When Bi An and Fan Wu came to Tangkou, the banks of the river were already crowded with people, and the water could not be drained. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In Changtangkou, Hunan, an old man stood at Tangkou, holding a red ribbon in his hand, he tied the ribbon in his hand to a long pole in Tangkou, and more than a dozen young men came over and touched the red silk.

Then they went down, and saw several boats lined up in the mouth of the pond, with dragons in the bow and a large drum on board.

Each boat can seat twelve to eighteen oarsmen, one leader, one drummer, and one gong player. The oarsmen, each holding a short oar, paddled forward to the beat of the drums. Sitting on the bow of the ship, with a red cloth wrapped around his head, and two small flags in his hands, waving left and right, directing the advance and retreat of the ship. Those who beat drums and gongs mostly sit in the middle of the boat.

The race has finally started in anticipation. The young hands were in high spirits, with a bunch of red cloth wrapped around their heads and waists, which shone in the light of the morning sun. The drum sounded, and the dragon boat flew like an arrow off the string, coming and going on the calm and waveless Tang River. People watching the dragon boats on both sides of the strait shouted loudly, and some even took out all the gongs and drums at home and beat them heavily to cheer.

As soon as the boat moves, the gongs and drums are simply beaten, and the oars are adjusted to the beat of the oars. The speed of a boat has to rely on the sound of drums, so whenever the two boats compete violently, the drums are like thunder, and the people on both sides of the strait shout and cheer, which reminds people of the various situations of water battles and drums in the Liang Hongyu Lao Stork River.

Even more good young people hung the "serial ringing" firecrackers prepared in advance on the trees and lit them. For a while, the sound of shouts, gongs and drums, and crackling firecrackers converged in one place, echoing on the surface of the river, deafening.

"The Dragon Boat Festival in the world is getting more and more lively," Bi An said, he had seen the first Dragon Boat Festival, only a few people threw zongzi into the river, and the tradition of dragon boat racing was developed later.

After a while, the dragon boat race was over, and the young people walked up to the old man, who took off the red silk from the pole and wrapped it around Shao Sheng, the person who performed best in the dragon boat race.

Shao Sheng waved his hand at everyone with a red ribbon, walked up to the stage according to the rules and began to recite the prepared lines: "The fifth day of the fifth month of May, the Dragon Boat Festival." It is an important festival in Changtangkou, and there are many tourists every year......"

Bi An listened to the tiredness and pulled Fan Wu away, there were many stalls along the way, on which a series of knickknacks unique to the Dragon Boat Festival such as sachets and zongzi were placed. And the place with the most people should belong to the Miluo River.

Around the Miluo River, a child buys rice dumplings from a stall and throws them into the river, and there are many people around him who are just like him. Bi An looked around and found that there was a wooden sign standing next to the river, which was engraved about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival:

Around the Warring States period in 340 BC, there was a man named Qu Yuan.

Qu Yuan was born in an aristocratic family in the state of Chu. He had outstanding talents in his youth, and soon after he stepped into the court of Chu, he was appreciated and became a great official second only to the prime minister. However, Qu Yuan's idea of political reform was never realized, and he was finally cut from his post and exiled.

During his exile, he traveled to many places in present-day Hunan and Hubei, and wrote many poems full of patriotic feelings and concern for the people. Later, when the state of Chu died, Qu Yuanxin was wrapped in indescribable pain, so he came to the Boluo River, picked up a stone, and threw himself into the river to commit suicide.

After Qu Yuan's death, people built temples and tombs for him, and admired and remembered him for a long time. He died on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and people regard this day as a festival, the Dragon Boat Festival. There is a custom in Qu Yuan's hometown and the vast areas of southern China that a grand dragon boat race is held every day, and it is said that dragon boat rowing means to save Qu Yuan.

People have to eat zongzi every Dragon Boat Festival, because a long time ago, in order to sacrifice Qu Yuan, the people by the Boluo River wrapped rice into zongzi and threw it into the water to feed the fish, so that the fish were full and no longer ate Qu Yuan's corpse.

Bi An looked at the story on the wooden sign, and laughed meaningfully, he bought a zongzi in front of the stall, the zongzi was very exquisite, the triangular zongzi was wrapped very exquisitely, Bi An did not throw the zongzi into the river, but slowly untied the rope that wrapped the zongzi, and then tasted it.

"Sweet and soft, very good" Bi An opened his mouth to praise, and the lady who sold zongzi was very happy after hearing it: "Of course it's delicious, it's not delicious, it can't attract fish and shrimp, how to protect Qu Yuan" Bi An nodded and agreed, and bought some zongzi from the eldest lady to find Fan Wu.

Fan Wu is in the upper reaches of the Miluo River, and there are very few tourists here, only a few sparse people. Fan Wu sat by the river, looking at the jade slip in his hand, and the five patterns intersected together, forming a figure.

Every time a town ghost is collected, a pattern will appear on the jade slip, originally thought that these patterns were not related, but after the fifth pattern appeared, Fan Wu saw some clues Fan Wu, who was pondering the pattern on the jade slip, suddenly appeared in front of him.

Bi An carried the zongzi, shook it at Fan Wu and said, "Taste it, it's very good" Bi An was disturbed by his thoughts, Fan Wu took back the jade pendant and took the zongzi.

Fan Wu looked at the zongzi, and when he passed by the river, he also looked at the wooden sign and read the story written on it. At this moment, he is looking at the zongzi in his hand, and there is some sadness in his heart, the Dragon Boat Festival has been handed down, but the truth of the Dragon Boat Festival is impossible for the world to know.

"Don't think about it so much, let's eat zongzi" Bi An saw Fan Wu's thoughts, the Miluo River is calm at the moment, and it has been two thousand three hundred years since the last time he came to this place.

Two thousand three hundred years ago, the royal family of Chu obeyed the orders of King Huai of Chu and sent people to hunt and kill Qu Yuan. The soldiers finally caught Qu Yuan by the river, assassinated him and put him in a bag, tied him tightly and pressed stones into the heart of the river, staging a cruel historical tragedy.

The dragon boat race is a metaphor for the fierce scene of chasing and killing Qu Yuan at that time, and the tragic fact that Qu Yuan was thrown into the river is metaphorized by wrapping zongzi - glutinous rice symbolizes Qu Yuan's body, zongye symbolizes the bag containing him, and zongzi silk symbolizes the rope that binds him; And throwing the zongzi into the water symbolizes the truth that Qu Yuan was drowned.

"It's ridiculous, it's a festival that has been passed down to this day, but the truth of the matter has been covered up" Fan Wuxin sighed infinitely. Bi An didn't answer, and the river reflected the figures of the two of them, who knew the secrets of the world and suffered from the unspeakable loneliness. (To be continued.) )