"There's a lot going on at school, so I came back late."

Hao Ren explained, looking at these familiar faces in front of him, he actually felt unfamiliar for the first time.

"Something must be wrong."

Hao Ren was dragged through the crowd by Hao Huai and came to the door of the main hall of the ancestral hall.

Behind the door of the main hall of the ancestral hall is a platform with spiritual tablets and some offerings on the platform; And under the platform is an iron basin, and a relative wearing linen and filial piety is constantly adding yellow paper to the iron basin.

Behind the platform is an ice coffin covered by a white curtain, and several relatives who are also wearing linen and filial piety are mourning in front of the coffin.

Directly above the platform hangs a black-and-white posthumous photo of the deceased, in which is a middle-aged man.

Hao Ren looked at the statue on the platform, and suddenly felt an inexplicable fear.

He seemed to have seen the person on the portrait, but he could never remember where he had seen it.

Hao Huai, who had already changed into a white filial piety suit, patted Hao Ren, who was a little stunned, handed the filial piety clothes in his hand to Hao Ren and said, "Why are you still stunned?" Hurry up and change into filial piety clothes and go up to replace Uncle Hao. You're not afraid to exhaust your dad to death! ”

"My head has been swollen for the past two days, and now that you're back, it's just time for me to rest."

"My dad?"

Hao Ren exclaimed, looked at the figure who slowly stood up in front of the platform, and said a little angrily: "My dad has died a long time ago, Hao Huai, if you make fun of my dad again, I really turned my face." ”

"I said you kid didn't really read stupidly, right?"

Hao Huai looked at Hao Ren with a-eating expression, touched Hao Ren's forehead and said, "You don't have a fever either!" ”

"How can a son curse Lao Tzu to die."

"Hao Huai, what's wrong?"

An unfamiliar voice came from the figure in front of the platform, and as the figure slowly turned around, a strange middle-aged man's face appeared in Hao Ren's eyes.

"Uncle Hao, it's nothing, it's Hao Ren back."

Hao Huai pushed Hao Ren from behind, and Hao Ren staggered into the main hall of the ancestral hall, and suddenly a strong smell of corpses came to his nose.

After all, it is still the height of summer, and even if there is an ice coffin to refrigerate the corpse, in a closed ancestral hall, you can still taste this strong corpse smell.

In addition, on weekdays, whenever someone passes away in the village, the body is also placed in the ancestral hall, and it has been going on for many years, so that there is always a lingering smell in the ancestral hall.

"Hao Ren, why are you back?"

A crying voice of surprise came from behind the white curtain, and a middle-aged woman lifted the curtain and walked out.

"Kid, what's wrong with you?"

Seeing that Hao Ren was still in a daze, the woman came over and touched Hao Ren's cheek with some distress.

"There's temperature, it's people? What's going on? ”

Hao Ren froze in place, he could feel the warmth on his face, and an irrepressible fear began to permeate his body.

He can name every person and face here, obviously everyone is familiar to him, but why does he feel so unfamiliar.

Obviously, my parents have passed away a long time ago, why are these two strange middle-aged men and women my parents, and why do everyone take this for granted!

Could it really be that I am mistaken?

One person may be wrong, but can everyone be wrong?

Hao Ren's brain was a little down.

He began to wonder if he was really wrong.

"Kid, what's wrong?"

The man walked over and gently hugged Hao Ren, and said lovingly, "Did you suffer a grievance outside?" ”

Hao Ren's nose was sour and he shook his head.

It seemed like a warmth he had never felt before.

"If you are wronged, tell your parents that if you are not happy, you will come back."

Hao Ren nodded, and said with a little choked: "Got it." ”

It seems that Hao Ren has accepted all this.

Accept this parent who everyone knows to be their own parents.

……

Wait until it's getting late.

Tonight is the first day, the vigil.

Two long candles the size of a baby's arm emitted a bean-sized candle flame, and the dim light barely illuminated the small ancestral hall.

Fortunately, the iron basin under the altar was constantly added with dark paper, which made the ancestral hall a little brighter.

Hao Ren wore filial piety clothes and stood in front of the spirit, and Hao Huai and several young people fought the landlord on a small square bench on the side.

The reason why tonight's wake is a group of juniors is that Hao Huai made his own opinion, saying that he failed to fulfill his filial piety during the death of the second uncle, and he had to do his filial piety after his death, and he also took Hao Ren with him.

couldn't resist Hao Huai's insistence, even if Hao Ren's parents seemed to have something to say to Hao Ren, they could only leave Hao Ren to guard the spirit.

Hao Huai had a cigarette in his mouth, turned his head to look at Hao Ren and said, "Hao Ren, do you want to play." ”

Hao Ren shook his head, he never had a cold about gambling.

"It's okay, if you lose, it's mine, if you win, it's yours." Hao Huai grinned, stood up, and held a cigarette in one hand.

"Come on, come on...... It's a long night, and you really have to keep watch all night! ”

After speaking, Hao Ren put his arm around Hao Ren with one hand and pulled him up.

"Hehe......"

A burst of laughter came from his ears, and Hao Ren frowned and asked, "What are you laughing at?" ”

"I'm not smiling!" Hao Huai looked confused, how could anyone laugh.

"Come on, I've been in a dark state all night, and I'll kill them with another hand without leaving a piece of armor."

It's not that Hao Huai cares about winning or losing, it's just that he is afraid that Hao Ren will not be able to bear it all the time while kneeling and guarding his body.

Hao Huai pulled Hao Ren to sit on the edge of the small square chair and beckoned the two young men to continue.

Hao Ren glanced at Hao Huai with some confusion, confirming that he didn't seem to be lying.

However, he could clearly hear someone laughing.

Who is it?

The breeze blows and the candlelight flickers.

Crunch, it was the last photo on the altar that was blown by the wind, and it turned slightly sideways, and this angle was just facing the few people who were fighting the landlord.

It seems that the gaze of the posthumous statue happened to fall on Hao Ren again.

The night in the countryside was exceptionally quiet, and the entire Hao family house was still lit by dim candlelight in the ancestral hall at the end of the village, and the other villagers fell asleep early.

"You can't do this, I can beat you in kindergarten at this level."

After a few rounds of cards, Hao Ren was stunned that he didn't win, and he didn't know if it was because his luck was too bad, or if he really wouldn't, just a few rounds later, Hao Huai, who was watching the game, couldn't help but want to play again.

"I said I wouldn't, you don't believe it." Hao Ren pursed his lips and gave up his seat.

"I'll go for a walk, you guys don't let the fire in the basin go out."

"It's dark at night, don't run around." Hao Huai responded, turned around and fell into the game of cards.

With the laughter of several people, Hao Ren added some dark paper to the brazier that was about to be extinguished, so that the fire was lit up again.

With his hands in his pockets, Hao Ren was about to go out for a walk, and for some reason, Hao Ren always felt a little depressed.

It's like there's something important he's forgotten.

"This is."

took out a neatly folded piece of white paper from his pocket, and Hao Ren spread out the white paper in his hand with some confusion.

It's a word circled by a red marker.