Serving the River God Is Such a Fine Thing—Why Not Send Your Own Grandson?

"Brother Cui, what are you looking at?" Zhao Changshan followed Cui Lang's gaze and craned his neck for a look. "That woman is indeed quite a sight, but she already has children. You into that sort of thing?"

Good thing he had not married yet. Otherwise, he would not even be able to let Cui Lang through his front door.

Cui Lang turned and shot back, "My surname is Cui, not Cao."

Zhao Changshan: "???"

"Brother Zhao, let's go take a look. Something seems wrong." Cui Lang strode toward the woman holding a child.

The woman's face was streaked with tears as she begged incessantly, "Master Yuanwai, please, don't choose my son. I can take him and move away. I don't want the family's fields or house—I'll give them all up. Please show mercy."

Sun Yuanwai looked coldly at the woman. "Sun Lishi, stop making a scene."

"This is a good thing. Your son is going to serve the River God. In the future, he will be a child attendant at the River God's side, never having to suffer hardship for the rest of his life. He is going there to enjoy blessings."

"And you will no longer need to farm. Every year, the clan will give you enough grain to let you live out the rest of your days in comfort. If you wish to remarry, the clan will even provide you with a dowry. Isn't that enough?"

Sun Lishi shuffled forward on her knees and clung to Sun Yuanwai's leg. "Master Yuanwai, please have mercy. I don't want this blessing. Could you choose someone else?"

Suddenly, another woman holding a little girl knelt beside her. "Yes, Master Yuanwai, please show mercy and choose someone else. My Xiuxiu is still so young. She doesn't know how to serve anyone. What if she angers the River God?"

Sun Yuanwai kicked Sun Lishi sprawling. "You think you can refuse just because you say so? What are you all standing around for? Drag both of them aside. The sacrificial ceremony is about to begin."

"Make sure neither child cries later. You people will personally row them to the middle of the river. If you anger the River God, do you still expect the River God to bless you in the future?"

Cui Lang's eyelid twitched violently. By now, he understood—they were planning to sacrifice a virgin boy and girl to the River God?!

"Stop!" He stepped forward. "Who gave you permission to sacrifice living people?"

Sun Yuanwai glared at Cui Lang. "Who are you? Why are you poking your nose into other people's business?"

Several young, able-bodied men immediately surrounded Cui Lang, some of them carrying shoulder poles.

Before Cui Lang could speak, Zhao Changshan's voice came from beyond the crowd. "Are you rebelling? You dare surround and attack government officers!"

"Move aside, all of you! Constables are handling a case. Uninvolved people, step back at once!"

Sun Yuanwai frowned slightly and turned to look at Zhao Changshan, who had squeezed through the crowd. "So you are constables from the yamen. I spoke offensively just now; please forgive me."

"But no one here has reported a case. Why don't you two sit to the side for a while? Once the ceremony is over, I'll invite you both to the clan for a drink."

The two kneeling women immediately cried out, "We want to report a case! Esteemed constables, we want to report a case!"

Sun Yuanwai glared at the women, then turned back with a beaming smile. "Gentlemen, this is a matter within our clan. We can handle it according to our clan rules."

"Please do us this favor. Consider this silver an apology to you both."

The silver Sun Yuanwai held out amounted to a full ten taels. When they had killed the Tiger Demon last time, Zheng Fengyun had only given them this much.

Cui Lang glanced at it. "What does Master Sun mean by this? Are your clan rules greater than the law?"

Though Zhao Changshan's eyes were fixed greedily on the ten taels of silver, since Cui Lang had said this, he could not undermine him. Besides, so many people were watching.

"That's right. Are you trying to bribe us? We are incorruptible officials with sleeves as clean as the wind."

Sun Yuanwai was somewhat astonished. It was his first time encountering constables who did not covet money.

Seeing that Sun Yuanwai had been cowed, Sun Lishi immediately wailed, "They want to use our children to sacrifice to the River God. I refused, so they want to snatch them away."

"Utter nonsense!" Sun Yuanwai sharply denied it. "Your children were chosen to be a virgin boy and girl, to follow at the River God's side. This is a heaven-sent opportunity—countless people could beg for it and never obtain it!"

"Master Sun makes a great deal of sense." Cui Lang nodded in agreement.

Both women wore looks of utter despair, while Sun Yuanwai's face lit up with wild delight.

It seemed this constable still wanted gifts; there had simply been too many people earlier, making it inconvenient for him to accept. He could send it over quietly later.

Cui Lang immediately countered, "Master Sun, since it is such a wonderful thing, how can you give it to outsiders instead of having your own grandson serve as the child attendant?"

In that instant, the smile on Sun Yuanwai's face froze.

That was his own grandson. How could he possibly bear to part with him?

He had thought Cui Lang was taking his side, but it turned out Cui Lang had been toying with him!

"Gentlemen, I did not choose these children. They were selected by the River God's guidance. Only these two children have birth dates and eight characters that meet the requirements."

"Who would dare defy the River God's will?"

"Besides, over the past year, thanks to the River God's protection, the winds and rains have come in their season. Every household's grain harvest has increased by at least thirty percent. Several people who were on the verge of death survived only because of the River God."

"Without the River God's protection, the children of these two families would have starved to death long ago. Shouldn't they now go serve the River God?"

Cui Lang sneered. "Do four- or five-year-old children know how to serve people? What can they even do?"

"I'd wager you are one of the people who survived thanks to the River God, aren't you? Without the River God, you would have died long ago. Why don't you go serve the River God?"

"What, you don't want to go yourself, and you can't bear to send your own grandson or granddaughter, so you snatch other people's children and throw them into the river?"

"Is this truly the River God's guidance, or your own selfish desire?"

The way everyone else looked at Sun Yuanwai changed at once.

Sun Yuanwai flew into a rage. "What are you all standing around for? Snatch the children! Don't miss the auspicious hour. I'll bear whatever responsibility there is."

Though his title of Yuanwai was not an official post, he had spent a substantial sum of silver to obtain it. He did not need to kneel even before officials, and he had even drunk at the same table as the county magistrate.

"You really dare lay hands on us? Who the hell gave you that courage?"

Zhao Changshan knocked them down one punch at a time. In the blink of an eye, he had flattened every one of the young men who charged at them.

Though he had worked all night and had not even eaten breakfast, he was still a martial artist at the peak of the Refining Essence Realm. Handling ordinary young men was effortless.

He had wanted the silver too, but after hearing Cui Lang's words, he felt that Sun Yuanwai was truly no good thing.

During the scuffle, someone slammed into the altar, sending the offerings atop it scattering everywhere.

Sun Yuanwai pointed at Cui Lang and Zhao Changshan with a trembling hand. "Y-you... You dare disrupt the sacrifice! The River God will bring down divine punishment! Divine punishment will surely fall!"

Zhao Changshan said boldly, "What bullshit River God? If he has the guts, let him come find me!"

"You two, why are you still standing there? Take your children and come with us. Do you want to stay here?"

The two women immediately rose, clutching their children tightly as they ran toward the city with Zhao Changshan and Cui Lang.

After they had walked two li, Zhao Changshan suddenly leaned close to Cui Lang's ear and asked with a worried expression, "Brother Cui, do you think the River God might really bring down divine punishment?"

Cui Lang narrowed his eyes. "Rather than wait for the River God to come looking for us, why not work a little harder tonight and go have a chat with the River God?"