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When a few of them hurriedly took the silver tickets to the shipbuilding workshop in Yanjin County and asked, there were no ready-made fishing boats. The owner of the workshop explained that this time the dragon lord in the river appeared, many people were scared to lose the boat, and there were originally a few ready-made ones that were also bought, and at this time if you want to fish the boat, you have to book, and after paying the deposit, you can get the boat in the last month.

When my wife heard this, they were a little disappointed, but for now, this was the only way, but by the time the fishing boats were built, the weather had turned cold, and the fish had already taken refuge in the deep water below, and they missed the best time to go down to the river to fish. According to the past practice, as soon as the weather is cold, the fishing boat will be changed to a cargo ship to run away. (Okay, pronounced hang, here is "hang".) ）

As mentioned earlier, the time at this time was in mid-August, and the day after my grandfather and his wife paid the deposit for shipbuilding, the annual Mid-Autumn Festival came.

This year, for the people in this area of Sanwangzhuang, it is not a bumper harvest year, and it is a river monster to bite the livestock, and it is a heavy rainstorm to flood the crops, it can be said that it is a very unlucky year, but the people in this area of Sanwangzhuang in order to give a good harvest for the coming year, plus a few days ago the dragon lord appeared in the river, of course, this year's Mid-Autumn Festival can no longer be hasty.

On the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the villagers of each village gathered together, holding river lanterns, holding three animal tributes, and holding a grass dragon made of straw, led by a respected old man, and solemnly held a ceremony to worship the river god on the bank of the river.

My grandfather heard the village chief Wang Boss say that when my great-grandfather's master Wang Shoudao was alive, Wang Shoudao took the lead in sacrificing the dragon prince, and after Wang Shoudao died, my great-grandfather took the lead, and at this time my great-grandfather was not there, so they could only find someone else.

The three animal tributes used to sacrifice the river are no longer replaced by steamed buns at this time, and the real pig's head, cow's head, and sheep's head are real.

The three tributes were placed on a large sacrificial table by the villagers on a large table near the riverbank. Around the sacrificial table, sixty-six incense burners are arranged in a ring shape inside and outside two circles, the inner circle is twenty-two, the outer circle is forty-four, and the red light on the incense head is dotted with green smoke, which slowly lingers around the sacrificial table, causing the ritual of sacrificing the river to look sacred and solemn.

When the sky is dark, the moon rabbit shows its head, and after the sound of fireworks and firecrackers on the river bank, many young girls hold the river lamp the size of a millstone and put it into the water, the strong and sturdy young men dance the grass dragon with pine torches, and the old people sing the river words in unison to the river, while singing, they kneel on both knees, and respectfully bow to the river and kowtow to the river.

Every time you kowtow, you must sing a prayer to the river in advance, and then bow deeply: the moon is full on August 15, the first bow ...... Put the three animals on the river god, and worship the second ...... The fairy fairy in the sky, the god in the water, the third worship...... The dragon lord and the river god, the fourth worship...... There are many fish in the water, and the fifth bow ...... Keep the seedlings on the earth strong, and worship the sixth ......

The river lanterns, grass dragons, and sacrificial river words are reflected in the river and echo in the air, full of the piety and sincerity of the people on the banks of the Yellow River.

Worshipping the river god and worshipping the dragon king is a tradition and a belief.

In the past, my grandfather only heard my great-grandfather talk to him briefly, but this time, my grandfather was immersive, which really opened his eyes, and at the same time, in the dark, it also made my grandfather have a little awe of this mother river that has flowed for thousands of years.

Festive and lively times are always fleeting, and after the prosperity, only boring and lengthy repetition remains.

After the Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15, in the following days, my wife and a few young people, who had no work, had no decline, except for drinking and hanging out together every day, that is, Baba ran to the bank of the river, sat on a high cliff slope on the bank, condescendingly looked at the eastward flowing river under his feet in a daze, and longed for the fishing boat to be built one day earlier.

Day by day, just like that, soon, people seem to have forgotten the thrilling turmoil brought by the dragon lord, on the other hand, they may think that after sacrificing to the river god, the dragon lord will no longer make any evil trouble.

After more than ten days, boats gradually appeared on the seemingly calm river. At first, there were only one or two boats ferrying guests, but then there were more and more boats, and within a few days, the river gradually returned to normal and noisy with fishermen, ferrymen, and freighters.

Watching others cast nets in the river to catch fish, my grandfather and a few of them itched in their hearts.

At noon that day, a few people had nothing to do after lunch, and came to the river bank to look at the river in a daze. Those of them who are accustomed to living on the water may feel uncomfortable without going down the river for a day, and the thrill of sailing in the waves may be scratching and scratching on the tip of their hearts like the paws of a kitten.

The boat is gone, and I guess they look at the river at this time, which may play a role in quenching their thirst.

A few people sat on the cliff slope on the bank of the river, looking down at the river, chatting nonsense, and I don't know how long later, one of the young men suddenly jumped up from the ground, pointed to the river upstream, and shouted, "Look over there! ”

Several people were startled when they heard the sound, and hurriedly looked in the direction of his finger, only to see that far upstream on the river, the river water was no longer flowing downward, and was strangely spinning in that water, and in the blink of an eye, the swirling water formed a huge whirlpool on the river surface, and the whirlpool was so large that it almost covered the entire surface of the river.

Because the distance is too far to see, my wife and a few of them feel that the center of the vortex seems to be black, as if there is a big water monster lurking at the bottom of the river, and the water monster is tilting its head upward, opening its bloody mouth, like a funnel, sucking the river water into the stomach.

This scene, if it weren't for the excellent sight of the place where my grandfather and the others were sitting, I'm afraid I wouldn't have seen it at all.

Although the whirlpool was still a long way from their waters, it still frightened them, and they felt that something evil might happen in the river.

At this time, the boats in the waters under their feet did not notice the abnormality in the distance, and were still driving steadily in the river.

My grandfather and several of them looked anxious for those ships, and immediately shouted at those ships, perhaps because of the distance, the people on those ships did not seem to hear my grandfather's shouts at all.

After about another bag of cigarettes, just as my wife and the others were about to run down the cliff slope to the river to call out for the boats, the strange whirlpool upstream suddenly disappeared, and the whole river almost suddenly returned to calm.

My grandfather and a few of them were all stunned when they saw this, you look at me, I look at you, as if they were all dazzled. After that, several people stood in place and stared at the water in the distance for a long time, very strangely, and there was no movement again.

At this time, Wang Caoyu sighed "hey", sat back with a butt, and several people saw him sitting on the ground, they all smashed their mouths, and sat back in their original positions silently, and then no one spoke, but several people were still unwilling, and turned their heads from time to time to glance at the upstream waters.

I don't know how long it took, but a small black dot slowly floated from upstream, or the young man who had seen it first, and shouted for a few other people to see.

A few people turned their heads and squinted their eyes, and took a closer look at the small black spot, as if they were "dead drifters", that is, dead people who had drowned in water, and several people looked at each other.

It didn't take much effort, and the "dead drifter" floated down the water to the water under my grandfather's feet.

My grandfather and the others all got up from the ground. This time, they really looked at it, judging from the clothes and figure of the corpse, it was a tall male corpse!

My grandfather and a few of them don't know how this male corpse came about, could it be related to the whirlpool just now?

Soon, a fishing boat on the river found the man's corpse and rowed towards it. After a short time, the fishing boat rowed in front of the male corpse, and several people on the fishing boat used the hook of the fishing net to fish the male corpse to the deck.

Wang Caoyu was sharp-eyed and condescending, staring at the male corpse on the deck of the fishing boat and muttering: "This 'dead drifter' has a strange belly." ”

Wang Caoyu's casual words, but it seemed to step on everyone's tail, except for my grandfather, several other young people were all shocked, and asked Wang Caoyu in unison, "What, it's a big belly!" ”

One of them said with trepidation, "This...... This can't be another river monster. ”

When my grandfather heard this, his heart "chuckled", which reminded him of the corpse of the river monster that disappeared mysteriously a few days ago.

Then, my grandfather glanced at a few people, and said to them in a very calm tone: "Let's go, let's go down and take a look, if it is really a river monster, while it is still in the 'mother's womb' at this time, kill it directly!" ”

When my wife and the others came down the cliff slope and came to the bank of the river, the fishing boat had already rowed towards the other side of the river, because the distance was too far for them to shout back to the fishing boat.

At this time, Wang Caoyu asked my grandfather what to do, my grandfather didn't think about it, gritted his teeth and said: "What else can I do, find a canopy to ferry us over, it's a 'dead drifter', if it's really that thing, I want it to die thoroughly this time!" ”

Wang Caoyu felt that my grandfather's words were strange, and asked, "Uncle Bingshou, didn't the river monster already beat us to death, and the skin and bones were all made for you to eat?" ”

My grandfather was stunned when he heard this, and said to Wang Caoyu, "I said that I made the river monster as a snack and ate it, you really believe it, I found that the skin of the river monster was missing on the night of the heavy rain, and I was afraid that you would not dare to tell you." ”

As soon as my grandfather's words came out, the faces of several young people changed at the same time