1942, I lived on hunting

This experience of failure made Lao Jia confused for a while, but he was unwilling to live his life like this, and soon he began to struggle again.

At that time, the acquaintance who worked as a boatman on the Wei River returned home because there were always wars outside. He soon found a job as a ferryman on the Yellow River and brought Lao Jia along.

Not everyone can do the job of ferrying. First of all, you need to have power to occupy the key roads and ports, and secondly, you need to have a suitable boat. Although the Yellow River is called the Mother River, this mother obviously has a bad temper. There are many times when the river floods. If you don’t have a suitable boat, you will just wait to go down to the river to feed the fish!

The young people have lofty ambitions. They work for others in the hope that one day they can own a boat and have their own business.

The Yellow River is too long. There are some unimportant places with sparse traffic. The powerful people look down on them, and local fishermen can also make money by ferrying people part-time. The two aimed at this and thought they had discovered a blue ocean market. They worked hard for a year. When the Yellow River was about to freeze, they finally saved enough money and bought an old boat together. The boat was about five meters long, with a square head and a flat bottom. After being patched up, it was still quite useful. So the two took turns pulling the boat back to their hometown and started their own business.

At first, it was fine. They fished and transported goods, and made some money by ferrying people in their spare time. Life was getting better and better, but something went wrong. Their good life was like a bird that flapped its wings and flew away.

In late July of that year, the Yellow River began to show its might after a series of heavy rains. The wide river surface seemed to have become an ocean, with mist and no end in sight. The turbid river water mixed with a lot of silt was like tumbling mud, swirling and rushing eastward.

The fishermen and boatmen like Lao Jia lifted their boats ashore early and stopped working temporarily. But sometimes things just happen to happen, and you can't do what you plan to do.

On this day, the weather finally cleared up. Lao Jia and his companions were helping to repair the roof at home when a group of people broke into the village looking for a boatman to take them across the river.

Although this group of people were not wearing military uniforms, they were sitting, lying, standing and walking in an orderly manner, unlike ordinary people. The hem of their clothes covered the bulging things around their waists, which should be weapons. The middle-aged man in the lead was wearing a shirt and trousers that looked very expensive. He was followed by a young and beautiful woman in a cheongsam holding a white and chubby little boy.

Although the rain has stopped, the flood has not receded yet. The river is rushing and the waves are turbulent. Who dares to go into the river at this time?

Unfortunately, the situation was stronger than the people, and they were holding guns. What could Lao Jia and his men do? They could only take the risk of sending them off once.

They lifted the boat back to the river, packed it up and put it into the water. Lao Jia's boat was the largest in the village, but it still couldn't accommodate so many people. The leader of the group had a few fishermen captured and asked them to drive the boat with Lao Jia and his friends to take them across the river.

Before setting sail, Lao Jia reminded them not to violate any taboos. In the past, people were generally superstitious, especially those who worked in dangerous industries, where there were even more taboos.

In the fishing business, there are taboos about "turning over" and "leaking". In some places, fishermen don't even turn the fish over when eating. Other taboos include offering pig heads as sacrifices, talking nonsense on the boat, fighting, or saying bad things about the Dragon King, sleeping on your stomach, whistling, and so on. In some places, babies are not allowed to get on the boat, and pregnant women are even more prohibited from getting on the boat.

Maybe this group of people were used to being arrogant, or maybe they had never crossed such a wide river before and were a little excited, so they didn't take Lao Jia's reminder seriously. As soon as they got on the boat, they started shouting and talking about this and that.

The child was probably a little scared. As soon as he got on the boat and felt the boat swaying all around, he started crying. His crying was so loud that even the rumbling sound of the rapids could not cover it.

Old Jia also had good intentions, so he told the woman to comfort the child, as crying like that would easily attract unclean things.

As a result, the group of people were fed up and started cursing, saying: "What a dirty thing! You are a shitty boat owner and you are trying to scare people. If you keep talking nonsense, I will destroy you!"

"This boat owner is not a good guy. He refused to drive the boat and now he is talking nonsense. I will drag him off the boat and beat him up when we get ashore. I will break his teeth. Let's see if he dares to disrespect the young master again."

The woman was probably annoyed by the child's crying, so she threatened the child to stop crying: "Stop crying, or I won't want you anymore!"

Lao Jia and his companions rowed against the rapids and slowly approached the other side of the river downstream. The ghosts of the dead were surging. According to local rumors, this area is very evil. Good things don't work, but bad things do. If you offer a pig's head to the old dragon king and ask him to bless you to be safe and make a fortune, it may not work. But if you dare to talk nonsense out of anger, it will be miserable. The old dragon king will definitely destroy your boat and kill you.

Lao Jia hurriedly told the woman with the child to stop talking nonsense, but he didn't expect that the leading man became even more agitated and threatened the child, "Don't cry, there is an old Dragon King in this river. If you cry again, I will throw you into the river. Then the old Dragon King will eat you, and you won't be able to find your parents! Do you still dare to cry?" The child is ignorant and will not care about what you say.

Old Jia thought to himself, this is terrible, I’m in trouble.

Sure enough, before the boat had drifted far, there was a dull thud from under the boat, as if it had brushed against a reef, or something had hit the boat. The boat jolted violently, and the people on board immediately fell flat on their backs.

There are many reefs at the bottom of the Yellow River. The most famous one is the Central Pillar, located in the rapids below the Sanmenxia Dam. The boatmen on the Yellow River call it "Come to Me". In winter when the water is shallow, it is more than two meters above the water surface; in flood season, it only shows a sharp top, and it looks like it will be swallowed up by the flood soon, which is very thrilling. For thousands of years, no matter the invasion of storms or the scouring of raging waves, it has always turned the tide and stood tall in the Yellow River, like an angry lion, strong and fearless. Since ancient times, it has been regarded as a symbol of the spirit of the Chinese nation.

Normally, the water flow is not large and the reefs are mostly exposed on the river surface. At this time, boatmen need to pay more attention to the river beach to avoid being stranded accidentally. When the water level rises, there is no need to worry about the river beach, but the reefs become a deadly thing. The boatmen can still avoid the visible reefs with their rich boat driving skills, but there is no good way to avoid the hidden reefs, and they can only leave it to fate.

At this time, Lao Jia and his companions prayed secretly, hoping that they had just brushed past the reef, which shows the seriousness of the situation.

Not far away, there was another louder "bang!" and the boat shook violently. This time, even Lao Jia and his companions, who had been sitting, lying and walking on the boat all day, could not stand, and everyone fell to the ground. Two of the group of people crossing the river by boat were accidentally thrown into the river, and they didn't even have a chance to struggle. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the whirlpool.