I don’t know why Uncle Zhuzi said this to me, and Uncle Zhuzi could see that I was anxious about how he caught a fool from the twelve ghost caves. He sat on the edge of the bed and squinted his eyes and said to me: “Yezi, don’t worry, let me tell you what I told you next after you go back.”

I had to say something, but he stopped me, and he said, "If you believe it or not, please let him do it."

I nodded, sat next to Uncle Zhuzi, and lit the smoke for him and said, "Uncle, tell me."

——Uncle Zhuzi’s first wife was captured by the Dragon Prince. This is what the common people say. To be honest, she was struck to death by lightning. Because in the hearts of the common people, the Dragon Prince was struck with clouds and rain to control the lightning, so those who were struck by the lightning would say that he had committed a sin, so he was captured by the Dragon Prince. This is called acting on behalf of the heavens.

Uncle Zhuzi's first wife Xiu'e is a woman with a hot temper, a typical rural shrew. Uncle Zhuzi's temper is so soft that she will not blame her. So she not only often quarrels with her neighbors, but she is also very bad to Uncle Zhuzi's old mother at home. She often scolds her and gives her food to her. Uncle Zhuzi has no temper, but he is still a filial son, so he is ready to not want this woman. However, in that era, divorce was a big deal, and Uncle Zhuzi's old mother disagreed. She said to Uncle Zhuzi: "I'm about to be buried. It's nothing to suffer, but if you lose your wife and beat a bachelor, then your mother will be in peace. If you dare to divorce, I won't live."

Uncle Zhuzi knew that the old mother could not bear to watch her family part, so she would rather suffer a little by herself because of her mother's words. Uncle Zhuzi could only continue to endure and cook some food behind her back for her mother to eat. But Xiu'e finally found this matter. She crossed her waist and scolded Uncle Zhuzi and his mother to make bloody scolding. The neighbors and neighbors all watched the fun. Not only did she not feel embarrassed, but she also became more and more fierce. Finally, Uncle Zhuzi's old mother knelt down and kowtowed to her to ensure that she would not let her cook for her in the future.

That night, the old mother called Uncle Zhuzi to the bedside and once again told him not to divorce Xiu'e. The family was poor and they had no children. Once they divorced, Uncle Zhuzi would definitely not be able to marry his wife, and the family would be defeated. She also said that Xiu'e was irritable. When she died in the future, Xiu'e would gradually get better if she had children. When a woman was young, who hadn't had a temper yet?

The next morning, Uncle Zhuzi's old mother was hung on the beam of the house. Uncle Zhuzi was crazy when he saw it. Xiu'e, who was domineering on weekdays, was frightened when she saw her husband's bloody eyes. That time, Uncle Zhuzi, who had been tolerant in his marriage, beat Xiu'e with a stick. That beat Xiu'e so hard that she hadn't gotten out of bed for a month.

After the fight, Zhuzi Uncle did not divorce Xiu'e after thinking about his promise to his mother. After being beaten up again after her mother-in-law died, Xiu'e's temper became much more restrained. However, on the third day after Xiu'e was well-behaved, Xiu'e, who was pulling weeds in the field, was struck by lightning and died on the spot.

The villagers all said that Xiu'e deserves to die, and that she was unfilial. The Dragon Prince couldn't stand it anymore, so she took her soul away. But no matter what outsiders say, and no matter how many evil Xiu'e did, she would be eliminated after death. Especially for Uncle Zhuzi, no matter how bad Xiu'e is, she is at least a diligent person. She is very neat in the house and she works hard to survive the crops in the fields. Now that people are dead, Uncle Zhuzi doesn't hate her.

Two years later, after being matched by someone, Uncle Zhuzi met his second wife and got married soon. The second wife's name was Xiu Lian, which was very similar to the first wife's name and the same as her sister.

The second wife and the first one are completely opposite people. She speaks softly and has a gentle temper. She is so embarrassed that she dares not speak when she sees her neighbors. She is a very shy girl. Soon, Xiu Lian becomes pregnant. However, in the fourth month of Xiu Lian's pregnancy, Uncle Zhuzi went to the field to work. When she came back, Xiu Lian was lying in the house and had incontinence.

When Uncle Zhuzi called the barefoot doctor in the village to sober up Xiu Lian, Xiu Lian had become blind and became stupid. The child in her belly naturally had a miscarriage. The barefoot doctor told Uncle Zhuzi that Xiu Lian was scared to see something. And she was scared, otherwise a good person would not have been like this.

Uncle Zhuzi immediately thought of the dead Xiu'e. Just a few days ago, Xiulian had the same dream every day. In the dream, Xiu'e kept crying at her, and told her that she had committed a crime and could not give birth to a child or half of Zhuzi. Now she is suffering from it. Fortunately, she is helping to take care of Zhuzi.

Uncle Zhuzi laughed at Xiu Lian as she was timid when she heard that she was dreaming, and then she had such a thing. He should have suspected that all this was done by Xiu'e.

Uncle Zhuzi, who had forgotten that Xiu'e was evil during her lifetime, really hated Xiu'e and gritted her teeth this time. At this moment, a person found him. This person was the person who Uncle Zhuzi didn't want to say his name. It was precisely because Uncle Zhuzi didn't want to say his name that I suspected that I must know this person, and that it was probably someone in the village.

This man found Uncle Zhuzi and lit the sky lantern for the soul of Uncle Zhuzi's first wife Xiu'e. Although Uncle Zhuzi didn't say it clearly, I could feel that he played a very bad role in this matter, because when talking about this, Uncle Zhuzi was full of self-blame.

"I originally wanted to light the sky lantern for Xiu'e to save Xiu Lian, but after Xiu'e finished lighting the sky lantern, Xiu'e did not get better and left a few months later. The man came over at that time and knelt down for me. He said that he had done two wrong things in his life. One was that he did not save your father Ye Tiancheng, and the other was that he misunderstood Xiu'e lit the sky lantern for her." Uncle Zhuzi said.

After Uncle Zhuzi finished speaking, I patted his shoulder to show comfort. I also understood why he insisted on telling me this story first. He was telling me that the person who was unwilling to reveal his name was not the one who killed my father.

"I will tell my elder brother what you said. Now I want to know about you snatching the corpse for a fool." I said.

Uncle Zhuzi nodded and continued.

After the fool fell into the water and died, because Uncle Zhuzi made a living by fishing in the Luoshui River and he had a boat, Chen Shitou begged him and asked him to catch the corpse of the fool. Although he knew that Chen Shitou could not afford to pay, his interpersonal relationships were relatively simple at that time, and they were all fellow villagers. Uncle Zhuzi agreed to Chen Shitou, but just when Uncle Zhuzi was about to row a boat to find the corpse of the fool, the man found Uncle Zhuzi and gave Uncle Zhuzi a talisman.

He didn't say anything else to Uncle Zhuzi, but just said that he would wear it close to his body, and he must carry it close to his body. Because Uncle Zhuzi believed in that person very much, so he put it in the pocket that was closest to the flesh as he said.

Uncle Zhuzi used a roller hook to catch corpses, which are large hooks. They were pulled in water. When the hook was hung on the corpse, it pulled up the corpse. There are also people who used this kind of hook nowadays. In many places, this kind of hook is called "ghost head hook."

Uncle Zhuzi started fishing where the fool fell into the water, and kept swimming downstream. He had been fishing for three days but had not yet caught it. At this time, he had approached the twelve ghost caves. Uncle Zhuzi was also worried that the fool's body would be swept into the twelve ghost caves by the undercurrent underwater. He was preparing to put the last hook. If he couldn't catch it, he would stop working. He did not have the courage to enter the twelve ghost caves.

But just as he was about to collect the hook, something suddenly appeared on the water surface, and it was suspected to be a man. He rowed over and recognized him from a distance. It was the corpse of a fool. Although it had already been swollen and bubbled, Uncle Zhuzi still recognized him.

He immediately threw the hook over. Uncle Zhuzi threw it very accurately. The hook hooked the fool's body. He rowed the boat and circled around the fool's body several times to make sure the rope was wrapped around and tightened the fool's body. But just as he was about to pull the body up, it seemed that something was pulling it down, and it was very strong. Uncle Zhuzi quickly pulled the rope tightly and the underwater force was tug of war.

He thought it was a big fish.

——There were not so many people in the past, and even fewer fish were fishing. There were many big fish in the Luoshui River. The largest fish caught by Uncle Zhuzi was more than two meters long. Many carnivorous big fish, such as catfish, do attack people, so Uncle Zhuzi's conditioned reflex generally believed that there was a big catfish below who wanted to eat the corpse of a fool.

He didn't let go, but he found that his strength could not fight against the things underwater at all. Just as he was about to tug of war like a fish, a fierce force from below pulled him into the river.

——Just as I was just listening, Uncle Zhuzi suddenly stopped and asked me, “Do you still have cigarettes?”

I was startled, but quickly took out the cigarette and lit it for him. He took a harsh mouthful and said, "After falling into the water, I realized that it was not a fish, but a coffin, a sarcophagus. An arm was stretched out from the coffin, and he was the one who grabbed the fool."

"Arm? Human?" I widened my eyes.

Uncle Zhuzi nodded and shook his head again. He looked at me and said, "The arm is a human arm, but I don't know if it is a human in the coffin. I thought I was going to die too. At that time, the talisman suddenly rushed out of me and hit that arm. I seized this opportunity and floated up, and pulled the fool's body onto the boat, and began to flee without any chance."

I lit a cigarette silently.

But just as I thought Uncle Zhuzi had finished speaking, he continued, "I looked back while rowing, and I saw that there seemed to be a giant beast under the water that aroused a huge prodigal son and rushed into the twelve ghost caves."

"What happened later?" I asked swallowed.

"I returned to the shore, dragged the fool's body to the shore, and found the man. He told me that it was the river god, the river god of Luoshui River. He asked me to keep this secret and not tell anyone." Uncle Zhuzi said slowly.
Chapter completed!