In the old days, there was a business in the capital called Shaking the Drum. To put it bluntly, it was people who walked around the streets and shook the Drum to "collapse the junk".

The shaking drum line seems inconspicuous, but there are some talented people inside. They can collect the good things in other people's hands at the price of rags, and then sell them at dozens or even hundreds of times.

When the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, four alternative drums appeared in Sijiu City.

The four people also walked around the streets with small drums, but they were dressed very decently, all of them were dressed in green robes. They never bargained with their owners when they fell in love with things, nor did they take anyone to beat the side drums. No matter how difficult it is to pried, they will definitely be in their hands within three days.

Logically speaking, these four people broke the rules, but no one in the city dared to cause trouble for them. Because these four people only went to collect things from the house where the people had just died. Even if no one died, some of them went to the door of the house for a few days, and that family would hold a funeral within three days. If anyone among them was at the door of someone, the house would definitely suffer a major disaster.

Some people say that the things the four people collected were all evil. They were the sellers who came to smell the evil spirit. No one dared not to sell what they wanted to buy.

The four people not only collect things, but also people are evil. These four people usually have their own territory, and they don’t talk even after meeting each other. They say they don’t know each other, but these four people gather every year.

The place where the four people gather is not necessarily somewhere, but when they gather, they will definitely light four white lanterns.

The lantern must be three feet above the ground. If a person is one meter away from the lantern, the light will most likely touch the waist and will never touch the face.

No matter where four lanterns float, it means that the four people got together again.

When the four of them gathered together, they stood on the ground with their lanterns in the wind and rain without saying a word, until the lanterns were extinguished, and they left each other. They gathered every year, every year.

Someone had seen them gathering. At that time, it was drizzling in the sky, but one of the four lanterns was not extinguished. Looking from a distance, I could only see four pairs of shoes. The four people looked up from their waists and half wiped out by the night. Looking from a distance, the four people seemed to be half in the underworld and half in the sun.

After each party, the four people would disappear for a month or two inexplicably, and then go back to the capital to continue shaking the drums and walking around the streets.

I know these things because one of the people who swayed the drum was my great-grandson.

My family doesn't know what my great master's big name is, they only know that he has a nickname called "Chen Yaogu".

After my great-grandson was in the capital for a few years, he suddenly told his family that he was going to go out for a long trip and might not come back any time.

Before leaving, he told his son, my grandfather Chen Rufei: Every year, he went to the willow tree that they had at the end of the party to see if there were any white lanterns. The lanterns were there, which meant that they were still alive. The lanterns were gone, so they quickly left the capital and walked as far as possible. As long as they could keep the incense of the Chen family, even if you changed your surname, I wouldn't say a word.

After that, my grandfather went to see under the willow tree once a year, but he had never seen my grandfather again, nor did he see the other three drum-shaking people. No matter how early he went, he only saw four unlit white lanterns.

In those days, the war was in chaos, and even the capital was not in a place to settle down. A few years later, my grandfather could not survive by himself, so he had no intention of not having any lanterns, so he signed up to join the army and left the capital. It was not until he won the battle that he returned to the capital.

My grandfather was less than twenty years old when he left, and when he came back, he was already over forty.

My grandfather said: If he hadn't missed his father, he wouldn't have walked under the willow tree, nor would he see the four white lanterns again.

At that time, the willow trees were gone and the lanterns were still there. My grandfather guarded the lanterns year after year.

Five years later, one lantern was missing.

In the seventh year, there was only one lantern left.

In the tenth year, the lanterns were gone.

Two more years later, my grandfather suddenly ran away from home and there was no news from then on.

Until the day I was born.

Before my dad could hold me, he didn't know what was wrong. He looked at the door and insisted that my grandfather was back. He ran out in a crazy way. When he came back, he was only carrying a white cloth lantern in his hand. Not long after, my dad passed away.

When my father was dying, he held me with one hand and pointed at the corner of the wall with the other hand, struggling to say something, and finally died with anger.

The day after my dad left, my grandfather really came back. He didn't say anything to anyone. He buried my dad overnight and took me out of the capital and went to the northeast.
Chapter completed!