How to work

If you want to go to Xingyuan, you have to go out of Shu.

The Shu road is famous for its hardships and dangers. Although it is close to cross the mountains and mountains, it is by no means an easy task. If it is not a particularly important and urgent matter, even the best soldiers in the army will not easily think about it.Lu Li and Shen Wansha were neither old nor martial arts, but they had no shortage of money and no rush of time, so they found a merchant ship and followed the water route out of Shuzhong to Xingyuan.

It's just that the waterway is slow and the speed won't be too fast. The two of them walked the whole way for two months before seeing Xingyuan's boundary marker in the distance.

It is warm spring in March, the sun is shining, the river scenery is beautiful, and even the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers.Shen Wansha changed into a spring shirt with gold patterns on the bottom and dark embroidered gold, and held a fan made of sandalwood wood, with gold painted fairy pavilions and Qionglou on the fan surface. Fortunately, "It's a good thing we don't get seasick."

Lu Li followed his line of sight to look at the bow of the ship, where a young man in moon white clothes was spitting out.

This ship is a merchant ship with three floors. The owner of the ship is shrewd in business. No matter how rich Shen Wansha is, he did not agree to charter the whole ship, but leased it to different customers.Local tyrants like Shen Wansha naturally lived on the third floor with the most luxurious view and the best view. The seasick young man was also very rich, and he also lived on the third floor, diagonally across from them.According to Shen Wansha's lively nature, he should have been familiar with people a long time ago, but until now, they don't know the young man's name, without him, this young man is seasick.And dizzy badly.

The boat sailed for a month, he vomited for a month, and sat on the bow of the boat every day, with the same posture, the same pale face, and the same two servant girls and four servants around him.

Seeing the uncomfortable look, Lu Li and Shen Wansha felt the same way, "Yeah...it's my fault."

Zhao Zhu left for more than a month, and before a single word came back, Lu Li looked calm and seemed to have let go, but when he was alone, he always looked at the river in a daze, like that... I can't tell what it feels like, anyway, it makes people feel sad.

"It's almost time, let's go downstairs to have a cup of tea and wait for the last meal!" Shen Wansha didn't want him to be sad, so he never mentioned the word Big Brother Zhao, and chatted and played with him lively every day, doing everything possible Let the kitchen cook delicious food, wishing to feed him five times a day, especially wanting to feed him fat.

Lu Li understood Shen Wansha's good intentions, and stood up like a stream of kindness, "Okay." The young man at the bow could vomit eight times a day, and he seemed to have no appetite.Fortunately, the small restaurant on the second floor is exquisite, and the view is opposite to the direction the young man spits out.

Although the merchant ships traveled to the boundary of Xingyuan, the destination was still some distance away from Lu Li and Shen Wansha's destination. They had to go around the mountains by the river on bamboo rafts or boats to reach the largest wharf in Lizhou, Shen Wansha. The person has been contacted and should be waiting at the pier at this time.

The bamboo raft floats in the river, it looks unsafe, but it is actually quite stable.The business of the men is to send guests to and from the river. The bamboo rafts are quite wide, and there are people standing on all four corners. If a guest accidentally falls into the water, they can rescue them in time.

Shen Wansha felt that this thing was new, and enthusiastically proposed to sit on it.

Lu Li had nothing to do, so he relied on Shen Wansha.

This river seems to be a tributary of the Yangtze River. After passing through the land of Shu, there are fewer steep and strange peaks, and there are high cliffs along the river.The cliff plunges into the river almost in a straight line. The wall is smooth, without trees or grass, but there are... a lot of coffins!

There are thick-legged logs wedged high above the cliff to support the whole coffin;

As soon as the bamboo raft turned its direction, the countless coffins on the wall had a panoramic view. It was not densely packed, but it was shocking enough.

"What is this!" Shen Wansha was shocked.

Lu Li was also shocked, "Probably... the hanging coffin."

The ancient and mysterious funeral customs are mostly found in Sichuan and Yunnan, and the relics have been preserved to the modern times where he lived, but the reasons for their rise are still debated.

As a local tyrant who likes to run outside and longs for the secret legends of beautiful mountains and rivers, Shen Wansha also knows about the hanging coffin, but he has never seen it with his own eyes. He was shocked when he saw it suddenly. excited, "So this is the hanging coffin!"

He looked at the cliff which was so steep that no one could stand on it at all, "How did you get it up there?"

Not only the two of them sat on the bamboo raft, there were 20 people including men, women and children, most of them were locals who often commute, and no one made such a fuss like Lu Li and Shen Wansha.The river was a bit turbulent here, and they didn't have the kindness to help explain, all of them cared about themselves, or their relatives and friends.

The bamboo raft shook so badly that I didn't even want to see the picturesque scenery, not to mention the hanging coffin above my head.

Shen Wansha was so curious that he couldn't get back to his senses for a while, so Lu Li held his arm tightly and the two leaned close together to prevent him from falling into the water.

Beside Lu Li was a middle-aged woman carrying a pannier. The pannier was very small, with wool pads inside and a layer of soft cloth on top. I couldn’t see what was inside, but the woman carried it easily. Think things are not heavy.

The back basket was originally very quiet, but when the bamboo raft shook, it also swayed, and then, the swaying range was greater than the bamboo raft.

Lu Li watched quietly, the soft cloth slowly slid down, and a small head protruded out.

With a round head, soft hair, wide forehead and big eyes, a small white face and ruddy mouth, she is actually a little doll!

The little baby raised his head, looked around with his eyes wide open, and saw Lu Li looking at him, stretched out his fat fingers to his lips, frowned and made a 'shh' look, begging Lu Li not to complain.

No matter how you look at it, how clever.

The doll was innocent, Lu Li smiled at him and didn't say anything, but he kept an eye out for him not to crawl out.

The little baby looked at Jiang Jing curiously, then stood up slowly, and looked out with the edge of the basket.Looking at it happily, the small mouth is raised, the small hand is patted, and the smile is cheerful.

The doll's voice was not loud, overwhelmed by the sound of the water, the woman's attention was probably on the rushing river, and she didn't even know that the little doll behind her was getting mischievous.

The little baby was cautious at first, but the more he played, he became more daring. He accidentally slipped his hand and fell into the basket.He didn't know if it hurt or not, he didn't cry or make a fuss, he stood up again after a while, and still looked at Lu Li for the first time.

Lu Li shook his head slightly, indicating that if he was not good, his uncle would sue him.

The little baby nodded again and again, but only behaved for a while, and then became restless again, even grabbing the side of the back basket to crawl out.

Just at this moment, the bamboo raft turned a sharp turn, and the little doll was unable to move, so she was thrown out in an instant!

Lu Li quickly stretched out his hands to pick up the little baby. Fortunately, he kept a good eye on it, so the little baby was safe from danger.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but the little baby finally realized that he was afraid, and burst into tears.

The woman who was carrying him felt that something was wrong when the bamboo raft turned. She knew the weight behind her all the time, and if there was any change, something happened to the child!

Turning around in horror, he happened to see Lu Li catching the child. The child was still afraid, and burst into tears.

"Thank you, my lord, for saving me—" The woman was still in shock, her face turned pale.

Lu Li stretched out his hand and handed the doll over, "No need. The river is fast, and the safety of the child is important."

The woman hugged the child and gently coaxed her, feeling a little ashamed, "He fell asleep just now, and every time he sleeps for a long time, I thought he wouldn't wake up, so I was a little negligent..." She turned around and knelt down to thank, "If it wasn't for Son—”

Lu Li hurriedly stopped the man, and changed the subject to avoid the woman blaming herself too much, "This child has a straight forehead and nose, bright eyes, and looks very smart. Smart kids are tiring."

"Isn't it!" Turning a bend, the river began to calm down. The woman didn't have to look at the water all the time, and felt that the child was rescued and Lu Li was closer, so she started talking, "Don't look at him who is only four years old. Well, seeing you today, Young Master, even if it’s just this side, I can still recognize you when I see you someday!”

"Oh? So smart?" Lu Li was surprised.

"Isn't that why? This child was born prematurely and was as big as a cat. Everyone said he couldn't keep him alive. We took good care of him and never dared to take him out. He saw few strangers, but as time went by, we discovered , but everyone he has met will remember, everyone in the village is Dodge."

The woman was very proud when talking about the child, "This time his parents are not here, and I have something to do, so I had to take him out. I was afraid that he would feel uncomfortable when he saw so many people for the first time, so he even covered the back basket with a soft cloth. Thinking of him is so annoying. Isn’t it, Fuwa——” The woman rubbed Saowawa’s belly, which made the doll laugh out loud.

"Little Lizi, look at that coffin, it's in the middle of the cliff, it's so high, how did you get it up!"

Shen Wansha was still excited.

Lu Li answered casually that he didn't know, and the woman smiled, "When outsiders come to us, what they are most curious about is our burial customs. In fact, it's nothing, but it's something that our ancestors have practiced for generations. It's hard for you to see, but we can't do it when we do it." I feel fine."

Lu Li asked casually, "The burial custom is so strange, but what is the reason?"

"It was handed down from the ancestors. I don't know why, but there are many legends." The woman saw that Lu Li was interested in chatting, and the waterway was still long, so she chatted with him about various legends.

What is the old man who will die and enter the cave for 365 days, and he can become a boy without touching the vulgar soil? etc.

Shen Wansha looked up at the hanging coffin, and finally his neck was sore and his eyes were blurred. He wanted to give up, but he didn't want to, but he saw someone in a cave on the cliff.

The man was wearing a silver dress, and there seemed to be silver powder spreading from the place where he was bathed in light. He couldn't see what he looked like from a distance, but he had braids all over his head, with silver beads hanging down, and a bright blue around his ears, like ears. Wearing a ring pendant.

But no matter how you look at it, that person is also a man, what is he doing with so many braids and earrings!

Shen Wansha was funny, and wanted to point it out to Lu Li to have fun with his friends, but the figure of that person only flashed for a moment and then disappeared, as if he had misread it.

Shen Wansha rubbed his eyes, quite sure that he read right.That person gave him a strange sense of familiarity, he must have seen this person sometime, somewhere!

However, the disappearance of his figure was regarded as death without proof. Shen Wansha sighed and did not mention it to Lu Li.

The bamboo raft gradually stabilized and got closer to the shore.

Suddenly there was a sound of music, and the sound of erhu, suona, and cymbals came into people's sight accompanied by a neat team.

The line is very long, and everyone inside is wearing sackcloth, filial piety and black gauze, white sails are raised, and paper money is scattered. This is a funeral procession.It's just that the aura of the funeral procession is very unusual, most of them are burly men with strong stature, there is no crying, and there is no other sound except mourning and joy.

The direction of the team is at the bottom of the cliff where hanging coffins are scattered all over.

"Is this... a funeral?" Lu Li asked subconsciously, "Is it going to be sent to the cliff?"

The woman replied, "Exactly."

"Why is no one crying?"

"People here will be carried into the ancestral hall after death, and they can hang the coffin for burial after three years. No matter how sad they are when they die, the sorrow will be less after three years. It is a great thing to send the dead to heaven, and we should be cautious , will cry at this time, probably only heavy relatives." Although the woman replied, she looked a little evasively at the funeral procession.

Lu Li didn't pay attention, and put his eyes on the front of the line.

At the beginning is a woman with a good figure, holding a child in her arms.The child looked to be only two years old, and his back was tightly attached to the woman, looking like a mother and child.The mother and son were dressed in heavy filial piety. The mother wiped her eyes from time to time, as if she was crying. The child didn't understand, but she didn't dare to cry, holding a black lacquer tablet tightly in her arms.

Looking at the positions of these two, could it be the wife of the deceased?

Shen Wansha also saw the long funeral procession, and asked curiously, "Who is this dead?"

But the woman stopped answering, as if she was still a little flustered, "It's landed, sir, please don't blame the little lady for being rude. It's true that the child was frightened when she first came out, so I have to go back as soon as possible to prevent any illness. The little woman Husband's family name is Deng, and he lives in Dengjia Village in Xiaoheishan five miles to the east, if you are free, please come and have a look, the little lady and the child's parents will be happy to thank each other."

After speaking, he left without waiting for Lu Li's answer, his gait was a little flustered.

Shen Wansha was puzzled, "I just asked the dead person's name, what is she doing so fast?"

Looking at the long funeral procession, Lu Li frowned slightly, "It's probably the dead man's name...it's not easy."

Shen Wansha clicked his tongue softly, "Don't worry about her, let's go ashore quickly, I seem to have seen the person who picked us up."