Xiaokui continued in a daze:

"Since then, the county government has held a grand evil god sacrifice every year, because the evil god in the dream demanded pure pain. The county magistrate and the men in the village held a meeting for three days and three nights, and finally made a unanimous decision. , Only the pain of a child is the purest, so the sacrifice should be a child."

"At the beginning, Luming County was not that rich, and the sacrifices for the evil gods were not bought from other places... and like me, they were selected children from the village."

Cang Tai asked back in surprise: "You have parents, didn't they prevent you from being selected as a sacrifice?"

"My father and mother offered me and my younger brother as sacrifices." Xiao Kui's voice became choked up, "Because of the county's rules, whoever offered the sacrifices , if this sacrifice is finally selected, the right to make a wish will belong to whoever it is.”

"We have two children in our family. I am the oldest. I have a younger sister and two younger brothers. My father offered me and one of my younger brothers as a sacrifice. I hope that the evil god can choose at least one of us. In this way, our family can make a wish to the evil god, and we don’t have to go out to sea every day to fish so hard to feed our family.”

"At that time, almost every poor family offered their children as sacrifices. The richer families were unwilling to sacrifice their offspring, so they would buy children from poor families and make them their own. sacrifice."

"Because I don't know who will be chosen by the evil god. If some families have extra children, they will sell one of their children as a sacrifice to the other party."

"I was sold to the Beiyuan family by my father." Xiaokui sobbed softly, "My name is Beiyuan Xiaokui now."

Cang Tai sighed sympathetically: "The sacrifice of the evil god? I don't know which one is better than the coolie."

"Coolie?" Xiaokui turned around slowly, her thin and pale face was covered by her wet hair, and she looked at Bai Liu, who was leaning on the side of the bed, in a distracted manner, "You don't know what to do at all." What does the sacrifice of the evil god have to pay?"

"You will be whipped, tortured, and in pain, you will not be able to live, and you will not be able to die."

Cang Tai's tone was puzzled: "But the coolies are like this. As soon as they pass by, they will start to be beaten and forced to work."

Xiaokui laughed nervously: "But it's not like this in the beginning when making sacrifices."

"At the beginning, you will be assigned to a very warm houseboat, a very cute kitten and puppy, who are very good servants and friends who treat you very well, eat well every meal, and come to the house every day Visit your parents."

"——You can't even tell for a moment that you came here to make sacrifices, and you came to make things."

Cang Tai asked confusedly: "Isn't this very good?"

Just as Xiaokui was about to open the door again, the door of the boat house was pushed open suddenly, her shoulders trembled, and her voice was stopped.

The wind and rain mixed with a deep and thick voice of a middle-aged man came in: "It's raining heavily, just when these young boys who have just been bought are mentally unstable and insecure, give them the cats and dogs first. Let them hold each other through the storm, get acquainted with each other first, and cultivate their relationship."

Another slightly thinner male voice echoed, "That's right, Master Yufuan."

The dark cabin was illuminated by dim oil lamps carried by seven or eight men. These men carried a long and wide cage covered with black cloth. Long and trembling baby animal cries:

"Mi-mi-mi woo woo!"

"Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

A man put a gas lamp on the side of Bai Liu, who was dozing off, and patted him vigorously with his callused, fishy hands.

Only then did Bai Liu pretend to just wake up and opened his eyes, and looked at the animal in the cage that the man was carrying in the dim light.

That is a very beautiful long white cat with silver blue eyes.

This cat is only a few months old, beautiful in appearance, fluffy and warm, with a golden bell tied around its neck, and its pupils become round and upright under the gloomy light. Sitting upright in the cage, he raised one paw and stretched out his pink tongue to lick the fur of the other little muddy paw, as if he didn't like being untidy when he saw people.

Seeing Bai Liu raised his head towards it, the cat tilted its head slightly, and the tip of its pink nose protruded from the cage. It was very characteristic of a pet cat, and it arched affectionately and fearlessly. Bai Liu was tied to the bed The hand on the fence railed in a coquettish voice, dragging its tail and miming.

Seeing this scene, the man carrying the cage gave a strange laugh: "This cat is well groomed, it sticks to anyone it sees, and it likes people."

"I let it out immediately, and it will burrow into your arms. If you can't hold it in the wind and waves, such a cute kitten will fall out of the bed directly. , and the internal organs were thrown out alive."

After finishing speaking, the man opened the cage, and just as he said, the cat burrowed into Bai Liu's arms as soon as it got out of the cage, and finally squeezed out a depression that could almost accommodate it. On the chest of the white willow.

The kitten squinted its eyes because of the warmth of Bai Liu's body, and made a purring sound from its throat. It raised its head and rubbed against Bai Liu's chin, purring and purring, as if it liked itself very much. This guy I just found.

Seeing the cat crawling into Bai Liu's lap, the man looked away in satisfaction, and was about to leave with the cage, but he turned around as if remembering something, and said: "These animals are all like their cats." A person has a name."

"So this cat has the same name as you, both named Bailiu."

Bai Liu hangs down her eyes and keeps curling up in her arms to keep warm, a kitten that is about to curl up into a ball and fall asleep very familiarly.

The kitten's eyes were about to close, but it seemed to sense that Bai Liu was touching it, so it leaned towards Bai Liu with a meow, and rested its chin on Bai Liu's tied wrist, with its paws resting against it. Bai Liu stretched out his palm, snorted twice, and licked the tip of Bai Liu's nose.

"Don't give it to me—!!" A shrill female voice came from Bai Liu's lower bunk, interrupting the kitten's attempt to lick Bai Liu's fur, "I don't want this dog!!"

Frightened by the sound, the kitten opened its eyes wide, and poked down together with Bai Liu.

Xiaokui struggled desperately on the bed, her cheeks were red with tears, her voice was shrill and hysterical, mixed with broken cries: "Don't give me this dog!!!"

Beside Xiaokui's bed is a small Shiba Inu with round eyes, only half the height of a man's calf, orange-yellow, with ears pricked up, standing energetically and alertly when standing up, it seems to be frightened by Xiaokui's reaction , but stood by her lap again, hesitated for a moment, and licked Xiaokui's tears with his upper lip.

Xiaokui let out a cry of complete breakdown, and waved her hands unconsciously: "Get out! Don't lick me! Don't come close to me! Let's go!"

"I don't want any more pain! I don't want a dog!"

The little Shiba Inu was hit by Xiaokui's wild slapping hands, and screamed in fright, trying to hide behind the man's feet, but was kicked indifferently by the man, and was thrown up along the waves The momentum of the boat hit a bedpost directly.

The sound of the dog's bones breaking could be heard clearly, and it only let out a short and tragic whine before rolling to the ground. The dog's legs and tail were knocked together, Eyes wide open, he lay motionless on the ground.

The pupils of Xiaokui, who hugged her face and howled, dilated for a moment, and she suddenly turned to the motionless Shiba Inu, her face was still licked by the little Shiba Inu's tongue The sense of touch and expression are completely blank.

Tears unconsciously flowed down from Xiaokui's wide-open eyes. She tremblingly stretched out her hand towards the dead Shiba Inu puppy lying on the ground, muttering to herself: "...Xiaokui .”

Seeing this scene, the man Yuanzhong's impatient expression relaxed, showing a little joy, clapping his hands and laughing: "I'm crying!"

"I didn't expect to cry when there were sacrifices on the boat. This is really a good idea." The man turned to the person next to him, waved his hand and said, "Bring a few more cats and a few Shiba Inu over here. .”

Soon the cat and Shiba Inu were brought over.

The man squatted down, whispered softly to Xiaokui who was lying on the bed completely sluggishly, and said in a persuasive manner: "Does Xiaokui not like dogs? Does Xiaokui like cats?"

"Don't..." Xiaokui's tears continued to flow, her pupils were dilated, her voice was hoarse and dry, but she still refused, "...I don't want a dog, I don't want a cat."

"...I don't want to see [Xiao Kui] die because of becoming Xiao Kui's friend."

"Really?" The man grabbed a kitten by the back of the neck from the cage with a bit of regret, and mentioned Xiaokui's face, "Is Xiaokui going to push them so cruelly? Are you sure?" Of all the sacrifices back then, the child who liked small animals the most."

"Now they like you so much, don't you want them to be your friends?"

The kitten didn't know anything about what happened. It made two meows, stood up tremblingly, and arched Xiaokui, rubbed Xiaokui affectionately, and shrank on Xiaokui's shoulders. gone.

Xiaokui slowly clenched her fists, and she tried her best to turn her back, pretending to be indifferent: "Even if you kill them in front of me, I won't suffer from them anymore."

"Then there is no other way." The man shook his head regretfully, and whispered into Xiaokui's ear, "Xiaokui should know that there is no way to make your animals suffer, and they are worthless on this ship."

He laughed, pinched the back of the kitten's neck and pulled it out of Xiaokui's arms, then put his hand on Wuzhi, looked at Xiaokui with ignorant eyes, and smiled obediently. The two slender fingers of the meowing kitten could wrap around the neck of the past, and then tightened suddenly.

The kitten Yuanzhong's Mimi, which had the meaning of playing and intimacy, became shriller. It struggled to move one of its calves, and kicked the man's hand, trying to jump out of the man's strong hand, but This is just a futile struggle, and it is not as big as the man's palm.

The black and white eyes of the kitty were pinched and bloodshot, and the voice was pinched to a piercing piercing, and then slowly became weak, and the struggling claws drooped.

Xiaokui gritted her teeth and did not turn back. Finally, when the kitten meowed for the last time, she couldn't hold back, turned around and reached out to grab the kitten frantically: "Give it to me!"

The man let go of his hand in response, and the kitten, which had been pinched so soft that it was only breathless, fell into Xiaokui's arms, purring against Xiaokui hoarsely as if it had been wronged.

Xiaokui hugged it tightly with tears in her eyes: "Mifune-sama, I want this kitten, I want this Xiaokui, please give it to me!"

"I'll suffer for it well in the future!"

The man stared at Xiaokui for a while, then suddenly smiled: "Xiaokui has not been selected by the evil god several times, because she is not qualified because of the pain."

He slowly stretched out his hand to Xiaokui's arms, pulled out the kitten that was clinging to Xiaokui's clothes with Xiaokui's almost blank eyes, and gently touched it twice. ‌ Then he put his hand on the kitten's neck. whispered:

"Then it will be more painful, Xiaokui."

The kitten screamed sadly, this time Yufune didn't let go, he clapped his hands, casually threw the limp kitten's body beside the dazed Xiaokui, turned and left:

"Find another Shiba Inu for Xiaokui to accompany her. If she doesn't want to, just crush her to death and get another cat."

"Until she can't cry."