Kowloon pull coffin

At this time, a tin stove was burning in the big house, boiling a pot of local specialty sorghum wine, and there were roast chicken, cured fish, dried beans and peanuts on the table.

I didn't eat breakfast, I'm really hungry now.Looking at the delicious food on the table, he moved his index finger and began to eat and drink with gusto.

While eating and drinking, I listened to Liu Heshou telling me about the rules and taboos of corpse hunters.

Originally, I thought that the person who retrieved the corpse would test the courage and appetite of the person most, because the timid would not dare to retrieve it, and those with shallow stomachs would vomit easily.

After listening to Liu Hechou, I realized that this bowl of rice is not delicious, and it is also a life-threatening business.

There are many kinds of corpses in the Yellow River, the most common of which are floating corpses.

Within three to five days after a person dies, the body will float up from the water. The male body is bent down, and the female body is upside down.

This is the iron law of nature, formed according to the physiological structure of men and women.

If you encounter a male corpse face up or a female corpse face down, this kind of corpse cannot be picked up, it is not called a corpse, it is called a corpse.

The corpse is evil because the resentment in the corpse has not dissipated. If you accidentally fish this kind of corpse, you will have to avenge the ghost, and if you fail, you will be entangled by the resentment.

In addition to floating corpses, there is also a kind of vertical corpses in the Yellow River.

The corpse stood upright in the water, occasionally showing the top of its head.Most of these corpses belonged to the owner, that is to say, they were targeted by kappa or water monkeys in the water.

Corpse hunters usually don't pick up vertical corpses unless they are capable of doing them.

"Xie Lan, you don't have to be afraid. I have been in this business for 20 years. I have seen almost everything in the Yellow River except for the Yellow River Empress. I don't know how many water monkeys have been slaughtered."

Seeing that I had a stern expression, Liu He was worried that I would retreat, and hurriedly patted his chest to make sure, but he didn't know that when I heard him mentioning the Yellow River Empress, I immediately regained my spirits.

When I was in middle school, there was a text called Ximen Bao, which was about He Bo’s marriage, and the so-called Empress of the Yellow River was the object of He Bo’s marriage.

In the old society, in order to worship the King of the Yellow River, people usually sacrificed live sheep and cattle, and the most terrifying thing was to sacrifice living people.

The unmarried Huanghua girls should be good-looking, good-looking, good-looking, and able to sing ditties, wrap their bodies in red silk cloth, brush with tung oil and sink into the bottom of the river.

Although Empress Huang He is also a ghost, she is a rare and beautiful ghost.

Died unmarried, with remnants in her heart, so most of the folk stories about the Yellow River Empress are related to the love between men and women.

"Uncle Bai, is there still Empress Huang He in the Yellow River?" I asked.

"Modern world has changed, and the Yellow River King may be gone, but this Yellow River Empress is a living person who was used as a sacrifice. If she died innocently, she should still be there."

"What's so special about Empress Huanghe? What if she meets her?"

"Don't worry, we won't meet each other. The four generations of my Bai family have never seen Empress Huang He."

"There are exceptions to everything, what if it happens?" I was unwilling to continue asking.

"Hey, if you really meet her, it's easy to deal with. Just spend a few years in Yangshou and marry her. Apart from not being able to give birth to you, I can do everything else, and you will enjoy endless beauty."

Liu Hechou bared his teeth and smiled, talking nonsense.

()

Chapter 2 Silly girl Huixiang

Before the peach flood came, Liu Hechou and I stayed in his small courtyard most of the time, and I came to listen to his stories.Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, the peach season arrived, the water in the Yellow River began to surge, and Liu Hechou also began to get busy.

In the past few years, due to reasons such as marriage, relationship, career, and accidents, the number of corpses in the Yellow River has increased year by year. At the busiest time, Liu Hechou salvaged seven corpses a day.

On the Yellow River, Liuhe is not the only one who is worried about a corpse collector, but he is the most famous because he is the only one who dares to retrieve corpses.He was not bragging when he said that the water monkey was slaughtered. I saw several water monkey skins nailed to the wall in his utility room.

This afternoon we received a call from a villager saying that Huixiang, a silly girl from Shilidu, had fallen into the river and drowned, and her body had floated into the reeds.

It never occurred to me that the first time I participated in the body salvage, it was her who was salvaged.

I also know Huixiang, who has a very pitiful background.Both of his parents died when he was young. When he grew up, he went to work outside and was tricked into getting pregnant. The child was not born but fell into a mental illness and was sent back to his hometown.Wandering in the countryside on weekdays, when you meet local ruffians, you can coax her to take off her pants by giving some melon seeds and snacks.

This business is an official job with no pay.Huixiang is an orphan, so no one is willing to pay for her, and Liu Hechou has no one with a child in her bed, and she doesn't really value money, so she accepts the job without hesitation.

When we arrived at Shilidu, we saw a few villagers standing sparsely on the bank.They are all old people in the village, waiting for Huixiang's body to be buried for the sake of sophistication.Liu Hechou didn't talk too much nonsense, and as soon as he greeted the master, he drove the broken boat into the reed marsh.

The boats used by corpse hunters are called rotten boats, not to say that the boats are rotten, but a special way of saying: good boats ferry people, and rotten boats ferry souls.

Since it was the first time to retrieve a corpse, I was a little nervous.Although the reed buds are sprouting now, and the reed marsh is not so terrified, it is awkward to look at the wild grass.

According to the instructions of the villagers, we found Huixiang's body within a short time.

Floating sprawling among a circle of dead branches and leaves, her black hair was scattered behind her head.The buttons of the torn padded jacket on his body have been undone, exposing his white chest, dazzling white.

Every time I saw her before, her head and face were black, so dirty that she couldn't see the flesh, but this time she was finally washed clean.

Because it was discovered early, the body hadn't soaked much hair yet, and it looked as if it was asleep, very peaceful.

"Xie Lan, come this time." Liu Hechou lit a cigarette and said.

"No way, Uncle Bai. I'm a newcomer and I'm not even considered an apprentice. It depends on how many times you demonstrate to me before I can get into the water." I said in surprise.

"If there is anything good to demonstrate, you can just do what I usually teach you. The folks in the village are all acquaintances. If you die so peacefully, you won't make any troubles. It's just for you to practice your courage."

"OK then."

I thought about it too, anyway, sooner or later you have to get in close contact with the corpse, this time is indeed a good opportunity to practice courage.

Salvage companies use fishing nets and row hooks to retrieve corpses, but corpse collectors are different.

The corpse in the water was already swollen, if the iron hook broke a lot of soup and water, how could you be ashamed to ask the customer for money?

The corpse hunters all went into the water by themselves, first covered the corpse with a white cloth, and then tied up the corpse with a rope mixed with black dog hair and carried it on the boat.

Seeing my agreement, Liu Hechou took out a white cloth and covered Huixiang's body skillfully and precisely.But I took off my clothes and only put on shorts, and cautiously entered the water with the body rope sticking to the side of the boat.

The water will be cold, and just touching it will cause goose bumps all over your body.

I slowly swam to Huixiang's body, first found her right arm, and tied it with a red rope.Tying a red rope is called a deed, male left and female right, which means that this corpse will be taken care of by me, and the corpse will be taken ashore.

Because I was very careful, nothing went wrong in the whole process of picking up the corpse, and soon I quickly tied up Huixiang's body and fished it onto the boat.It's not over when the corpse is on the boat. The corpse hunter pays attention to money and goods, and has to take something from the corpse as a reward.

But Huixiang had nothing on her but a torn cotton jacket, and the pants on her lower body were washed away by the water.Liu Hechou told me that if you encounter such a clean corpse, if you really have nothing to take, you can only take a strand of hair from the deceased, and you must not take it empty-handed.

Hair is also known as troublesome thread. If Huixiang has no complaints after death, it is okay. If there is resentment, most of it will be entangled in the hair.

At that moment, Liu Hechou and I looked at me and I looked at you, but neither of us spoke.

"Ahem, Xie Lan, your horoscope is strong enough, come on."

"Hehe." I couldn't help sneering.