Chapter 54: Main Text Chapter Fifty-Four Legend

Main Text Chapter Fifty-Four Legend

I had a thought; we three had just arrived, unfamiliar with the place, wanting to collect some antiques nearby this county seat—how could that be easy? Old Liu has lived in Ancient Field for several decades; hearing his speech, he knows the local situation like the back of his hand. Why not let him tell us more about local matters, such as what ancient tombs and antiques have been unearthed? This information would be very useful to us.

So I first didn't let Old Liu continue speaking, saying it's still early, let Pangzi go out to sell a few bottles of wine, then prepare some side dishes, invite Old Liu to our room to drink and chat, talk about local scenery.

Old Liu is a person who loves wine as dearly as life, and also enjoys joining in the fun; upon hearing there was wine to drink, he immediately complied instead of standing on ceremony.

Pangzi, seeing he had to run an errand again, was extremely reluctant, but also craving a drink, so he changed into clean clothes and went to the outside small shop, buying back two bottles of white liquor and some canned food.

Outside, the rain drizzled on and on without stopping; everyone in the room shut the door, used the bed as a table, sat together drinking; Old Liu is naturally talkative, after these two cups of white liquor went down his nose tip turned red, his chatterbox opened and couldn't be shut.

Da Jin Ya asked Old Liu: 'Master Liu, just now you said we encountered something in the Yellow River; you saw it yourself—what exactly is it? Is it a turtle that has become a spirit?'

Old Liu shook his head: 'Not a turtle spirit, it's actually just a big fish; I don't know its scientific name, but many locals have seen it, calling it the Iron Head Dragon King. Boatmen are superstitious, saying it's a transformation of the river god; it's rarely seen normally, only appearing during major floods.'

Pangzi said: 'That sounds really far-fetched—how big is this fish?'

Old Liu said: 'How big? Let me tell you: back then I once saw one at the riverbank; that year the water rose quickly and receded just as fast, and besides, this Gutian River channel is shallow, which stranded a half-grown Iron Head Dragon King. At that time, before liberation, many superstitious people wanted to send the Dragon King Lord back into the river, but before they could act, the Iron Head Dragon King died. People burned incense and prayed by the riverbank—it was a sea of people, unprecedented in scale; I saw it while following the crowd to watch the spectacle.'

I asked: 'Master Liu, could you describe what this fish looks like?'

Old Liu said: 'This big fish has seven layers of blue scales on its body; its head is black, harder than an iron plate—just the head alone is as big as the front of a liberation truck.'

I, Pangzi, and the others exclaimed in amazement—it's not unlike a small whale; how could there be such a huge fish in the river? In this world, all sorts of strange things exist. We then asked what happened afterward—was the Iron Head Dragon King buried? Or eaten?

Old Liu laughed: 'It's not a whale, but such a huge fish is extremely rare—normally none at all, and even after several decades you might not see one; it's practically becoming a spirit, so superstitious folks say it's a transformation of the Dragon King Lord, otherwise why give it such a name? It's said that even if caught, it must be released; the meat is tough and old, who would dare eat it? At the time, the Iron Head Dragon King died on the shore; those days were scorching hot, like blazing fire, and it began to rot within a day, its stench filling the air, detectable for miles, easily causing epidemics among nearby people. After discussion, they cut off the flesh, burned it with fire, and left the fish skeleton lying on the riverbank.'

Da Jin Ya, hearing this, sighed: 'Alas, what a pity—if we could now get this strange fish's bones into a museum and make a specimen, surely many would come to see it.'

Old Liu said: 'Indeed, but back then nobody had the gall, fearing the Dragon King Lord would bring down punishment, inevitably causing another great flood.'

I asked: 'Master Liu, you just said there's a place where one can see the Iron Head Dragon King fish—are you referring to this one? After so many years, is the fish's bone skeleton still preserved, still lying on the riverbank?'

Old Liu said: 'That's right, but not on the riverbank. At the time, nearby residents, to prevent epidemics, burned the fish meat and entrails as an offering to the river god, and were just discussing how to handle this fish skeleton when an outsider arrived—a businessman who was also very superstitious. He contributed some money and, not far from us, built a Fish Bone Temple on Dragon Ridge.'

Da Jin Ya asked: 'Fish Bone Temple? There have been such things on the ground in Tianjin as well—isn't it just using fish bones for beams and fish heads for doors, offered to the river god?'

Old Liu said: 'Tianjin also has them? I hadn't heard of that, but it's indeed similar to what you said. That outsider businessman claimed he often went out to sea and crossed rivers, inevitably needing to take boats, so he spent money to build this Fish Bone Temple. The temple is not large, has no courtyard, no different from an ordinary Dragon King Temple; fish bones serve as the frame, the big fish's skull as the gate, just a single hall enshrining a clay statue of the Dragon King Lord. When it was newly built, some people who fell ill or encountered drought would go to the temple to burn incense and make wishes—funny enough, it was truly eerie; it never showed any efficacy. If one went to the temple to pray for rain, it was better not to ask, for the more they prayed, the drier it got. So not long after, the incense ceased, and the businessman who funded the temple never appeared again.'

I asked: 'Is the Fish Bone Temple still there?'

Old Liu nodded: 'Yes, but it's been deserted for a long time. The Dragon King Lord's clay statue collapsed within two years; some say the businessman who funded the temple lacked sincerity, or had done something lacking great virtue, so the Dragon King Lord refuses to accept his incense. Moreover, the Fish Bone Temple is built in a hollow of Dragon Ridge, where the roads are rough, so basically no one goes there anymore; many have even forgotten about it. During the Cultural Revolution, even the Red Guards didn't think to smash the Fish Bone Temple—in fact, even if they did, there'd be nothing to smash. But the temple's layout and the fish bones remain; you have a chance to go take a look.'

Pangzi laughed and cursed: 'What the hell is there to see? Today we three almost became fish food—better not to look.'

Da Jin Ya, however, had another plan; after discussing it with me, we decided to rest for the next couple of days, then go to Dragon Ridge to check out the Fish Bone Temple—maybe such a huge fish skeleton could be sold for money, at the very least to the Natural History Museum, to recoup our travel expenses.

We repeatedly urged Old Liu to drink, asking him whether any antiques or ancient tombs had been unearthed nearby.

Old Liu, drunk with blurry eyes and a thick tongue, nevertheless spoke his true feelings when intoxicated, actually spilling some local secrets.

Recently, Ancient Field had several tombs unearthed by floodwaters—all from the Song dynasty, but none were noble graves; aside from a few skeletons about to rot away, there were only broken bottles and cracked jars.

The most valuable thing unearthed here was, during a drought one year when this stretch of the Yellow River was nearly dry, while clearing silt, three large iron monkeys were dug out of the mud, each weighing hundreds of pounds; after removing the rust, we found the iron monkeys' carved patterns exquisite and smooth, all gilded on the outside; to this day, their purpose remains unidentified—what were these cast-iron monkeys used for?

Some say they were Tang-dynasty demon-suppressing objects, others say they were for river sacrifices; later they were either taken to some museum or melted down in a steel smelting—no one knows.

Most eerily, before the three cast-iron monkeys were discovered in the silt, many people had dreamed of three white-bearded old men begging to be let go; the story grew more and more suspicious, with many claiming those three old men were the iron monkey spirits of the river.

That Spring Festival, families with members born in the Year of the Monkey all wore red underpants and tied red sashes, fearing retaliation from the three iron monkey spirits; in the end, nothing major happened around here, although of course a few people suffered misfortune through their own backward ways—but that was entirely their own doing.

The Yellow River holds many strange things underwater; we've heard of these before—the Yellow River Iron Ox on display at the River East Museum is used to calm the river. Back in the late Yuan period, there was even a rumor that a one-eyed stone figure was fished from the Yellow River; at the time peasant uprisings were raging, a folk song went: 'Don't say the stone person has only one eye, stir up the Yellow River to rebel the world.' That tale is merely legend and not credible, but it still attests to the Yellow River's ancient mystery—who knows how many secrets lie buried in its foul, muddy silt.

However, we aren't interested in things like iron mares, iron oxen, stone figures, and the like; we kept asking around, wondering where nearby there are ancient tombs and relics, and who has antiques they want to sell.

Old Liu thought and said: 'It turns out you're dealing in antiques; if you'd come a few years earlier, you could have made a big haul, but by now everything's already been picked over—not only do private antique dealers come collecting, the government does too, making more than ten rounds a year; even more stuff couldn't withstand such constant harvesting.'

In recent years, starting a few years ago, grave-robbing has repeatedly occurred around Ancient Field, with many locals also participating; come autumn, when a strong wind blows, just look—the ground is full of tomb holes, and if you walk without paying attention, it's easy to fall in; the areas outside the city where ancient tombs concentrate have practically been dug up like sieves.

Old Liu said, 'We've been talking nonstop; I suddenly recalled hearing someone say—let me say it, you just listen—I once heard a local elder mention that there's a Tang dynasty tomb inside Dragon Ridge, said to be enormous in scale; in the past two years many grave robbers have wanted to find it, but nobody has succeeded; the Dragon Ridge mountain range is too dense, and that tomb is buried very deep—even whether it exists or not is still debated, after all such things are passed down by word of mouth from who knows how many years ago, and may not be true at all.'

Such tomb legends are very common in our locality, and almost everyone has their own version, with no fixed consensus; some say Dragon Ridge holds a great Tang tomb, others say it's from another dynasty. Anyway, they're just legends—no one has actually seen them.