Chapter 5 Family

Thunder flashed in the night sky, and huge lightning streaked across the sky.

The girl holding the mountain god wooden sign trotted through the rice fields that had just been planted and saw the entrance to the village.

"Woof! Woof!"

Before entering the village, the girl had already heard the shrill barking of the big black dog at the entrance of the village.

But the big black dog that scared her in the past also became friendly at this time.

She ran into the village happily and ran towards her uncle's house.

The strong wind tore the girl's thin body, but it could not stop her happy pace of returning home.

Although the girl had many complaints about her uncle and aunt in the past, they were her only relatives now after all. At this time, only they could bring her some warmth.

There was never a moment when the girl longed to go home like this - to return to this home that did not belong to her.

When she came to the door of her house and heard the shouting of her cousin in the house, she couldn't help but smile.

"New clothes! I want new clothes too! I want new clothes like Xiao Ai's!"

In the room, the cousin was complaining loudly, as if pestering his parents to buy him new clothes.

Although this familiar shouting was still arrogant and naughty, it sounded so cute at this time, and it was not disgusting to the girl at all as usual.

Then, as expected, the impatient scolding of the aunt sounded in the room.

"New clothes, new clothes, you have been shouting for an afternoon! Are you annoying? How can the family afford to buy you new clothes? If you keep shouting, I will beat you."

The aunt threatened in a bad tone.

But it was obvious that her threat did not work, and her son was still rolling around and making a fuss.

"I don't care, I don't care! I just want new clothes! I just want new clothes! Xiao Ai has new clothes to wear, why don't I have new clothes? I want new clothes! I want new clothes! Woo woo woo woo..."

In the room, the fat little boy twisted his body desperately on the ground and cried loudly.

Such an action completely annoyed the peasant woman beside him.

The money secretly given to the village chief and the money for the new wedding dress had already used up all the family's little savings. She was already in a bad mood, and her son kept making trouble. Even she, who doted on her son the most, couldn't stand it.

She picked up the little boy viciously, slapped him directly, and cursed, "If you make trouble again! If you make trouble again, I will send you to the mountains and let the mountain god eat you!"

Such a threat immediately worked.

The little boy's body stiffened, and his expression was a little horrified. But the next second, he yelled again in dissatisfaction.

"You lied! You lied! Dad said that after offering Xiao Ai to the mountain god, the mountain god will not come to eat me! Xiao Ai has gone to replace me! The mountain god will not eat me!"

"You just don't want to buy me clothes, you just lied to me... woo woo woo... You bought new clothes for Xiao Ai, but not for me... woo woo woo... You are partial! You are partial! She is dying, and she still wears such beautiful new clothes... woo woo woo... You waste money! You are partial! woo woo woo..."

The little boy covered his face and cried again in grievance.

However, the crying of the little boy froze the girl outside the door.

She stood blankly in the darkness outside the door, listening to the noisy crying in the house, with a dull expression.

In the story she knew, it was the mountain god who needed a virgin, so the adults in the village drew lots to decide, and in the end she was unfortunately chosen, and could only wear the new wedding dress bought by her uncle and aunt to go into the mountain.

Because she was chosen, her aunt, who always hated her, showed rare concern for her and cooked several delicious meals for her. Her uncle also sighed several times, complaining that he was incompetent and that he felt guilty for not being able to protect his second brother's daughter.

At that time, the girl suddenly realized that although her uncle's family was not good to her on weekdays, they really treated her as a relative. After she encountered such a thing, it was her uncle and aunt, whom she disliked the most on weekdays, who treated her best.

So after the mountain god let her go, she was so happy that she wanted to run back home to share her joy with her uncle and aunt.

If her uncle and aunt knew that she survived, they would definitely be very happy, right?

——Originally, she thought so.

But now she heard a completely different statement.

The girl's expression was a little stiff.

She began to recall the things that happened before. After being chosen, her uncle and aunt began to treat her well and treat her well...

Were all those concerns and cares fake? Everything they did turned out to be to trick her into being a scapegoat?

Because the chosen one was not her at all? But the son of her uncle?

So her uncle and aunt, who had always disliked her, suddenly changed their attitude?

The girl's expression became terrified and desperate.

After hearing these words, the door in front of her no longer felt intimate at all. Instead, it was as scary as the gate of hell, and a ghost might jump out and grab her at any time.

The constant noise and crying inside the door were no longer warm, but became like the howling of evil ghosts in hell, which made her feel cold all over and sad.

It's not like this... It's not like this... Don't let it become like this...

The girl held her hands tightly in front of her chest, kept backing away, and shook her head desperately.

She even had an impulse, an impulse to run away and escape from here.

But where can she run...

The girl was desperate.

Her mother has died of illness and her father's whereabouts are unknown. Now, her only relative and only place to stay in the world is the small house in front of her.

But the people in this room actually tricked her into becoming a scapegoat...

Woo...

The girl's heart was already filled with sadness.

At this moment, there was the sound of shaking footsteps behind her, and someone was approaching.

The girl with a dull expression turned around subconsciously and saw the person behind her.

It was a lame drunkard with a staggering figure and a face full of stubble - it was her uncle and her father's eldest brother.

Ai Laizi...

When the girl turned back, a blazing white lightning flashed across the night sky. The pale light shone on the ground and on the girl's face, making her little face with a desperate expression pale.

At that moment, the drunk man behind the girl clearly saw this strange scene.

Because he was lame on one leg, the man who was called Ai Laizi by the villagers widened his eyes in horror.

Then he let out a heartbreaking scream.

"Ghost ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

…

A quarter of an hour later, the girl, who was tied up by the villagers, was escorted outside the village chief's house.

There was still lightning and thunder in the night sky, and the howling wind blew everything in the small mountain village.

All the young and strong men in the village have gathered here, forming a circle around the village chief's house.

The light of the torches swaying in the strong wind reflected the gloomy and uncertain expressions of the people. And the little girl who was being escorted and kneeling in the crowd lowered her head in despair, her mouth was sealed with a piece of cloth, and she couldn't even cry out in defense.

In the house in front lives the most authoritative old man in the village.

When a big event happened in the village, everyone immediately gathered here to wait for the village chief's instructions. Before that, someone had already come over in advance to inform the village chief of what happened.

So everyone didn't wait too long before the door of the house was pushed open. .

Immediately afterwards, the village chief on crutches was supported by his son and walked out.

Under the dim light of the torch, the old man walked slowly and finally came to the girl. Amid everyone's nervous gazes, the old village chief lowered his head, looked at the girl in front of him, and frowned.

The little girl in front of her was wearing a bright red wedding dress, exactly the same as when she was sent to the mountain. But the hem of her skirt was covered with mud, and the original color of her shoes was no longer visible at all. The dirty look was clearly that she had escaped from the mountains.

After a few seconds of silence, the village chief looked up at the villagers in front of him and asked in a hoarse voice: "Where did you find her?"

The village chief asked, and everyone looked at the lame man in the crowd.

Being stared at by everyone, Ai Zizi hurriedly walked out and cautiously reported to the village chief, "She was found in front of my house, village chief. I thought she was a ghost who came back to demand her life, which scared me. Fortunately, she was found in front of my house, village chief." We found that she had a shadow, not a ghost, so we guessed that she had escaped from the mountains secretly, so we immediately caught her and brought her to you."

"Then after she was caught by you, did she have any excuse?" the village chief asked, but his eyes remained on the little girl.

At this time, the little girl's face was pale and there were scars on her forehead. It seemed that the villagers' process of catching her was not smooth.

Noticing the village chief's gaze, Ai Zizi quickly defended, "When we caught her, she struggled desperately and talked nonsense, saying that she didn't escape privately and that the mountain god let her back. She also bit people with her teeth. , in desperation, we just...just..."

After talking about it, Ai Laizi's voice became smaller and smaller, because the village chief was staring at him with an extremely stern look.

After Ai Laizi shut up, the old man paused the crutch in his hand and stared at him coldly, "Stop talking? Go ahead and tell me how you dedicated it to the mountain god." The virgin was injured!"

The old man's angry questioning made the group of young men and women speechless. They lowered their heads silently and did not dare to say a word of contradiction.

Seeing them like this, the old man became even more angry.

He smashed the crutch in his hand hard, and his hair and hair were all angry, "A bunch of pigs! They do things without thinking at all!"

"Even if you want to catch her, you can't hurt her! Why didn't you think of such a simple thing? You made her scarred and swollen. What if the mountain god doesn't like it and asks us to replace him with someone else? Then what should we do? Which of your children can be used as a donation? Or can you blame them directly?"

The village chief yelled angrily, but everyone shrank their necks and listened obediently, not daring to contradict him.

When the old man had finished scolding him, everyone asked cautiously, "Village chief, what should we do next?"

"Yes, village chief, what should we do? This little bitch escaped from the mountain privately. The mountain god won't be angry..."

Everyone was worried, fearing that they would offend the mountain god.

But the old man shook his head and gave everyone a reassurance.

"If Lord Mountain God was really angry, our village would have been in disaster long ago. Why would it be your turn to worry? There has been no movement until now. Maybe the old man didn't notice that this little bitch escaped."

"So let's hurry up and send this little bitch back to the mountains. Maybe it's still too late. We'll send people to guard him this time. We can't let this little bitch escape on his own again."

At this point, the village chief paused with his cane, looked at everyone present sternly, and said, "Let's go into the mountain now!"

"If the mountain god really gets angry, our Shuisheng Village will be completely finished!"