But Cuicui was very stubborn and knelt there, knocking her head and burning incense. Her forehead was covered in blood, but she refused to stop.

A man outside saw her like this, laughed loudly, and cursed her:

"Idiot! If burning incense was useful, she wouldn't still be here making daughters' incense for us!"

I looked at that man and asked, "How do you know it's useless?"

The man laughed even more exaggeratedly and told me:

"The first time she asked the patriarch for three incense sticks, guess what she did? She went outside and knelt on the hilltop, praying to the gods to bless you so that you wouldn't have to make incense for us!

She even said you didn't have the fate of a golden dragon, that your fate shouldn't be like this! When the patriarch found out, he beat her and told her to stop burning incense, that it was useless!"

They didn't talk about what happened afterward, but I already guessed it.

Cuicui must have been unwilling. She stole incense time and time again, and then secretly burned it, begging for a way out for me.

The patriarch knew she was burning incense, that's why he cut off her tongue.

They thought that by cutting off her tongue, she wouldn't be able to voice her wishes anymore.

However, burning incense and praying to the Buddha requires a sincere heart.

It's not about speaking it out loud for the gods and Buddhas to hear.

Amid their mockery, the sky gradually brightened.

The patriarch's eldest son suddenly ran over and knelt in front of me, burning daughters' incense.

While knocking his head, he made a vow:

"Ancestors above, let me become the son-in-law of the governor. I want to become wealthy, I want to rise rapidly!"

The patriarch's eldest son hadn't finished burning the three incense sticks when many other men came, one after another.

They all knelt on the ground and knocked their heads towards me:

"Bless me to become the son-in-law of the governor!"

"Bless me, I also want to become the son-in-law of the governor!"

After knocking their heads, they started laughing ferociously at me. They wanted to snatch me away and present me as a treasure to the governor.

It turned out that the governor had promised that whoever could bring the real daughters' incense over would become his son-in-law.

From then on, they would ascend to the heavens and rise rapidly!

The young people in the village were all greedy and wanted to live a good life, so they came over like madmen to snatch this tripod of mine.

Cuicui wouldn't let them snatch it. She used her frail body to block me.

She couldn't make a sound, she just said "Ah ah" hoarsely.

The men mocked her and beat her.

Finally, right in front of me, they stripped off her clothes and cut her flesh with a knife.

They wanted to kill her.

Even though Cuicui was on the verge of death, she was still making the motion of burning incense towards me.

This time, I saw her mouth move.

I understood what she said.

She said, "Pray to the White Tiger God to protect Xiuer and let her seek revenge!"