At first, I didn't understand why the clan leader had to cut off Cui Cui's tongue.

But when I saw Cui Cui crawling out from under that stick, struggling to reach me, and continuing to hold the bamboo core while making incense.

I seemed to understand.

Cui Cui lit three more incense sticks, this time she was lying on the ground, but her hands were still clasped together, devoutly looking at me.

She kowtowed three times.

When the clan leader saw her like this, he walked over roughly and stepped on Cui Cui's back with his foot.

The clan leader said fiercely:

"You want to make a wish after I cut your tongue? Impossible! You can't speak, the ancestors won't hear you, no one can grant your wishes!"

But Cui Cui looked at me as if she didn't understand what he said, she just looked at me like that.

She pointed to her chest.

The clan leader wanted to punish Cui Cui again, but suddenly someone came and said-

"Clan leader, something's happened! The governor and his men have come to take our daughter incense!"

When my mother heard this, she quickly hugged me and said, "Clan leader, Xiu'er can't be given to others! She's the treasure of our Chen family!"

Of course, the clan leader wouldn't let me go.

He immediately had people carry me into the cave in the back mountain.

That cave had many snakes, insects, rats, and ants, and no one dared to enter it throughout the ages.

It was the perfect hiding place for me.

After settling me in, the clan leader discovered that Cui Cui had followed along and was still performing the incense-burning ritual.

The clan leader angrily kicked her:

"Do you still want to seek a good fortune for this little bastard? Impossible! In this lifetime, she can only be a furnace, can only make daughter incense!"

After the clan leader finished scolding her, he suddenly thought of something and looked at my mother:

"If the governor can be a furnace for incense, then we'll give him a furnace."

He wanted to turn Cui Cui into my appearance and hand her over to the governor.

My mother thought it was appropriate and smiled:

"Then leave a few people here to watch, let's go back and move the furnace, and turn Cui Cui into a furnace too!"

...

The clan leader and my mother left more than a dozen men to watch over me and Cui Cui, while they went to deal with the governor.

I heard that they wanted to settle the governor in the house first and then turn Cui Cui into a furnace overnight.

Tomorrow at noon, deliver her to the governor.

The cave was dark and damp, with the sound of some poisonous snakes. Those men didn't dare to come in; they stood outside.

Only Cui Cui, she wasn't afraid of anything.

She endured the pain and continued to hold the incense, constantly kowtowing to me.

"Cui Cui, stop burning the incense!" I felt sorry for Cui Cui, "It'll be alright tomorrow!"