When I dreamed of doing this, I suddenly woke up from my sleep. I didn't know if I had this unprovoked dream because I heard those words of Aunt Cui.
This dream disturbed me and scared me. Although it was just a dream, I no longer doubted what Aunt Cui said.
In the second half of the night, I hardly fell asleep again, constantly thinking about the things that happened in the past. It is true that after the separation of my master and I, we have encountered some strange and messy things, but no matter how I think about it, I can't think of anything that has something to do with my own eyes.
At dawn, the fortune teller rushed to the kitchen in the small courtyard to make breakfast, and then called me to get up and eat. Aunt Cui woke up too, but her eyes were still severely swollen. She was sitting against the threshold, listening to the busy voice of God fortune teller in the kitchen.
When the three of them were sitting at the small table for dinner, the fortune teller said to me: "Brother, I am afraid that you can't see anything with your eyes for the time being. Tweety can't see clearly, and others can't see clearly."
"If you can see it, don't let people go to see it." Aunt Cui said, "A careless one may harm others."
"I know." I nodded, no matter how awkward I felt, but the matter was in front of my eyes. If I wanted to get to the bottom of it, maybe it would really harm others as Aunt Cui said.
"Brother, I want to drive a little bit, it's no big deal, don't you be alive and well every day? If something happens, it will happen long ago. I won't wait until today. I don't want to, and it's fine." With a very embarrassing expression on his face, he said, "You live here for a few days, and then I will send you down the mountain."
"Send me down the mountain?"
"Yeah, I'm afraid you won't remember the way you came and will take you down the mountain. I have to stay here... Stay here for a while." The fortune teller looked at the aunt Cui next to him, and whispered: "Now I can talk about everything. Now, her eyes are uncomfortable, I can't leave her here alone."
I knew the intention of the fortune teller, and I didn't stay long, so I left here that day. The fortune teller gave me a ride, and he wanted to send it again, so I threw him back. I still remember the way I came.
I was walking on the way back alone, and I felt a little lost. This feeling is the same as when I was separated from the master. Such and such things. But there is no way, the fortune teller also said, the matter is on his body, it is fate, since the investigation is not clear, it is simply as if the matter has never happened, only when my heart is calm, I will not think so much.
I followed the same way I came and returned to the ferry where the boat stopped. The ship the Feng family sent was almost a new ship, much easier to steer than the small broken ship I had originally. When I left the ferry, I didn't know where I was going or what to do. After thinking about it, I still hope to meet my father and master again while drifting in the river.
With this idea, I found a very small village near the river beach. The village is very small and there are few people, but the village is located on a higher terrain and will not be submerged during the flood season every year, so the people in the village have been for generations. Never left here.
I couldn’t find a free house in the village. I did it myself and ran to the edge of the village.
A small house was built in the area next to the sandy land, just enough for one's body. The people in the village are very talkative. Not only did they not embarrass me, there were people who came to help me when I was building the hut.
Settling down here, I restarted the days before, going down the river every day, going home in dark, and repeating the cycle.
It's also a coincidence that there is a newly built temple in the lower reaches of the small village about five or six miles. I have asked about it. It was also built by Grandpa Ma with money. The Xi Temple is quite big. Every day, around the Xi Temple, a few corpse hunters and some passers-by gather together.
The so-called path-blazer is also a very old profession on the big river beach. Whether in Ximiao or Hanging Corpse Cliff, some family members of the deceased may find it here, and their lives may be delayed. The deceased will either begin to rot or become mottled. It is difficult for ordinary people to start, and they are also scared.
More importantly, there are rules in many rural areas that people do not enter their houses. This means that even if people die, they must die in their own homes. If they die outside, they cannot be transported to their homes. Therefore, those who died outside will be directly transported back to the tomb and buried by their families. According to folklore, these deceased will encounter dirty things in the way back, and even be followed by dirty things. If they are really caught up by the dirty, they will be buried together with the dead, which will damage the feng shui of the ancestral grave. .
This kind of thing is mysterious and mysterious to talk about, but many people are convinced that if they really found the corpse of their family members outside, they would hire a passer-by who was responsible for sending the dead to the place where they were going to be buried safely. Some small households, who can't afford so much money, usually pull the carts to take away the dead by themselves, and the passers-by just open the way in front. Some households have money, they will pay a sum of money directly, and they don't have to worry about anything, and the corpses are transported back to their hometowns by the pioneers.
Many corpse collectors and passers-by know each other. The corpse collectors are asked by their family members to collect the corpses.
I found that Xi Temple was not too far from here. Whenever I had free time, I would go over and chat with those who found dead bodies. It's not that they are idle, but these people travel north and south, are knowledgeable, stay on the side of the river every day, and are more familiar with the situation in the river than ordinary people. I still want to know whether that rare small whirlpool has appeared again, and if there are still floating corpses in the whirlpool.
After more than half a month in this calm, I got acquainted with some people in the small village, and some people in Hexi Temple. People who go down the river basically drink to get rid of the dampness and the cold. Every day before sunset, these people will drink some wine together, and then stop work and return home and wait until tomorrow. I don't drink with them, I just sit around and eat my own dry food and listen to them talk about things in the river.
One day and a half in the afternoon, I cruised on the river for more than a dozen miles. There was no business. When passing by the Xi Temple, a few corpse scavengers were idle and called me to go over and chat. I looked at the sky, and after more than an hour, the sun should go down. There was not enough time to go back and forth, so I just got off the boat and sat next to the Xi Temple to rest.
These corpse scavengers usually talk about things they encountered in the past when they were sailing in the water, some old corpse scavengers or old openers.
Passers-by have seen the world, and they have indeed encountered things that others have not encountered. Among them was a pathfinder who was in his forties. It is said that he learned to open the way at the age of thirteen or four. He has been on the river beach for more than 30 years and has traveled many places. One of his legs is a little lame and he walked and turned. . People like us met together, everyone just got together to chat, and no one would really inquire about each other's name and origin. Therefore, everyone called this opener Laoguai.
Regardless of finding a dead body or opening a road, there is no fixed business. It is all luck. Sometimes it may not open for a few days, and sometimes it may be too busy to stop. Laoguai was drinking and telling everyone some interesting things. I saw that he was happily drinking, so I took the opportunity to ask him if he had heard of the river god accepting people before.
"Heshen accepts people?" Laoguai looked at me and said, "Then you are asking the right person. I have not only heard of it, but also seen it with my own eyes."
"Then tell me, what's the matter with River God's income?"
"I've only seen it, but I don't know exactly what is going on." Laoguai thought for a while and said, "It was many years ago. At that time, I was still young and my leg was not injured. One time, I saw a small ferry boat with my own eyes. It overturned the boat when it was easy to walk. The people on the boat fell into the water. When they fell into the water, there was a circle of whirlpools on the surrounding water."
As soon as I heard it, I felt that Laoguai didn't make up his mind. He should have actually seen this kind of thing.
"Then what then?" I then asked: "The boat capsized and people fell into the water, what happens afterwards?"
"Afterwards..."
Laoguai was about to speak, suddenly closed his mouth, stood up on the wall of Ximiao, raised his eyes and looked towards the river. Ximiao was afraid of being flooded, so it was usually built in a relatively high place. When we saw Laoguai shut up, we followed his gaze and looked at it together.
The moment I turned my head and looked around, I immediately saw a small ferry, sailing from upstream, from upstream to downstream, basically it didn't take much effort, as long as the person in charge of the ship mastered the direction and strength. But I saw the small ferry boat twisting around on the river, as if it was being dragged by something.
Before a few people could speak, the ferry suddenly overturned. There were seven or eight people on board, including the boat’s family. When the ship overturned, the people on the boat would naturally fall into the water and hop on the surface of the water.
"God, there is fire in my mouth? Whatever you say?" Laoguai was the first one to ran over, and the others followed along towards the river beach.
Because the distance is a bit far away, I can't see if there are vortexes on the river for the time being, but I can see that the ferry is turning very strange.
When we ran to the river in a hurry, the ferry boat, together with the people on it, had sunk into the water.
"Look!" Laoguai's eyes were very good, and he pointed to the river to face us and shouted: "That's the kind of whirlpool! One by one! One by one!"
"This... Is this the river God accepting people..."
"The people on the boat can't be saved? That's quite a few people."
"Don't go! Don't go!" Laoguai said, "Those whirlpools can eat people! I saw it clearly back then. No matter who, no matter how good the water is, they will be swept up as long as they are close to the whirlpool. Go in, no one can escape!"
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)