Chapter 400 The River God's Sacrifice Returns Alive
Yuan Huaihong took Li Suining to the study and showed him a few paintings.
"These paintings were sent by people from Feiyun Sect. I contacted them to find out where Fuxing and Wenrenli came from."
Li Suining took the painting and looked at it curiously.
They were some ink drawings with simple lines, and she couldn't understand the content of the drawings.
"Brother Crown Prince," Li Suining asked, picking up one of the paintings, "are these mountains and rivers?"
Yuan Huaihong nodded and pointed, "This is Wansui Mountain, and this is Baisui River."
"What about this?" Li Suining pointed at something floating in the river. "What is this? A boat?"
"Sister Suining is really smart." Yuan Huaihong took all the paintings, arranged them in order, and explained them to Li Suining one by one. "This is a village called Qiansui Village."
Li Suining counted on his fingers and said, "Ten thousand years of age mountain, a thousand years of age village, a hundred years of age river."
"Yes!" Yuan Huaihong continued, "This is a very remote village, in the northwest of Greater Jin, very far from us and rarely visited."
"The villagers here are very long-lived. Look at these people," Yuan Huaihong pointed at the people in the painting. "They all have long beards and eyebrows. They are probably over a hundred years old."
Li Suining didn't quite understand what it meant to be a hundred years old, but she had never seen anyone with a beard and eyebrows as long as the one in the painting.
"There is a custom in Qiantose Village that every person's age starts from one thousand years old after birth. Therefore, everyone in their village is over one thousand years old."
Yuan Huaihong patiently told Xiaotuanzi how big the difference was between being a thousand years old and being a hundred years old.
An idea suddenly occurred to the little girl. "Then I'll start counting from my 1,000th birthday now, so I'm also a centenarian."
"Yes!" Yuan Huaihong smiled and continued, "Qiansui Village believes in the gods of mountains, rivers, and rivers. They believe that their longevity is due to the blessings of the gods. Moreover, every ten years, they offer sacrifices to the gods."
Upon hearing this, Li Suining asked curiously, "What kind of offerings? Fruits grown in the mountains? Fish swimming in the water?"
Yuan Huaihong shook his head. "The mountain's offerings are strong men, while the river's offerings are young girls."
"Why?" Little Dumpling was full of confusion.
"Because Wansui Mountain is majestic and silent, yet incredibly dangerous inside, if a middle-aged man can enter Wansui Mountain and come out alive, they will become the representative of the mountain god, and Baisui River..."
Yuan Huaihong took out the next painting. "The Baisui River is moody and often causes disasters, sweeping away people and houses along the river. So they felt...the river god needed a companion."
Li Suining couldn't help but shudder. "Will the offerings to the river god... die?"
"Yes." Yuan Huaihong began to talk about the next picture. "Every ten years, if a sacrifice is made to the mountain god and he returns alive, he will become the new village chief. But if a sacrifice is made to the river god... no one has ever returned alive."
Little Tuanzi was a little unhappy and said sadly, "These young ladies are so pitiful."
Yuan Huaihong sighed softly.
"This is unfair." Li Suining suddenly said, "It's unfair to those young ladies."
"Indeed." Yuan Huaihong touched the little girl's head, trying to comfort her, "But this is the tradition of Qiansui Village for thousands of years. No one dares to resist, and even if they do, it's useless."
He could imagine that the village chief, who was in his prime, could easily suppress all of this.
"What happened next?" Little Dumpling noticed that the prince had not finished looking at the painting in his hand.
"Okay, let me look at the next one," Yuan Huaihong took out the next one, "This is the most recent one, about six years ago, when the village held another sacrifice."
At this moment, Li Suining roughly understood what these paintings meant. She looked at the scenes in the paintings and immediately said in a baby voice, "It depicts offerings to the river god."
"Sister Suining is so clever," Yuan Huaihong couldn't help but praise her. "Every time, the sacrifice is dressed in a bridal dress, tied to this raft, surrounded by flower petals, and then pushed into the river."
Li Suining couldn't help but get anxious, staring at the paintings without blinking, and couldn't help but imagine how scared and desperate those young ladies must be lying on the raft.
Yuan Huaihong continued to take out the next one, which was a scene of the river god's offerings floating in the river and drifting down the river.
They both looked at each other quietly for a while without saying anything.
Then, Yuan Huaihong took out the last one.
Li Suining pointed at the painting excitedly, "Is this a sacrifice to the river god? She... came back alive?"
In the painting, there is still the raft, but the girl who was supposed to be tied to the raft is now standing on it.
"Yes, during the sacrifice six years ago, the offering to the river god disappeared for three days, but unexpectedly returned alive." Yuan Huaihong's expression also changed slightly. "The people of Qiansui Village were terrified and knelt by the river, calling her the river god."
"How did she come back alive?" Li Suining was full of curiosity. "What did she eat and drink in those three days?"
Yuan Huaihong shook his head. "No one knows how this girl spent these three days, because..."
He paused before continuing, "After this girl came back alive, she suddenly became mute and never spoke again."
"Are you mute?" Li Suining suddenly thought of Fuxing, and she looked at Yuan Huaihong in disbelief.
Yuan Huaihong nodded. "The villagers only know that she is an orphan girl in the village. Her name is...Fuxing."
"Is it really Sister Lucky Star?" Li Suining found it unbelievable.
"Yes, this is what Feiyunmen investigated about Fuxing's past." Yuan Huaihong put the painting away and continued, "After this sacrifice, Fuxing became the river god of Qiansui Village. The villagers' faith in her far surpasses that of mountain gods. It is said that since then, Fuxing has been able to observe the stars at night and predict the future. She has warned the village of many possible disasters and even helped Qiansui Village avoid a devastating flood."
Li Suining couldn't help but ask, "What happened next? Why did Sister Fuxing leave Qiansui Village and come to the Imperial City?"
"Because Fuxing couldn't speak, a messenger gradually appeared beside her..."
Li Suining guessed it immediately, "It's Wenren Li."
"Yes, this Wenren Li was actually the previous village chief and was once a sacrifice to the mountain god." Yuan Huaihong narrowed his eyes. "Later, they left Qiansui Village together and came to the Imperial City, but no one knows what they want to do."
The little girl was silent, and this story obviously shocked her.
She couldn't help but doubt again, could it be that Sister Fuxing could really predict the future like herself?
However, the fate of her father that she could see was that he was executed for treason. In other words, at least her father did not commit treason when he was alive.
Could it be that if my father is not executed, he will rebel in the future?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
