C270 scapegoat

There was indeed a problem with the Uncle Tang.

Burning paper was nothing. Everyone had done it before, as a sacrifice to their ancestors. But I've never heard of burning paper in the corner of my bedroom. And burning paper has to be sneaky.

The other parts of Inside the house were normal and nothing could be seen anymore. I was about to turn around and leave when I noticed something wrong with the floor tile next to the ashes. It was a little loose.

This is my home, I am familiar with every brick here, I never remember a loose floor tile.

Thus, I crouched down and carefully examined my body. The soil beside the brick was still fresh, and the brick had just been dug up.

I tapped it with my hand and easily pulled it out. There was a wooden box at the bottom.

My heart was pounding. I opened the box and saw several small figures lying side by side inside. There were even small words written on my body.

Inside the house's light was very dim. I had to bring it to the door in order to borrow the moonlight to see it clearly. Thus, I took out the little person and looked outside with squinted eyes.

Faintly, I could see only nine words. My heart thumped in my chest. "What's going on here?" Could it be my name: Hu Chujiu? "

The little person written under the floor tiles, Uncle Tang who burned paper in the middle of the night. Could this be some kind of sorcery? Did he harm me again?

Just as I was thinking of this, a hand suddenly appears beside me and snatches away the little me. I jumped in fright, only then did I realise that Uncle Tang was standing beside me. The little man was in his hands.

I panicked a little. This time, I couldn't pretend to be stupid even if I wanted to. He had to face the problem head on.

Uncle Tang looked at the little person and stuffed it into his pocket. Then he looked around the corner. I guess he must have seen the tile that had been lifted.

But Uncle Tang didn't say anything, he just smiled at me: "The food is ready, let's eat."

I don't dare to eat his food anymore, who knows if there's poison inside?

I slowly sat in front of the table. Uncle Tang enthusiastically gave me a bowl of rice, and then he gulped it down.

When he saw that I didn't move, he looked at me in surprise. "Why aren't you eating? Aren't you hungry? "

I looked at Uncle Tang and thought: This guy really knows how to act. My heart must have been in a tumble a long time ago, right? On the surface, it seemed like nothing had happened.

I directly asked Uncle Tang: "What's wrong with that little person?"

Uncle Tang was silent for a moment, then said: "Why did you think of asking this?"

Of course I won't admit that I was the one who peeped last night. I said casually, "I saw the floor tile loose just now and wanted to fill it up. Who knew that there was a box below it? I vaguely saw that the little person had my name written on it, so I wanted to know what happened. "

Then I also played dumb, "Who put this thing in there? Could it be that my foster-grandpa let it go when he was still alive? "

Uncle Tang smiled at me and said honestly: "I did."

The bad guys will confess to you in two ways. When he was ready to kill you. Two: He was caught, tortured, ready to confess.

So I held my dagger tightly under the table, in case the Uncle Tang suddenly attacked me.

He continued, "Your eyesight is quite good. This is indeed your name."

Then he fished out a match and lit the lamp on the table with a crackle.

The two of us were illuminated by the flickering light, and when I looked at his smile it seemed to me that there was a knife in it.

Uncle Tang took out the little person and lit it up under the light: "Look, that's your name written on it."

I took a closer look and it was indeed my name. I asked the Uncle Tang, "Why are you writing this?"

Uncle Tang said, "It's to pray for blessings."

He spoke so frankly that I almost believed him.

I asked curiously, "This thing can pray?" Uncle Tang, are you kidding me? "

Uncle Tang said, "Why would I tease you? You don't believe me? I'll show you the box. "

He turned to go in and get the box, and I followed him, afraid he would change his bag.

We went in one after the other, and he picked up the box from the floor and went back to the lamp.

Uncle Tang opened the box, and I saw that on the bodies of the others were written: Tang Yuan, Tang Yao, Mr. Zhao, and Xia Xin.

When I saw these few names, I heaved a sigh of relief, and laughed: "These two surnamed Tang, one of them is you, and the other is Little Tang Wei?"

Uncle Tang replied, "Yes."

I asked curiously, "To be honest, I really don't know your real names. Which one is you, and which one is Little Tang Wei? "

Uncle Tang spat: "What are you talking about? "I'm a man, how can I be called Tang Yao?"

I coughed dryly. "What's so strange about that? A while ago, I was reading novels and there was a man called Xue Qian."

Then I asked him, "How do you pray for blessings in this box?"

Uncle Tang took out a few little people and then pulled out a piece of paper from underneath the box. He shook the paper open, and I saw a picture of a pathetic little boy, black and even charred, who looked as if he had been burned.

The little ghost was kneeling on the ground with tears in his eyes and a pleading expression on his face.

The Uncle Tang pointed at the little ghost and said, "This ghost is called the scapegoat. Every scapegoat, while alive, had committed a heinous crime. For example, disloyal. For example, wantonly killing innocent people. After arriving at the Netherworld Kingdom, you will be punished to stay in the Eighteen Hells for tens of thousands of years. "

"These scapegoats want to atone for their sins and reincarnate as soon as possible. They took the initiative to be scapegoats and help others to receive punishment. For example, I put our little people in a box. "All our future misfortunes will be added to the scapegoat, and he will suffer for us, accumulating some merits in exchange for his early freedom."

Uncle Tang folded the scapegoat and put it back inside the box. Then, he put the little person back and carefully closed the box.

He sighed with relief and said, "Last night I buried the box under the floor tiles and burned two more sheets of paper. The paper money is not for the scapegoat. It's for the Nagzul, so that they can accommodate us and allow the scapegoats to suffer in our stead. "

"However, the most taboo thing is when burning paper. "Hmm …" I don't think the person saw it last night, because I sealed the doors and windows tightly. "

I thought to myself: So Uncle Tang was doing this last night. It was so secretive that it scared me.

Then, I curiously asked Uncle Tang, "Why isn't Nagzul seeing the burning of paper?"

The Uncle Tang said, "This is like someone giving you money because you are a high official. Do you want him to give it away quietly, or in front of someone else? "

I said, "Deliver her quietly."

Uncle Tang said, "That's right. How could such a thing happen in front of others? Isn't that just a weakness? "

I scratched my head. "You're right, but …." Is this thing really effective? Why do I feel like Nagzul does not care about this small amount of money? "

Uncle Tang looked at me with praise: "Young lad, you have quite a good future. That's right, the Nagzul had such great ability, of course he wouldn't care about this paper money. But he takes the money and he still does things because he cares about his sense of identity. "

I puzzledly looked at Uncle Tang. "A sense of identity?"

The Uncle Tang acknowledged, "The technology has improved. There's electric light and telephone, and there's a computer on TV. Look at our Cypress City, at night, there are street lights everywhere, no matter where you go. I still remember when I was young, there were many blackouts in my house, and when I lit the candles, the light was very small. I used to be in one of the Inside the house s, but the corner of the wall was completely dark. "

"It's getting brighter now, and more and more people don't believe in ghosts and gods. Although the netherworld was skilled, but he couldn't force others to respect them right? So, they really need a sense of recognition from the mortals. When someone is respectful to them, they really like it. They want to take a small amount of money and are happy to help you. "

I nodded and thought, "Why is this netherworld like a child? I also need other people's attention."

The Uncle Tang kept the little person well, and all my doubts were dispelled. My appetite was piqued as I sat at the table and wolfed down all the dishes.

After we ate and drank our fill, Uncle Tang and I once again sat at the door in a daze. There was nothing we could do right now, so we could only wait here for daybreak. As for what to do after dawn, and how to find the Mr. Zhao, he didn't have a clue.

Right now, I can only pray that Mr. Zhao and the others are smart enough to find the exit themselves.

Uncle Tang was probably a little bored, so he chatted with me for a while and told me the story of how he went through all five trials and six generals when he was young.

The more I understand about the Uncle Tang, the more I feel that he is not too bad. At least when he was in his twenties, he was a hot-blooded young man who worshipped righteousness.

Unfortunately, life was a process of being hammered, and he slowly transformed into his current appearance.

We talked for a long time, and then we started yawning.

Uncle Tang said, "Seems like it's about time to go to sleep. There's no sun here, but our biological clock works. Let's go to bed. The time here is sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

I replied, "Mhmm, I hope that we won't have to wait until dawn while we sleep. If we're wrong, it would be terrible."

Uncle Tang snickered and said, "Don't worry, there's been a long time since it's night time and the time at dawn won't be that short. At least for a few weeks, we won't be able to sleep for twenty-four hours. "

I thought about it and decided it made sense, so I went back to my room.

I lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

Logically speaking, Uncle Tang and I have already been honest with each other, so I shouldn't have any worries in my heart. However, in the middle of the night, he suddenly felt a strong sense of unease.

Without warning, I woke up. Then, to my horror, I found a person standing beside my bed.