The night wind in the early morning is blowing, and countless bright stars are dotted in the night sky. In the moonless night, they are flickering as the wind blows. The faint starlight shines on the firewood stacks of the trees, like a mantle.

A hazy layer of frost.

Chen Ling put on her coat and went out, followed by the two brothers Chen Ze and went to the fourth grandmother's house in the north of the village.

The fourth grandma is from my grandpa’s family.

It was Chen Gannian who saved his life from the wolf's mouth.

She is also the mother-in-law of Wang Xiuhua, the leader of the women's team in the village.

The two old men used to treat their juniors very well.

It's just that my body was exhausted from the heavy physical work.

The fourth grandma has poor legs and feet and has been unable to get out of bed for the past two years.

Chen Gannian also had mental problems in the past.

Therefore, the children and grandchildren are not allowed to go out very much on weekdays, and three meals a day are delivered to the old house.

Unexpectedly, in just a few years, he was about to die.

They are all from the old Chen family.

We cannot be absent from weddings, funerals and weddings, as well as emotions and reasons.

The old house where the fourth grandmother lives is adjacent to Chen Sangui's house. Behind the courtyard is a hillside with jujube trees, thorns and other miscellaneous trees growing there. The old house has been repaired after the flood, but the courtyard wall and dam have not been rebuilt.

After the three arrived, the yard was brightly lit and many people came, standing guard in front of the old house, whispering something. The eldest son Chen Yongsheng was still crying muffledly with tears streaming down his face, and a sad atmosphere filled the air.

"My mother, she was fine at noon yesterday and ate a big bowl of noodles. Why don't you tell me that it won't work..."

"But I had a dream a few days ago that Lord Hell came to call her."

"In the past few days, I have been confused and confused at times. I only talked about things like chickens and dogs when I was a child."

"It's actually a pleasant practice and I didn't suffer any pain."

Obviously, by this time, the fourth grandmother had left.

As the eldest daughter-in-law, Wang Xiuhua wiped away tears and walked out to prepare for the funeral.

Wang Xiuhua is timid and is naturally afraid of ghosts.

Ever since the Fourth Grandma fell into bed, she had been attentive to her. She was afraid that the Fourth Grandma would miss her in her heart and turn into a ghost and come back to look for her after her death.

Since then, everyone in the village has said that she is virtuous.

Now she had taken out the shroud she had prepared in advance and went into the house to change into her mother-in-law while she was still warm.

Her husband, Chen Yongsheng, the eldest son of the Fourth Grandma, was still kneeling beside her. He took the fire paper from his uncle and burned them one by one while crying.

These fire paper weighed nine pounds and four taels, and were weighed and prepared in advance.

Because only this ounce of money can be taken away by the deceased. This is called travel money and cannot be careless.

The fire paper is burned out.

Then they started setting off cannons, and three cannons were fired late at night to announce to the villagers that someone had died.

This is basically what Chen Ling and other young juniors do.

Some carried their legs and legs and went to set off cannons outside the courtyard, while others went to be the Eight Immortals.

The Eight Immortals are eight young and strong men. Four of them clean the inside and outside of the coffin, and the other four carry the person into the coffin.

However, according to local customs, the coffin cannot be put into the coffin after twelve o'clock at night, and the coffin cannot be put into the coffin until the third day.

It was now past two o'clock in the morning, so the Eight Immortals placed the Fourth Grandma on the funeral bed, and that was done.

Many of Chen Ling and Chen Ze are grandchildren.

The grandchildren didn't need much help on the first night, as the Eight Immortals couldn't take their turn, so they just helped clean up the house, clear out the clutter in the main room and living room, set it up as a mourning hall, etc.

But Chen Ling is still a little different from other grandchildren.

His performance in the past six months has been relatively recognized by the villagers. They feel that he is capable and are willing to ask him to help and share more.

In the eyes of many elders, this is a sign of importance.

So after setting off the cannon, Chen Dazhi called him to go find a tailor to buy mourning clothes.

Others went to call the papermaker in the village and bring over paper money, paper flowers, door hangings and other items.

After a lot of work, everything was ready at four o'clock in the morning.

A hanging paper flag, also known as a hanging paper flag, was hung outside the courtyard.

"Boom", "Boom", "Boom" the sound of cannons sounded again.

The male and female descendants of the Chen family all wore sackcloth and wore filial piety.

They formed a long queue according to seniority, followed behind the old man who sent the soul, and walked towards the west of the village while crying under the cover of night.

The old man carrying the soul brought a bamboo basket with scissors, fire paper, incense and candles, and firecrackers. He led the team out of the village and arrived near the Tutu Temple. He cut a few knives and burned paper, lit incense and candles, set off firecrackers, and knelt on the ground for another round of firecrackers.

path.

This is called "delivering paper", also called "reporting to the temple".

But in many rural areas, even the source of this tradition.

The most common name is "paper pressing".

I cry when I go to press the paper, but I don’t cry when I come back.

Don’t cry when you take off the paper and cry when you come back.

Legend has it that in the early Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao, the King of Medicine, made his home all over the world, curing diseases for the poor and bringing people back to life.

In order to prevent people from going back and forth to look for him, he said to the patient: "Don't look for me everywhere. Just write the patient's name and address on a piece of paper and put it on the crossroads. If I see him passing by, I will go home to treat him."

Everyone followed the medicine king's words, and indeed many patients were cured.

People generally feel sad when they go to press the paper, and feel hopeful when they come back; they are full of hope when they remove the paper, and they come back with disillusionment.

Because it reflects the impermanence of life and death, it gradually evolved into a rural funeral custom.

After this trip is over.

The two brothers Chen Ling and Chen Ze took off their white filial piety hats and returned home.

At dawn tomorrow, the mothers-in-law of various families will also come to pay their respects and distribute different styles of things.

There are also particularities in performing filial piety during funerals in rural areas.

For example, the style of filial piety hat, filial piety scarf, and the length of filial piety belt are also different according to the generation of children, cousins, sisters, married girls, daughter-in-law, etc.

Some hosts often don't think well, and for the sake of a little filial piety, quarrels on the spot often happen.

There is a saying in the countryside: "A filial person is a poor person".

Easy to make jokes.

The next day.

When Chen Ling waited for Wang Susu and the old Chen's daughter-in-law to return home from mourning, they marked the dishes, chopsticks, tables and stools and helped carry them there.

After that, I got on my bicycle and left the village.

This time, the fourth grandma was senior, so Chen Sangui from the family was in charge, and Wang Laishun and Chen Guoping also went to help write down the gift list.

Chen Ling originally asked him to be the cook.

He's not willing to do it.

There are people in the village who specialize in cooking such red and white things, and they can get a lot of benefits. Why would he take other people's jobs when he has nothing to do?

This work is tiring, and it offends people for no reason.

In the end, Chen Sangui had to ask him to visit relatives in various places to announce the funeral.

This is good, as you don't have to tie it up in front of you.

Facing the autumn wind, Chen Ling pedaled his bicycle all the way over the mountain ridge, crossed the water bridge, and arrived at Kinmen Village first.

Kinmen Village is built on the mountain, with only two to three hundred households.

Chen Ling rode a bicycle from the bridge into the village. Within a few steps, he met Er Nier and his wife.

The two were digging a sweet potato well outside the courtyard. When they saw Chen Ling, they stopped what they were doing and smiled.

"Uncle Fugui, I haven't seen you for a long time. If you're not busy, just go sit at home and have a drink of water."

Ernier's husband Liu Hongxing came up from Sweet Potato Well and walked to the car.

Er Nier also followed and gave way to the house.

"No, I won't go home. The fourth grandma in our village is gone, and I'm here to report her funeral."

Chen Ling shook his head and said.

Then he took out a list of names from his breast pocket and asked: "Which family is Liu Guangjun's? This is the eldest nephew of the fourth grandma. I have to go over and inform him."
To be continued...