Chapter 42 Chapter Thirty-eight

At night, quail came and covered the camp.In the morning there was dew on the ground around the camp.After the dew rose, unexpectedly, there were small round objects of hoarfrost on the field.When the Israelites saw it, they did not know what it was, and they asked each other, "What is it?" Moses said to them, "This is the food that the LORD gave you to eat." Entering the twelfth lunar month, all the food and grasshopper corpse powder have been eaten up, and no one knows what the family relies on to survive in the world. The days are always passing by, sunrise and sunset, like flowing water.However, the number of dead people has increased suddenly compared to previous years. The tombs of the Lan family, Du family, and Sima family, like mushrooms after a rainy day, have grown a large piece of fresh, refreshing and rustic tombs all day long. It overflows on the mountain ridge.In less than three months, more than a dozen people died in the village. On average, one and a half people died every ten days.After a person dies, there are blood-related cries. On the way to the funeral, the hoarse and desolate cries of the daughter-in-law and the child are like the continuous sound of water.In the end, people couldn't cry anymore, so they simply stopped crying.Those men who carried the coffin staggered when they walked, and scolded the dead in the coffin, saying that you are alive and everyone treats you well, why are you so heavy and refuse to leave when you are dead, as if you want to exhaust everyone to death.Because of hunger, the carpenter could not make the coffin, pull the saw, push the plane, and the dead family could not afford a meal for the carpenter; Often dizzy, the needle sticks in the hand, shed a few drops of thin blood and fainted at the edge of the shroud.Sima smiled and told the villagers that no one would sew clothes into the coffin when anyone died. The village came forward and nailed a light and strong paulownia coffin and sewed a set of high-quality shrouds inlaid with nine dragons and nine phoenixes. No matter who died, This coffin and this shroud are all used. After the funeral, the shroud is taken off and the empty coffin is carried back for future use.

In any case, the dead leave the world with pomp and circumstance. On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, Dugan yelled at the entrance of the village early in the morning, saying that the village chief, my wife is dead, so organize people to bury her. Sima Xiaoxiao just picked up his breakfast bowl, which contained boiled red and blue vegetable leaves, half a bowl of soup, and a dozen black leaves. When he was about to drink, he heard a cry, put down the bowl and walked to the door. "When did you die?" "Why, it's midnight." "How old are you this year?"

"Thirty-one years old." "It's not too small. Throat disease or hungry?" "Throat disease plus food shortage." "Who used the shroud last time? Look for it first and put it on for her." Returning to the courtyard from outside the door, Sima smiled and went to eat his half bowl of soup and rice, and saw his six children, except Sima Lan standing by the side watching, the other five were grabbing his half bowl of green boiled vegetables , refused to give in to each other, and started a fight. The dwarf boss, although small, was surprisingly strong. He picked up Sima Hu and threw him on the ground. Hu'er grabbed a wooden stick and hit him on the head. It flowed out, half a bowl of vegetables and rice fell on the ground, the big white bowl was shattered, and the vegetable soup spilled all over the floor.So the children were all stunned, and regretted that no one could eat half a bowl of vegetable soup, and stood there blankly, like a group of wooden chickens.

"Lan," Sima said with a smile, "take them outside to find some thatch roots to eat." Sima Lan led the three half-stupid older brothers and two younger brothers out of the courtyard.Watching the children leave, Sima bent down with a smile and picked up seven or eight sweet potato leaves from the ground and put them in his mouth to eat. The dirt and sand in his mouth were grinding like teeth, chattering. At this time, the daughter-in-law came out from the back room, her face was swollen, and it was so translucent that it would flow when touched.She asked who died again? He said Duggan's wife.She said it was almost my turn, and my intestines were tearing and hurting.Sima smiled and gave a stern look, saying that you died and went to enjoy the blessings, what should you do if you leave a bunch of children?Even if you eat dirt and grass, you have to live and suffer with me.The daughter-in-law didn't say anything else, and leaned against the wall to bask in the sun in the courtyard, took out half a handful of bran from her pocket, and spilled a few grains into Sima Xiaoxiao's hand, Sima Xiaoxiao stuffed it into her mouth, and went to the kitchen After drinking half a mouthful of unboiled water, he mixed the bran into a paste soup in his mouth with his tongue, took a hemp rope to bind the coffin, and organized the funeral.

On this day, it was cloudy and then sunny. Many village children gathered on the hillside facing the sun in front of the village, six brothers from the Sima family, a few sisters from the Lan family, Lan Liugen, Lan Yanggen, and Du Zhuang, whose mother had just died. , jumping and jumping, all digging thatch roots in a piece of barren grass to satisfy their hunger.In the black soil dug out, there were occasional white and fat chrysalis, and Sima Sen, who was extremely hungry, ate the chrysalis, and a stream of green water like grass juice flowed out from the corner of his mouth. "What's the smell?"

"Xiangli." Sima Lan picked up a fat worm and put it in her mouth. Before she dared to chew it, the worm wriggled in her mouth, feeling more and more terribly itchy all over her body. Then she closed her eyes and bit it, gulping it down. Next, they opened their eyes and said that it was better than grasshopper shells, and the children started digging up the worms to eat.The older child was digging in front with a shovel, and the younger one was picking up the thatch roots and the worms in the back. The sisters of the Lan family felt a little disgusted at first, but then they also started digging and eating.All of a sudden, the sun-drenched grass became bustling with activity, the warm smell of black soil, the green smell of thatch and the smell of chrysalis, all of a sudden filled the grassy slope.The village has already carried the dead out of the house, and the gate of Du Zhuang's house happened to be seen from here, and a black frame in the picture was clearly there.On the dead body carried out from the black frame, no human body or face could be seen, only hair hanging messily on the edge of a door panel, and the Kowloon shroud shone with a black luster in the sunlight.Hearing the grown-ups asking if the children should cry, Dugan said that there is nothing to cry about, and that she is going to enjoy the blessings, not to suffer, and Sima said with a smile:

"Then put it in the coffin." Sima Lan turned her head back, and saw a large piece of overturned land behind her, all high and low, showing a dark color, like a piece of red and black cotton spread in the wild grass.Seeing many children chewing thatch and chrysalis, a girl lying on the ground vomited and vomited a puddle of green water. When she came closer, she turned out to be a 40-year-old girl who had just run away from home. Turn your stomach up there.Her second sister, eighty, was beating on forty's little back. "Chew the thatch roots quickly," Sima Lan said.

After chewing, I really stopped vomiting.But this one was stopped, and Lan Sanjiu and Lan Fifty vomited again. Others saw the watery green and unchewed pupae in the green that they spit out, shining brightly in the white light, and some pupae Although the worms were bitten through their stomachs and swallowed, they were still wriggling in the dirty juice when they spit them out, so all the boys and girls who ate the chrysalis vomited.A deep blue cough and spit made the wild grass muddy, like it had rained. An adult came, took Du Zhuang's hand and said, "Your mother is going to be buried. Even if you don't cry, you should send your mother to the grave."

Du Zhuang said, "I'm hungry, do I have to eat thatch roots here?" The man said: "Your mother has a piece of steamed bun in her mouth, you can eat it if you don't go to others." Eight-year-old Du Zhuang followed the man.At this moment, the children all remembered that those who died of starvation these days would do everything possible to let them hold a piece of steamed bread before going to the grave, so as not to become starving ghosts after death.Needless to say, this piece of steamed bun was eaten by their children before the dead went to the grave.So all the boys and girls on the barren grass slope looked at Du Zhuang who was walking, their eyes were wide and round, and they followed him relentlessly, thinking that the piece of steamed bun that the dead man had swallowed would be something to eat. how nice.However, the funeral procession finally disappeared from their sight. Sima smiled and acted as master of ceremonies, directing the villagers who carried the coffin. The black coffin walked out of the village.There was no crying, and the sun was warm and warm.The black coffin moved slowly in mid-air, like a house floating on the water.The voices of the adults came over clearly.

Sima smiled and called: "Turn the corner slowly, don't touch the coffin." Dugan Zha said, "Baby mother, rest assured and enjoy the blessings, I will also bring up the children if I starve to death." Du Yan raised the paper money high in the air and sang: "Live poor, die rich, On the way to hell is the house of gold. Short-lived ghost, leave early, In the next life, he will become a centenarian. " The floating paper money spread out in the air in piles, and fell down in a whirl. Accompanied by his singing over and over again, behind the funeral procession of only a few people, like white petals floating on the lake, towards the village. Swinging up and down in the barren grass.There was a child in his thirties who picked up a blank piece of money and ran on the grass. His sister slapped him on the face, saying that it was dead money, and living people can spend it. She cried sharply, saying that I want flowers, I want flowers, I want to buy buns to eat, and I want someone to go to the town to buy buns for me to eat.Crying like this, he still willfully picked up all the money that floated down, and put a dozen into his arms.

His sister turned pale. The faces of sensible boys and girls turned pale. They all knew that the child wouldn't live for a few days, and he had already started grabbing money from the dead.So his elder sister hugged her younger brother and cried, saying who can save him, there is only one boy in my family, and if he dies, the sky of my family will collapse.Wept so sadly that tears poured down like rain.At this moment, Lan Jiushi, the eldest sister of Lan Forty, stepped forward. Like the mother of these children, she came over and pulled the children aside, coaxed out the Mingqian from his arms, and went to the ditch beside the grass slope. On the cliff, throw the money into the air, let it fall to the bottom of the ditch, and take the money from whomever you say, our well water does not violate the river water, and the child will live to eighty, ninety, or one hundred, don't you Come and pester him.After finishing speaking, she walked back to the crowd, carried the baby to a mound, arranged all the thatch roots in three piles in front of the baby, and asked all the boys and girls to kneel down, saying that you should do whatever I say. keep talking. He said: "The sky is old, the land is barren, and people live long." Sima Lan led the children and said in unison: "The sky is old and the earth is barren and people live long." He also said: "Eat and clothe the sun and the moon," Sima Lan led the children and said in unison: "Eat and clothe the sun and the moon." Lan Jiushi stood up from the ground, patted the loess on his knees, and said to get up, why are you still kneeling? A group of children stood up from the ground, patted their knees, and cast inexplicable eyes on Ninety faces.Sima Lan asked Ninety Sister, is this the end?Lan Jiushi said, I am reading the Longevity Sutra.Can you live longer?Said that anyway, the ghost is not coming to pester.Sima Lan said, Sister Ninety, then I will sit on the mound of dirt, and you read to me too. Lan Jiushi said, there are no more offerings, so I can't recite anymore, I have to let the gods eat the best things. They all fell silent.You can hear the sound of people laying down soil in the shady slopes on the other side of the mountain, and you can also see the green juice that everyone spit on the grass not long ago, and the green breath rising under the sun.An adult came back from the entrance of the village, saying that he didn't bring any accompanying objects when he was buried. He went to Dugan's house to get a rice bowl and a wooden comb, and then went to the cemetery on the other side of the mountain.The children on the sunny slope were silent for a long time, and some people began to sit down to rest, and Sima Lan suddenly ran to the house. "What are you doing?" Lan Jiushi asked. Sima Lan said, "Take the offering." Seeing Sima Lan go home, many boys and girls also ran to the village.When it was time to eat a bowl of rice, they all ran back, and they also followed Du Bai and Zhucui from Du Yan's family.Some of them grabbed a handful of chaff in their hands, some held a few grains of corn in their hands, some picked up a handful of beans with their fingers, and some dug out half a bowl of grasshopper powder with a bowl.Everyone looked at each other on the grass, but they couldn't see the sisters of Lan's family. After waiting for a while, Lan Shishi and Lan Sanjiu each grabbed a handful of dried wild vegetables and ran from home, saying Her mother forbade her sisters to come, she asked everyone to play the God of Longevity by themselves.It is said that the things you bring should be put in a bowl to worship the gods, and that the better the offerings in the bowl, the longer the person can live.Said that the thatch roots that her sister just offered to the gods were not thatch roots, but a few bowls of longevity noodles. Sima Lan was the host of this respect to the God of Longevity.He first asked his elder brother Sima Sen to sit on the pile of soil, placed three empty bowls in front of him, and said, how old do you want to live, elder brother?Sima Sen said that it is enough to survive the famine.Sima Lan said that you should live to be forty years old, Sima Sen nodded to his fourth brother with satisfaction, and slightly closed his eyes.After making all the children kneel down, Sima Lan grabbed half a handful of miscellaneous grains and bran from his pocket, and poured a little bit into the first bowl, saying it was a bowl of white steamed buns, and poured it into the second bowl. He said it was a bowl of white noodle soup, and it flowed a little into the third bowl, saying it was a bowl of oil-cooked vegetables.In this way, the steamed buns, soup, and dishes are all ready, and he kneels in the middle of the children, imitating Lan Jiushi's accent: "The sky is old and the earth is barren and people live long," In unison: "The sky is old, the earth is barren, and people live long," "There is food, clothing, and the sun and the moon." In unison: "Eat and dress well for the sun and the moon." Sima Sen walked down from the mound, and Sima Lin sat on it.Sima Lan asked, how long do you want to live, second brother?Sima Lin said that I would live to be older than my elder brother, and I would live to be forty-one years old.Sima Lan grabbed half of the bran and poured it into three bowls, saying that this bowl was fried buns, this bowl was egg soup, and the other bowl was not oil-boiled vegetables, but meat-boiled cabbage and vermicelli. I sang to the children that the world is old and the earth is barren, people live long, there is food, clothing and a good sun and moon.It was Sima Mu's turn to sit on the mound. He said that I want to live older than my second brother, I want to live to be forty-two years old.Sima Lan changed three bowls of better offerings, one bowl of steamed buns with egg oil, one bowl of soup with eggs and meat, and the other bowl had no vegetables and was all meat.When I arrived at the fifth elder Sima Lu, Sima Lu had already offered whatever delicious food he wanted, and he wanted to live bigger than the forty-two, but there was no better offering than the third brother, so I had to say that I lived forty-two too. Two years old.When it came to the sixth younger brother, Sima Hu, things were different. He sat down on the mound and said that I would live to be fifty years old, and my hair would not be gray, my teeth would not fall out, and my ears would not be deaf. The boys and girls looked at Sima Hu in amazement. Sima Lan was a little embarrassed. "You live so old, what should I pay for?" Sima Hu said: "The three bowls you offer are all big white meat. Dad said, white meat is more delicious than red meat." Sima Hu grabbed some bran and made three bowls of big white meat.Sima's family has already made offerings to the god of food and clothing for five times, and it's the turn of another family's children.Sima Lan couldn't think of a better offering than the three bowls of meat, so he let the other boys and girls think for themselves, saying that the older you live, the better the offering will be if you live one year younger. After a while, God will be angry, and you will not live to be forty, and you will not survive this famine.In this way, boys and girls think about it, and some people think of making three roast chickens to serve the gods, and they say they want to live to be sixty years old.Some people also said that I made three roast chickens, and added seasonings such as onion, garlic, ginger, and star anise, so I reported that I would live to sixty-one.So the kid in front regretted it, thinking why I didn’t add green onion, garlic, ginger and star anise when I made roast chicken?Without these condiments, there is only salt in the roast chicken. Isn't it bitter and salty, can it be delicious?But when I thought about how bad it was, three chickens were worth more than three bowls of fat meat, so I felt relieved. It was the turn of the Lan sisters. Lan Sisi asked her younger sister Sanjiu to sit on the mound, put three red beans in each bowl, and said, sister, how long do you want to live? Sanjiu said: "Sixth sister, I will live as long as you live." Forty said, "That won't work. You live your life and I live mine. When we grow up, we won't be part of the same family." Sanjiu said, "I want to live a hundred." Forty said: "There is no one who lives to be a hundred years old in the world." Sanjiu said, "Then I'll live to be ninety." Forty said: "There is no one in the world who lives to ninety." Sanjiu said: "If you don't have parents, why do you call the elder sister Jiushi?" Forty has nothing to say, I ask everyone, what is better than three roast chickens?They all looked at each other, and no one knew what was more precious and delicious than three roast chickens in the world, so they had to let Lan Sanjiu live to be sixty-one, and offered three more seasoned chickens.When it was forty's turn, Lan Shishi stuffed some lentils and peas for Sima Lan, and said how old you are, brother Lan. Sima Lan said that I want to be the village chief for fifty years, and I will be the village chief at the age of eighteen. I will live to sixty-eight, I will live to sixty-nine when I become a village head at the age of nineteen, and I will live to eighty when I become a village head at the age of thirty.Lan Shishi said that I will live as long as you live, and I will die someday when you die. After speaking, he slowly climbed to the mound, sat down and closed his eyes slightly, waiting for everyone to kneel down and kowtow to her. Read those two longevity scriptures.But after waiting for a while, everyone didn't kneel down.Everyone looked at Sima Lan's face, to see what good things he could tell. Sima Lan looked up at the sun on the mountain ridge, round like a pancake, not as hot as in summer.When he looked back, he thought of the scene where he and Shishi took off their clothes in the rapeseed field, and a thin layer of sweat silently oozed from his forehead like a cracked egg.He heard the rain-like dripping sound when sweating, and heard Zhu Cui's eyes falling on his face, like a bamboo ruler being bundled and rattling.He lowered his head in front of Forty, threw a few beans into the first bowl, and said to himself, what should I offer, even if I die, I can't think of what to offer. Lan Shishi said, "Steam pork with radish." Sima Lan threw a few beans into the second bowl. "What about this bowl?" Lan Shishi said again: "Stew pork with radish." Sima Lan dropped the last few beans in the third bowl. "What about this bowl?" Blue Forty also said: "Stew pork with radish. There are vegetables, soup and meat. I can live as long as you live." The children all looked at each other, and stared at the three bowls that were almost full of miscellaneous grains, as if they really saw pieces of red and white meat hanging in the bowls, and pieces of white radish soaked in water, and they all thought of it. The meat is red and the white meat is sticky and greasy. Thinking of cooked radishes that are crispy with soup and juice, they all feel that they have made so many delicious dishes, and radish stew is the best, so they all knelt down with Sima Lan , read those two sentences in unison, but still thinking about stewed pork with radish in my heart, swallowing my saliva so loudly. Lan Shishi was shocked by the sound of swallowing saliva and opened his eyes. She saw that the brothers and sisters of the Du family did not kneel down with the others, but stuck straight behind the kneeling crowd like two thin willows. She fixed her eyes on the faces of their brothers and sisters. Du Zhucui twisted her neck and said, I know you want to marry my cousin.Then before Lan Shiling woke up to what she said, before Shisi walked down from the mound, he ran to the mound and pushed Shishi aside, saying that I would die with my cousin in one day, If he lives, I will live, if he dies, I will die.Said that I also serve three bowls of stewed pork with radish, white radish and carrot, fat meat and lean meat. At this moment, Lan Shishi became angry, blue and purple anger burst out from her little face, as if her things had been robbed by Zhu Cui, and she wanted to push Zhu Cui off the mound.Things exploded, and the two girls were about to fight, pointing at each other's nose and scolding shamelessly.However, when the fight was really about to start, the footsteps and voices of adults suddenly came from the entrance of the village, and they all saw the villagers coming back from the hillside carrying the empty coffin, and the Kowloon shroud was casually placed on the coffin head. , The black light shines brightly, like a black rag.There was a bang in their heads, as if they were awakened by the adults and the coffin from a dream, and suddenly felt that their interest was extinguished like a fire, so they all looked at the villagers and the coffin, and fell silent. It was mysteriously quiet for a while, and the indifference of childhood was thick on his face. Zhu Cui's father, Du Yan, called Zhu Cui and Du Bai in the village. Du Bo and Zhu Cui left. They all saw Du Bo take out a bowl from the back of a pile of thatch when he was leaving. In the bowl was half a bowl of snow-white wheat flour. More than a dozen pairs of eyes rested on it until his brothers and sisters walked back to the village. The same gray was in the sunlight, so Cai Du looked back regretfully at the three bowls under the mound.There are chaff, grass grains and sorghum in the bowl, black beans and millet, and grasshopper carcasses and grasshopper powder, but there is no wheat, let alone white flour. A cold, gloomy silence permeated the grassy slope. Sima Hu Leng Ding'er cursed at his cousin and little cousin: "You won't live past forty years old." A few of them echoed: "Yes, Du Bo——Zhu Cui and their brothers and sisters will not live to be forty years old." At the age of ten, we really kept all the chicken, fish, shrimp, meat, delicacies from mountains and seas.Leave it to whoever doesn't get to the bottom of it.In short, they believe that their wishes will come true, and people will live a long life, with food and clothing.Sima Lan didn't knelt down and cursed Du Bo and Zhucui that they wouldn't live to be forty, but after everyone finished cursing, he dug three holes under the mound of soil, and sisters Forty and Sanjiu took the three bowls of rough After the grain was buried in the earth pit, I watched the adults carry the coffin that had just filled the dead into a cow shed in the east of the village, and let everyone follow the adults back home.When the partners leave, say loudly to the separated partners: "Whoever wants to steal this chicken, fish and shrimp, delicacies from mountains and seas, will not live long, and whoever will starve to death in this famine." The sun was at its peak again, and the yellow scones were hanging on the head of the village.