River Lanterns Carry Grudges Away: I Inherited My Grandpa's Art of Ferrying the Dead

At Wangniang Shoal, an ancient Yellow River crossing, an ancestral rule has been passed down for generations: “Carry the dead across, not their grudges; light the lantern, and never let it go out.” For generations, the Jiang family have served as corpse ferrymen. They not only retrieve bodies from the Yellow River, but also use river lanterns to guide the dead and dispel their resentment, keeping the ancient crossing at peace. The protagonist, Jiang Su, was a top student in forensic medicine at medical school. After his grandfather, Jiang Shouyi, drowned in an accident, Jiang Su was forced to return to Wangniang Shoal and inherit the family trade, along with the ancestral Lantern of Passage. When he first comes home, he uses a forensic pathologist’s rational mind to examine strange folk customs and applies modern medical knowledge to explain the eerie state of the corpses. Yet, as he retrieves one body after another, he discovers that his grandfather’s death was no accident. It is tied to a shocking secret behind a corpse-discovery case at the ancient crossing a century ago: every body they have recovered is connected to a “Cavern of Resentful Spirits” hidden beneath the Yellow River. Upright corpses in red robes, river bulls ramming boats, giant turtles bearing coffins, ancient elms that imprison souls: taboos and folk customs of the old Yellow River route emerge one after another. Amid the muddy waves, greed, betrayal, and redemption are gradually laid bare. Jiang Su upholds the ancestral rules of the corpse ferrymen and balances the consequences of life and death. With the help of Su Qinghan, a reclusive spirit-walker, and Old Zhao, a boatman with an inhumanly altered body, he follows the clues his grandfather left behind and battles evil beings controlled by resentment, along with the malice in people’s hearts. He must recover the dead and guide resentful spirits onward, but also uncover his family’s curse and the secrets of the ancient crossing. In the end, he realizes that ferrying the dead means guiding not only departed souls, but also the living swept up by desire; river lanterns illuminate not only the way home, but also the faint glimmer of humanity.