A Mere Meeting Gift

A tidal wave of noise filled my ears.

After passing the screen wall, Liang Qu paused upon seeing the magnificent scene on the street.

This year, there were far more people attending the River God Sacrifice than I had imagined! The Liang Residence is quite far from Shang Rao Wharf, but even so, the crowd in front of the mansion was as dense as ants swarming around honey!

Just across the street, under a large locust tree, a storyteller with a small tarpaulin stall, spoke in a loud voice, reciting a passage from "The Three Heroes and Five Gallants" in a mediocre manner, yet still causing a great uproar.

They've even expanded their business here!

Xiang Fangsu leaned against the screen wall, furiously patting Oolong dog's head. Finally seeing the main character appear, she urged him on repeatedly.

"Stop dawdling! Let's get going!"

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Liang Qu looked up at the sun, feeling helpless at Xiang Fangsu's urging. "The River God Sacrifice starts at noon, and there's at least an hour between the start and end. Are you going to go to the dock to sunbathe?"

"Trying to catch up at the last minute makes things easy to mess up. You've been practicing Buddhism, how can you not know this?"

Xiang Fangsu rambled on and on, then suddenly his pupils dilated, he pulled open the Liang Qu, and leaned over the screen wall to peer inside.

"What are you looking at?" Liang Qu asked, puzzled. "What's so interesting about my yard?"

"You look honest with those thick eyebrows and big eyes, but you're anything but. You're keeping Keeping a Beauty in a Golden House at such a young age! Where did you find that maid? Quick, give me a referral!"

Xiang Fangsu never expected that Liang Qu would keep two extremely beautiful maids in his own home! In the brokerage business, anyone with even a little bit of looks could be bought for twenty or thirty taels of silver.

Those who could be considered good-looking would cost no more than a hundred taels of silver, but the two in front of me, judging solely by their looks, would be worth at least a thousand taels...

No.

I can't offer a price.

You can't see them at all!

"If you don't have connections, Long Pingjiang and Long Pinghe's sister can come and work for me."

Xiang Fangsu turned around in surprise. "The Dragonfolk's sister? Isn't that the Dragon Girl?"

Liang Qu shrugged.

He wasn't talking nonsense.

The Dragonfolk are all one family. If we trace their lineage back, Long Yao and Long Li can indeed call Long Pingjiang, Long Pinghe, their elder brother. Strictly speaking, they might call him more than just that, such as uncle or grandfather.

Xiang Fangsu was greatly disappointed.

Boring.

"Let's go, let's go!"

The two stepped out of the house, and like boiling water poured on snow, a small clearing immediately appeared on the crowded street.

The villagers didn't recognize Xiang Fangsu, but they recognized Liang Qu standing next to him.

"Master Liang!"

"Greetings, Master Liang!"

Greetings came one after another.

Wherever he went, people would hear his voice and make way for him, leaving Xiang Fangsu speechless with amazement.

Upon seeing the wharf, Liang Qu froze, pointing to the altar in the center of the wharf.

"You did this?"

Xiang Fangsu tilted her head slightly.

"Time was too tight, so I had the shipyard craftsmen work overnight to finish it. It's a bit rough, but it's roughly what it looks like."

Compared to previous years' River God Sacrifice, the entire altar has been completely transformed.

The thirteen steps remain unchanged, which is an auspicious number, but each step has been widened, lengthened, and heightened, raising the entire altar to nearly three stories high and increasing its floor space several times over! It's more than enough for more than ten people to walk up side by side.

Next to the altar, there was a small platform, slightly lower than the altar, which was obviously prepared by Xiang Fangsu for herself.

After that, on both sides of the square, trees were erected to support six large drums, with the Great Hammer) as thick as a person's leg bone.

It is truly majestic and awe-inspiring.

That's strange, they really care.

Liang Qu originally thought that Xiang Fangsu playing around.

I didn't expect they'd come up with so many things.

"That's impressive."

Xiang Fangsu said with a touch of pride, "The Imperial Capital holds a grand ceremony every year, and an altar is set up everywhere."

Young men who saw Liang Qu arriving from afar under the eaves ran to deliver the news.

moment.

Chen Zhaoan led a group to receive them.

Liang Qu was familiar with the route. After resting for a while at the house, the owners of the Martial Arts School schools and other wealthy families in the town came to pay their respects one after another.

It's like paying respects to a powerful figure.

This year, there are many more wealthy households in the town, and an additional Martial Arts School has opened, creating a three-way balance of power.

The new Martial Arts School's owner, surnamed Xu, is stronger than the two owners of the "old Martial Arts School schools" that have been open for a year, reaching the level of "Wolf Smoke Human Bridge".

However, he couldn't get one from Liang Qu.

He has a group of people like that under his command.

Hall Master Xu hadn't shown his face before, but quietly paid his share of one hundred taels for the River God Sacrifice before officially opening his doors to apprentices.

It seems that they treated the act of funding and organizing the River God Sacrifice as a kind of unique business license.

Around noon.

All the prominent figures in the town were present.

Cha Qing Fan Zixuan, Yan Qingshan, and a group of his subordinates also took time out of their busy schedules to attend.

The outside was even more lively.

The alleyways between houses and the paths between streets were packed with people.

"Come on, make way, make way!"

"Make way!"

A commotion erupted.

Three enormous carts, pulling three colossal beasts, came from the end of the street.

The ferocious beast was bound by iron chains and placed on the slaughtering platform.

The villagers' high spirits reached a new peak.

"Those are sacrificial offerings?"

"Wow, it's so big!"

"I've heard that eating just a small piece of this water monster's flesh can keep you full of energy for a whole day, and even cure diseases. Is it possible for us to get Distributing Blessings this fortune?"

"Where are you from? Is this your first time in Yi Xing Town?"

"I'm from Nanxun... This is my first time here." The man tightened his grip on his wife and children's hands to prevent them from being separated by the crowd.

He had heard that anyone who participated, regardless of whether they were from the same village or not, would receive Distributing Blessings, and that the fortune would be distributed per person. That's why he brought his whole family here early in the morning to try his luck.

"I knew it." Upon hearing that they were from out of town, the man who spoke couldn't help but show a hint of arrogance on his face. "You're lucky to have met Master Liang. Don't worry about it. What do you think Master Liang cares about you for?"

Yes, yes, yes.

The man chuckled, his tense heart relaxing slightly.

The sunlight gradually shifted.

The June sun was blazing, and the surroundings were a bright, hazy white, as if it were a dream, ethereal and unreal.

The villagers stood there, sweating profusely and with dry mouths.

Seeing that the men's faces were pale, Chen Zhaoan sent the able-bodied men down to distribute chilled mung bean soup.

At the same time, ask the crowd to step back and make room.

This year it's hot, and with so many people around, heatstroke is inevitable. He sent people early in the morning to prepare herbal medicine and bought a lot of ice.

Although ice is expensive in the height of summer, to be honest, because of the River God Sacrifice, Chen Zhaoan had accumulated so much silver that this was the only way he could spend it.

"Sulfuric acid!"

The incense smoke curled upwards, burning through the thin rope.

The iron ball fell into the tray with a crisp sound.

The noisy crowd on the pier gradually quieted down.

Several miles apart, the Great Marsh stretches out.

As the clamoring crowd gradually quieted down, several large snakes scanned the scene with their vertical pupils, trying to find the Liang-surnamed water boy among them.

Having never met Liang Qu before, the giant snakes did not know what he looked like, but they had already found out that the Chief Priest of this ceremony was Liang Dushui Official, so he would not be too difficult to recognize.

The Red-Scaled Great Snake looked around, then turned to the other snakes. "Are you all ready?"

The yellow snake said, "A Water Treasure Ginseng, a Lapis Grass, and a Azure Wave Lotus, there's no mistake."

"Good! Send them out, one beast at a time!"

The Red-Scaled Great Snake flicked its tongue.

These three items are all precious Treasure Plant!

Each item is worth no less than a deep-sea Treasure Fish; even Great Monster Spirit could consume it and save years of effort!

And this is merely a greeting gift!