While Wang Hui and I were chatting in the hall, one of Wang Hui's uncles outside was arguing with a middle-aged man.

Wang Hui and I came over when we heard the sound, and when we saw me coming, there was a fire on both sides, and Wang Hui's uncle smiled at me embarrassedly and said, "Dao Chief, why are you here, this little matter, our brothers can solve it." ”

After these days of getting along, the Wang family's brother's attitude towards me has changed, this is because I squandered my money and volunteered to help Wang Hui handle her parents' funeral for free, which won the respect of these people.

I glanced at the middle-aged man opposite, this big man had a Chinese face, wearing an earthy yellow robe, tall but a little thin, a wisp of beard dragged to his chest, but there was a bit of fairy wind bones.

Before I could speak, this middle-aged man in a Taoist robe stepped forward and stretched out his hand to push me, and roared, "It's you kid who grabs my job with me, right?" ”

I thought to myself that this middle-aged man should be Hongshan Village, the village Taoist priest mentioned by the Wu family brothers before.

If we really make trouble here, it's not a solution, and I'm lonely, if I really make trouble with this village Taoist priest in Hongshan Village, I will definitely be the one who suffers.

I ignored him, took a few steps back, looked at Wang Hui's uncle, and said, "Go and prepare the shou nails, the table, and prepare to seal the coffin and occupy the flowers in the second half of the night." ”

"Okay!" Uncle Wang Hui nodded, echoed and was about to leave.

The other brothers looked at each other and left.

I was about to leave, but the village Taoist stopped in front of me, stretched out his hand and pushed me: "You kid is looking for death, come to my territory and step on it, without notifying me in advance, there are no rules at all." ”

"Say it! What do you want? I glanced at him and smiled coldly.

"In this Hongshan Village, all the funerals for generations have been contracted by my Wu family, and there is no talk of inviting outsiders to do the funerals. You'd better give me this job, or you won't be able to carry the coffin out tomorrow." ”

The middle-aged man looked at me and smiled coldly: "You can not believe what I say, you will look good when the time comes." ”

"You want to take over this funeral, you discuss this matter with the master's family, it's useless to quarrel with me." I said coldly, I didn't put the threat of these fake Taoist priests on my body, I had heard someone say a long time ago that this village Taoist priest surnamed Wu in Hongshan Village was domineering, and it was really not bad when I saw it today.

"The people of the Wang family have agreed, and now it's up to you to nod."

The middle-aged man smiled, stroked his beard, and said arrogantly: "Give me a word, you don't agree." In a word, if you agree to withdraw from this funeral, we will each go our own way in the future, and if you don't agree, no one will want to carry this coffin out. ”

"Really?" I faintly believed this person's words in my heart, those uncles and uncles of the Wang family are all honest farmers, where is the opponent of this rural Taoist priest who has some rural rogue habits?

However, this time I helped Wang Hui with the funeral for free, and if I invited this person, I am afraid it would cost a lot of money, so I didn't want to quit.

Seeing that I didn't believe it, the middle-aged man yelled outside the courtyard: "Wu Laoya, a few of you come in, there are outsiders who want to rob us of our business." ”

His voice not only roared a large number of people, but also alarmed the coffin bearer I invited and the relatives of the Wang family.

In the courtyard, I was surrounded by more than a dozen big men, and the scene was a little panicked.

Seeing that it was difficult to ride a tiger, I could only take a step back and say to the middle-aged man in front of me, "Are you sure this funeral will be handed over to you?" ”

The group of people behind the middle-aged man said in unison: "This is our funeral in Hongshan Village, and it must be handed over to us." ”

"Okay, I'll do it for you." Without hesitation, I immediately agreed to their request.

Behind me, Lao Zhang and the other coffin bearers I invited wanted to say, so I waved my hand and said, "Just let them do this funeral, I want to see what flowers this group of people can play." ”

A quarrel subsided like this, Wang Hui a little girl, although as the head of the family, but she had the least right to speak, afterwards, she came over and asked: "Really let them take care of my parents' funeral?" But what do you do? ”

I told her not to get involved in this matter, and I already knew about it, and promised to take responsibility for it.

Wang Hui didn't insist on anything anymore and told me to pay attention to safety.

When she said this, she was a little worried about me, and she didn't want to make it difficult for me because of her family's affairs.

I don't care, I know that this funeral is not easy to do, and I said that I would let the village Taoist priest suffer a little, so that they could retreat.

As for the coffin bearers I asked Lao Zhang to invite, I could only appease them a few words at the moment, paid a salary of 100 yuan per person out of my own pocket, and asked them not to leave, waiting for my news, and they would have to use their help later.

After dealing with everything, I handed over the right to host this funeral, and I temporarily chose to watch from the sidelines, as for the salary, let Wang Hui wait until the funeral was completed, and then it would be up to the village Taoist priest to take it.

This middle-aged man's name is Wu Qingquan, and he has been a rural Taoist priest for more than ten years, but he also has some experience.

Today is the day of sealing the coffin and burying it, and at three o'clock in the morning, Wu Qingyuan brought a group of coffin bearers to preside over the coffin sealing ceremony.

invited some relatives of the main family out, leaving Wang Hui, a relative, to prepare to seal the coffin.

The so-called sealed coffin, also known as closing the coffin, out of the coffin, is actually to completely close the coffin.

This is different from burial, burial is to invite the body into the coffin, and seal the coffin, but according to the identity of the deceased to nail the coffin on the coffin.

In ancient times, according to the burial system, after the death of the first-class untouchable slaves, only into the coffin without sealing the coffin, after the death of the commoner, the coffin was nailed with three shou nails, the meritorious officials were five shou nails, the princes and emperors were relatives of the seven shou nails, and the emperor was nine.

Wang Hui's parents are ordinary people, and after death, according to the ancient burial system, they generally nail three longevity nails.

But now I don't pay attention to those, basically no matter what your identity is, the unity is about seven shou nails.

When we seal the coffin and nail the longevity nails, there is another custom, that is, to occupy flowers.

The so-called Zhanhua is to set up a table in the lobby before the funeral on the road, with a copper basin on the table, and a statue of Jiang Ziya fishing with chicken.

The specific process is that the great god Jiang Ziya will recall the soul of the deceased from the underworld, pretending that the soul of the deceased is possessed by the body of the village Taoist priest, reprimanding those unfilial children and daughters-in-law, and at the same time telling all the suffering suffered by the deceased during his lifetime, which is similar to the dancing god in some places.