Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

When Yu Dejin heard Yu Qiutang say that the body should be sent to his new yard, he firmly disagreed.

When we mentioned earlier that a coffin would be placed there, he expressed strong opposition.

Now that the coffin has become a dead body, isn’t that more serious?

This absolutely cannot be allowed.

Yu Qiushan also advised that this was unlucky, letting a dead person move into the new yard before the new people moved in. The yin energy was too strong and the yang energy was insufficient, which would be bad for the people who would come after them.

Yu Qiutang disagreed.

He just smiled bitterly and said, "My yard won't work, so tell me, whose yard should we put it in?
The old troglodyte courtyard is too small, and it will be inconvenient to walk across the bridge to do things.

Brother Shan, you don’t have an old yard.

That leaves Uncle San's house, but our grandma is still there. If she knew about Uncle Si's affairs, she wouldn't be able to bear it. You don't want to see two people go away at once, do you?

Besides, leaving our grandma at Third Uncle's house has already caused a lot of trouble for him, and now Fourth Uncle's funeral is still held at their house, which means they are losing out too much."

After Yu Qiutang said this, even Yu Dejin was a little confused.

"Don't think too much. You think too much. This is my fourth uncle, not someone else. Our yard is newly built and spacious. We can arrange anything."

Yu Qiutang asked again.

Yu Dejin said at this time: "Let's do this first. I'll leave the body with you. Wait for your second uncle to come back and discuss where to hold the funeral."

"That's okay too."

This is how things were temporarily arranged.

Yu Dejin rushed back to make a coffin. Yu Qiutang said he wanted to help, but Yu Dejin refused, saying that this was his coffin and he wanted to make it himself.

So we had to make this arrangement.

Yu Dejin watched Yu Qiutang, Yu Qiujiang and Yu Qiushan place Yu Dehuo's body in the side room and cover it with a brand new white cloth. He also instructed them to buy incense burners, offerings, candles and other things.

Yu Qiutang said not to worry about these things, he would take care of it.

Only then did he feel at ease to go back.

Soon there were only three brothers left in the room. They silently arranged the basic items for the mourning hall, occasionally reminding others of what was needed, and Yu Qiushan would then record it.

Gradually, a lot of things were recorded on paper.

Not long after, Yu Qiyuan also came.

They became four brothers again.

Of their generation, Yu Qiushi is the only one who has not come here yet, and all the other third-generation men are here.

Of course, Wang Ruixiang was excluded.

After Yu Qiutang briefly explained Wang Ruixiang's situation, Yu Qiujiang's face darkened and he said coldly, "They are not of the same surname and they are not one of us. Let him go and just pretend you don't know this beast."

No one denied this.

Yu Qiyuan, in particular, was not familiar with Wang Ruixiang to begin with, and became even more disgusted when he heard about his character.

Halfway through the preparations, they found that there were too many things missing, so Yu Qiutang and Yu Qiushan went to the town again to buy some more things.

But they are just following their own ideas. The actual funeral etiquette is quite complicated and can only be determined by the elders gathering together.

I originally thought I would have to wait until my second uncle came back the next day, but I didn't expect that Yu Demu would return home exhausted in the evening.

He had been traveling for a short while when his eye circles became completely sunken and his suit was wrinkled, as if it had been washed and then hung out to dry without being stretched.

His first stop was Yu Qiutang, where he looked at his fourth uncle's body.

When he was looking at the corpse, he didn't allow others to follow, so the younger generations had to stand outside. All they heard was the sudden loud and sad howling of a child inside.

"Why did you leave too, Old Four? How could you leave too? What on earth are you all going to do? Why are you so depressed? Old Five, Old Five is like this, and so are you. You...you guys!"

Yu Qiujiang, who was standing outside, heard this and turned away.

When the brothers saw his back, they didn’t know how to comfort him. Even Yu Qiutang was helpless and had to leave him alone.

In the evening, we held a small meeting here at Yu Qiutang.

Although there was no furniture in the house yet, fortunately the window glass had been installed to block out the wind and cold. Yu Chunmei specially lit two earthen stoves and boiled hot water for everyone.

This is a preliminary solution to the problem of keeping warm.

Yu Dejin and his wife, plus Yu Qiutang.

Yu Demu and Yu Qiushan said that Second Aunt would be back tomorrow.

Yu Deshui and Gao Meilan, as well as Yu Qiuyuan.

The last one is the lonely Yu Qiujiang.

The atmosphere in the room was extremely depressing. The candlelight flickered, and everyone's shadows also flickered with it.

After an unknown amount of silence, Yu Demu said in a deep voice: "Big brother, third brother, old..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

My eyes immediately became wet.

Everyone was also shocked.

Yu Deshui adjusted his mood again and continued, "Old Four's incident happened too suddenly, and we didn't expect it. Now that it has happened, I heard from my eldest brother about the attitude of the Wang family.

Since they don't want to care, then just let them be.

The fourth child is from our Yu family. Now that he is back in our home, we will be responsible for him.

And we must be responsible and let the fourth child go with dignity.

I was always busy before, and every time I saw him, I didn’t say much. I wondered in my heart, this child loved to laugh when he was young, why doesn’t he laugh much as he grew up?

Now I finally understand that he has been living a very hard life.

If he had a purpose, why would he go to this extent? Big brother, third brother, maybe we don’t care enough about our brothers…”

Yu Dejin lowered his head and buried his face in the darkness.

Yu Deshui said painfully, "Last time when we were putting up the beams for the house, Tangtang told me that something was wrong with the fourth brother. I said I would take some time to go and have a look, but... I don't have that much to do. If I had gone there earlier, maybe..."

As he spoke, he began to sob.

The atmosphere in the room became more depressing.

Even Chen Meidi lowered her head and said nothing.

Seeing that the three men were like this, and the younger generations were unable to interrupt at this time, Gao Meilan shouted: "We are here to discuss something, but you are all crying and wailing, are we still going to talk about this?

Do you really think that the corpse won't rot in winter? It will rot if it is supposed to.

He doesn't care whether you suffer or enjoy happiness in your life, whether you are a good person or a bad person, it will all be the same after you die.

The fourth one is now placed next door. If any of you still want to cry, go over and hug him and continue crying. When your crying ends and the body rots, you can talk about burying him again."

When she shouted like this, the three men all looked up. Although their expressions were gloomy, there was a little light in their eyes.

Gao Meilan saw this and continued, "No matter what, the person is gone. You are sad, who wouldn't be sad? You are brothers and have deep feelings for each other. Am I, as your sister-in-law, a cold-hearted person?
When I got married, he was still a minor. He kept calling me sister-in-law. He was so well-behaved and the child loved to laugh. I said that if the girl married him, she would have no worries in her life.

But that's fate, he doesn't have that kind of luck.

What can we do?

God is like this. Whoever he wants to kill will die. No matter if you are a good person or a bad person, you will die. As living people, all we can do is to bury him as soon as possible, burn incense for him and scoop up a handful of soil from his grave during festivals and memorial days.

We just need to think of him in our hearts."

Gao Meilan said this, and turned her face away, quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve, and turned back again, "Stop crying, let's talk about business now, okay?"

As expected, she is the Third Aunt.

Yu Qiutang and others sighed secretly.

In this family, only Third Aunt has this ability. At critical moments, several men look powerful, and Second Uncle is still a big shot outside, but in such occasions, Third Aunt really has to step in.

She always manages to use words that sound harsh but have nothing wrong with them to quickly bring chaotic topics back to the normal context of discussion.

Just like a flash of lightning in the dark clouded sky, everyone's vision gradually became clear.

Yu Demu took over the conversation again: "Meilan is right, let's talk about the specifics.

The Wang family doesn't care anymore, and we don't count on them. Let's just pretend they don't exist. We will take care of all the matters here.

The first thing is the standard. Let's determine it. What I mean is, we should try to keep the standard high so that the fourth brother can leave in style. Big brother, third brother, what do you think?"

Yu Dejin nodded.

Yu Deshui said, "Second brother is right. The fourth brother lived a miserable life and no one took him seriously. At least we should make sure that he does not die in such a shabby way. Even if we have to borrow money, we should make his life better."

Yu Demu nodded, and his eyes fell on Yu Qiujiang again: "Qiujiang, you also represent a family. If you have any ideas, just say it directly. Don't mind that we are elders."

"Just whatever you say, it's fine, the person is gone, there's nothing to worry about, I don't have any idea."

Yu Qiujiang was not very enthusiastic, but he did not refuse.

Yu Demu subconsciously thought of the matter of the fifth brother, and felt that what he asked just now was not very appropriate. He could only blame himself secretly in his heart and be more careful with his words in the future, so as not to hurt the child of the fifth brother because of the matter of the fourth brother.

"The first thing is to go to the market," Yu Demu looked at Yu Qiutang, "Qiutang, you can temporarily give up your home and let your uncle take care of you. You are really sensible, kid."

Yu Qiutang said: "I have nothing to do anyway, and it is what I should do."

Everyone's eyes were like a cat catching a spot of light, and they would move to whoever was speaking.

Everyone was relieved to hear Yu Qiutang say this.

I know that using a new house to do something like this requires a very broad mind.

The location is also the most difficult part to solve when handling a funeral. You don’t have to worry about this for now, other things will be much easier to handle.

"Then the funeral will be held in Qiutang. How many tables should we have for the buffet?"

Yu Demu asked again and looked at Yu Dejin. Yu Dejin didn't say anything, so he looked at Yu Deshui.

"At least forty-eight bridges."

Yu Deshui said softly, subconsciously glancing at his wife beside him. Gao Meilan nodded, "We need forty-eight bridges. Thirty-six bridges are too shabby."

"Let's do the Seventy-Two Bridges."

Yu Dejin on the side suddenly said.

Chen Meidi subconsciously pulled his sleeve, but quickly let go and sat next to him without saying a word.

Yu Demu was a little unsure, "If I want the Seventy-Two Bridges, it will probably take two days."

"Just have a buffet for three days."

Yu Dejin reiterated.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

The number of bridges in weddings and funerals refers to the number of tables for the buffet. Generally, there are thirty-six bridges at most for weddings, and funerals are limited to fifty-four bridges. On weekdays, as long as there are forty-eight bridges, it is considered a grand funeral.

I didn’t expect Yu Dejin to want the Seventy-two Bridges.

One event consists of five bridges. It takes about two hours from the beginning to the end. So seventy-two bridges will take thirty hours. Excluding not being able to eat at night, it will take three days.

This can no longer be considered a luxury.

It's simply beyond imagination.

According to the local customs, funerals can last three days, five days, or seven days.

In the summer, it is basically three days, and the corpses cannot be kept there.

In winter, there are two types: three-day and five-day.

Qi Tian is a very respected person. Not only must his family be rich, but there must also be people willing to come for dinner.

This will make up seven days.

Otherwise, even if you set up the buffet, it would be very embarrassing if no one comes to eat.

Of course, if it is seven days, it is not all about banquets. There are also some other rituals that are more retro in imitation.

"Brother, do you really want the Seventy-Two Bridges?"

Yu Demu was a little uncertain. In fact, he now lived in the city for a long time and rarely participated in such activities in the countryside.

"Yes, Seventy-two Bridges."

Yu Dejin reiterated.

"Okay then, let's go to Qishierqiao. I'll contact the people who cook, but you guys are responsible for the table, bowls, chopsticks, plates, etc. I don't recognize many of my neighbors anymore."

"Row."

Weddings and funerals here are handled by proxy.

When someone in the village or the neighborhood is having a wedding or funeral, they will take gifts to the homes of nearby relatives and ask for help, which is called "doing the job on behalf of others."

The things we brought with us in the early days were biscuits and egg cakes, and later they became cigarettes.

The people who do the work for you are responsible for various positions, such as boiling water, pressing noodles, serving dishes, washing bowls, making soup, and helping in the kitchen.

There are also some more difficult jobs, such as concierge, record keeping, manager, etc.

In short, the entire wedding and funeral procession is basically completed by a proxy.

The village has several highly respected people who act as managers, responsible for dispatching all the people who do the work. In the early years, these people were usually the production team leaders or the village chiefs.

Later it gradually evolved into a full-time manager.

As long as someone comes to your door, you must do the job and cannot refuse with excuses. If you refuse others today, they will ignore you when something happens at home tomorrow.

That would be very passive.

Unlike later in the day, weddings and funerals can be eaten at the hotel and considered over.

Nowadays, weddings and funerals are all done at home. If there is no one to do it for you, nothing will be done and you will be laughed at.

"Let me do the work for you."

Yu Dejin took over the conversation actively. He was the famous Carpenter Yu, and he had accumulated a lot of connections. Many people in and outside the village had benefited from his help, so it would be no problem for him to do the job for him.

"Atom, you follow your uncle."

Yu Deshui instructed his son.

Yu Dejin looked at Yu Deshui with gratitude.

Gao Meilan looked at her man with admiration. Everyone said that other people's men were good at handling things, but only she knew that her man was as careful as a hair. (End of this chapter)