Chapter 57 Sacrifice, plague, profit, ghost village!
"What if we don't hide?"
Zheng Yu asked directly.
The old man stared at Zheng Yu with red eyes, "If you don't hide, you will die."
"Killed by whom?"
Zheng Yu asked.
"I can't say."
Zheng Yu looked at an old man in his seventies, wearing a navy blue linen cotton-padded jacket. His fingers were trembling slightly, as if he was afraid of something.
Zhang Zhan's strategy clearly stated that the nightmare-level abyss must be hidden in a wooden coffin.
But no one knows the consequences of not hiding in the coffin.
Obviously, Zhang Zhan also inquired about the news from a "villager" here.
They will all lure "outsiders" into the coffin.
It's a good intention.
Still malicious.
Can't tell.
"Tell me why your village is like this."
Zheng Yu was not asking.
The old man looked up and saw Zheng Yu smiling and the two beautiful girls behind him who had already taken out the daggers. His heart trembled and he hurriedly said:
"Ten years ago, the village was not like this."
"At that time, due to years of drought, the harvest in the village was not good. We were so poor that we couldn't survive anymore, so we went up to the mountain and dug up the coffins of our ancestors..."
"etc……"
Zheng Yu interrupted the old man.
"You are so poor that you can't survive, so why do you want to touch your ancestral graves?"
"Isn't this a taboo?"
The old man shook his head and said: "This is a tradition passed down from generation to generation in our village. Whenever the village faces difficulties that cannot be solved, the grave of the oldest ancestor will be opened and the coffin and bones of the ancestor will be put into the ancestral hall. "
"Sacrifice?" Wenren Qingyu thought of something.
"Yes, sacrifice."
The old man continued: "This is a situation of necessity. If it weren't for the fact that we really couldn't survive, we wouldn't have even thought about it."
"Then what?"
Zheng Yu asked.
The old man coughed twice, obviously not in good health.
After coughing, he continued: "The sacrifice was successful."
"Purple tea leaves grew overnight on the mountains to the south. The aroma of this tea leaves is unforgettable. After picking and selling the tea leaves, not only did they get food in exchange, but they also made everyone in Shangyu Village live a better life. Good times.”
While talking about these things, the old man had a smile on his face.
Zheng Yu nodded and said, "It can be seen that in such a closed village, every household can build such a large yard. It is indeed rich."
“We were rich once, but not for long.”
The old man continued Zheng Yu's words and narrated: "The tea business has caused many troubles, such as uneven distribution of benefits and plundering by people from other villages. In order to preserve the good life we finally got, we..."
"Aren't you offering sacrifices again?"
The old man sighed.
"yes."
"In order to drive away competitors, people from other villages, and people from the same village who wanted to monopolize the tea leaves, the village chief secretly summoned us old people to conduct a second sacrifice."
"Dig up another ancestor's coffin."
"That year, the plague came to our village."
"With the blessing of the ancestors, as long as they are loyal to Shangyu Village, no disloyal villagers will be infected with the plague. However, all outsiders who enter the village and those with disloyal intentions will die of the disease."
Zheng Yu said thoughtfully: "That means that your current closed state is related to this plague?"
"Yes."
"The closed Shangyu Village has become richer because the tea business has become a monopoly."
"Will anyone accept your tea? Aren't they afraid of catching the plague?" Wenren Qingyu asked.
"Afraid, but they are even more reluctant to part with the taste of tea... No one can refuse the tea from Shangyu Village, and because of the plague, the tea has become rarer and more precious. Black traders will take risks for profit."
Zheng Yu nodded: "Profits exceeding 100% are enough for people to risk their lives. This is reasonable."
"So, even if we are closed down due to the plague, we will still live a prosperous life, because the black merchants will bring everything we need."
"Everything...including people?"
Zheng Yu stared into the old man's eyes, trying to see if he was lying.
The old man nodded hesitantly.
A village contaminated by the plague was not closed because they wanted to, but because the outside world had isolated them.
If a village wants to reproduce, it must either have close relatives or find people outside the village.
Who will come?
No one came back.
But there are black traders.
In the face of high profits, it is actually not difficult to capture a few women and enter the village.
Obviously, this village looks like the extremely evil village Zheng Yu imagined.
Trafficking, confinement, close relatives, and... Zheng Yu looked at the little girl's disappearing tongue with a fierce look in his eyes.
"continue."
Zheng Yu didn't show it and let the old man continue talking.
The old man said nothing.
Zheng Yu sneered and said, "As you said just now, there are three coffins in the ancestral hall, which means that you have worshiped three times in total before this."
"When was the last time and why did you sacrifice?"
Facing Zheng Yu's aggressive tone and Wenren Qingyu holding the dagger and dangling it in front of him, he sighed helplessly and could only say:
"Since you want to hear it, I'll tell you."
"Since the plague, Shangyu Village has been closed for three years."
"Everyone in Shangyu Village is living a happy life. We rely on the mountains to live on. Whatever we want, the black merchants will satisfy us, including..."
The old man glanced at Zheng Yu, "Including the... people you mentioned."
"But there are always people who are not satisfied with the gifts from their ancestors and stay in this blessed village."
bless……
Wenren Qingyu couldn't stand listening anymore and frowned.
A plague brought down the village, which cut off any contact with the outside world and relied on the sale of people to reproduce. In the eyes of the old man, it was actually a gift and a blessing! ?
She was shocked and didn't understand.
Zheng Yu felt that the old man's words came from the bottom of his heart.
For the poor people who have no knowledge and have never seen the outside world, they have been living in the village. In a village where they get whatever they want, what is it if it is not a gift?
In other words, let’s not talk about the plague. For this old man, this village is a paradise!
"It's the young people who want to go out, right?"
Zheng Yu guessed.
"Well, a group of dolls, at an age when they should be getting married, broke the rules of the village and wanted to leave here."
"Then what?"
Zheng Yu was curious about how they stopped this group of young and powerful rebels.
The old man replied: "The village chief broke their legs in accordance with village rules."
"..."
Well, it’s more direct than Zheng Yu imagined.
Just like myself, conquer directly by force.
"But from that day on, purple tea leaves never grew again."
"Then...there will be the third sacrifice."
From the old man's trembling hands and trembling voice, Zheng Yu already knew that the third sacrifice caused the village to become a complete ghost village.
It is very possible that the young men with broken legs destroyed the sacrifice.
…
