"Sister. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info" Mingyu opened the curtains, and the cold wind swept in with the residual leaves, eliminating the turbidity in the car.

"Huh?" Qinglan turned her face sideways to look at her brother.

"What is death?" Mingyu asked in a muttered voice, his eyes full of sadness. His little face was wrinkled, and his expression was no longer as kind as before, the wake had destroyed his face in the past few days, under the swollen eyelids, his eyes were a little unable to open, the lower eyelids were blue and black, and the dry mouth was also cracked and peeled, and it was a lack of water supply.

Qinglan made a hanged ghost with her tongue stuck out and wiped her neck, and she was also haggard at the moment, not much better, so this expression looked particularly funny.

"Poof..."Mingyu was amused by his sister's expression and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"What are you two doing!" Ji Dong in front of him turned his head impatiently and reprimanded the two, ignoring Shu Erlang and San Lang who were fighting.

Qinglan and the others are now sitting on a mule cart returning to their hometown for funeral, and the people in the car are all grandchildren, with Ji Dong being the largest, and he is also entrusted with the important task of taking care of the children.

Shu Dalang is not here, he is the eldest son and grandson, and he is in front of the car to help the spirit.

Mingyu leaned against the window, holding Brother Huan in his arms, Qinglan was next to Mingyu, holding Mingran in his arms, at this time, the two children were dumbfounded, leaning on their brothers and sisters half-asleep.

Thanks to Ji Dong, the carriage was quiet for a short time, and Qinglan also breathed a sigh of relief, Erlang and Saburo were too noisy.

"Die..."Qinglan didn't know how to explain to her brother, and looked out the window along his little face, where there were bare tree trunks along the way, and kept falling backwards.

Mingyu couldn't wait for an answer for a long time, and he couldn't hide the disappointment on his face, in fact, he had asked his grandfather and uncle before, but no one paid attention to him at all, as if his problem was a bed bug, so annoying.

"I'll tell you a story." Sister's words sounded like heaven to Mingyu, Qinglan raised her hand and touched her brother's head, she pulled her lips open when she smiled inadvertently, blood oozed from the chapped lip lines, Qinglan licked her mouth absently.

Mingyu nodded quickly in surprise, he thought that his sister didn't know either!

The other people in the car also pricked their ears, in fact, every child has the same question in their hearts, and they also longed for someone to answer their doubts.

In the past few days, they have not asked the adults, but the expressions of the adults are very impatient, as if this is a big contrarian question, and coax the children aside. So the people in the car were all engrossed and wanted to hear what Qinglan had to say.

"Once upon a time, there were only two people in the world, the man named Adam and the woman named Eve. They were created by God and could live for a long, long time without dying, but one day, Eve could not resist the temptation of the serpent and ate with Adam the apple that God would not let them touch..."

Qinglan deliberately paused when she said this, looking at Mingyu's little hand tightly covering her mouth, what should I do! He ate an apple on the offering table yesterday!

Erlang was also a little nervous, the apple was eaten by him Mingyu, and he ate one himself.

"God is angry," Qinglan continued, pretending not to know, "because Adam and Eve disobeyed him, God will punish them severely."

God punished Adam for having to sweat to live, and for Eve to suffer childbirth. From then on, people have to endure two major sufferings – life and death. ”

The people in the carriage listened, and the carriage slowly bumped on the dirt road.

"In the beginning, people still lived to be about 150 years old," there was a gasp sound in the car, obviously too surprised, they couldn't imagine that people could live that long.

"But then there were more and more people, there were towns, there were countries, where there were people, there were fights, there were plunder, so there were massacres, hunger, and sickness, and people died earlier and earlier. But whoever is, rich or powerful, healthy or wise, will die, and one day, his body will be broken, and their souls will be turned to dust. Qinglan felt that this topic might be a little cruel for children.

"Shall we turn to dust one day?" Mingyu asked worriedly, tears were about to fall, he was reluctant to do anything with his father and mother, and his sister.

"Yes," Qinglan thought of her body in her previous life, not knowing what happened to her. "But don't worry, God says that death is a passage, a threshold that must be passed to another world."

"Then Grandma has already gone to order a world?" Mingyu was a little puzzled, obviously grandma was in the car in front.

"I don't know," Qinglan looked at him a little apologetically, "This is not necessarily, Buddhism says that death is a new life, and maybe you will be reincarnated into another person, but you have abandoned your old body, and you have forgotten your previous family and started a new life." ”

"In other words, grandma is now from someone else's family..."Mingyu's tears fell, and his words were choked, grandma is no longer from their family, she doesn't know herself anymore, so will her father and mother not know herself in the future?

"Not necessarily," Qinglan patted his arm and comforted: "Zhuangzi didn't say that people will travel with heaven and earth when they die, maybe grandma will be by our side every day, but we don't know." ”

Everyone else in the car glanced around.

"And can we still see grandma?" Mingyu asked hopefully, and the other people in the car also sat up straight when they heard it.

Qinglan looked at the withered yellow fields outside the window, and suddenly, a teenager appeared in her field of vision.

He was covered in a tattered sackcloth, and walked deep and shallow in the mud. There were a few thick ropes around his thin shoulders, as if they were embedded in his shoulders, and a thin skin coffin was tied behind his back! Relying on manpower to drag the coffin forward with difficulty, he struggled step by step, sweating in the cold wind.

Qinglan felt that he looked familiar, and pondered for a while before remembering this person—it turned out to be the boy who sold books when he was rushing to the big market in the first month!

Qinglan sighed in her heart, I haven't seen her for ten months, my grandmother died suddenly, and your mother didn't survive this winter.

"Of course it will," Qinglan retracted her gaze, "Every encounter in the world is a reunion after a long absence. ”

Mingyu didn't seem to understand, and asked again, "Will we also reunite with grandma?" ”

"Definitely." Qinglan replied in the affirmative.

"Sister, are you afraid of death?" Mingyu asked about the fear in his heart.

"I'm not afraid." Qinglan looked at him with a resolute expression.

The people in the car couldn't help but look back at Qinglan, as if she was some kind of demon and monster. Qinglan shrugged indifferently, my sister is really not afraid.

"Sister, you're amazing!" Mingyu sincerely admired his sister and asked everyone's doubts: "Sister, why aren't you afraid?" ”

Why, because he died once? Or is it because your experience is too incredible? It doesn't seem to be exactly.

"I'll tell you another story." Qinglan needed to sort out her thoughts, and Mingyu nodded like pounding garlic.

"Far, far away by the West Sea, there is a city called Athens. In that city lived a philosopher named Socrates. ”

"How can there be a four-word name?" Saburo asked suspiciously.

"Don't interject!" Jiro nudged him impatiently.

Qinglan's voice continued, "That Socrates was a very intellectual-loving man, and his status in that country was about the same as that of our Confucius, of course, he was not so famous when he was alive. One of his students was naughty, and went to the temple to draw lots and asked who was the smartest man in Athens, and it turned out that his teacher Socrates was the smartest man in all of Athens, so he ran to tell him very happily. But Socrates did not believe it, he was looking for someone smarter than himself. “

"Did he find it?" Ming Zhuang suddenly interjected and asked, he was silent all the way.

"No," Qinglan's answer disappointed Ming Zhuang a little, "He went to visit many authoritative figures, including officials, craftsmen, poets... He thought that these people were smarter than him, but after the visit, he was disappointed, because he found that he knew that he was ignorant, and others did not even know about "ignorance". ”

"Those who know others are wise, and those who know themselves are clear." Those authorities are not smart. Mingyu commented.

"Yes, Socrates' words and deeds have aroused the displeasure of the authorities, who feel that he is misleading the public, so everyone will try him publicly."

"And how is he?" Mingyu asked anxiously.

"He was sentenced to death."

"Ah~" The children all felt that Socrates was not guilty. Only Ji Dong snorted heavily.

"Why!" Mingyu felt very unfair.

Qinglan's eyes seemed to be able to see through the curtain into the distant future, "Because he said that he was like a cowfly, and he wanted to wake up the sleeping Athenian horse, but when he woke up, instead of being grateful, he wanted to slap him to death, and then go back to sleep." ”

A low laugh rang out from the car.

"And what happened to him?" Saburo's eyes widened as he stared at Haruman.

"He... Poisoned by drinking poisonous wine," Qinglan paused, and said: "Before he died, he asked his disciple to send a chicken to the doctor." ”

The children were puzzled, and Qinglan explained: "There is a custom in them that when you are sick, you should give a chicken to the doctor. Socrates regarded death as the first recovery from a serious illness. ”

Mingyu fell into deep thought, and after a long time, he raised his head: "Grandma doesn't have to take medicine anymore." ”

There was a faint sadness in the car.

"You haven't said you're not afraid of death." Ji Dong reminded him hard, and his voice was hoarse.

"I," said Hariran, smiling brightly, "because I think the same thing as Socrates, he says that man has life, not just to live, but to live for the realization of certain values. ”

"And," added Qinglan, "Confucius also said that if one does not know why one is alive, then every day is a fluke." ”

"Sister..."Do you also want to be a gentleman, sacrifice your life for righteousness, and kill for benevolence?"

"I want to work hard to become a gentleman, I want to do something for my country, at least..."

The people cannot live so hard as they do now, and the country cannot gradually decline in this era and repeat the humiliation like that.

"However," Qinglan told her brother to tell herself, "Zhuangzi also said, 'Those who have attained the love of life do not do what they can do in life; Those who have reached the love of life are helpless if they do not fulfill their lives. This means that those who understand the true condition of life do not pursue what is not needed in life. A person who understands the true state of fate will not pursue a goal that fate cannot achieve. I'm not going to force it. ”

Mingyu nodded reassuringly after hearing this.

The car continued slowly, and no one said anything during the journey.

This time I returned to my hometown, there were a total of three mule carts and a carriage, the carriage was naturally sat by Zhao Bingsheng's family and Mr. Shu, the first mule cart was the coffin and Mr. Shu's father and son, the second car was Qinglan and their car, and the third car was Shu Lao Er and a few of them.

Before the convoy arrived at the entrance of the village, several uncles and uncles of Grandpa Shu's family and Aunt Shu's family were already waiting there, and Qinglan felt cold when she saw this situation: Isn't this going to let grandma's coffin enter the village!

According to the customs of the village, before the burial, the coffin should be carried around the village, which means respecting and paying tribute to the deceased, and also allowing the people in the village to mourn and say goodbye.

Sure enough, as soon as the car stopped, Uncle Cousin and several uncles and uncles immediately leaned forward and prepared to carry the coffin directly to the cemetery.

"Who dares to touch my mother!" Pan Erniang's voice successfully made several big men dare not move anymore, because the penetration was extremely strong, and several villagers who were picking up dung in the distance heard it, and stopped their work to look at the convoy.

Pan Erniang stumbled out of the car, threw most of her body on Mrs. Shu's coffin, and glared angrily at Aunt Shu and her party, looking like a protector.

"What are you bringing ?!?" The first to speak was not Old Man Shu or Aunt Shu, it was actually Second Aunt Shu! Pan Erniang sneered in her heart, she is really a good and filial girl, her own mother has been wronged like this, and she actually helps others, it is really indistinguishable from inside and out!

"Why don't you let my mother into the village?!" Shu Laosan hurried in front of Pan Erniang and opened his mouth and sternly questioned a few cousins.

Several men were speechless, and subconsciously looked at Aunt Shu.

"You don't live in the village anymore, so don't bother the villagers." Everyone looked at themselves, and Aunt Shu had to come forward, but obviously, such an explanation would only further anger Shu Lao Er and the others.

"Why don't you let my mother enter the village! Our land is still in the village! "Pan Erniang has always been spicy, and except for Old Man Shu, no one knows that the family's land has changed hands.

Aunt Shu didn't want to quarrel with a junior daughter-in-law, she didn't have to lose her identity, she glanced at her younger brother, this village can't be entered, and these etiquettes will not be returned to her own family at that time!?

Old man Shu had a sudden shock in his heart, he hadn't discussed the matter with his wife yet, and now that the old woman is gone again, the children don't know yet, in case it shakes out at this time... Old Man Shu glanced at his daughter-in-law's coffin and quickly made a decision, "What are you doing in the village, just let the family come, go to the cemetery!" ”

At this time, not only the children and grandchildren of the Shu family were dissatisfied, but even Zhao Bingsheng and Wang Yufen looked at Old Man Shu with disapproval.

"No way!" Pan Erniang refused without sparing, "Why don't you let my mother enter the village!" Why am I sorry for you?! ”

This is not only for Old Man Shu, but also for Aunt Shu. Only a daughter-in-law who does not abide by women's morals or who has a loss of virtue will not enter the village after death, indicating that the people in the village do not need to worship. (To be continued.) )