Mr. Zhuan showed a disdainful smile. There was a tall person holding up the sky when it fell. Besides, he didn't work for a certain department, so why should he help handle it smoothly?
"Well…"
I didn't know how to answer the question for a moment, but Mr. Zhuan was straightforward and neat.
Seeing that I was frustrated, Master Zhuan sighed and told me the truth, perhaps because of my grandpa's face.
It's not that he refuses to help, it's not allowed to forcefully change the outcome of matters beyond the scope of Hegong.
I nodded in understanding. There are river workers' rules for river workers, just like the rules of Taoist priests for the ninth day of the lunar month.
"Guo Guo, let's go to the toilet together."
Chujiu blinked at me. This kid probably had something to ask me alone.
I glanced at Mr. Zhuan, who was sitting cross-legged on the kang with his eyes closed, looking like you were casual and had nothing to do with me.
After leaving the gate of the small courtyard, Chujiu looked back in the direction of the cave dwelling and asked me in a low voice what "river worker" meant. He didn't understand.
At first Chujiu thought that Mr. Zhuan was a worker who managed the Yellow River when he was young. Later, the more conversations I had with Mr. Zhuan, the more confused he became.
"River workers like him are also known as corpse fishermen from the Yellow River."
When I was a child, my grandfather often told me stories about the Yellow River when he took me to play in the river.
One of them talks about the river workers who make a living on the Yellow River. Grandpa told me that river workers are a very mysterious profession, and there is no place in the Yellow River that they cannot reach.
All day long, my friends said that there are delicious wild apricot trees in the mountains and forests across the Yellow River. Unfortunately, none of us have the ability to swim to the other side.
I heard my grandpa say that river workers can go to any corner of the Yellow River. I was envious and shouted loudly that when I grow up, I will also be a river worker and go to the mountains opposite to pick wild apricots and wild jujubes.
After my grandfather beat me up, I learned that Hegong is another name for the people who fished out corpses from the Yellow River, and was also called the messenger of the River God.
From the day they learn the art, corpse fishers can only worship the river god for the rest of their lives.
This is also the reason why they can reach any place in the Yellow River and dare to enter the water anywhere.
It is said that in ancient times, the Yellow River river workers had a very high status.
Someone accidentally fell into the water and died. After reporting the matter to the authorities, the first thing the authorities did was to ask the river workers whether they could salvage the person.
The River Union held a ceremony at the River Temple to ask the River God for his opinion.
Only with the permission of the river god can one go down to the river to salvage corpses.
If the river god does not allow it, if you go down to the river to retrieve the body without authorization, you will most likely return in vain, and your life may even be in danger.
Historically, there have been many reckless men who did not believe in evil and believed in their fate. They did not listen to the river workers' advice and eventually ended up being buried in the Yellow River.
According to my grandfather, there were fewer and fewer real river workers due to inheritance issues, and there are only a few people left in the world today, and one of them is still his friend.
Now that I think about it, Master Zhuan should be the friend that grandpa mentioned.
"My old man's old man also told me about the mystery of the Yellow River corpse fishermen. Their school has the most rules. No wonder Zhuan Ye feels so strange to others. He even practices the silent cicada."
Chu Jiu told me that after his uncle told him about the people who fished for corpses from the Yellow River, he also deliberately read a lot of Taoist books to find out the information about the people who fished for corpses.
Unexpectedly, Chujiu knew more about corpse-retrieving people than I did, but I just didn’t know the title of “river worker.”
Corpse collectors are divided into official and civilian ones. Official corpse collectors actually belong to a special type of work in the Hai Zheng Yamen.
The mysterious corpse collectors we usually hear about in stories are actually inherited from a folk magic school.
Like the official corpse collectors, they believed in the river god.
A corpse hunter can only accept one apprentice in his life, and the apprentice's fate must have special requirements.
The strange thing is that most of the corpse fishers were apprenticed to the previous generation of corpse fishers after they were rescued from the river. Their skills are also passed down orally, and there are no books recording the core content.
After being hired, a corpse collector would take an employer on a boat to retrieve corpses from the Yellow River after being paid by the employer.
The rule for fishing out corpses is that you only go into the water three times. If you fail to fish out the corpse three times, you will return, which means the river god does not agree to fish it out.
The remuneration previously paid by the employer was returned to the employer intact, but the living river god did not agree and could not accept it.
The most stringent rule for those who fish for corpses is "three no fishing"!
They are not like Taoists who hate evil as much as they hate it, and pay attention to what is a great evil person and a great good person.
It doesn't matter whether you are committing murder or arson, or whether you are doing good deeds throughout your life, as long as you encounter three situations when you get to the place, you will turn around and leave.
Don’t fish out the one who is upside down in the water!
The man faces up and looks up at the sky, while the woman faces down and carries the water.
His body was covered in bruises, his face was hideous, his arms were behind his back and he was grabbing his ankles without letting go!
I imagined that the first two of Chujiu’s three-but-lao can be understood, but as for the third strange shape, it is difficult to understand.
Chujiu guessed that they were probably people punished by the River God. As for the first two situations, he could guess that they were due to fate.
This kind of fate is bound to become an evil ghost, which conflicts with the fate of the person who fished the corpse. It is very likely that the person who fished the corpse will not be fished out and will be taken into the water and buried with him.
We were talking vigorously under the big locust tree outside the yard, when the yard door suddenly opened from the inside.
"That's it?"
Mr. Zhuan’s eyes were full of disdain, his expression was like that of an old university professor watching two children discuss how much one plus one equals.
While Zhuan Ye was walking to the toilet, he asked us to go back and take a nap. He would call us when we set off in the evening.
"He walked without making any sound, even my dog ears didn't hear him."
"That means you are a stupid dog!"
After playing with Chujiu for a while, they stopped to rest. Zhang Jun and Zhao Meng also returned to the house and asked us what Mr. Zhuan wanted from us.
"Don't ask! If you ask, you have no comment! Anyway, if nothing happens, you can go home and sleep tomorrow night."
Zhang Jun and the two were quite sensible, perhaps because the captain said something to them. They nodded and smiled as long as they could close the case. If they needed help, just say hello.
When Mr. Zhuan returned to the yard, he picked up a small bundle of wood from the wood shed. He walked into our house without saying a word, stuffed it into the stove, and left without saying a word.
"This old man actually has a good personality, but he feels weird!"
Zhao Meng muttered, it was the first time in a few days that Mr. Zhuan helped add firewood to their stove. On the first day he lived here, the kang was called ice. If it weren't for Zhang Jun's quilt, it would probably have frozen.
Fool.
The four of them chatted for a while. Before seven o'clock in the evening, they all felt sleepy and fell asleep soon.
"You two, it's time to wake up!"
Brick's bellows-breaking voice echoed in my mind.
I slept very deeply this time. I feel like I haven't slept like this in a long time. The last time I remember sleeping so soundly was when I was tired from playing in the river with my friends all day.
Chujiu was about to get up when he looked at Zhang Jun and Zhao Meng, who were snoring loudly next to them, and shook his head.
"Why didn't they wake up when Mr. Zhuan made such a loud noise?"