Zhou Dalang retreated to the side, and Tuesday Lang stepped forward.
Qian still gave him a sling of money, thought for a while, and added another sling, "I only used a sling for the first time when I served the wine for the fourth child, but this time it is different from before, this time it is far away, Everyone in the village, old and young, must be invited, and meat is also expensive now, so you should buy more to be prepared.”
Tuesday Lang accepted the money and agreed.
"If it's not enough, put the things back on credit first, and then pay back the money the day after tomorrow."
Mrs. Feng went for a stroll in the vegetable garden, and came back and said, "Mother, I'm afraid the vegetable garden is short of some vegetables."
Although their family grows a lot of vegetables, Tuesday Lang goes to the county town to sell vegetables almost every day, and it is difficult to supply so many people with vegetables at once.
After thinking for a while, Qian got up and said, "I'll go out for a walk, you guys should watch more at home, let the big guys watch over the little ones, and don't allow them to run around."
"yes."
This is the time when there are the most vegetables in the year, when everything grows the fastest, and the vegetables in the field can grow a crop in two or three days, so as long as the family is not lazy, basically they will not eat less vegetables.
In Qili Village, there is no habit of buying vegetables among households. When one family likes the food of another family, they just say it and go to pick it up and go back to taste it.
Old Zhou's dishes are often asked to pinch.
Because their family not only grows more vegetables, but also grows them well, and there are also many types.
Now that there is a past, there will naturally be a coming. After walking around the village, Qian gathered together all the vegetables that will be used tomorrow.
These things seem to have nothing to do with the young children, that is, Wu Lang and Saturday Lang, they can only help at home, basically move wherever they need, they are not specifically responsible for things.
And Zhou Zhoulang took some young people in the village to send letters to relatives' homes, telling them, as to whether he will come or not, it depends on each family.
But Lao Zhoutou didn't want to invite too many people, except for the current in-laws who had to be invited, so he invited more of his maternal ancestor's family.
After all, from Zhou Yin's point of view, besides the clan's side, the closest relatives are the relatives on the other side of the family.
Man Bao didn't know anything about these things, she was just asked to eat as usual, go to class as usual, and when she came back from school, there was a big coffin at home.
Qian's explanation to her was, "It's just a tomb, let them be together, and you just remember to kowtow to your uncle and aunt when the time comes."
"And their children, mother, did the yamen servant say they are younger brothers or younger sisters?"
Qian was stunned for a moment, and then said after a while: "I didn't say, he is young, so there is no need for special sacrifices, Man Bao, don't talk nonsense when you worship, you understand?"
Man Bao nodded suspiciously.
Mrs. Qian was worried, and it seemed that she had to tell the Taoist priests that only Zhou Yin's husband and wife should be recruited when summoning souls, not even children.
"Have you asked your husband for leave?"
"Please, I don't have to go to school tomorrow."
"Well," Qian said, "Go to bed early if you don't have to go to school, you're going to cry tomorrow."
After all, let her go down to take a bath, and go to bed early to get up early.
Tonight, the old Zhou’s family and even the children in the village went to bed very early. It was dark, and the noises from everywhere gradually became quieter. In the first half of the month, the whole village only had the sound of insects.
Old Zhou Tou got dressed and went out. Zhou Dalang and his five younger brothers tied up the white cloth and quietly lifted the coffin.
Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Qian walked aside holding torches, and after walking a while, the next door opened, and a man came out holding a torch and carrying a hoe...
When they reached the cemetery outside the village, there were many torches around them.
Old Zhou Tou didn't ask who was here, the noise at night was not good.
When we arrived at the cemetery, everyone started digging.
The grave was scraped away, and after digging down about three meters, I came across a rotten quilt.
Everyone relaxed their movements, and began to use their hands to scrape away the soil covering it, and then gently lifted off the rotten and deformed quilt, revealing the two corpses clinging together underneath.
The clothes on them were alright, but they were dark and ugly mixed with their original colors. Except for the hair on the top of their heads, their flesh and blood had melted into nothingness.
Zhou Dalang said: "This is my uncle on the left, and my aunt on the right. Don't pick up the wrong ones. Come here, pick up the bones, give me the one on the left, and give me the one on the right."
"It has to be wiped off."
Mrs. Qian and Mrs. Qian immediately took out two large pieces of cotton cloth and said, "We brought the cloth."
Old Zhou Tou kicked the fourth, fifth, and sixth asses, and said to the trembling three: "What are you afraid of, hurry up and wipe, be careful, and don't lose any bones."
In fact, the hairs were also detached from the skull, and they fell down with a slight pull. They had never seen such a battle before, even if there were many people around, they were terrified.
Looking at them, Mrs. Qian couldn't help but reached out and touched their heads with a smile, "You're such a silly boy, these are your uncles and aunts, they love you so much, how dare they be willing to scare you?"
"That's right, it's a blessing to wipe the bones of the elders, and let your uncle bless you to make a fortune later."
People around also responded one after another, and the area around the cemetery became lively, and the three brothers were not so afraid anymore.
By the time they wiped all the bones and put them back in the coffin, it was already three o'clock.
Everyone filled the hole back and made it look like a grave. Although it could be seen that the land had been turned over, it was all Qili Village, so everyone had nothing to fear.
The Zhou brothers carefully carried the coffin home and placed it in the middle of the main room.
Qian Shi and Xiao Qian Shi unfolded the prepared shrouds and spread them on the two corpses.
There are also copper coins that should be put in, Qian Shi put in a lot of them.
After taking a last look, everyone closed the coffin, and the people in the village nailed the nails to seal the coffin completely.
Everyone quietly hung white cloths on the gate and main room. Old Zhou Tou didn't buy a lot of white cloths, but the people in the village still felt that this funeral ceremony was enough.
Not everyone can afford linen to hang over the door.
It would be nice to have a white flag hanging on it.
Before Man Bao woke up, she was dug out of the bed and put on filial piety clothes. Xiao Qian simply wiped her face to wake her up.
Seeing her looking at her with round eyes, Little Qian said in a low voice: "There will be guests coming in a while, you have to wear mourning, Man Bao is good."
"So early?"
"That's right, the master's family will arrive earlier." Little Qian coaxed Man Bao, tied a white linen cloth around the sackcloth and her chubby waist, and led her to the main room.
A wave of millet knots had already been burned in the main room, Xiaoqian took Man Bao to Zhou Dalang's side, and made her kneel down first.