With excitement to the main street in front of the Jingnan First People's Hospital, turning into the narrow auxiliary road, Zhang Chujiu saw the familiar face of his family temple and white shop 'Crane View" from a distance, and the black curtains and white flowers hanging on the gate, the whole person froze, and almost fell off the balance bike.

I hurried to the door of the house in a panic and saw that there were stickers on both sides of the door frame, "the crane is more bitter and cold, and the soul returns to the nine days of sorrow and night and moon", the front hall that was originally placed on the counter and full of wreaths, paper money, and ingots has been cleaned up, and a black and white photo of Zhang Xiangang is placed on the table in the middle, and the next one is a columbarium made of sandalwood.

Zhang Chujiu's whole person seemed to have been struck by lightning, his feet were so weak that he could no longer stand steadily, fell off the balance bike, and collapsed on the ground.

Because of the meteorite disaster, the death toll in China in 40 days was close to 100 million.

With the development of medical care in the interstellar society, the life expectancy of human beings has skyrocketed, and the vast majority of families are in the same house for three or four generations, and there are many people, and on average, one family dies in every two or three households.

In the event of a natural disaster, the living can only survive with trepidation, and there are examples of tens of thousands of people directly killed by the giant meteorite that was slipped through the interception system, and the dead can be managed.

It wasn't until now that a few days after the catastrophe ended, and I slowly had the energy to do funerals, so that the city was full of vegetarianism.

The old neighbors of the old street just saw Zhang Chujiu, who they hadn't seen for a long time, hurriedly passing by the door, because either because he was too fast, or because he was in mourning, or because he was exhausted and had not yet eased up, no one greeted him.

But at this time, when I saw Zhang Chujiu fall to the ground on the street, an enthusiastic aunt and aunt surrounded her, and then wiped her tears and comforted, "Chujiu, don't be too sad, your grandfather is over 70 years old, and he is also happy and mourning." ”；

"Alas, don't be too sad, child, such a catastrophe, it is a great fate to be able to escape, and there is no way to escape, you don't break your body because of sadness, but let your grandfather live in the ground. ”；

"It's a blessing to go like this without illness or disaster, I still wish I could do this in the future, Chu Jiu, your grandfather is a blessed person, you cry when you feel uncomfortable, don't hold it back. He helped Zhang Chujiu up.

At the same time, there were also enthusiastic people who went to the backyard to keep watch all night, and their hungry chests were pressed against their backs, and Zhang Guangyao and Li Sihua, who were just about to eat, called out.

Seeing his son, Li Sihua hurriedly stepped forward and hugged Zhang Chujiu in his arms and cried tears, Zhang Guangyao stood beside his wife and said to Zhang Chujiu with tears falling down: "Chujiu, I'm afraid that you are in a hurry to get home on the road, don't have any accidents, so I didn't tell you the truth."

Your grandfather left 20 days ago, because it was still during the catastrophe, and the body was cremated directly, and I was only notified after the disaster, and there was only one left, a jar of ashes. ”

If it was Zhang Chujiu before he went to the UK, I am afraid that at this time, because of the death of his closest relatives, his head would have become muddy and mushy, and he didn't know how long it would take to return to normal.

But in just half a year, Zhang Chujiu, who has read almost all the ancient documents of the East and West of Lanxing in the British Library, including mythological epics, sociology, philosophical classics, etc., and has experienced many accidents, has become mature, and soon suppressed the heart-rending sadness in his heart.

"Dad, what is the situation of grandpa's death, who informed you," took a few deep breaths, he held back his tears, straightened his body, gently broke free from his mother's embrace, looked at his father and asked in a deep voice, "Is there a written record of the cause of death and the cremation process?"

Zhang Guangyao didn't expect his son to ask him these questions, so he was stunned for a moment and said, "It was the Jingnan Civil Affairs Bureau who notified me, and your grandfather's death and cremation have very detailed records, and they are in the back room." ”

Zhang Chujiu nodded when he heard this, and asked again: "What about my aunt and uncle, are they unable to get in touch, or have they not returned to their hometown yet?"

"It's all connected," Zhang Guangyao replied with a somewhat ugly face: "Your aunt and uncle are very good, and the family has survived this catastrophe safely, but they are all busy and can't come back for a while." ”

"Your grandfather doesn't know when he registered the family temple in your name," Li Sihua whispered in his son's ear: "Isn't it natural that you are the eldest son and eldest grandson and have been studying with the old man."

But your uncle and aunt are still not convinced when they know it, and they have been making excuses to drag on not returning to their hometown. ”

Zhang Xiangang's legacy in Jingnan can be worth a total of one or two million blue yuan, which is not too little, but it is very insignificant compared to the family temple.

This 'family temple' does not refer to the shop of "Zongheguan", but the qualification to erect mountain gates, offer statues to gods, accept disciples, and accept offerings from believers.

This kind of examination and approval of the qualifications for the establishment of private temples was very simple when China had just overthrown the imperial system and established a republic 80 or 90 years ago.

However, as time went on, the approval began to become more and more stringent, and more than 50 years ago, private temples were no longer allowed to be built altogether.

Nowadays, the value of a family temple registered in the 'temple directory' of the State Administration of Religious Affairs is at least more than 10 million blue coins, and Taoism is the only local religion in China, which is particularly favored, and the value is even more expensive, and there is no market.

Such a big fortune was directly given to the eldest grandson by his father, and it is no wonder that Zhang Chujiu's uncle and aunt have resentment in their hearts.

Zhang Chujiu sighed when he heard his mother's whisper, thought about it, looked at Zhang Guangyao hoarsely and said: "Dad, you are the eldest son, I am the eldest grandson and the host of the future family temple, we can do the funeral here, uncle and aunt can't come if they can't be busy."

Grandpa has already passed the 'first seven' according to the mourning period, before the catastrophe is coming, the living can't care about the dead, there is no way, now the natural disasters have passed, and what is going on if it is not in the ground.

Every year on the ninth day of the lunar calendar, the state holds a qualification examination for professional religious personnel, and I participated in it this year.

Grandpa's funeral will be held today, I will come to the wake in the evening, and tomorrow it will be put into the ground, and the tablet will be placed in the family temple, and I will make offerings immediately after I give the urn. ”

After saying this, Zhang Chujiu left Zhang Guangyao and Li Sihua and walked into the house with heavy steps, knelt in front of Zhang Xiangang's portrait and the ashes altar, kowtowed 3 times, and shouted sadly: "Grandpa, I'm back, your grandson Chujiu is back to kowtow to you." He fell to the ground and wept bitterly.