Raising Ghosts Records

Chapter 15 The Fish Selling Boy

Walking in the middle of the night on the road leading to nowhere in a foreign country, the confusion and loneliness are like this night, making people unable to see any direction.But I am very lucky, because I have Tongtong. Although we are alone and a ghost, after only a few days of getting along, we can feel the feeling of being dependent on each other.We have similar goals, I want to find my sister, and Tong Tong wants to find her parents, just want to meet again.

I don't know how long I walked, and I don't know where I went. The sky is gradually getting brighter, but it is still very cold.Guangxi is close to Guangdong. If there is no cold air in November, the temperature can reach 11 degrees during the day and drop to only 25 degrees at night.

I was walking in the field by the river when I suddenly saw a woman shitting not far ahead, and I could see her white buttocks.When I saw it, I quickly detoured, but I didn't expect that woman to see me too. Not only was she not shy, but she also told me to go over very fiercely.

I froze, and the woman told me to wait until she finished shitting to watch her dance.Hearing what she said, I was stunned now, did I meet an epileptic (mentally ill)?I ignored her and turned to walk away. I didn't expect that woman to catch up with her and grabbed a handful of shit she just pulled out.

Seeing this woman chasing after her with a handful of shit scared me faster than seeing a mandrill ghost.As the saying goes, if you get hit by a broom once, you will be unlucky for three months, and if you get shit thrown on your body and head, you will be unlucky for three years.

While he was running, a lump of shit flew over his head. Although it didn't hurt when the shit hit someone, who could accept three years of bad luck?What's more, it's so disgusting.

Looking back, I saw this woman was chasing me with hands full of shit, I ran as fast as I could to get rid of her, and finally ran into a village.Looking back, the crazy woman didn't catch up, and I was so tired that I leaned against the corner and gasped.

At this time, I saw a big sister carrying a vegetable basket to pick vegetables in the vegetable field. I went up to her and asked her where this place was, and she told me that it was Guild Town.I asked her how to get to the town, and the big sister pointed me to a road and direction.

After thanking my eldest sister, I walked for more than an hour to reach the town, and the sun had climbed out of the mountain for a long time.

Guild Town is a bit more prosperous than Huangyao. I bought a coat and shoes in the town.After having breakfast, I found the station and got on it to see which car was big and beautiful, because that car must be going to a more prosperous place.

I'm going to a more prosperous place to make money, and I can only go to Hunan if I earn enough money for the journey.If you ask me how much I earn?To be honest, I don’t know, but it’s a lot, at least not enough to fit in the jacket and trouser pockets. As for more money, I have no idea. The fourth set of renminbi was issued in 87, and it basically circulated throughout the country in the 90s. At that time, food stamps were rarely used.Wanting to make money, I decided to go to a prosperous place to catch fish and sell them, and then read some books, otherwise it would be difficult to go anywhere.

After the car started, I fell asleep and didn't wake up when I arrived at the destination. The driver patted my head and woke me up. I rubbed my eyes and asked him where I was.

The driver told me that this is eight steps, and told me to get out of the car quickly, he was going to lock the door.

Eight steps!I came to a place similar to Guiping County, but my mood was completely different.What you see in Guiping is more about freshness and surprise, and eight steps is more about a kind of longing.

I established my foothold in Babu and rented a nice small room by the Hejiang River for 35 yuan a month.Although this is a bit more expensive, it is different from the rental houses built in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong. This is a residential building.The landlord, Uncle Xiao’s family of six, happened to have a spare room on the roof of the second floor, so he rented it to me.

After buying mats, quilts and other daily necessities, plus renting a house, there is not much money left.After inspecting the nearby vegetable market the next day, I bought two more frames, poles and some waterproof tape for catching fish at night.

I have to wait until one or two o'clock in the evening to catch fish, because there is no one there, and many fish that are active at night will come out.I had nothing to do for a few hours after nightfall, so I went downstairs to Uncle Xiao's house to watch TV.

Uncle Xiao’s family has a black-and-white TV set, which can only receive CCTV. At that time, the logo of CCTV was still a big butterfly logo, which took up too much space in the lower left corner.At that time, it was Journey to the West, and I saw myself as Monkey King. When I was catching fish, I cut a bamboo pole and used it as a golden cudgel, and I did somersaults and martial arts by the river under the moonlight.

The first night I went out to catch fish, I didn’t bring a frame out, because it was the first time, so I wanted to try it first.I took a flashlight and walked along the He River to a wide river, called Tongtong out, and let her get into the river.After a while, a soft-shelled turtle the size of a washbasin crawled out of the water. I thought it was a monster because of its round shape.

After the turtle climbed onto the shore, it raised its hand to greet me, and I knew it was Tongtong. After telling her to get rid of the turtle, I caught the big turtle and went home.

Some people say that such a big soft-shelled turtle must have spirituality!Why dare to catch it?I can only say that this legend is too mysterious. There is no such saying in our local area, but there is a spiritual saying about snakes.

In the past, the river was not polluted, there were still a lot of soft-shelled turtles, and there were loaches and eels in the rice fields.I took this big turtle home and put it in a box, and gave it to the landlord, Uncle Xiao, early the next morning.Said that I will go out to catch fish in the middle of the night every day, if I wake up his family, I hope he can understand.

With the temptation of the first night, I picked two boxes and went out the next night.Uncle Xiao's house is only 100 meters away from the He River, but it is a full kilometer to the section of the river where there is no house.Ordinary people go to catch fish in uninhabited river areas in the middle of the night, they have to be brave enough!But I have Tongtong, and I still carry the ancient bronze knife given to me by the immortals of the sorceress Zhang's family, so I am not afraid of anything.

I picked up the frame and took the flashlight to a river bank, which was surrounded by vegetable fields. I found an open space and put the frame down. The flashlight shone on the water, and I called Tongtong out.

Tongtong usually does not show up, and even speaks only in my mind, similar to auditory hallucinations, others cannot hear.Every time she got out of the willow man, I knew she was out just by moving the willow man, and soon there would be fish jumping to the bank in the river.

Less than a minute after Tongtong entered the water, a big-headed fish weighing at least five catties jumped out of the river.I just picked it up and put it in the box, and then I jumped on a big fish whose name I don't know. Then, like fishing for dumplings, the fish jumped to the shore one after another. In less than 1 minutes, the two boxes were full.

I am not catching fish here, I am clearly here to pick up fish, and after calling Tongtong back and preparing to go home, only then did I realize that I had caught too many fish.I couldn't even pick it up. The two boxes filled with fish and water should weigh more than 150 kilograms, which is too heavy.Reluctantly, I released some fish and poured out some water, and then picked it up, and went straight to the vegetable market to wait for dawn.

After daybreak, my fish sells cheaply because there is almost no cost. In addition, all kinds of fish are more attractive than fishmongers who only have a few kinds of fish, so they are sold out immediately.After all, it is different from other people’s selling or raising my own fish. My fish is basically picked up. In addition, my method of selling fish is special, so it is difficult to think that the business will not be good.

I don't know how to multiply and divide, only simple addition and subtraction, so I don't need to weigh the fish when I sell it, and the buyer will estimate the price by himself.It sold for nearly 50 yuan on the first day, and left one for the landlord, Uncle Xiao.

After that, I caught fish every night and slept during the day, and I borrowed books from Uncle Xiao’s daughter’s elementary school grades one to three for self-study until the Chinese New Year approached.

It has been more than two months since I came to Babu, and I have earned nearly 1500 yuan from selling fish.For me who left my uncle's house nine months ago, this was an unimaginable sum of money. The two fat pigs that my third aunt had raised for more than half a year were sold for less than 400 yuan.

The reason why I can earn so much is because I am in a no-capital business, and whatever I earn is considered a profit. It is true that the pockets of my trousers and jacket can’t fit.

Having money is a good thing, but there is also a problem, that is, there is no place to put so much money, because I don’t have an account book to open a passbook, so I can only buy an iron box with a lock to put it.

Time flies, and there are still 5 days before the Chinese New Year.I am going to catch fish for the last time, then rest for a few days, and go to Hunan after the new year.

It was drizzling that night, and the temperature was estimated to be only 3 degrees, but for Tongtong, there was no difference between 3 degrees and 30 degrees.Because it was the last time to catch fish, I found a new section of the river and asked Tongtong to catch two bigger fish.

There was no movement for more than ten minutes after Tongtong went into the water. Just when I was about to call her, a big fish suddenly rushed out of the river, weighing hundreds of catties.The big fish rushed out of the water and flew towards the shore, and the splash made me wet all over.

After the fish fell on the shore, I took a flashlight and found that it was a herring with a length of 1.5 meters.Because Tongtong attached to the fish and controlled it, the big herring didn't jump around after jumping ashore.

How to bring such a big fish back!When I was worrying about Tongtong getting such a big fish, I felt something weird. I turned my head and found a ball of light flying slowly across the river.

This ball of light is only about the size of a bowl, and its flying speed is not fast. Its flying height is about two floors high.The big herring twitched, and Tongtong came out of the fish. She stood beside me and watched the ball of light flying across the river with me.

I asked Tongtong what it was!Tongtong said that she didn't know either, she had seen this kind of light ball many times in Xunjiang in the past.She told me that this ball of light often flies close to the surface of the water, and sometimes burrows into the water, but she can never see what it is.

This ball of light is different from the will-o'-the-wisp, which is usually yellow and only available in summer.The color of this light ball is white, round, and it is completely different from the ghost fire.

Tongtong and I kept looking at this ball of light, and finally it stopped on a tree and stopped moving, flying and landing on the tree like a bird.

I want to go and have a look, but there is no way across the 100-meter-wide river.The ball of light didn't fly away after it stopped on the tree trunk, but became darker and darker, and finally disappeared and merged with the night.

(End of this chapter)