The husband and wife picked out the reclining chair and went to buy a mobile phone, and when they bought the mobile phone, it was not too early for Zhiyuanjian, so they called and asked the boy to let him order food for his grandfather and sister to eat first, and the two of them would come back later. It was already half past six after the meal ordered by the boy arrived, and Lao Ma was still there to make paper money. It was already dark after the three of them finished eating, and eighty-four marks were made on each piece of paper, which was enough, and the remaining blank old horses had no strength to fight.

After the meal, after smoking a pot of cigarettes, the old horse saved some energy, and looked at his watch, half past seven in the evening—the junction of day and night—it was a good time to burn paper. He went to the kitchen and pulled out a small iron basin, then took the basin, paper money, and lighter, and went to the balcony on crutches. He sat in a chair and snuggled himself up to light a fire to the paper—uncomfortable. He called Tsai Tsai for help, and called Tsai Tsai for more than a dozen times, and finally had to call Yangyang over.

"Yang'er, come here! Is it good to help grandpa burn paper! ”

"Good!" Rippling farts came running around.

"You kneel down first, facing north!" The old horse pointed to the north and tapped Yangyang's knee with his cane, signaling her to kneel.

"Huh?" Yangyang stood there confused.

"Do you like the big golden lock that Grandpa gave you?"

"I don't like ......"

"Why?"

"It's too heavy!"

"Hahaha...... It's too heavy – that's a good reason! Did you kowtow to your grandfather when he gave you the golden lock that day? ”

Yang Yang rummaged through his smooth brain, and then nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you remember how to kowtow?"

Yang Yang nodded again.

"You get down on your knees first!"

"What are you doing?" The more the old horse pulled, the more vigilant he retreated!

"Hey, why is it so hard!" Seeing that Yangyang was a meter away from him, the old horse put his hands on his thighs and sighed helplessly. Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration and said, "Come here!" Grandpa gave you five bucks! The old horse took out a ticket from his pocket and shook it to Yangyang. Yangyang reached out to grab the money.

"Then you kneel down first!"

Yang Yang knelt down with a grin, and was still reaching out to get money after kneeling.

"What a little money fan!" The old horse changed his anxious attitude and laughed. He bent down with great difficulty, and lit a few printed paper coins in the small iron basin, and suddenly the small iron basin caught fire.

"Oh yo! It's burning! Yangyang knelt down and stepped back half a foot, pointing to the fire in the basin and said.

"Come on, you kowtow grandpa to give you five dollars!"

Yangyang kowtowed, and the old horse gave five yuan.

"Don't get up yet, I'll pay it back later!" The old horse said to Yangyang with a smile, and Yangyang nodded with a smile. The old horse stirred the fire with his cane, and put five or six pieces of paper into the small basin. "Yingying's mother, I'm going to burn paper for you today! You're good over there, what do you need, just give me a dream, I'll send it to you as soon as I slip away......" The old horse muttered quietly for several minutes, Yang Yang covered his mouth and only pointed at the old horse and grinned.

Zhiyuan's office desktop is on the balcony of the sun, the balcony of the living room and the balcony in the house are only separated by a wall, Tsai suddenly smelled the smell of burning, rubbed the ground and went out, and saw this miraculous scene on the balcony - He Yiming was so shocked that his world seemed to be kicked over! Hurriedly went back to the house to take an iPad to take a picture, and even the picture of Yangyang kowtowing and the old horse paying was also taken, and he sent it to his mother.

After the two of them bought their mobile phones and went to pick out clothes, Gui Ying opened WeChat after paying the bill, and suddenly her face turned blue. She gritted her teeth with her tongue against her head, and didn't say anything all the way, only urging Zhiyuan to hurry back. Zhiyuan didn't see the right thing, and asked twice, but Gui Ying didn't answer, Zhiyuan thought that she was thinking about work in her heart, and she didn't care.

After burning the paper, the grandfather and grandson came to the living room and talked and laughed. Four-year-old Yangyang couldn't hide the ecstasy of having money in his pocket, and scurried around the living room like a well-fed piglet in a pigsty. The old horse burned the paper and was preoccupied, and saw that Yangyang was crazy as if he was drunk, and he laughed from time to time. Waiting for the fire to be completely extinguished, he quietly poured some water into the basin, looked at the old man and the young man in the living room, he shook his head very calmly, and went back to the house to continue to write his homework. An epic typhoon is coming, and Tsai is grinning and shaking his head in that house.

At eight o'clock, Zhiyuan came back with a big bag and a small bag, Gui Ying walked in front, opened the lock and kicked the door open, and went straight to the balcony with both hands on his chest. She went to the balcony to see, and sure enough, there were traces of burned paper on the ground, and she brought the small iron basin into the living room, and when she reached the middle of the living room, she first raised the iron basin above her head, and then smashed the iron basin at the feet of the old horse with all her strength. There was a thud - the iron basin hit the ground, the water and the ash in the water were sprinkled on the ground, and the smashed iron basin clattered and rolled in circles on the ground. Tsai Tsai strode out, Zhiyuan froze in place, and the old horse's white eyes were more than rippling.

"Why did you let Yangyang kneel and burn paper?" Gui Ying pointed at the old horse and yelled.

"Are you crazy? What basin are you throwing at me? The old horse also pointed at Gui Ying and yelled. The father and daughter's reactions and movements are so consistent, I don't know if I thought I was acting.

"I ask you: Why did you let Yangyang kneel and burn paper?" Gui Ying's voice was suddenly hoarse.

"Today is your mother's sacrifice day, what's wrong with burning paper?" The old horse was full of anger and spoke quickly.

Zhiyuan reacted and strode around the battlefield to take Yangyang. Yangyang came back to his senses when he entered the house, and he was so frightened that he cried, Zhiyuan called Tsai Tsai to ask what was going on, and Tsai Tsai clicked on the picture to show Zhiyuan while talking.

"If you want to burn yourself, why do you let the child kneel and kowtow?"

"It's normal for her to burn a piece of paper for her grandmother! What are you crazy about here? It's your business, I'm doing it for you! ”

"Who scarce you for it! I did my filial piety to my mother, I don't burn paper, I have a clear conscience! My mother is alive, you don't treat her as a human being, now that she is dead, what are you pretending to be in my house? ”

"Who pretended? Why don't I treat her as a human being? Ma Guiying, you make it clear! The old horse stood up angrily and pointed at Gui Ying with his cane and asked.

"You and my mother do half of all the work in the field, and when I get home, my mother has to cook, wash clothes, feed pigs and cows! Do you want to treat her as a human being, and you have shared it for her? You think my mother's steamed buns are not delicious, so you throw a freshly steamed basket of steamed buns on the ground and step on them with your feet - this is you treating her as a human being? What kind of broken friend came to the house, you want to drink and eat, my mother knocked on the door at half past nine in the evening in the winter to borrow food for you to eat, borrowed the food and came back to make it quickly, and brought the food to you at eleven o'clock, what did you say? When you scolded my mother, did you treat her as a human being? You will always treat my mother as a slave in front of outsiders, do you have the face to burn paper for her here today? Gui Ying choked up and trembled as she spoke, tears raining down.

"Which rural woman is not like that? The front and back alleys, the left and right neighbors, which woman is not like this? Don't talk about her, even your grandmother and your grandmother are like this! The old horse twisted his face and stared at Gui Ying's shoes and said.

"Is that all right? Was it right that women used to bind their feet and bind their feet? Who said that every family is like this? Uncle Jin next door to Aunt Fang, Uncle Quan to Aunt Mai, people are good! You're a big joke in the village and you're triumphant? ”

"What I do to your mother is our business, is it your turn to break it?" The disdain in Lao Ma's heart widened his big black nostrils, and he then turned his head to look at Gui Ying and said, "Your mother called you back when she was dying, and you didn't come back after a few calls, are you called filial piety?" ”

"Is it my problem that the company doesn't approve it? Didn't I quit my job to accompany my mom in the end? I have a clear conscience with my mother, do you dare to say you have a clear conscience? If you smoke, my mother will bring you tobacco leaves, and if you want to eat, my mother will bring the dishes to you, and you are too lazy to even put the insoles for you! My mom's breakfast is ready, I'm out of school, and you haven't gotten up yet, so I'm calling you over and over again! Excuse me, Village Chief Ma? ”

"It's winter!" The old horse frowned and corrected.

"Why can you rest in the winter, my mom can't? You don't think the persimmon vinegar at home is not delicious, you even poured a whole jar, do you know how much effort my mother spent for this jar of vinegar? When you get rich in the future, you have a little ability, and when you were poor in the past, the family relied on my mother to support you, and you don't treat her as a person, and you think of her and that! You're just a broken village chief, and you're still the emperor! ”

The old horse suddenly had nothing to say, and only turned sideways to face Gui Ying.

"It's no problem for you to let Yangyang kowtow, as long as she wants! She doesn't want you, why do you force her? Give her back the money! It's ridiculous, it's a joke everywhere in China! It's okay for you to force my mom and our three siblings, why are you forcing my children? Gui Ying poked her heart with her index finger and poked it so loudly, and after she finished speaking, she pinched her snot and wiped her tears and went back to the house silently.

The old horse froze in place.

After returning to the house, she yelled at Yangyang: "He Yiyang: You are not allowed to play with that old man in the future, do you hear?" When Yangyang heard her mother scolding herself, she only hugged Zhiyuan and cried heartbreakingly.

"Why are you yelling at children?" Zhiyuan asked angrily in a low voice.

Gui Ying, whose face was full of tears, held her breath and stood facing the wall without speaking. Zhiyuan carried Yangyang to Yangyang's house and kept coaxing him. The child who has been scolded by her mother who loves her the most is the hardest to coax.

Gui Ying just yelled at the old horse, but she yelled so much that she was as heartbroken as her daughter. Tsai Tsai walked behind Gui Ying and pulled Gui Ying's sleeve from time to time.

Zhiyuan felt sorry for Gui Ying, and when he saw that Yangyang didn't cry, he called Zaizai to take care of him, and he went to see his wife. After entering the house, he gently closed the door, walked behind Gui Ying, hugged her shoulder and patted her shoulder. Gui Ying, who had been holding back for a long time, finally couldn't help it, and cried loudly, crying breathlessly. It took half an hour before breathing barely returned to normal. Seeing that she was almost calm, Zhiyuan pulled her to the bed to lie down, beckoned Yangyang and Zaizai to come, and the three of them stayed together, and asked Zaizai to tell jokes to the mother and daughter.

Lao Ma first heard Gui Ying training Yangyang, and was a little distressed. His feet hurt and he couldn't stand up, so he sat on the sofa, holding the head of the cane with both hands, and sat motionless for a long, long time. Zhiyuan understands: the more arrogant people are, the easier it is to be angry. He was worried that his father-in-law would be hurt by Gui Ying's words, and after coaxing his wife and daughter, he hurried to the living room to see the old man. He sat down next to the old horse and rubbed the old horse's back to smooth him: "Dad, don't be angry. ”

"Tsk!" The old horse raised his arm and shook off Zhiyuan's hand. He hated being comforted by others.

Zhiyuan didn't know how to speak, but he was very sure that once the old horse spoke, his anger would definitely disappear first.

"Dad, my mom has been gone for so many years, do you still need to burn paper?"

"It's going to burn in the next village! You call your second brother, you see if he burns today! The old horse said angrily.

"You burn this...... My mom doesn't necessarily get it! A bit of formalism, right? ”

"The countryside pays attention to this!" The old horse nodded sharply.

"Since the countryside pays attention to this, then you let Yangyang burn paper for my mother, aren't you afraid that our children will get a little yin and dirty things?"

"A child is a pure yang body! The death of the old man in that family made the eldest son and grandson top the pot, even if he was two or three years old! It's been a tradition for thousands of years! ”

"Children are pure yang bodies, that's right! But Yangyang was born prematurely, and she was born in less than nine months! I lived in a baby incubator for a while, got sick non-stop after I was discharged from the hospital, and when I was six months old, I got whooping cough - and I was in the hospital for another two months! I quit my job as a high school teacher for this child, and Young-young became sick after giving birth, and Tsai Tsai lived in Hyosung's house for a few months during that time! Yangyang's body is still very weak now, her weight is not as good as that of more than two years old, she doesn't eat well, she wakes up from sleeping, and she keeps catching colds all year round, even if it's summer, I have to always prevent her from catching a cold and coughing; And she is weak and slow to react, and making friends is almost an obstacle...... You let such a child burn paper for the deceased, Dad, don't you fold her? Zhiyuan's eyes were filled with tears.

"Oh, burn a piece of paper, meaning, how scary it is! But by tradition, you're more superstitious than I am! ”

"Dad, since it's 'meaning', then why do you have to come and let her kneel!"

"Tsk!" The old horse scratched his sparse white hair and was speechless. At first, he really meant it, and it was a joke to let the child kneel, and the original intention was to mourn his wife as always, but now it has embarrassed the scene.

"Dad, I'm not to blame you! I just want to tell you why Yingying is so angry today! This child kept having problems from pregnancy to more than a year old, and many times I thought she would not survive! I really didn't expect to have today! We don't have any big expectations for this child's future, as long as she's healthy! For her we have snubbed the boss many times, Tsai has a lot of opinions about us, the two of us really spoil her and can't spoil her, you also let her kneel to burn paper...... You said that Yingying is not hot! ”

"How do I know about this!" The old horse is innocent and guilty.

"I'm not telling you! Yingying is angry - it's a normal reaction of a mother, don't be angry about this! I'm afraid she'll be angry with you! ”

"I'm fine!" The old horse waved his hand in a gentle tone.

"And the matter of Tsai's grandmother, she always holds on to the past - who doesn't have some old grudges? Dad, don't care! She is a very serious person, and she still uses it as material and evidence when she quarrels when she says angry things seven or eight years ago! ”

"It's okay, it's okay! Go and see her! ”

"Okay, then I'll pour you a glass of water and drink it in the house! Let's go to bed early today. ”

"Hmmm! Go ahead. When Lao Ma heard Zhiyuan's explanation, his heart softened a lot.

Seeing that Yangyang regained her smile, Gui Ying's mood calmed down, but she was still angry, she couldn't help but dial Bao Xiaoxing's phone and complained to her best friend. From the first night when Zaizi fell out of bed in the middle of the night to Yangyang was trained for not flushing the toilet, the eldest brother Xingbang returned in a huff, the furniture at home was moved, the hospital ran for two days, smashed Zaizi's mobile phone in the middle of the night, bought a bed and bought a mobile phone to buy a recliner to the hired Yangyang kneeling and burning paper just now...... I spoke for an hour and a half in one breath. Hyosung on the other end heard one eye big and the other small, and he would roll his nostrils and grin for a while - it was unimaginable, how could this be true! Later, the two sisters discussed in WeChat: call Xiaotang after work tomorrow night and go out to drink to relieve Gui Ying's boredom.

Yangyang saw that her mother was busy talking on the phone, and her brother went back to his house to do his homework, and he was bored and sleepy alone, so he decided to go back to his house. As soon as I went out and saw the old horse, Yangyang, who was going back to the house alone, met the old horse who went back to the house alone, and both the grandparents and grandchildren glanced at each other aggrievedly, and quickly withdrew their amorous eyes in embarrassment. Yangyang's eyes are the anger and grievance of a little chick, and the eyes of the old horse are the apologies and loss of an old fox. The old horse deliberately walked slowly and let the ripples pass, and the ripples squeezed against the wall and stepped on the cracks in front of the old horse—although they were two meters away, it was as if they were separated by the bottomless Pacific Ocean. And so they went back to their rooms with their heads bowed. The friendship that these two lonely people had just established was unexpectedly broken by Ma Guiying all at once.

The old horse was lying on the bed and realized that he was a little short of breath, and he couldn't help but think about what Gui Ying said repeatedly, and the whole person was as quiet as if he had traveled to the old days. After Zhiyuan moved the recliner back, he hurriedly cleaned the glass slag and water stains on the ground, passed by the door several times, and saw that the old horse's expression was always sad and deep, so he walked into the house with the newly bought clothes.

"Dad, this is the shorts and short sleeves that Yingying bought for you today, you can try it!" Zhiyuan took out the clothes from the bag and showed them to the old horse.

The old horse was very cooperative, and when he put it on, the clothes and pants were light, breathable, sweaty, but not light and not revealing flesh - the movement was like wearing a scarf, very light and crisp.

"Why are Grandpa's pants the same as mine?" The boy is uneven.

"Isn't this a discount? Your grandfather is also short of shorts. ”

"Seniors should wear the clothes of the elderly, this is sportswear, we young people wear it!" Tsai said as he touched the identical black shorts on his leg.

"What are the clothes that seniors should wear? This is what the elderly wear. Zhiyuan said as he picked up the clothes in his hand.

"How...... You can wear these pants, I can't wear them? The old horse asked the boy.

"How can any elderly person wear such close-fitting and breathable mesh sweatpants? This is a special sport for running! ”

"Grandpa is dressed very well!"

"Why are people only allowed to sell clothes to you! Eight pieces of paper with human heads drawn - what a big face! After the old horse finished speaking, the three of them laughed. Gui Ying's heart lightened a little when she heard the laughter.