My village can't be like this

Chapter 655 Another Qingming Festival
The next day, Ding Yi sent someone to take away the garlic shoots prepared yesterday.

Because he knew that Zhang An's family was going to the mountains to hang paper for their ancestors, he didn't feel comfortable asking Zhang An for help.

Moreover, the goods that needed to be transported in the past two days have been turned around, and his employees have returned.

After sending the garlic sprouts away, Zhang An discovered that the drizzle that had been falling when he got up just now had stopped.

"It seems that God is very kind today. It's not raining."

It rained when we went into the mountains during the Qingming Festival last year and the year before last. Although it was not heavy, it was enough to make the mountain roads wet and muddy. And after a walk in the mountains, our whole bodies would be wet, which was very uncomfortable.

Zhang An didn't expect that there would be an exception this year.

Although after a day and a night yesterday, the mud on the mountain road must have been soaked.

But Zhang An didn't care. Children in the mountains were already accustomed to walking on muddy roads, which were often slippery on rainy days.

And as long as it doesn't rain, Zhang An won't get wet, and he will be very satisfied.

Because walking in the mountains wearing a plastic raincoat and a bamboo hat is really not comfortable at all.

"Don't be too happy too soon. It's only a few hours now. It's still early. Who knows, God might get angry with you in a little while."

Zhang Jianguo, who was sharpening his sickle, was not optimistic about today's weather, because in his half life, he had already gotten used to the unpredictable weather in this world.

As the saying goes, there is no flat ground for three feet, and no sunny sky for three days. Don't say it is cloudy now. Even if the sun is still shining brightly, it may turn cloudy and bring you a storm later.

Sometimes it's not even cloudy, and there's often a sun shower even under the scorching sun.

As a mountain man, I may not have much experience in other things, but I have seen a lot of this.

"Dad, you don't expect anything good."

After hearing what his father said, Zhang An complained a little. This thing really can't be talked about sometimes, because as soon as you mention it, it will immediately change its attitude towards you.

What Zhang An likes most is eating in the mountains during the Qingming Festival when paper is hung for ancestors.

But in recent years, every time paper is hung, it rains all day long.

They could only send a few people to the mountain to hang up the paper and then come back home to eat.

The days of having fun in the mountains are gone forever.

"Xiao An, are you guys ready? If you are, let's go."

Half a while later, Zhang Jianguo finally sharpened the sickle, and Zhang Jianzhong came over.

"Then let's go, we've packed up."

In fact, there is really nothing to prepare. Just bring a sickle, a shovel and a shovel.

The sickle was brought for cutting wild trees and weeds, while the hoe and shovel were brought for adding new soil to the ancestral graves.

Of course, you also have to bring white paper streamers and incense paper candles.

Even if you are going to eat in the mountains today, you still have to bring these with you.

Because there are many ancestral graves in the family, but I can only choose one place to eat.

Therefore, the people who go out into the mountains in the morning to repair the ancestral graves will hang paper on the ancestral graves that are farther away first.

Then leave one place, and hang it at the end when everyone is carrying food up the mountain.

Of course, if it keeps raining and we have to eat at home, we’ll have to hang everything up together.

This year, the place where paper hanging was concentrated was not at the homes of the younger generations like in previous years, but at the home of the second grandfather.

This is what he insisted on when everyone came over to discuss it yesterday.

Because the old man said that he is old now and he can't say how long he will live, so in previous years the wedding would be held at his children's homes, but this year he will hold the wedding at his home.

Although others wanted to persuade them, Master Zhang was the backbone of their group. Since he insisted, it could not be changed, so in the end everyone could only listen to him.

So, early this morning, all the nephews, grandchildren and their families came here.

For a small courtyard where usually there are only two elderly people, today there are suddenly so many people. Even though it is still early in the morning, it is already very lively.

As Second Grandma and her daughters-in-law and nieces' wives were cleaning up the mess, the smile on her face never left her face.

When people are young, they may prefer quietness, but as they get older, they will like lively atmosphere more and more, especially the family happiness with their children and grandchildren around them.

When Zhang An and his son arrived, all the uncles and aunts in their branch had already been waiting here, except for them, who arrived the latest.

"Okay, everyone is here, let's go."

Uncle Zhang carried out a bamboo backpack, which contained white paper banners, incense paper, candles, and firecrackers that he had prepared long ago.

"Second Grandpa, let me carry you on my back."

Seeing this, Zhang An hurried over and took up the fully filled bamboo basket on his back.

Because among the people present now, he is the youngest, and the others are all uncles.

After all, Qingming Festival is not a national statutory holiday now, and today’s date is not a coincidence as it is Tuesday, and all the children in the family are in school.

Even if the weather is good today and the whole family wants to go to the mountains to eat, they have to wait until school is over.

Fortunately, whether it is middle school or elementary school, the school dismissal time is not too late.

"Dad, I want to go."

Seeing everyone going out, although Xiao Siqi didn't know where they were going, he just wanted to follow them and immediately pestered Zhang An to go with them.

"You have good intentions, but the roads outside are slippery and the mountains are very wet, so you should just stay at home."

Upon seeing this, Mr. Zhang immediately said with a smile.

If the little one is older, about five or six or seven or eight years old, then he or she should definitely be taken along.

But he is still too young now, it rained all day yesterday, and the road conditions in the mountains are not very good, so it is better not to take him along.

The little guy who couldn't go with them pouted in anger. Seeing this, Wang Fang hurried over and took her grandson away.

On the way into the mountain, a large family came in a large and mighty force.

This is because the children in the family are in school and the women are at home cleaning and preparing, so it is the men who come, otherwise there would be more people.

We met quite a few people on the road, because most families in the village would hang paper for their ancestors today, only a few people might have other things to do and would come a few days later.

Along the way, several groups of people walked and came together, and it looked a bit like the scenes of various groups of people working in the fields a long time ago.

After entering the mountains, everyone separated again.

When they arrived at the ancestral grave, without the second grandfather and the fourth grandfather saying anything, all the young people took up their tools and started busying themselves by chopping trees or cutting grass.

As a young man, Zhang An did not compete with his elders. Instead, he took his sickle and went out to find a place with bamboo and cut some grave markers.

In the past, the mountains were mostly trees, and there were no bamboos.

But later, when there were elderly people in the family buried here, people would slowly plant some bamboo nearby.

This will not only be convenient for yourself, but also for others.

As the saying goes, more people means more work. When Zhang An came back with a bunch of grave markers, the area around the ancestral grave had been trimmed very neatly, and a circle of new soil had been added to the grave. Seeing Zhang An coming back, Master Zhang Er and Master Zhang Si took the grave markers that Zhang An had cut and hung white paper banners on them.

Even though Zhang An cut down a lot of bamboos, it was just enough in the end.

Because when hanging paper, even if everyone is hanging it together, according to the rules, everyone who has separated from the family has to hang one for themselves.

Therefore, every Qingming Festival, if you see a lot of paper streamers on a grave, it means that the family is prosperous.

If there are only a few buildings floating around, it means the family is small.

Zhang An's family has a total of more than a dozen families, big and small. In the entire village, it is not the most, but it is not a few either.

Soon, Zhang An took the grave markers with paper banners hung on them and stuck them on the graves.

As the mountain breeze blew, the paper sheets fluttered in the wind, and the green bamboo leaves were soon covered by the white snow.

After burning incense, everyone takes turns to kowtow to their ancestors.

This is also based on seniority, with the two oldest old men taking the lead.

Zhang An is the youngest in seniority, so he can only wait until all the uncles and uncles have finished kowtow before he can take his turn.

Every time someone kneels down and kowtows, the two old men will say some auspicious words.

If the family is married with children, then they will say "May the whole family be healthy, safe and make a lot of money."

If they get married but have no children, they would ask their ancestors to bless them with more children to continue the family line.

As for the younger generation who are not yet married, they pray that they will find a good wife for their family.

Zhang Anquan had experienced all these things in the past few years.

After finishing here, it’s time to go to the next place.

When Zhang An went to cut down the grave marker again, he unexpectedly found an old mulberry tree.

At this moment, the old mulberry tree is full of mulberries, some of which have even turned black.

Zhang An picked a few and put them in his mouth. Probably because he hadn't eaten them for a long time, they tasted surprisingly good.

So Zhang An took out a bag from the space, picked some and packed them up to take back home.

"You're back, we thought you were lost."

When Zhang An returned, his uncles and aunts began to joke that Zhang An had indeed been gone for a long time.

"Hehe, I just saw an old mulberry tree with some edible mulberries, so I picked some and brought them back to Qiqi, so I was delayed for a while."

Zhang An put down the grave marker, raised the bag of mulberries in his hand and explained.

"Wow, this thing is actually edible. Let me try it. I haven't eaten it in a long time."

Zhang An has a cousin who is also known for being greedy. He wants to eat everything. When he saw Zhang An's bag of mulberries, he couldn't help but eat it.

Seeing this, several others also wanted to come over and get a piece of the pie.

"Eat, eat, eat whatever you want. Don't take anything. Didn't you hear that this is for Qiqi?"

Although Zhang An was willing to give it to them, Master Zhang did not agree.

Because Zhang An said that he picked them for the little guy, he didn't want to be troubled by these people.

Although it's just some mulberries, it's not a precious thing.

But now, Xiao Siqi, his great-grandson, is the first in his heart.

When everyone saw the old man take the mulberries, they didn't dare to reach out for more and could only smile awkwardly.

After a while, God actually opened his eyes just as Zhang An had imagined.

After the rain stopped in the morning, the clouds that had been covering the earth actually dispersed a little near noon, revealing some sunlight shining on the earth.

"I didn't expect the weather to be so good today. Let's bring it up the mountain to eat this afternoon."

As soon as Mr. Zhang saw the sun above his head, he immediately started laughing.

It has been cloudy for many days in a row. No one would dislike sunny days.

After the old man spoke up, no one would object, since everyone had specially set aside time today anyway.

After hanging the incense around all the ancestral graves, only the one at Zhang An's grandparents' was left, and it was placed last, waiting for everyone to go up the mountain and hang it together.

Mainly because we celebrated it in other places in previous years, and this year it is their turn.

When the group returned from the mountain, the mud on the road had been dried by the sun, and it was not as muddy as when they came.

As long as it doesn't rain in the afternoon, and it continues like this, the mountain road will definitely not be slippery by the afternoon.

When they got home, Wang Fang and her sisters-in-law were preparing food.

Little Siqi also kept running around the house, enjoying being fed by the grandmothers from time to time.

Although this little guy is the youngest in the family in terms of age and seniority, he has the highest status.

When the bacon was being cooked and cut, I would pass him a piece from time to time. When the chicken was fried, I would also give him a piece. His little mouth simply couldn't stop eating.

"Qiqi, come to daddy."

Zhang An returned home and called the little guy.

But the little guy didn't pounce on him as usual.

Zhang An shook his head helplessly upon seeing this, and it seemed that he was still angry about what happened in the morning.

"Here, look what I have here, hmm, it's delicious..."

But Zhang An was not worried. He knew his son well and he quickly found the little guy's weakness.

Sure enough, when Xiao Siqi heard this, he turned his head and looked at him.

"dad!!"

As soon as he saw the mulberries in Zhang An's hand, he immediately pounced over without showing any sign of anger.

So, in the world of foodies, as long as there is delicious food, there is no question of whether to hold grudges or not. If there is any, just have another one.

A while after everyone came back from the mountain, lunch was ready at home.

On the one hand, there are many people who cook at home, and on the other hand, the main dishes are prepared in the afternoon, so there is no need to be too troublesome at noon, so it does not take much time.

During the lunch break, Zhang An prepared some white paper banners, incense paper and candles and went to the Purple Bamboo Forest.

After Taoist Master Zhang passed away, he was buried not far from Sanqing Temple.

Today, Zhang An can be considered his disciple.

Besides, he is an elder of the clan, so it is only right and proper for him to go and pay his respects.

(End of this chapter)