Longtan Village was originally called Zhaojiazhuang instead of Longtan Village because the big landowner’s surname was Zhao and the mountains, rivers and fields were all his property. Later, the landlord disappeared and Zhaojiazhuang also changed its name.
During the war in the early years, Mrs. Ma's ancestors fled here and came here. At that time, Landlord Zhao was robbed by thieves.
Because of the war, the county officials were busy saving their lives and could not manage Zhaojiazhuang in the mountains. After the death of landlord Zhao, the original tenants divided their fields with the refugees who had fled. However, starting from that year, there was a severe drought. There were floods every year and many people died of hunger.
Ma Pozi's ancestors had psychic abilities. She suggested that the village chief at that time opened an altar to offer sacrifices and seek the protection of the mountain gods. The villagers who had lived here for a long time had never heard of any mountain gods nearby.
But there was no better way at the time. War broke out outside the mountain, and the remaining food in the mountain was dwindling. So we could only give it a try and open an altar to offer sacrifices. Madam Ma's ancestors were capable and really invited the mountain god.
They listened to the mountain god's words and changed the villagers. They built a mountain temple for him and offered incense every year. Since the mountain god came, Longtan Village has had good weather and has never had a major disaster.
It's just that the mountain god wants to marry a wife every year, but the mountain god works hard to protect Longtan Village, but it's just one wife every year, so what's the big deal?
This year is a bit special. At the beginning of the year, I just married the eldest daughter of the Feng San family in the village. Now I am getting married again, and I want to marry two people at once. Originally, I drew lots for the second granddaughter of Zhao Lao’s family and a stranger named Deng Yue, but Unexpectedly, when the mountain god hired him, the marriage partner turned out to be Zhao Laoer's wife and Madam Ma.
These two people, one is 68 and the other is 76, no matter how you look at it, they don’t meet the mountain god’s previous standards for choosing a bride.
But the betrothal gifts have been paid, and the facts are in front of us. How could the mountain god make a mistake? There is only one truth. The people the mountain god wants to marry are Ma Xiaofen and Zhao Dongmei.
"Dongmei, you are lucky to be favored by the mountain god. When you get married, the mountain god will bless your family, and good days for your Zhao family are coming."
"Yes, why are you so sad on this big day? Aunt Zhao, when my second sister got married, you said that you would marry a mountain god and that from then on you would enjoy endless glory and wealth, eat endless delicacies from the mountains and seas, and leave your mortal body. From now on, you will receive incense offerings from the world along with the mountain gods. Now you can also enjoy this blessing, so you should be happy."
"Dongmei, listen to my old lady's advice, don't struggle, let us measure you, and think about your children."
……
Zhao Dongmei listened to Dongmei's voice and remembered that her original name was Zhao Dongmei, not Zhao's second daughter-in-law, step-grandmother, or Zhao's mother-in-law. Her name was Zhao Dongmei.
But when she was 20 years old, her head was covered with a red hijab, and her name was submerged in countless identities. Now that she is 68, she can still hear so many people calling her name.
The words they said were so familiar. Wasn't it the same words she used to persuade reluctant girls when they were getting married? Zhao Dongmei suddenly remembered that when she was 22 years old, her third sister was chosen to be the bride of the mountain god. She escaped from home and ran to her house. She hid her third sister in a tank. What happened next? Later, she was afraid of angering the mountain god, afraid of being abandoned by her husband's family, and afraid that her seriously ill brother would run out of life-saving medicine, leaving her without support, so she took the initiative to persuade her third sister to get into the sedan chair.
That was her sister who carried her on her back and walked more than ten miles along the mountain road to find a doctor when she was about to die of illness. It was her third sister who hid hot sweet potatoes in her arms to find her when her parents gave up on her and left her in the mountains.
How she persuaded the third sister back then is how her husband and son persuaded her now. She raised her eyes to look at her husband and son holding her belly, and listened to them say: "Dongmei, just get married. If you don't If you marry me, our whole family will die."
"Mom, Su Tang's temperament has changed drastically. There are often strange sounds of babies in our house at night. I dream about a pair of pale hands pressing me into the water. The water is ice cold. Mom, are you not? I want to marry, and I have angered the mountain god, otherwise why would strange things happen to our family?" Zhao Jizu said while holding his stomach, he felt something in his stomach moving, and the movement made him feel pain.
"I'm your son, just take pity on me and marry me." "For the sake of the relationship between husband and wife for many years, save me." Father Zhao knelt down to her.
There were many people sitting in the main room. They looked at this strange family of three and whispered.
"How can a grown man be pregnant? He must have provoked something dirty."
"Did the mountain god fall in love with the Zhao family girl a long time ago?"
"Last time I came here, I heard Su Tang say that her man is incompetent and cannot have a son. Her mother-in-law and father-in-law are planning to have another child. Could it be that the child in Sister Zhao's belly is not Brother Zhao's but the mountain god's?"
……
Mother Zhao listened to the words of the villagers and the persuasion of her husband and son. Even her daughter, who had been married for many years, knelt down to beg her, saying that she was disturbed by ghosts every night and dared not sleep. Her son, who was just a few months old, also suffered from a strange disease. , Zhao’s mother didn’t know whether she was angry or angry if she begged herself to marry the mountain god.
She felt like she had no strength all over her body. In a daze, she saw a pair of young hands suddenly appeared in front of her eyes. There was a round birthmark on the left arm of those hands. She said: "Mom, come on, get married." Well, none of them want you, but my sisters and I want you. We will live together and will not abandon each other because of hunger..."
Mother Zhao recognized that it was her second daughter. In order to prevent girls from being reincarnated in her belly, her mother-in-law threw her second daughter into the mountains. I heard that she even became a Dharma priest. At that time, her mother-in-law told her that in order to save food.
Turning her head again, there was a little girl wearing a blue scarf. She smiled at Mother Zhao, showing her cute dimples, and said, "Dad, mother, and brothers must be together, and the family must be neat."
The next moment, she became a bloody mess, and bright red blood seeped out of her mouth, nose, and every pore on her body.
That was his third daughter. Father Zhao recognized it. His son was a gambler and lost a lot of money. For a sky-high price, they married their third daughter to Li Laizi, a dog meat seller in the town. Li Laizi was over forty years old. He had been married three times, but his third daughter was beaten to death by him. Before she died, she ran home once and was sent back by him personally.
The villagers thought it was strange why the Zhao family looked so ferocious. Then they saw the three members of the Zhao family falling to the ground, their belly clothes torn open, some stems and leaves struggling out, petals blooming, and lying in the stamens, each with red lips and white teeth, like Little bead-like dolls with familiar faces.
The villagers recognized her as their sister, sister, and daughter.
In the mountain temple, when the news of the deaths of Mrs. Ma and Mother Zhao came at the same time, Su Tang was sitting at the entrance of the temple with her five daughters. She had just finished telling the story of the tadpole looking for its mother, and the story of the ugly duckling had just begun.
There was an ant lying next to Xu Wen's ear, which brought the news of the deaths of Mrs. Ma and Mother Zhao. Xu Wen looked at her companions sleeping at the foot of the tree, looked at Su Tang warily, and asked: "They are dead, Then what?"
Su Tang helped her eldest daughter and second daughter to braid their hair, then helped her third daughter comb her messy short hair, and finally held the hands of the two youngest daughters before saying to Xu Wen: "Don't worry, there is still a story to tell. "
Xu Wen thought that the story of the ugly duckling was short and could wait, but Su Tang told the story of the mountain god.
Thank you everyone for your votes and support~ (End of this chapter)
