyard on the right, there should be a lot of people in these people's homes, who are washing and washing, cooking and cooking, which is very lively.

I glanced at the smoke rising from the roof, it was going up, floating very high, and I didn't encounter any obstacles.

Qian Yan frowned, it was difficult for her to think wrong? The sky in this formation is just different in color?

She walked another hundred or ten meters to the west, passing by four families, each of which had an alley between two households, and there were no neighbors with walls next to each other.

And except for the smaller yard of Yin Keqin's house, the yards of the four families here are much larger, there should be more people in the family, and the houses are also more built.

By the time she reached the end, it was also a stone wall, and the village seemed to be fenced off.

This is another wrong place, she still remembers when she came to Chouchou before, the clearing she saw was obviously only a stone wall in the south, not very long from east to west, that is, a hundred meters, and further on, there was a junction up the mountain.

Just now, she walked more than 100 meters from east to west, and not only did she not see the intersection of the mountain, but there was also a section of stone wall running north-south, which was obviously wrong.

Of course, it is also possible that this is the original appearance of the Prayer Village, and the scene she and Chou Chou saw was wrong.

However, now she is going to do an experiment, and if there is nothing unusual, then she really thought wrong.

He bent down and picked up a fist-sized stone on the ground, rounded his arm and threw it at the top of the mountain wall.

With her strength, the stone flew high with a whoosh like a bullet, flying at great speed over the stationary treetops, and then quickly listened to the "Dang!" There was a sound like smashing on a stone wall.

Sure enough, I guessed right, and this place is really fake!

And if it's really you, the stone should fly over the treetops for a while. Even if it falls on a tree, the sound doesn't think so, and if I fall to the ground again, there must be fallen leaves or weeds on the ground, and this sound obviously hits the wall, which means that this is to match the book on it. It's all fake, or it's just a real postoperative face.