Chapter 6 Death River (2)

It is not difficult to get to know Jixi.In Ajia, you are walking on a dirt road full of fresh fish smell, and suddenly you see a plump girl with a high nose bridge and bright lips. She is Jixi, the Jixi when she was young, and the Jixi who went back fifty years in time.She has a high bun, bright eyes and bright teeth. She always wears long gray cloth skirts that stretch the floor in summer. She is so lovable when she eats raw fish.If the fishermen at that time had stomach problems and didn't think about eating or drinking, they would want to see Ji Xi's expression when he was eating raw fish.Jixi Guangrui's teeth chewed on the shiny scales and tender white fish meat, making wonderful music, and the sick fishermen had the desire to eat.And now if you want to meet Jixi, it is also very easy.In Ajia Fishing Village, if you see a hunchbacked old fisherwoman with bright fish scales shining in her eyes when she suddenly raised her head, that person is Jixi, old Jixi.

The snow came quietly from five in the morning.Jixi had several nightmares one after another, secretly saying a lot of bad things about God.Just as she was cursing, she heard the crackling sound like fish scales being scraped from the window lattice.Needless to say, when the snowflakes come, the tearfish will also pass by the River of Death.Jixi felt cold, coupled with a desperate cough, her whole party was awakened.She dressed and got off the kang, turned on the stove, roasted two potatoes on an iron bracket, and then lit the oil lamp to check whether there were any holes in the tearfish net.She tied one end of the net to a nail on the fire wall, and fixed the other end to the doorknob. From the door to the fire wall, a ten-meter-long fishing net floated like a mist.The silvery white mesh turns amber when the oil lamp flickers, and Ji Xi seems to smell the aroma of resin.The net was woven by Jixi herself, and the mesh is still so well-proportioned, although her fingers are not so flexible when using the wooden shuttle.In Ajia, there is probably no one who has not used Ji Xi's net.When she was young, the young and strong fishermen would always bring back balls of snow-white silk thread when they came back from the river of death, let her weave various types of nets, and of course they would also bring her some headscarves, jewelry, buttons and the like. ornaments.Ji Xi was then happy to let the men watch her weave her web.She weaves under the hot sun and under the watery moonlight, and sometimes she sleeps beside the fishnet while she is weaving, and the net surrounds her brightly like a mermaid.

Jixi stretched out his old fingers to the mesh, cursed God in a low voice, then went to see how well the baked potatoes were done, and then boiled water to make tea.When Jixi finished eating and drinking dilly-dally, the sky dawned hesitantly.Looking out from the gray glass window, you can see the dark luster of the passing river.Jixi's wooden house faces the River of Death, and the forest belt on the other side of the river is vast.Surely there would be no more birds.Ji Xi looked at the sky for a while, and then fell asleep again. She muttered something in a low voice, then fell down on the kang and dozed off.She woke up again when she was awakened by a knock on the door. It was Hu Dao, Hu Hui's grandson, who came.Hu Dao held a bag of tea and a bag of dried dates in his arms, probably because he was impatient and didn't wear a cotton cap.There was a thick layer of snow on his hair, like a white pancake, and his ears were frozen as bright as Shan Zhi.Hu Dao said dejectedly: "Aunt Jixi, how good this is, this little thing really doesn't know how to choose a day, Ailian said that she feels that her body is not right, and she can't make it through today, alas, the tearfish is coming, how can this be Well, what a bad time..."

Ji Xi put the tea and dried dates on the top of the cabinet, and glanced at the bewildered Hu Dao.That's how flustered men are when they become first-time dads.Ji Xi liked this flustered look. "If she can't give birth when the tearfish comes down, Aunt Jixi, you can just go to the River of Death to catch the tearfish. Alas, it's really not the time. It's still half a month away. What is the child fighting with the tearfish..." Hu Dao stood in front of the door with his hands down, talking over and over again, and looked out the window from time to time.What can be outside the window?Nothing but snow.

There is a legend in the Ajia fishing village that when the tearfish comes down, if any household fails to catch it and gets nothing, then the owner of the household will suffer disaster.Of course, no one was harmed here, because at this time of year people stand by the river of death and it is very rewarding.The tearfish is different from other fishes in that it is 100% alive when it is caught in a net, weighs about one catty, and has a well-proportioned and exquisite body.Put these faint blue fish into a wooden basin filled with water, and put them back into the river of death in the early morning of the next day, and when they entered the water again, they stopped whining.