Aspirations

Chapter 99

"How old is Xia Xianzun? You don't know how to sail a boat and don't know the flow of water. If you salvage upstream, if you start a team and move the crowd, it will be a waste of bamboo baskets. It's a pity that Xia Xianzun is too stubborn. If the old man knew him, he would definitely call him yellow. You are a child, ignorant and arrogant." An old man with white beard and hair looked indignant, wearing a hat and fishing boots, dressed as a fisherman.

A fat woman next to him asked, "Mr. Zhang, why didn't you fish today?"

"Jin Erniang, my boat has been confiscated by Ding Tuotou. How can I go fishing?" Zhang Xuehua is 58 years old this year. He has made a living from fishing for generations. He is a well-known fishing expert in Zhending County. If you cast a net, dozens of big and small fish will be caught.Over the past few decades, he has caught more than [-] fish from the Hutuo River at least.

Jin Erniang asked again: "The boat was requisitioned, why didn't you go to pull the net?"

"I don't have time to accompany Xia Xianzun to mess around. If you don't believe me, look at it, salvage for a long time, not to mention the corpse, not even a single fish. With such a big uproar, the fish are scared away." Zhang Xuehua laughed, contentedly. With a twist of his long beard, "Unfortunately, the old man has no chance to see Xia Xianzun. If he can see him, he must ask him for advice in person. Why do you think Dong Xian's body is upstream?"

"Mr. Zhang, why do you think Dong Xian's body will be downstream?" Zhang Xuehua's voice just fell, and a handsome Langjun beside him greeted him and said, "With your many years of fishing experience, Dong Xian's body can only rush in. Downstream?"

"That's natural. The corpse is a dead person. You can only go with the current. Can you still swim upstream like a live fish?" Zhang Xuehua looked at Lang Jun beside him. Said, "I don't believe you throw a piece of pork into the river to see if the pork is washed downstream and will run upstream with long legs?"

The young Langjun shook his head and said, "Pork is pork, and corpses are corpses. If the corpses of ordinary people are, they will definitely be washed downstream by the water, but Dong Xian's corpse is different. Dong Xian is a wealthy businessman in Shile County, with a lot of money."

"Hahahaha..." Zhang Xuehua couldn't help laughing out loud, "What's the difference between a rich businessman and a poor man when he died? Could it be that if you had money before you were alive, you could buy the river god after death and let the river god send his body upstream. ?"

Jin Erniang opened her mouth wide and laughed loudly: "Mr. Zhang, I've known you for most of my life, but I still don't know that you can tell jokes like this? Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter."

The surrounding crowd laughed together.

The young man was not annoyed, he stretched out his hand and asked, "Please, Mr. Zhang, follow me to the river."

"Let's go." Zhang Xuehua didn't care what the young man wanted to do, anyway, he has been fishing all his life, he has never seen anything strange, and he has long been used to seeing things in the world, "Let's go, Jin Erniang will also take a look at How could Xiao Langjun let the dead swim upstream?"

When everyone heard it, they immediately became interested. You pushed me and I pulled you. After a few people, they came to the river.

Young Lang Jun squatted down by the river, took out a long stone, and put it into the river.Under the impact of the current, the stone swayed a few times and rolled downstream.

Zhang Xuehua grinned: "Xiao Langjun, even the stone is going downstream, let alone a person."

The crowd laughed again.

The young man was calm, and smiled slightly: "Don't worry, don't worry, the good show is still to come." He moved the river with his hand, and the river kept hitting the stone, the stone swayed again, and tumbled downstream again.

"I said, Xiao Langjun, don't make trouble, save your energy, your little lady is waiting for you to go home early." Jin Erniang patted the young Langjun on the shoulder, and she laughed with fat and trembling, "You If you have the time and mind to toss with the stones, you might be able to toss out tricks when you go home and toss with your wife."

The crowd burst into a knowing laugh.

The young man still smiled slightly, and pointed at the stone in the water with his hand: "Everyone, don't blink, please see..."

I saw that the stone slowly fell into the soft sand at the bottom of the river after tumbling, and only half of it was exposed. The river water kept hitting the stone, and soon a small pit was washed out at the connection between the stone and the sand.Everyone's eyes widened in amazement, seeing that the small pit was getting bigger and bigger, the stone swayed a few times, and fell into the sand pit.

"Ah!" The crowd exclaimed.

"Hey!" Zhang Xuehua was amazed, the stone really took a step upstream, and he couldn't help but open his mouth, "I have been sailing on the Hutuo River in my life, and this is the first time I have seen such a strange thing, Xiao Langjun, what is this strange? "

"It's not weird, it's normal." The young man stood up and put his hands behind his back. "Mr. Zhang has been sailing on the Hutuo River for many years. Do you know how much silt there is at the bottom of the Hutuo River?"

"I know this, the Hutuo River intersects with the Fuyang River in Lingshou, and the Fuyang River has a lot of sediment. When it flows through the real time, the Hutuo River becomes wider, the flow slows down, and the sediment is deposited on the bottom of the river. After a long time, it will become silt." Zhang Xuehua wondered why the young man asked this question, and looked puzzled, "What if there is silt at the bottom of the river? After a person drowns, the body will float in the water and will not sink like a stone. at the bottom of the river."

"It's still such a simple question that Mr. Zhang has rich experience. It took me a few days to figure out that if I had met Mr. Zhang earlier, Dong Xian's body might have been salvaged long ago." The young Langjun shook his head slightly and sighed, " I also don’t understand why the bodies of Ma Xiaosan and his wife were found downstream, while Dong Xian’s body was not seen for dozens of miles down the river? If it weren’t for the deep silt, it would have surfaced long ago.”

"Yes, I have been sailing on the Hutuo River for many years, and I have seen many corpses, and I have also fished some. After a person dies, they usually surface within three to seven days." Zhang Xuehua saw that the stone fell upstream again, and slapped his thigh , "I understand, Dong Xian's body must have been trapped in the mud, and then hit by the river water, like a stone, slowly upstream, to the upstream..."

"Found it, found it!"

Just as Zhang Xuehua finished speaking, there was a burst of earth-shattering cheers from the river, and a dozen boatmen opened a large net and pulled the net out of the water.In the middle of the net, there is a corpse!
"It's really upstream!"

"Oh my God, it's amazing, why did he run upstream after he died? Did he meet a ghost?"

"What a nonsense to tell the truth, so many people have drowned in the river, there must be many water ghosts."

"Okay, stop guessing, it's not a water ghost, it's a river god."

"I really found it." Zhang Xuehua stomped his feet and bowed to the young man. "Little Langjun, the old man has offended a lot. Please don't take it offense. It's just that the old man is still unclear, please correct me. Even if Dong Xian's body is trapped In the silt, after the silt is washed away, he will also surface. People are not stones. Stones can sink to the bottom of the water, but people cannot."

"Mr. Zhang doesn't need to be too polite, it's fine." The young Langjun waved his hand, looking at the corpse recovered from the river, with joy, "I haven't figured this out before, so I've never been sure that Dong Xian's body will be upstream. Later, I thought of one thing, and then I figured out the reason.”

"What's the matter?" Zhang Xuehua's curiosity was raised, eager to know the truth.

"Mr. Zhang, come with me." The young man turned around and left. Zhang Xuehua followed closely. No matter where the young man went, he had to follow him to find out, otherwise his curiosity would make him unable to sleep.

Jin Erniang was also full of doubts and quietly followed behind.

The young gentleman separated from the crowd, walked all the way to the side of the boat, and boarded the boat without saying a word.More than a hundred boats are crossed together to form a pontoon bridge.After the young gentleman boarded the boat, he passed through one boat after another until he came to the largest boat in the middle.

Zhang Xuehua and Jin Erniang followed behind, and they didn't think much about it, they just thought that the young man was a river worker or a boat master.

The body has been salvaged and placed on the boat.Because the soaking time is too long, it has been seriously deformed, and its smell is extremely bad.The boat masters frowned and covered their noses, but the young man ignored it. He came to the corpse, leaned over and glanced at it, turned around and said to Zhang Xuehua: "Zhang Gong has heard the legend of a stone lion..."

The boat masters didn't even know who the young man was, and they thought he was the ship master or the river worker. Everyone gathered around the corpse and talked non-stop, not caring about the arrival of the young man, Zhang Xuehua, and Jin Erniang.

Zhang Xuehua didn't know why the young man asked this question, shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of it."

The young Lang Jun first circled around the corpse, and then said: "There is a temple in the south of Cangzhou City near the river bank. One year, the canal was flooded, and a pair of stone-carved lions at the gate of the temple was washed into the river. After more than ten years, the monks of the temple wanted to rebuild the mountain gate, and they wanted to find someone to salvage the pair of stone lions. However, the river is fast and rushing, and after such a long time, where can I find it?”

"People first salvaged the river near the mountain gate, and found nothing. Everyone speculated that the river must have been washed downstream. Then a few small boats were dispatched, dragging iron rakes, like grate hair, from above. To the bottom, from left to right, I searched for more than ten miles in one breath, but I still can't find it."

"The stone lion should have sunk to the bottom of the water, the deeper it sinks." Zhang Xuehua came to a conclusion based on his experience.

The young man smiled and continued: "An old teacher heard about it and said to the salvage people: You are really ignorant! The stone lion is not carved from wood, how can it be washed downstream? The stone lion is strong and heavy, and the river is strong and heavy. The sand is loose and frivolous. The stone lion is buried in the sand, and it will only sink deeper and deeper. If you go downstream to find it, it will not be a waste of time! The stone lion is in the mud at the bottom of the river! Everyone listened to the old gentleman. I thought it was very reasonable, so I was going to start digging at the place where the mountain gate collapsed. At this moment, an old river worker who was watching the river and guarding the embankment came over and said with a smile: You can't dig in the original place, you should go upstream to find it."

"Once the old man heard this, he shook his head again and again and said angrily: "It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous, the old man is very knowledgeable and has taught for many years, isn't it better than you as a river worker? How could the stone lion be upstream? Nonsense! Everyone agrees with the old gentleman. , he was amused by what the old river worker said, but no one paid him any attention. The old river worker felt that he had been greatly humiliated. The stone lion was found in the upstream direction where the stone lion sank!"

The surrounding boat owners gathered around one after another. Although a body was salvaged, they were not sure if it was Dong Xian's body, but they were all curious as to why it was salvaged upstream.When they were arguing and didn't know the reason, someone told the story of the stone lion, and they all became interested and listened attentively.

The young gentleman continued: "This is beyond everyone's expectations. The water flows down. A stone lion weighs several thousand catties and has no legs. How could it run upstream? Everyone surrounded the old river worker and asked him Tell me, why does the stone lion run up? The old river worker laughed and said complacently: I have been dealing with river cement and sand for decades, but I still can’t figure out its temper? The stone lion turned somersault up. There is a saying that when a stone is lost in a river, it must be found upstream. The stone lion is strong and heavy, while the river sand is loose and frivolous. The water coming down from the upstream cannot move the stone lion, so the stone lion blocks it, turns back and rushes to both sides In this way, some of the sand under the stone lion will be swept away, and a hole will be formed under the stone lion slowly. In the pit, the flowing water washes down the sand under the stone lion again. At that time, the stone lion can no longer stay in the original place, so it will turn upside down again. In this way, it keeps turning somersaults. Over time, the stone lions will turn somersaults upstream one after another. .”

After the young Langjun finished speaking, Zhang Xuehua was dumbfounded on the spot, and suddenly slapped his thigh: "Little Langjun, the old man has convinced you! But the old man still doesn't understand, why did Dong Xian's body turn upstream? Dong Xian is a human being. It's not a stone lion!"

"That's right, Dong Xian is a man, not a stone lion." The young Langjun came to Dong Xian's corpse and pressed Dong Xian's swollen corpse with his hand. The water splashed, "Mr. Zhang, come here, press and see what's weird about Dong Xian's body."

Zhang Xuehua stepped forward and carefully placed his hand on Dong Xian's corpse. As soon as his hand fell, he said "Hey": "Strange, what is this?" He remembered something and asked, "What is Xiao Langjun? Have you seen Dong Xian? How do you know this is Dong Xian's body?"

"I haven't seen Dong Xian, and I'm not sure that this is Dong Xian's corpse. But..." The young Langjun pointed to a mole on the corpse's ear and a short ring finger on his right hand, "Dong Xian Dong Duan, the younger brother of Dong Xian, said that when Dong Xian was a child, his right ring finger was cut off by a knife, and there was an obvious black mole on the front of his right ear. The two features were exactly the same. There is no doubt that this person must be Dong Xian. What is on Dong Xian's body? ? You can tell at a glance."

Dong Xian didn't fall into the water for a long time, and the clothes on his body hadn't started to rot. The young Langjun reached out and pulled Dong Xian's clothes, but he didn't pull them away.At this time, a yamen rushed over from behind and pushed the young man on the shoulder: "Who are you and how are you moving? Be careful that Xia County respects your crime and beats your board."

Zhang Xuehua also came to his senses at this time, why he was confused and followed Xiao Langjun on the boat, in case the government pursued it and beat him to death, he would not be able to run away, he was afraid after a while, and said to the young Langjun: "Little Langjun, we It's better to get off the boat as soon as possible, so as not to delay Xia County Zun's investigation."

The young man smiled at the yamen: "What's your name?"

The yamen servant is in his 20s, and he has just been on the job not long ago. His face is still immature, and he has no sense of sophistication. He raised his face and said with extraordinary momentum: "This job has the same surname and full name. It is the boss, and it is called Qi Da. Who are you? Hurry up and get off the boat, be careful that Ding Tutou sees it and hits you."

"How long have you been on the job?" The young man saw that Qi He's fast-catching suit was brand new, and the knife around his waist was also a new one. He guessed that Qi He should be a newcomer to the county government.

"Today is the seventh day. Why, do you think I'm a newcomer and easy to bully? Tell you, it's true that this post is a new post, but I used to be a well-known quick-knife player, you go and find out, from Zhending to When Shi Le arrives at Lingshou, who doesn't know the name of Qi Kuai Dao?" Qi He said more and more excitedly, and suddenly realized something, no, he was here to drive people off the boat, not to introduce himself, he hurriedly coughed arrogantly, his right hand Pressing under the handle of the knife, "If you don't get off the boat again, don't blame Ben for being rude."

"Xia Xian Zun, Xia Xian Zun!" Ding Ke and Xiao Wu ran along the pontoon with a quick trot, and when they saw Xia Xiang standing in the boat safe and sound, their hearts fell.

He and Xiao Wu were originally guarding Xia Xiang around Xia Xiang, but in a blink of an eye they found that Xia Xiang was gone. This surprise was no small matter. There were so many people watching, who knew if there were bad people with ulterior motives, in case something happened to Xia County Zun , he didn't even dare to imagine what the consequences would be.

However, Xiao Wu was not in a hurry at all. He had a blind trust in Xia Xiang and thought that Xia Xiang would be fine. He walked around in the crowd with relish, listening to the audience, observing everyone's every move, like A very curious child.

Ding Ke turned around for a long time, but still couldn't find Xia Xianzun's whereabouts. He was so anxious that he jumped up and down. When he saw that Xiao Wu was not in a hurry, he didn't know where he got a bunch of candied haws and ate it with relish, so he couldn't help laughing: "Brother Xiao , you still want to eat candied gourd, Xia Xianzun is gone, come with me to find Xia Xianzun."

Xiao Wu bit off a hawthorn, hehe smiled: "Ding Zhaotou, Mr. can't lose it, he is better than anyone else, you don't need to panic. If you can guess where my candied fruit came from, I'll tell you. where is sir."

(End of this chapter)