There were no candles in the shed, and it looked a little eerie in the dark courtyard, and the light in the living room shone through the hole in the side of the shed, reflecting shadows of different sizes, and when the wind blew the silk cloth covering the pictures in the shed, the shadows surrounded the offerings as if they were alive.

When Huang Simiao returned to the lake tower from Taiping, it was already past ten o'clock in the evening. The mother and aunt and cousin stayed on both sides of the single bed, the eldest uncle slept in the mourning hall, the second uncle had returned to the city to take care of the children, and the aunt and sister-in-law and sister-in-law went upstairs to sleep. When the wind blew into the house when the door was opened, the paper ashes in the brazier were suddenly carried by the wind and exploded on the altar, and the chill brought in from outside the mourning hall made everyone wake up instantly.

"Quick, quick, don't let the dog in!" Auntie's face suddenly changed, and she got up and shouted.

Huang Simiao looked back and saw that a black dog was following him and wanted to enter the house, he quickly kicked the black dog, the black dog was startled, and ran to the side of the spirit shed in the yard with his tail between his legs. Huang Simiao just wanted to drive the black dog to a farther place, another yellow dog suddenly jumped out and crashed into the black dog, in a blink of an eye, the two dogs tore up, the night was too dark, he didn't recognize the yellow dog for a while was the one raised by his grandfather, and when he recognized it, the two dogs had been bitten apart, Huang Simiao could only find a wooden stick to set the two dogs apart, the black dog bared his teeth and slowly retreated to the street in the dark, the yellow dog wanted to rush up again, he hurriedly blocked it with a wooden stick, and called a whistle to quiet the yellow dog, The yellow dog watched the black dog disappear, turned around and squatted down with a whining.

"Alas, you also know that your grandfather has already left, right, they said that you have been guarding the door, and you don't have to guard it in the future, you know." Sighing, he touched the yellow dog's hair, the yellow dog was very thin, and under the yellow hair were ribs,

"Don't fight anymore, you can't fight again."

The yellow dog only whined, as if it was crying in a low voice. After a moment of silence, the yellow dog wagged his tail, limped under the sacrificial table of the mourning shed, Huang Simiao was stunned again, turned around and walked into the mourning hall. He didn't notice that when he turned around, the silk cloth covering his grandfather's picture on the altar table swayed slightly, and there seemed to be a smile on the photo.

My father explained to my mother in the mourning hall about my grandmother's affairs: "It's all arranged over there, don't worry." ”

"How did the third sister-in-law and the rest of the village come?" The mother's face looked a little yellow under the light in the mourning hall, and the filial piety cloth wrapped around her head could not hide her red eyes.

"Si Miao's uncle drives, and the third brother also drives, all from our mother."

The father covered his frozen red hands: "Son, you go to sleep first, just squeeze on the sofa with your cousin." ”

"Leave me alone, I'll be sleepy for a while." Huang Simiao knelt next to her mother and sat next to the wooden bed, the whole person was in a ball, and her cousin pulled up the quilt and motioned him to go inside, he smiled and squeezed next to her cousin. Quietly looking at my grandfather covered with filial piety, it is said that my grandfather walked very peacefully, and before leaving, he laughed and talked with his old comrades-in-arms who rushed to hear the news, and ate a small half bowl of noodles at lunch, no one thought that the grandfather would leave so suddenly. Huang Simiao seems to be able to see the scene when his grandfather leaves with a smile, maybe there will be a little regret, but it is more of a relief, he can reunite with his grandmother, and he doesn't have to trouble his children anymore, but it's a pity that he can't watch his little great-grandson grow up, and what to do with the big yellow dog, will he starve to death. No matter how hard he lived, he never said that his children were unfilial. It's just that on weekdays, he brews a pot of coarse tea, plays cards with three or five old friends, and then even if he can't speak, he has to write down the needles and things brought by his cousin with a pen one by one, stubborn for a lifetime, maybe ordinary, but he has never regretted it.

The wake, or cessation time, is divided into three, five, and seven days, and is generally determined according to the Lord's house. Uncle set a three-day funeral, and then burned paper together, the village people have no opinions, the uncle originally wanted to make the funeral simpler, but the village party secretary pointed to the uncle's nose and asked: "You always look down on your father, but you go to the street to ask, if your father and you haven't eaten and walk on the street, the neighbors will give your father food or give it to you." As a man, you are far worse than your father! ”

Then it didn't work out, as if nothing had happened. Every day, people from outside the village come to mourn, and then eat hot tofu rice, Huang Simiao spends two days in a row, nothing to do in a daze, or watching the people in the yard in the side room. The sun rises and sets in the woods, and sometimes he feels as if the expressions on everyone's faces are the same, even the tone of the hush and warm is the same. This made him think of his own crying every time he mourned and cried in the mourning hall. An emotion of extreme disgust with himself spread from his chest to every corner of his body, Huang Simiao took a deep breath, trying to forget about it. Sometimes I grab my hair and want to vent this emotion, these things are not known to the people in the courtyard, and the people in the mourning hall do not know, everything is normal and should be normal.

On the morning of the third day, the coffin that my uncle bought from the city arrived, and according to my uncle, it was a white marble coffin, the best coffin in the whole city. But from the coffin full of dirt, Huang Simiao really didn't see the merits, of course, the coffin is indeed white....... before the grandfather is cremated, you need to take the grandmother's grave to the new grave, by the cousin and the second uncle with a group, first set up a shed to prevent the sun from reaching the coffin, and then light firecrackers to remind the deceased, let the rooster lead the way, the last step of the grave is the uncle to hold the grandmother's ashes with a red cloth and put it in the new coffin. When the uncle picked up his grandmother's ashes, he suddenly cried.

The people around looked at the uncle, and some joked: "Look at it, don't shed tears in the urn." ”

Others said: "He just can't mention his mother, and he cries when he mentions it." ”

Huang Simiao looked at this absurd and chaotic scene, and thought silently, people's surfaces may be ever-changing, but deep down there may be a softest place, fame and fortune will corrode people's rationality, and indifference makes people forget the kindness, but when people face the softest place, they are probably vulnerable.

The group resisted the push on their shoulders and finally pulled the grandmother's coffin to the new grave, which is said to be a place to be picked by Mr. Feng Shui from other cities, suitable for children and full of wealth. Huang Simiao didn't believe it, but others swore that it was true, and some even found a good place for the living.

"This place is for the second uncle, and there is for the third grandfather, and when my father dies, he will be buried there."

"You can't make a mistake about the location, it's northeast, is the interval four meters or eight meters?"

Some said three meters, some eight meters, and finally said that they wanted to find another feng shui gentleman to see, but they were worried that Mr. Feng Shui said differently, and they didn't know who to listen to, Huang Simiao wanted to laugh a little, if Mr. Feng Shui existed, then why did the two feng shui masters go in different directions, did one of the feng shui gentlemen say something wrong? Whether it is self-deception or superstition, when behavior becomes habit and custom, right and wrong and usefulness are not really important.

The car of the crematorium arrived in the afternoon, and the relatives, friends and guests of each village also began to mourn on the last day, the village elders of the lake building wrote couplets and registered visitors outside the door of the uncle's house, the guests who were close to the relationship sent wreaths, and the ordinary neighbors gathered in the field, beating gongs and drums, and firecrackers rang out in unison, a lively and complicated scene.

Huang Simiao performed the nephew ceremony, unlike other elders, he needed to kneel, he couldn't kowtow, just kneel and cry all the time. At first, Huang Simiao thought that everyone was the same, but later the village elders told him that he could not kowtow, and he would be laughed at by outsiders, Huang Simiao was a little embarrassed, and he didn't know whether these etiquettes were common sense or very obscure local customs. But that disgust almost exploded, and after the salute, Huang Simiao immediately went to the mourning hall, he wanted to see his grandfather for the last time than the fake faces outside.

The mourning hall was full of people coming and going, crying. Huang Simiao took a filial piety cloth and knelt next to her cousin, Liu Jie was calling her cousin Liu Peng, and saw Huang Simiao smiling,

"Can you talk to Liu Peng?"

"yes, okay." Huang Simiao took the phone and saw that his cousin was wearing glasses, and the light was a little dim, so he couldn't see his cousin clearly.

"Have you seen your grandfather yet, and I haven't seen you either." After speaking, he laughed at himself a little: "Let's meet together." ”

"Then let's meet." A cousin's voice came from the microphone.

Huang Simiao got up and walked to the other side of the bed with her mobile phone, and gently picked up the linen. My grandfather did walk very peacefully, and his skin became very thin after a long hunger strike and injections, and his face turned pale, as if he was asleep, and he could not see the pain. Huang Simiao was a little stunned, until his cousin called him back, his cousin and Liu Peng hung up the phone after a few more words, and then talked to the eldest cousin on the phone, and also looked at his grandfather for the last time, as if he wanted to imprint his grandfather in his heart. Huang Simiao's mind still retains the appearance of his grandfather before his death, and his grandfather's voice still seems to be ringing in his ears.

"Have you eaten, eat well, don't treat yourself badly." Tears suddenly flowed.

I won't see you anymore, I'll never see you again.

Taking a deep breath, Huang Simiao returned to the yard, the wind was very strong, and the wreaths were blown to pieces. The crematorium car could already be seen in the distance, the courtyard surrounded by guests was full of inside and outside, as the cremation car gave way to a road, and the cousin wanted to go in and move his grandfather into the car, he saw his mother crying and couldn't stand up, shouting over and over again that she had no father, no relatives. At that moment, he felt pity for his mother, but at the same time he was terrified, afraid that he would have to face all this in the future. If one day, he is left alone, what a loneliness it is.

The guests went outside the village with the cremation car, the master of ceremonies shouted and bowed village by village, and finally all saluted, and there was a three-minute silence, Huang Simiao was no longer needed in the process after cremation, he wanted to stay with his mother, but the company was already urging him to go back quickly, and he had no choice but to compromise with the pressure of life. He did not say goodbye to his weeping mother, but only to his father, and after obtaining permission, he packed up and left alone.

When I walked to the end of the village, I looked back, and there was still a hustle and bustle at the head of the village, and the bustle of the lonely two-story building was brought by my grandfather's departure, which was really ironic. His grandfather has passed away, his cousin has also married, and this land has nothing to cherish for him, maybe he will come back in ten or twenty years, or maybe he will never come back, who knows. But in the city, is there really a life that you pursue in your heart?

The river is far away, and the green hills are fading. The road has just begun.