"Red!"

"White!"

"Then I'll go black!"

"I'm leaving, it's your turn!"

……

At one o'clock in the afternoon, on Sunday, Zhong Xuecheng played checkers with his father. Originally, he was playing alone, but when Dad got up and was bored, he joined his checkers game. After a few wins and losses, the adults suddenly felt bored, and the childlike was still unfinished.

"No, let Daddy smoke a cigarette!" Zhong Li pushed away the colorful chessboard, sat on the corner of the old sofa with his hips raised, stepped on the edge of the sofa with a layer of black soil, lit a cigarette and smoked a few puffs, and put his left hand on his left knee and swallowed.

Zhong Xuecheng continued to play with himself. After we have made a move, we turn the board, examine the game, take a step in the enemy's territory, then turn the disc again, reorganize our situation, and finally take a step with all our brains. Even if he has a lot of fun playing alone, the child still hopes that his father can play another game with him. After squinting several times, the child judged that his father did not seem to have any further meaning.

A cigarette is finished. Seeing that his father focused on burning one, the child guessed that there should be no more to play today's two-person game, so he planned to go to the room to play with the chessboard. When collecting the chess pieces, Zhong Li saw his son's heart and desire, so he exhaled smoke and talked to his son: "Did your mother call you?" ”

"Hit."

"What?"

Xuecheng didn't know how to answer, and said after a pause: "Not much." ”

"Didn't you come back when?"

"That's it." After the child finished answering, he sorted out the chessboard by himself.

Zhong Li couldn't wait for the answer he wanted, and was almost amused or annoyed by his son's stupidity and stupidity, so he slowly asked, "When will your mother come back?" ”

"Ming."

"Oh."

Zhong Li looked out the door, put his feet on the coffee table, and continued to smoke.

The second cigarette was almost finished, and Dad didn't ask any more questions, and he waited for a long, long time, and really wanted to go back to the room. Several people in Xuecheng's heart fought one after another, and finally couldn't bear it anymore and went upstairs with a chessboard. Stepping onto the fifth platform of the black iron staircase, the child couldn't help but sneak a glance at his father, who was lighting the third cigarette. Dad seemed to be unhappy, he seemed a little angry, did he do something wrong, how to keep Dad from being angry, when will Mom come back, why doesn't Auntie take him home, when will Grandpa get off work...... With many worries and problems, the child walked into the room of his grandfather and himself.

He quietly closed the door and locked it with his heart, and then he put his ear to the door, and found that he could no longer hear his father's voice, and the child was relieved and unconsciously gasped. The checkerboard supervised the bathroom in the house, then closed the sanitary door again, and by the light of the bathroom window, the child continued to play checkers with himself. When playing chess, Zhong Xuecheng couldn't help but think of his mother's smile, his mother's words, and the pictures sent by his mother...... I don't know what mom is doing now. The child, who missed his mother, was even more troubled, and he sat on the sink without feeling like he wanted to play chess, looking out the window at the adults entering and leaving the farmer's market.

"The house in the world is unloving, and the palace immortal is benevolent."

The white couplets are pasted on both sides, and the horizontal batch is "De and Xiangzi"; The paper on the right side of the gate is hung high, the walls on both sides are full of wreaths, the front door and the alleyway are full of tables and chairs, and the front of several neighbors on the left and right is also occupied by various motor vehicles. The eldest cousin, the second cousin and other men wore filial piety hats at the door to greet people—the two cousins, the eldest aunt's family, the eldest aunt's maternal relatives, the two sisters-in-law's families, the younger daughters-in-law's families, and the deacons in the village...... For the red and white ceremonies in the countryside, those who are close to each other have to come to the door. Bao Xiaoxing, who returned from sweeping the tomb in Zhongjiawan, saw a pile of people in front of his house from afar, and Lamai parked not far away.

After getting off Mai's motorcycle, Hyosung felt a little guilty that she was late, so she put on the mourning clothes that her aunt had prepared for her in advance, and said hello to her eldest cousin, second cousin and other people. Every time a relative cries into the mourning hall, the male and male protagonists greet the female protagonist, and when they see Hyosung's five bodies on the ground and cry, the two sisters-in-law of the Guo family, the younger daughter-in-law and the eldest cousin Guo Chaofen and others come to cry together. After mourning, Hyosung burned incense and toasted according to the rules, and the women returned the salute, and then the daughters-in-law of the younger generation got up to support Hyosung, Chaofen and others.

After wiping away tears, several people reminisced about the old greetings, and before a few words, another round of female guests went straight to the mourning hall to cry, and several heroines immediately knelt down to accompany the crying in return. Seeing this, Hyosung left, wiped his tears and went to find his aunt. Looking back, the mourning hall has already been well arranged, the black couplets of the memorial are floating left and right, the cloth banners with the words of the giant memorial are written to cut off the dead and the living, the new curtains on both sides are painted with nine dragon entwined pillars, and the beams and pillars above are colored lantern strips. The coffin is made of cypress wood, the bottom of the coffin is engraved with patterns, and the coffin head is carved with the word "Shou" pattern, Bao Xiaoxing curiously went to visit the eldest aunt in the coffin - wearing a jujube red longevity dress, black embroidered cloth shoes, covered with red embroidered longevity mattress, her face covered with white air-conditioned paper, stumbling ropes wrapped around her feet, and an ever-bright lantern lit on the wall. Bao Xiaoxing wanted to take one last look at her aunt, but she didn't have the courage to lift the air-conditioner paper, so she had to look sideways at her cheek, and when she was looking, she suddenly heard someone talking to her.

"Aunt Xing, I'm a little scared, let's go find my uncle!" Mai Pi Ma Dai filial piety is white.

"What are you afraid of? There are so many people. Fearless! Bao Xiaoxing grabbed Mai's wrist, and the two walked towards the house.

"And the obituary!"

After walking a few steps, Bao Xiaoxing saw the obituary in black and white on the wall, and couldn't help but read it: "Obituary." His mother, Bao Jinchun, passed away at 10 a.m. on 12 November 2019 at the age of 78. It is now scheduled to be laid at home on November 17 and laid in earth on the 18th! The obituary is hereby obituary. Yuxiao's eldest son, Guo Chaoyang, second son, Guo Chaoming, and others wept with their children, November 13, 2019. ”

Along the way, Bao Xiaoxing found that his cousin's house was very different from the first night he came, and almost all of them had been requisitioned. The front yard is full of tables, chairs and benches for banquets, although it is far from the point of eating, but many guests are sitting there to rest and chat; The backyard became a stove room, where professional cooks and a group of women were invited to prepare meals in full swing; In the corner of the front yard, a piece of land was set aside for the music group to play and sing; The wedding room of his son Guo Tongsheng became a ceremonial room, and the ceremonial room was full of gifts from relatives at this time. The eldest cousin's room has become a deacon's room, and the gentleman in charge of the village is assigning work to the villagers who come to help; The original room of her cousin's daughter Guo Tongyao has now become a meeting room, which is specially used for the two cousins, the sons of the cousin's family, and the head of the village to discuss important matters; The two houses on the second floor have become veritable large warehouses, and the purchased cooked vegetables, cups and plates for banquets, and idle furniture and farm tools originally placed on the first floor are piled up one by one. The house where the eldest aunt was alive became a guest room for the elders at this time—the aunt, the father of the eldest cousin, the mother of the second cousin, the grandfather of Kiryu's daughter-in-law, and a group of elderly people all settled here.

Bao Xiaoxing bypassed the crowd and finally found his aunt. After meeting the elders and greeting her, she sat quietly beside her aunt, listening to her aunt and a group of relatives in their seventies and eighties muttering around the fire.

Life, things are rituals, death, burial are rituals, sacrifices are rituals. Nowadays, the funeral ceremony on the Loess Plateau still follows the old customs, and the funeral is solemn and late. The deceased is generally parked at home in seven directions into the ground, at this moment is half past two in the sixth afternoon after the death of the eldest aunt, the early stage of the funeral and funeral has been completed, relatives and friends condolences have ended, the longevity clothes have been worn, the mourning hall has been set up, the inverted head paper has been burned, the body has been cleaned, the bed has been moved, the funeral has been entered, the obituary has been posted, the tomb has been ready, the band has been invited, the wake has been five nights, what is the next process, where does Bao Xiaoxing, a distant visitor, know. After leaving his hometown for a long time, he has long forgotten the customs and etiquette on the radius.

"Sister Xing!" A sturdy woman walked over to greet Hyosung.

"Ahh Qihong! I saw you, and I didn't dare to admit it! Qihong, why did you become so fat! "The kissing cousin, separated by two meters, was stunned and didn't recognize it. Bao Xiaoxing looked at her aunt's daughter and couldn't believe it for a while, the pretty girl who was once eighty or ninety pounds has now become a big fat man of one hundred and fifty or six.

"Hey...... There is a lot of work in the village, and I do it...... It's fat. Cousin Zhang Qihong lowered her head embarrassedly, and was a little sad when she bowed her head. The blackness of her face, the unkempt hair, the diaphragm of her pants, and the broken threads of her cuffs have long made her situation clear.

"Fat or thin, maybe you're stronger than me! I'm not very old now, and I can't eat well and my stomach hurts a lot! Bao Xiaoxing took his cousin's hand, and the two sat together, chatting in a low voice, and the words were full of childhood you, me, and me.

Not long after, there was a sudden uproar in the house, and the sound of suona was close at hand.

"What's wrong?" Hyosung was surprised.

"I guess I want to ask for a tablet." Gu turned her head and replied calmly.

Hyosung, Keihong, Mai and others came out of the house to see. Sure enough, the band blew not far from the mourning hall, and everyone gathered thickly outside the mourning hall, and it turned out that the master's house was arranging sacrifices - the people on the wall called "sacrifices" or "three offerings", and most of the decorations in the mourning hall were made or bought by the daughters of the Guo family. The bottom table is a colorful flower steamed bun, on the top are nine kinds of non-staple foods, four kinds of fruits, thirteen paper flowers, and then on the upper order is the incense burner and wax seat, and on both sides of the wax seat are high fried noodle wreaths; On the top are paper flowers of various colors - male and female paper figures, a pair of cranes, a pair of sika deer, Ganoderma lucidum, etc. Ten minutes later, the offerings were arranged, and the eldest cousin and Kiryu, the second cousin who rushed back from the city and his sons Guo Jinsheng and Guo Yansheng and several others dressed in linen and filial piety went to other homes in the clan to welcome the ranks and phases of the deceased elders in the clan.

At the same time, cousin Guo Chaofen and other married women of the Guo family were stepping up their efforts to make paper sticks and paper flowers in Tong Yao's (eldest cousin's daughter and Guo Tongsheng's younger sister) room at this time, preparing for the next clothes and red. Bao Xiaoxing and Zhang Qihong and other girls also joined in, cutting scissors, paste, and displaying Chen grains

In the sound of suona, everyone circled around Nanguo Village, and dozens of minutes later, the five filial sons and other filial sons of the clan came back with seven ancestral tablets, and the family boiled again. The ancestral tablets are placed on the mourning hall, and the filial sons in the family are ready to wear clothes after three bows and nine knocks.

The kitchen brought out the pig's head, vegetable meat and other sacrifices needed for the dress, and the cousin-in-law also prepared a sackcloth and filial piety hat and handed it to the elders of the clan, and Chaofen handed over the prepared paper sticks and other things to the deacon. In the sound of gongs and drums, the relatives of the family moved to the square of Nanguo Village to inform the local and neighbors that there was a loving mother who passed away and a family sacrifice to be buried. Bao Xiaoxing was curious, and followed Qihong and Mai out to watch the excitement.

Drummers, filial sons, relatives, and villagers followed one after another, and walked to the village square, where people formed a dense circle, as if waiting for a performance. After the Qin dialect poem, the principal said, and then the elders of the clan wore linen and filial piety for the filial sons and grandchildren. The two cousins-in-law handed white clothes and white cloth beside them, and the eldest brother of Chaoyang in the family put on white filial piety robes, put on filial piety hats, and tied filial piety cloth around their waists for the filial piety sons. Under the accompaniment of the band's miserable and miserable relatives, the costumes ended, and the filial sons each received paper sticks, kowtowed and cried, and retreated to the side.

The next step is to wear red, which is intended to affirm and commend some of the family's filial piety. The second cousin's family lives in Zhengzhou City and rarely takes care of the eldest aunt on the side, the eldest cousin and the eldest cousin are old and weak, haggard, and take care of Lao Rao Some of the burden is shared by Guo Tongsheng and Kiryu's daughter-in-law, and today's red protagonists are Kiryu's two sons. After the performance of several classic Qin dialect songs, the principal held the microphone and began to preach: "First of all, please invite our filial grandson and granddaughter-in-law to come over. ”

After Guo Tongsheng and Kiryu's daughter-in-law He Ronghua knelt in the crowd, under the cyclic accompaniment of the single song of the self-music team, the principal said: "Kiryu we won't do it, help the old man to go to the toilet, burn the kang and dry the quilt for the old lady in winter, and carry the old man out to blow the wind and enjoy the cool in summer...... A big filial son, rare and rare! Here today, as our captain, I must praise Kiryu's daughter-in-law! In order to make the old man sleep comfortably, Kiryu's daughter-in-law specially bought a washing machine for the old woman to clean the clothes, sheets and covers, and the baby will catch up with a set last time, and do not forget to bring some snacks to the old woman, and when the wife is paralyzed, it is still the Kiryu daughter-in-law who wipes her body...... Who doesn't know these things in Nanguo Village? Resting on the filial son and filial daughter, this is as it should be, as it should be! But what about the granddaughter-in-law, she is an outsider, she has no blood, and she is still young! It can be hard to do this! Almost indisputably, our council selected them as the objects of commendation. Now, the elders and relatives are wearing red for these two people! ”

The music suddenly turned up, and Bao Xiaoxing listened to these and immediately admired Kiryu's daughter-in-law, and there were many women wiping tears from the sidelines. As the chief representative of the eldest aunt's mother, the aunt walked to Kiryu's daughter-in-law tremblingly with a red silk in both hands, draped the red silk from her left shoulder, tied it under her right armpit, and did not forget to touch her daughter-in-law's hair to show her praise; Then drape Kiryu in red. Then it was Kiryu's aunt, grandmother, and relatives of the grandparents of the clan who wore red, and then Bao Xiaoquan, Bao Xiaozhi, Bao Xiaoxing, Zhang Qigong, Zhang Qihong, and other relatives of the eldest aunt dressed the two in red satin, and then Kiryu's aunt, cousin, aunt and other relatives of the parents' generation dressed the two in red...... It didn't take long for the two of them to tie a high red silk under their arms, and there were dozens of them. The whole process was influenced by the music, the singing and babbling and the principal Rao sensationalism, and many old people who were watching were moved by the two young people, and their eyes were red and they wiped their tears.

After the approval of the red, the principal made a speech. After the speech, under the guidance of the eight mouths of Le Rao, the filial son's relatives, the men and women who helped the deacon in the village returned to their cousin's house one after another. It didn't stop for long, and in the midst of the noise, there was another noise of gongs and drums, and everyone stood up one after another, it turned out that they were going to drink wine.

Drinking wine, as well as sacrifices, family sacrifices, and sacrifices, is the most important and solemn part of the Weibei funeral. The chief chef struck a gong the size of a large iron pot and gathered everyone by the mourning hall. After summing up with the Lord's family, he determined a list of prayers, and was reading the names on the list to see if the relatives who had come to the wine tonight had arrived. After the general roll call, the music stopped, the crowd fell silent, and the celebrant began to read the prayer. After the memorial was read aloud, the principal began to speak with the microphone in his hand.

"The sacrifice begins immediately! Men and women, each in their place! Deacons, each in his own business! Celebrant, stand still! ”

After this sentence, the crowd was silent, the eldest cousin Guo Chaoyang stood in front of the mourning hall, and a person next to the straw mat Zheng Zheng stood on the edge of the mourning hall with a plate, three pots of wine and three teacups on the plate, and another person next to him carried a large barrel of liquor for backup.

"The libation begins! Priest, worship—"

In the dense gaze, the eldest cousin listened to the sound and solemnly clenched his fists.

"Kneel—"

The eldest cousin knelt down and kowtowed three times.

"From—"

The eldest cousin got up.

"Bye-"

The eldest cousin made a gesture to his ancestors.

"Kneel—"

The eldest cousin knelt down and kowtowed three times.

"Sacrificial wine!"

The eldest cousin knelt down, the deacon brought the wine jug and bottle, the eldest cousin took the wine, poured the wine, offered the wine, poured the wine, poured the wine, poured the wine, offered the wine.

"From—"

The eldest cousin got up.

"Bye-"

The eldest cousin bowed, knelt, and bowed three times.

"Finish! Rise! Reposition! ”

After the principal finished the sacrifice, the eldest cousin also finished the sacrifice, and suddenly a gong sounded. Then the principal turned back to the second cousin: "The chief priest is in place!" ”

"Bow, kneel, rise; Bow, kneel; sacrificial wine; Rise, bow, kneel, rise, finish! ”

Under the rude prompting and auspices of the principal, the second cousin bowed three times, bowed three times, and offered wine three times, completing the sacrifice.

A gong sounded, and the principal looked at the three grandchildren led by Guo Tongsheng: "The chief priest is in place!" Bow, kneel, rise; Bye, kneel ......"

After the worship of the three grandsons of Kiryu, Kaneyu, and Runyu ended, another gong sounded, and the presiding priest shouted, "The chief priest is in place, and the male guest comes forward." Ask the deceased's family to worship and offer wine! ”

At the end, the two in-laws of the eldest aunt, the father-in-law of the eldest cousin and the father-in-law of the second cousin, stepped forward together, stood in the front seat of the hall, bowed three times (peers do not kneel), and offered wine three times.

"The celebrant returns the salute!" After the principal, the chief priest headed by the eldest cousin knelt on the left side of the mourning hall and bowed three times, and the two old men returned the salute three times, and the first round of guest wine was over.

"Please come forward and offer wine!"

Bao Xiaoxing's uncle then stepped forward, bowed three times (peers do not kneel), and offered wine three times.

"The celebrant returns the salute!"

The filial sons bowed three times to return the salute, and the uncle returned the salute again.

……

In this way, round by round, from the elders of all parties to sons-in-law, great-grandchildren, etc., have all been sacrificed. A gong and drum sounded, and the principal opened his voice: "Next is the memorial of the female dependents, please come forward!" In the first round, the chief priest is in place! ”

As soon as the words fell, the eldest cousin and sister-in-law walked out of the crowd and stood in front of the mourning hall, in the center of the straw mat.

"Bow, kneel, rise; Bow, kneel; sacrificial wine; ......"

The eldest cousin swept her lower abdomen with both hands, and then knelt down to listen to the sound, bowed three times and bowed nine times, and offered wine.

"Up! Finished! The celebrant is in place! After the second cousin-in-law, the second cousin began to worship, followed by the two granddaughters-in-law.

After the four female filial sons worshipped, they knelt on the right side of the mourning hall according to their seniority, accepted the wine offered by the female guests and returned the gift. After several elders such as Hyosung-gu finished worshipping, Chaofen and a group of daughters, nieces, and nieces took turns to worship, followed by the female guests of the grandchildren. After the last few female guests finished their sacrificial wine, the female filial sons finished their salutes, and the principal sounded a gong and shouted loudly.

"Finish! The sacrifice is over, and the joy begins! Prepare for the feast! Guests are ready to eat! ”

The band sounded, the crowd slowly dispersed, and the two-hour memorial service finally came to an end. Bao Xiaoxing was amazed, as if he was shocked by the sacrifice for the first time. Especially when there are the most people, more than a dozen people kneel in the north and south and throw themselves to the ground, the guest worships, the host returns the salute, the guest worships again, and the scene of more than a dozen people worshipping at the same time is quite spectacular. Suddenly I felt strange in my heart, I just wanted to have such a grand parting after my death, noisy but serious, cold and cold after the warm and lively, numb and dull without losing the loud tragedy.

At this time, the kitchen was ready, the deacons poured tea, served dishes, and served plates, and the guests gradually sat down according to the distribution. The men ate outside the door, and the women ate inside the door, and all the more than 30 seats were full at one time. Bao Xiaoxing, Gu and Qihong crowded at a table, and finally had the honor to eat an authentic Dali nine products and thirteen flowers. It's a shame that Bao Xiaoxing didn't dare to speak at the table, she ate a popular banquet in her own county for the first time in her lifetime. When she left, the conditions in the village were not so good, and the village could not afford to eat when there was a shortage of nine products and thirteen flowers, and later relatives often sent photos of nine products and thirteen flowers in the circle of friends.

People in the village can eat nine products and thirteen flowers when they meet a red and white happy event, so it is not uncommon for people at the dinner table to chat about Kiryu's daughter-in-law while eating. Bao Xiaoxing was silent, her mouth kept chewing, and she seriously ate the famous Qinfu cuisine, and she had to stretch out her chopsticks to taste almost every dish. The first round is nine plates of refreshments – four plates of dried fruits, four plates of fruits, and a plate of dessert in the middle; This is followed by thirteen cold dishes - four meat dishes, four sea vegetables, and four vegetarian dishes, with a master in the middle. The shape of the thirteen cold dishes and the previous nine plates of refreshments is boxy from any angle. After the cold dishes were removed, they began to heat the dishes on the ground one by one - Hong Fuqi, the edge of the cabinet, the stewed golden gate, the promotion map, the crispy pork in sour soup, the white fungus porridge, the raw meatballs, the hot and sour belly, and the honey sauce.

In the past 20 years, Bao Xiaoxing has always thought that she is "cold food", but now I found out that she is not, she just doesn't like to eat southern food. The forty-year-old woman seemed to be back to her youth, ignoring any etiquette, picking up the sour and spicy belly in front of her (a kind of plate), and scooping the soup into her bowl with a humming and humming mouth. After the nine hot dishes are removed, there are finally nine bowls of home-cooked dishes, complete with handmade flower rolls, mille-feuille pot helmets, oatmeal dough and wild vegetable nests. There are all famous dishes in front of him, Bao Xiaoxing can't sit up straight anymore, leans back on the chair, and can't help but stretch out his chopsticks to take a bite when he encounters something he likes. The hometown food is so rich, and it fits her lips, tongue and stomach, why does she rarely eat it outside year after year—even if it's one or two pure things? Probably far away. After the banquet, the village deacons helped clean the table, pour wine and tea, and Bao Xiaoxing stood in the corner while listening to the chat between his aunt and other old people while silently eating and eating. The woman has forgotten the last time she ate until she straightened her waist, probably when she was pregnant, when she got married, and when she first came to Shenzhen......