76: Chapter 76 Asking God

Zhou Ping jumped down from the cart, walked up to the steps, and looked up at Clerk Liu.

His face was still stained with wood shavings, and his hands were stained with the black blood oozing from the divine statue.

"Lord Clerk, this commoner has already proven that these Yellow Immortal statues harbor dark sorcery within them and are by no means peaceful deities that bless the people."

"This commoner earnestly begs Lord Clerk to retract the previous official document requiring the villages of Guanhai County to worship the Yellow Immortal statues, and return justice to the people of Guanhai County."

Clerk Liu stood on the steps, his legs still trembling.

He looked at the indignant villagers, and then at Zhou Ping, who was standing at the very front.

There was no anger or triumph on that emaciated face, only a heavy, composed calmness.

He knew this man would not back down, nor would the people behind him.

Clerk Liu's mind raced furiously.

The County Magistrate had been missing for several days; ever since he went out that day, he had never returned, and the lights in the inner hall had burned all night.

The next day, the person was gone and the house was empty, even his official robe was missing.

He had sent people to look for him, but found nothing, nor did he dare to search with great fanfare—it would be bad if the County Magistrate was just dallying at some lover's house.

Yet at this exact time, such an incident blew up, with so many villagers coming to the county yamen to seek accountability.

Clerk Liu glanced once more at the constables.

Constable Meng Yu stood at the edge of the crowd, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber, with little expression on his face.

Those young constables stood behind him; some were looking at the smashed divine statues, while others were looking at their own fellow villagers.

Clerk Liu knew he could not count on them.

These constables had originally been pulled into the county town after their blood vitality was tested and met the standards in the various villages below.

Their roots were in those villages, and their parents, brothers, and sisters were still in those villages.

Make them turn on their own fellow villagers?

That was impossible.

Furthermore, the county yamen was completely in the wrong right now; no one could wash away the taint of the things stuffed inside those divine statues.

Clerk Liu gritted his teeth, his jaw tightly tensed.

He knew that if he did not give an explanation today, these hundreds of people would not leave, and even more would come tomorrow.

If it was never dealt with, he feared that by the day after tomorrow, all the commoners of Guanhai County would flood over.

He took a deep breath. His voice was still shrill and sharp, but it carried a desperate, reckless fierceness.

"Everyone, be quiet!"

The crowd fell silent for a moment, and everyone looked at him.

Clerk Liu stood on the steps, his official robe soaked with sweat, sticking limply to his body. His black gauze cap was crooked, but he didn't bother to adjust it.

He swept his gaze over the dense crowd, then over the writhing flesh, and finally let his eyes fall on Zhou Ping.

"This official announces that the previous official document is void! Starting from today, the villages of Guanhai County will no longer be forced to worship the Yellow Immortal statues!"

"Each village may freely worship compliant deities, and the county yamen will no longer interfere!"

His voice echoed at the entrance of the county yamen, drilling into the ears of everyone present.

The crowd fell silent for a split second, and then erupted.

Some shouted, "We've recovered our justice," while others cried out, "Welcome back the old deities' statues."

The villagers who had rushed over from various villages hugged one another, patted each other's shoulders, and spoke words that could not be clearly made out.

The onlookers also began to clap. The applause spread from the front of the crowd to the back, from the inside to the outside, echoing down the entire street.

Zhou Ping stood beneath the steps, still clutching the axe in his hand. The black blood on the blade had dried, congealing into a dark red scab.

He listened to those cries of "justice," listening to the news he had longed for for so long.

He turned his head and looked at Zhou Hu in the crowd.

Zhou Hu was looking at him as well.

The two of them exchanged a glance without speaking, but both smiled.

They had done it.

They had not failed the trust of Lord Qinling.

Zhou Ping put down the axe and cupped his hands in salute toward Clerk Liu, who stood on the steps at the county yamen's gate with his official robe soaked through.

Then he turned around, jumped onto the cart, and shouted to the cheering villagers.

"Fellow villagers! Let's go! Head home! Request the deities!"

The crowd surrounding the entrance of the county yamen began to disperse.

The ox carts and mule carts turned around, their wheels grinding over the bluestone slabs and making a rumbling sound.

The smashed Yellow Immortal statues and the writhing flesh dug out from them were left behind at the county yamen's gate like trash, and no one took them away.

Zhou Ping walked at the very front, followed by Zhou Hu, and behind them were the villagers who had rushed from various villages.

The grand, surging crowd flowed out from the county yamen's entrance like a river, rushing back toward the villages still waiting for news.

...

One day later.

The deity-requesting procession of Zhou Family Village marched in a grand and mighty wave onto the dirt road leading to Qin Family Village.

Walking at the very front was Zhou Ping, who together with another villager shouldered a divine statue.

The divine statue was wrapped in red cloth. The red cloth was brand new, sewn by his wife overnight with fine stitches and neat edges.

This statue of Lord Qinling was precisely the one Zhou Ping had carved with his own hands earlier.

The wood was old elm that he had spent three days selecting in the back mountain; its grain was fine and its texture hard.

He carved it for a full half month, busy with village affairs by day and carving by the light of an oil lamp at night.

Carving until his fingers were worn raw and his vision blurred, he finally gave this divine statue its features.

Following behind Zhou Ping was Zhou Hu, who carried a shoulder pole with bamboo baskets on both ends filled with offerings.

One basket contained dried fish, sun-dried by their own family—the largest ones, glistening with oil and neatly strung together with straw ropes.

The other basket held rice cakes, freshly steamed and still steaming with heat, their fragrance of rice mixed with jujube spreading all along the way.

Further behind was a crewman who had previously gone out to sea; he held a chicken by its bound feet, dangling it upside down while the chicken fluttered its wings and clucked.

This was the only laying hen in his family. Ordinarily he couldn't bear to part with it, but requesting deities was a great joyous event, so killing a chicken was a must.

Behind them were even more people—men, women, and children, some carrying shoulder poles, others holding baskets.

The procession stretched out long, resembling a winding river.

Everyone had dug out the bottom-of-the-chest offerings from their own homes.

Some of the offerings looked a bit shabby, but for the villagers of Zhou Family Village, they were already the best things they could possibly bring out.

Such a massive deity-requesting procession naturally alerted the villagers of Qin Family Village early on.

At the entrance of Qin Family Village, Village Chief Qin Zongliang stood leaning on his cane, with Qin Yin standing beside him, and Qin Mo squatting under the Old Locust Tree.

The rest of the villagers of Qin Family Village also swarmed out, gathering around the Old Locust Tree at the village entrance.

Zhou Ping walked up to the village entrance and stopped.

Burdened by the divine statue on his shoulder, he could only cup his hands in salute toward Village Chief Qin Zongliang.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang returned the greeting by cupping his hands, moving so quickly that his cane almost dropped.

It was Qin Yin beside him who steadied him with a hand.

"Zhou Ping, you all are..."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang's voice trembled slightly, caused by his excitement.

Ever since Zhou Ping first came to Qin Family Village saying he wanted to request Lord Qinling to go to Zhou Family Village, he had been waiting.

Ever since he learned of the County Magistrate's order, he had thought he would never wait for it.

But now, the deity-requesting procession of Zhou Family Village had arrived!