Return to the main room.
Zhou Min's parents have stopped crying, but there are still tears in the corners of their eyes and their expressions are sad.
It seems that the death of their only daughter, the white-haired person gave away the black-haired person, really hit them hard.
Even if two months have passed, they will still feel sad when they think back...
I didn't know what to do, so I could only comfort the two old people with a few words and then left here.
"Perhaps the best comfort for them is to find out the real cause of Zhou Min's death so that she can truly rest in peace."
I thought to myself.
Back at the coffin shop, Lao Cao had stopped making coffins.
I saw a man in coarse shorts and black linen clothes standing next to Lao Cao, discussing something with him in a low voice.
Lao Cao smoked his pipe and puffed out smoke, looking thoughtful.
I didn't think much about it. I stepped across the threshold and shouted:
"Old Cao, I'm back. Are there guests?"
Both he and the man turned to look at me.
"Xiao Wu is back? This is Li Miao, the corpse collector on the Sichuan River."
Corpse hunter!
I was shocked and thought this was a coincidence.
Originally thinking about Zhou Min, it would be best to pick up her body first.
If he really died from evil magic, there should be some traces left, which can be carefully investigated.
Of course, we had just met, and the origin and purpose of the other party were not yet clear. I don’t know the price he pays for fishing for a corpse, so I won’t speak rashly.
He just said in surprise: "Corpse hunter? This is a very powerful profession in the miscellaneous sect. Dare I ask this big brother, are you the Red Boat Beard?"
Originally, the middle-aged man named Li Miao was a little strange when he saw that Lao Cao didn't address me as a pure junior. Now when he heard me speak, he was also shocked.
He looked at me with a surprised look and spoke.
"My little brother is not an ordinary person! Not only does he know that we are a miscellaneous sect, but he also knows about the Red Boat Beard? Unfortunately, I am not the Red Boat Beard, just an ordinary corpse hunter."
At the end of the sentence, Li Miao's tone seemed a little low.
I can probably understand that too.
Although the red boat bearded man does more than simply fish out corpses, he also has responsibilities such as patrolling the waters and inspecting the water conditions. But it basically represents the pinnacle of the body-catching industry.
To paraphrase a common saying: A corpse collector who doesn’t want to be a bearded man on a red ship is not a good corpse collector!
But at this time, Lao Cao blew out a smoke ring and spoke slowly.
"Who in the entire Shuxi County doesn't know Li's reputation as a corpse collector? How can he be called an ordinary corpse collector? Xiao Wu, he is just too humble."
I actually know very well that he is really an ordinary corpse collector, and Lao Cao has no intention of talking nonsense to him.
He is obviously a man of extraordinary skill. At least in the business of fishing for corpses, he shouldn't be any worse than Uncle Yuan Fei...
After speaking, Lao Cao looked at Li Miao again: "Xiao Wu was ordered by one of my seniors to live in my coffin shop and follow me. He has a great status. Don't underestimate him. This guy was just in a literary fight. Beat me."
What? !
Li Miao was shocked, and the expression she looked at me was even more surprised.
"This little brother Wu looks like he is only thirteen or fourteen years old, right? A junior high school student? Can he defeat you, Cao Coffin Maker? I don't believe it!"
He shook his head vigorously.
Lao Cao wanted to refute, but I spoke first - after all, I am still a young man, and no matter how mature my mind is, I am still a bit competitive.
How can you bear it when you see people questioning you?
"Brother Li, your ambition lies in your age. Don't underestimate me."
While talking, I took out two stones from my pocket and threw them randomly towards my feet, and then took a step. Li Miao's expression suddenly changed.
I know why.
Because in Li Miao's sight, he must have seen two of me!
Li Miao sighed: "Such a close-range illusion? This little brother is indeed a well-known master. He is a young hero."
Actually, this is not a direct illusion.
It's the effect of the miniature Qimen Formation - the method I used when fighting Lao Cao Wen not long ago, and I just learned it two days ago.
It belongs to current learning and current use.
I smiled and shook my head: "Young heroes can't be talked about. But I won't deny that my teacher comes from a famous family. After all, I can't be humble for my master. Although I don't know where she comes from... By the way, Brother Li What's the matter with Lao Cao?"
I asked casually.
Anyway, Lao Cao would never hide anything from me, so he simply asked Li Miao directly in person.
"this……"
As expected, Li Miao looked at Lao Cao.
Lao Cao nodded: "You can tell Xiao Wu anything you want me to do, and he will listen."
With Lao Cao's approval, Li Miao no longer hid it and told him his purpose again...
It turned out that more than half a month ago, a five or six-year-old child of a family in Xiaowan Village, a dozen miles south of Lianghe Town, drowned while playing in the water.
The family was distraught and found Li Miao through friends, a well-known corpse collector within dozens of miles.
Ask him to help rescue his child.
When Li Miao received this job, he thought it was a very easy thing.
Indeed, this kind of accidental drowning, and it was a child of five or six years old, there should be no trouble or danger.
To him, it was almost as simple as eating and drinking.
So, Li Miao rowed a boat and came to see the family outside Xiaowan Village.
The man's surname is Xiao and his name is Xiao Mao. He is the son of the village chief of Xiaowan Village. After graduating from college, he returned to the village to engage in breeding.
These days, society is developing rapidly and the economy is booming. Modern large-scale mechanized breeding plants in big cities have become common.
Although the chickens, ducks and pigs raised in this quick-fire mode have high yields, they are increasingly becoming bland and tasteless.
As a result, the wealthy people in the city began to like to eat "local food" again.
That is, native chickens, native ducks, and native pigs, these are purely natural ingredients raised by farmers.
Although it was just a trend, Xiao Mao thought it was very exciting, so after graduating from college, he returned to the village and started farming.
Seeing that his career was getting better and better, his wife was beautiful and gentle, and his children were cute and lovable... But one day at noon when the couple was taking a nap, he sneaked to the river to play in the water and was drowned. .
"Mr. Li, I leave my son's body to you. No matter what, I hope he can be buried in peace. He will not be floating in the water and become a lonely ghost."
Xiao Mao's eye circles were still a little red, and his wife was crying and speechless.
Li Miao stared at the couple carefully for a while, feeling more relieved.
Although he is not a physiognomist and cannot read faces. But he can still see clues to a person's basic temperament, much more sensitively than ordinary people.
Li Miao could tell at a glance that Xiao Mao and his wife were both kind-hearted people. I also heard that he had a good reputation in Xiaowan Village and was kind to others. I think the drowned child must have lived a happy life.
After thinking about it for a while, Li Miao was ready to start collecting the corpses.
The reason why Xiaowan Village is called this is because it happens to be at a corner of the Chuanjiang River.
The Sichuan River flows from the north and suddenly turns west here, forming a river bend. It looks like a "ji" shape turned ninety degrees counterclockwise.
Therefore, the speed of water flow slowed down, resulting in a large amount of sediment deposition, forming a river bend and flat beach. So in the late Qing Dynasty, a small village was formed.
Precisely because it is a river bend, floating corpses from the upper reaches and local drowned people will accumulate on the east coast here. You can often see some nameless floating corpses.
Generally speaking, female floating corpses are face down, while male floating corpses are face up.
If this is not the case, it means that he has probably transformed into a corpse!
Li Miao told Xiao Mao and his wife that drowned people have the strongest yin energy and are unlikely to emerge during the day, making it difficult to fish them out. At night, the corpses would surface one by one, floating like pieces of wood, drifting with the waves.
Li Miao asked Xiao Mao and found out that the name of the drowned child was Xiao Sheng. He said to the couple again.
"Wait until twelve o'clock in the evening, give me one of your child's clothes when he was alive, and get his favorite toy. Grab a handful of soil from the threshold. I will go to the east bank of the river bend to fish him out."
"As soon as I take him ashore, he will be put into the coffin immediately. Then he will be taken home. After daybreak, he will notify the coffin bearers to prepare for the ceremony and then bury him depending on the situation."
