20 Peeping
◎The truth is actually like this◎
“Tick, tick—”
After the snow melted, it fell down the rock wall to the ground. A faint sound of flowing water could be heard from the cracks. The entire cave was cold and damp.
Shu Yao felt the chill in there. She gritted her teeth and walked deeper into the cave. It became darker and darker. The light from the cave entrance could no longer reach here. She groped her way forward along the rock wall. Fortunately, there was only one road in this cave. If there were other forks in the road, she wouldn't know which way to go.
The water from the rock wall flowed onto her hands, and her palms were immediately wet. She frowned and wiped her hands on the hem of her skirt. She hated the wet feeling.
After drying her hands, she tentatively walked forward. Occasionally, one or two drops of water fell on her head, and she shuddered in fright.
After walking a long way inside, Shu Yao stopped and pondered whether to continue. The deep caves hid unknown dangers. She hesitated, but when she thought of the Qiao brothers and sisters, she cheered up, overcame her fear, and continued to move forward in the dark.
After walking for a long time, a little light finally appeared in front of them. Shu Yao clutched her clothes tightly, held her breath, and walked forward more cautiously, for fear of making any noise and alerting the enemy.
As she got closer, she could faintly hear someone talking in low voices, and the light in front of her became brighter and brighter. She leaned against the rock wall at the corner and slowly stuck her head out. When she saw the scene clearly, her eyes widened and she almost screamed out in surprise.
Inside this small cave, there stood a Chinese-style attic painted in bright red. At first glance, it looked like human blood smeared on the beams and windows, and the color was particularly glaring.
This attic has two floors, and big red lanterns are hung on the eaves of both floors, with white candles burning inside the lanterns, which is very strange.
Shu Yao never expected that such a mystery could be hidden in this small world.
She looked towards the second floor, where a figure was reflected in the window. The figure had his hands clasped together, worshiping devoutly.
Shu Yao moved slowly and came to the door of the attic, only to find that there were two door gods posted on the door.
She didn't care at first, but after taking a closer look at the two door gods, she soon found something wrong. The figures in the paintings didn't look like gods at all, but rather like bloodthirsty evil spirits. They were baring their fangs and claws, holding huge axes in their hands, with their mouths open to reveal their sharp fangs, and their eyes fixed on the front, as if they were chasing prey in front of them.
Shu Yao was frightened by the two paintings. She swallowed and forced herself to calm down. Then she carefully pushed open the door and opened it a small gap. She was delighted to find that the door was not locked.
She was very cautious, but the door still creaked.
Shu Yao's heart instantly rose to her throat, cold sweat broke out on her back, and her legs were frozen in place.
After a long time, there was no sound coming from the house, and she breathed a sigh of relief, but then she became puzzled. The attic looked quite new, so why did it make such a heavy sound when she pushed the door?
Generally speaking, newly built doors will not make any noise.
Perhaps this attic in the cave had been under construction for a long time, and it was just newly painted on the outside. This made sense. She carefully looked inside through the gap she had just opened.
The room was dark, the only remaining light coming in from the lanterns outside.
She couldn't see the scene inside clearly, she could only feel that it was very empty. There was nothing else except a pile of things on the ground.
There is no one on the first floor.
She used her strength to push the door open and squeezed in. The smell in the room was very stuffy, and she felt an indescribable suffocating sensation. She covered her nose and raised her foot to go upstairs to find out what was going on.
However, she was tripped by something as soon as she walked up the stairs. She tried to go around it, but was blocked by another object. She squatted down to take a closer look, and the thing on the ground looked more and more familiar.
suddenly.
She covered her mouth in horror and held onto the handrail to avoid falling.
There was actually a pile of white bones on the ground. She looked around and saw a wooden door next to the stairs leading to the second floor, with a few scattered bodies at the door.
She endured the fear and walked over. With the faint light, she could see clearly that the door was full of bones. The bones fell outside because there was no more room inside.
Shu Yao had a bold guess in her mind. She took a few deep breaths, closed her eyes, and then continued to walk upstairs.
Her footsteps were so light that they were almost inaudible.
The door to the second floor was tightly closed, and only someone could be heard talking in low voices inside. Shu Yao squatted under the window and imitated the ancients by poking a hole in the window paper with her fingers, then slowly put her eyes close to the hole.
Sure enough, the figure of the clan leader appeared in the room. She calmed down and realized that her guess was correct.
A row of candles were lit in the room. The clan leader was kneeling on a cushion. In front of him was an altar with only two plates of bloody raw meat on it. There were no statues of gods and no ranking. He was seen bowing to the altar again and again, but no one knew who he was bowing to.
The clan leader began to speak, and Shu Yao pricked up her ears, afraid of missing any key information.
The snow water fell from the rock wall, and each drop echoed in the empty attic, just like Shu Yao's heartbeat at this moment.
As she heard the rest of the story, her face turned paler and paler.
I didn't expect the truth to be like this.
…
In the ancestral hall.
Ah Qi kept looking towards the door. An hour had passed, and Sister Shu still hadn't come back. She was getting more and more anxious. Could something have happened?
Qiao Liu was unsure and could only pray that Miss Shu was safe.
Only Ji Shijing still had his eyes half closed, his whole body indifferent, as if it had nothing to do with him, and his right hand was unconsciously tapping his knee.
It was not until a crow flew in from somewhere outside the window that he opened his eyes, curled the corners of his mouth, and stopped what he was doing.
Soon, Xiao Shunzi opened the lock and Shu Yao ran in from outside, looking frightened.
Xiao Shunzi had been waiting for her at the foot of the mountain. The mountain road here was difficult to walk on, and he was afraid that Shu Yao would get lost.
Ah Qi and Qiao Liu breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Shu Yao return safely.
Shu Yao sat in front of them with a serious expression. Finally, she fixed her eyes on Ah Qi and Qiao Liu, pursed her dry lips, and said, "There really is a secret in that mountain god cave in your village."
"What do you mean?" Qiao Liu asked hurriedly, looking anxious. Ah Qi beside him also looked at her eagerly.
Shu Yao slowed down and said, "Maybe what I'm going to say next is hard for you to accept, but this is the truth."
Ji Shijing also looked over here.
I don't know when it started snowing heavily outside, and the sky and the earth were covered in a pale white.
Shu Yao told the Qiao brothers and sisters everything she saw in the Mountain God Cave.
Ah Qi and Qiao Liu couldn't believe it.
They never thought that the mountain god they had worshipped for so long was actually a man-eating evil ghost.
Qiao Liu muttered to himself: "Why would the clan leader be like this?"
Ah Qi believed Shu Yao's words. She asked, "What should we do now?"
Shu Yao asked them to move closer. Seeing that Ji Shijing was still not moving, she put her arm around him. After they moved closer together, she told him her plan.
Qiao Liu was a little embarrassed: "I'm afraid this is a bit difficult."
Ah Qi seemed to have thought of something. She said to Qiao Liu, "Hasn't the clan leader always said that there is a treasure buried in our village? When the time comes, you can tell the clan members that there is a treasure in the cave. They will naturally want to go in and see what it is."
Qiao Liu nodded, this was the only thing he could do.
Shu Yao whispered a few more words to Ah Qi, and Ah Qi nodded: "I will remember Sister Shu." The little girl didn't seem as frightened as yesterday.
Shu Yao looked at the rankings in the ancestral hall again. The ancestors here could never have imagined that they would raise a man-eating demon after so many years. Her hands hanging under her sleeves suddenly clenched. In the past few decades, how many innocent girls had died at the hands of the demon. She closed her eyes, and the clan leader's crazy words echoed in her ears again.
I'll just wait until tomorrow to reveal that person's true identity with my own hands.
The few people who were locked up in the ancestral hall behaved very well, and the clan leader and the villagers also let down their guard.
Finally, at noon of the next day, Shu Yao and A Qi were taken out. Before leaving, Shu Yao gave Qiao Liu a look, and Qiao Liu nodded firmly, indicating that he would do it.
Shu Yao looked at Ji Shijing again, and his hand hanging by his side moved slightly.
Shu Yao and A Qi were taken to a small house by two aunts. Two white long gowns were hung inside the house, and some cheap pearl hairpins and rouge were placed on the table.
The aunties couldn't help but feel sorry when they saw two such good-looking people being sent up the mountain, and one of them even sighed.
Shu Yao and A Qi obediently let the two men play with them. The aunt took off their clothes and put the two white clothes on them. She then tied their hair into a simple bun, applied a thick layer of rouge on them, and finally put two red dots in the middle of their lips.
Shu Yao looked at herself in the mirror and felt very creepy, as if she was going to be buried with the dead.
She felt a little emotional. Since she came into this book, she had been married three times, and there was a chance of a fourth marriage. She felt helpless.
Ah Qi asked her aunt who was applying lip balm to her, "Aunt Zhang, shouldn't weddings be done in red? Why are we wearing white?"
Aunt Zhang paused, then said, "Mountain gods are not mortals. I heard that gods always wear white when they get married."
Ah Qi said "Oh".
Aunt Zhang said with some pity: "Qiao's girl, I also watched you grow up. I don't know if I will be able to see you again after you leave. I am a little reluctant to let you go."
Ah Qi: "Aunt Zhang..."
A voice urged from outside the house: "Are you ready? The auspicious time is coming."
Aunt Zhang and another aunt hurriedly helped Shu Yao and Ah Qi out.
Two small sedan chairs were parked outside the house.
Shu Yao and Ah Qi got in. The sedan chair bearers carried it along the winding mountain road. The ride was so bumpy that Shu Yao almost vomited.
They finally arrived at the cave entrance from yesterday. Before they were led into the cave, someone brought them two glasses of wine and asked them to drink.
Shu Yao shook her head slightly at Ah Qi.
Under the gaze of everyone, the two drank the wine in the glasses.
After drinking, they were driven into the cave. After they entered, the people outside found several huge stones from somewhere and blocked the cave entrance, completely sealing the exit. The last ray of light disappeared.
Ah Qi held Shu Yao's hand tightly. The cold environment made her heart seep with fear. She trembled and said, "Sister Shu, I'm scared."
Shu Yao comforted her: "Don't be afraid, Sister Shu won't let anything happen to you."
The two did not go deeper. All they had to do was delay time as much as possible.
Sure enough, the person inside couldn't wait any longer, and he slowly walked out with a candle.
When he saw his face clearly, Ah Qi exclaimed in surprise, it turned out to be the clan leader.
The clan leader was also wearing white clothes today. He had changed his attitude and was looking at the two of them with a smile. The wrinkles on his face looked like gullies on the loess earth.
Ah Qi couldn't help but ask, "Master, why are you in there?"
The clan leader smiled sinisterly: "The mountain god asked me to take you in." After saying that, he made a gesture of invitation.
Shu Yao was just thinking that she and Ah Qi should not be at a disadvantage in dealing with the old man in front of her, but she cannot act rashly now. She wants to let all the villagers know the true face of this old man.
So she obediently walked towards the depths, and Ah Qi followed closely beside her.
If you want to uncover the ugly truth, you must take risks.
The clan leader followed behind them, laughing sinisterly from time to time, which gave Shu Yao and Ah Qi goose bumps all over their bodies.
Finally reaching the attic, Ah Qi looked at the house in front of her in disbelief, but the picture of the evil ghost in front of the door still scared her.
The clan leader opened the door and let the two of them in.
Shu Yao prepared herself mentally and walked in.
Seeing how obedient she was, the clan leader felt a little more relaxed.
Haha, it won’t be long before they become the perfect sacrifices.
After both of them went in, he closed the door. The two evil ghost images at the door had sharp mouths and fangs. The light of the big red lanterns reflected on their faces, making them look particularly scary.
Not long after, candles were lit on the second floor, and three figures were reflected in the window. One of the black shadows raised a sharp blade and stabbed at the other shadow.
Suddenly, the window paper was covered with red marks.
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