Ita Era

Chapter 24 Peach Blossom Village (22)

Day 6, 8:00 AM.

A large number of villagers gathered outside the San Niang Temple. They had somehow heard that the sacrificial ceremony had been deliberately sabotaged, so they all gathered in front of the temple. They happened to meet Master Baiyun, Blind Wang, and the village chief. Seeing this, the villagers felt that the rumors were probably true, so they surrounded the three of them and asked what had happened.

Ding Shi came down the mountain at that moment. Seeing such a large group of people outside the temple, he didn't pay much attention and went back to the village chief's house to take a bath and have breakfast. Just then, Aunt Li came over and pulled the village chief's daughter-in-law aside to chat. Ding Shi eavesdropped on what she said. He learned that news of the problem with the sacrificial ceremony had already spread throughout the village.

When Ding Shi arrived at the San Niang Temple after eating and drinking his fill, the village chief had already persuaded most of the people to leave, leaving only a few respected elders from the village, as well as Haitang and Zhang San.

Haitang used the key to open the temple door and entered with Zhang San first, while the others waited at the entrance. Haitang and Zhang San lit incense together, bowed three times to the statue of the Third Mother, and inserted the incense into the incense burner, completing their daily task. Only then were the village chief and the others allowed to enter the temple.

Ding Shi suspected that it was Zhang San, this player, who had messed things up, causing the problem with the ritual. Unexpectedly, after some questioning, Ding Shi became a suspect and was summoned to the temple by the village chief.

Master Baiyun and the others sat on a bench against the wall, lined up in a row, looking quite imposing. Zhang San and Haitang stood to one side; Haitang looked down at the tips of her shoes, while Zhang San glared angrily at Ding Shi as he entered.

Without any pleasantries, the village chief cut to the chase, asking, "Xiao Ding, when did you see Third Aunt's tears?"

Ding Shi replied, "Village chief, I've already said I lied. I didn't see any tears."

The village chief said solemnly, "Xiao Ding, this matter concerns the lives of hundreds of people in my Taoyuan Village. You must tell the truth."

Ding Shi did not answer immediately; he was assessing the situation. Zhao the Blind stood up, walked to Ding Shi's side, and said, "It was my fault. I shouldn't have told him that there was a great treasure in Third Sister's coffin."

Ding Shi nodded and pointed at Blind Zhao: "He admitted it."

Everyone was speechless.

The village chief coughed, gesturing for Zhao the Blind to sit down, and asked, "Little Ding, did you enter the San Niang Temple after nine o'clock at night?"

Ding Shi asked, "Village chief, what does this mean?"

The village chief said, "Within seven days before the sacrificial ceremony, no one is allowed to enter the San Niang Temple outside of the temple's opening hours. The temple opens at around 8:00 AM and closes at around 9:00 PM. If you have entered the San Niang Temple after 9:00 PM, you may have offended San Niang."

Ding Shi was completely confused. How could he charge? How could he crash into her? Did she see him and then die of fright?

Master Baiyun spoke, his tone still gentle and refined, and explained the situation.

Master Baiyun's master, the one who sealed San Niang, separated San Niang's soul from her body. San Niang's soul resides in the statue in the San Niang Temple, receiving daily incense offerings to dispel the malevolent energy within her soul.

When the spirit of the Third Sister is filled with intense negative emotions, also known as resentment, the statue of the Third Sister will shed tears. A Third Sister burdened with resentment cannot become a deity, and the ritual fails.

These are not the main points. The main point is that if the sacrifice fails, the resentful Third Sister will become an evil spirit that resides in Peach Blossom Village.

Now there's a rather serious problem: even Master Baiyun can't be certain whether the ritual has failed. Here we need to explain the entire ritual process.

At midnight on the seventh day, the groom, Zhang San, will set off from the village entrance with his relatives and friends, accompanied by gongs and drums, carrying the bridal sedan chair all the way to Haitang's house. At 7:00 AM, the couple will go to the San Niang Temple to pay homage to heaven and earth and complete the wedding ceremony. Afterwards, the bride and groom will offer tea to the actors playing San Niang's parents and will receive a red envelope.

Next, the villagers participating in the ritual will take turns offering incense to the Third Sister.

Around noon, a banquet of over 30 tables was set up, with one table inside the San Niang Temple serving as the main table. The groom toasted everyone at each table. Around 2 PM, the banquet ended, and the village elders carried the bride onto the bridal sedan chair, accompanied by music and celebration as they escorted the bride and groom to the village entrance.

The basic ceremony concludes here; in essence, it's a simulation of a rural wedding. The final ritual is performed by Blind Zhao, who copies an identical petition that has been used for centuries. He kneels before the statue of the Third Sister, reads it aloud, and then burns the petition, thus sending it directly to Heaven.

If the sacrifice is successful, everything will proceed smoothly. The question is, what happens if the sacrifice fails? No one knows, because nothing has happened in these 99 years. Perhaps because of the Third Sister, since the Third Sister Temple was built and the first year of the sacrifice began, Taoyuan Village has not only enjoyed favorable weather and abundant harvests, but has also repeatedly avoided war and turmoil, with few children dying young, and the village has more centenarians than other villages.

Taking Taoyuan Village as an example, it not only grows rice but also tobacco, and the per capita income of the village is much higher than that of other villages.

Therefore, the villagers of Taoyuan Village believed that the Third Sister was protecting the village, and naturally they paid more attention to the sacrificial rites.

Although Master Baiyun possessed some Taoist skills, he was a theorist and didn't know how to determine the success or failure of the ritual. Therefore, his idea was to trace back to the source and find any possible reasons for failure to remedy the situation.

Third Sister's tears represent a heart full of negative emotions. There are many kinds of negative emotions, such as anger. Seeing someone in the village being bullied and being unable to help the bullied person can lead to anger. To resolve this anger, one should find the bully and have him apologize to Third Sister and ask for her forgiveness.

For example, jealousy. Maybe Third Sister would be jealous of a girl who is prettier than her, so she would paint the girl's face black, and she could probably fool her.

After listening to what Master Baiyun had to say, Ding Shi immediately looked at Zhang San and Haitang and asked, "Did you two sleep together?" If he remembered correctly, the village chief had told them that they couldn't share a room.

Haitang was startled, squatted down, buried her face in her knees, and cried secretly.

Zhang San was furious. He walked up to Ding Shi and demanded, "What's it to you?"

Ding Shi said, "The village chief instructed that you two cannot share a room. If you do, Third Sister will be unhappy."

The village chief corrected him, "Xiao Ding, it's not like that. The reason I told them they couldn't sleep together is because Haitang is only 18 years old, still a virgin. I'm worried... you understand? This is my requirement, not a requirement for the ritual. Actually, in the past we would find real newlywed couples to play their roles."

Ding Shi was stunned. When Zhao the Blind Man said there was a problem with the ritual, Ding Shi guessed that it might be due to players messing around, and that person was naturally Zhang San. On the first day when their identities were revealed, Haitang clearly had a good impression of Zhang San. Zhang San was obviously not a gentleman either; it would be abnormal if he didn't have any feelings after living with such a beautiful girl like Haitang for six days.

But now the village chief has told Ding that whether they shared a room has nothing to do with whether San Niang shed tears. So the only suspect left is himself who saw San Niang crying.

That makes sense, doesn't it? Did my sneaking into the San Niang Temple at night really offend San Niang? Or did the wooden San Niang know that I lifted her coffin lid at Baiyun Temple?
Ding Shi asked, "Is it possible that her eyes were hurt by the flashlight beam, which is why she shed a few tears?"

The elders all looked at Ding Shi with unfriendly expressions. Master Baiyun came to Ding Shi's rescue: "If it's only this much, you can offer incense to Third Sister to apologize, and I think she will forgive you."

(End of this chapter)