In Hongqiao District, Tianjin, there is a place called the "Bearing Bone Society".
My old house is located nearby, and that area was also a playground where my friends and I often played when I was a child.
In my memory, Gu Guhui used to be a large market where vendors gathered.
There were at least two non-staple food stores, as well as snack shops and sauce shops.
Every day at dawn, countless vendors would set up stalls there to do business.
People going shopping are also coming and going, and the scene is quite lively.
But this was not the case in previous bone-breaking ceremonies.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Gu Guhui area was still outside the Acropolis of Tianjin and was very remote.
It was a "mass grave" used by poor people to bury their dead.
Because the poor lived in poverty at that time, funerals were held simply, using inferior coffins or reed mats to wrap the body, and the burial was not deep enough.
Therefore, wild dogs were often attracted to dig into the coffin and compete for the body.
So much so that bones were everywhere and it was too horrible to see.
It is not uncommon to see corpses lying on the road, dying of freezing and starvation in disaster years.
During the Qianlong period, a Taoist passed by this place and saw that there were corpses everywhere.
He couldn't help but feel pity.
He collected the exposed bones in one place and buried them together.
Later, he spontaneously established a non-governmental organization named "Bone Burial Society", which was responsible for burying the bones that had not been collected.
This was the early prototype of today's funeral industry.
Not long after, a "bone tower" was built here so that poor people could come here to pay homage to their deceased relatives.
But because the surrounding area of the tower was desolate and empty, and no one lived there, it didn't take long before it turned into a place of execution.
Since the Bone Burial Hall has been a place where corpses were buried and prisoners were executed since ancient times, as long as I can remember, my neighbors have spread many strange stories about the Bone Burial Hall.
Among them, there is one thing that the old people often talk about.
Scare us disobedient children.
It is said that before liberation, there was a rickshaw driver.
One day, his business was surprisingly good.
There was an endless stream of customers since he left the house in the morning.
He did not stop to rest all day long, and he did not finish work until very late and went home.
On the way, we passed by the Guigui Festival, surrounded by dark lights.
The rickshaw driver couldn't help but mutter in his heart.
Suddenly he heard someone calling from behind: "Rubber puller."
But at a glance, there was not even a ghost, let alone a person.
He did not dare to answer, turned his head and continued on his way.
But just after taking two steps, he heard the voice again: "Rubber puller, lend me your lantern."
When the coachman heard this, he finally let go of his worries and didn't look back.
He said impatiently: "If you take a car, I can pull you.
But what do you want my car light for?"
The man replied: "It's too dark here.
Lend me your car light to illuminate it."
Gotta get my head back
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