The river that the old man ferried across is locally called Canal. It used to be one of the main tributaries of the Huai River and connected with other rivers such as Sha Ying River. There was a five-hole bridge here. After a big flood in the 1960s, the bridge collapsed. Mr. Liu Zhenbang, an old ferryman at the boundary of Zhaoji Town and Wangdianzi Township in Funan County, had ferried passengers across the canal for 49 years by using bamboo pole to punt and oar to row a wooden boat. In these 49 years, he never charged any passenger for crossing the river and saved many people who fell into the water. On the twelfth day of the first lunar month this year, Mr. Liu Zhenbang, aged 70, felt unwell, so he went to the local clinic. As a result, he never came back and passed away quietly. Before his death, the old man was still busy building a bridge for villagers to cross the river. At the end of the 1970s, the original ship had rotted, so Mr. Liu Zhenbang brought some big trees and invited a carpenter to make a ship in a week. On the day the ship was launched, he slept on the ship. Since then, he moved his home to the riverside. Mr. Liu Zhenbang raised five chickens. He didn't eat the eggs laid by hens but sold them for money, which was his main income. He also planted wheat on more than one acre of land. He said that the wheat in the field could be exchanged for flour, which was enough for himself to eat. The ferryman ferried villagers before his death. Weibo recommendation | Today's Weibo hotspot "Villagers from ten miles around, even from Henan Province, have taken Mr. Liu Zhenbang's ferry". His death made the surrounding villagers feel very sorry. In the past, whenever a family held a wedding or funeral, they always called Old Bang. "No one asked him for money. He just sat at the table." This time, it was everyone's turn to arrange the old man's funeral. (By Li Jialin and Wu Shang) Consciously feeling unable to build a simple bridge This is a very shabby bridge, mud, corn stalks and cement slabs. Mud and corn stalks are locally sourced materials, and cement slabs are not easy to come by. Mr. Liu Zhenbang begged for them from the surrounding kilns and then asked the villagers to help transport them back. After spending a winter, Mr. Liu Zhenbang built a mud bridge. There is still shallow water in the canal, and villagers can pass through the bridge. "Mr. Liu Zhenbang is gone, and there will be no one to ferry anymore." Villagers said that when the canal water rises in spring and summer, the mud bridge would be destroyed, and at that time, if you want to cross the river, you have to detour for five or six kilometers. For 49 years, he has been accompanied by the ship and become an unpaid ferryman. "There is no bridge, but people still need to cross the river." Local people introduced that the production team found a small boat and let everyone take turns to row it, but eventually only Mr. Liu Zhenbang was left. At that time, the production team promised that whoever rowed the boat would get work points and would not charge the people crossing the river. Although times have changed, Mr. Liu Zhenbang's habit has continued, and he ferries passengers for free as before. Since 1963, he has become a ferryman and remained unmarried all his life. A ferry boat has become his companion, and he has been doing this all his life. Mr. Liu Zhenbang often worried before his death that how would the people in the surrounding areas cross the river after his death? The last thing he did in his lifetime was to build a bridge.