The Liang Family's youngest son died. After he drank the talisman water, his body was bruised by the peach wood. A few pieces of flesh were cut off from his thigh and chest. He bled to death that night.
After the funeral, Liang Second Sister-in-law went crazy and wanted to settle accounts with the witch. The witch said that she wasn't devout enough.
The clan members stopped her: "Your son can't be cured. Just treat a dead horse as a living one. Also, the people who die from the witch aren't devout enough. "
In the end, Liang Second Sister-in-law accepted her fate and went completely crazy. Her entire person was in a muddle, and she couldn't even turn her eyes. She just stayed by Second Sister's side and rambled: "He's still young, he's very scared. You go accompany the child. You go accompany the child. "
At night, the Liang Family placed two memorial tablets in the room. It always revolved around this kind of whispering that seemed to speak for the dead. It was as gloomy as a martyr's shrine.
Second Sister was so scared that she didn't dare to go back. In the end, when the clan leader heard about it, he pitied the two of them and invited someone to perform a ritual, saying that he wanted to expel the ghost from Liang Second Sister-in-law's body.
The clan leader also invited the witch and divine man to perform a divination. They danced, they reveled, and they waved their peach wood swords to slay demons and exorcise evil spirits.
The fire rushed to the door. The oil paint on their faces, the rustling powder, and their loose robes all jumped in the fire. Just like the night Liang Er died.
"Alas! My god, my god! Two unknown women, cursed the yang energy to death! " The eyes on the big flower's face seemed to be invisible, and the huge body stared at the two widows who appeared thin and short in the fire and smoke.
Liang Second Sister-in-law just sneered crazily.
Second Sister looked at the scene in front of her with reverence and fear, feeling that there was a strange and terrifying divine power that didn't belong to the human world.
However, the moment they finished performing the ritual to exorcise the evil spirits, this divine power returned to the human world:
Second Sister saw the clan leader's youngest son secretly give a lot of money to the witch.
A few days after the ritual, the Liang Family said that Liang Second Sister-in-law's surname wasn't Liang. Second Sister's surname wasn't Liang either. The Liang Family's only son, Liang Er, died, which meant that the family line was cut off. The witch also insisted that the two of them were the main culprits who had cursed Liang and his son to death.
Therefore, in late autumn, when the weather was getting colder, the Liang family's houses and fields were all taken away by the clan to be used as sacrificial fields. The last of the things in the house were divided up one after another.
A six-year-old boy came out with a tattered piece of clothing. That was one of the only two pieces of clothing that Second Sister had.
Second Sister wanted to say something, but in the end, she only asked, "What are you going to do with it?"
The little boy blinked and said, "To make a nest for my poor motherless puppy."
Oh, oh. A motherless puppy, how pitiful.
Second Sister stood outside the room in a daze, panicking. Beside him, Second Sister-in-law Liang was still muttering, "Go with him, go with him."
There was nothing left to divide. The clan leader twirled his beard, and several men tied up Second Sister-in-law Liang.
Second Sister-in-law Liang was only in her twenties. Although her mind wasn't clear, it was rare for her to be healthy. Moreover, if his brain was damaged, he wouldn't know how to escape. He was tied up and sold on the spot to an old bachelor in the mountains.
Second Sister, on the other hand, couldn't find anyone else. Because she was sickly and thin like a pitiful field mouse, everyone who saw her suspected that she wouldn't live long. They would probably have to spend a broken straw mat to drag her back.
Then, should they just chase her away like this?
The clan leader immediately rejected the rotten idea of chasing her away. The Liang family was the most shrewd. These days, not to mention a living person, even a roll of rags had to be used to its full potential.
Right at this moment, the Zhu Family began to spread a rumor that the Sixth Young Madame originally wanted to keep her chastity for a year, but because she missed her late husband, she still hung herself and moved the lantern to the shrine of the deceased woman. Although the clansmen tried to stop her in every way, and her parents-in-law tried to dissuade her from doing so, she still hung herself and moved the lantern to the shrine. The Zhu family planned to choose a good day for Sixth Young Mistress to become a Spirit Shifting Lantern after her death. Then, they would open the grave and bury Sixth Young Mistress and Sixth Young Master together.
Xi Yangyang, ah, Xi Yangyang, this was the first woman in the Zhu family to be chaste.
According to custom, before this kind of wedding, they would sing a big play to invite the gods.
They even invited the county magistrate. When the county magistrate heard that it was the Zhu family, and that it was such a good thing that could be praised to the gods, he quickly agreed to come and join in the fun.
Everyone in the surrounding villages heard about this. They all said that the Zhu family would reduce their taxes by a lot in the future. Then, how awe-inspiring would the memorial arch that was about to be announced?
When the Liang family saw this, they were envious. The clan leader stroked his beard and sighed, "In recent years, the excessive taxes have been increasing. The family's sacrificial fields and tenant farms are also not good." He suddenly clapped his hands innocently, "Ah, I got it, I got it! Poor Second Nephew's wife. When that mountain man took her away, she kept saying to her wife, 'You go with him', 'You go with him'. That child is going to the Yellow Springs at such a young age. She really does need someone to accompany her. "
The Liang family asked the Zhu family if they could gather together a woman who was going to die for her husband on the same day and enter the ancestral hall on the same day. It was also a good thing.
The Zhu family had always been generous and agreed.
Second Sister, who had been locked in the room and starved for several days, was finally able to eat. The sister-in-law who brought her food advised her to eat more. Otherwise, she wouldn't have the strength to be a chaste woman. She also brought good clothes and advised Second Sister to wear them.
Through the door, Second Sister seemed to see the big painted face that seemed to represent all kinds of unknown and mysterious destinies in her life, coming and going.
Second Sister touched her belly, which was a little fuller. She suddenly felt numb and calm.
Oh, she thought, maybe it was like what those women said. Entering the Martyr's Shrine was better than being a pig in the next life. So, she put on her clothes and ate the food.
After half a month, it was the special day.
On this day when a new martyr was about to be born, the Martyr's Shrine would open its doors. Men and women would watch the show without any scruples. Idlers came. Even the foreigners who had been here recently came to watch.
The show was in the Martyr's Shrine.
First, they invited witches and godly men. Then, they invited artists who were said to be very skilled to lead the rhythm. They mixed together and were led by the most famous witch. They lit incense and sang and danced "My God, my God".
After the witches and godly men set up the stage to sing, near the entrance of the inner hall of the Martyr's Shrine, the Sixth Young Mistress of the Zhu family and Wang Ermei from the countryside sat side by side on the threshold.
Dove wine, white silk, knives. They were all placed on an incense table in front of them.
The Sacrificial Dance in front of them was still exaggerated. The sleeves were raised and the sleeves were swinging.
In the very strange music, the dancers suddenly turned their heads and made colorful and particularly ferocious ink ghost faces. It was the kind that Second Sister had nightmares several times.
"Ah!" Second Sister suddenly screamed. Everyone was startled by her. An old woman of the Zhu family hit her. "What are you screaming for?"
The pale and thin Sixth Young Mistress gently reached out to stop the old woman. "This dance is a little scary. This girl … is called Second Sister? She's younger than me. "
The old woman of the Zhu family stopped talking.
The Sixth Young Mistress of the Zhu family sat closer to Second Sister and asked softly, "What are you looking at?"
Second Sister didn't answer her. Her eyes were fixed on the ground.
The Sixth Young Mistress followed her gaze and was stunned for a moment.
Under the sunlight, the shadows of the witch and the dancers were printed on the ground. In the dust, the shadows changed too much and were distorted, as if they were upside down.
Rows of horrible statues were printed on the ground from the door to the inside of the Martyr's Temple, and the shadows were also upside down.
Suddenly, it seemed that everything was reversed in an instant. The ghosts in the Martyr's Temple were human beings, while the ink ghost faces in front of them were human beings.
"Are you afraid?" Second Sister heard the Sixth Young Mistress ask her. Before Second Sister answered, the Sixth Young Mistress laughed to herself. Her voice was so low that only Second Sister could hear it clearly. "Gods talk in human language, but humans do ghost things."
The absurd world and absurd people turned the world upside down.
The beginning of the show had come to an end. Suddenly, the fire burst out. A burst of hot flames rushed over.
Second Sister looked back. In the empty Martyr's Temple, the altar lamps fell into a pile. The lamp oil flowed, and the fire snakes licked the curtains and ignited the god's tablet.
The temple, which had always been dark and gloomy, suddenly brightened up.
The stage in front of them was also in chaos. Thick smoke rose. It was said that someone had set fire. Suddenly, someone shouted to put out the fire, and someone shouted that the incense table fell down. It seemed that the upside down world was burning in the fire.
Second Sister stared blankly. There were people running out of the Martyr's Temple in panic. Soon, all of them ran away, and no one came to pull her.
Suddenly, a ghost face with powder and ink paint flashed in the fire. It was the same face as the one on the night when Liang 'er died and the Liang family's house was taken away.
Second Sister thought that the invisible ghost in the Martyr's Temple was finally going to take her away like Liang 'er, as she often dreamed of.
The owner of the big painted face came out of the fire. It was a young man. He grabbed Er Mei and covered her nose with a wet cloth. Instead, he walked towards the door of the Martyr's Shrine. "Let's go!"
The Sixth Young Mistress waved to them beside a collapsed wall of the Martyr's Temple, "Come here!"
Flustered and muddle-headed, Second Sister sat in a carriage amidst the chaos.
The carriage rumbled for a long time. Second Sister's confused mind was vaguely restored. She heard people saying in her ears, "Arson … I've never done such a thing in my life …"
"Damn it … Evil … Come out …"
"… Put out the lamp …"
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