The part of the mountain stream that flowed through the village was in the shape of “ω”, and the village itself was in the middle of the semi-O shape. The stream became very large when it rained or when water was released from further upstream, but in general, it was very shallow and only reached your knees. The bottom of the stream was full of stones. There were a lot of people who dredged through the sand a few years ago and sold a lot of the smaller pebbles, so now the only things left were big smooth stones the size of washbasins that were covered in green moss.
Although there was running water in the village, most people were still used to pouring out their chamber pots, washing clothes, and taking baths by the stream. The cleanliness of the stream depended on the number of people upstream of you. I once saw a lump of excrement floating in front of me while swimming, so although the water was a frighteningly clear picture that couldn’t be seen in the city, I still didn’t have any good feelings for this mountain stream.
I was certain that my father wouldn’t be able to go, but Little Hei wanted to know what to do since Biao Gong was in a hurry. We were still in charge of this matter, so Uncle Three and I immediately threw down our rice bowls and ran to the stream to look at it, scaring Uncle Two’s chickens in the process.
The village was very small so it was only a few steps away. This was the period when the water level was low and there was a large dry beach by the stream. They were all there, surrounded by several villagers. Everyone immediately gave way when they saw us rush over. “Where’s your father?” Biao Gong asked me.
I said that he wasn’t awake. Uncle Three, who had already parted the crowd of onlookers to look into the stream, kept asking, “What’s the matter? What’s the matter? What’s in the stream?”
Several people’s faces were ashen. Biao Gong came over and pointed to a huge rock in the water, “You can stand over there and look in the water.”
The boulder was sitting in the middle of the water and could hold several people. There was already a man over there lying on his stomach, so Uncle Three and I jumped over and copied him, looking into the water.
The water was so clear that you could see it clearly even when the sky was overcast. As soon as I looked, I immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Uncle Three also cursed.
I saw that the bottom of the stream under the stone was thickly dotted with those black and white snails. But what creeped me out was that these snails weren’t stuck to the stream-bed irregularly; instead, they were gathered into a very strange shape.
The shape looked like the shadow of a person who wanted to climb to shore.
“Shit, who the fuck did this?!” Uncle Three probably thought it was a prank.
“Who did it?” Biao Gong sneered from the shore. “Didn’t you do it?”
“Bullshit!” Uncle Three jumped ashore.
“If it wasn’t you, Wu Sanxing, then it wasn’t done by anyone else,” Biao Gong retorted. “We’ve been squatting here for three hours and this shape hasn’t scattered at all.”
<Extra 1.12> <Table of Contents><Extra 1.14>
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Updated 11/21/2021
MereBear's Translation 