Ying Xiaochuan and Ao Ling came out of Jiang Xi's house, and their moods were a little dull.

Ao Ling said softly: "I didn't expect that Jiang Xi's family would be so miserable, and there would be only one father left in the dearest, and Uncle Jiang didn't look very well. ”

Ying Xiaochuan sighed, it is not difficult in this aspect of the body, this time he came out and brought a lot of immortal fruits just in case. I'm afraid that Uncle Jiang himself has no idea of survival. Listening to his conversation with the blind man today, it is obvious that Jiang Xi's departure can be regarded as taking away his hopes.

"Let's see what happens. Ying Xiaochuan said: "Wait for two days, take a look at Uncle Jiang's condition, and then think of a way." ”

Ao Ling nodded.

……

Early in the morning two days later, Ying Xiaochuan took Ao Ling to visit the Jiang family again.

The Jiang family has changed greatly, in the courtyard, the white cloth is set up with a mourning shed, which is tightly covered, and the door of the main house is piled with wreaths and flower baskets sent by neighbors of all sizes.

The courtyard was full of people coming and going, each wearing black clothes and solemn faces, lined up one after another to enter the mourning hall to offer incense.

Standing outside the courtyard, Ying Xiaochuan heard the loud and neat chanting of the monk coming from the house, and the cry that could not be ignored in the middle.

It is said that the blind man invited a total of eight monks, and he recited the mantra of death for two days around the mourning hall.

And those cries are women specially hired by the Jiang family to cry and mourn, because the elders of the Jiang family are thin with this generation, and by the time Jiang Zhengguo's generation arrives, there are few relatives, so they can only hire people to cry. Fortunately, the people in the village are simple, and many of the villagers are like a family, and the fees are low.

Ying Xiaochuan looked forward, and saw that the center of the mourning hall was decorated with a white cloth with the word 'lay', and there were flower cards on both sides of the big characters, with dark green as the base, with yellow and white flower patterns, and on the spiritual table in front of the flower cards, there was a posthumous photo of Jiang Xi, and the same yellow and white flower cards were also tied around.

There are two large wreaths on the left and right, two couplets, one of which reads "A star in the sky, a young name in the world", and one reads "A distinguished guest comes to Yaochi, and the Buddha country adds a King Kong".

In the center of the mourning hall is a cedar coffin, only a third of which is covered, and a permanent lamp is placed under the coffin, and a man guards the lamp.

Four mourning women knelt on the futons on both sides wearing mourning caps, and their cries were mournful.

Looking to the left, Jiang Zhengguo, who was also wearing mourning clothes, was squatting in the corner, looking at the people coming and going with blank eyes, smoking cigarettes one by one, and the whole person looked a little lost.

The blind man was on the other side, folding paper in his hand, and while humming his mouth and chanting words, Ying Xiaochuan could clearly hear that he was reciting the Diamond Sutra.

Walking to the door, someone handed over a few sticks of incense, Ying Xiaochuan took it and entered the mourning hall, bowed three times in front of Jiang Xi's photo, and then inserted the cigarette into the stove and stepped aside.

"Feng Hu, you also come to send Jiang Xi. ”

A voice came from front of him, Ying Xiaochuan looked up, and saw a tall young man about 20 years old at the door, wearing a black hoodie, with his hands in his pocket, slightly bent back, his face was unhealthy and pale, especially between his eyebrows, as if shrouded in a gloomy color.

"Hmm. Feng Hu nodded, took the incense from the person who spoke, and then strode towards the direction of the mourning hall.

Hula-la.

A sudden gust of wind rose in the mourning hall, blowing the yellow paper on the ground, and the flame of the ever-bright lamp shook vigorously, and the lantern keeper hurriedly stepped forward to protect it in surprise.

"What's wrong with the ever-bright lantern?"

"I don't know, suddenly the wind started. ”

"Look at the lights, the lights can't go out. ”

Ying Xiaochuan's eyebrows raised slightly, and his eyes locked on Feng Hu's body.

Feng Hu walked to the altar, raised the incense in his hand and leaned over to the flame of the candle, the flame licked for a while, but it was not lit, and dozens of seconds passed, but it was still not lit.

At this time, he frowned a little urgently, and the hand holding the incense trembled slightly.

"Do you smell a strange stench?" someone asked.

"It's really, like the smell of dead rats rotting. ”

"How could there be dead rats here, we cleaned them the day before yesterday, and the rats can't stand the smoke. ”

"Smack. ”

Feng Hu's incense accidentally fell to the ground, but at this moment, everyone focused on the rancid smell, and no one noticed this detail.

Feng Hu swallowed his saliva hard, his facial muscles twitched unconsciously, and at this time, a flat but clear voice sounded on his side, "Your incense has fallen." ”

Ying Xiaochuan bent down in front of Feng Hu, picked up the three incense sticks scattered on the ground, and handed them over.

Feng Hu glanced at him in surprise, then took it with a stiff face, put the three cigarettes together, and redirected them to the candle.

"Rub!"

A cluster of flames jumped on the top of the incense, Feng Hu was so frightened that he took a step back and kept blowing on the flames, but the flames intensified.

Ying Xiaochuan stepped forward and waved his hand to extinguish the flames.

White smoke rose outward, hovering in the air, and after a while, it was painted in the shape of a dead mouse.

Feng Hu froze in place for a moment, his face blank and dumbfounded.

Until the person who came behind him patted him on the shoulder, "Feng Hu, why are you stunned, let's go out quickly after the incense." ”

Feng Hu woke up like a big dream, his head was covered with sweat, he hurriedly inserted the incense into the stove, turned around and walked out in a messy manner.

Ying Xiaochuan stared at the three incense sticks in the stove that broke at some point, and frowned without a trace.

"The condolences are over, the time has come, and the coffin will be covered!"

With the cry of the blind man, several men came in and closed the coffin, but there was no nail, which was the last thing to do when entering the earth.

As soon as the coffin was closed, the man guarding the ever-bright lamp cried out in vain.

"What's it called?" the blind man looked over.

The man pointed to the lamp in horror and said, "The lamp went out just now, and it lit up on its own again." ”

Everyone knows that the long extinguishing of the lamp indicates that the soul is restless, and there are those who have seen the lights go out, but no one has ever seen the lights go out and then burn on their own.

Unsurprisingly, everyone thought the man was wrong.

The blind man said: "Don't be alarmist, the everlasting light has not been extinguished, you are dazzled." ”

"But, but......" The man looked at the lamp, and then at the blind man with a sunken face, and finally stopped talking.

Ao Ling, who was always standing behind him, whispered in Ying Xiaochuan's ear: "Brother Xiaochuan, I also saw it, the lights went out, and they lit up again. ”

Ying Xiaochuan nodded slightly, they all saw it, and he naturally saw it too.

……

"When the hour comes, carry the coffin and get up. ”

Five minutes later, the blind man shouted again. Immediately afterwards, six young and strong men walked in outside the house, plus the previous two, a total of eight men, and they carried the coffin out.

After that, four more big men came in, put Jiang Zhengguo, who had inconvenient legs and feet, on a bamboo sedan chair and carried them out together.

Outside the courtyard, the spontaneously formed funeral procession was already waiting there in the dark.

The sound of suona, the sound of gongs and drums, and the sound of firecrackers sounded one after another, starting from the beginning of the road, it was not lively.

Jiang Xi has not yet married a wife, let alone has no children, so many funeral etiquette have been simplified or omitted, Jiang Zhengguo sat on the bamboo sedan chair, holding the portrait, and walked in front of the coffin bearer.

Ying Xiaochuan and Ao Ling followed in the middle of the team and walked all the way to Jiang Xi's cemetery.

The cemetery is on the mountainside, the mountain road is eighteen bends, and two bridges are passed in the middle, and when crossing each bridge, the blind man will walk to the front of the coffin, while scattering paper money, while shouting: "Jiang Xi, the road ahead is far away, there are jackals, tigers and leopards, you come back, come back quickly." ”

In this way, the team walked for a full two hours to reach the bottom of the mountain.

But along the way, the sound of beating gongs and drums and blowing suona has never stopped. It was not until they reached the foot of the mountain that the mourning procession stopped, took a bottle of drink and a towel from each of the people who had been waiting at the foot of the mountain, and then drove back the same way.

At this point, the funeral procession only left the person carrying the coffin, the person carrying the sedan chair, and the blind man, Ying Xiaochuan and Ao Ling and others.

Just as he was about to go up the mountain, the blind man suddenly came over and responded to Xiao Chuan and whispered: "Young man, you have to go up with you, it's okay, but this girl next to you, she can't go up." ”

"Why?" Ying Xiaochuan said strangely, and Ao Ling was also puzzled.

The blind man said: "Women are yin and unlucky. ”

Ying Xiaochuan secretly said in his heart: Ao Ling is not a human.

Ao Ling was very sensible, "Okay, I won't go up." Saying that, she turned around and walked to the side, and said with a smile to Xiao Chuan: "Brother Xiao Chuan, I'll wait for you here." ”

"Okay, you wait here for me for a while. Ying Xiaochuan also smiled at her and followed the blind man up the mountain.