Outside the house, it was already bright, and a red sun was rising slowly in the east.
It was indeed a sunny day today, but the sun that belonged to him was missing.
Xia Yihan jumped out of Prince Han's Mansion and ran through Lingdu Street. When she reached the east gate, she learned from the guard guarding the gate that someone had used his badge to leave the city last night. Counting the time, it was at least four hours.
For four hours, Hu Ling'er used a carriage again. If she had been rushing, she would have gone a long way by now.
Right at the gate of the east city, Xia Yihan stopped, picked up the letter in her hand again, and looked at the familiar font again.
She didn't say the reason for leaving, or even said anything else. She just asked him not to look for her, and finally left him something.
He knew that he should risk everything to find her, but if he did, he might not be able to find her, and he would also be disappointed in her wishes.
Just when Xia Yihan was standing at the gate of the city, a horse galloped towards him. After seeing him, the man on the horse was pleasantly surprised. He quickly got off the horse and said to Xia Yihan: "Your Majesty, you are here to pick me up.
Really? It must be the girl who asked you to come, thank you so much."
The person who came was none other than Tang Meng, and he was the person mentioned in Hu Ling'er's letter.
Xia Yihan never expected that such a coincidence would happen in the world. She lowered her head and looked at something like a token in her hand, then took a deep breath and handed it to Tang Meng.
This was what Hu Linger left to him along with the letter. It was the only token that could mobilize the bandit troops.
Hu Ling'er left, but left him with more than a hundred people who had been carefully trained for more than two months. Then he had to completely resolve the matter here before looking for Hu Ling'er. By then, he would be able to do so without any scruples.
was with her.
Besides, at this time, Hu Ling'er, dressed in men's clothing, was already far away from Lingdu.
Although she came out from the east city gate, the direction she was walking was to the north of Lingdu, which was the direction to Tianyin Kingdom.
But her destination is not Tianyin Country, because if she goes there, both Jian Xinan and Xia Yihan will definitely be able to find her easily.
In order to prevent them from finding her, she took a more remote path instead of an official road.
After traveling all night and not sleeping much the night before, she was already feeling very tired.
When it was almost time for lunch, she happened to arrive in a small town.
The town is indeed very small. There is only one inn in the town. Although it is the peak period at noon, there are only a few guests inside.
Hu Ling'er handed the carriage to the waiter and asked him to feed the horses before entering the hall.
After choosing a seat by the window and randomly ordering two dishes, Hu Ling'er looked out the window silently.
The cold wind howled and the fallen leaves drifted.
Apart from the thick leaves, there were not many people coming and going on the street. It looked like a depressing scene. Compared with the bustling and lively Lingdu, it was like the sky or the earth.
Logically speaking, this place should not be like this since it is so close to the capital of Qi Xia Kingdom.
This town is called Baihe Town, but when she just passed a river that flows through the town, she saw that the river was full of messy garbage, the water was turbid, and even in this winter, it exuded waves of stench, and the pollution was extremely serious.
.
Looking at the people walking on the street, everyone was wrapped in thick cotton-padded jackets, but they were still shrinking, looking like they were about to freeze to death.
Whether it was the environment or the people, Hu Ling'er felt a little weird. She originally planned to stay here for one night after eating and then leave tomorrow. But looking at everything here, she decided to eat, take a rest, and leave as soon as possible.
.
Because there were not many people, the food came out quickly, but Hu Ling'er just took one bite and lost her appetite.
I don’t know if it’s a psychological effect caused by seeing those dirty river water, or if there is really water in it.
These dishes may look okay on the outside, but they taste like they have an indescribable strange smell.
Hu Ling'er frowned and put down her chopsticks. She was about to call the waiter to ask, but she suddenly heard a burst of noise outside, which was very different from the previous silence.
The noise came from far and near, passing in front of the inn, and mixed with it was the cry of a woman, which was heartbreaking and full of despair.
Looking out from Hu Ling'er's position, he could just see a large number of people crowded together, shouting and shouting as they walked. It was unclear what they were shouting, but the crying should have come from the center.
Hu Ling'er called the waiter and asked: "Xiao Er, what happened outside?"
When the waiter heard this, he quickly said: "To be objective, you are from out of town. You don't know that today is our River God Festival in Baihe Town."
"River God Sacrifice?" Hu Ling'er's expression was shocked, and an ominous premonition emerged in her heart.
Something about the God of Rivers and Seas, she had seen it in modern costume dramas, and when she thought of the desperate cries, she understood it all at once.
Is it true that in ancient times, as shown in TV dramas, women were sacrificed to the river god?
Seeing Hu Ling'er's stunned expression, the waiter looked outside, leaned closer to her and lowered his voice: "Objective, you don't know something. You see, our Baihe Town is lifeless now, but a year ago,
This is also a prosperous and popular place.”
"Really? Then why is it like this now?" Hu Ling'er frowned even more tightly.
The waiter shook his head and sighed softly: "Well, it all starts with the changes in Baihe. This Baihe is our only water source in Baihe Town and the real source of life. But one day a year ago
At the beginning, Baihe suddenly became turbid, and the originally healthy Baihe people also suffered from various physical problems due to changes in water quality. The town tried various methods to control the water source, but the situation became more and more serious, until it became
This is what it looks like now.”
Hu Ling'er nodded. There are many cancer villages in modern times, and most of their problems are related to water sources.
But this River God Festival...
After thinking about it, Hu Ling'er asked again: "Then what about the River God Festival you mentioned?"