folk detective

Chapter 134 Sweeping the Tombs
After changing into a miniskirt, Lu Hui went downstairs and found Liu Mang waiting at the door. He was holding a fishing net, wearing gloves, and carrying a small shoulder bag.

But grandfather Liu Lin was smoking next to Liu Mang's red Roewe, saw Liu Mang and Lu Hui coming out, and asked, "How much is this car?"

"Less than 20." At this moment, Liu Mang remembered that he had bought five packs of cigarettes for his grandfather, and quickly said to his grandfather, "I bought five packs of cigarettes and put them in the hall."

"I see." Liu Lin had long seen his grandson Liu Mang's five sticks of cigarettes placed in the lobby on the first floor, under the TV.

Liu Xun doesn't smoke, and Liu Mang put the cigarettes on the first floor, knowing without thinking that he bought them to honor him: "The red car is not very good, this is the peace talisman I asked for you in the temple a few days ago, Put it in the car!"

He took out a yellow talisman from his pocket.

"Oh!" Liu Mang reached out and took it without questioning, took out the key and opened the car door, rummaged through to find a safety bag, stuffed the safety talisman into it, and put it in the car.

"Then let's go." Liu Mang took Lu Hui's hand and walked to a fish pond not far away.

"Liu Mang, what does your grandfather do?"

After walking away, Lu Hui asked Liu Mang curiously, because her grandfather Liu Lin gave her a strange and mysterious feeling.

"It's better not to know." Liu Mang looked at Lu Hui with a strange smile: "Say it out, I'm afraid I'll scare you."

"Hmph, playing tricks." Lu Hui curled her lips, thinking that Liu Mang was trying to scare her.

"You really want to know?" Liu Mang grinned, and the meaningful smile made Lu Hui more and more curious.

"I want to know." Lu Hui nodded in response.

"Okay! I said, don't be afraid."

Liu Mang stopped and said with a serious expression, "My grandfather is a mage, an old mage in the village, who specializes in performing rituals for the dead, or performing rituals for some temples on July [-]th."

"what!"

The word mage didn't scare Lu Hui, but what really scared her was the words "specially doing things for the dead."

Thoughts flashed in her mind, as if she thought of the horrific scene, her face turned pale with fright.

"Scared!" Seeing Lu Hui's startled reaction, Liu Mang chuckled, "It's a custom. In fact, who knows if there are ghosts and gods in this world. There have been Taoists, nuns, and monks in China since ancient times, and there are also mages. It’s a kind of Taoist priest, but it’s not that formal.”

Lu Hui really never imagined that Liu Mang's grandfather Liu Lin would be an old mage who specialized in doing things for the dead.

"What about your parents?" Lu Hui looked at Liu Mang with some fear.

"Farming!" The two walked towards the fish pond, talking as they walked, and soon saw the fish pond: "My parents came back from Guangdong when I graduated from university. Before that, they had been working in Guangdong. Earn money for my studies, and I don’t need to make money after graduation, so I’ll come back to farm, fruit trees and fish…”

"Although they don't earn much, they still have 5 to 20 yuan a year, and they have bought pension insurance for more than [-] years, and they can receive pensions when they reach retirement age."

As for why his parents are unwilling to stay in Guangdong and continue to work, Liu Mang can actually guess.

Grandpa is old, no one can take care of him.

As the saying goes, raise children to guard against old age, raise children to guard against old age...

It is to be able to go home to take care of parents when they are old.

"So it's not easy for your parents." Lu Hui said with a heavy tone.

Happy time always passes quickly.

The next day, Double Ninth Festival!
Because Liu Mang's ancestral tombs are many, scattered and far away, they have always set off to visit the tombs and pay respects to their ancestors around nine o'clock in the morning.

The custom of worshiping ancestors in Lushan Village is very strange. During the two festivals of Qingming and Chongyang, usually men and children go to visit graves, but married women don't have to go, and generally they are not allowed to go.

Unless it was needed when the family died that year, there is no need for married women to worship.

Lu Hui wanted to go with Liu Mang, but her grandfather Liu Lin and father Liu Xun refused to let her go.The thinking of the older generation is different from that of the young people today, and they respect the customs left by the ancestors in the village very much.

"Oh! Then I'll cook at home with my aunt." Lu Hui said a little disappointed.

"Actually, I have been married for decades. Except for the grave-sweeping of Grandma Liu Mang in the years when she passed away, they would not let me go. This is the custom of Lushan Village, not to exclude you." Li Yashu was afraid Lu Hui misunderstood and explained to her quickly.

"Auntie, it's okay. If you don't go, you won't go." Lu Hui smiled.

Liu Mang is holding a sickle and shovel, wearing a straw hat, and his father Liu Xun is carrying a bag, which contains firecrackers, paper money, and incense candles...

Grandpa is carrying a shovel on his shoulder, and a basket is hung on the front end, which contains items for sweeping graves and offering sacrifices to ancestors.

"How many people in our village are still unmarried?"

Walking on the road, Liu Mang heard the sound of firecrackers from the nearest mountain, and knew that someone had already visited the grave.

"It's too much, let's not talk about those around 35 years old. There are more than 30 people who are about your age and haven't even got married. They don't even have girlfriends. Parents are very worried." Grandpa Liu Lin said lightly.

"Our village is alright. The Wang Village next door has more people than ours. When I went to the town to buy sacrifices yesterday, I ran into a classmate from the next village. After chatting, I found out that there are more than 300 households in their village. More than 50 bachelors in their 27s who are still unmarried." Father Liu Xun said with a wry smile.

"I even brought my girlfriends back, so hurry up and get married, so as not to have long nights and dreams. Girls nowadays are very smart, and they don't marry if they have no money, no car, no house. Grandpa, I'm old, I'm afraid I won't have a few years to live, you Don't make me unable to hug my great-grandson, or the hundreds of thousands of deposits I have saved will not be left to you." Grandpa Liu Lin looked at Liu Mang and put pressure on Liu Mang.

The corner of Liu Mang's mouth grinned, revealing a bitter smile that was not a smile: "Grandpa, you are only in your seventies this year, so you are early! The old people in the village, as long as they don't get seriously ill, don't live to be more than 90 years old. If you live well, you might be able to survive." Seeing the great-great-great-grandson, the five generations live together..."

"Nineties? Do you really dare to think that it is the most normal for a woman to live in her nineties in our village, but the life span of a man is shorter than that of a woman. If I can live to ninety, I am dying of laughter. .” Grandpa Liu Lin laughed.

Five generations live under the same roof, this is something that is unimaginable.

"Dad! If you want me to tell you, don't try to do things. You are exhausted. Our family is not short of money, and it always feels a bit unlucky to do this kind of thing."

Taking advantage of his son's presence, Liu Xun began to persuade his father: "You are getting old now, and every once in a while you will drive an old-fashioned motorcycle in Jialing to other villages to perform ceremonies. You are not afraid, we are still worried!"

"worry about what?"

Grandfather Liu Lin turned and glared at his son Liu Xun: "What is bad luck for a worthless thing? Is it bad luck for Taoist priests and monks to save the dead? I let you inherit this craft. If you don't inherit it, it's fine. Discredit the craft."

"You don't even think about it. In the early years, if an old man in the family passed away and there was no mage to perform deeds, how would others treat their children? Unfilial? After all, the rural people are not as open-minded as the city people. Go directly to cremation."

"Maybe at your age, you think it doesn't matter if you have a mage or not, but in the thinking of the older generation, as long as someone dies, you have to go back to peace, and ask the mage to save you!"

Liu Xun knew that he couldn't talk to his father, so he just hummed and stopped talking.

"Dad, don't worry about grandpa's affairs." Liu Mang felt that grandpa did the right thing. "Grandpa, when I get old, remember to pass on this craft to me. I'm going to carry it forward."

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(End of this chapter)