Chapter 13 Sadness: White-haired people give black-haired people

The old Hao family, which has been passed down from generation to generation, recently encountered misfortune: the old man Hao’s precious grandson, Xiaoguang, had an "accident" while working in the Dagou coal mine in the west of the village! In rural areas, the meaning of "accidents in coal mines" can be interpreted as "human deaths", which means that miners often die "unnaturally" under pits. It is said that Xiaoguang encountered a landslide while working as a puller under the pit. All of a sudden, the small courtyard of the Hao family was in a mess. The old man Hao, who felt ashamed of his ancestors, tremblingly touched the head of his grandson lying on the pit.

The grief of "breaking the queen" and the pain of losing a loved one made the old man Hao burst into tears, and he was so sad that he didn't want to live. In his grief, he asked someone to carry out the fine cypress coffin that his son had made for him in the early summer of this year. According to neighbors, Xiaoguang is the only "scholar" from generation to generation in the Hao family. He is a sophomore in high school, and he is very hopeful to be admitted to university and make a name for the Hao family. The children of the poor headed home early. Xiaoguang is a very sensible kid. As soon as the school was on vacation this year, he and another classmate went to the coal mine to work as a worker in order to earn some tuition for the next semester.

The coal boss does not ask about the "threshold" necessary for students to apply for a job today - work experience, but does not reject anyone who comes.Because Xiaoguang is tall and strong, the coal boss arranged for him to do "pulling work".The coal boss said: "This type of work earns a lot of money, and children need money to go to school, so they need it." But he didn't say another meaning, that is, although pullers earn a lot of money, experienced miners understand 80% of the accidents happened to the pullers. On the day Xiaoguang's coffin was buried, the tearful old man Hao stood in front of his grandson's grave in agony, beating his chest and stomping his feet, and forced to file a walking stick into several pieces.

After the "March 7", some people will come to his house to "match Yin marriage". In the local area, there is a folk custom of "matching Yin marriages": when an unmarried young man dies, his family must find a female deceased of the right age for him, so that his relatives can "live" in the underworld.This gave birth to another profession - "shadow marriage matchmaker". It is understood that in recent years, coal mines in this area have often had "accidents", and this business is very prosperous.This is mainly inseparable from the cruel reality of frequent local mining accidents.

In mating marriage, just like in Yangjian, the man must first pay the woman a "betrothal gift".The price was decided by the relatives of both parties. I heard that the two parties agreed with the matchmaker that it was 1,500 yuan, but after a few days, they came to the door and changed their words. They said that the woman was a college student and they had to add 500 yuan. A "junior high school student" in the village who just had an "accident" under the pit. The Hao family thought about it, and had no choice but to agree to the matchmaker's request: the son married a college student "wife" in the underworld, which can be regarded as a rare "consolation" for the old Hao family.

The young man died, and the white-haired man sent the black-haired man. In the local area, if the old man dies, the children and grandchildren under his knees must make a big deal of it. Please "ring up", sing a big show, ask the TV station to make a video, and then choose an auspicious day to be buried in a beautiful manner. If an underage or an unmarried young person dies unfortunately, the funeral ceremony must be simple and concise, and there is no need to engage in any ceremony, and the burial should be done quickly. In recent years, due to the frequent occurrence of accidents in the local coal mines, the workers suffered heavy casualties, and these people happened to be the young and middle-aged labor force in the nearby rural areas, which greatly damaged rural productivity to a certain extent.

It is understood that in Haojia Village, more than 80% of young and middle-aged people have worked in coal mines, and more than 50% of them have been engaged in underground work. Working in coal mines to earn money has become the preferred employment channel for local young farmers.This is also an objective reality in rural Shanxi: a large number of rural productive forces in the local countryside have been transferred from the "ground" to the "underground", which has become a continuous and inexhaustible "motivation to make money" for coal bosses.Once an accident occurs under the pit, it is these rural laborers who will bear the brunt.