The serving girl leading the way tensed up when she saw it was Xiao Zui, ignoring her own pain she imdiately squatted down to support her, "Why aren’t you resting properly? What are you doing out here?"
There were still tear stains on Xiao Zui’s face, clearly, she had just cried not long before, "Miss... Miss was kind to , now that she’s gone, I thought... I thought I must at least see her off, I want to go to the Buddha hall to see her for the last ti."
"It’s chaotic over there. Why would you go?" The serving girl tried to comfort Xiao Zui, "You have no status, and you’re in poor health, so go back and rest."
But no matter how the young serving girl tried to persuade her, Xiao Zui remained unmoved, insisting on going to the Buddha hall to see her Miss for the last ti.
"Why can you go, and I can’t?!"
In the end, Xiao Zui pushed away the young serving girl trying to stop her, her deanor even turning sowhat fierce, which truly startled Yang Xiao and the others, as it seed a bit too much, especially since the other was only trying to help.
"Xiao Zui is wholeheartedly sincere. If Miss has a spirit in heaven, she would certainly be consoled," Tong Han reacted quickly, imdiately deciding to bring Xiao Zui along. With Xiao Zui leading the way, their risk would be reduced greatly.
Everyone was trying to persuade her, talking over each other, and soon, the young serving girl leading the way could no longer hold her ground and had to bring Xiao Zui along. Tong Han and Mi Shu, very wisely, flanked the frail Xiao Zui, one on each side, helping her quickly towards the Buddha hall.
They hadn’t even approached the Buddha hall when they heard a solemn chanting and the strong scent of incense. Stepping through the courtyard gate and looking up, they saw that the Buddha hall was filled with hundreds of people. It was crowded with people inside the hall, with no space left; so villagers could only kneel on the stone slabs outside, facing the Buddha statue inside and chanting over and over again.
The scene was solemn and grand, quite shocking, and what surprised Yang Xiao and his companions even more was that these seemingly insignificant villagers were extrely proficient in chanting and sitting posture, even matching the monks from real temples, and their deanor was extrely devout.
Seeing this, Xiao Zui struggled to push away Tong Han and Mi Shu who were supporting her, stumbling forward to the end of the line and kneel, adeptly assuming the posture and joining in the chanting.
The young serving girl leading the way didn’t want to be left out either and quickly squatted in a spot, chanting loudly with the rest.
This sight was truly baffling; sohow, a strange competitive relationship seed to have arisen between the two of them.
Each person was chanting and praying to Buddha with all their might, not paying any attention to Yang Xiao and his group standing in the courtyard. The villagers’ hands were clasped together, with chants growing louder by the mont. So villagers with weaker constitutions even had to yell because they couldn’t keep up with the pace, turning their faces purple due to lack of breath.
This was madness, they did not at all resemble villagers, nor were they normal Buddhist disciples. Yang Xiao even felt that these people did not care about Miss Du’s death at all because what he saw on everyone’s faces was outright mania. If he had to describe it, this was... this was completely like a group of cultists who had been excessively brainwashed.
"Should we... should we also pray a bit?" Quan Doufeng, a believer in survivalism, would worship at any temple he encountered, whether it was a Bodhisattva, Daoist priest, or Jesus Christ. After all, it was just praying, and there was no loss.
But his suggestion was ignored, and as they watched these people, with the chanting growing louder and louder in their ears, Wu Mama Minghao, who was already weak, felt dizzy and his vision blurred.
Fortunately, the ceremony was nearing its end when they arrived. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the crowd, and a middle-aged man dressed in gray coarse cloth fell to the ground, his body convulsing and frothing at the mouth.
The villagers around him imdiately scattered, as if fearing they would be impacted, while the Du Family Patriarch, reacting quickly, commanded so n to carry away the middle-aged man who had completely passed out.
With this incident, the ceremony was abruptly over, and the villagers scrambled to leave. Unlike the intensity and frenzy before, the villagers now leaving all showed unmistakable relief and joy on their faces, including Xiao Zui and the serving girl from before.
The two followed the flow of people out, and in a blink of an eye, the cramped Buddha hall beca spacious. Most people had left, leaving only the Du Family Patriarch and a few of his family mbers.
The head wrapped in yellow scripture cloth was still placed on the altar, not touched by anyone, and Xiao Zui, the serving girl who had struggled to co to see her Miss for the last ti, had disappeared without a trace along with the crowd, completely failing to fulfill her promise.
As Xiao Zui left, all Yang Xiao and the others saw on her face was satisfaction and relaxation.
It was clear that Xiao Zui had not co here to see Miss Du at all, but to partake in this strange ritual.
Monts later, the Du Family Patriarch suddenly caught sight of Yang Xiao and his group in the courtyard. At first, he was taken aback, then said sothing to the others, turned around, and quickly walked toward Yang Xiao and his group. There was now an added sense of age and vicissitude on his tired face, "Gentlen, my apologies, my apologies. I have just lost my daughter, and I couldn’t attend to everything."
"Why have only you all co over, where... where is Miss Liu?" the Du Family Patriarch asked, scanning the group with his eyes, unable to help himself.
"Dead," Sui Chengguo said tersely.
"Dead..." Hearing this, the Du Family Patriarch’s eyes imdiately reddened, blaming himself incessantly, "It’s all my fault, I made poor arrangents, I thought since my young daughter had already been hard, Miss Liu would be safe. Who would have thought that the monster would be so rampant!"
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