Chapter 13 crushed soul

However, authority can also be challenged. In the summer of the second year, Hu Tiancheng's newly established authority was challenged strongly.That was really a day that both gods and ghosts were shocked by! It was July.At noon one day in July, Xiao'e died. On that scorching hot noon, when people were resting in the shade of the trees, the daughter of villager Liu Quan slipped and slipped into the Yaba River in the east of the village.Xiao'e was only fourteen years old at the time. She slipped into the water when she was washing clothes by the river.Later, when the villagers rushed there, she was already floating on the water.

Liu Xiao'e's mother lay on the bank of the river and cried, "E, E, you are disobedient! E, E, you are disobedient..." Later she was carried back. The old people said that it is better to deal with funeral affairs as soon as possible. "Further affairs" are difficult, very difficult. It certainly wasn't out of grief.Chairman Mao said that dead people often happen.A baby girl dies when she dies, and she cries a few times, but it can't be said that she is very sad.But it was different when she drowned in the Mute River.The Dumb River is the only "haizi" in Hujiabao. It is a pond of more than ten acres, and it is still a stagnant pond.However, the water in this pond has never dried up.It is said that if you throw a croaking frog into the water, it will never croak again, so it is called the dumb river.Regarding the Mute River, there were many legends about gods and ghosts in the early years, so there was a rule left by the ancients: Anyone who drowned in the Mute River must salvage her "soul".Otherwise, she will become a new drowned ghost, dragging one person down every year...

According to the rules, the form of salvaging the "soul" is extremely tragic and mysterious.This matter must be done by the family members who are related by blood, and people with other surnames cannot participate.First of all, a raft needs to be built. On the raft, there must be a "spirit-inducing banner", and a rooster must be tied with hemp thread under the banner.Only then can the rope be tied, and the relatives will pull the raft and walk in circles along the river, calling out the soul while walking...they have to keep pulling until the "soul" jumps onto the raft automatically.

Therefore, under the supervision of the elders, villager Liu Quan built a raft according to the rules, and went to the river to salvage his daughter's "soul". At that time, Liu Quan was only in his thirties. He was dexterous and knew how to do woodwork.Although Liu Quan is a gentle and kind person, he doesn't speak much on weekdays, but he can't do it when he stands on the roof of the house. When building a house, he only needs to stand on the corner of the house to show his prestige and momentum.He brought many apprentices, including those in other villages, so he often squatted on the corner of the house, smoking a cigarette, and instructing those apprentices to give tile houses.He said: dog, you go down.The dog went down.He said: Er Huai, you come up.Erhuai came up.The voice is not high, and the words are soft, quite town.When erecting the beam, his eyes were the ruler. He said: If the east side is higher, it must be higher;

As long as a person has "vision", the prestige will follow.In addition, anyone who builds a house asks him to help, so his "face" becomes bigger and bigger, and more people respect him.Therefore, when they heard that something happened to Liu's family, many people came to help.On the day of the coffin opening, more than a dozen disciples from Liu's family came, not to mention those who had relatives and relatives. For a while, the Liu family was very lively, with a large number of people! For a while, the day of salvaging "souls" became a grand festival in Hujiabao.At that time, the riverside was always dark, full of villagers who were watching Liu Jia's "soul"... The village party secretary Hu Tiancheng sometimes came to have a look. When he came, he always kept silent and just squatted On the bank of the river, staring at the water.When he left, he remained silent.At the beginning, people were all looking at the river, and no one paid any attention to him.

For this matter, people are in a kind of inexplicable "excitement", this is a big deal!No one paid attention to whether the party secretary was there, and naturally no one asked for the opinion of the party secretary.But Hu Tiancheng is concerned about this... In Hujiabao, the Liu family is a common surname with a large population.There are also many relatives in the Liu family.Now, they are all standing by the river, helping to manage the matter of fishing for "souls".Under the guidance of the elders, Liu Quan first knelt down, murmured words, and burned some paper money for the gods in the river. river walk.Liu Quan is a thin, muscular man. When he was walking around the river wearing a big underpants and pulling up the rope, if he was not careful, he fell first!The one who was planted in the dirt looked very funny.However, no one laughed. People were afraid of frightening the gods, so no one dared to laugh.People saw Liu Quan struggling to get up from the ground, staggeringly pulling the rope and walking forward.Therefore, the elders said: Let's make a wish again.He knelt down again and made another "wish".Then pull the fiber rope and move forward.It was too hot, the sun burst down from the sky like a fire mirror, there was no wind, the water was quiet, and the raft was floating on the water.Liu Quan shouted as he walked, "Come on, girl. Come on, girl."

The onlookers all stared at the raft, watching the raft dangling on the water, wondering when the "spirit" would jump on it?However, there was nothing on the raft, only the reed rooster tied with hemp rope, the rooster sometimes raised its head, sometimes hooked its head, looking stupid... On the riverside, Liu Quan walked round and round. After Liu Quan walked around the river three times, he could no longer pull the raft.He has asthma, and when he takes a step down, he pants, his mouth opens like a small temple, his head stretches out like a goose, his waist bends like a prawn, and under the sunlight, the bow-like spine sweats Dripping, a rope dragged on his back like a tail, like a water hen tied up.As he was walking, he fell to the ground again.He got up again and turned into a donkey. He looked around and cried out sadly: "Mother, mother..." Seeing no answer, he staggered and dragged on the rope to continue walking. .

At this time, little E Niang ran up with a pair of little feet, pulled the rope, and said, "Father, you rest." As she said, she carried the rope on her back, hooked her head and arched forward... just like that, Xiao'e Niang was in front, and Liu Quan was in the back, walking up and down, twisting and twisting... On the surface of the river, there was a hoarse voice, one high and the other low: "Niu, Niu, come up." "Niu, be obedient, come up..." From morning to noon, and from noon to dusk, Xiao'e's "soul" still hadn't been salvaged.In the evening, there were even more villagers watching, and many people from other villages also ran over when they heard about Xin'er.The riverside was very noisy for a while, and there were crowds of onlookers everywhere.After the sky fell, white paper lanterns were lit on the river again. There was one on the raft, and Liu Quan was holding one in his hand. The white lanterns swayed and shone on the river, adding a bit of frightening gloom. gas.The figures of Liu Quan and his wife were reflected in the white lantern. The shadows were small, swaying, and swaying, looking like ghosts.The two were already exhausted, but they were still dragging the raft along the river. Their throats were hoarse, and they could no longer utter their voices, but their mouths were still open, and they shouted in their hearts: "Niu, you Come up, come up..."

On the third day of the "soul" fishing ceremony, the river was still motionless and nothing jumped up.Liu Quan and his wife couldn't move anymore, but they were still struggling...but people were still excited.Members of the Liu family knelt down by the river one by one, and more and more women came to burn paper money by the river, and the voice of chanting became louder and louder. The villagers by the river shouted in unison: "Girl, come up!" "Girl, come up!" At this time, Hu Tiancheng felt that he couldn't ignore it.He felt that no matter what, these gods and ghosts should not be allowed to rule the villagers.He couldn't let the people of the Liu family split a piece because of this matter... He had to figure out a way.

On the fourth day, in the middle of the morning, Liu Quan and his wife were still dragging the raft and walking slowly around the river.There were too few people, and the rope that pulled the raft seemed to weigh a thousand catties, and it was dragging on the water surface...Suddenly, there was a burst of cheers from the crowd, and there was only a "bang" on the water surface, and a bright light flashed , I saw a small golden carp jumping onto the raft!For a while, the crowd was crowded, and the crowd rushed over at once, and they shouted in unison: "Come up! Xiao'e is coming up!"

When the raft was pulled up from the river, Liu Quan held the little golden carp in both hands, and with tears in his eyes, he knelt down tremblingly and thanked the gods in the river.He knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times, saying, "God!..." At this moment, at this moment, Hu Tiancheng suddenly stood up and strode forward.He stretched out his hand, took the little carp from Liu Quan's hand, held it up high, and said loudly, "Is this Xiao'e's soul? Is this Xiao'e's soul?!" Liu Quan and his wife were stunned for a moment, they just opened their mouths but couldn't speak. Hu Tiancheng shouted again: "Who said this is Xiao'e's soul, stand up?!" No one spoke, and none of the onlookers by the river spoke.Hu Tiancheng said loudly again: "I know this is the rule established by the elders, I think this rule is broken! Open your eyes and see, can this be Xiao'e's soul?!" Hu Tiancheng continued: " Let me tell you, I don’t believe in evil, and I don’t believe in those gods and ghosts. This is obviously a small fish, how can it be Xiao’e’s soul?!” He held the small fish up higher. Liu Quan and his wife saw that he was about to fall, so they hurriedly "plopped" and knelt down in front of Hu Tiancheng... Xiao'e's mother begged, "Secretary, let Xiao'e go..." Liu Quan also said, "Secretary, put Xiao'e down." Hu Tiancheng sighed and said, "Liu Quan, it's not that I have trouble with you. I just don't believe in evil. I can't let this evil spirit drown the righteousness of the village..." As Hu Tiancheng said, he held up the little fish again, and said to the crowd: "Listen well, if there are ghosts and gods, let them punish me!..." As he spoke, in Cancan Under the bright sunlight, under the gaze of everyone, in the blink of an eye, I saw his two fingers clenched tightly, crushing that "soul" to death! The sky is dumb. I'm dumb. People are also dumb. At this moment, in the dark crowd, everyone's eyes showed terror. There was dead silence all around! Then, Hu Tiancheng yelled three times to the river: "Listen, gods and ghosts, come to me! I am Hu Tiancheng. I am Hu Tiancheng! Starting tomorrow, I will stand here for three days. In the sky, I am waiting for you every day! I don’t believe in evil, if you want something, let the lightning strike me!” After speaking, he left everyone behind, threw the dead “soul” to the ground, and strode away up. Liu Quan and his wife seemed to be stupid, still kneeling on the ground.After a long, long time, Liu Quancai murmured: "This is not letting people live, this is not letting people live..." After that, Liu Quan stood up in a daze, and walked home slowly, and his relatives and apprentices followed him. Liu Quan walked into the yard, then into the stove room, and took out a kitchen knife from the room.So, the relatives "boomed" and were in chaos.Some said, what are you doing?Don't kill yourself? !Some said, fight with him, fight with him and forget it! ... But Liu Quan squatted in the yard and began to sharpen the knife. He sharpened the kitchen knife "chi la, chi la" and shed tears while sharpening it.He muttered in his mouth: "Eh, Eh, your life is so hard..." After sharpening the knife, Liu Quan stood up and walked around the yard in a daze, not knowing what he was going to do. .Someone called him: Brother Quan, Brother Quan, what are you doing?He just lost his mind, and walked out with the knife in his hand... When he came to the village street, when he saw Hu Tiancheng, he stood still... Hu Tiancheng stood under the old locust tree in the middle of the village street, and a clock hung on the tree.Behind him stood a row of militiamen.Hu Tiancheng stood under the bell, gave him a cold look, and said sharply, "Liu Quan, what are you doing?!" Unexpectedly, Liu Quan, who was holding the kitchen knife in his hand, was stunned for a while, but with a "plop", he knelt down again.Kneeling in the street, he cried and said, "Eh, Eh, your life is miserable..." Hu Tiancheng said again: "Like!" Seeing Liu Quan's uselessness, the relatives who followed couldn't stand it any longer. Liu Quan's old uncle kicked him secretly behind him and whispered, "Get up!" Liu Quan stood up, Liu Quan only said: "Secretary, you really don't let people live." Hu Tiancheng said: "Liu Quan, get up. I have no grievances with you, why don't I let you live? You can work hard with me if you want, but there is one thing, you wait for three days, let Little ghosts and judges, come to me first! Come to me in three days, and I will wait for you!" For the next three days, when he got off work every day, Hu Tiancheng stood by the river for a while symbolically, and said loudly in front of everyone: "Gods, ghosts, I, Hu Tiancheng, have come!" The villagers also went dumb for a long time. During this time, people seemed to be waiting for something...but nothing happened.Later, people said in private that Hu Tiancheng even suppressed ghosts and gods.Some people also said that he heard the ghost crying, and the ghost cried every day in the middle of the night... Someone else said that he saw Hu Tiancheng went to Xiao'e's grave and murmured something.But what exactly was said, no one knows. At this point, Liu Quan not only lost his daughter, in the eyes of the villagers, the prestige of the craftsman was also "dead", and all the prestige he had in the past was lost at once.He had been lying at home for more than half a month. When he came out, he was completely numb, his waist was bent, his face was gray, and he had no spirit at all. However, just after this summer, for some reason, when the villagers saw Hu Tiancheng again, there was a little more awe on their faces.Everyone respected him.Even those old people who have been in seniority greeted Hu Tiancheng from afar when they saw him, and called him "Huzhishu" with a smile, nodded and said, "Huzhishu, have you eaten?" No one called him anymore God made it. In the winter of this year, Hu Tiancheng borrowed two bulldozers from the county to take advantage of the opportunity to clean up the hillock. In one winter and spring, he led people to fill up the dumb river...