Downstairs, when we went downstairs and walked outside, we saw that the table outside was almost full.

Xuanning's cousin's father, Uncle Bing, and Ren Ruoyi, who was kneeling beside the altar, are no longer here, (according to generation, Ren Xuanning's father is older than my father, so my name is uncle, Ren Ruoyi's father is younger than my father, so I call me uncle.) I followed Cousin Xuanning out of the door, and the old and young people sitting at the table looked at me curiously and looked at me a few more times curiously, and I could still hear their whispers and guess my identity.

Cousin Xuanning took me to the left side of the house, that is, the direction of the stage, I found that there was also a temporary shed built here, which was semi-enclosed, and I looked inside to see the canteen that turned out to be for cooking, and the ingredients in the shed were almost ready, large pots of vegetables and meat, full of them on the table, several cooks on both sides were stir-frying, and more were people who helped clean up and deliver the dishes. Generally, this kind of village banquet is the main family invites the chef to come here to do, these guys who help deliver vegetables and chores are almost all volunteers in the village to help, the rule has always been that they don't want to be paid, but they can eat and drink for nothing, and the host family should also express appropriately, such as sending a package of cigarettes and the like.

Cousin Xuan Ning led me to the first row of tables for the banquet, and then I also saw Uncle Zhi and Uncle Bing sitting on the seats, this table was specially reserved for the main family, because the other tables were almost sitting, but this one only sat the three of them at present.

Seeing me coming, Uncle Guo beckoned to me and said, "Xiaosheng, come, sit here." ”

He pointed to the two seats next to him, there were just two seats left on the right hand, I listened to Uncle Guo's words and was about to sit next to him, Cousin Xuanning patted me on the back and sat down first, patted the seat next to her and asked me to sit down.

I stood aside a little hesitantly, the middle seat was on the left by my cousin Xuanning, and on the right by my little cousin Ren Ruoyi, I always felt embarrassed to be surrounded by two women.

"Sit down, sit down, this is all your cousin cousin, what are you still shy, you young people have young people to talk about young people, my family Ruoyi is one year younger than you, and I am going to be in the third year of high school this year, you can also talk to her about studying as an elder brother." Uncle Bing saw my hesitation and said to me generously, my cousin Ruoyi on the side raised her head and looked at me with big eyes without blinking, and Cousin Xuanning saw that I hadn't sat down yet, so she directly stretched out her hand and pulled me to the seat.

Actually, I'm not a shy person, but I'm not familiar with them and I'm a relative, so I'm a little reserved.

After sitting down, Uncle Bing kept chatting with me, talking about some things at home, and the topic revolved around his daughter, saying how good her daughter was at studying, and that she was in the top few in the class in this exam, and learned that I had just graduated from high school and wanted me to talk to her about her studies.

I promised, but in fact, I was smiling bitterly in my heart, my grades are not very good, and they belong to the middle level, let me communicate with a top student, I am still not a mistake.

With the help of Uncle Bing, I also took the initiative to chat with my cousin Ruoyi, she was more restrained than me, basically I was asking her to answer, I told her some interesting things about my time in school, and also said some learning atmosphere in the third year of high school, and gradually she would take the initiative to tell me some fun things about her in school, Cousin Xuanning also participated, and seemed to envy the topic we talked about the campus, twenty-four years old, she has graduated from college for two years, and always sighs as a person who has come over.

Uncle Guo's mood is not high, and he doesn't talk much, but he asked me a few words about the situation at home, and I can see that the saddest thing in this is Uncle Guo, although Uncle Bing has sadness in his eyes, he is not as immersed in sadness as he is, and the aunt who greeted them just now doesn't seem to be even sad, which is illustrated by the fact that they played mahjong on the second floor.

The biggest feature of this kind of large-scale banquet in the countryside is that it is lively, each table sits together and waits for the food to be served, everyone is chatting, can you imagine more than 30 tables with 9 to 10 people per table, and more than 300 mouths chattering together? It was the first time I experienced such a scene, and I felt that it was fresh and spectacular.

While we were chatting, the guys in the kitchen brought the dishes one after another, and when the dishes were almost ready, I saw my aunt and two families coming.

When he saw his aunt and them coming, Uncle Bing, who was still smiling on his face, instantly straightened his face, and neither Cousin Xuanning nor Cousin Ruoyi spoke again.

I was stunned for a moment by such a reaction, and the two aunts and their families sat down on their own.

"Hehe, the time is just right, and this dish is almost ready." Seeing us, Aunt Fuxiang still had a smile on her face.

The third aunt and his wife didn't look very happy, probably because of the loss of money, and sat silently in their seats, their two sons held mobile phones in their hands as if they were playing some game, and the two talked with relish that they didn't say hello to Uncle Guo from beginning to end.

The atmosphere on the table began to change, it was not that no one spoke, my aunt and the two families had already begun to pick up the chopsticks to eat, and they also beckoned us to eat, and the dishes themselves were almost ready, and there was nothing wrong with moving the chopsticks, but Uncle Guo and Uncle Bing, who were sitting next to me, didn't talk much.

Except for serving me vegetables and telling me to eat more, I have no interest in chatting like I did just now.

I originally thought that there was something strange between them and my aunt's two families, so it seemed that the relationship between them was not good, at least not close, unlike a normal family that chatted and greeted each other when they ate together, and there was no sense of care and distance between relatives.

After perceiving that something was wrong, I sat in the seat and naturally didn't talk much, only two aunts and couples would talk to me from time to time, two uncles also asked me if I drank, I politely refused, and the two poured their own drinks, I also answered whatever they asked, their two children never looked up at us, and the cousin Xuanning on the side almost didn't speak, eating silently, obviously a family but maintained a good habit of "eating without saying anything", It can be said that among the more than 30 people at this table, our table seems a little unusual, although the food is very rich at the end of the meal, I feel a little tasteless when I look at the group of people at this table.

After eating, my aunt and they left one after another, I don't know where they went, Uncle Bing asked Ren Ruoyi to continue to kneel in front of the mourning hall, and heard them say that the previous rule was that people could not leave the mourning hall, in addition to the fear that someone would come to worship and no one would return the salute, the most important thing is that there is an ever-bright lamp under the mourning hall, which should be taken care of so that it cannot be extinguished, although now it is not as strict as the rules before, but what should be observed still has to be observed, Uncle Bing felt sorry for his daughter, and just changed the new candle when he came to eat, so he let her come to eat together, Now that I'm done eating, I'm going to go back and see how it's going.

As for why Ren Ruoyi knelt there alone, I also asked my cousin Xuanning on the side, and my cousin said that the second grandfather was most hurt by Ren Ruoyi, so letting his favorite relatives accompany him during his life can also make him go more at ease.

Uncle Guo They are the main family, there are a lot of trivial things waiting for them to deal with after eating, Cousin Xuan Ning went to register the favor of the people in the village, I don't know where to go, I am not interested in contacting a group of people I don't know outside, so I sat on the chair next to the spiritual platform in the hall to rest, and by the way, I accompanied my cousin who I met on the first day, Ren Ruoyi.