After walking for six days, Li Moyi finally had a chance to rest, and his confused mind along the way seemed to be slowly coming back to his senses now.

Regret, he knew that he would have to go so far to do something evil, he would never agree to Old Man Zhao, but this place is very remote and secretive, and now he can't find his way back alone.

got on the thief ship, but could only follow the thief.

And the person named Liu Dayi is completely a piece of wood, and he doesn't say much along the way, just walks forward. The trail is fast.

……

They waited until dark, and during that time the prime man did not take on any business.

It was almost time to call it a day, and the man in his prime felt that the old man might not be able to come today, so he decided to call it a day.

But at this moment, the old man led a few people and carried a large coffin, and it was too late.

The middle-aged man looked at the coffin, and his heart suddenly shocked, he originally thought that the dead body of the old man's brother was wrapped in a straw mat, but he didn't expect it to be placed in the coffin.

The middle-aged man frowned, in their place, transporting the coffin is a big taboo for running the river, and it touches the mold of the river prince.

The people of Boshan Village rely on the river to eat the river, this river is their place of livelihood, the older generation thinks that all things are animist, and they are grateful for this river, so it is said that there is a river prince in the river to protect them.

According to them, Lord He doesn't like the coffin, and if he is pressed by the coffin, he may get angry and get up into the water.

Especially this black solid wood coffin, which is even worse, they call it a "solid coffin", and solid on the river surface means a "sinking". And it's dark night, and rowing on the river at night is already dangerous.

When the old man and several people carrying the coffin came to the ship, the man in the prime tried to get rid of his business.

When the old man heard this, he knelt down and cried at the man in his prime, begging him with tears in his eyes. The old man said that it was so hot that his brother's dead body had begun to stink.

The older generation of people pay attention to the return of fallen leaves to their roots, no matter where they live, they must be buried back to their hometown after leaving, which is called returning to their hometown.

When the man in the prime of life saw an old man who was older than his father, he knelt down and pleaded earnestly with him, and he couldn't bear it, so he finally gritted his teeth and said to the old man, "Good! I'm going to give you both a thug today!"

Thugs, here can be understood as "by the way", thugs send once, the prime man said relaxedly, but this is a big taboo. These things are on the surface of the river, and since ancient times, no one can say clearly, especially these Changfubo, who live on the river, and everyone has great respect for this mother river. This is a mental struggle for a man in his prime.

The man in the prime of life asked the old man and his men to carry the coffin onto the boat first, but the man was not in a hurry to let the old man and his men get on the boat. He explained to the old man that he had to sacrifice four things first.

Pigs, cows, sheep, and chickens are sacrifices of four animals, also called Sipin.

Of course, they could not have been so wealthy that they could not transport these animals to the river to be slaughtered, but they were made of steamed buns, with two pig ears and a pig's nose painted on the pig's head, a cow's head painted with two crescent-shaped horns, a sheep's head painted with two spiral horns, and a chicken's head painted with a red crest.

Sipin is not a necessity, in the past they were on the boat, no matter how big or small the boat, each boat had some steamed buns made of Sipin, this is just in case, in case of wind and waves on the river, they threw all the Sipin into the river, knelt on the bow of the boat three bows and nine knocks, begging the river lord for mercy, but this trick does not work, no one knows.

At this time, the man in the prime of life took out the incense burner and the three sticks of incense, put the incense in the incense burner, and then stood on the bow of the boat and bowed seven times to the river.

Why do you bow down seven times? They have a proverb called "Three Saints, Four Relatives and Seven Rivers", that is, the saints in the temple worship three times, the graves of relatives worship four times, and for the king of the river, they have to worship seven times.

The proverb doesn't come to a clear point, if you ask the people here why they pray seven times, no one can tell you why, the older generation is saying this, they may have their own reasons, their children don't ask so much, but they do it.

After the middle-aged man kowtowed, he held the four products respectfully in his hand, and sang a river word to the river, which is also called singing the river, which is generally sung like this: "The water is flowing, the south wind is blowing, the sheep and the cow, the pig is the same as the chicken, respecting the river lord, and the blessing is known alas......"

Not far away, when he heard the river, Li Mo remembered when he was a child, as if he had heard his grandfather sing a few times, and he couldn't remember the specific words, just like the few sentences of a man in his prime. But to be honest, when Li Mo listened to the middle-aged man singing, he didn't feel that "the words are right and round", he felt a little yin and yang, just like the "sharpening scissors and kitchen knife", just like that tune.

When the man in the prime of life sang on the river, he threw the pig's head, the cow's head, the sheep's head, and the chicken's head into the river, and then he returned to the bow of the boat and saluted seven times.

At this time, even if the simple ritual of worshipping the river is completed, no one knows whether they can reach the other side of the river safely.

When the man in the prime of life had finished the ritual of worshipping the river, he pulled the boat back to the shore and called the old man to the boat, and then the people who carried the coffin moved the coffin onto the boat, and they all left the boat, and did not want to stay on the boat for long.

It turned out that these people were the "child lifters" that the old man spent money on in the small thatched village. The one who carries the coffin here is called a "lifter", and the coffin is also the coffin.

There is no strict restriction on the "lifter" industry, everyone can do it, as long as they are young and strong, there are some people who are very particular about it, like to find those who often carry the coffin, experienced old lifters, these people lift the coffin to be stable, and the deceased in the coffin will not be reversed.

The old man invited these lifters from the small thatched village are older, and they are veterans at first glance, but they also grew up on the riverside, and they know no less about these ways in the river than the middle-aged men, and they also know that running a coffin on the river is a taboo, and if they don't do it, they will have to die, and none of them are willing to take a life for dozens of dollars.

The old man rubbed his skin and said that a few people just didn't get on the boat, and in the end the old man had no choice, so he paid the wages of a few people and got on the boat with tears in his eyes.

When an older lifter was leaving, he advised the man in the prime of life who drove the boat, "Young people, don't act impulsively like that, can you take the money of the river king's moldy head, be careful and take your life into it." ”

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "What's the matter, my family and the prince of the river kiss each other." ”

The middle-aged man said this, but he didn't know the bottom in his heart, if it weren't for the old man's ability to be clever and the price he gave was high, he would never take this risk.

After the old man got on the boat, he kept holding the coffin and crying. It was getting darker and darker, and the whole river looked dark and bottomless.

"Alas~ Those two little brothers, it's so dark, do you still cross the river?" The middle-aged man asked them.

At this time, Liu Dayi, who was watching silently from the side, calmed down, woke up Li Moyi beside him, and opened his mouth, "Cross the river, we will wait for you to take this downwind boat this afternoon." "Liu Dayi encountered this strange thing today, he was originally interested, and he wanted to see what was going on, and it would be great if he could take a boat to cross the river.

Li Moyi, who woke up suddenly, only felt that his legs were swollen and his feet were sore, he just fell asleep listening to the singing of the middle-aged man, he had suffered an old sin these days, and said to himself: "Mom, I'm so tired and want to go home...".

He looked at the coffin on the surface of the river, "What is the situation with the wood, is it almost possible to cross the river?" Li Mo yawned, sat on the grass on the bank of the river, squinted and stepped on it quite comfortably, he fell asleep when the middle-aged man sang just now, and he didn't hear a word of the conversation between the two of them, so he was completely fearless and ignorant.

"It's okay, you still have to follow me, let's take a ride." Liu Dayi doesn't seem to care too much about the title of wood, maybe someone used to call him that.