Liu Xuzhu was shocked and was anxious to withdraw his hand, but the palm holding him was slippery and sticky, and he couldn't break free for a while.
Suddenly, the palm of his hand was cold, something was stuffed into his palm, Liu Xuzhu clenched the cold thing, and pulled his hand out violently, he lowered his head to see the thing clearly, but at this moment, a low call came into his ears again.
"Xu, Xu."
The voice is not accurate, but Liu Xuzhu raised his head "heck", looked at the blurred shadow in front of him with tears in his eyes, and called softly, "Father" The ground suddenly shook violently, Liu Xujiao's body was unstable, rolling off the bed, he opened his eyes, and found that he was still sitting in the canopy boat, and now the boat was swinging violently, sinking left and right, shaking his body off the couch.
"Guest officer, you can hold on, the rain is heavy, and there are a few gusts of wind, be careful not to fall."
The old boatman's voice came from outside, and the voice was torn into several paragraphs by the wind and rain, and only a few scattered words hit Liu Xujiao's ears.
He looked out and saw that he could no longer see through the rain curtain, but he could vaguely see that the river had narrowed, and the boat seemed to be sailing on a winding stream.
Liu Xuzhu was worried that the old boatman would not be able to cope with it, so he walked to the hatch, he just wanted to speak, but suddenly saw a stone bridge in front of him coming out of the rain and fog coldly, and he was about to crash into Wupeng, fortunately, the old boatman was experienced, and at this critical moment, he plunged the boat artemisia deep into the mud at the bottom of the water, and pressed the whole boat to the depth.
Listening to the sound of "hula", the hull passed the arch bridge smoothly, but due to the excessive force, the water pressed against the hull layer by layer and rolled into the cabin.
Seeing this, the old fisherman hurriedly lifted the boat, and the boat climbed up to the surface again, and escaped from a disaster.
Liu Xuzhu just breathed a sigh of relief, but when he heard the sound of "pop", it seemed that something fell from a high place and shattered on the plank.
"Oh no, the bamboo artemisia was lifted too high just now, as if it hit something on the bridge."
The old boatman turned his head as he spoke, but when he saw the thing clearly, he staggered in fright, and almost fell.
Seeing this, Liu Xujiao hurriedly rushed to the board of the boat to support him, "Old man, are you okay?"
” The old boatman's hand holding the boat artemisia couldn't help shaking, he hid behind Liu Xujiao, as if he didn't dare to face the broken crockpot on the boat's board, "Get it away, hurry, hurry up and rush to the river."
He forgot about his humility for a while, and even ordered Liu Xujiao to come.
Liu Xuzhu didn't annoy him, he looked at the pile of broken tiles on the ground, and the gray-white powdery things inside, and looked back at the old boatman, "Could it be that the thing you knocked off with the bamboo artemisia just now is a bone altar?"
” The old boatman did not answer him, but found a broom with a few branches left, and took it and waved it towards the pile of powder.
Liu Xujiao stretched out his hand to stop him, "Now that the waves are big, you take charge of the boat first, and leave the cleaning matter to me."
His tone was firm and there was no doubt, and the old boatman nodded at him tremblingly, and picked up the bamboo wormwood again and stood at the bow of the boat, but he still looked back from time to time to peek at Liu Xujiao's actions, and his eyes were full of fear.
Liu Xuzhu squatted next to the pile of messy ashes, folded his hands and bowed three times, and muttered: "I shouldn't have been so rude to the deceased, but because of the situation, I can only collect some of the unsoaked ashes temporarily, and when I find your family, I will bury you properly."
When he had finished speaking, he picked up an empty jar next to him, held the last remaining ashes, put it into the jar, and sealed the mouth of the jar with a lid.
"Guest, what are you doing?"
The old boatman didn't know when he appeared behind Liu Xujiao, he looked at the wine jar, his hands and feet kept trembling, like an overly frightened bird.
Liu Xuzhu said: "It is already disrespectful to overturn the bone altar, if all the ashes are swept into the river, won't it completely disturb the deceased, you are afraid, and you must not do such a disrespectful thing."
I will keep the ashes first, and I will rest on the shore for a while, and I will get off the boat to see if I can find his relatives. ” "Don't look for it, she has no relatives, no," the old boatman said in a bad way.
"Do you know the man in this altar?"
Liu Xuzhu looked at him suspiciously.
"No, I'm mean, those who sacrifice the bone altar on the bridge are generally lonely and helpless, and if they have relatives, they will definitely be buried in the ancestral tomb, how can this be."
Although his words stammered, they sounded reasonable, Liu Xujiao sighed, "Even so, we can't throw him in the river at will, so after a while, I will find a quiet place and bury him." ” "Guest officer, if you insist on this, I can only violate the previous agreement, I will send you to the next port, whether you are willing to bury it, or take it on the road, it has nothing to do with me, you can find another ship.
We have always been taboo about this, so please be considerate.
The old boatman seemed to have forgotten the identity of Liu Xujiao's official master, and said this passage firmly and coherently.
Liu Xuzhu saw that he insisted on this, so he was no longer reluctant, he smiled, "Okay, it's up to you." ” The sky gradually cleared, and the storm finally passed, leaving a rainbow on the horizon not far away.
The old boatman came in from outside the canopy, his eyes swept down on the wine jar next to Liu Xujiao, and said timidly: "Guest officer, you are about to arrive at the shore, you pack your bags, and I will help you move it down in a while." ” Liu Xujiao nodded, "I'll just take this little thing, just take it down when you get to the shore." ” Hearing him say this, the old man was a little embarrassed, he rubbed his hands, "I also know that I don't keep my promises, doing business, it's good to have a beginning and an end, but I'm really sorry, in this way, after you bury the bone altar, I will help you find another boat to ensure that you will be sent to Qingcheng." ” Liu Xuzhu shook his hand, "That's not necessary, but, old man, are you familiar with this area?"
” "Me" As soon as he said the word "I", the hull of the boat suddenly began to shake violently, as if it had hit something extremely hard, and suddenly, a large wave came, lifting the boat from the bottom to the top, almost vertically on the water.
Before the old boatman could catch anything, he slipped out of the stern and fell into the water.
Liu Xujiao saw that he couldn't reach out and grab him, so he touched his toes lightly and wanted to jump out of the bow of the boat, but then there was another wave, this wave was even higher and more fierce than the last time, it was mixed with a slight roar, and pressed him into the water with his head and face.