Chapter 5 Death River (1)

Around the end of September or the beginning of October every year, a kind of fish called "tear fish" by the locals comes down from the upper reaches of the Shi River crying. The fishermen at this time have not yet freed themselves from the fatigue and excitement brought by the fishing season, but as long as they feel that the first snow in winter is coming, they have to prepare fishing tools no matter how tired they are, because no matter what, they It takes a few tearfish to be worthy of the wife and children and a year's harvest. The tearfish is a unique fish in the past state.The body is oblate, with red fins and blue scales.They only appear every year after the first snow falls, and when they arrive, the whole river of death makes a whining sound.

When this fish is caught, a string of jade-like teardrops always flow out of its eyes, its dark red tail flicks slightly, its faint blue scales glow with the color of Malan flowers, and its soft gills flap like a bellows.At this time, the fisherwomen quickly put the tearfish caught by their husbands into the huge wooden basins, comforted them, and prayed over and over again: "Okay, don't cry; okay, don't cry; okay , don't cry..." The tearfish that were salvaged from the Shichuan River really stopped crying, they swam around in the wooden basin on the shore, as if they had received unexpected warmth and felt at ease.

If you don't want to hear the sad sound of the dying river in early winter, then you can only salvage the tearfish. The tearfish usually come down from the upper reaches in the evening of the first snow, so the fishermen lit a bunch of bonfires on the shore early.Most of the bonfires are orange, and from a distance they look like golden bowls shining.Most of the fisherwomen in this area have high browbones, thick single eyelids, and plump lips.They make thumping noises when they walk, are extremely fertile, and eat an astonishing amount of food.Fisherwomen like to wear navy blue or silver-gray headscarves, and regardless of their age, they all wear their hair in a bun.Their image on the bank of the dying river is like a thick black birch tree.

The fishermen don't know where the source of the dying river is, they only know that it comes from the extreme north.Its river course is not wide, and its level is like a mirror. Even in the midsummer rainstorm season, it does not appear turbulent, but the curling water mist spreads from the river to the forest belts on both sides. Presumably, the water of the dying river should be extremely deep. When the wind in late autumn tore the leaves that lost their moisture in the forest, Jixi, a sensitive old fisherwoman, prepared the tools for catching tearfish.Jixi is seventy-eight years old, thin and hunchbacked, likes to eat dried berries and mushrooms, and often talks to herself.If you pass by this small fishing village called Ajia from the upper reaches of the Shichuan River in a small boat and want to drink a bowl of fragrant tea, please go to Jixi's house.She also keeps the tobacco leaves that men like to smoke all year round, and several copper tobacco pots are neatly laid out on the cabinet, all you need to do is enjoy it.