Thanks for the invitation: In ancient times, people shared children

Chapter 117

The child sat slumped, his neck resting on the not-so-high backrest of the stool, his eyes staring blankly at the sky.

She is so sad.

Her best friend doesn't love her anymore!

What’s even more sad is that they can’t get out of this forest.

I kept going around in circles but it was all in vain. Finally, I met a kind-hearted person, who turned out to be the village witch.

They were brought back directly. Old Li burst into tears and said that he was embarrassed to cause trouble to the village, so he covered it up.

The witch was kind enough to check the child's injured leg.

The child was injured quickly and healed quickly. There was nothing to show him now, so I could only say—

"Maybe it was God's blessing, everything was healed by the time we ate."

The village chief's family and the witch believed it and happily gave them some advice before going back.

Leaving behind a house full of desperate people.

"Why don't we just say we're leaving?" Chang Xiaoyu said in a daze.

"Oh, that's too suspicious," said Old Man Li. "They've divided up the houses and the land. Where else can you find a better place than this? Only a fool would leave."

"We can be short of it." The child said gloomily.

Cao Ping: "It's better not to. I just heard that the Great Witch suspects your grandfather is a human trafficker, but we are all very well behaved, so they are relieved."

Old man Li's reputation was damaged, but they were relieved.

Cao Ping: "But then the Great Witch asked him why he gave Wang Wu's house to us, since the True God hadn't even checked whether the house was safe.

The village chief said he didn't think there was anything wrong, and that since there were so many of us, this was the only place we could live."

This is very suspicious.

"What else did they say?" Hu Shanniang asked with a frown.

"Okay, let's do this for now. If you have nothing else to do, go to bed early. I'll be teaching the Dharma in the village tomorrow.

Okay, I'll ask them to go and listen too."

After Cao Ping finished speaking, he walked upstairs.

It was the first time anyone noticed he was leaving.

The child tilted his head: "Where are you going?"

"sleep."

"Oh, this kid, how can he be so careless?" Old man Li sighed, and then he saw other people standing up one after another.

"Then I'll go to sleep too." The child muttered.

At their age, when they feel sleepy, they can fall asleep while standing.

There's nothing I can do anyway. What else can I do if I don't sleep?

Only Old Man Li, who was the most worried, couldn't sleep. When he woke up the next day, the sound of his sighs was even more depressing than usual.

Just after breakfast, Daming came to find them to listen to the witch's teachings.

He is the village chief's nephew, but for some reason, he and his younger brother Xiao Ming have been living in the village chief's house.

He follows his uncle and aunt around every day and is more like a son than a son.

Old man Li spoke a few words to him on the way and was about to ask him in detail when they arrived at the place where the Dharma was being taught.

This is an open space with a millstone and a well. It may also be used as a threshing ground during the autumn harvest. If there are too many weddings or funerals to arrange, you can set up tables here. If you want to invite opera performers, there is enough space to set up a stage.

This is also a good place to chat and play on weekdays. I wonder if every village has such a shared place.

Anyway, when the children saw this place, they felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, but the large empty shrine in front of the bamboo wall in the middle made them feel a little uneasy.

The villagers offered many fresh fruits and unknown snacks, and the table was filled with wine, meat and food. There were also some strange things like flowers, plants and stones put there by children. There was also incense burning in a large bronze tripod.

The offerings seemed to be brought by the villagers themselves. The villagers who arrived late and put the offerings on the table seemed a little annoyed, complained to each other, and went to find a place to sit.

Probably all the men, women, young and old in the village have come.

“It’s like Chinese New Year.”

The child meant that it was the same as offering sacrifices to the river god during the Chinese New Year.

But there is nothing wrong in understanding the literal meaning alone. With so many delicious foods and such a lively atmosphere, it’s just like the Chinese New Year.

Daming said, "Not by a long shot. Celebrating the New Year is the least important thing here."

"Then what's important?" Waiya asked.

"The most important thing is, of course, offering sacrifices to the gods and spreading the Dharma. The second is ancestor worship, and then there are spring plowing and autumn harvests, grabbing water, corvée labor, dividing houses and land, weddings and funerals. These are all top-notch matters. You will understand after living here for a long time.

Without mentioning the first few events, let’s just talk about the last one. When villagers get married, people of similar age will get together, and the whole village will hang red decorations to celebrate on that day. If someone dies, the whole village will hang white decorations to hold the funeral together.

I don't know what the customs are over there, but here we believe that we are all born and raised together, eat food from the same land, drink water from the same stream, and are intertwined like the roots of a tree. We are all one family. We share good things together and bear difficult things together. There is no such thing as your family and mine.

What's the big deal about the Chinese New Year? We are together every day, and every day is the Chinese New Year. If your family is in mourning and I wear new clothes to celebrate, everyone should spit on me.

By the way, after the witch has finished teaching the magic, don’t leave. My uncle will take you to divide the land.”

Daming spoke incessantly, as if it was a matter of course.

The villagers recognized them as new arrivals and enthusiastically gave them the good seats in the front.

How could there be such a place?

Don't you think it's unlucky to hold funerals together?

And is there something interfering?

They understand everything else, but what is water grabbing?

Why fight for water? It's good enough that they don't distribute water.

They were full of confusion and wanted to find someone to answer their questions, but failed. Someone shouted, "The great witch is coming!" and the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The village chief who came with him laughed and scolded: "You little bastard, didn't you see me?"

"hey-hey."

The boy got kicked but didn't feel any pain. He scratched his head, laughed twice, then disappeared into the crowd.

The village chief walked over and sat next to Old Man Li.

The villagers followed the witch with extremely eager eyes, and he did not sit down.

He stood up and started talking.

Before the children came, they had guessed that they might be there to read some scriptures or learn some doctrines, but they never expected that the great witch's teachings would be surprisingly down-to-earth.

"I went to see the true God this time, and He was very happy. He told me to tell everyone that He is fine and not to worry. You haven't seen Him in the past few months because some people have fallen ill and He is busy saving people. He can't take care of us for the time being, but He will come back in a few days.

He specifically told me to tell everyone not to cause trouble. He knows everything that is happening here, and if there is anything, just wait until He comes back to talk to us. The chief witch of Xiaxi Village will also tell this to the villagers over there.

The True God said that they had gone too far this time and would definitely seek justice for us. He told everyone not to be anxious and to be at peace..."

There were low sobbing sounds and many people were wiping away tears.

Seven people:?

The great witch continued to talk, saying nothing more than that the true God said the weather had been a bit bad for a while, so don't travel far, there were snakes and wild beasts somewhere, so don't go there when collecting firewood, he found a herb that could cure snake venom, and it looked like this and that, and also that children from so-and-so's family were not allowed to pee behind the shrine, because he was going to be angry.

The child was beaten and cried loudly, choking and yelling, "I can't help it!"

The Great Wizard: "The True God guessed you would say that, Xiaohu. This isn't the first or second time you've said that. The True God said that if He finds you again, He will capture you, boil you, and eat you with garlic."

"You're lying. Real gods don't eat people." Xiaohu wasn't scared at all, and his mother was tired of beating him, so his father grabbed him and beat him up again.

Everyone became happy, even the sad ones burst into laughter and started to watch the fun.

An uncle threatened to cut off his little bird, which frightened him. He cried and said he would complain to the true God.

It's just like a child who gets beaten outside and has to tell his parents.

Perhaps this so-called formless true god is not really a monster.

It was such a happy occasion that even the children would find it hard not to be infected.

Yesterday the child was sad because her best friend didn't love her.

Today she made new friends with her best friend, A Yuan and A Fu, two sisters who looked nothing alike. She asked them to wait for her to learn the Dharma and then go together to steal the offerings to eat.

"Don't be afraid, we'll just steal a little bit, the true God won't be angry."

This is what the thin A-Yuan with a round face said.

"That's right!" The short, fat Ah Fu smiled with his eyes curved. "Did you see that green plate of snacks? That's the best."

They were obviously very skilled.

The kids, Waiya and Waiya love this kind of thing so much.

Hu Shanniang also liked it: "Can you take me with you?"

Hu Zhuier was as sad as a wronged puppy: "Sister, don't you want me anymore?"

Fat Ah Fu grabbed Zhuier's hand and said, "Don't cry, you can come together!"