I was looking at the person in the photo when I heard the sound of a gong ringing downstairs.

Hearing the sound, Cousin Xuan Ning got up and said, "The Dharma is ready to start, I'll go down first, Ruoyi, pack up the photos, you and Ren Sheng will come down quickly." ”

After speaking, without waiting for Ren Ruoyi to respond to Cousin Xuan Ning, she hurriedly walked downstairs, the most worrying person at this funeral is probably Cousin Xuan Ning, Uncle Guo is immersed in grief most of the time, and she is also old, so she is dealing with many trivial matters, and she has never rested.

I waited in the room for Ren Ruoyi to take the photo back into the drawer, and then went downstairs with her, everyone downstairs had already begun to prepare, but Uncle Guo's friends were not here, and asked Cousin Xuanning, it turned out that they had already gone back, I originally wanted to find something to pad my knees, and when I heard them say that there would be a soul-sending ritual next, and there was no need to kneel, I dispelled my thoughts.

I looked at the mage and the steward in front of the altar, and the two of them were still the same as before, with no special expressions, and if I hadn't heard their whispers upstairs, I might not have paid attention to them at all, or I just didn't know what the taboo was in their mouths.

For me, it was a coincidence that the paper on the chair had fallen off because of the wind, just as the wind continued to blow outside, blowing the mourning flags outside the house and rustling the mourning couplets on the door.

There were new things in the shed outside the house, several stools stacked on top of each other in a zigzag shape, a large oval wooden basin filled with water, a small boat floating on it, and a high tower made of paper or plastic on the chairs, and I didn't know what these things were and why they were placed in this way, but I knew that this was what was going on for this ritual.

The steward saw that we were all here, so he announced the rituals to be carried out in a while, and in short, this time it was the same as before, but this time as long as we circled around the shed, we would not go back to the mourning hall.

This time only our relatives participated, the team suddenly shortened a lot, the previous ritual plus the rest time is now past eight o'clock, for the city is still very early, I also said before that in the countryside at night there are no lights on the roadside and there is no entertainment program, everyone is used to going to bed early and getting up early, eight o'clock is already a late time for them, originally there are still some people in the courtyard who view things, and now they are all clean.

In addition to the people who presided over the funeral, there were only the relatives of the deceased who were left in the courtyard, and the courtyard seemed a little deserted.

The mage led us to start circling, but this time the order was different, this time it was us juniors who walked in front, Cousin Xuan Ning held the posthumous statue, the second aunt's son Wang Zixuan held the spirit card, Zhang Xiaoguang followed behind Wang Zixuan, I followed Zhang Xiaoguang, I followed Ren Ruoyi, and then Uncle Guo and them.

When I turned around, I passed by the three things placed there, only to see that these three things were also marked, and three small words were written on the zigzag stool: Nai He Bridge

The small boat in the wooden basin reads: Santu River, there is also a fish in the basin, and the water in the whole basin is pale red, and I don't know what is put in it.

The tower on the last chair is a lookout platform, made of paper.

No matter where you are in China, there are always people who believe that after death, people have to pass through the Santu River and cross the Naihe Bridge, and they will be reluctant to go to Wangxiangtai to see their relatives for the last time.

If there is really heaven and hell, then who can know whether he went to heaven or hell, but these legendary stories people have always believed, they don't know where the Nai He Bridge is, they will build a Nai He Bridge, they don't know where the Santu River is, they will install a Santu River, and they will make a Wangxiang Tower by themselves if they don't know where the Wangxiang Terrace is.

In fact, all these rituals are for comforting oneself and making oneself think that one has done so much for the deceased, in exchange for one of his own "peace of mind."

When I saw these simple props, I suddenly felt that the meaning of the existence of these rituals did not seem to be purely for the sake of the deceased.

After turning around a few times, he first came to the chair that had been put up, and the mage asked Cousin Xuan Ning who was holding the statue and Wang Zixuan, who was holding the spirit card, to stand up and step on the chair and walk down.

This also means that the deceased has walked across the bridge, but this request makes me a little worried, this chair is put up like this, will it not be a problem for people to walk up like this?

Sure enough, my worries are not unreasonable, when they walked up for the first time, there was no problem with someone holding them below, and it was not much of a problem to turn around and go up again the second time, until the third time I turned around again, this time when I went up, the person holding the chair seemed to be distracted, so that the chair shook slightly, this shaking didn't matter, Wang Zixuan above was startled.

People standing on a high place will be instinctively afraid, it just so happened that Wang Zixuan stood on the highest chair, this chair shook I stood below and clearly saw Wang Zixuan's legs trembling, and one did not stand firm and slid down from above.

Before everyone could react, Wang Zixuan had already slid down with a "bang".

"Xiao Xuan!"

When he fell to the ground, Aunt Ren Fuxiang hurriedly screamed and ran over with a worried cry.

Helped Wang Zixuan up in the past and pulled him to look left and right, fortunately, it was not very high from the ground and when he fell, it was the buttocks that landed on the ground, and the person didn't seem to be injured, but the spirit card in his hand hit the chair in a panic and smashed it.

Aunt Ren Fuxiang didn't even look at the spirit card when it was broken, she only cared about her son, and the uncle and uncle Bing on the side were stunned, even the mage and the steward were stunned.

Maybe they have presided over so many funerals, and they have never encountered such a situation, standing there and forgetting to speak for the first time.

Wang Zixuan saw the broken spirit card in his hand, and knew that he seemed to have made a mistake, so he raised his head and looked at us with the spirit card and didn't dare to speak.

Aunt Ren Fuxiang saw the broken spirit card in his son's hand at this time, raised her head and looked at us embarrassedly: "Ouch, this, how is this broken, mage, look at this... ”

"What do you see, how did you do it, you can't hold anything!?" Uncle Bing was angry and directly began to accuse Wang Zixuan.

Wang Zixuan retorted: "I didn't mean to, the person holding the chair didn't hold it well, so it's no wonder that I can't help it?" ”

There was no respect for the elders in his tone, and Uncle Bing was annoyed when he heard it, and scolded directly: "Brute, you are still reasonable when you break your grandfather's spirit card, you are not polite at all, this is your attitude towards the elders?" ”

Wang Zixuan was angry, and was about to talk back, when Aunt Ren Fuxiang hurriedly persuaded him: "Okay, okay, Ah Bing, Xiao Xuan, he didn't mean it, why do you want to scold him, he is still in front of Dad's spirit, and the Dharma has not been done yet, do you want him to go uneasy?" ”

Uncle Bing sneered: "Heh, I don't know if his old man will be peaceful when he sees your performance today." ”

"Eh, what do you mean by that, what's wrong with us, what didn't you say well!?" Wang Zixuan's father walked over and said to Uncle Bing in an unkind tone.

When the elders spoke, we could only be silent next to us, and when we saw that we were about to quarrel, Uncle Guo, who had been watching the spirit card and didn't speak, spoke.

"Okay, don't argue, wait until the Fa is over and wait for everyone to leave and slowly argue, everyone is watching here, isn't it a shame?" Uncle Guo looked at the quarreling people with a blue face, after all, it was an elder, and everyone was silent as soon as he spoke, and they each walked away.

"Master, what do you think should be done?"

Uncle Guo took the spirit card from Wang Zixuan's hand and put it in front of the mage's eyes, the mage reacted, looked at the spirit card and shook his head for a moment, and said hesitantly: "Well, the juniors didn't mean it, I believe this is just an accident, the old lady Ren loved the most during his lifetime, and he will not blame him." ”

As he spoke, he carefully recited the scriptures in his mouth, held the spirit card in both hands and put it back in front of the altar, the mourning music played, and the mage recited the scriptures in front of the stage for a while, and then he retreated, telling us that the second grandfather was not to blame and could continue the rituals.

I don't know how he knew what the second grandfather meant, but when he opened his mouth, Uncle Guo and the others were all relieved, and began to continue the ritual according to the instructions of the mage.