Outside, I walked along the path for a distance and looked at the surrounding environment, and it was considered a walk after dinner, and I didn't dare to go too far or go to other sections.

Pingtang Village looks like an ordinary village, with the unique characteristics of the countryside, quiet.

The courtyard of the house is open, but there is no sound and popularity inside, it should be at the second grandfather's house to eat and drink and not come back, the road in the village can hear the inexplicable insect calls from time to time, and after walking a long way, you can still hear the sound from the second grandfather's house.

I didn't think it was interesting, so I looked around and walked back, and it happened that many people were coming from that direction, and they were holding bags of gifts in their hands, which should have just come home from the second grandfather's house.

They were all walking together in groups of three or five, talking about something, although their voices were subconsciously lowered, but they couldn't stand the loud voices of the people in the village, and I could hear the content of their conversation not far away.

In the first row are four women and a middle-aged man.

One of the women said: "Don't say that this dish is delicious, the banquet set by the rich family is different, it is wine and smoke, and there are flower drum plays." ”

The only man praised: "The singer sang well, I watched it for an afternoon, and I was very angry, unlike the last time Xu Fatzi accepted my daughter-in-law and I went to Qiajiu, the troupe invited me didn't know where it was invited, and it changed the tune after singing two sentences, which is really not good." ”

Another woman said, "I heard that there are also practices to watch at night, why don't you stay there and watch it?" ”

The man shook his head again and again: "That's okay, after seeing the corpse of the hemp, I'm really a little scared to stay there at night." ”

Another woman whispered: "How did you say that the hemp seed was hit by a car into the river, I went there today to take a look, and the car hit him directly, otherwise why did it just hit him?" ”

The man said again: "Eh, no, the police said that the driver should be drunk and his head is not sober, I watched at the scene, the driver who drove the car couldn't walk steadily, and he could only blame the hemp for being unlucky." ”

"It must have been an accident, if it was deliberate, where would it send people home so quickly, and it would take time for the police to file a case."

A few people just walked and chatted, and I just glanced at me when I walked past them, and ignored me because I felt strange.

Later, I walked slowly towards the second grandfather's house, listening to the small talk between them halfway, and heard a few more topics talking about the second grandfather's house.

"Oh, I haven't seen the two daughters and two daughters-in-law of the hemp family in the past day, they should all be here, right?"

"Here, the two daughters-in-law didn't see it, but I saw them when the two daughters were eating."

"Then why didn't I see it, I only saw his eldest son and his little boy and the two daughters of their two sons in the mourning hall."

"You mean he's two women, right? Oh, all upstairs playing mahjong. ”

"Won't it, Dad is dead and still has the heart to play mahjong?"

"I watched them come down from the second floor, there was a mahjong room on the second floor of the hemp family, and when the two of them came out of the mahjong room, Ren Fuxiang was still counting the money in his hand."

"Really, Aya! It's so unconscionable, my father is dead and still has the heart to play mahjong. ”

"The daughter who got married, the water that was spilled, there are no two daughters-in-law who are filial, the marijuana is dead or the two daughters-in-law are dealing with the matter of compensation, and now everyone should be in the police station, like his two daughters, I suspect that they came back to share the inheritance, the marijuana is so rich, and the wife died early, and the death is not for their four children."

"Shhh, don't talk nonsense, it's not good if it reaches their ears."

…

I walked slowly, listening to what they were talking about, until the phone suddenly vibrated and looked at the number I dialed before, that is, Uncle Guo's phone.

Pressing the answer button, it was Xuanning's cousin's voice coming from inside.

"Hey, Ren Sheng, where have you been?"

I said, "I didn't go anywhere, I just walked around outside." ”

"Come back quickly, I'm going to prepare for Grandpa's ritual soon."

After saying that, my cousin hung up the phone directly.

It turned out that the funeral ceremony was about to start, I didn't expect it to be so soon, put down the phone and hurried towards the second grandfather's house.

Back in the courtyard, there are a lot fewer people inside, the guy has moved half of the banquet table, and now they are still moving the table up and stacking it next to it, the table used for the banquet is a round table above and a telescopic frame below, so it is easy to disassemble and place it, and the space is small, they seem to be emptying the yard.

I saw some people standing there outside the mourning hall, and Cousin Xuanning were all there, including the two aunts and the two families who disappeared after eating, and some people I didn't know, among which there was a man dressed very strangely, like the costume of Tang Seng in Journey to the West, wearing a Buddha crown, wearing a robe, and holding a staff in his hand.

I walked over and looked at the person curiously, Cousin Xuan Ning saw me coming, took a linen suit and handed it to me to put on, saying that I would follow the mage to do things for the second grandfather in a while.

It turned out that this strangely dressed man was a mage invited by Uncle Guo, and I thought it was from the people who sang before.

I put on filial piety clothes, because I am not a concubine, so I don't need to wear filial piety hats, like the two uncles and their two children are just wearing sackcloth clothes, and those I am not familiar with should be friends of Uncle Guo or something, they just tied a white cloth on their right arm.

Later, I learned that the original funeral ceremony did not need these "friends" to participate, and they must all be relatives who were related by blood, but there were not many relatives on the second grandfather's side, such as my grandfather's relatives only came to me alone, so it seemed that the popularity was not very strong, so I let these children and grandchildren's friends make up the number.

There are some musical instruments such as gongs, drums, suona, cymbals, etc., next to the mourning hall in the hall, a few old people sit next to the musical instruments and chat, this should be the person who plays mourning music, I know that mourning music is generally blown out with suona, which is the case in most parts of the country.

Aunt Fuka didn't notice me at first, but when she saw me, she smiled at me, and I smiled back politely, but subconsciously stayed away from my aunt's family.

People are sensory animals, when you meet a person, the first impression is actually very important, originally the first time I came into contact with Aunt Ren Fuxiang, I felt that they were a little hypocritical, after listening to those people in the village talk, I have some mustard in my heart about these two aunts.

I really don't feel any sadness about them at all, even a little girl like Ren Ruoyi is full of sadness, but the biological daughters of these two second grandfathers act as if the people lying there have nothing to do with them.

This kind of behavior disgusted me from the heart, so much so that I retreated to the side of Uncle Guo.

Ren Ruoyi did not continue to kneel in front of the mourning hall, it should be that this ceremony was about to begin, she stood next to his father and waved at me when she saw me, and I walked over by the way.

After passing, Ren Ruoyi grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear, "You will stand next to me in a while, okay?" ”

"What's wrong?" I asked, a little puzzled.

Ren Ruoyi blushed and said wryly: "I'm a little scared, I heard my father say that Grandpa's corpse is very scary, and I don't dare to look at it." ”

"If you're scared, don't look at it."

Ren Ruoyi shook her head: "I want to see it, just to see grandpa for the last time, but Dad, they will stand in front for a while, we can only stand in the back, I'm a little scared but I don't want to stand with those two people." ”

Ren Ruoyi looked at the direction where her aunt's family was standing as she spoke, and it stands to reason that she should call her brother's two men, but she just replaced them with "those two people" plainly.

She kept tugging at my clothes with hope in her eyes, and when I saw her like this, I nodded and promised to stand with her.

Seeing that I agreed, Ren Ruoyi squinted and smiled cutely.

The tables in the courtyard had all been emptied, and only two empty sheds remained, and I saw that someone had put one of the sheds away, and the remaining shed had been moved to the center of the courtyard, and in the direction of the mourning hall, someone had placed a chair on each of the four corners of the shed, and then a chair was also placed in the middle.

The mage in the monk's robe had a long strip on each chair, written in red on a black background, and I was a little far away so I couldn't read what was written on it.

After doing this, I heard the sound of the bell next to the altar, and it turned out to be an old man standing next to the altar, and I heard Ruoyi on the side tell me that this is the steward of this funeral, and those customs and regulations are all guided by him, so we just follow it.

When he rings the bell, it means that the ritual is about to officially begin, and the relatives in the audience must remain quiet and no longer talk to each other.

When I heard the rattle, I saw Uncle Guo and his four children standing in the first row, Ren Ruoyi pulled me to the front, I followed her to Uncle Guo and their backs, Xuanning's cousin and the sons of the two aunts also came here to stand, and the others stood behind us, and the group stood in front of the mourning hall, waiting for the steward to speak.