Huanghe Village is located on the edge of Qingliu River.
The villagers there depend on the river for food, most of them are fishermen, and only a few people farm.
I remember hearing it mentioned by others.
On the way, we rode a tractor and rode in an ox cart for more than an hour, and then we saw the village in the distance.
Rows of tile-roofed houses are scattered along the river.
There is a net hanging in front of almost every house.
Moreover, there are boats of all sizes along the river.
But now that I'm here, I'm a little confused.
I only know that my stepmother’s name is Wen Wan, but I don’t know my biological mother’s name.
I asked Grandma Liu before, and she only said that everyone calls my mother the strong wife.
Qiang Sheng is my dad!
never mind!
Let’s find the corpse collector first!
Seeing a strong man sorting out his fishing net, I hurried over.
"Brother!"
"What's up?"
The strong man responded and continued to work on himself.
"Brother, may I ask if you have a body hunter here?"
"Oh, the house on the far west is his!"
What the strong man blurted out made me stunned for a moment.
"I even said his name!"
In fact, I don't know the man's name, I just think the man answered too quickly.
"Generally young people don't have this profession, so this is the only one left! But those who work in that profession will inevitably be tainted with bad luck throughout their lives."
When the strong man said this, he looked me up and down.
"If a family member really fell into the river and couldn't be found, there would be no need to look for him!"
"thank you!"
"You're welcome!"
The westernmost house is a little further away from the village.
I don’t know if I deliberately avoided it when building the house. After all, few people who deal with corpses want to associate with them.
Looking around, I only saw an old boat on the river not far away.
It was covered with moss and looked very old.
Seeing that the door was unlocked, I raised my hand and knocked.
"Male or female?"
A few moments later, a hoarse voice came from behind.
I was startled and turned around quickly.
Then, I saw an old man with dark skin.
"Uncle, I..."
"I asked you, are you a boy or a girl?" The old man knocked on his pipe and looked at me impatiently. "Let me make it clear to you first, we will not take advantage of pregnant unmarried girls and new wives who got pregnant on their wedding night! That guy is so resentful that he might even risk my life!"
So he thought I was a family member begging him to retrieve the body?
"Uncle, how much does it cost to make a profit?"
The old man squinted his eyes and raised a finger slowly.
"One thousand dollars?"
"It's 10,000 yuan!" the old man muttered, "If you fish for corpses in the Qingliu River, they might turn into corpses!"
"But sir, I don't have any cash!"
"Alipay and WeChat are all fine!" The old man said this, and suddenly took out a POS machine, "You can also swipe your card!"
"Uncle, your equipment is really complete!"
"That's not true! Traveling in the world is all about being prepared!"
I angrily transferred 10,000 yuan to the uncle, and then my body ached terribly.
Although the money belongs to Ning Zingka, I have to pay it back in the end.
"You girl are so happy. You transferred the money directly without fear that I would run away! Those who are easily deceived are probably fools like you, right?"
"Uncle, I won't allow you to insult my intelligence!"
"It doesn't have anything, what are you worried about!" The old man waved his hand impatiently, "It's too late today, we can't pick up the body at night, you tell me which piece of the deceased fell, and I will go and solve it for you tomorrow. But we have agreed in advance that it can be as simple as fishing for fish. It can take as little as three to five days, or as long as half a month. If you can’t catch it, I will refund half of your money!"
"You made me five thousand without getting anything?"
This guy, this money is so profitable.
"Do you think it's easy to fish out corpses?" The old man said with a straight face, "There are many taboos on fishing out corpses. You can't go out of the boat to fish out corpses during thunderstorms. If you fail to fish out the same corpse three times, you can't fish it out again. Every time you go out to fish out a corpse, Before, you had to worship the river god, and you had to bring a big red rooster on the boat. When you fished out the body and put it away in the boat, you used a knife to cut off the neck of the big red rooster, and finally threw the rooster into the river before you could leave!"
"Is it so complicated?" I suddenly became interested, "What are the three non-raids?"
"You're so curious, girl!" The old man knelt down and took a deep drag on his cigarette. "Except for the pregnant girl and the young daughter-in-law on their wedding night that I told you before, you cannot fish out corpses standing upright in the water, especially those with only one head exposed. This kind of corpse is called 'Sha', which is It is a very ferocious and evil thing. The so-called "three-not-fishing" refers to a corpse that cannot be fished out three times in a row. This kind of corpse had an obsession and refused to leave when it was alive. If it is fished out forcibly, it will cause disaster!"
At this point, the old man paused.
"You haven't told anyone in your family who fell in there!"
"Not yet!"
"Not yet?" The old man raised his voice, "Any reservations for recruiting people?"
"Uncle, you are so funny!"
"I have a bad sense of humor!" The old man stood up angrily and stared at me fiercely. "What on earth are you here for?"
"I have yin and yang eyes!"
As soon as these words came out, the old man immediately softened his expression.
"Some ghost asked you to help retrieve the body?"
"Not counting! A corpse I know is a Giant Viewer. Do you know what a Giant Viewer is?"
"Of course! It's been soaked several times, and looks like yeasted steamed buns!"
"Yes, yes!" I nodded repeatedly, "I want to find his family and help him bury him in peace! But, he doesn't remember anything!"
The old man said nothing, but frowned as if thinking about something.
"Uncle! Uncle!"
"What's his name? It scares me to death!" The old man covered his chest, "Actually, I have a way to retrieve his memory!"
"Uncle, tell me quickly!"
"Water has memory, you know? There will be a period of struggle before a person drowns, and the memories that flash in his mind during that time will seep into the water along with the smell of corruption. So, as long as you will He puts it back into the water, finds someone with a bad spirit or is about to die and drowns it with him, and then you can see his memory!"
Isn’t it similar to the method Ning Yi taught me before?
By adjusting the magnetic fields of the living and the dead to the same dimension, the living can see the fragmented memories of the dead.
To die!
I can't swim and I'll drown easily!
"Then how do I know which river he drowned in?"
"Have you heard the saying that the sea accommodates all rivers? All water eventually flows to the sea, and the water underground is all connected."
"According to what you say, I can just put the body into a small pond to complete this ritual?"
"That's the theory!"
I,"……"
This uncle's logic is very clear.
"Uncle, how many dead people have you killed in your life?"
"I can't count!" The old man waved his hand, "I have not only fished out the dead, but also the living dead! The baby girl was obviously dead, but she cried out not long after she was fished out. Everyone thought it was weird, but We can't throw back even a living life. Those who can't drown in the river are saved by the river god's mercy. We make a living on the river, so naturally we don't dare to disobey the river god! So, we feed the baby a hundred meals. Keep it!”
Baby girl?
Could it be my mother?
"Uncle, where is the baby girl now?"
"Getting married!" the old man curled his lips, "The baby grew up to be a wealthy woman, but because she likes to eat raw fish, everyone is taboo on her. Finally, someone came over to propose marriage, so naturally they collected the dowry and married her off immediately. It seems...it seems that the family I married into is still a big and respectable family, with the surname Shen!"
"Then what's her name? Tell me, uncle!"
"I didn't give her a serious name! Because she was a female doll fished out of the water, she was named..."
"Shuiba?" I responded hurriedly.
"I'm still a Huo baby! You're a gourd baby looking for grandpa!" The old man rolled his eyes, "Because it's a female doll fished out of the water, so I named it Zhao Di! I have no children, so I want to I want to get another son!"
…
(End of chapter)
