Pan Long traveled without stopping. By the time he reached the Peach Blossom River, it was only the twenty-eighth day of the first lunar month.
But he did not relax. The Peach Blossom River ran for three or four hundred li, and its watershed crossed three or four nearby commanderies. Heaven only knew where the custom of the "River God's Wedding" was practiced!
His first choice, then, was to ask a local.
"The River God's Wedding?" The waiter smiled. "No wonder you've come now, sir. Every year, on the second day of the second lunar month, we hold a River God's Wedding festival all along the Peach Blossom River. You've arrived at just the right time!"
"Where exactly is it held?" Pan Long asked.
The waiter smiled. "It's not a question of where. Every town the Peach Blossom River passes through holds the ceremony if it can. Partly to offer prayers, and partly to celebrate."
Pan Long frowned. This might not be what he had imagined.
Sacrificing a living person to a god was cruel. There was nothing festive about it. Even if the locals were callous and cared nothing for other people's lives, such high spirits did not seem right.
Besides, from the waiter's expression and tone, he did not seem like a villain who treated human life as worthless.
So Pan Long took out a small piece of silver and asked the waiter to explain it in detail.
The silver weighed about four or five qian—a tidy little windfall for the waiter. Smiling, he pocketed it, said a word to the proprietor, and sat down across from Pan Long.
"Here along the Peach Blossom River, legend says a river god lives in the water and likes beautiful women. He once announced that he would take the most beautiful