Chapter 77 He slapped you once, but you slapped me twice.
Suddenly, the sound of suona horns came from somewhere. Six men lifted a wooden frame and began to walk along the riverbank, rising and falling to the rhythm of the suona horns, occasionally letting out neat and powerful shouts.
The red cloth on top was lifted, and Xie Mianmian stood on tiptoe to look. On the stretcher that was being held high was a strangely shaped wooden animal carving.
With a lion's head, deer antlers, and a crocodile's mouth, it was clearly a dragon's head, except that its lower body was a fish's tail.
The villagers worship the Chiwen (a mythical creature).
This wooden carving of a mythical beast is exquisitely crafted. Its lively fish tail swings high as it passes through the crowd, and the villagers can't help but raise their hands to shield themselves, as if they feel water splashing onto their heads.
This was the first time Xie Mianmian had ever seen ordinary people hold such a ceremony. She found it somewhat bizarre, mysterious, and simple. Of course, it would be even better if they weren't offerings to the river god.
The Seventh Prince narrowed his eyes and coldly watched the villagers dance. It seemed that the sacrificial ceremony in Xiahe Village was normal in previous years, but there was an unexpected change this year.
He stared at the culprit and thought to himself, "The evil monk!"
After the dance, the village head waved his hand, signaling to bring the offerings forward. Soon, four pairs of boys and girls were led up.
Only one pair remains.
The crowd remained silent. The cool breeze made the torches in the villagers' hands flicker. They all turned to look at Xie Mianmian and the Seventh Prince, and even made way for the offerings to be brought forward.
The two children didn't move, but the old woman pulled them over by force.
When Xie Mianmian was a few steps away from the monk, she smelled a breeze coming from him.
The smell was strange and hard to describe; it seemed to be a calming sandalwood scent, mixed with a hint of fishiness.
Before Xie Mianmian could think further, they arrived at the riverbank.
Five small bamboo rafts were placed on the shore, clearly for offerings.
The children were all tied up, so if the bamboo raft accidentally capsized in the river, they wouldn't be able to save themselves and would just have to wait to die.
The Seventh Prince gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know who we are? Let me give you a piece of advice: turn back before it's too late and release us right now!"
The village headman lifted the children onto the bamboo raft one by one, saying, "After tonight, no one will know you were here. If you have anything to say, save it for the River God."
Then, they grabbed the two children as well.
Five small bamboo rafts drifted downstream along the swift river, and the children wept silently.
Some villagers ran a few steps along the riverbank; they were probably the children's parents.
"My little girl!"
"It's your mother's fault!"
"Let me go! Xiao Bao, don't go!"
The seventh prince, sitting on the bamboo raft, swayed with the current. He kept trying to steady himself. "Mianmian, hurry up and give me the hairpin!"
They were sitting one in front of the other, with Xie Mianmian in front. She tried to twist her body and push her hands, which were tied in front of her, back.
"Eek!" The child felt like he was about to be twisted into a pretzel, but with a determined twist, he finally handed the hairpin to the seventh prince.
She couldn't help but complain, "Seventh Prince should have told Mianmian about the mechanism sooner."
The seventh prince remained silent, only lowering his head and diligently cutting the rope.
"Ah!" Xie Mianmian hadn't even settled down when she was suddenly bumped by the bamboo raft beside her. She twisted her body wildly from side to side, trying to maintain her balance.
However, the violent movement caused the bamboo raft beneath the two children to veer to one side, and it looked like it was about to plunge into the river.
Just then, a large carp popped its head out of the water and rammed the bamboo raft hard, which actually brought the raft back to a stable state.
"Phew~" Xie Mianmian breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness it was just a false alarm."
"Seventh Prince, what should we do?"
The seventh prince, now free of his hands, was cutting the hemp rope binding his feet. "We need to find a way to reach the shore."
But he hasn't figured out what to do yet. He could jump down and push the bamboo raft, then weave through the other four rafts to help them untie their ropes, but that would be too difficult.
At this moment, Xie Mianmian thought of a good idea. She whispered to the river, "Big carp, bubbling away, please help Mianmian prop up the bamboo raft~ Please take our bamboo raft to the shore!"
Sensing Xie Mianmian's call, many large carp splashed their heads out of the water and pushed the bamboo raft towards the shore.
Sensing the unusual movement below, some children looked into the water in fear. "Is...is the River God coming? He's going to eat us!"
While pulling on the cut rope, Xie Mianmian said, "Don't be afraid, they are little fish. They have come to rescue us and bring us ashore!"
As they felt themselves getting closer and closer to the shore, the children finally showed a hint of a smile.
However, the Seventh Prince keenly noticed something amiss on the shore; it seemed as if someone was staring intently at them.
When the Seventh Prince saw those people clearly, he gasped. There was a group of people on the shore holding long bamboo poles, as if they had been there all along, waiting to retrieve these sacrificial offerings.
"Mianmian, quickly make the carp move to the other side! Those people want to catch us!"
Now that things have come to this, what else doesn't the Seventh Prince understand? It's likely that the evil monk had planned this all along, using the pretext of worshipping the river god to steal children—ten boys and girls, no less. What were they planning to do?
Xie Mianmian also saw those ugly, deformed thugs whose arms were thicker than her head. She shouted urgently, "Big Carp, hurry and get to the other side! The bad guys are coming!"
The people on the shore had finally received the offerings that floated over on their own, but the next moment, all five bamboo rafts headed towards the opposite bank.
A man quickly grabbed a bamboo pole and struck hard, but the carp in the water were more agile, dodging left and right with the children, avoiding the man's attack.
But a big carp was a bit unlucky; it didn't manage to squeeze through in time and got hit on the head.
The big carp stopped, turned its head and looked at the man resentfully. Damn two-legged beast, it hurts so much to catch fish like that!
It swam fiercely towards the man, then with a powerful leap, its tail slapped him hard across the face.
"Smack!"
The bad guy clutched his face in pain, and the bamboo pole in his hand fell into the river.
Watching the children walk away, another man spat at him, "Useless! You can't even handle this little thing. If we don't catch the culprit, we'll all be in big trouble!"
Then, without even taking off his clothes, the man who had spoken jumped into the river. He swam very fast and darted towards the children.
Xie Mianmian and her group were at the back of the bamboo raft. When they saw people swimming over, the child felt a sense of urgent crisis.
"Ahhh, hurry up and get out of here!"
Xie Mianmian glanced back at the man as she knelt on the bamboo raft, plunging her hands into the water and paddling vigorously.
But that person was too fast; with a few undulations in the water, he was about to catch up in just a few breaths.
The man stretched out his hand, about to grab the bamboo raft.
Suddenly, a fish-shaped shadow leaped over and "smack!" struck the man hard in the face.
I didn't hit you just now, did I? That person slapped you once, and you, and I slapped you twice.
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