"I'm not a saint in the first place, and I still have to impose it on me, what is this? If you knew this, you should have asked the old way. ”

Li Xintian lay on the bed, his head pressed against the palms of his hands, and said.

"Forget it, I'm afraid I'll be able to know in the future, go to sleep. ”

Li Xintian grabbed the quilt next to him and covered himself.

The next day.

"Li Gongzi, it's time for the poor road to say goodbye, and I'll see you again in the future. ”

Zhao Longjie sorted out his baggage, took his apprentice Heiyue, took his nephew, Bian Yiyuan and Bian Yihe, and said goodbye to Li Xintian.

"Okay, please be careful along the way. ”

Li Xintian said with his fists clenched.

"Daochang Zhao, be careful all the way. ”

Chen Zishan also came over and said with his fists clenched.

"Well, so do you, and you can go back to your home as soon as possible. ”

Zhao Longjie made a joke and said.

"Goodbye, everybody. ”

Heiyue and Bian Yiyuan, Bian Yihe also followed Zhao Longjie at the same time and said.

"Take care, if you have difficulties, you can come to the Li Mansion in Shuiwen County to find me, and I will do my best to help. ”

Li Xintian is not holding back.

"Daochang Zhao, and everyone, take care. ”

Hu Qiuyan bowed slightly and said.

Speaking of which, he is still ashamed of the poor road, and has not apologized to the girl, and asked the girl to forgive the poor road. ”

Zhao Longjie remembered what he had done, and said with a half-bow.

"Daochang Zhao, I don't blame you, you have to be careful on the road. ”

Hu Qiuyan hurriedly said.

"Okay, farewell. ”

Zhao Longjie said a word, then turned around and left first.

Bian Yiyuan followed behind Zhao Longjie, secretly cheering himself up, he must work hard to learn the Taoism.

"Daochang Zhao, why did you leave. ”

Chen Zishan was arranging things in Yizhuang, but he didn't expect to come out, so he saw Zhao Longjie leaving.

"Uncle, it's okay, let's go too, we've been delayed here for a few days. ”

Li Xintian said.

"Alright, let's go. ”

Chen Zishan's voice was very loud, and he shouted, which attracted a burst of laughter.

Li Xintian's direction is the opposite of Zhao Longjie's.

Half a day after the trip, Li Xintian looked up at the sky, and sure enough, the black clouds were stacked on top of each other, and there was no sunshine.

This means that their trip may be delayed by a day.

"Dark clouds cover the sun, it looks like there will be heavy rain tomorrow......"

Li Xintian didn't feel the viciousness of the sun.

Sure enough, it was almost evening, it was gray and overcast, and the trees on both sides of the road were bent slightly by the wind, and experienced people said that it would rain heavily in less than an hour, and it would not stop for a while.

It is definitely not possible to move forward in the rain, not to mention whether the horses and people will be able to withstand the rain, just this mountain road is muddy, maybe the foot slips for a while, people will turn on their backs, and it is very dangerous.

"Stop, I'll look at the map and see if there's a place to stay nearby, and I'll talk about it when the storm is over. ”

Li Xintian knew that the current road was all mud and mud, and it was very dangerous, so he took out the map and began to look at it.

The convoy soon began to be put in order, and a few family members walked in front to stop everyone, while sending people to the neighborhood to see if there was any shelter from the wind and rain.

At this time, a coachman stepped forward and reported: "Young Master Cousin, the villain has been here a few years ago, and I remember that there is a remote village called Xishui Village nearby, and he lives on this Xishui River. Although the village is not very large, it should be enough for our team to stay for a while. ”

"Xishui Village?"

Li Xintian raised his head, but noticed that the coachman driving his carriage on the side frowned slightly, looking like he had something to say but didn't dare to say.

"This stream village is a bit weird......"

Waiting for Li Xintian to ask, the coachman whispered.

"I have heard that there is a river god in this stream, and every year the village sacrifices a girl to him. If not, you will make waves...... Because of this, many people in that village have moved out, and outsiders rarely come there, as if they were isolated from the world, and now they rarely hear from that village. ”

"According to the custom of counting the days, their sacrifice should have been the day before......"

"Huh?"

Li Xintian's heart moved slightly.

How does this setting feel a bit like a text on Earth?

I vaguely remember that the content is probably that a newly appointed county magistrate happened to find that he had a useful habit of sacrificing to the river god under his rule, so he boldly broke the superstition and threw the goddess into the river, which is a good educational significance, and everyone praises it!

But he didn't dare to draw the scoop on the gourd, so simply, thinking that this world is also a feudal superstition.

After all, there are real ghosts and gods in this world, who knows if there will really be a brutal Hebo who is oppressing the people of Pingming?

But I thought that I and the others would not be involved in anything strange if they were just passing by.

Besides, now that the wind and rain are about to fall, if you don't find a place to hide, I'm afraid that the whole team will become a soup chicken.

"Let's go, go to Xishui Village!"

Li Xintian led the team, walked slowly, turned around and walked along the position guided by the coachman.

The village of Xishui is indeed not far away, along the riverside path, the convoy walked for about half a moment before seeing a crooked stone monument standing on the side of the road, which has been covered by wild weeds, and no one has come to take care of it.

"Creek Village ......"

Li Xintian rode on horseback, looked at the stone tablet that gradually fell behind him, and softly read out the words on it.

After another moment, the outline of a small village could be faintly seen in the distance, and it should be too late to look at the gloomy sky.

It's just that at this moment, an accident happened, and the group stopped.

"What's wrong?"

Li Xintian asked suspiciously.

"It seems that the group of villagers are not allowed to enter the village, and they have already sent someone to negotiate. ”

The coachman replied honestly.

Li Xintian got off the horse and frowned slightly.

Not allowed to enter the village? That's really not good news.

A slight drizzle of rain had already begun to drift in the sky, and if it was delayed a little longer, I was afraid that it would be raining.

At this time, he was in a hurry, but when he turned his head, he saw Chen Yuanwen call a servant, and let him go after a few words.

"Cousin, don't worry about anything, cousin has his own way. ”

Chen Yuanwen came to Li Xintian's side and said with a smile.

Li Xintian nodded, through the drizzle and haze, his eyes just saw that not far away, at the high bank embankment, there was a platform about two meters high made of earth, stone, bricks and tiles, with many bamboo poles inserted on it, and some white paper and red cloth were wrapped around the bamboo poles, swaying slightly with the increasingly violent wind.

"What's that?"

Li Xintian asked casually.

"That's the altar. The coachman replied, but his eyes were secretive, and he said, "It is the altar that has been built in this village for many years." And from here they threw the sacrifice into the river......"

Although he did not say it explicitly, it was clear that the sacrifice was a pure maiden.

Such a sacrifice must have been the work of an evil god. Why aren't there any chivalrous men to slay demons?"

Thinking that there were many girls who were sacrificed here, Li Xintian's heart sank slightly, and he felt a tightness in his chest.

As he spoke, the convoy suddenly began to move again, and when he inquired, he learned that it was the village chief who took the money to open the road himself, and scolded a group of villagers who blocked the road.

This couldn't help but make Li Xintian secretly sigh in his heart: "Sure enough, there is money that can make ghosts grind!"

But here he also learned the reason why the villagers were blocking the road and not allowed to enter.

Unexpectedly, some time ago, the triennial sacrifice was sabotaged by an outsider, and the villagers, fearing the wrath of the river god, were trying to make up for the sacrifice while not accepting outsiders.

The personal reception of the village chief made the trip a little easier, at least no one would dare to disobey the majesty of the village chief.

After entering the village, it seems that the heavy rain a few days ago made the ground potholed and muddy, and the carriage stumbled when it traveled, and the air was filled with a faint smell like a pool of stagnant water, which made the people in the car feel very uncomfortable.

In an inexplicably irritable mood, Li Xintian looked at the scene of the village again.

It was unexpectedly desolate, and the road was lined with crooked brick and stone mud houses, low and broken, and green vines crawling among the broken roofs. Because of the passing of the convoy, you can faintly hear the whimpering barking of dogs from time to time.

I am afraid that even in the daytime, there are few villagers on the road, and at first glance the only living people you can see are the villagers who blocked the road in front of and behind them, and the village chief, and there is no one else.

Li Xintian looked left and right curiously, but inadvertently saw the face of a pale child inside through a half-hidden window next to him, and his face was expressionless at this time, staring at them with indifferent eyes.

He suddenly realized something, and when he looked back at the house, he could vaguely see the somewhat disturbing cold eyes hiding behind the cracks and windows of the door, which at first glance were quite terrifying.

This is true for both children and adults, as if they are the source of their calamity.

Before thinking about it, it may have been the fear that he would anger the river god by contacting them and bring down the punishment.

"It's a pity for this Xishui Village. The coachman in front of the car looked at the village with interest, and there was a bit of emotion and embarrassment in his words, "It is said that a few decades ago, when there was no legend of the river god, there was a lot of money to be made by traveling by boat, and the village was very lively. Who would have thought that decades later it would be like this, sparsely populated. ”

Li Xintian nodded slightly when he heard this, thoughtful.

The group ended up in a larger courtyard. It is usually used to load and unload goods and firewood, but now because the place is large enough, it has temporarily settled.

On the other side, the village chief has already prepared several tables of banquets to warmly entertain these generous guests.

I just don't know if it's a different taste, although the dishes on the table look quite good on the surface, but once you enter the mouth, there is a salty smell that seems to have been pickled, mixed with an earthy smell, which is really hard to swallow.

At least Li Xintian couldn't eat it, he quietly put down his chopsticks, thinking that it was better to wait back and eat the dry food brought by his convoy, or let the Flying Tiger King go hunting.

Glancing at the other people out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the others couldn't eat either, so he quietly put down his chopsticks, and there was no dissatisfaction on his face.

After a long time in the business field, Chen Linqing and the others were very good at dealing with people, and after spending some money, they added two more tables of banquets, and asked the village chief to sit down and eat together with a few other village guys who had come to help before, which really eliminated the hostility in the eyes of the other party before, and the original tough attitude also softened a lot.