Pei Di and He Wangyao had never seen anything like this before and were a little overwhelmed.
He Wangyao scoffed, "Seriously? This bloody ritual, does it really work?"
“There are rumors in the village that there are spirits in the lake, so there’s no problem with offering sacrifices of three kinds of animals. Taoism has a tradition of offering sacrifices of three kinds of animals.” After Li Wenhe finished speaking, he paused for a moment, “Now I understand why you don’t allow us to eat fish. It really is disgusting.”
He understood, but the visual impact of what he saw was too great, and he felt a little uncomfortable.
Mingzhuo: "I don't eat fish, not because of that. Which lake doesn't have corpses? There are small ones like plankton, fish and shrimp, and I won't list the larger ones. Lake water has the ability to purify itself, so it's not a problem."
She paused for a moment and said calmly, "I don't eat fish, purely because fish meat smells terrible."
Fang Linxiao, who had praised the fish that morning, was speechless.
Teacher Ruan, are you serious? If you keep going, he's about to start questioning his existence!
The sorceress over there had finished her sacrificial dance and was starting to prepare to throw offerings into the lake.
Li Wenhe and Zhuang Xun both guessed that Mingzhuo wasn't just watching the spectacle; his eyes were fixed on the bloody pigs, cattle, and sheep, worried that there might be something more to it.
Meanwhile, in a corner that went unnoticed, several villagers lifted a box and prepared to throw it into the lake.
"Wait a minute, there's a child in the box!" Someone rushed over, catching their breath.
Mingzhuo raised an eyebrow. Isn't this Sister Hong?
Hongjie glared at Mingzhuo and walked over. "That Chu Yuqi sent someone to say that she suspects a child has accidentally climbed into the box and that it needs to be checked before being thrown into the lake."
Zhuang Xun and Li Wenhe quickly exchanged a glance, then stepped forward from the crowd to prepare to open the box for inspection.
The sorceress was somewhat displeased. "Nonsense! Interfering with the lake festival, what if we displease the lake god and he doesn't bless us!"
The more she said that, the less likely Zhuang Xun and Li Wenhe were to let the matter rest.
“It’s just opening the box for a quick look, what could that possibly cause? Or are you hiding something?” Li Wenhe said. “Then why don’t we call the police?”
Although Xianyuan Village is located in a remote area, far from any other village or shop, it is not completely isolated from the world.
If someone is deliberately trying to commit murder, the police can't just ignore it.
Because her family owns a light truck and she often goes to the county to sell fish, Sister Hong has a lot of contact with the outside world and is even more unwilling to get into trouble.
"Aunt Huang, this is a matter of life and death, let them take a look." Sister Hong directly called on the sorceress.
Many villagers echoed this sentiment and spoke up in support.
Seeing that the sorceress's expression had softened, Zhuang Xun stepped forward and opened the wooden box.
There were some odds and ends of offerings inside, but definitely no children.
The sorceress said angrily, "See? If it's not there, it's not there. You're blaspheming the gods, and you'll be punished!"
Hongjie was stunned. Could it be that the young girl was lying to her? She turned her head and glared angrily at Mingzhuo. She knew these people were all so young, but they turned out to be so unreliable!
Zhuang Xun and Li Wenhe were also somewhat embarrassed as they were forcefully asked to leave Wangxiantai by several villagers dressed in sacrificial robes.
"Please leave now, you are not welcome here!" He Wangyao and her group were also implicated and forcibly expelled.
Fang Linxiao thought it was perfect, he didn't want to waste any more time here, "Teacher Ruan, let's go."
He turned his head and found that Mingzhuo was no longer in the same spot.
Several villagers were startled, turned around and shouted, "What are you doing? Get down here right now!"
Going down was impossible. Taking advantage of the moment when no one was paying attention, Mingzhuo had already reached the edge of Wangxiantai. Seeing that her plan had been exposed, she quickly hid from the villagers who had come to grab her and ran up Wangxiantai in a few steps.
The fortune teller was about to faint from anger. "Why are you up here again? The gods really do punish you!"
Mingzhuo chuckled lightly: "Whether the gods will punish you is hard to say, but the law will definitely punish you."
She walked up to the bloody carcasses of the three animals. The pigs, cattle, and sheep were conspicuous enough that everyone would look at them immediately, but no one would want to look at them a second time.
Because it's too bloody, who would want to look closely at a corpse?
That's precisely why it's such a perfect tool for carrying out a covert operation.
She crouched down, tore off the red silk binding the corpse, and forcefully ripped open the cow's ruptured belly, from which a two- or three-year-old child rolled out.
The villagers, who were initially furious, were now stunned. "There really is a child?"
The child had been knocked unconscious and stuffed inside. Mingzhuo pressed on the child's head a few times, and the child coughed, woke up, and burst into tears.
"Mother!"
Sister Hong recognized the voice and looked closely at the child. "Aunt Lian, isn't this your granddaughter?"
The frail old woman froze for a moment, then rushed over, wailing and crying, "Niu Niu, my Niu Niu!"
In the crowd, some people quickly exchanged glances and then tried to run away.
Mingzhuo: "Wenwen!"
Li Wenhe had become alert the moment the child appeared inside the cow's belly, and had been keeping a close eye on the crowd. Upon seeing this, he quickly chased after them.
Zhuang Xun was even faster than him. After a second or two of hesitation, Fang Linxiao also caught up with him.
A short while later, the three men returned carrying a middle-aged couple.
Meanwhile, Mingzhuo had already apprehended the sorceress.
"I don't know, I don't know anything. I was bought as a virgin, I didn't know I was switched!" The middle-aged woman was the first to deny any involvement.
The man also said, "We were scammed! They told us that our family members sold themselves voluntarily!"
The fortune teller said, "It has nothing to do with me; they made the deal themselves!"
Aunt Lian wiped away her tears, "Niu Niu is cold in the rain, I'll take her home first."
Just then, someone rushed over; it was the young woman Mingzhuo had met once before.
"Baby!" Hu Miao quickly took off her coat and wrapped it completely around her young daughter. The child hugged her neck and cried loudly.
She glanced quickly at the old woman and the middle-aged couple, suppressing her anger, "I will pursue this matter to the end, and none of you will escape!"
The most important thing right now is to comfort her daughter. She held her daughter in her arms, while Aunt Lian held an umbrella for the two of them, preparing to leave.
Mingzhuo: "Wait a minute."
"Is there anything else?" Hu Miao looked at Ming Zhuo warily. Even though she knew that he had saved her daughter, she subconsciously rejected this group of people.
Knowing that so many people had come to the village, she had been staying at home for the past two days to avoid running into them.
Ignoring the hostility in her eyes, Mingzhuo said calmly, "Selling your child to someone else to sacrifice to the lake is also murder. You cannot leave."
Hu Miao's eyes widened, and she said angrily, "Nonsense! This is my precious child, whom I worked so hard to give birth to. I'm not short of money, how could I possibly sell her..."
She paused, then suddenly realized what she meant and turned to look at the old woman beside her. "Mom?"
Aunt Lian's expression didn't change at all: "You bunch of liars, don't talk nonsense! Our family would never sell a child!"
Sister Hong immediately stood up: "That's right, Aunt Lian is known for being virtuous and kind. Miao Miao even sends her several thousand yuan every month. There's no way she would sell her child! You're not very knowledgeable, so don't wrongly accuse innocent people!"
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