Brother Rong of Red Mansion

Chapter 80 Close eyes

There are funerals together and everything is busy.

Jia Rong stayed up most of the night sitting and crying at the vigil. At the third quarter of Yin hour, Lai Sheng entered the hall and said to Jia Rong, "It's time for you to give me a sip."

Good guy, Jia Zhen hasn't closed her eyes after keeping watch all night.

In fact, the "sitting and crying wake" last night was a process of "recovery".

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Funerals in ancient times were very troublesome, and preparations had to be made from the moment the person was seriously ill. The entire process is divided into initial and final steps, funeral arrangements, burial arrangements, and post-burial procedures.

Beidu means dying, on the verge of death. At this time, the family members will move the patient to the main room, which is called "relocation".

"History of the Ming Dynasty: Etiquette" says: "All the first and last rites, diseases, are moved to sleep."

This is what the people usually call "end of life". Only in this way can life be complete.

After moving to the main bedroom, whether it is the emperor or the common people, they will usually leave their last words, and the family members will nod in agreement. He also prayed to God and invited famous doctors every day to try his best to stay and see if there would be a miracle.

If the treatment is ineffective, the room must be cleaned, all noise removed, and the patient allowed to die peacefully.

When they are about to die, family members will put cotton wool on the mouth and nose of their loved ones. This behavior is called "Zu Wan".

It is worth noting that according to the "Ming Huidian" records, men will never be separated from women, and women will never be separated from men. He abandoned the bed and slept on the ground. The filial son cried, and the rest cried.

This action must be completed by a same-sex relative. When the breath has expired, the deceased should be moved under the bed.

When Jia Zhen died, Jia Rong and his wife happened to be away. Because her body became cold and hard, in order to "comb her hair and change clothes" cheaply, You hired Jia Qiang to complete this step. From this point of view, Jia Rong is "unfilial". This was one of the reasons why he knelt down, kowtowed, and "wept" the first time he entered the house.

Then, while the deceased's body was still cold and stiff, the family members combed the deceased's hair, changed his shroud, and moved it under the bed. Then he took off his crown and clothes, put on "heavy filial piety clothes", and began to "lament and cry".

This location is also very particular.

The filial son sat on the east side of the bed, with Yu behind him, crying in vain. The brothers’ sons followed him. The wife sits on the west side of the bed, with the concubine, woman, and son behind her. The brother's daughter followed him. Below the grandfather, it is under the northeast wall of the curtain, facing south and west. Below the grandmother, under the northwest wall of the curtain, facing south and east. The husband of the foreign marriage is outdoors to the northeast and west, and the wife is to the southwest, north and east of the housewife. They all sit on a comfortable mat and cry.

After mourning, there is a special ceremony called "soul calling".

The person who performs the spiritual call takes a piece of clothing of the deceased, climbs up to the eaves of the roof of the main room, stands high on it, stands with head held high and chest facing north, holding the front collar in his left hand, the waist of the clothes in his right hand, and chants the name of the deceased.

Generally, men call him by his first name, and women call him by his first name, "So and so is back!"

After the ceremony, he came down and put his clothes on the body.

This is because "when a person dies, his soul is not far away, so he calls it back to life."

However, "people cannot be resurrected after death" is a basic common sense in ancient times. Therefore, soul-calling rituals are generally not common and are mostly used for people who do not see their bodies after death. For example, if someone died in a river or fell into the sea when going out to sea, and no body was found, they would be buried with clothes to summon their souls, which is called a "clothing grave".

In traditional funerals, this "restoration" process is changed to "accompanying the spirit". Because there were anecdotes about "suspended death and resurrection" in ancient times. Even if there is no breath in the mouth and nose, lying in the coffin, he can actually be "resurrected". This gives the world hope.

Therefore, on the first night of accompanying a spirit in ancient times, the body was basically not “cured”. Because in the world's concept, the dead on the first night are not yet dead. You can see the clues from the name of the funeral. For example, "stopping the spirit", "accompanying the spirit" and "waking up the spirit"... The deceased at this moment still has the hope of "resurrection".

But after the first night, the deceased really becomes a dead person and has to go through "curing the corpse."

This is called grooming the deceased. Combing hair, changing clothes, wedge teeth, attacking corpses, examining corpses, opening eyes, closing eyes, etc.

This process is called "small coffin".

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However, this is the emotional ideal funeral of the ancients. In practical terms, it may be because the secular concept that "people cannot be resurrected after death" is deeply rooted in people's hearts. After the deceased dies, it is necessary to quickly tidy up the appearance while the body is still cold and inflexible. For example, combing hair, changing clothes, wedge teeth (rice-containing ceremony), corpse raiding, autopsy, etc.

Only the two procedures of "opening the light" and "squeezing the eyes" were left to the next day before the funeral, which can be regarded as the last trace of sustenance for the family.

At this moment, Jia Rong slowly stood up from the straw mat, couldn't help frowning, and took a breath of cold air. Jia Qiang hurriedly supported her and said, "Brother, be careful."

"Okay." Jia Rong nodded, rubbed his numb leg muscles, stamped his feet, and walked to the coffin. But I saw that Jia Zhen's face was as usual, she put on powder and makeup, was neatly dressed, covered with brocade clothes and quilt, and seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

He took a plain white handkerchief and gently wiped the corners of Jia Zhen's eyes. After a night, mucus oozed from the corners of Jia Zhen's eyes, faintly stained with blood. Jia Rong gently wiped them clean. This was "opening the light."

Then, Jia Rong gritted his teeth, stretched out a hand, and slowly brushed it on Jia Zhen's cold and stiff face.

This is "squeezing your eyes".

It means that a filial son closes his eyes for the deceased, which means he "closes his eyes" and dies peacefully.

However, Jia Zhen's eyes were closed tightly, and Jia Rong just flicked her hand and tried to fool her around.

After closing her eyes, Jia Zhen really "closed her eyes". No matter from a physiological or legal perspective, he is a reasonable and legal dead person.

Next, whether he is "resurrected" or "fake corpse", it will cause panic in the world, and he will be "brought to justice" by means of burning flames.

"So, rest in peace. The important task of saving Ningguo Mansion will be left to me in the future!"

Maybe it's because of the time-travelers.

Although Jia Rong secretly planned all this. But facing the "spirit in heaven" of the deceased, he still chose to believe a little and silently prayed in his heart.

Not to mention, after praying, Jia Rong's guilt was greatly relieved. When I looked at Jia Zhen's body again, my mentality was normal and I could face it calmly.

"If you don't die, the whole Ning Rongjia family will be ruined, so don't blame me, you can only blame yourself for not living up to expectations!"

Jia Rong sighed silently in her heart, and immediately ordered Lai Sheng to quickly prepare food in the kitchen.

Today is the day of hanging sacrifices, and the entire Ningguo Mansion has to be put into operation to receive guests. The three men Jia Jing, Jia Rong, and Jia Qiang, as well as Youshi, Qin Keqing, and all the concubines, all stayed up all night in Dengxian Pavilion. Their physical strength was extremely exhausted and they needed to replenish their energy quickly.

After a while, servants and girls dressed in linen and filial piety brought food from the arrow path downstairs of Tianxiang Tower. The smell of warm rice refreshed everyone who had stayed up all night and regained some of their energy.

"Master, it's time to eat."

Behind the embroidered screen under the northeast wall of the coffin, there is a straw mat on the ground. Jia Jing is wearing hemp and mourning, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, meditating. Jia Rong came in cautiously, knelt on the ground, and gave Jia Jing the bowl and chopsticks to eat.

(End of this chapter)