"Ah, huh..."
The old Taoist patted his forehead.
Just sat down on the ground.
I have traveled all over the country for most of my life and have dealt with countless people. I can say that I have extremely rich experience.
I hadn't thought about this before, but now that my boss reminded me of it, I suddenly realized it.
There was no crying, nor too much pain, only deep helplessness.
In this world, there is always a lack of heroes who are pushed to the forefront. Everyone wants to be glamorous, glorious, and worshipped.
However,
Even more difficult,
Or these heroes hidden behind the scenes,
There is no spur of profit, nor the publicity of fame;
“When a man dies, birds fly up to the sky”, “He is still a brave man after 20 years”, maybe the so-called brave man will die after shouting these two words, at least he can hypnotize himself into having a “grand and glorious life”.
Unlike now,
Nothing like what's happening right now.
"Poor kid, he's only in his twenties."
The old Taoist sighed softly.
Zhou Ze continued to stand there and did not get in the car and leave as he had planned.
The two rows of drug enforcement officers stood in front of the mourning hall for a long time. No one cried and everyone was silent.
Zhou Ze remembered that when he went to Yunnan to attend a surgical training, he heard an old doctor in a local city say such a thing.
A local narcotics police officer, while disguising himself as a buyer to contact drug dealers, happened to meet his mother-in-law who was walking with her daughter on the street. The daughter called out "Dad".
Then,
Three days later,
The entire family was buried in the sea of fire caused by the gas explosion.
The old doctor said that he participated in the treatment that time but failed to save anyone, which was one of the greatest pains in his life.
Enduring the cold stares and indifference of relatives and neighbors,
The glory and martyr's honor that must be hidden,
The person is gone, but the living still have to grit their teeth and continue to endure this loneliness and misunderstanding.
Zhou Ze bent down silently.
He remembered that just now he had asked the woman how her husband died.
She said her husband was a driver and died in a car accident.
Zhou Ze now understood her hesitation when she answered this question.
This feeling,
It's like a child who gets full marks on a test but can't tell his parents to get praise.
I also had to deliberately say that I did not do well in the exam so that I had to bear the criticism.
At this moment, the old woman became much more lovely and great.
She would rather continue to endure this kind of life alone, but hopes to give her daughter-in-law a relief.
even,
Even when she went to the county to report her uncle's corruption,
It also became understandable.
A mother who can raise such a great son must be great as well.
"Collect the troops!"
Two rows of people bowed to the old lady and the woman together,
The old woman, her daughter-in-law and granddaughter knelt on the futon to return the greeting.
The old woman burst into tears,
The woman burst into tears.
The granddaughter seemed a little confused and couldn't seem to understand why this group of people came to her home.
possible,
This family,
Only at this time,
In this unknown night,
Only then can they truly enjoy the moment of glory that should belong to them.
They came and went in a hurry. Everyone got on the van and it drove away quickly.
Come quietly, and leave quietly too.
Be careful and cautious,
Leaves no trace.
Three women,
Hug together,
Crying together,
The youngest girl saw her mother and grandmother crying, so she started crying too.
But their crying was a little suppressed at this time, tears and snot kept dripping, but there was no wailing sound.
"Boss, you go back and have a rest first. I will stay here to help them with everything."
The old Taoist scratched his hair and continued calmly:
"Funerals are more about excitement than weddings. They are for the living to see and to comfort the living. Seeing them so lonely makes me feel bad."
Zhou Ze stretched his body.
road:
"Why are you staying here alone? Suddenly an enthusiastic old man shows up, and new gossip will spread."
"Boss, this..."
Zhou Ze shook his head.
“I’ll stay too, and just think of it as a funeral paid for by a rich wild man like me;
Anyway, the old woman had put the hat on me during the day.
Wear it for a while longer then."
… …
The next day at noon,
Three funeral bands entered the stage,
In front of the funeral hall,
The monk is on the left, the Taoist priest is on the right,
Beating gongs and drums, chanting sutras and wooden fish,
Noisy and bustling.
All the people were hired by the old Taoist priest, and the price was also negotiated and paid by him. He was busy from morning to noon, rearranging the venue, arranging personnel, and directing and managing every aspect in an orderly manner.
The Taoist's talent in this area is truly admirable, as if he was born for funeral ceremonies.
The old woman and her daughter-in-law knelt on the mat in linen clothes, and they didn't have to worry about anything else.
Zhou Ze sat beside the altar in front of the mourning hall, with a favor booklet with a red background in front of him.
Although no one came to help yesterday, many relatives still showed up today, the day of the funeral, and no one was really short of money to give as gifts.
Even though the relationship is not good, the Chinese people value reciprocity, which is a real rule. If you deliberately cut off the favor money because of this excuse, you will be criticized.
Zhou Ze took a pen and wrote down the names one by one, how many hundreds this one cost, how many hundreds that one cost, how much paper this one also came with, how many incense sticks that one also came with, he had to record everything clearly.
Fortunately, it wasn't very busy and everyone was indifferent. Zhou Ze even saw many people pointing fingers at him, but Boss Zhou didn't care anyway.
Every once in a while, Zhou Ze would get a few pieces of chocolate or make some brown sugar water with boiling water and give it to the woman to drink. He would watch her drink it and then sit back in his seat.
The funeral was grand and lively.
When it's almost noon,
Her uncle also came.
He was stripped of his position as village chief, fined, and imprisoned for a period of time, but at this time, he still seemed to have the dignity of a "local emperor."
In fact, in many rural areas nowadays, there is really not much difference between the village head and the village tyrant.
However, he did not have any other opinions about Zhou Ze, a stranger, sitting here. The amount of favor money he gave was also the highest here. Others gave a few hundred, but he gave 20,000.
When Zhou Ze registered, he was a little surprised and wondered whether he should report this old man tomorrow
It seems that it hasn’t been shaken off completely last time
"It's not easy for them as an orphan and a widow. I don't know who you are, but since you are willing to help, I accept your favor and thank you."
The old man's back was a little hunched, and when he glanced at the old woman kneeling there, he was still angry, but at least on some things, he treated each matter separately.
The old man came, gave money, and left, while the rest of the relatives stayed, and then there was a lunch banquet.
After the water feast,
Continue with the process.
Under the arrangement of Lao Dao,
Monks and Taoist priests took turns to take the stage.
You finish your song and I will take the stage.
Don't say,
It's really not noisy at all,
Instead, it looks very serious and solemn.
All the registrations were completed. Zhou Ze added his own name to the favor book. The favors written on it were:
Two stacks of ghost money.
I took some time to stand in front of the mourning hall, beside the iron pot where paper was burned.
I threw the ghost money in myself.
Watch them burn here.
Then he sat back in the mourning hall.
He felt his pocket and found that he had no cigarettes left. He picked up a pack of cigarettes from the table, opened it, took out a cigarette and lit it.
These cigarettes are given to those who have given favors, one pack per person. This is also a small local custom. Those who don’t smoke will take them home for those who do smoke.
In his two lifetimes, this was the first time that Zhou Ze attended an authentic and simple funeral.
In his previous life, he was an orphan and there were no funerals to attend. When a colleague at the hospital passed away, he just showed up in the mourning hall, which was almost the same as checking in.
Now,
Sitting here and watching the funeral activities for most of the day,
I actually found it quite interesting.
Perhaps, when I was young and frivolous, I always felt that this was feudal, ignorant, and an unreasonable and absurd behavior.
When people reach middle age and the elderly in their family start to pass away, they suddenly realize that having these rules and things to do can at least help them know what to do next and get themselves moving during those days of confusion.
When you are older or more mature,
Sit here,
Looking at the flying confetti,
Listening to the noisy suona and the white clothes,
You will suddenly realize,
This seems to be the color of the yellow land under our feet, which has remained unchanged for thousands of years.
The funeral home sent the largest and most luxurious hearse, followed by more than a dozen smaller cars, all decorated with white flowers.
The woman held the portrait of her deceased husband, with her mother-in-law by her side and her daughter in front of her. She got into the car with a group of relatives who were there to attend the funeral, as well as monks and Taoist priests arranged by the Taoist master, and went to the crematorium.
The mourning hall behind Zhou Ze was finally empty.
The noise in front of me,
Finally, there was a brief pause.
Zhou Ze turned his head and looked to his side. Because his identity could not be made public, no one or any unit came to send a wreath.
There are only two wreaths here,
One was sent in the name of the bookstore, and the other was sent in the name of the pharmacy next to the bookstore.
Put it in the corner as a little embellishment.
If the identity could be made public, this place would probably be filled with wreaths from all walks of life.
Zhou Ze crossed his legs.
Sitting on a bench,
“Bang!”
The lighter lit another cigarette.
I took a puff.
Slowly exhale a smoke ring.
I don't know why.
today,
He was extremely calm inside.
During this time since returning from Sichuan, there have been a lot of things going on and it was very chaotic. Just as he finished dealing with one thing here, another thing happened over there, making Zhou Ze very exhausted.
But in this noisy day,
The previous restlessness seemed to be cleared away all at once, and the whole person felt as if he had been washed by rain, very peaceful.
Hand holding a cigarette,
Send it to your side.
A young man took the cigarette from Zhou Ze.
I took a puff too.
Zhou Ze looked ahead.
He said calmly:
"Don't get me wrong."
The other party blew out a smoke ring.
"Thank you for your help."
Zhou Ze smiled.
road:
"polite."