Yellow River Craftsman

Chapter 2
My surname is Tuoba, and my single name is an orphan.

Tuoba Gu, a very cold and arrogant name.

Tuoba is a surname derived from the Xianbei people, and is said to be a descendant of the Yellow Emperor.

It is said that our Tuoba family was still relatives of the emperor during the Northern Wei Dynasty. Later, with the passage of time and the change of dynasties, the tribe naturally fell apart and became displaced.Later, the ancestors of our family somehow ended up in Hezi Village in SMX, and have lived on the banks of the Yellow River for generations, so we have deep feelings for the Yellow River.

I don't know when my ancestors entered the Yellow River Corpse Hunting business. I only know that the craft of Yellow River Corpse Hunting was not passed down to my grandfather's generation.Grandpa was planning to pass this craft on to my dad, but my dad had an accident while out on a boat and passed away prematurely, leaving me young and ignorant, and my heartbroken mother.The death of my father brought a heavy blow to my mother. My mother was depressed all day long, and she died two years later, following her father.At that time, I could only babble, and it was my grandpa who pulled me up with shit and urine.Because I have no parents, my grandfather named me Tuobagu.

When I was young, because there was no one to take care of me at home, my grandfather took me with me every time he went out on a boat.

I remember that during the summer vacation when I was seven years old, I went out on a boat with my grandfather.On the same day, grandpa received a business. A little girl drowned in the upper reaches of Panshi Village. The parents of the little girl asked grandpa to help salvage her.

Before setting out on the boat, Grandpa took a big red rooster, chopped off its head, and sprinkled its blood on the deck, singing a strange sacrificial speech: "Dear King... You must bless your descendants... ...You are an immortal god...Let all the wandering souls go back...Give us a safe ancient road along the Yellow River...Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

I also knelt beside Grandpa and imitated his accent and sang decently.

After singing a song, put the lighted incense candle in a bowl of snow-white glutinous rice, put the chicken head in the middle of the bow, worship three times devoutly to the chicken head, and put the sticky rice with incense candle on it and the big red rice. The rooster sank into the Yellow River together.

This is a rule handed down by the ancestors. Before leaving the boat, the corpse hunter must first worship the King of the Yellow River, so as to ensure safety.

The summer sun is very poisonous, making people feel hot and painful.Our corpse boat was a small boat with a black awning. Grandpa let me hide in the awning to enjoy the cool air, and I sat on the deck smoking a pipe, staring at the river without moving.Grandpa's skin is as dark as charcoal, which is the result of years of exposure to the sun.

We left the boat in the afternoon, until the evening, and finally found the little girl's body.The little girl's body was already soaked, and the clothes on her body were probably washed away by the river, so she was naked, like a little white pig floating on the river, floating and sinking in the river.

Grandpa rowed the boat over, took out the corpse net, and focused on the floating girl's body.The corpse net is said to have been handed down from the ancestors, and its shape is similar to a net spoon. It is a long pole cut from peach wood, and a large black net is wrapped around the pole.The corpse-hunting net has passed through the hands of countless corpse-hunters, and the position of the handle has been worn black and shiny.There are many strange patterns engraved on the body of the shaft. I heard from my grandfather that it is a corpse pattern.

And that big net was no ordinary net, it was woven with the hair of a virgin girl, then soaked in black dog blood for three days and three nights, and finally exposed to the sun for seven to seven days and 49 days.Only the corpse net woven in this way can restrain the evil spirit of the dead body, so as to avoid horrible corpse changes during the process of recovery.

The little girl's body was pushed by the surging water of the Yellow River, and quickly approached our awning boat. I held my breath and widened my eyes.Grandpa raised the corpse net high above the top, swung it in an arc beautifully, and then with quick eyesight and quick hands, he reached into the water and caught the girl's body in a net.Immediately afterwards, with a sharp upward lift, the little girl's wet body was fished out of the water and placed on a black straw mat.

A strong corpse smell hit my face, and I had to pinch my nose.

Grandpa was no stranger to the smell of dead bodies. He squatted down and took a closer look at the little girl, then sighed heavily: "It's a crime for such a young girl to leave!"

While talking, Grandpa took out a yellow talisman from his pocket, on which a red charm was drawn with cinnabar. I recognize this kind of yellow talisman, which is called the corpse-fixing talisman.Every time before picking up the corpse, my grandfather would prepare a few sheets in advance. According to my grandfather, the corpse-fixing charm has the effect of fixing the corpse and preventing the sudden death of the dead.

Snapped!
Grandpa stuck the corpse talisman on the middle of the little girl's forehead, then reached out and grabbed the two corners of the straw mat, flipped it forward quickly, wrapped the girl's body skillfully, and placed it carefully inside the awning to avoid Exposure to the hot sun.

Although I have seen a lot of dead bodies, I am still young after all. With such a dead body next to me, I was still a little uneasy, and urged my grandfather to finish work and go home.

At that time, the shadow of the moon was already slanting to the west, and my grandfather rowed a boat to go home. It is taboo to fish corpses at night in this business, because dead corpses are very cloudy at night, and they are easy to "crush evil spirits". Return the boat before sunset.

Grandpa hummed a ditty and slowly swung the oars. The boat cut through the waves on the water surface, making a rattling sound.

He was in a better mood. Today's body retrieval went very smoothly, and being able to return the little girl's body to her parents was considered a merit.

Suddenly, a whimpering cry wafted over the river.Grandpa stopped the oars and listened intently, and found that the voice was sad and melodious, as if weeping and complaining, as if it was close at hand, but also as if it was far away in the sky, ethereal and not like a living person.

I was dozing against the awning, but I was awakened by the crying sound, and my heart was beating wildly.

Looking up and looking around, there are no other boats on the vast river except our corpse boat. Where did this strange crying sound come from?Could it be that the voice... came from the river?

I looked at my grandpa with some fear. Grandpa was sullen, without saying a word, and began to shake the oar vigorously.

Who knew that the strange crying sound became clearer and louder, as if there were many people crying at the bottom of the river, the crying sound was so desolate and sad that it almost broke people's hearts.

I seem to be able to faintly hear those people crying and shouting: "Hungry! We are so hungry!"

At this moment, something even more bizarre happened, the waters turned blood red.Many whirlpools appeared in the blood water, and white hand bones protruded from the whirlpools.

The horrible scene in front of me scared me out of my wits, and I started to cry at the top of my throat.

"Son, don't be afraid!" Grandpa took out a copper coin from his pocket and stuffed it in my palm.

The copper coin was old, and it was stained with rust, and there were dark green copper flowers, like moss, which was ugly.There is a square hole in the center of the copper coin, and a discolored red string is wrapped around the center of the square hole, which is cold in the hand.I don't know what my grandfather gave me this copper coin for.Because of extreme fear, I held the copper coins tightly, and tears rolled down my cheeks.I clearly felt that my body was shaking, and it was shaking very badly.

Grandpa opened his clothes and swung the scull like a wind wheel.But the strange thing is, no matter how hard he tried, our corpse boat was pulled by the whirlpool at the bottom of the river, and kept spinning on the water surface, unable to sail out of the blood-red waters at all.

I was horrified to see big clumps of hair floating out from the bottom of the boat, disgusting and weird.How can there be so many strands of hair in the water?I couldn't think about this question, my mind went blank, I just sat there blankly, so scared that I didn't dare to breathe.

What's even more weird is that those strands of hair, like living ivy, climbed up along the sides of the ship.The dense black silk made my scalp tingle and I almost fainted.

"Grandpa...Grandpa..." I was trembling with fear, looking at grandpa at a loss.

Grandpa's face became more serious: "Son, I have to go into the water. You must sit in the boat and don't move around. No matter what you see or hear later, don't make any noise. Do you understand?"

I bit my lip and nodded vigorously.

"Good boy, don't be afraid!" Grandpa tore off his coat, turned over and plunged into the bloody river.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and the evening wind was blowing on the river. I hugged my shoulders and shivered. At this time, I was the only one on the corpse boat.Oh no, and the body of the little girl.Thinking of this, I involuntarily looked back, and the little girl's body was less than two meters away from me. Although it was wrapped in a straw mat, I could see the extremely pale and swollen corpse face of the little girl at a glance. Her facial features were already swollen and deformed, sand and sand flowed out of her nose and ears constantly, and the night wind blew the mortal talisman rattling.I always felt that she seemed to be smiling at me, so I didn't dare to look any more, so I turned my head away quickly.

Those weird cries just now could not be heard, and there was a dead silence under the water. Grandpa has been silent since he entered the water, and he can't even see his shadow.I thought in fear, what should I do if my grandpa dies at the bottom of the river?I only have grandpa as a relative, I can't live without grandpa by my side!The more I thought about it, the more miserable I became, and in the end I couldn't help but burst into tears.

At this moment, the sound of gongs and gongs suddenly came from the dead silent river bottom.

I was startled suddenly, and I leaned tightly on the side of the boat, stretched my neck and looked towards the bottom of the river.

But the water in the river was turbid, and there seemed to be a layer of black air in the water. Even if I widened my eyes, I couldn't see the scene in the river.

I don't know how long it took, but the sound of the gong finally disappeared.

The blood in the river also gradually dissipated, and a crescent moon hung slantingly in the sky, and my whole body was drenched in cold sweat.

(End of this chapter)