Anecdote of the Yellow River

Chapter 1 Introduction
Legend has it that long, long ago, there were two giant dragons soaring above the land of China, one green dragon and one yellow dragon.Two giant dragons are playing in the sky, swallowing clouds and mist, and absorbing rain from the sea.Finally one day, the two giant dragons were tired from flying, so they landed on the land of Huaxia.That blue dragon became the Yangtze River, and that yellow dragon became the Yellow River, which has been running for tens of thousands of years.

The Yellow River originates from the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province, flows through nine provinces along the way, and finally flows into the Bohai Sea.

As the saying goes: "Rely on mountains to eat mountains, rely on water to eat water!"

Some people living along the Yellow River mainly earn their living by running boats and fishing.However, in addition to these two ordinary occupations, two of the most mysterious and legendary occupations have sprung up on the ancient Yellow River: one is the Yellow River River Worker, and the other is the Yellow River Corpse Fisherman.Those who engage in these two kinds of work are called "Yellow River Craftsmen".

Here is a brief talk about the Yellow River workers. The river workers on the Yellow River are not the kind of river cleaners we usually call, cleaning up some silt and garbage in the river.Although the work of the Yellow River workers is also to clean up the river, what they clean up is not ordinary things. What they clean up are all evil things in the Yellow River.

No one knows how many strange objects there are under the rolling Yellow River.Most of these objects are buried at the bottom of the water, and when the river dries up or floods, some of them will emerge from the water.

For example, it is said that after a great flood in one year, accidents occurred frequently on Yellow River ferries in Shanxi.Eyewitnesses saw a strange blue fish the size of a truck head in the water. As long as a ferry passed by, the ferocious fish would overturn the ferry with its body.The people who fell into the water all disappeared, and even the corpses were not found. People guessed that they were all eaten by the strange blue fish.Later, the locals were helpless, so they invited the Yellow River workers.

The river workers of the Yellow River brought a tin boat without any fishing tools, but filled two cabins with live fish the size of a palm.They drove the tin boat to the waters where the blue monster fish often appeared, dumped the live fish in the cabin into the river, clapped their hands, and drove away.

Some things are so strange, and it didn't take long for the waters in this area to become peaceful, and the cyan strange fish with the size of a truck never appeared again, as if it had sunk into the unfathomable bottom of the river together with the tumbling sand.

Another year, when people were panning for mud in the ancient Yellow River road, they found a section of gray-white stone steps in the mud, with many strange patterns engraved on the stone steps.People have been digging for several days, and the gray-white stone steps are more than ten meters vertically above the ground, but there is still no bottom, and they don't know how deep they are, let alone where they lead.People felt that this stone step was very strange, so they hurriedly reported it.Three days later, the Yellow River workers came and immediately asked people to fill up the dug hole and rebury the bottomless stone steps in the soil.Seeing that the local people didn't understand what it meant, the Yellow River Worker said with a sullen face: "Do you know what the pattern on the stone steps is? It's a ghost pattern! This is a ladder leading to hell!"

The vast Yellow River flows continuously, and there are countless strange things that happened on the Yellow River. We will stop here about the livelihood of the Yellow River workers.Now let’s get down to business, let’s talk about another legendary business—the Yellow River corpse hunter.

The Yellow River Corpse Man, also known as the "Yellow River Water Ghost".Because they have dealt with the dead and undead all year round, they have this terrifying and mysterious title.

As the name suggests, the main job of the Yellow River corpse hunters is to salvage corpses.

Although the Yellow River gave birth to countless lives, it also swallowed countless lives.Some were playing by the river and were swept away by the river, some fell into the river when they were on a boat, some committed suicide by jumping into the river, and some were murdered for money and thrown their bodies into the Yellow River. In short, there are too many to count.

Because of this, the Yellow River Corpse Collectors have emerged on the banks of the Yellow River. Their main job is to salvage the dead bodies in the Yellow River.Of course, there are also family members of the victims who take the initiative to find the Yellow River Corpse Collectors and ask for help in finding and salvaging the corpses. In this case, the charges will naturally be higher.

Regarding the livelihood of the Yellow River corpse hunters, it has always been a topic of controversy.

Some people think that this kind of business is immoral, and the family members are required to pay for the recognition of the bodies after they are already dead. This is a bit cruel to the families of the victims.But there are also many people who believe that the people who fished up the corpses in the Yellow River paid their own labor and sweat, and it is right to charge a certain fee.Moreover, in a sense, it can be regarded as doing good deeds.

In fact, in my opinion, no matter what kind of livelihood, it is for living.Moreover, the livelihood of the Yellow River corpse hunters is not as simple as we imagined.It is not an easy task to become a corpse hunter in the Yellow River. Don't think that just a person who goes out in a boat can pick up corpses.

Every industry has its own rules, and the Yellow River corpse hunters naturally have a lot of weird taboos and rules, because there are too many and too complicated, so here are some simple ones.

First of all, if you want to become a Yellow River Corpse Collector, you must have Yin in your numerology and water in the five elements. These are the two most basic and unshakeable conditions for becoming a Yellow River Corpse Collector.It is said that only those who meet these two conditions can live hard enough to walk on the Yellow River without being dragged into the water by the dead souls in the river.

Secondly, the person who fishes the corpse of the Yellow River must be a male.Women themselves belong to yin. If they come to engage in this business of dealing with the dead, they will be easily eroded by yin qi. If they are small, they will be entangled in diseases, and if they are big, they will lose their lives.

The Yellow River Corpse Collector can only accept one apprentice in a lifetime, and must not accept more, otherwise disasters will befall the apprentices, and this can also prevent the same sect from competing for jobs.

At the beginning, the apprentice could not go out with the master to retrieve the corpse.After the apprentice is selected, the master will take the apprentice to the corpse pond and let him soak in the corpse pond for seven days and seven nights before he can take a bath and leave the customs, in order to let the apprentice completely eliminate the fear and timidity of death in his heart .

It is necessary to talk about the corpse pool here. This corpse pool is not a pool for raising dead bodies or practicing magic.Because after the corpses were salvaged, the family members of the victims could not rush to claim the corpses in the first time. In order to prevent the corpses from decomposing so quickly, the corpse hunters of the Yellow River would temporarily store the corpses in the corpse pond.

Corpse ponds are usually built in shaded places, avoid sunlight as much as possible, and keep the temperature low, and the real corpse collectors will also make a very special embalming solution to ensure the integrity of the corpse.Although there is no guarantee that the dead bodies will be like living people, at least they will be the same as when they were first salvaged.

After the death of the Yellow River corpse hunter, he must be buried in the Yellow River, and it must be buried in water, allowing the fish and shrimp in the river to devour his body. This practice symbolizes the integration of the soul into the Yellow River.

In addition to the rules and regulations mentioned above, there are many taboos in the life of the corpse hunters in the Yellow River.Although these taboos seem absurd on the surface, they are the experience and lessons that the ancestors exchanged with their blood and lives. Whether you believe it or not, you must abide by it.

For example: in thunderstorm weather, remember not to go out of the boat to pick up corpses; the same corpse has not been successfully picked up on the boat three times, and then it cannot be picked up again; before each time the corpse fisher goes out of the boat to pick up corpses, he must worship the king of the Yellow River and bring a big red rooster on board , When picking up the corpse and taking it to the boat, cut its neck with a knife, and then throw it into the river, which is regarded as an offering to honor the King of the Yellow River.

If you want to ask me why I am so familiar with the Yellow River corpse hunters, I will tell you that my grandfather Tuoba Lie is a genuine Yellow River corpse hunter, and our Tuoba family is the famous "Yellow River" on the ancient Yellow River road. Water Ghost".

For a while, there was a group of pictures on the Internet about the corpse-hunters in the Yellow River, which were very popular and caused a large-scale controversy.I told my grandpa about this on the phone, and my grandpa said angrily: "They are not the real Yellow River corpse hunters at all, they are doing evil! The reputation of our business is ruined by these people! "

Here, I think it is necessary to clarify for the real Yellow River corpse hunters, what is the need to collect money for identifying the corpses, and throwing unclaimed corpses back into the Yellow River, these immoral things will not be done by the real Yellow River corpse hunters made.

The Yellow River Corpse Collector respects the dead body very much, and the family members of the deceased will not charge any fee for finding the dead body. They will also kill a big red rooster and treat the family members of the deceased to a meal, which means eliminating disasters, which is what we call "chongxi".As for those corpses that have not been claimed for a long time, the Yellow River corpse hunters will fish them out of the corpse pond, cremate them on the spot after a simple worship, and then scatter the ashes into the Yellow River.

Before the story begins, I would like to say something: "Please respect the Yellow River corpse hunters, they are the ones who let the dead souls find their way home!"

(End of this chapter)