Facing his grandson's surprised attitude, the old man smiled, with some pride in his smile. He touched his grandson's head and said: "There are so many crafts in the world, and any one that can do it to the extreme is amazing." "It's normal to do things for the country. You said that if we hadn't done things for the country this time, we would have had a special soft sleeper on the train, just the two of us?"
The boy also smiled happily and asked his grandfather: "Grandpa, do you mean you are the best among the corpse hunters?"
"Haha, what's the best? It's just that I haven't ruined this craft." The old man's words were modest, but the pride in the corners of his eyebrows and eyes could no longer be concealed.
"I know my grandfather is the most powerful. Grandpa, have you ever done anything for the country before?" the boy suddenly asked excitedly.
The old man's smile stopped for a moment, and then he changed into a calm expression in a panic, and then started to rummage in the bag he carried with him.
"Grandpa, what are you doing? You haven't answered my question yet. What are you looking for?" The boy asked curiously without noticing the change in the old man's expression.
"Oh, I'm looking for dry tobacco leaves and want to smoke a pipe. It seems you can't smoke in this soft sleeper, so I'll sit on the corridor outside and smoke." The old man replied calmly, and as he spoke, he had already dug out the dry tobacco leaves. Just go outside.
"Grandpa, you haven't said yet whether you have done anything for the country before?"
"Oh, that's not possible." The old man paused for a moment, then walked out without looking back.
Sitting on the bench at the single table in the corridor outside the soft sleeper room, the old man's expression suddenly became very complicated, including nostalgia, fear, sadness... His eyes also became deep.
Because he was so absorbed in thinking about things, he lit the dry cigarette in his hand several times without lighting it. After taking a few puffs and finding that it had no taste, the old man came back to his senses, smiled bitterly, and carefully lit the dry cigarette.
Taking a deep breath, the old man exhaled the thick smoke. Looking at the rising smoke, the old man fell into memories.
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In 1937, a war-torn era, the country was suffering every day, and every day different tragedies were staged for the people here.
Sichuan, Hunan and other places were relatively stable places in that chaotic era. After all, they were deep inland. However, this did not prevent the war from burning here, but the impact was relatively small.
At that time, there were a lot of people in Hunan who died in foreign lands. Due to the rules of the ancestors, fallen leaves always have to return to their roots and must be laid to rest. A group of mysterious people began to get very busy.
This group of people are the corpse exorcists in Xiangxi, Hunan.
There are restrictions on driving corpses. It is impossible to drive corpses all over the country. After some boundaries, corpses cannot be driven away. Therefore, their business is mainly for Hunanese who died in Sichuan, or lobbyists who died in Hunan. Sichuan people.
Since ancient times, people have lamented that the road to Shu is difficult and difficult to reach the sky, and there are many mountains and ridges in western Hunan, and the roads are no less difficult than those in Sichuan. You can imagine how difficult it is to do business as a corpse driver.
Ordinary people know that in addition to overcoming the difficult road, there are also many harsh conditions for the job of driving corpses. For example, the corpse must not rot when it arrives at the ground. For example, there is a certain time limit. Arrive at the stipulated time. For example, you can't bump into strangers.
People who know how to remove corpses all have this taboo. If they encounter a corpse removal artist and take away the corpse, they will be in trouble for eight lifetimes.
This is actually a misinformation. Walking at night is a helpless act for a corpse exorcist. It should be a taboo in the industry. How can it bring bad luck to people? It's just that people naturally add a mysterious color to it out of fear of ghosts and gods.
No matter what these legends are, in short, in that era, the activities of corpse exterminators were frequent. The war brought wealth to all those who dealt with the dead. There were even special corpse extermination offices in Chongqing, Sichuan at that time. .
This year, Sun Kui was 16 years old. When he was 11 years old, he signed a contract with his master. Five years later, he was finally able to go on his first business trip. This time he went to Chongqing. This was the business of a wealthy family in Hunan. , demanding that his son’s body be driven back to Hunan from Chongqing.
Speaking of this business, Sun Kui felt fresh when he thought about it, because the customer was a wealthy family with a little influence, and he could not prevent the warlord's son from being shot in Chongqing for offending him.
This is the tragedy of the chaotic era. The binding force of the law is almost very small. So what if you have power and status? Outside of this area, even local gangsters can crush you to death, unless your power is overwhelming.
This era is an era of suffering, a collision between power and power, and it is extremely difficult for ordinary people to survive in the cracks.
The execution ground is still at Caishikou, but the executioner has changed from holding a big knife to holding a gun now. People keep a certain distance. After all, the bullets have no eyes. This is not the same as before. With one knife, no one except the death row prisoners can It can't be hurt either.
At this time, it was not yet three quarters to noon. The executioner may have been used to this scene and was chatting relaxedly. As for the death row inmate who was waiting to die, his face was gray and he said nothing.
Sun Kui's master, people called him Lao Sun, it was because he and Sun Kui were from the same family, and Sun Kui also had the capital to earn a living in this industry, that he accepted Sun Kui as his disciple.
At this time, Lao Sun pointed at one of the young men who looked handsome, but his face was pale and shaking like a sieve, and said: "When you go to collect the corpses, look carefully. He is the third young master of the Zhao family."
Sun Kui looked at the face that was not much more mature than his own, and felt a little unbearable. He whispered to the master: "You are so young, you have to be shot? What did you commit? Murder and arson?"
"There is no such thing as murder and arson. It's just that young people are inevitably impulsive and shouting that they want to overthrow someone. How can they not shoot him? Hey, it's good to live peacefully in this troubled world. Why bother to be the one who stands out? "Old Sun felt a little emotional, looking at his expression he also felt sorry for the young man.
"Master, I will take the body away later. Can you let me take it with me?" Sun Kui was a little worried. He was not stupid. He had followed his master since he was a child, and he was very thoughtful. Although the master's words were simple, he heard them. There is a lot of information, for example, this warlord must be very domineering, and young people will be shot if they shout a few slogans.
"Don't worry, the relationship between superiors and subordinates has been sorted out. Remember to act quickly later, otherwise all the souls will be scattered and the corpse will not be recovered." Lao Sun said simply, obviously he didn't want to comment. Lest disaster come from your mouth.
"Well, don't worry, Master, I can still do this little thing well!" Sun Kui nodded seriously.
While the master and apprentice were chatting, the time had unknowingly reached three quarters to noon. As the order to prepare sounded, the executioners raised their guns one after another.
At this time, there was a sound of howling ghosts and wolves in the execution ground. No need to ask, it was from the death row prisoners. Don't think that the people in the execution ground are all good men and heroes. It is normal for people to collapse at this moment.
Some call me mom, some call me "please spare me, I don't dare to do it anymore", some forcefully call me until I will be a good man again after twenty years, but in fact my pants have already been wet, which is always a tragedy.
Human beings are emotional animals, and it is inevitable that they will have the sad thoughts of rabbits dying and foxes being sad. It was the first time for Sun Kui to see this kind of tragedy in the execution ground. When he saw the third son of the Zhao family shaking even more violently, with tears on his face and snot all over his face, he finally stopped. He hesitated and turned his head.
Someone nearby scolded: "It stinks so bad, those people were scared to death." As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Kui heard the sound of gunshots.
The execution process was very fast. After confirming whether the death row prisoner was really dead and whether he needed to re-shoot, the execution team left the scene. At this time, the crowd also began to slowly disperse.
Lao Sun immediately shouted: "Sun Kui, hurry up, carry the body to the designated place. The Yang Qi has dissipated, and the gods can't do anything. I'm going to make preparations. Hurry up, Mr. Zhao." He’s the last person left in this business.”
Sun Kui responded, quickly rushed out of the crowd, and went straight to the body of Mr. Zhao. At this time, Sun Kui, with his sharp eyes, discovered that someone was already taking care of the other two corpses.
"Oh, there are so many people traveling together," Sun Kui sighed, and they had already rushed to the Third Young Master Zhao.