I don't know why Uncle Zhu Zi said this to me, Uncle Zhu Zi can also see that I am more anxious to know how he fished out the fool from the twelve ghost caves, he sat on the edge of the bed and squinted at me and said, "Ye Zi, don't worry, what I will tell you next, you will tell your eldest brother when you go back." ”

I wanted to say something, but he stopped me, saying, "Believe it or not, it's up to him." ”

I nodded, sat down next to Uncle Zhuzi, and helped him light a cigarette: "Uncle, you can say it." ”

- Uncle Zhuzi's first wife was captured by the dragon lord, this is the common people's statement, to put it bluntly, it was hacked to death by thunder and lightning, because in the hearts of the people, the dragon lord controlled the thunder and lightning by the clouds and rain, so the people who were killed by the thunder will say that he created evil, so he was taken away by the dragon lord, which is called the way of heaven.

Uncle Zhuzi's first wife, Xiu'e, is a hot-tempered woman, a typical rural shrew, Uncle Zhuzi's soft temper will not blame her, so she not only often quarrels with her neighbors, but also treats Uncle Zhuzi's old mother very badly at home, scolding at every turn, and then giving the old mother food after the meal is rancid, Uncle Zhuzi has no temper, but he is still a filial son, so he is ready not to want this woman, but in those days, divorce was a big deal, and Uncle Zhuzi's old mother did not agree, She said to Uncle Zhuzi: "I'm about to enter the ground, it's okay to suffer a little, but if you don't have a daughter-in-law and beat a single, then your mother will not be at peace below, if you dare to divorce, I won't live." ”

Uncle Zhu knew that the old mother couldn't bear to watch her family fall apart, so she would rather suffer a little herself, because of her mother's words, Uncle Zhu Zi could only continue to endure and not speak, and cook some food for her mother behind her back. But this matter was finally discovered by Xiu'e, she crossed her waist and sprayed the blood of Uncle Zhuzi and the old mother scolding, and the neighbors came to see the excitement, not only did she feel ashamed, but the more she scolded, the more fierce she became. In the end, Uncle Zhuzi's old mother knelt down and kowtowed to her, promising that she would not let her son open a small stove for herself to cook in the future.

That night, the old mother called Uncle Zhu to the bed, and once again explained that he was not allowed to divorce Xiu'e, the family was poor, and the two of them had no children. also said that Xiu'e has a short temper, and when she dies in the future, Xiu'e will slowly get better if she wants to have another child, when a woman is young, who doesn't have a temper?

The next morning, Uncle Zhuzi's old mother hanged herself on the beam of the house, Uncle Zhuzi went crazy after seeing it, Xiu'e, who was domineering on weekdays, really saw her mother-in-law hanged, and then saw her husband's bloodshot eyes because of extreme anger was also frightened, that time, Uncle Zhuzi, who had been forbearant in married life, beat Xiu'e with a stick, and Xiu'e didn't get out of bed for a month.

After beating and beating, Uncle Zhu remembered his promise to his mother and did not divorce Xiu'e, and after the death of his mother-in-law, he was beaten again, and Xiu'e's temper was also restrained a lot, but on the third day after Xiu'e's body was raised, Xiu'e, who was pulling weeds in the field, was struck by lightning and died on the spot.

The villagers all said that Xiu'e deserved to die, this was her unfilial piety, and the dragon lord couldn't see it, so he accepted her soul, but no matter what outsiders said, no matter how many sins Xiu'e did, after the person died, it was written off, especially for Uncle Zhuzi, no matter how bad Xiu'e was, at least she was a diligent person, the house was very neat inside and out, and she was also hard-working in the fields. Now that the person is dead, Uncle Zhu doesn't hate her.

Two years later, after being matched, Uncle Zhu met his second wife, and soon got married, the second wife's name was Xiulian, which was very similar to the name of the first wife, the same as the sister.

The second wife is diametrically opposed to the first, she speaks softly, her temper is even milder, and she is even more shy to speak when she sees her neighbors on weekdays, this is a very shy girl, soon, Xiulian became pregnant, but in the fourth month of Xiulian's pregnancy, Uncle Zhuzi went to work in the field, and when he came back, he found Xiulian lying in the house, incontinent.

When Uncle Zhu called the barefoot doctor in the village to wake up Xiulian, Xiulian had become blind, the whole person was stupid, and the child in her belly was naturally miscarried, and the barefoot doctor told Uncle Zhuzi that Xiulian was scared of what she saw. And it's not light, otherwise a good person wouldn't be like this.

Uncle Zhu immediately thought of the dead Xiu'e, just a few days ago, Xiulian had the same dream every day, in the dream, Xiu'e had been crying to her, and told her that she had created a sin and could not give birth to a son and a half daughter to Zhuzi, and now she is suffering below, but fortunately, she helps take care of Zhuzi.

Uncle Zhu laughed at Xiulian for being timid when he heard her talk about dreaming, and then something like this happened, and he rightly suspected that Xiu'e had done all this.

Uncle Zhuzi, who had forgotten Xiu'e's previous crimes, gritted his teeth this time because he really hated Xiu'e, and at this time, a person found him, this person was the person whose Uncle Zhu was unwilling to say his name, and it was precisely because Uncle Zhu was unwilling to say his name, so I suspected that I must know this person, and nine times out of ten it was someone in the village.

This person found Uncle Zhu Zi and lit the sky lantern for the soul of Uncle Zhuzi's first wife, Xiu'e. Although Uncle Zhu didn't say it explicitly, I could feel that he played a very bad role in this matter, because when he talked about this, Uncle Zhu Zi's face was full of self-blame.

"Originally, Xiu'e lit the sky lantern to save Xiulian, but after Xiu'e lit the sky lantern, Xiulian didn't get better, and left within a few months, the man came over at that time and knelt down for me, he said that he did two wrong things in his life, one is that he didn't save your father Ye Tiancheng, and the other is that he misunderstood Xiu'e and lit her sky lantern." Uncle Zhu said.

After Uncle Zhu finished speaking, I patted him on the shoulder to comfort him, and I understood why he insisted on telling me this story first, he was telling me that the person he was unwilling to reveal his name was not the one who killed my father.

"I'll tell my eldest brother what you said, and now I want to know about you picking up the body of a fool." I said.

Uncle Zhu nodded and continued.

After the fool fell into the water and died, because Uncle Zhu Zi was fishing in the Luoshui River for a living, he had a boat, so Chen Shishi begged him and asked him to go and fish for the fool's body, although he knew that Chen Shi could not afford to pay him, but the interpersonal relationship at that time was relatively simple, they were all villagers, Uncle Zhu agreed to Chen Shishi, but when Uncle Zhu was about to row out to find the body of the fool, that person found Uncle Zhu and gave Uncle Zhu a talisman.

He didn't say anything else to Uncle Zhuzi, but just said that he should wear it close to his body, and he must wear it close to him, because Uncle Zhu believed in that person very much, so he put it in the pocket that was closest to the meat according to what he said.

Uncle Zhuzi fishes up the corpse, using a rolling hook, which is a very large row of hooks, pulled in the water, the hook hangs on the corpse and pulls the corpse up, this kind of hook is now used by corpse fishers, and there are many places that call this kind of hook "ghost head hook." ”

Uncle Zhu Zi began to fish in the place where the fool fell into the water, and went downstream, and he fished for three days, but he didn't catch it, at this time he was close to the twelve ghost caves, and Uncle Zhu Zi was also worried that the fool's body would be swept into the twelve ghost caves by the underwater undercurrent, he was ready to put the last hook, if he couldn't catch it, he would call it a day, he didn't have the courage to enter the twelve ghost caves.

But just as he was about to retract the hook, he suddenly found something floating on the water, suspected to be a person, he rowed over, and he recognized it from a long distance, it was the body of the fool, although it was already swollen and foaming, Uncle Zhu still recognized it.

He immediately threw the hook over, Uncle Zhu threw it very accurately, the hook hooked the fool's body at once, he rowed over and circled around the fool's body a few times, to make sure that the rope was wrapped and wrapped around the fool's body, but just as he was about to pull the body up, suddenly something seemed to be pulling it down, and the force was very strong, Uncle Zhu quickly tightened the rope and the underwater force was in the tug-of-war.

He thought it was a big fish.

- There were not so many people in the past, there were even fewer fishers, there were many big fish in the Luoshui River, the largest fish caught by Uncle Zhu was more than two meters long, and many carnivorous big fish such as catfish would indeed attack people, so Uncle Zhuzi's conditioned reflex generally thought that there was a big catfish below that wanted to eat the corpse of a fool.

He didn't let go, but he found that his strength couldn't fight against the underwater things, and just as he was about to tug the river like a fish, a force from below pulled him into the river.

- Just as I was listening to it, Uncle Zhu suddenly stopped and asked me, "Is there any smoke left?" ”

I was startled, but quickly took out a cigarette and lit it for him, and he took a hard puff and said, "After falling into the water, I realized that it was not a fish, but a coffin, a sarcophagus." An arm stretched out from the coffin, and it was he who grabbed the fool. ”

"Arms? Human? My eyes widened.

Uncle Zhu nodded, shook his head again, he looked at me and said, "The arm is a human arm, but I don't know if there is a person in the coffin." I thought I was going to die, but at that moment the talisman suddenly burst out of my body and struck me in the arm, and I seized the opportunity to float up, and by the way pulled the fool's body onto the boat, and began to flee for my life. ”

I silently lit a cigarette.

But just when I thought Uncle Zhu was finished, he continued: "I looked back as I rowed, and I saw that there seemed to be a huge prodigal son under the water like a giant beast, rushing into the twelve ghost caves. ”

"And then?" I asked, swallowing.

"I went back to the shore, dragged the fool's body ashore, and found the man, and he told me that it was the river god, the river god of the Luoshui River, and he told me to keep this secret and not tell anyone." Uncle Zhu said slowly.