Chapter 30: Pray for blessings

Tang Zheng walked along the river embankment. Below the embankment were some simple shacks, which seemed to be the residences of the grain transport workers.

The sun was setting, leaving only the last trace of orange clouds in the sky. The bleak autumn wind blew, making people feel a bit cold.

He looked around while walking, and saw several grain transport workers still working hard to pull the boat. The tow ropes were deeply embedded in the skin on their shoulders.

He saw a thin old man lying in a dark hut, looking at him from afar, coughing constantly, looking terminally ill, but there was no one to take care of him.

He saw a little girl crying with hunger, tears sliding down her dirty face, leaving two tear marks of different depths.

"Mom, I'm hungry."

"Be good, you won't be hungry if you fall asleep."

The mother hugged the girl into her arms and patted her back, singing a song softly.

"Canal water, ten thousand miles long, thousands of ships transport imperial grain, grain transport grain piles up in the warehouse, grain transport workers are hungry and heartbroken, if there is a girl, no one will marry a boatman..."

The singing was miserable, completely different from what he heard on the cruise ship before.

I don't know why, Tang Zheng suddenly felt his nose a bit sour.

"Grandpa, give me something to eat, we haven't eaten for two days." A boy who looked like a beggar pulled Tang Zheng's clothes from behind, looking at him pitifully, reaching out to beg.

The boy's face was very dirty, but his eyes were very bright.

His eyes touched Tang Zheng, who untied the bundle Lin Zuo gave him, opened it and found a few sesame cakes inside, so he took them all out and gave them to the child.

The boy was very happy, bowing again and again, saying thank you grandpa, then holding the sesame cakes and running toward his mother. And after the mother got the sesame cakes, she also knelt down to Tang Zheng gratefully, thanking him repeatedly.

Tang Zheng hurriedly stepped forward a few steps and helped her up.

Then the mother broke the sesame cakes into several pieces, distributed them to the boy, the little girl and the old man, and whispered a few words to the boy, giving him an extra sesame cake and a bag.

The boy nodded, took the sesame cakes and the bag and ran toward the canal.

Tang Zheng was a bit curious about what the boy wanted to do, so he followed. He saw the boy run to the river, kneel down to the surging canal water, and kowtow several times in a row, muttering: "River God bless, River God bless."

Then he put the sesame cakes into the bag and threw it into the canal with his hand.

The incident happened suddenly, Tang Zheng wanted to stop it but it was too late. By the time he reacted, the bag was already floating up and down in the waves of the canal, rippling in circles.

And the word "Fu" embroidered on the bag was particularly eye-catching.

Tang Zheng couldn't help asking: "There isn't enough food for people, why throw it into the river?"

"This is a blessing bag dedicated to the River God." The boy looked at Tang Zheng and said seriously: "Mom said, if you have good things, you must worship the River God first, so that you can get the protection of the River God. Otherwise, if you offend the River God, our family will have bad luck."

"You believe this kind of talk? What does the River God want your sesame cakes for?"

"Mom said, worshipping the River God is to throw silver and money into the river, but our family is too poor, so we can only throw sesame cakes."

Looking at the child's pious appearance, Tang Zheng suddenly felt speechless and could only sigh lightly, looking at the blessing bag floating in the river water and shaking his head.

He was originally planning to turn and leave, but after walking two steps, he suddenly heard some abnormal noise in the river, so he turned around suddenly.

Although the light was not strong in the evening, he could still see a black shadow appearing under the river surface, with scales of different colors vaguely visible on his body, swimming toward the blessing bag.

Could it be... the River God?

Tang Zheng's heart was in his throat, and he couldn't help hiding his body behind a big tree to peek.

Seeing the black shadow getting closer, suddenly a hand reached out from under the water and grabbed the blessing bag.

Immediately after, the black shadow swam to the shore, and a moment later, a person wearing colorful leather clothes dived out from under the water and climbed onto the river bank, looking like a big frog from afar.

Tang Zheng, who was hiding behind the tree, keenly discovered that the frog man had a leather bag hanging on his chest, stuffed with something bulging.

"Tired to death." The frog man complained, then pulled down the leather cover on his head, revealing his face.

Tang Zheng was very familiar with that face. He had just dealt with it in the abandoned shipyard not long ago. It was Li Sheng's subordinate named "Abao".

He saw Abao open the blessing bag he was holding, found that it was just a sesame cake soaked in water, cursed "bad luck" and threw it away.

Then he took out more than a dozen identical blessing bags from the leather pocket on his chest one after another, opened them one by one, and smiled while counting the silver and money inside.

"Bastard!" Tang Zheng cursed in his heart. After seeing this scene, the last unsolved mystery in his heart was completely solved.

This group of bastards led by Li Sheng created the legend of the River God, the purpose of which was to cover up the fact that they deliberately sank grain transport ships and embezzled money by reporting sunken ship insurance.

And the grain on those sunken ships was collected by them and distributed to the believers of the River God in the way of River God's blessing, provided that the believers provided enough silver and money as sacrifices, and threw the sacrifices into the canal, and then they sent people to fish them out secretly.

The whole process was interlocking, not only accumulating a large number of believers, but also collecting a large amount of money, which was really a business without capital.

Poor common people, even the most basic life could not be maintained, but they still had to be deceived by the legend of the River God, and in order to pray for the protection of the River God, they threw things with a little value in their homes into the canal, in exchange for that trace of ethereal comfort and hope.

Do these people have any pity in their hearts?

Originally, Tang Zheng intended to leave Zhenjiang Prefecture and never care about the things here again, but at this moment, a force in his body was rising from his limbs and bones, and the words Su Shanhe said to himself in prison echoed in his ears.

"I still remember the sentence Commander Tang said before he died, and I dare not forget it for a moment."

"He said—Let others be petty and mean, I am peerless scholar!"

"People will always die, but if I can do something for the people like Commander Tang, it is not a wasted life."

"How can everything be satisfactory, but seek to have no regrets in your heart."

Accompanied by those voices, his father's face vaguely appeared in front of his eyes, still smiling at him like ten years ago, his eyes seemed full of hope.

If his father were still alive, what would he want him to do?

Unknowingly, Tang Zheng leaned down quietly and gripped a thick tree stick under his feet.

……

Abao was still counting money, and his heart was blooming with joy.

Originally, the boss ordered everyone not to work today, so as not to have any accidents at the critical moment. However, Abao didn't listen to the boss and ran out alone, wanting to do some "private work". After all, he had been doing this for more than a year, and he was already familiar with it. Even without companions, there should be no danger.

I don't know if it was because today was the day of the River God sacrifice, his harvest this time was exceptionally rich, which also made Abao very proud. With this small wealth, he could go to drink some small wine and find a girl to play with later.

However, suddenly, he heard a slight sound of footsteps behind him.

In this remote river bank, and the sun has set, who else will come?

Abao looked behind him vigilantly, and what caught his eyes was the black shadow of a wooden stick and the urgent sound of wind. The next moment, he only felt a pain in his head and lost consciousness. ===== CHAPTER 31 =====

Abao looked behind him vigilantly, and what met his eyes was the dark shadow of a wooden club and the sound of a rushing wind. The next moment, he felt a sharp pain in his head and lost consciousness.