Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

It is said that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the biggest danger on this route was pirates, especially along the coastline of Vietnam. Pirates were widely distributed. Without a familiar pilot, it would be very difficult to safely cross that sea area. At that time, in order to save their lives, people going to Nanyang usually prepared a sum of money in advance as "travel money", and pirates were only asking for money, and they would release people when they had money. But after the Japanese devils called, they controlled a large area of ​​the sea on this route. Although the pirates were basically gone, the pirates were just looking for money. Not so much.They said a lot, but without exception, it was very tragic, and usually all the people on the ship were killed.

It's been a rough road.That's the only thought I have about where I am right now after listening to it.There is a long way to go, and we haven't gone overseas yet, so we can only take one step at a time. A week after Seventh Brother rescued me, that strange voice never appeared again, and Heipicai and the others didn’t bother me again. Maybe it was Seventh Brother’s aura that deterred them, maybe it was Zhong Canfu who was okay after collecting the money. Pay attention to credit.I know that Zhong Canfu must not be a good person in his heart. The reason for this may be that he will be punished by the Dragon Lord if he fails to keep his promise on the boat.

The days gradually calmed down, and the people on the boat gradually forgot about this matter, and I gradually got used to the life on the boat. Seventh brother often went down to my cabin, and we chatted about the past, always talking When I get sentimental, it always ends with Seventh Brother comforting me. After seven days, our own dry food was basically eaten up, and meals were distributed on the ship. This continued until we arrived in Nanyang, and the cost was included in the ship fare. My dry food has long been eaten, and Ah Hui and Seventh Brother have been helping me. By the time of the first meal distribution, many people were so hungry that their eyes turned green.

I clearly remember that the six sea hunters carried three large wooden barrels to the cabin door, and then brought out two baskets of bowls. Zhong Canfu appeared in the cabin and shouted: "Dinner is ready, line up to the door one by one. Take food, don't run around or grab it, everyone has it." Everyone had seen Zhong Canfu's arrogance before, so there was no crowding, and they all lined up to the cabin door.When I walked forward, I saw that everyone was given a bowl of porridge and a marinated saury, but the saury was different in size, and some of them got small saury, so they inevitably yelled twice, but Zhong Canfu yelled twice. After that time, no one would make trouble anymore, and he didn't do anything on the boat, so he could take care of a saury and a bowl of porridge for almost half a day.

However, what is frustrating is that when it was my turn, Zhong Canfu glanced at me and said to the Tao Haike who sent the fish: "Get the smallest one for this shooter." I didn't want to argue with them, so I took the pitifully small saury and a bowl of porridge that was clear enough to serve as a mirror, and sat down on the side of the ship a little far from the deck, not in the mood to eat.I also saw Ah Hui who was queuing up behind me walk up to the Taohaike who sent fish, and smiled at Zhong Canfu, showing her white teeth like those foreign women on the wrapping paper of foreign goods, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhong, can you How about a big one?"

"The big one?" Zhong Canfu laughed loudly: "Brother Can and mine are big, do you want it?" The sea hunters who were distributing the food burst out laughing, and the people who were standing nearby also laughed out loud. Ah Hui blushed and said, "You people are really bad!" I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when I saw it. I didn't know Ah Hui's intention for doing this. Fortunately, Zhong Canfu didn't get too entangled. The passengers who were laughing all showed contempt in their eyes.As if she didn't see it, Ah Hui came over and sat down next to me, took her big fish and handed it to me: "You eat this, I can't finish it."

Is she forcing a smile on those vulgar sea hunters because of me?I was a little sad, and understood that she had suffered this grievance for me and did it for me, but if I had known earlier, I would have stopped it. "What? Are you jealous? Men, don't be so narrow-minded." A Hui snatched the small fish away with a smile, and put the big fish on my porridge bowl. I don't know if it's because women are better at adapting to the new environment, or if they are more naive and less thoughtful than men. In short, after the matter calmed down, Ah Hui seemed to be in a good mood.But I couldn't get up to face her smiling face, I just gnawed on the unpalatable saury silently, feeling a little disturbed.

Ah Hui said a few more words, seeing that I was unhappy, I didn't say anything else. While drinking the porridge, I saw Uncle Quan and Hei Pi Cai walking over in a hurry. After Tao Haike said something, Tao Haike shook his head arrogantly, and then Uncle Quan took out a piece of ocean from his pocket and gave it to him, and the man handed him three big fish. Looking at all kinds of people on board, and a simple meal, we can see all kinds of things in the world. After eating, all the utensils were taken back soon. I stood on the side of the boat, and a salty sea breeze blew in. On the calm sea, there was an old whitewashed lighthouse standing among the reefs. appeared in my line of sight.

I haven’t seen something protruding from the sea for a long time, but when I saw it suddenly, I couldn’t help but think of the kindness of the land, so I couldn’t help but look a few more times, and it also made me feel strange that the lighthouse suddenly appeared on the reef. Just wondering what this lighthouse is for, Ah Hui's voice sounded behind me: "Look, what are they doing?" I looked back and saw that other passengers had crowded out, gathered around the deck at the bow, looking at something. Ah Hui led me forward and squeezed forward. Through the crowd, I saw Tao Haike kneeling on the deck led by Lord Jiao, holding a bowl of wine in their hands. A big boiled pig's head is facing the land. There is a small wooden statue. I can't see it carefully from a distance, but I'm sure it's not like the Buddha statues I usually see. Instead, it only has a pair of human legs. , a strange image of a snake head.The whole body of this idol is black, which looks very similar to the unlucky black color of Fuchang.

The sea hunters headed by Lord Jiao knelt in front of this statue and shouted together: "Come out of Quanzhou Bay, follow the Dragon King. After passing Nanniao Reef, I heard my wife and children laughing. The sea is my home, and the world is my parents. Taohai depends on fate, life and death are predestined!" Then, Lord Jiao took out a hand-relief knife, cut off the pig's nose, and threw it into the sea. Tao Haike also stood up and threw the wine into the sea.Lord Jiao clasped his palms together, bowed three times to the north, and said, "Mazu Bodhisattva blesses you, Dragon Lord blesses you, bless the waves on the bow of the Fuchang ship, the wind blows behind the rudder, and the journey is smooth and smooth, and you can reach Nanyang safely!"

"We're going to the open sea!" said a person next to him.I turned my head and saw that it was Brother Seven, smoking a cigarette and looking at the lighthouse: "After passing this reef, you will find the vast ocean, the territory of Lord Dragon." "No wonder there is a sacrifice." I said.Seventh brother threw the smoke down the sea and said, "It's good if the sacrifice is useful, but I think the Buddha statue they worship is too evil." After saying that, I patted and left. I looked at his back, my heart skipped a beat, and I couldn't help but turn my attention back to the statue of the worshiped god. It had been placed in the middle of the deck, and I could see it more clearly. I grew up by the sea, and I have seen this kind of sacrifice countless times. Judging from the words of worship, the object of this worship ceremony is Mazu, but the idol worshiped must not be Mazu, but some Nanyang evil gods. The shape, according to The truth is that you will never worship on a boat. What also made me feel even more strange was that, although the sea hunters were yelling loudly, except for Master Jiao, there was no excitement about going to sea at all on their faces, and the atmosphere seemed very depressed.From their expressionless faces, I could see a faint fear, as if they were worried about something. The ceremony on the boat was not that complicated, and it ended soon. Zhong Canfu went over and cut the pork head into pieces, and handed it to a few sea hunters to share. After eating, Zhong Canfu laughed wildly and said to the onlookers: "Hahaha, look! Are you clear? We have gone to the outer sea! For the rest of your life, you should follow Lord Jiao, and don’t even think about going back to your hometown!" Quanzhou Bay has passed, and we have really left our hometown.It had been so many days, and I didn't feel much about going away from home. When he said this, all kinds of feelings came to my heart, and there were some women's low cries around. Seeing that there was no excitement to watch, the others dispersed slowly. I didn’t want to go back to the cabin with the turbid air. Before Tao Hai Ke drove me back, I wanted to breathe the sea air again. Many people were with me too. The same thoughts were scattered on the boat in twos and threes. The color of the seawater gradually became darker as the boat drove, and soon the lighthouse disappeared below the sea level, and the seawater under the boat also turned dark black.Although I am not a sailor, I also know that we have entered another world. The open sea is bottomless, maybe thousands of miles deep, and the wind and waves are so strong that this ship is almost irresistible like an ant, and there are no islands within hundreds of miles.Once falling into the water, there is only one way to go by sinking into the endless abyss. There was nothing to say that night, and we sailed in the open sea for another three or four days. Except that it was a little bumpier than in the inland sea, nothing new happened, and there was no moaning.But I know it's just waiting. I can tell from the expressions of all the sailors that they are all waiting, waiting for something that is bound to happen. Sure enough, after a week of sailing the high seas, we encountered our first big trouble. At dusk that day, I was attracted by the shouts of the sailors, followed the others to the deck, and saw a large cloud of dark clouds floating in front of me on the sea level. On the surface of the sea, the sea level is too wide, and there are no obstacles in the field of vision, the dark cloud is very clear, I can almost see the edge of the dark cloud, and the huge dark cloud is clearly suspended in the distance like a living thing. In the sky above, so low and so black. On the side, Zhong Canfu accompanied Lord Jiao to the deck. They all looked towards the dark clouds, and they could see lightning flashing in the dark clouds, looking like a monster. "The cloud looks a bit big, should we go around it?" Zhong Canfu said. Master Jiao calmly looked at the dark blue water, and cursed: "The south is Shatou Reef, and I won't be able to see anything when it gets dark. The wind in the north is not in the right direction. I'm afraid I will be caught up by this cloud, and the rain will still be there." If you don’t come down, let the brothers fill the sails, and we will rush over.” Zhong Canfu's expression suddenly became awkward: "But Lord Jiao, this cloud can—" "Stop fucking nonsense." Master Jiao said nonchalantly. Zhong Canfu let out a sigh, and immediately greeted Tao Haike Manfan, and everyone on board started to move.All of a sudden, there was a sound of chant on the deck. In a moment all the sails were full, Master Jiao got on the rudder, and I saw a shocking scene, Master Jiao actually jumped onto the rudder pole, pressing his seven-toed feet firmly on the rudder pole. Pulling the rigging of the tailsail. I have never seen such a helm, and I was dumbfounded. The others were all in position, looking at the tail sail, as soon as Lord Jiao sank the rudder and turned the sail, the sail immediately caught up with the full wind, and the others followed suit, and the boat rushed towards the dark cloud. In less than half an hour, the boat had rushed into the wind mass around the dark clouds, the fishing lights above the head swayed violently, and the Fuchang was shaken by gusts of wind. Taohaike began to rush us into the cabin. In my panic, I tried to catch something, and I saw the waves rolling violently. Some people in the commotion crowd who didn't know the situation shouted: "Master Jiao, Lord Jiao, the waves are so big, The boat is about to capsize, think of a way!" Their questions did not get any response from Lord Jiao and Tao Haike. Before the chasing Taohaike arrived at my side, I held on to the side of the boat. Ah Hui was swayed to nowhere. I looked around but didn't see her. At this moment, I saw a mass of waves in the distance. A strange black shadow appeared. what?I thought to myself, the wave disappeared in an instant, and I couldn't see that thing. I wondered if it was an illusion just now. When I heard Zhong Canfu yell, his expression became distorted, and he shouted: "Master Jiao, southeast!" The southeast is the direction I saw just now, and when I look there again, there is another big wave in the sky full of foam.Sure enough, I saw a huge black shadow passing through again, and I could see clearly that the big black shadow was rolling, it looked like a living thing! I couldn't help but screamed.what is that?Before he could react, Zhong Canfu yelled, "It's coming towards us!" "Shrimp boy! Hold on!" Master Jiao yelled, and a very thick Taohaike rushed over and grabbed the rudder. Master Jiao jumped off the rudder pole and rushed to Zhong Canfu in a straight line on the extremely bumpy deck. Hold hands and look out. "Is it the thing from last year?" Zhong Canfu asked. Lord Jiao looked carefully, then shook his head: "I can't see clearly, fuck his mother, take precautions first, let all the passengers go back to the cabin." He said loudly: "The passengers go back to the cabin, or life and death will be ignored. Shrimp boy, left Full, Dragon King wagging his tail!" All the sea-scourers let out a roar, and when the shrimp over there turned the rudder, the boat tilted almost instantly, and Master Jiao rushed back to the rudder wheel. I was by the strings of the boat, and finally I couldn't stand anymore. The Taohaike on the side yelled at me: "Come back, I'm closing the hatch!" I thought about the conversation between Lord Jiao and the others just now, "Is it that thing from last year?" What does this mean?It sounds like they also encountered something last year. But I couldn’t stand anymore. I knew I couldn’t stay any longer, so I walked towards the hatch against the wind and almost stumbled into the cabin. The hatch was locked from the outside immediately. I saw Ah Hui, she came up to help remind me.Almost at the same time, I heard a strange sound coming from the bottom of the cabin. It was the strange moaning sound I heard before. In the storm, this sound seemed to be even more high-pitched and painful. It was pitch black in the cabin, and the wind lamps in the cabin jumped up and down, almost extinguishing the light, and the icy wind whizzed through the hole exposed by the sockboard, and came in from the port of the ship, making a roar like a ghost. sound.The boat kept rocking back and forth, and some fainted people finally vomited out the porridge and fish they had just eaten, spitting sour water non-stop. The strange groaning sound at the bottom of the cabin was so shrill that it almost caught up with the whistling sound of the strong wind, without any interruption, and echoed the sound of the wind, like an ominous ghost bird, flying on the empty sea. The people in the cabin all looked ashen, covered their ears with their hands, and with a look of despair and despair, they collapsed on the constantly shaking deck.It seems that this sound has been ringing for a long time but I haven't heard it outside. I looked out from the ventilation window of the cabin, and it started to rain heavily outside, and the sea breeze became stronger. I think Master Jiao originally meant to break out of the range of the dark clouds before the rain, but now it seems unlikely Well, when a big wave hit, I couldn't sit still, so I jumped forward, but fortunately, A Hui grabbed me, and I followed her pull, and I almost hit the cabin. on the wall. When boarding the boat, Zhong Canfu said that we are all goods, and it is only now that I understand the meaning of this sentence.After these waves hit, the cabin has become a complete mess, everyone is piled together in a mess, most of them have given up struggling, hugging their heads and shrinking their legs, rolling helplessly with the bumps of the ship.The luggage carried by the passengers was scattered everywhere, mixed with the sundries spit out by those seasick people. One glance at this doomsday-like scene filled my heart with deep despair. Ah Hui and I hugged each other tightly, her soft body was very stiff at the moment, and so must I.We can clearly feel each other's insecurities.I struggled to hold on to the part of the bulkhead that could barely be held, and I heard the terrified screams of the full cabin. Even with the protection of the cabin, the situation was already very critical. Guys, what have you experienced.I doubt very much that under such circumstances, they still have the ability to let Fuchang survive this disaster safely. At this time, I can't control my body at all. I can only try my best to stabilize in the bumps by instinct. I don't know whether my arms, back and legs were injured in the collision. The whole body has lost consciousness due to the high tension.But other senses became sharper, and I found that strange groaning sound getting louder and louder in the wind and waves. It seemed that a witch was approaching howling. Accompanied by a clear groan, the waves are getting bigger and bigger. I suspect that the Fuchang has changed from a bumpy state to rolling in the waves, because several times I was thrown in the air, and then fell heavily On deck, there was a dull thumping sound.I can't control all this at all, I can only try my best to use my body to cushion Ah Hui at the moment of falling. When I was swayed again and hit the deck again, I found that in addition to the sound of my body falling on the deck, there was also a sound that made my hair stand on my head. Lying on the deck, I could clearly hear the sound coming from the bottom of the boat, as if someone was scratching the bottom of the bilge with their fingers, but the sound was much louder than the sound of fingers scratching the board.The story of the Yasha ghost that Heipicai told before came to mind. Could it be that there was really something lying on the bottom of the boat, scratching the wooden boards on the boat? "Oh my god!" Suddenly someone yelled, and I was awakened from this nightmare. Everyone looked in the direction of the yell, and saw a few people looking out crowded in front of me, all poking their heads out. Looking at the window, I don't know what I'm looking at. "What's wrong?" Hei Pi Cai asked loudly. Those few people didn't answer, they just shouted: "We're done, we're done!" Everyone squeezed over there, and went to see what they saw first, but there were too many people, and those who squeezed at once couldn't squeeze through. I didn't move, knowing that I wouldn't be able to see anything if I squeezed in, but I would be easily trampled, and kept looking at the commotion in front of me.Someone was frantically asking: "What? What?" Ah Hui was behind me, I was covered in cold sweat, I didn't know what was going on.I just felt that her hands were shaking too. I'm waiting for someone to say, what did they see, or if their people see it clearly, they can let me take a look, I think they must have seen the black shadow that I saw before, and they said we are finished , that shadow must be extremely terrifying. However, they kept watching, and several of them said: "There is nothing." I was so anxious, but I saw Ah Hui pull my sleeve. I turned my head and saw that she was looking back at the window on the other side of the cabin, and pulled me over. . In the lightning, I saw a gigantic black figure outside, even bigger than our ship, sinking and sinking in the waves, and seemed to be approaching us. I rushed over and stuck to the window. In the gap of the lightning, I found that it was a huge mast shadow, and our ship seemed to be spinning while being pushed towards that shadow. what?The surprise in my heart reached the limit, and I froze there. Soon the boat turned back to the other side, and there was a series of screams from the people watching on the other side, and then the boat came back again, and the black shadow appeared in front of me again, getting closer all at once. "What the hell are those fools doing?" I was terrified in my heart, if this continues, we will collide.Could it be that they couldn't see it, and they didn't want to do anything about it.I rushed to the door of the locked hatch, knocked on the door continuously, and shouted: "I'm about to hit you, turn around quickly!" Seeing me knock like this, other people immediately reacted and all came to help, but after knocking for a long time, no one paid attention to us at all, and the black shadow outside the window blinked in front of us.I was in despair, wondering if I was going to die here, when someone suddenly exclaimed, "Hiss, it's Anqing!" I was taken aback, and rushed over immediately, looking at the black shadow approaching outside the window.At this time, no one was crowding me, so I tried my best to look out and saw the black shadow coming towards me. It was indeed a big ship. The big ship was dilapidated and was about to sink. The boat was inserted in the water at an angle, with a strange posture, and the prow part of the boat above the water had the three big characters of Anqing vaguely written on it. Anqing!My uncle left Quanzhou on this big ship.I felt a chill in my heart, looking at this ship that I don't know what happened to it, it almost collapsed. The boat is like this, what happened to the people on board? After a few blinks, the Anqing was almost within sight, almost right in front of our eyes, and many debris had washed up on the deck. Looking at the sea with the light of lightning, I can see more clearly.That big ship, which looks much bigger than the Fuchang, can only be said to be a large pile of planks that have not yet been disintegrated, and they are barely put together together, floating on the extremely pale sea reflected by the lightning. , rolling with the huge waves. Its bow and stern stick out of the sea, and the white words "Anqing" on the bow are as gloomy as the body of a tombstone.The middle of the entire hull has completely collapsed, as if the angry Dragon Lord used his huge dragon claws to slam the solid Anqing ship apart from the middle. What makes us the most creepy is that on the three rickety masts, there are densely packed people from top to bottom, all drooping their heads, not knowing whether they are dead or alive. They must have climbed on the wreckage when the ship broke down and waited for rescue. of. The whole scene is like a picture of being tortured in hell on the sea.These people do not know whether they are dead or not. The Anqing turned into such a ghostly appearance. I don't know what weird things happened before, but no matter what, my uncle is in danger.At this time, I suddenly thought of all the scenes where my uncle was with me, and a terrible thought engulfed my heart: the last relative who was related to me by blood was gone.It's not the kind of abandoning me and never seeing me again, but really gone. From now on, I am really the only person living alone in this world. I turned my head to look around in a daze, and the passengers around me all had gloomy faces. At this time, someone suddenly shouted: "The people above are still alive." I was startled, turned my head, and saw those people on the wreckage, someone was waving at us.