Chapter 3 Chapter 2 The Coffin Ship Sent by the Dragon King of the Yangtze River

Shuanzi hurriedly yelled at the boat a few times, waving his hands at the same time, meaning that he wanted the boatman to take us to the other side of the ancient ferry. We yelled several times in a row, but no one answered. The whole Wupeng boat was quietly docked at this gloomy and cold ancient Yangtze River ferry, as if covered with a layer of rotten dust, which made people feel strange and indescribable. Feel. The third fat man has always been short-tempered. He hummed twice and was about to board the boat to have a look. I quickly stopped him. At this moment, the Uppong boat moved slightly, and a dry and thin black old man, who seemed to have only skin and bones left, walked over from the shadow of the Uppong boat.

The old man was wearing a bamboo hat and a black sackcloth, so he couldn't see his exact appearance.Just looking at his clothes and his slightly hunched back, he looks at least in his sixties.What is really shocking is that the old man who punted the boat broke his left arm, and the forearm was completely cut off, leaving only the empty black sleeve fluttering in the cool wind. The hearts of all the people standing on the shore couldn't help being slightly shocked, and they all felt that the black boat in front of them was weird everywhere! The old man who punted the boat came out from the canopy of the boat, wearing a hat on his head, smoking a dry cigarette in his mouth, just staring at the river in the middle of the river quietly, and didn't express anything to us.

Shuanzi looked at the empty sleeve on the old boatman's left arm with some strangeness. Obviously, he had lived in the ancient ferry for so long, and he had never seen such a strange boatman, but he still bowed his hands politely. , Explain our purpose of coming, and hope that the old boatman can make it easier for us to take us across the river. The old boatman just listened quietly, did not answer, but kept puffing out the white mist from the dry smoke in his mouth, and after a long time, he said in a muffled voice: "There is something at the bottom of the river at night, it is not easy to cross the river. "

We didn't understand what it meant, and thought to ourselves, is there anything weird in this river?But at the moment we were in a hurry to cross the river, so we didn't think much about it. The third fat man was the most anxious, and said: "It's okay, I often go into the water to play with the fat man of the big river, what can I get? You just cross us, sir, what happened? , Fat Master, I left two hundred catties of fat here, and I will never trouble your old man..." Shuanzi and I were also eager to go, so we nodded in agreement.It's just that Xiaomei seemed to have noticed something, her face turned pale, she tugged on my sleeve, and said in a low voice: "Since it's getting late today, let's come tomorrow! I always feel something is wrong?"

I waved my hand at her and said, "What's wrong? It's not the first time for you to take a boat on this river. Don't you know what's weird? Besides, the old village party secretary had already agreed when he entered the mountain. Yes, tell us to bring the food to Yizhuang today. There is probably not much food left on the mountain, if it is late, it means that the three fat guys and I have not completed the task assigned by the organization, and we must record it as a demerit." The three fat men next to him also spoke up and said: "We are all the new generation of the socialist revolution. We respect the highest instructions and come here. We must carry forward the determination to fear no hardships and difficulties. Chairman Mao has said that we are required to The educated youth fought the wind and snow, honed their muscles and bones. The Red Army marched 25,000 miles in Wumeng, marched majesticly, and even crossed the Jinsha River and the Dadu River. How can the few of us be restrained by this mere river? The footsteps of the revolutionary youth to advance..."

Hearing that the three fat man Chen Jianguo even crossed such an ancient ferry, and that he was involved in the advancement of the revolutionary youth, Shuanzi and I both wanted to laugh, thinking that this fat man's mouth is really too poor.Xiaomei saw that all of us big men had decided to go, but she just gave San Fatty a blank look, and stopped talking. The old boatman raised his head, looked at us with some indifference in his cloudy eyes, walked to the bow, untied the cable tied to the shore, and walked to the other end of the Upon without saying a word. At this moment, we finally see clearly the face of this man hidden under the shadow of the bamboo hat.

He looked extremely old, the years had carved countless deep grooves on his face, and an extremely shocking wound stretched from the corner of his eye to his chin, as if some kind of big claw similar to an eagle or a dragon came from him. With a paw swiping down on the corner of his right forehead, the skin and flesh were torn apart, almost completely splitting his right cheek in two.Even though the injury has healed now, the flesh rolled up on both sides of the wound still looks quite terrifying!It is hard to imagine that anyone could survive such a serious injury. After all, Xiaomei is a girl, and when she suddenly saw such a face under the bamboo hat, her face turned pale with fright, and she couldn't help leaning towards me.

And the three fat guys have always been lawless, heartless masters, and they don't know what it means to be afraid. Seeing the old boatman preparing to ferry us across the river, he smiled, twisted his fat buttocks, and squeezed into the boat. While boarding the boat, he greeted us a few: "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, don't dawdle, there will be no more shops after this village." We got on the boat, and when we stepped into the Uppong boat, I secretly looked at the old man standing on the bow and punting the boat.Although he makes a living by punting, his skin is not the healthy bronze or dark brown that ordinary fishermen often get tanned by the sun, but rather sallow and sallow.

I don't know if it's because of the psychological effect of seeing the scar on his face before, or some other reason, but I always feel that the old man who punted the boat looked a little weird, lifeless, and even, not even a living person. people. As soon as this idea appeared, it firmly occupied my mind. The more I looked at it, the more terrifying this old man suddenly became. "When you reach the center of the river, don't talk too much, otherwise, it will be difficult to cross the river..." The old boatman suddenly turned his head and glanced at us, his eyes were a little cold, "If you see something different, it's best not to shout."

"I said, old man, you keep saying that there is something at the bottom of the river. Fatty, I have been here for a long time at the ancient ferry, and I have never heard of anything wrong. To be honest, your old ways are now It’s no longer popular, and I can only deceive those ignorant little girls. Fat Lord, I have been swimming in this river all summer. No, look, don’t you eat well and sleep well! Chairman Mao I have said that to be a new youth with socialist materialism, and to overthrow all monsters and ghosts, superstition is a must.” Chen Jianguo, the third fat man, began to fall into poverty again.

The old man was supporting the pole at the bow and ignored him, but I inadvertently saw a sneer on the corner of the skinny old man's mouth, and I felt more and more uneasy.For the first time, I think it was a wrong decision for us to stick to this weird Uppong boat to cross the river! "According to the current speed, how long will it take to cross the river?" Seeing the opportunity, I asked Shuanzi next to me. "If it's fast, two or three minutes will pass, but now it's evening, and the water in the river is flowing faster at this time, so the time will slow down. The most feared thing is passing through the center of the river, where there is a vortex, and there are often 'underwater fishing' ’, sometimes even people and boats get involved..." Shuanzi replied. "En!" I nodded. "Shui Di Lao? His grandma's, we won't carry it that way, right?" The three fat men also came over. "No." Xiaomei glanced at him, then glanced at the river, and said, "Underwater fishing usually takes place during the flood season, when the river's high tide will form a huge water vortex in the center of the river bed, driving passing boats It was swallowed up. Although it is evening now and the current is a bit fast, it is still far from forming a bottom fishing boat." "Then I'm relieved, Fat Master." The three fat man chuckled: "Let me just say, his grandma, don't cross the river once, and throw your life into it." He picked out his ears, "But, don't say it, the dark winter on the river After a quick look, there really seemed to be something in the water, which was scary." We all laughed, but the old man was still standing quietly at the bow of the boat, holding the boat pole, his face covered by the bamboo hat was indifferent. I glanced at the environment inside the boat. Although the size of the Uppong boat is small and it looks extremely decayed from the outside, it is still clean inside, and it is much more spacious than ordinary small fishing boats.It’s just that the more I look at it, the more I feel something is wrong, because the shape of the inside of the boat in front of me, if you look carefully, is somewhat different from the outside hull. It was a black coffin with the lid lifted. That's right, it's a coffin!The small black-covered boat we are in at the moment is like an old coffin hollowed out from a piece of old wood. A boat like a coffin!My face turned pale all of a sudden.No wonder I felt so uncomfortable looking at the Uppong boat before.How could anyone have designed a boat in this shape?I feel that the development of the whole thing is becoming more and more unpredictable. Isn't it doomed to sink to the bottom of the river to give the Dragon King a funeral in this black coffin boat? The more I thought about it, the more I felt that something was wrong. Xiaomei at the side saw that something was wrong with my expression, so she asked me what was wrong. I shook my head and smiled reluctantly, but my expression was a little unnatural no matter how I looked at it. Xiaomei looked at me suspiciously, but didn't say anything, maybe she also felt something abnormal.After all, most of the time, girls' hearts are always more delicate and sensitive than men's. I hope that my feeling is wrong, but the feeling of inappropriateness in my heart is getting stronger and stronger! At this moment, I saw a huge clay urn standing under the Upon, the mouth of the jar was covered with a black cloth, and it was pressed by a heavy stone, as if it contained something.And just at the edge of the pottery urn, I suddenly found that there was an old yellow paper pasted near the river, on which something was scrawled in red cinnabar like ghostly symbols, but the sky was too dark , hazy can not see clearly. I just remember the talismans like offering sacrifices to the Dragon King, the bright red cinnabar characters are shocking, especially against the somewhat worn-out yellow paper, in the dark and quiet environment, there seems to be an indescribable feeling. It was so weird that I couldn't even breathe for a while. "By the way, old man, why is there such a big pottery pot on your boat?" In order to relieve the vague uneasiness in my heart, I tried to find an opportunity to talk to the old man, "What's in it? It's not on this boat. Is it in the way?" "Black dog blood." The man turned his face, gave me a cold look, and said. "Why?" I was startled, and forced a smile, "There is still a talisman on it? Is it to ward off evil spirits?" "There are water ghosts here!" The old man gave me a cold look. At this time, the Wupeng boat shook slightly. There seemed to be a wave hitting the river outside, and there was a slight vibration under our feet. We all looked at the river in unison.It turns out that we have reached the most turbulent area of ​​the entire ancient ferry, which is the center of the main stream of the Yangtze River. Looking at the past, the river surface is getting wider and wider, and the waves behind push the waves ahead, layer upon layer.For some reason, the waves on the river suddenly became turbulent, as if an invisible big hand was churning vigorously. The Uppong boat made a very rhythmic flapping sound, and it felt like half of our body had fallen into the waterline. Although it was rickety, the boat was running smoothly for the time being. At this time, everyone heard a terrified cry, as if someone had encountered something extremely terrible. Everyone was startled, and they all looked back. I squinted my eyes and looked ahead, and found that the sound came from the embolus sitting on my left arm. On the side of the boat that looks like a coffin board, I lowered my head in the river and seemed to be looking for something. A group of us hurried over and asked him what was the matter. After the embolus was raised, his face was a little pale, he swallowed, and he said to us dryly: "Just now I put my hand on the edge of the boat, it seems, there seems to be something A hand came out of the water and grabbed me." "It's his grandma, you're scared and confused! This kind of joke will scare people to death!" The face of the third fat man also changed. After such a long time, the strange atmosphere and things in the whole Uppong boat, even this No matter how unresponsive the kid is, no matter how big the nerves are, he still feels it.Now when I hear this, I can't help but feel a little terrified. Several people were already secretly vigilant because of the atmosphere on the boat, but now they were a little nervous when they heard Shuanzi say this. thing." Fatty Three, Meizi and I looked at each other, and we all felt that Shuanzi's expression really didn't look like he was trying to fool us.Three Fatty and I have been in the ancient ferry for a while to jump in the queue. As ordinary folks in the village, we have a general understanding of everyone's temperament. Shuanzi is usually the kind of person who would blush even when he made an outrageous joke. He has always been honest and responsible. He is not such a badass master like the third fat man, so there is no reason to pretend to be a ghost to scare us at this time. It's just that if what he said is true, is there really something unclean in the water? All of a sudden, everyone became alert. With the dim light of kerosene lamps, everyone looked into the river. "Could it be some big carp, silver carp or something like that?" The three fat man Chen Jianguo asked: "This is the center of the river. There must be a lot of various fishes under various reefs and undercurrents. This season is when big fish are born. There must be many fish swimming around in the waters in the center of the river." , did some big fish bump into you when it jumped out of the water?" "No." Shuanzi pursed his lips, almost crying, "I grew up by this river, have I never seen any fish? The one who caught me just now must have been a hand, not a fish." Before he finished speaking, I suddenly saw the third fat man Chen Jianguo's face pale, his eyes wide open, and a "cluck" sound of extreme fear came out of his throat.I trembled all over my body immediately, and quickly followed his gaze towards the river. At just one glance, I feel creepy, and my scalp almost explodes. By the light of the kerosene lamp, we saw groups of black hair-like things surging out of the water. In the turbid deep black river water, it immediately seemed like a frying pan was fried, the river water boiled, covered with black hair-like things, densely packed, like thin snakes wriggling, hovering there, let People look, can not help but feel the heart is full of chills. "Damn, what the hell is in this river? Are there any female corpses?" Everyone was taken aback for a moment, and then panicked. I cursed in my heart, it's really his grandma's failure!The river is really not very clean, but I don't know what is causing the trouble?Now the Upon boat is in the middle of the riverbed and we are in a very bad position.If one is not good, if the ship capsizes and the people end up, they will suffer a lot, and even everyone will die here. Several people were drenched in sweat, Shuan Zi was so frightened that his face turned pale. He pointed at the water, his lips quivered a few times, but he didn't hold back a word.The third fat man was afraid that he would be scared stupid, so he slapped him on the head, stood up humming, and cursed: "You look like a worthless girl, don't be like a bitch, Xiaomei is nothing. .It’s all come to this point, what are you afraid of, the big deal is that you will fight with this ghost, and you will be a good man again in eighteen years.” But even though he said so, his face became paler and he stared straight at the water. A few people wanted to see what that thing looked like again, but this time they couldn't see anything. With the dim light of the kerosene lamp, they could only see the circles of ripples that had been stirred up on the river just now.I don't know whether the chilling scene just now was our illusion or something. After watching for a while, everyone's eyes were sour, but there was still nothing on the water.The third fat man said, don't look at it, the boat is coming to shore soon, and when we ran to the shore, no matter how scary the water ghosts in the river are, they can't do anything to us.When we saw that the boat was about to cross the river, the panic in our hearts eased a lot. At this time, I saw the front of the coffin boat, the old boatman was still standing firmly on the bow, his face was indifferent, without any change, as if everything that happened just now was in his expectation. Just as I was about to speak, the hull of the boat suddenly shook violently. The third fat man, Chen Jianguo, hurriedly picked up the kerosene lamp and looked into the water, but saw nothing.Before we could catch our breath, everyone felt that the boat below us was shaken again, and it was bumped into the air and shifted by two or three meters, as if something terrifying had already been eyeing the turbid bottom of the water. us. A burst of inexplicable panic came, and the few people didn't care about it anymore. They grabbed the edge of the boat, staggering and unable to stand still. "My dear mother—baye, let me tell you, the things under the river are too powerful! It seems that the few of us are in danger this time." The third fat man Chen Jianguo looked at the water surface with lingering fear. , he is relatively fat, and it is very difficult to move on the boat. He used to sit on the side of the boat, but now he has moved his buttocks to the center of the boat, as if he was afraid that something would jump out of the water and bite him twice. More than a hundred catties of fat were thrown into the water. "Damn!" I gave him a hard look, "Fuck your grandma, don't keep talking about it, it's not the time to part from life and death, don't fart in front of you, be careful, go back and treat you for disturbing the morale of the army mortal sin." While the two of us were talking, the river roared across the river.At this moment, it was as if it was boiling, one wave after another came, and the surroundings were covered with white mist, as if entering another world suddenly.The breath of terror permeated the air. The Uppong boat wobbled on the river, as if it was in danger of capsizing at any moment. "Brother Erba, Brother Fatty... What, what's the matter. Could it be that there are really water ghosts emerging from the river?" Shuanzi was in awe, holding on to the side of the boat desperately, looking at the river in fear. The current situation is very strange, as if something suddenly emerged from the water, churning in the middle of the river.I reflexively looked towards the back of the ship's side.The weird old boatman was still standing firmly on the bow of the boat, holding on to the pole, as if he had no fear at all. While I was in a daze, the old boatman stabilized the shaking of the boat with his boat pole, cursed something suddenly, then put down his boat pole and walked down. He walked all the way to the other end of the boat, his face was covered by the shadow of the huge bamboo hat, and he couldn't see any expression.He picked up the head-high terracotta pot on the bow, tore off the worn yellow paper on it, and poured the so-called black dog blood inside along the side of the ship. A stench similar to corruption came immediately, and with the surge of the river, the blood of the black dog was soaked in the entire river.Strange to say, not long after the old man's black dog blood fell down, the whole wupeng boat stopped shaking immediately after a shock, and then the water surface became calm again, and the wupeng boat continued to cross along the Yangtze River to the opposite bank . I was startled, and felt that something was wrong. Just as I was about to speak, I heard the third fat man Chen Jianguo yelled as if he had seen a ghost. "Clatter..." "Clatter..." Seeing the direction he pointed, I heard a sound of water on the river where the boat was just now, and there were layers of ripples. Waves pushed the boat forward, as if there was some huge monster It is generally moving in the water. "Quick, Eighth Master, take a snapshot." The three fat man Chen Jianguo yelled, and I directly carried the kerosene lamp and leaned over to the noisy river. With the dim light, everyone saw the incredible scene in the middle of the river, and all sounds stopped abruptly. At this moment, my heart seemed to be hit hard by someone, I could barely breathe, my eyes were wide open, and I couldn't believe my eyes at all. The surroundings suddenly fell silent, only the heavy panting of the crowd remained. Although I didn't have time to check the expressions of the other people, I knew that the faces of Chen Jianguo and the others would definitely not be much better. On the surface of the river not far away, in the tumbling water of the river, a huge black shadow like a small house floated up. The entire center of the wide river, with the emergence of this huge monster, caused a shock. "What's that? I'm not dazzled, fat man. I seem to see a piece of land, it's his mother's life, and it's still coming..." With the dim light of the kerosene lamp, the third fat man just saw clearly the distance In such a scene, both eyeballs are almost protruding. Shuanzi and Xiaomei were also so shocked that their mouths could not be closed, and they blinked, thinking that they had been dazzled for a while. It's no wonder everyone is so horrified! This situation is too weird, like a slightly protruding black-brown island suddenly popping up from the bottom of the water, almost occupying the entire river bed. This piece of land protruding from the river is gray-brown in color, towering and arched, with obvious protruding ridges in the center.The surface is covered with countless green filaments, floating on the water like a woman's hair. Damn, what kind of monster is this?It's like a turtle shell or something. Is there such a big green fur turtle in this world? I froze for a moment, what the hell is this? I looked at the people on the boat again, Chen Jianguo and the others all looked shocked, their eyes widened, only the old boatman was still wearing a bamboo hat, expressionless and silent.At some point, he had already returned to the bow. Perhaps it was because of feeling the light from the kerosene lamp, the small house-like shadow that occupied almost one-third of the entire river bed made a muffled sound from under the water.The edge covered with long green hair rubbed against the water on both sides, splashing a series of water splashes, protruding into the water, and in the blink of an eye, the huge body disappeared above the river. His grandma's, the clumps of black women's hair we saw in the water before, could it be the green hairs on the back of this strangely large green fur turtle? I looked at the boatman again, his face was shrouded in the shadow of the bamboo hat, he was sitting on the bow of the boat, smoking a big dry cigarette with his head closed, looking at the Yangtze River silently, as if Everything that happened in front of him seemed to have nothing to do with him. The eccentric old boatman told us from the very beginning that there was something at the bottom of the water, and didn't allow us to board the boat.At that time, everyone thought he was bluffing us because he didn't want to cross the river, so no one paid attention. Thinking about it now, maybe he already knew that there was that monster in the river? There was also the black dog's blood in the pottery pot, the yellow paper, and the shape of the inside of the ship that looked like a hollowed-out coffin, all of which were very strange. The old man said that there are water ghosts in the river.Did you mean the black hair, or the giant green-haired tortoise? Jiang Xin in the distance had regained his calm, and just as I was thinking about it, I sighed, and was about to take back the kerosene lamp that had protruded, so I couldn't help leaning forward.Just when the kerosene lamp was approaching the side of the ship, the fire in the lamp was blown by the wind suddenly. Suddenly, I saw a hideous face protruding from the river below me. Looking back now, the shuddering feeling at that time was really too strong.In my life, I have encountered too many strange and terrifying events, but there are actually only a few of the thrilling encounters that can really touch the deepest fear in my soul. thing. After all, no matter who it is, seeing such a face protruding from the water on the turbid river, they will be frightened and at a loss. And that pale face, to be honest, even today I still haven't been able to understand what it is.The situation happened so suddenly at that time, I didn't even have time to fully see the appearance of that thing, I just vaguely remember that face was very pale, with indescribable ferocity, it seemed to be a woman.In the dark and cold river, under the dim light of the dim kerosene lamp, a hideous, vicious, pale woman's face protruded from the water in front of my eyes. No matter how calm I was before, at this moment I really He was almost out of his wits from being frightened. At that moment, I almost suffocated. This pale woman's face was too weird, it actually protruded directly from the water, and the scene of the black hair squirming made people shudder.The situation is really weird. I felt like my scalp was about to explode. I tried my best, let out a hoarse growl, struggled backwards, lost my footing, and followed the direction of the Uppong boat leaning left, and I was about to fall directly from the boat. Go in the river. And it was at this moment that my mind regained a trace of calm, and my hands scratched a few times in the air.This is the instinctive reaction of people losing their center of gravity, wanting to grab something and avoid falling directly from the boat. At this time, a hand grabbed my arm, and someone pulled me back. "Grandma, Ba Ye, what did you do? Why did you almost fall! Even if the green-haired old tortoise was frighteningly big just now, it wouldn't scare you to fall off the boat..." Chen Jianguo, the third fat man, groaned Panting heavily, he was the one who pulled me up just now. "Damn it... there is a face in that, that, that water... I'm scared to death." Panting heavily, I still pointed to the place where I was standing just now with lingering fear. Xiaomei was sitting on the side of the boat next to us. She leaned over and looked at where I was sitting. After a while, she said, "Erba, are you dazzled? The water is empty and there is nothing there!" Xiaomei's words made my expression change, and I quickly stood up and walked over. Sure enough, the river was empty except for the ripples of the boat, as if nothing had happened.Not to mention the pale face just now, there wasn't even a hair on it. Is it really because the spirit is too nervous and blurred?At this time, even I doubted my eyes a little bit, but the feeling before was so real, until now I still feel that hideous face protruding from the water is right in front of my eyes.Am I really wrong? I suddenly had an ominous premonition that going to Qinglong Mountain to guard Yizhuang this time might not go so smoothly. Due to the frequent occurrence of strange things, although everyone said that they didn't believe what I said about the face, they obviously had instinctive fear and fear when facing the water area just now.All of them retracted their bodies back into the boat, not daring to lean out of the boat again.Even Chen Jianguo, the third fat man who couldn't sit still, was honest. This is a human instinctive reaction to danger and cannot be avoided. Everyone was a little nervous, only the old boatman who had been sitting on the bow was still smoking his pipe, as if he had noticed something, and sneered at the water just now. I didn't understand what the old man meant, but I still resisted not asking questions. At this time, I just hope to reach the other side as soon as possible. It's best not to do extra-complicated things, otherwise, who knows what else will happen occur. After crossing the riverbed in the middle of the river, the Wupeng boat also crossed the last section of water and came to the opposite bank. When we landed, we couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, our faces turned pale, and even Xiaomei, who has always been known as a very courageous person, had a pale face that was filled with the joy of surviving after the catastrophe. And only the third fat man, Chen Jianguo, who has always been known for his lack of heart and lungs, still looked like a normal person, and gestured a few times towards the center of the river in the distance with his fingers that were a circle thicker than ordinary people, and then pointed at the river again. I also measured my own body. I looked confused and asked him: "Fatty, what are you doing?!" "Hey, I didn't do anything, I didn't do anything. I was just trying to figure out whether the monster in the middle of the river could swallow me up in one gulp." The three fat guys said something without looking back, which left me speechless. At this time, there was another sound of water splashing on the shore, and I was startled. When I looked up, I saw the old boatman holding his pole and preparing to leave.I hurriedly cupped my hands and said a few words of thanks. Although I experienced so many terrible things on the way, it was the other party who kindly sent us across the river after all, so we can't be too rude. The wupeng boat gradually sailed out of the river bank. After hearing my thanks, the old boatman didn't speak, but just raised his head and glanced at me, then rowed the boat away on his own. I watched the boat slowly drifting away under the night, until it turned into a black spot on the surface of the Yangtze River. For some reason, I breathed a sigh of relief. The surroundings were temporarily quiet. After the thrilling scene just now, no one knew what to say.It's just that I was a little worried in my heart. I always felt that on the face of the old boatman hidden under the shadow of the bamboo hat, there was an evil spirit, an indescribable distortion, maybe it was a psychological effect.