Eternal Tranquility

The riverside turned into a mess. The faces of the Zhang family and his son were blue and white, as if they had not slept for days and nights. They were chasing and beating several old women, but they had no power to resist. .

Two of those who came with the Zhang family wanted to step forward to help, but were grabbed by others before they could take a step forward.

"Isn't this the boss of Carpenter Wang's family? You are also here to help Zhang Laizi? Who doesn't know who that person is, and you are still helping him? Your father-in-law just came over from the other side of the road. If he sees you hanging around here, , maybe I’ll make a meal for you again.”

Everyone lives on both sides of the Nulong River, and there are relatives between villages, so most of them know each other.

When Boss Wang heard that his butcher husband was coming, he was frightened and quickly apologized: "Hey, hey, I'm just passing by, passing by, I'll leave right away, right away..."

Then he tucked his tail between his legs and ran away, for fear of being caught by his father-in-law.

The villagers watching the excitement burst into laughter and pointed at other people who helped Zhang and his son and made sarcastic remarks.

"Zhuzi ferries people across the river every day in an orderly manner, which has brought so much convenience to villages all over the country. You guys work together in a big group. It's not fair to bully people!"

"Isn't it! His girl wanted to jump into the river that day. If the human pillars hadn't caught her in time, she would have been swept away by the river. Later, many people saw Zhang Daya going to the city. This was really kind. There’s no reward!”

Zhuzhu was usually kind to people. When the villagers wanted to cross the river, they would usually exchange goods for boat fare. Sometimes he didn't mind if things were a little short, so when Aunt Chunhua took the lead, the others were still willing to help and say a few words. of.

During the commotion, no one noticed that the pillar that had been squeezed out looked very strange, and the clothes on his back were soaked. They watched in horror as the noisy crowd kept passing through "Zhang Daya". But no one noticed anything was wrong.

Zhang Daya's body looked a little illusory, like a shadow. Except for the reaction when the villagers said she was an "abandoned woman without a child", other times she seemed to be unconscious and could not move at all. Standing blankly next to the wooden stakes tied to the boat, facing the direction of Nulong River, as if waiting for something.

At this time, after taking a closer look, Zhu Zhu discovered that the other party looked a little weird. His face was a bit swollen, and his hair and clothes were wet and dripping water.

He covered his mouth: This is obviously what a person looks like after drowning!

Could it be that Zhang Daya threw herself into the river after getting off the boat? But this time no one stopped her, so she finally got her wish.

Everything unusual in front of him points to one thing, one thing that Zhuzi is very unwilling and dare not admit, that is him, look! See! ghost! Got it!

The sky was dark today, with thick dark clouds covering the entire sky. It was just midnight, and it already felt like it was going to be dark soon. The wind on the river was blowing loudly, as if a ghost was crying.

Zhuzi only felt creepy, but did not dare to say anything, because he knew that if people knew that he could see ghosts, the originally friendly villagers would be afraid of him, stay away from him, and some would even sacrifice him to the river god. possible!

So he could only try to pretend to be normal, watching the Zhang family and his son being beaten away with their heads full of buns, watching Aunt Chunhua standing by the river and cursing in the direction of Taohua Village for half an hour, watching himself dragging A leg to thank the women and others who helped speak.

Aunt Chunhua scolded her for a long time, and still shouted angrily: "It's getting late, it might rain, and there are big waves on the river, so we can't cross the river today. Let's go home."

The crowd gradually dispersed. Zhuzi took a sneak peek and saw that Zhang Daya had not left with the Zhangs and his son. She was still standing upright next to the wooden pile, facing the direction of his boat parked on the shore.

Zhu Zhu only felt his scalp numb. How could he dare to go and untie the rope?

Just when he didn't know what to do, Aunt Chunhua asked his family to go to dinner. In the past, he would have refused if he could, but this time he agreed immediately and just wanted to leave the river bank as soon as possible.

Aunt Chunhua was also a little surprised, and laughed boldly: "That's how it should be! The dog went up the mountain today to catch two rabbits, stir-fry them, they are good for drinking!"

Gou'er is the nickname of Aunt Chunhua's son. Country people don't have any ostentation in naming names. Cats and dogs bark randomly in order to make a good living. His name is Li Zhuangshi, he is fifteen or sixteen this year and has not yet gotten married.

When we arrived at Aunt Chunhua's house, the dog was squatting in the yard playing with the big yellow dog. When he saw the pillar coming, he rushed towards him like a monkey and pestered him to teach him how to punt.

"Go, go!" Aunt Chunhua instructed with disgust: "Go and get the rabbit out, don't do nothing all day long. Can you learn how to punt, get out!"

The dog was slapped twice and ran to fetch water with a smile. Zhuzi walked under the eaves and called "Uncle" to the honest-looking middle-aged man squatting there.

One night, even the fried rabbit meat couldn't bring Zhu Zhu out of his daze. Aunt Chunhua rambled on about the day's events on the table several times, and in the end, she pulled Zhu Zhu and said with sincerity. stand up.

"I told you to find a mother-in-law as soon as possible. If you had a mother-in-law, Zhang Laizi wouldn't have come up with such a harmful trick today, asking you to marry her daughter who can't lay eggs. Bah, how shameless!"

Then she scolded all the eighteen generations of the Zhang family and said that she would go find a matchmaker tomorrow.

Zhuzi was silent for a while, and then said nervously: "Auntie, I'm just a ferryman. How can anyone dare to marry me? Let's forget it."

There was a sudden silence on the table.

Because of the legend about ferrymen connecting the human world and the world of death, most people have some invisible taboos against their profession. Although there is nothing unusual in their daily interactions, when it comes to marriage, no one is willing to marry their daughter to them.

Therefore, most of the ferrymen are widowers, and it is extremely difficult to find a wife. Just like Shuanzi, his father, he is also an old bachelor, and he just picked up the pillars to raise.

Aunt Chunhua, however, sneered at such legends: "Don't listen to those idle people! I'll leave this matter to aunt, and I promise to find you an innocent and good-looking girl!"

Zhuzi's eyes suddenly became confused, he was stunned for a while, and murmured: "I have a wife..."

"You have a wife?" Aunt Chunhua shouted loudly, her surprise was palpable.

The dog came over curiously: "Brother, madam, no, where is my sister-in-law? Does she look good? Why haven't she come to see you?"

Aunt Chunhua patted the dog away and asked repeatedly: "Why haven't you mentioned it before? Which village and household is the girl from? What's her temperament like? How many people are in the family? Let me tell you, the first thing to consider when choosing a wife is Character..."

But Zhu Zhu was confused, not knowing why he blurted out the words about having a lady.

Yes, where is his wife and who is she?

Obviously he has never been married, nor has he had an affair with any girl.

"me……"

He wanted to say that he had made a mistake just now, but he found that his mouth didn't seem to be his, and he just couldn't say the words "I don't have a wife." It seemed that there was a voice in his heart that kept telling him that he had a wife and could not get involved with other girls, otherwise he would be a betrayal.

Zhuzi felt that his mind was in a mess, and he didn't understand why he had this inexplicable feeling, as if he had forgotten many important things!

Seeing him like this, Uncle Li, who had always been taciturn, spoke up: "Okay, just say a few words and I won't let anyone eat."

Aunt Chunhua, who had always been shrewd, stopped talking. Thinking of Zhu Zhu's life experience, it was hard to say anything.

However, Zhuzi soon had no time to think about this. After finishing the meal, he felt very uneasy thinking about going back to the ship. He didn't know if the ghost of Zhang Daya had left.

After lingering for a while, it was time for the Li family to go to bed. He really couldn't delay it, so he had to say goodbye and leave.

There was no light from the stars and the moon tonight, and it was very difficult to walk along the short road to the river. It was not until I was sure that there was no one around the wooden pile that I dared to take a big breath, feeling that my legs were weak.

But when he climbed onto the boat and was about to move out the wooden bed, he saw the ghost of Zhang Daya sitting in the cabin, and he almost convulsed!

He rolled out of the cabin and was about to rush off the boat, but found that the rope that had been tied just now had been loosened, and the boat had floated away from the shore!

"Sister, you and I have no grudges in the past and no grudges in the near future. I even pulled you when you jumped into the river that day. If you want revenge, don't come to me..."

Zhuzi was so frightened that he lost his mind and kept mumbling, but the boat drifted out of the relatively calm bay on the river bank, and was tossed to and fro by the rapid current of the Nulong River, and was in danger of capsizing at any time.

Zhuzhu had no choice but to rush over and grab the oar, trying to control the direction of the boat and row back to the shore.

However, everything was strange tonight. The boat that used to be very obedient in his hands became unruly, as if there was a force pulling it from the front, and it sailed straight to the center of the river.

At the end, Zhuzhu had no choice but to hold the oar stiffly, not daring to look back inside the cabin, and could only stare blankly at the water.

After an unknown amount of time, his whole body was blown through by the cold wind on the river. His heartstrings, which had been tense due to fear for a long time, relaxed due to fatigue. He looked up!

"ah!"

Fog started to appear on the river at some point, and the gray sky was extremely low. No sun, moon, stars, or dust on the land could be seen, only a vast expanse of water.

Zhuzi opened his mouth in shock. He was sure that this was definitely not on the Raging Dragon River, because the river under the boat was as quiet as a pool of stagnant water, without even a single ripple.

The boat still moved forward smoothly, even after he had let go of the oar, as if the boat knew where it was going.

By this time, Zhuzi was completely resigned to his fate, but he was not as scared as before, and a trace of curiosity arose in his heart.

He quietly turned around and saw Zhang Daya's ghost still sitting quietly in the cabin with her head lowered, as if she was just an ordinary person trying to cross the river.

After a long time, the river narrowed, and some extremely large black shadows gradually appeared on both sides of the bank, towering into the clouds, hidden in the gray fog and making it difficult to see clearly. Every once in a while, there will be a pale white lantern shining faintly, hanging high on the skinny branches, like a guiding light.

At this moment, a croaking sound suddenly came from the left side!

Zhuzi was startled. He turned around and saw a big black crow standing on a branch. If the lantern hadn't been right next to him, he wouldn't have been able to spot it.

The big crow glanced at the pillar, croaked feebly again, and then uttered the human words: "Another newcomer... Come to the shore, the city of vain death has arrived, and all the souls on the ship have come down."