Not far from my home, there is a big canal, said which emperor dug out the flood before, when I was a child, I often went to the canal to play, once I saw someone walking in the river, I ran home and asked my mother, how do people live in the river?

My mother's face turned white with fright at that time, so she grabbed a handful of rattan with the thickness of her wrist, gave me a good beating, and told me not to go to the canal to play in the future, and told me not to talk about it.

When I was in junior high school, I once went to the canal with a few friends to tie a fierce son, I just pierced down, I felt a pair of hands touched my feet, I looked down, I saw the black water grass, as if there was a person smiling at me, I was so scared that I immediately went ashore, the tiger who lived next to my house laughed at me, and other people also scolded me for not having the courage, but I couldn't die.

I can't say anything about it, and I can't say what I saw.

This is what my mother said, I still remember.

I thought so on the shore, but I immediately regretted it.

Because I saw the man who lived in the water, I suddenly stretched out my hand, grabbed the tiger's feet, and dragged him down, and I immediately shouted: "Huzi! ”

But by the time the little friend turned his head, Huzi's people were gone, leaving only a string of gurgling bubbles in place.

That night, I was beaten again, and outside it was the sound of Huzi's mother crying and the oil lamp was shaking.

Later, I don't know why, I was tired, I was about to fall asleep leaning on the head of the bed, and when I was half asleep, I was still listening to the sounds outside in a daze. First, there was a sudden creak at the outer door, as if someone had come in.

"Tie'er,, let your baby go with me, without your baby, I won't be able to find Huzi."

It was an old man who spoke, his voice was old and clear, and he couldn't see it, and he persuaded my mother bitterly.

Immediately afterwards, there was a sound outside, followed by a howl, I could hear it as the voice of the tiger mother, and the mouth was vaguely yelling at my poor son, and howling that I am willing to make you a cow and a horse for the rest of my life, please.

After a while, my mother pushed open the door of the back room and shook me half-asleep.

That night, my mother's eyes were red, and I haven't seen my mother since then.

It was a tall and thin old man who carried a papier-mâché lantern and led me up the canal embankment, up the embankment, and down the embankment, where my mother drove me half a mile with a kerosene lamp in the back.

In the middle of the night, I followed the old man to the other side of the canal, and there was an old mud house by the river, and the walls were full of holes drilled by bees, and outside the house was a fenced yard, and in the middle of the courtyard was a tall bamboo pole, and I could not see what hung on the bamboo pole.

The old man took me into the house, lit a candle, took a handful of yellow rice and stuffed it into my bosom, and told me to pretend that if anyone looked for me, he would grab a few grains of yellow rice and throw them into the water.

After saying this, he grabbed a big rooster from the back of the house, led out a big black dog in the yard, walked to the side of the canal, pushed out a small boat, hung the lantern in his hand on the bow of the boat, picked up the big rooster and the big black dog, and helped me up, and then picked up the bamboo pole and propped up the boat.

The old man said to me while propping up the boat that the rooster is the thing that reports the dawn, and after the dawn is the dawn, so the general dirty things are afraid of the rooster's crow, and the big rooster's crowing is the most evil spirit. The big black dog can swim, and the black dog blood ward off evil spirits, so the dirty things are also afraid of the black dog, and the big rooster opens the way, and the big black dog can drive away the dirty things in the water.

I listened in a daze, for it was late at night, and the boat was rocking, and the child was so sleepy that I didn't listen to what he said.

The boat slowly reached the center of the canal, and the undercurrent in the river became stronger and stronger, and the boat suddenly shook violently, causing my head to hit the edge, and I immediately came to my senses.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the big black dog suddenly stand up, pounce on the bow of the boat, stand under the lantern, and bark in front of me.

For a moment, all that remained in the quiet center of the river was the barking of the big black dog and the sound of the flowing water.

"Baby, look at it, can you see anything?"

The old man's movement of the pole in his hand suddenly stopped, and he put the bamboo pole sideways to the boat, turned his head and asked.

As soon as I looked up and looked ahead, I suddenly felt strange.

The canal has been around for some years, and the water has always been relatively muddy, especially in the rainy season, when the river has accumulated a lot of sediment and the sun cannot penetrate it. At this moment, the faint light of the lantern on the bow of the boat illuminated the canal so brightly that I could directly see the rolling mud and sand and swaying aquatic plants at the bottom of the river.

"There's nothing!"

I shook my head.

"That thing has already arrived."

The old man nodded, as if speaking to himself, lifted the pole, and continued to hold the boat.

My forehead was still aching, and the cold wind was blowing on the river, and I had long since lost my sleepiness, and I turned my head to look around the boat.

Tonight, it seems that the wind is relatively strong, and the water has not been very calm, and the boat is swaying, as if people are holding the boat under the water.

Suddenly, I saw a black mass at the bottom of the river, not too far from me, moving slowly, after all, the light of the lantern on the bow of the boat was so weak that it could not shine so far that I could not see clearly.

I was suddenly frightened, and I looked at the old man, but I didn't dare to say anything, so I turned my head away from the mass of things.

The boat went down the water for a while, and I felt bored, so I turned my head to look next to me again, and suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! How can there be someone there? ”

I didn't expect that the black mass was still following our boat, getting closer and closer to us, and I could see clearly by now, it was a person! Floating vertically in the water, stepping on the bottom of the water with both feet dangling, and floating a few steps with a single foot, the speed is actually about the same as our boat!

What's even more terrifying is that the man's hands are moving in the water, as if he is waving to come and catch us, his hair is black, wrapped around his face, and it looks like his head is a black ball of hair!

The old man turned his head, looked at me with some horror, and quickly shouted, "Yellow rice! ”

I don't remember any such thing as yellow rice, but my eyes were as close and close to our boat, and then with a pop, a hand swollen like steamed buns soaked in the river rushed out of the water, grabbed the edge of our boat, and pulled down!

"Wow!"

Where have I ever seen such a battle, I was already so frightened that I screamed miserably, and my body went limp, and I was almost thrown off the boat.

The old man immediately stood firm in a lunge, put his feet against both sides of the boat, turned the boat over with all his might, and then scolded loudly, picked up the bamboo pole in his hand with his backhand, and poked it towards the pair of fat and swollen hands!

"Poof!"

The tip of the bamboo pole was empty of water in an instant, and I didn't know what it poked, so the hand immediately flipped over and withdrew its hand, only a string of huge bubbles came up.

The huge force made the boat shake again, I planted in the boat, the yellow rice in my pocket poured out with a bang, smashed on the boat, and there was a loud noise, I remembered the old man's words before leaving, quickly grabbed a handful of yellow rice, threw it into the distance, and shrank in the belly of the boat and did not dare to move.

After a while, the surroundings calmed down again, and I stretched out my head and looked around, and saw that there was nothing around, and then I breathed a sigh of relief.

When the old man saw that I had eased up, he stopped his movements again, looked at the fire in the distance, and said in a low voice, "It's almost there, where is your friend?" ”

As soon as I looked up, I saw that we were on the boat, and we had followed the current to the section of the canal near my house, and there was a large bonfire lit on the canal embankment, which illuminated the vicinity, but there was no one next to the campfire.

Although I was scared, when I went out, my mother had already told me that I was going to help this old man find the body of the tiger, and I regarded it as making up for it. I knew that Huzi's death was inextricably linked to me, so I didn't dare to slack off, and quickly stretched out my head to look around.

After looking around and checking it again and again, I was embarrassed to say to the old man that I didn't find the body of the tiger, the old man nodded, stretched out his hand and touched his waist, as if he was a little hesitant.

"What's wrong? Are we still looking for it? ”

I asked.