Part 2 Chapter 40: Ferry
In fact, I have no interest in finding the anchor, I was just making small talk.
He turned his head and seemed to glance at me, but the light from the phone was too weak, so I couldn't see his expression. After a while, he said, "The anchor has actually been found."
When he said that, I immediately looked around. Because we had checked the other floors together before, if we found it, it must be in this room. But I don't know if the light source was not strong enough, anyway, I looked around and didn't see it.
I hesitated for a moment and didn't get up to look for it. Now I just wanted to get away from the bathing pool, so I asked Qin Yiheng: "Where is the anchor?"
He still didn't turn around and told me that we had actually seen the anchor on the third floor before, but the anchor was no longer in the shape of an anchor. If he guessed correctly, the bed was made by melting the anchor and burning it.
I was really surprised when he said this. Although I didn't know what the steps and tools were for making ironware, just thinking about it, there must be a furnace, right? Smelting metal in this bathing center? This is really unrealistic!
When I asked Qin Yiheng for an explanation, he continued, "It wasn't necessarily fired in the bathing center. It was probably brought in as part of a ceremony. After the ceremony, it was shipped out, fired, and then brought back. Bringing in an anchor would attract attention, but bringing in an iron bed would definitely not attract anyone's attention."
What he said made sense. After chatting for a few minutes, I was actually observing him carefully.
Seeing that there was nothing unusual about him, I let down my guard a little and sat more relaxed.
I lit a cigarette and continued to ask Qin Yiheng: "Why do you have to use the anchor to melt into an iron bed? If according to the previous analysis, these people are just recording their dreams, then it is reasonable to sleep as comfortably as possible. Moreover, you just said that the person in the pool is you, you are not so literary, referring to your own reflection, right? And most importantly, who on earth is that person behind the door curtain?"
I had a lot of questions, and I had been holding them together for a long time, so I spoke very quickly and I don’t know if he heard me clearly.
Anyway, he nodded at me, pointed at the bathing pool, and said, "The one here is Qin Yiheng; the one behind the door curtain is also Qin Yiheng."
What he said sounded a bit like the logic of a voice robot, which was the same as not saying anything.
I had no choice but to ask him to explain it in more detail, as I couldn't understand it. But he just shook his head and refused to speak.
After waiting for a while, I saw that he didn't want to say anything, so I got a little anxious and urged him to tell me quickly. He looked at me and said that if I wanted to find out, I could go to the bathtub and try to fish it out myself. After saying that, he even made way for me.
Curiosity kills the cat, I know this very well.
Although it looked like there would be no danger in trying to get it out, I was still scared. Unfortunately, I couldn't torture Qin Yiheng to extract a confession, so I could only settle for the next best thing and ask him to tell me what happened to the bed.
This time he didn't play dumb with me, and stood up seriously, looked around, and told me that there was something wrong with the whole house. I thought to myself: "Isn't this bullshit? Why did we come here if there was no problem?"
I complained in my heart, but I didn't interrupt him. I just waited patiently for him to continue. His style was always like this, he would always save the most surprising things for the end.
What Qin Yiheng said was indeed shocking enough. He first asked me if I knew that there was a river in the so-called underworld. No matter what it was called in the world of the living, whether it was called Naihe or Wangchuan, it was actually the same river. And the legendary Naihe Bridge (some say it was called Naihe Bridge) was on this river.
According to legend, only those who died a natural death in the world of the living or did good deeds are qualified to walk across the Naihe Bridge and embark on the road of reincarnation. Those who committed crimes or died suddenly and mistakenly entered the river can only be thrown into the river to suffer. There have always been many related stories in Chinese folk legends.
Although this river is called a river, according to legend it is not a clean place. It is said to be smelly and cold, and all the filth in the world is crowded in it. You can imagine how uncomfortable it is.
Therefore, some ghosts do not have the right to cross the bridge, but are afraid of being thrown into the river, so they have to find other ways to cross the river.
This gave rise to a new way, which is ferrying.
According to legend, there are ferrymen on the river in the underworld who are responsible for ferrying the dead souls across the river for money, and it is said that the price is not low.
There is not just one ferryman, but many, so their professional ethics and reputation vary. Many ferrymen take money but do not do their job, and kick the "passengers" off the boat halfway through the journey; and the ghosts in the river will cling to the ghosts who were kicked off out of jealousy, so once they fall into the water, they will never get back on the boat.
However, these "black ferrymen" should only be a minority. Just like in the world of the living, there are still more good people after all.
Those souls who successfully crossed the river, that is, those who barely stepped into the path of reincarnation, although there will definitely be some twists and turns in the middle, but in comparison, they are already very happy.
Because of this, the custom in many places is to burn paper money immediately after a person dies. In addition to framing the ghosts and devils, this can also be considered a precautionary measure. Regardless of whether the deceased is qualified to cross the bridge or not, the fare for crossing the river must be paid first.
This is why many places have the custom of releasing paper lanterns and paper boats. In fact, it is just to give the dead souls or deceased relatives and friends a medium or carrier to cross the river. Although it is just a beautiful vision, it is also based on the legend of the ferryman.
Qin Yiheng stopped talking here and tilted his head to look at me, as if asking me if I understood what he said.
I understood what he said , but I still couldn't find any connection with this house. There is no river near where we are, and this city is not on the banks of the Yellow River or the Yangtze River. The whole house is barely related to water, but there is no water anywhere else except the pool of water he put.
I shone my light on myself with my phone and shook my head at him, confused.
Qin Yiheng hummed, apparently guessing that I would have this reaction. He paused and said, "This whole house is now a ferry."
Perhaps it was because I had heard too many miraculous things from Qin Yiheng, so I was not that surprised this time. Instead, an association inexplicably popped up in my head.
On the closet door in his house, there is a painting of water flow. Because it is incomplete, we still don’t know what it means. Now that he reminded me of it, I thought to myself: "Could it be a ferry?"
I didn't ask him because I wanted him to continue. But he stopped talking and told me to go find the searchlight. I had to go to the women's bathroom again. Fortunately, although the searchlight didn't work, the parts were still there, so it wasn't difficult to find it.
Back in the men's bathroom, Qin Yiheng took the flashlight and started fiddling with the Swiss Army knife, still without making a sound. I was waiting by the side, feeling quite anxious.
After 17 or 18 minutes, I was sitting on the ground and feeling a little sleepy, when I suddenly heard Qin Yiheng call out "Jiang Shuo". I looked up, and before I could ask him what he was doing, everything in front of me was white - he suddenly turned on the searchlight and shone it in my eyes! Although this searchlight is not as bright as the Wolf Eye flashlight, it is damn bright enough.
In addition, the room was dark to begin with, and the sudden light made me feel dizzy immediately. My vision was full of spots of light and I couldn't see anything.
I cursed subconsciously: "Qin Er, what the hell are you doing? I can't see it anymore, turn it off quickly!"
Qin Yiheng didn't answer me, but immediately turned off the searchlight. My eyes hadn't recovered yet, and now it was pitch black again.
I rubbed my eyes. The strong light made me cry a lot, but I still couldn't see anything clearly.
I yelled "Qin Yiheng" again, but he still didn't respond. Instead, a "splash" sound suddenly came from the direction of the bathtub, as if a heavy object hit the water, and then the sound of splashing began again.
I thought to myself: 'Oh no, damn, is there something in the pool coming out?'
