I was amused by him all of a sudden, and I let go of the sudden guard just now. While cursing, "Whose wife are you talking about?", I followed Shi Yitong and continued to walk forward.
After turning a narrow alley and not walking far, Shi Yitong said "here we are". I stopped and looked at the building in front of me. There was nothing special about it. It was just an ordinary rural bungalow, a mud house built with bricks and tiles. But when we walked into the yard, I immediately understood what Shi Yitong meant.
The yard is not big, the ground is covered with solid soil, and there is a thick willow tree in the middle, and just near the willow tree, there is a large grocery room with many coffins neatly placed in it. In the corner of the yard, there are still some worn-out paper figurines, paper money and other funeral supplies.
Only then did I suddenly understand why Shi Yitong asked me such a strange question before, and why he told me to prepare myself mentally just now. It turned out that my childhood friend's family was in the funeral business.
Shi Yitong saw that I understood, and scratched his head in embarrassment, "I was afraid that you would feel unlucky, so I didn't dare to tell you at first. Our ancestors have been doing trivial things since my grandfather's generation. Later, it was passed on to my grandfather, who has been doing this. As for my parents, both of them work outside and rarely come back. I have been living with my grandparents since junior high school. Look at the paper tied here The people and the paper clothes are all made by my grandfather himself, isn’t it amazing?”
"So that's how it is." I breathed a sigh of relief, and complained, "Then why did you scare people with your nagging appearance before, which made me extremely nervous."
Shi Yitong had a gloating expression on his face, "Hey, big brother, it's your fault. It's obvious that you are timid and blamed me."
I just opened my mouth to refute him a few more words, but at this moment I saw an old woman walking out of the room with a smile. Shi Yitong immediately went up to meet him.
"Grandma! I'm back. This is my classmate Gu Yu. He foolishly misremembered the school registration time. He came to stay at our house for one night."
I angrily poked Shi Yitong with my elbow. Just introduce it, why just poke my embarrassing stories to the elders.
But the old man didn't seem to care at all, he smiled at me kindly, and warmly invited me into the house.
"Come in, come in, it's very hot outside. Come inside and eat a piece of watermelon."
Shi Yitong's grandmother is very kind and enthusiastic. Probably because she has never had any guests at home before, she is very enthusiastic when she sees me. The wrinkled face bloomed with a smile. In the evening, the old man cooked a table of dishes for us, including wontons, stuffed tofu, and rice rolls. The old man kept adding vegetables to me, which made me feel embarrassed.
The only strange thing is that Shi Yitong's grandfather, who has been talking about it since he entered the door, has never been seen, saying that he is not at home, but there is an extra pair of bowls and chopsticks on the dining table, which is left alone and no one cares about it. Shi Yitong was also a little absent-minded all the time, and didn't eat much.
When the meal was almost finished, Shi Yitong stood up suddenly, put some food into the empty bowl, and muttered "I'll take it to grandpa". I also hurriedly stood up, wiped my mouth in a hurry, and apologized to the old woman, "Well, I'm full too, thank you for the hospitality."
Shi Yitong seemed to be in a bad mood, frowning, with an anxious look on his face. I chased after him, still unable to hold back my curiosity. "Why didn't your grandpa come out for dinner?"
"He's in the house. Grandpa often reads alone in the house and forgets the time. It's quite normal."
Although Shi Yitong said so, judging from the worried expression on his face, it seemed that it was not that simple. When I was wondering if the old man was in poor health, a door suddenly opened in front of my eyes, and a hunchbacked old man walked out.
The old man looked to be in his seventies, wearing a mandarin jacket with a round collar, and had a long beard. He looked a bit fairy-like, but he looked good, and he didn't look like he had any physical problems.
Seeing the old man, Shi Yitong breathed a sigh of relief first, and then said in a complaining tone, "Grandpa, you didn't go to eat again." Then he stretched out his hand to pass the bowl and chopsticks to the old man, but the old man put his hands behind his back, not at all. He didn't intend to take it over, but instead stared at me with hale and hearty eyes.
Those eyes were not malicious, but kind and interested, which gave me the illusion that the old man could see something through me. Then the old man said earnestly,
"Treasure it."
I was a little confused, and turned to look at Shi Yitong, he didn't seem to understand. I had no choice but to ask the old man implicitly, "Uh... what did you say?"
"Treasure the encounter that hasn't happened yet." After saying this inexplicable sentence, the old man smiled and walked away with his hands behind his back. I was left in the cloud, and Shi Yitong, who was standing there awkwardly holding a bowl and chopsticks.
I wanted to catch up and ask again, but Shi Yitong stopped me, gave me a wink, and dragged me into the innermost room.
"Is that your grandfather just now?" I asked.
Shi Yitong sat down on the bed and nodded.
"His old man... uh, is he usually like that?" I carefully thought about the words, "It always feels like..."
"Scary?" Shi Yitong said what I couldn't say, and he sighed, "Oh, I can't hide it from you anymore. Let me tell you the truth, in fact, I asked you to come over, It's because I've been really... a little scared in the past two days."
"Scared?" I was puzzled.
"Let me explain it to you from beginning to end." Shi Yitong scratched his hair restlessly, and began to explain to me.
"I also told you before that our family has always been doing funerals, one-stop, and whenever someone passed away, I would come to my grandfather to do the funeral. From encoffining, reporting to the funeral, to entering the coffin, and leaving the funeral, my grandfather was alone. Host. Many of the coffins in the yard were handmade by my grandfather. You can ask any family in the village if you go out, and there is no one who doesn’t know my grandfather’s craftsmanship. Although you said you don’t believe in ghosts, in this world There are a lot of things that are really unclear." Shi Yitong grabbed the water glass on the table and took a sip, then continued to tell me. "When we first entered the door, I don't know if you have noticed. One of our houses is for people to live in, and the other is for ghosts. It's not that there are really ghosts, but it is used for funerals and burials. All the props are piled up there."
I thought for a while, then nodded quickly, "I remember, when I first entered the door, I seemed to see a large grocery store."