Chapter 61 60

Tianyou's body did not float into the big river and sea, but was entangled by ice, algae, and tree roots and frozen on the riverside. Someone found the body early in the morning the next day, and the news did not reach the Qi family until the afternoon.Old Man Qi's grief is indescribable.The most important of the four generations living under the same roof, the most mature and reliable floor closest to him was actually demolished first!He could imagine his own death, and the death of his daughter-in-law—she was always so sick.He even imagined the death of his third grandson.He never imagined that Tianyou would die, and he died so badly!God is ignorant, ruthless, heartless, and will take away the most important and most mature person: "What use am I? God, why don't you teach me to be God's blessing?" The old man jumped on his feet and questioned God .Then, he cursed the Japanese.He forgot the rules, forgot the fear, and began to curse.While cursing, she cried until she couldn't make a sound.

Mrs. Tianyou's tears flowed down one after another, and her whole body trembled, but she never let out a sound.After a while, her eyeballs rolled up and she closed her breath. Yunmei shed tears, while persuading her grandfather, she called her mother-in-law.For no reason, the two children tugged on her skirt, refusing to let go. Ruifeng, who did not show the slightest filial piety to his father, also cried with his mouth wide open. Slowly, Mrs. Tianyou woke up.She just burst into tears.Yunmei also cried with her mother-in-law. After crying for a long time, there was suddenly no sound in the courtyard.The tears are still falling, and the snot is still flowing, but there is no sound, like a snowstorm passing, only light rain falls.Grief, anger, sadness, all vomited out, everyone's heart became empty, unable to think, unable to think of action.They seemed to be still alive, but also seemed to be half-dead, they all lowered their heads in tears and stared blankly.

After being in a daze for an unknown amount of time, Yunmei spoke out first: "Second brother, go find your brother!" This little voice was like a thunderbolt shaking a thick black cloud, heavy rain fell immediately, and everyone cried again.It was completely useless for Yunmei to advise this one and comfort that one, everyone was only focused on pouring out their sorrows and couldn't hear her voice at all. Mrs. Tianyou was sitting on the edge of the Kang, unable to move, her hands and feet were as cold as ice.Old Man Qi's face suddenly shrunk.With his hands on his knees, he no longer cried, but only trembled and howled.Ruifeng's cry was stronger than others'. He didn't know what he was crying for, but he only felt that crying loudly made him feel comfortable.

Yunmei wiped her tears, grabbed her second child by the shoulder and shook her a few times: "Go find your elder brother!" Her voice was so sharp, and her expression was so eager that Ruifeng couldn't help but stop the sad sound.Even old man Qi felt a little bit of shock, and suddenly woke up.The old man also shouted: "Go find your brother!" At this time, Xiaowen and the wife of Mr. Liu, a shed builder, all ran in.Since Master Liu left, Ruixuan always taught Yunmei to send Mrs. Liu six yuan when she was paid.Mrs. Liu is a short, very strong country girl who can endure hardships.In addition to the money the Qi family provided her, she also went to the shop to buy some clothes, sew and wash them, and earn a few pennies.She also came to Qi's house from time to time, snatching the work from Yunmei's hands, and took the time to finish them.She is a country person, and although the work she does is rough, she is very sturdy; the cloth shoes she makes for Xiao Shun'er have hard uppers and thick soles, one pair can really be worn as two pairs.She doesn't like to talk much, but when she speaks, she is full of interesting and insights, so she became good friends with Mrs. Tianyou and Yunmei.She doesn't say hello to the men of the Qi family; she is a country girl, but she has a heart.Xiaowen didn't come to Qi's house easily.He knew that most of the members of the Qi family were old bosses, or they didn't like his career and actions very much, so it was inconvenient to hate him too much.He doesn't despise himself, but he also respects others, so he must maintain his identity without leaving.Today, he heard that the Qi family was crying too hard, so he couldn't come to see it.

Facing his head, Ruifeng kowtowed to the two neighbors.They immediately understood that the Qi family was nothing.Neither Xiaowen nor Mrs. Liu dared to ask who was dead, but just looked around.Ruifeng said: "Old man..." Xiaowen and Mrs. Liu's tears rolled in their eyes immediately.None of them had any contact with Tianyou, but they all knew that Tianyou was the most well-behaved and honest person, so they felt it was a pity. Mrs. Liu immediately ran to serve Mrs. Tianyou and take care of the children. Xiaowen immediately asked: "Is there anything useful for me?" Old man Qi has never thought highly of Xiaowen, but now he holds Xiaowen's hand. "Master Wen, he died miserably! Miserably!" The old man's eyes were originally small, but now they were red and swollen, almost completely hiding the eyeballs.

Yunmei said again: "Master Wen, call Ruixuan!" Xiaowen is willing to do this. Old man Qi pulled Xiaowen and stood up: "Master Wen, call! Tell him to go outside Pingzemen, by the river! By the river!" After finishing speaking, he let go of Xiaowen's hand and turned to Ruifeng Say, "Go! Get out of town!" "Grandpa, you can't go!" The old man roared: "Why can't I go? He is my son, why can't I go? Teach me to fall into the river all at once, and die with him, I am willing! Go, Ruifeng!" Xiaowen has always been calm, now he ran out at a trot.He first went to see if Fourth Master Li was at home.at home. "Fourth Master, hurry to Qi's house! The shopkeeper God Bless has passed!"

"Who?" Fourth Master Li refused to trust his ears. "God bless the shopkeeper! Go!" Xiaowen ran out and went to the street to borrow the phone. As soon as the four mothers understood, they ran to Qi's house.As soon as he entered the door, no matter what happened, he burst into crying and howling. Fourth Master Li took old man Qi's hand, and the two old men shivered into a ball.Old man Li is used to funerals and is easily emotionless; today, he was really moved.Old Man Qi was his good friend for many years, and Tianyou was such a well-behaved and honest person who never caused trouble; when he first met Old Man Qi, Tianyou was still a child.

After another round of crying, everyone began to feel a little more at ease, because everyone knew that Fourth Master Li was a man of his own.Fourth Master Li wiped his eyes and said to Ruifeng, "Second brother, get out of town!" "I'll go too!" Old Man Qi said. "Aren't you worried about me going? Brother!" Fourth Master Li knew that Old Man Qi was just going to cause more trouble, so he stopped him. "I must go!" Old Man Qi was very resolute.In order to show that he can walk without being greeted by others, he wants to go out very quickly and show everyone to take a look.However, as soon as he stepped down the steps outside the house, he almost fell down.Struggling to stand still, he could no longer take a step, only trembling.

Mrs. Tianyou is going too.Tianyou is her husband, she knows everything about him, so she must also see how her husband died. Fourth Master Li stopped Old Man Qi and Mrs. Tianyou: "I swear, I will teach you to look at his dead body! Now, don't go! I'll come pick you up after I'm done, can't you?" Old man Qi stared hard at his small eyes, but it was useless, he still couldn't move. "Mom!" Yunmei told her mother-in-law. "Don't go! If you don't go, teach grandpa to feel better!" Mrs. Tianyou wept and nodded.Old man Qi was dragged into the house by the four mothers.

Fourth Master Li and Ruifeng went out.They just went out when Xiaowen and Sun Qi came together.Xiaowen got through the phone, and Sun Qi met Xiaowen on the road.On weekdays, although Sun Qi doesn't have any bad feelings with Xiaowen, he doesn't have much friendship either.As far as hair is concerned, Xiaowen always goes to the best barber shop to get a haircut and shave. Mrs. Xiaowen always goes to the beauty parlor run by a Shanghai native to get a perm whenever she has a church meeting.This gave Sun Qi a little excitement, and he was not very happy to greet the Wen family couple more.Today, he and Xiaowen seem to have suddenly become good friends, because since Xiaowen is willing to help the Qi family, it can prove that Xiaowen has a good heart.Tribulation makes a man's heart easy to touch one place.

Xiaowen doesn't say anything, just smokes one after another.Sun Qi's words came easily and fiercely, which made Old Man Qi feel a little comforted.The old man was already lying on the kang, unable to say a word, but he still listened to Sun Qi's nonsense and sighed from time to time.If it wasn't for Sun Qi who kept talking, he knew he would cry again. Occupational and life experiences made Fourth Master Li plan everything when he was extremely sad in his heart.When he reached the street corner, he called two people in a small teahouse, and went to retrieve the corpse first.Then, he went to a shroud shop on Huguosi Street and bought two necessary shrouds on credit.His plan is: to salvage the body, first take off the clothes soaked in water overnight, and put on the shroud—if these two items are not good enough, the Qi family will add them later.Put on his clothes, he thought, and put the corpse in the Temple of the Three Immortals outside the city, waiting for the people from the Qi family to handle the encoffining and opening.The Japanese do not allow dead bodies to enter the city, and it is too troublesome to carry them around. It is better to do business in the temple and then carry them for burial. As soon as he thought of these plans, he asked Ruifeng what he thought.Ruifeng has no comment.His heart was completely empty, and he only felt that he was a carefree and filial son, receiving pity and borrowing from others everywhere, quite comfortable, and not without a sense of pride.After leaving the city and seeing the body—the two hired men had fished it up and put it on the river bank—Ruifeng was really moved.All of a sudden, lying on the ground, hugging the corpse, he burst into tears.This time, his tears were real, coming from the depths of his heart.Tianyou's face and body were swollen, but it wasn't very ugly, and he was still so quiet and gentle.He held a handful of river mud in his hand, his face was quite clean except for two straw sticks on his beard. Fourth Master Li also shed tears.This is the Qi Tianyou who he looked at growing up—the Qi Tianyou who has been shy since he was a child, has never done anything wrong in his life, is always peaceful, honest, strong, and stable!The old man couldn't help being sad, it wasn't just that Tianyou's fate should be like this, but that the world had changed—an honest man, a good man, must die in the river! Ruixuan arrived.As soon as he received the call, his face immediately turned pale.With trembling lips, he only told Mr. Fu Shan a word: "There is a funeral at home!" and then ran out.He hardly knew how to get out of Pingze's gate.He didn't cry, but his eyes couldn't see everything in front of him clearly.If grandfather died suddenly, he would cry very sadly.However, that was just sad, not confusing him, because his grandfather's lifespan had come and death was inevitable, he never thought that his father would die suddenly.Moreover, he is the eldest son of his father: his appearance, character, attitude, and way of speaking are all like his father, because when he was young, only his father was his model, and he was the only treasure of his father who accepted his full share. love.The first time he went to the street, he was carried by his father.When he was just learning to walk, his father held his little hand.He went to elementary school, middle school, and university, which was his father's idea.He got married, started a business, and had his own children. He was able to be independent in many matters, and he no longer had to discuss with his father. However, his motives and methods of handling things secretly coincided with those of his father.He doesn't necessarily talk about anything with his father, but there is an intimacy between father and son who understands each other without talking; a look, a smile is enough, and there is no need to spend more words.When his father looked at him, and when he looked at his father, it seemed that he could see twenty or thirty years ago from the present. Twenty or thirty years ago, as long as he handed his little hand to his father, his father knew that he was going out to play.He has his own career and learning, completely different from his father's, but apart from this foreign knowledge and work, he feels that he is the embodiment of his father.He is not completely himself, and his father is not completely his father. Only when father and son are together can he feel safe and happy.He has no ambitions, he only wants his father to live to the age of his grandfather, and he is like his father to his grandfather, although he has grown a beard, he is still considerate of his father and teaches him to enjoy a few years of happiness.This is not false filial piety, but, in his opinion, the most natural and most appropriate thing. Father will suddenly throw water!He himself seems to be more than half dead!He didn't even bother to think about the reason for his father's death, but cursed the Japanese.He saw only a living father and a dead father; fathers, fathers of all shapes—bearded, beardless, laughing, crying—appeared before his eyes and vanished in moments.He couldn't think of anything else. Seeing his father, he didn't cry out loud.He never cried and yelled.Crying loudly is just a helpless way, and he is a person who is good at thinking of ways, and he is not used to crying.He knelt before his father's head, looking at his father through tears.His chest was itchy, his throat was sweet, and he spat out a mouthful of bright red blood.His legs gave way, and he sat on the ground.The world is spinning.He didn't know everything, but he still called out in a low voice: "Dad! Dad!" After a long, long time, he saw everything in front of him again, and realized that Fourth Master Li was covering him with his hands behind him. "Don't be so sad!" Fourth Master yelled, "The dead can't live anymore, the living must live!" Ruixuan stood up wiping his tears, and wiped away the bright red blood with his feet.He didn't even have any strength left, and his face was terribly pale.However, he still has work to do.No matter how sad he was, he was the one who was in charge of the house, and he had to spend all his heart and soul on looking after everything. He agreed with Li Siye's method and parked the body in the Temple of the Three Immortals. Fourth Master Li borrowed a board, Ruixuan Ruifeng and the two helpers lifted Tianyou up and walked into the temple.The sun was already in the west, and the not very warm light shone on Tianyou's face.Ruixuan looked at his father's face, tears dripped down again and landed on his father's feet.He was sore and weak all over, but he still held the board firmly and moved forward step by step.He felt that he might fall down and never get up again, but he struggled to move on. He had to carry his father to the temple to rest. The Temple of the Three Immortals is very small, and the two old cypresses in the courtyard stretch their branches outside the wall, as if to get a little more sunlight and air.After entering the door, Tianyou's face was covered with a faint green shadow instead of sunlight. "Father!" Ruixuan called in a low voice. "Sleep here!" The stopping place is in the backyard.The yard was even smaller, but without any trees, Tianyou's face lit up again.After setting the spirit down, Ruixuan stared blankly at his father.Father did sleep soundly, motionless, as if extremely comfortable, at ease, without the slightest worry.Life is a dream, but death is more real, more certain, and more free! "Brother!" Ruifeng's eyes, nose, and even ears were all red. "How to do it?" "Huh?" Rui Xuan seemed to wake up from a dream. "I said, what should we do?" The second child's sadness seemed to have disappeared, and he wanted to join in the fun again.A funeral, even though it is a funeral, according to him, is also a good opportunity to join in the fun.Wearing filial piety, laying scriptures, burning paper, offering wine, kowtow, setting meals, encoffining, hanging, funeral... how lively it is!He knew that he had no money, but his elder brother would always try to get money.People must be filial, father will only die once, even if the elder brother is in trouble, he must do things lively.As long as the eldest brother is willing to be filial, he—the second child—will definitely use all his scheming and planning to make this event a very beautiful, dignified, and exciting affair.For example: on the day of the third day, don’t you paste some decent paper figures and paper horses, and invite thirteen monks to read the Sutra for one night?Accompaniment is even more beautiful, the banquet should be at least eight bowls and a hot pot, and the most complete drummer is required outside the temple; if you are still a monk during the day, you should be replaced by a lama or Taoist priest at night.Then, during the funeral, at least seventy or eighty relatives and friends in filial piety walked slowly in front of the coffin like a large flock of white geese; behind the coffin were ten or twenty cars, white, yellow, blue, Inside sat the mourners.There are also deacons, voiceless, mourning drums, paper figures and paper carts, gold mountains and silver mountains!Only in this way, he thought, would he be worthy of his dead father, and his relatives and friends would also admire the Qi family—even though he died by throwing himself into the river, there was no flaw in the way things were handled! "Fourth grandpa!" Ruixuan ignored the second child, but said to old man Li: "Let's go back together? I have to discuss things with my grandfather and mother, with your old man by my side, or..." Old man Li looked into Ruixuan's heart at a glance: "I know! Listen to what the old people say, and then add up our money and resources, things can't be too poor, and we can't be too expensive; this year!" Then he Tell Ruifeng: "Second brother, you stay here and watch; we will be back in a while." At the same time, he sent the two helpers back. Seeing the door of the house, Ruixuan couldn't move.It was with great effort that he climbed the steps.After just two or three steps, he was already exhausted.A few small gold stars were flying in front of his eyes, and his heart was beating fast.He held on to the door frame and couldn't move anymore.On the door frame, Xiaowen had just pasted white paper, and the paste was still wet.He will not, and dare not, enter the house with the white paper on it.What did he say when he saw his grandfather and mother?How to comfort them? Fourth Master Li helped him in. When the family members saw that Ruixuan had returned, they all started crying again.He himself didn't want to cry anymore, but the tears were uncontrollable and flowed down one after another.Seeing that they were almost crying, Fourth Master Li stopped everyone: "Don't cry! We have to discuss how to do things!" Hearing this advice, everyone seemed to think for the first time that the dead should be buried; then they all sat together wiping their tears. Elder Qi still didn't care about practical issues, he took Fourth Master's hand and said, "God Bless didn't send me to the end, I'm going to send him; where did this start!" "Then what can we do? Brother! " Fourth Master Li sighed, and then he got to the point: "Let's see how much money we have first!" "I'll pay a month's salary!" Ruixuan didn't say anything else, indicating that he had no other choice. Mrs. Tianyou still has more than twenty cash dollars, and old man Qi also has dozens of cash coins and some large copper coins.These are their coffin books, but they are all willing to take them out for God's blessing. "Fourth Master, buy him some good wood, everything else is fake! Who knows, when I die, will I be wrapped in a coffin or wrapped in a mat!" said the old man tremblingly.Really, the old man's little eyes can no longer see tomorrow.His only fear is death.However, when the time comes, he must die. He is willing to have a good coffin and a group of children and grandchildren to bring him filial piety; this is his last glory!However, the son died in front of him and took away his coffin. What else can he say?The last glory is the real glory, but he no longer dares to hope for that.The order of his life has been completely messed up, he dare not hope for anything, dare not be confident anymore.He is no longer an old birthday star. It is possible that he will become an old beggar. After death, he can't even find a coffin! "Okay! I'll go and show you the material, it's sure to be strong and decent!" Fourth Master Li quickly concluded Old Man Qi's proposal. "How many days will you stop? God bless Mrs.!" Mrs. Tianyou is very willing to hold her husband's funeral in a decent way.She knew it clearly: her husband had never wasted a single piece of money in his life, and he always saved money and handed it over to his family.He deserves a decent release, and everyone deserves a final reward.However, she also knew that she would marry her husband at some point, and she had to think for Ruixuan if it wasn't for others; what would Ruixuan do if another affair happened?Thinking of this, she immediately made a decision: "Grandpa, how about leaving it for five days? In the temple, if you leave it for one more day, it will cost you the money of one more day!" Five days is too little.But old man Qi reluctantly nodded.At this moment, he had seen Ruixuan's face clearly - it was as gray as a piece of paper that had been blown by wind and rain. "You have to read the Sutra overnight, right? Grandpa!" Mrs. Tianyou asked with her head down.Everyone has no objection. Ruixuan just listened in a daze, without saying anything.On weekdays, he was not interested in chanting scriptures and hanging hanging, and even thought it was useless, so there was no need for it.Today, it is inconvenient for him to say anything.Culture is culture, and culture contains many, many unnecessary red tapes, which need not be maintained by him or destroyed by him.Besides, in such a family of four generations, culture has many layers, like a piece of mille-feuille.If he only acts with reason, he has to cut off several layers to make things reasonable; but if he looks at it with the eyes of wisdom, he really doesn't have to hurt the hearts of the old people because of his stubbornness.He is a modern man, but he must be considerate of the past.As long as grandfather and mother are not as greedy for fun as Ruifeng, he doesn't have to embarrass them.He is like a pendulum in the old and new cultures. He must swing left and right to make the time go smoothly and accurately. Fourth Master Li concluded: "Okay, Big Brother Qi, I'm sure! I'll see the coffin tomorrow. Ruixuan, you go to the cemetery early tomorrow morning to dig a hole. Sun Qi, you can figure it out Is time coming? Okay, you go with Ruixuan. Mrs. Liu, go and pull the cloth, pull it back, and help Grandma Qi sew the filial piety clothes. Please use the seven children to read the scriptures, and I will invite them. Drummer, deacon, You don't have to be too particular about it, as long as there is a sound, right? Who are you going to invite?" Yunmei found out the gift book of the traveler's favor from the box.Old man Qi didn't read the booklet, so he decided: "Just invite relatives and friends, there are about 20 families." Well, for a big funeral, more than 50 relatives and friends should be invited, and at least 14 or 15 tables should be set; if it is a simple funeral, it can be reduced by half. "Then, let's prepare more than 20 meals." Li Siye quickly came up with an idea: "Just eat stir-fried noodles, which saves money and is warm; in these years, relatives and friends will not laugh at us! Brother , you take them to the temple to have a look. Go to the temple, tell the second child, and teach him to report the funeral tomorrow. Fortunately, there are only more than 20 people, and it is enough to run there in one day. Brother! Don’t be too sad when you get there. Now, your health is important! Fourth mother, you go with Mrs. Tianyou; when you get there, come back after crying a bit! I will go to wake up with the second child later." After Mrs. Li gave these orders, Mrs. Liu hurried to pull the cloth.Elder Qi took Li Sima, daughter-in-law and Xiao Shunzi, hired a car, and went to the temple. Mrs. Liu took the money and was about to walk out of the street. Fourth Master Li shouted to her: "One shop can only be opened for a long time, so go to more shops!" Yunmei also wanted to cry in the temple, but seeing Ruixuan's appearance, she decided to stay at home. Sun Qi's business is tomorrow, he said goodbye and went home to drink, his heart was in a panic. Xiaowen didn't get any order, and continued to smoke one after another.Old man Li glanced at Xiaowen, nodded to him: "Master Wen, go and get a few taels for nothing, I feel sad!" Ruixuan went to his room and lay down on the bed.Yunmei came in gently and covered him with a quilt.He covered his head and wept instead. After tears were shed, his mind became clearer, and he thought of the Japanese.Thinking of the Japanese, he admitted his mistake: his reluctance to leave Peiping was almost purely for the safety and livelihood of the old and young at home.But what's the use?After being imprisoned by himself, the second child has become the most hopeless person; now, even the most mature and cautious father has thrown himself into the river!Under the enemy's hands, but want to protect the family, hum, dream! He stopped crying.He hated the Japanese and himself.