Corpse hunter

"What nonsense did Kangzi say? Even if his family wanted to do something about it, there are not enough people to line up to die every day."

"Pa!" Li Weihan banged the table with his chopsticks and cursed: "What nonsense did you, an adult, say to Xiji'er?"

Cui Guiying also realized that she had made a mistake, but she did not retaliate against her man. Instead, she scooped out a piece of salty sauce with a spoon and put it in Li Zhuiyuan's porridge bowl. There would be some chopped peanuts and some diced meat in the sauce, which she just had in the spoonful.

Li Zhuiyuan pulled it a few times with chopsticks. The color of the sauce became lighter, and white and tender diced meat floated on the top of the porridge.

The children are sharp-eyed and most determined not to worry about scarcity but inequality. Huzi immediately said: "Milk, I want meat too, the kind in Brother Yuanzi's bowl!"

"Milk, I want it too."

"I want it too."

Other children also followed suit.

"Go, go, go!" Cui Guiying scolded them angrily, "Forget it if the younger brothers and sisters are ignorant and make noises. Panhou, Leihou and Yinghou, the elder brothers and sisters of you, Pan Hou, Yinghou, please tell me something if you are making trouble. Everything we eat here today is from Xiaoyuan Hou's mother. You bought it with the money, but your parents didn’t pay a grain of rice to the milk, so you still had the nerve to compete with others to eat it!”

Pan Zi, Lei Zi and Yingzi lowered their heads in embarrassment, while the younger ones just looked at each other and smiled.

It’s not that they haven’t hinted it, they also told their families, but their parents told them to act stupid.

At this time, the eight-year-old Shitou from the third family asked: "Is the little yellow warbler still there?"

Cui Guiying asked: "Who is the little yellow warbler?"

Huzi replied: "Hey, Xiao Huangying is the one who danced and sang at Big Beard's house yesterday. She sang beautifully and danced very well."

"That's right." Cui Guiying was helping wash dishes in the kitchen yesterday and was so busy that she didn't have time to go to the front after dinner to watch the white-collar team perform.

Her husband Li Weihan didn't go either. He made an excuse to go out on the ship. In fact, he was at home and the reason for not going was because he was embarrassed; after all, Pan Zileizi had already asked Pan Zileizi to lead the five children Yuanzi, Huzi, and Shitou to eat a banquet. It would be ugly for him, an adult, to go there again.

The five children not only ate by themselves, but also took a lot of food with them, especially the hard dishes that were distributed per person at the dinner table. Li Zhuiyuan followed the example of his brothers, tearing off a piece of the red plastic paper covering the table in front of him and using it to wrap up the food.

When they got home, they distributed them to their younger brothers and sisters who could not go to the feast. When they watched their younger brothers and sisters eat, they felt like generals who had returned from a victorious battle.

Leizi said: "The singing is really nice, and the person is beautiful. She asked us all to call her Xiao Huangying."

Pan Zi nodded: "She is a nice person, good-looking, and the clothes are good-looking. I want to marry someone like her in the future. "

Cui Guiying lowered her head and asked Li Zhuiyuan next to her: "Xiao Yuanhou, is this true?"

"Ang." Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and nodded, "It looks good."

The white-collar team in rural areas pays attention to a living room and a kitchen.

During the ceremony, you can put on Taoist robes and recite sutras, with a fairy-like demeanor and a dignified manner;

After the noon banquet, a theatrical performance must be organized, including singing, dancing, acrobatics, magic, whatever can be done.

When someone comes from a well-off family and wants to show off their face, they will also ask those specific white-collar workers to hold an evening performance, but before the performance starts, the adults will send the children home to sleep.

Little Huangying’s surname is Xiao, her real name is Xiao Huangying, and her stage name is Xiao Huangying. She is actually quite old, in her thirties, and divorced.

As for her singing and dancing skills, she is actually only half-assed, but she can dress up and wear bold and trendy clothes. The tight black cheongsam has a high slit, revealing those large white legs, coupled with a cordial and enthusiastic scene control...

To use the most vicious insult and the highest compliment for women in the village, it is - coquettish.

Nowadays, very few families in the village have TVs, and they often use benches to watch without being able to fit in. Therefore, in rural areas where the popular wind has not yet spread to a large area, the "***" of Xiao Huangying is a dimensionality-reducing blow to the surrounding rural girls and wives.

Not only the souls of the old men were taken away, but even the young men were also confused.

At this time, a figure appeared at the door of the main room. It was Zhao Simei, a neighbor. She and Cui Guiying were considered "sisters" for many years. When the children were young, the two of them liked to sit on the dam and talk about each other when they were free.

"Have you eaten?" Cui Guiying asked, "Here, add a pair of chopsticks."

Zhao Simei hurriedly waved her hands and said with a smile: "Oh, I'm too embarrassed to come here to eat at anyone's house. Look, you're all drunk here."

"This porridge will make your stomach feel better." Frank, I just love this one. Come on, I’ll give you a bowl. No matter how much I scrape the rice bowl, what else will I need?”

“Okay, okay, I’ve already eaten it. Just now, the head of the white-college team took people to Big Beard's house to cause trouble. It is said that he broke something and almost got into a fight." Hearing this, Cui Guiying immediately stood up with the bowl and chopsticks, and started to eat it in his mouth. While eating porridge, he went to the door and said, "What's wrong? The bearded family's money has not been paid?"

"It's not about the performance fee, it's because someone in the team lost it."

"What, you're embarrassed?" Cui Guiying twirled her chopsticks, "Who's embarrassed?"

"It's a girl, the one with the coquettish butt on her body, her butt was so twisted yesterday, I wish my buttocks were leaking out."

"Is it the little yellow warbler?" Pan Zi asked.

The other children also pricked up their ears.

"It seems to be her, the one with the coquettish hoof." Zhao Simei was very gloating.

"How did the person get lost? Have you found him?" Cui Guiying asked.

"It is said that someone saw the naughty guy in the team following the bearded son into the woods by the river last night. Later, he did not return to the team, so the team came to ask for help."

"What about the bearded boy?"

"He was at home, but he said he didn't know, it was nothing. But there were many people in the village, including him and the prodigal hoof drill. "

"Where is that person?"

"Who knows, he is gone. The leader of the team is here to ask for someone this time, but Lao Hu The Zi family bit him to death and said he had never seen anyone before, and even said that the coquettish hooves ran away on his own."

"What should I do?"

"Old Beard. The family paid a sum of money to the team leader, no matter the age."

Cui Guiying immediately patted Zhao Simei on the arm and raised his eyebrows: "Something's wrong!"

Zhao Simei immediately patted Cui Guiying on the arm and raised her chin: "That's not true!"

Old Beard used to be the deputy director of the grain station in the town, and he was a fat man. Even if he is retired now, except for the youngest son who is doing nothing, the other sons all have errands in the town. In this village, even the village chief's family is not as prestigious as his family.

So, if this old beard is willing to pay to make peace with things, there must be something evil inside!

"After I gave you the money, the leader of the team left?"

"He left."

"Where is that person, you are not looking for him?"

"What a fool, the team took the guy's trouble and took the truck to the next venue."

"Ouch." Cui Guiying shook her head, "Don't let anything happen."

"Who knows."

"People can be real or fake."

"No."

Hearing this, Huzi and Shitou suddenly started crying:

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Little Yellow Warbler, "Little yellow warbler!"

"My little yellow warbler, little yellow warbler is gone, woohoo!"

Zhao Simei almost laughed out her nose when she saw this, and pointed. Said: "Have you seen, your two grandsons are quite passionate."

Cui Guiying rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't have a granddaughter, how about one?"

"Heh." Zhao Simei snorted, pointed at Li Zhuiyuan and said, "It's not impossible to get married. You have to match your Marquis Xiao Yuan so that my Marquis Xiao Juan can follow him to Beijing and enjoy the blessings."

"Go. Go away, don’t think about good things. ”

Li Weihan had already finished eating. He was not interested in the old woman’s argument and couldn’t interrupt. He just silently picked up his hookah and opened the matchbox, but it was empty.

Li Zhuiyuan put down his chopsticks and ran to the slot behind the stove to bring a box of matches to Li Weihan.

Li Weihan did not answer, but moved the pot to Li Zhuiyuan.

Li Zhuiyuan smiled and pulled out a match, "click", "click", "click", and finally scraped out the fire. He quickly protected it with his other hand and moved the match down to the smoke pot.

Li Weihan took several puffs and puffed out the cigarette, feeling satisfied and smiling.

At first, my daughter also liked to light cigarettes for herself, and said that she would buy herself cartons of cigarettes when she grew up.

"Huh."

Li Zhuiyuan blew out the match, threw it on the ground, and stepped on it several times with the sole of his shoe.

Pan Zi said: "Sir, can we go boating to pick lotus pods this afternoon?"

Li Weihan glanced at the people at the dinner table, nodded, and said: "Lei Zi, let's bring the net and see if we can catch a few fish for you to make soup with your milk."

Huzi and Shitou listened. At this point, Huang Ying quickly forgot about Xiao Huangying and shouted: "Master, I want to go too, I want to go too!"

The other little ones also shouted together, for fear that something fun would happen to them and they would be left behind.

Li Weihan looked around seriously and cursed: "I'm telling you, there are water monkeys in this river. They drag people into the water and drown them to be their scapegoats, so that they can be reincarnated."

Immediately, the children were scared and did not dare to speak.

Shitou asked unconvincedly: "Why can my brothers go?"

Pan Zi and Lei Zi are eldest children after all. They are sensible and will help their grandfather scare their younger siblings:

"Brother, I am strong, but the water monkey cannot hold me down."

"I'm a good swimmer, and the water monkeys can't catch up with me."

Li Zhuiyuan was not frightened. He also wanted to go, but was too embarrassed to speak. He could only lower his head and touch his little hands, peeking at his grandfather from time to time.

Li Weihan said: "Xiao Yuanhou is also going."

Huzi immediately said angrily: "This is not fair, Brother Yuanzi is only one year older than me."

Shitou also supported: "Yes, Brother Yuan is not as strong as me, how can he fight with Water Monkey!"

Li Weihan slowly blew out a smoke ring and gave a very reasonable reason that even children were convinced:

"Xiao Yuanhou came back from outside, and our local water monkeys don't know him."

...

The houses in the village are basically built along the water, with the front door facing the road and the back door facing the river.

When washing vegetables and laundry, you only need to carry your things out the back door, then walk down a few blue brick steps to reach the river.

Those who know how to make a living often build a net by the river near their home and raise ducks and geese in the net pen.

Lao Li's boat was tied to the persimmon tree at the back door. Li Weihan untied the rope and got on the boat first, using bamboo pennies to stabilize the boat.

Pan Zi, holding the fishing rod, and Lei Zi, holding the fishing net, jumped on the boat one after another.

Li Zhuiyuan was carrying a small bamboo basket, and Li Weihan reached out and took it to the boat.

"Everyone is seated, let's sail the boat!"

As the pennies on the water repeatedly became longer and shorter, the boat also began to move.

Pan Zi and Lei Zi have long been used to it. They were both lying on the boat very leisurely. Li Zhuiyuan sat upright and looked at the water plants floating on the river and the passing dragonflies.

"Here, Yuanzi." Panzi handed over a small handful of fried beans.

He belongs to the boss's family, which is close to each other. He would take time to go home on weekdays and get some snacks at home, but his mother told him to keep these snacks to himself and not share them out.

On the contrary, it was Li Zhuiyuan's mother who asked someone in military uniform to deliver Li Zhuiyuan a large bag of snacks, such as biscuits, meat floss, canned fruits, and the like. Another large package arrived in the mail the day before yesterday, and Cui Guiying locked them in a cabinet and distributed them to all the children in rations every day.

"Thank you, Brother Pan Zi."

Li Zhuiyuan took it and put one in his mouth. This bean is called "boxing bean" locally. It is actually a broad bean. After being stir-fried with some spices and salt, it tastes very fragrant.

However, Li Zhuiyuan didn't like eating it. It was too hard to bite and could easily chip his teeth.

So, when the two brothers kept banging in their mouths, Li Zhuiyuan put one in his mouth and sipped it like sugar.

"Come and I will be Brother Qianqianyao, floating on the road; Come and I will be Brother Qianqianyao, bright and bright tonight."

Pan Zi sang.

"You're not singing correctly." Lei Zi smiled, "You didn't sing like this."

Pan Zi said disdainfully: "Huh, you can sing, you sing!"

Lei Zi licked his lips a few times and scratched his head: "I only remember the tune."

Li Weihan, who was punting the boat, asked: "What is it singing? I can't understand it."

Pan Zi replied: "Master, it was sung by a little oriole yesterday, called Yue opera."

"Yue opera?" Li Weihan was a little surprised, "What was just sung was Yue opera?"

Lei Zi: "No, grandpa, it is Cantonese opera, from Guangdong and Hong Kong."

"Oh, that's it, you guys are good. Sing it for me."

Lei Zi: "Pan Zi can't sing. He can't even remember the lyrics, which is far worse than the little Huangying yesterday."

In fact, the little Huangying's singing is also very non-standard, but for today's mainland, there is not much difference between standard and non-standard. Anyway, I can't understand it. All I need is the confident tone.

Pan Zi pointed at Li Zhuiyuan and said, "When Little Huang Ying sang yesterday, I saw Yuanzi singing along. He can sing."

Li Weihan: "Xiao Yuanhou, please sing for me." "

Li Zhuiyuan said embarrassedly: "I can sing just that."

"Sing, just sing." Lei Zi urged, "Yuan Zi, stop talking about Cantonese opera. He can also sing English songs."

Li Zhuiyuan had no choice but to sing:

"Thousands of songs will float on my road in the distance in the future; thousands of nights will come in the future. The stars are brighter than the moon tonight.

My mother likes this song and often plays it at home.

Lei Zi looked at Pan Zi provocatively: "Did you hear that, the words you sang are wrong."

Pan Zi rolled his eyes at Lei Zi.

The brothers talked all the way, and the boat finally reached a wider river.

Pan Zi went to help his grandfather get the pole, Li Weihan started to find a spot and tend the net, and Lei Zi set up the fishing rod.

Li Zhuiyuan was not assigned a task and continued to sit there carrying his small bamboo basket, watching his grandfather and brothers busy for a while and then looking at the water plants on the river and the frogs jumping above it.

As he watched, Li Zhuiyuan leaned forward with some confusion.

Li Weihan had been paying attention to this "grandson". When he saw him like this, he immediately reminded him: "Xiao Yuanhou, sit down inside and don't fall down!"

Li Zhuiyuan pointed to the river in front and asked; "Brother, there is a group of black water plants there."

"Where is it?" Lei Zi looked in the direction of Li Zhuiyuan's finger, "Hey, it's really black."

"Where is it? Where is it?" Pan Zi was helping to hold the pennies at the stern of the boat and couldn't see clearly, so he took the initiative to use the pole to move the boat in that direction.

Li Weihan didn't take it seriously at first. He was busy untying the knot of the fishing net. When he heard that Li Zhuiyuan and Lei Zi were still chatting there, he raised his head and glanced there. At this glance, he immediately stared.

That black mass is slender but diffuse, scattered but not separated. What kind of waterweed is this? It is clearly human hair!

At this moment, because Pan Zi kept moving the boat closer to the area, the underwater part was also vaguely visible, the black lines, white buttons, curved lines...

Because Li Zhuiyuan was sitting, the first person to see the underwater part was Lei standing next to him. Son, Lei Zi immediately shouted:

"Master, that's a person, someone has fallen into the water, Pan Zi, hurry up and save the person!"

The story of the water monkey can no longer scare older children like them. Their simple and kind nature makes them subconsciously think that someone has fallen into the water, and their first reaction is to rescue.

"Fart!"

Li Weihan suddenly roared. Although this grandfather was a little strict with his children but more kind, he rarely lost his temper. The veins were exposed under his rough and cracked skin. He immediately threw the fishing net in his hand on the boat and shouted to Pan Zi while walking towards the stern:

"Turn it, turn it, give me the pole, don't get close!"

It had been a while since my boat had entered here before, and there was no sound of falling into the water at all. It was even calmer at this time. There was no chance that any rescue was needed. That person must have been dead for a long time!

It stands to reason that even if you encounter a drowned corpse, you will at most feel unlucky. Why should you be so panicked?

But Li Weihan knew that he could only avoid it as quickly as possible.

Because the local area is surrounded by rivers and seas with dense waterways, it is not uncommon for individuals to drown in the water. Basically, every village or neighboring village has a person who specializes in fishing corpses from the water.

It is generally not the main business, but the candidates are very fixed. One is because of bad luck, and the other is because there are many taboos. Those who are not experienced craftsmen with inherited traditions are really unwilling to touch this.

There was a corpse collector in Siyuan Village named Li Sanjiang. According to his seniority, Li Weihan had to call him uncle.

This Li Sanjiang has no children, and he is too lazy to cultivate the fields allocated by the village. Instead, he rents them out just to get some grain for chewing.

But he did not live like a lazy man who never had a meal. He made paper and fished out corpses. Both of them made a lot of money, but it was much richer than farming. Therefore, although he lived alone, he drank wine and meat every day, and his life was not good.

In order to help his four sons get married, Li Weihan rented Li Sanjiang's land in the early years. This really took advantage of others. Therefore, when he needed to recover corpses, Li Weihan would follow this uncle to help.

Although Li Sanjiang never allowed him to get on the boat to touch the corpse, and only asked him to arrange the altar table and prepare some chicken and dog blood on the shore every time, the more times he did it, the more he learned some tips about retrieving corpses from Li Sanjiang.

In this line of slang, a floating corpse is called dead.

Normally, a drowned person will float after being soaked in water for a few days and gradually decomposing. Due to the structure of the pelvic bone, male corpses often face down and female corpses face up.

After most of the dead people went through a set process, Li Sanjiang picked them up and carried them back to the shore to hand them over to their families. However, while drinking, Li Sanjiang solemnly said that there were two special cases and he did not dare to fish them out.

The first one is dead and surrounded by a whirlpool, which means there is a leak nearby and the boat will be overturned and sucked in if he cannot protect himself;

As for the second one, even Li Sanjiang will have his lips trembling and his scalp numb when he sees it...

It is the kind of dead man who floats on the water with only his hair and stands upright at the bottom of the water!

This is with great resentment, and I will die with my eyes open, and I have to take someone as my back!

Li Weihan still remembered that at the wine table, Li Sanjiang stared at him with red eyes and said seriously:

"Hang Hou, remember, if you see this kind of death on the water, Don't think about anything else. Just walk as fast as you can. If you walk late, you will be left behind!"

So, how could Li Weihan not be horrified after discovering that it was a dead body lying upright, not to mention that he had three grandsons on board now!

Pan Zi, who was still very curious, obviously failed to follow his grandfather's instructions. When his grandfather came to grab the pennies, he stumbled, and the pennies were also pushed sideways into the mud, causing the hull to tilt seriously to the right.

This kind of inclination is not a problem for those who often travel on boats. For example, Lei Zi, who was standing on the side of the boat, quickly leaned over and grabbed the side of the boat to maintain his balance. However, Li Zhuiyuan, who was sitting there, had no experience in this area. After his upper body was carried out by inertia, his whole body fell into the water with a "plop", which happened to be facing the side where he fell dead.

The water in the river is very clear, and the sun is just right in the afternoon, so the light under the water is very good.

Li Zhuiyuan, who had just fallen into the water, was still flopping instinctively, but he was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him.

Just like what Brother Lei Zi said, there was a person standing in the water, and it was none other than the little Huangying that the brothers were still talking about at the dinner table today!

She was still wearing the same black cheongsam she wore during the performance, with white patterned buttons, slit to the waist, and the red high heels on her feet.

The water flows smoothly. Under this thrust, her arms swing back and forth regularly, and her legs also sway gently back and forth.

It feels like walking underwater.

She is waving her hands, she is twisting her waist, she is exposing her legs, she is tiptoeing, she is singing...

Even underwater, she is still interpreting the coquettish hoof posture that makes the women in the village both envious and disgusted.

"Even if thousands of songs float in the distance on my road in the future..."

In my ears, I seemed to hear Xiao Huangying’s non-standard Cantonese accent again.

Accompanied by the singing,

The little yellow warbler slowly turned around and gradually moved towards Li Zhuiyuan.

Her long hair floated diagonally upward, as if holding up a black umbrella. The pink on her face was thicker than yesterday, and her lips were even redder.

Suddenly,

She smiled.