Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

When changing into mourning clothes, Yu Qiutang only changed into half of them.

He is my nephew, that's all he has to do.

But because Yu Chunxing had the important task of shouting to the sky, she had to wear heavy mourning clothes and wrap her entire shoes with white cloth.

As for the two little children, who are more distant relatives, they can each just wear a small white hat.

Such rules may seem complicated, but they also have their advantages. There are hundreds of people bustling about inside, and just by looking at the filial piety, one can immediately tell how close the relationship with the deceased is.

Yu Qiutang remembered that when he was a child, he attended funerals. Sometimes, because he was young and not very related to the family, he could not enjoy some "benefits" and felt very disappointed.

It's purely childish.

After changing clothes, Yu Qiyuan happened to come over and started walking around inside with him.

Today is the third day after a person’s death, which is also the most “lively” and the most tedious day of the funeral.

According to the process, we have to "drink soup" during the day, "cross the bridge" in the afternoon, walk across the Naihe Bridge in the evening, hold a family sacrifice in the early morning, and bury the body before dawn.

By the morning of tomorrow, the part concerning the dead will actually be over, and the only things left will be the living people to entertain the guests.

Drinking the soup means eating noodles, just like celebrating a happy occasion.

Crossing the bridge is like having a buffet. There are 72 bridges set, and we will cross some today and some tomorrow.

Naihe Bridge is the bridge where the carts are connected end to end, and all guests are required to walk across it three times.

Some people walk it seven times, but it is not generally used because it takes too long.

Family memorial service is the most lasting, important and tedious part of the entire funeral.

Everyone needs to kneel in front of the mourning hall, with paper mountains, paper people and paper horses in front of them, and two yin and yang figures on each side.

The Yin and Yang would write the sacrificial text and read it from generation to generation in a very melodious and high-pitched voice.

Every time a generation is read, that generation will kneel in front of the coffin, light paper and burn incense.

And those who cry out to the sky will cry with the filial daughters.

The filial son kneeling in front needs to kowtow to express his gratitude.

Often after a family sacrifice, not only would the legs of the people kneeling at the back be almost crippled, but the people kowtowing at the front would often have a big bump on their head, and their skin might even be scraped off.

If there are many sons in the family, they can take turns. But if there are few, they need to kowtow from beginning to end, which is also very tiring.

So in that era, people cared about sons not only because of the abundant labor force, but also because of many historical customs that made a stereotyped division of labor between men and women.

No one can make a big deal about the death of a parent.

The length of the family memorial service depends mainly on the number of relatives. If there are many relatives, it may even take four or five hours.

The general order is wife, son, daughter, daughter-in-law, grandson, nephew, son-in-law, grandson, nephew...etc.
And so on, there is an obvious close relationship.

The order of people involved in family sacrifices can reflect the standards of closeness and status in that era.

The son-in-law is a very distant relative here, even more than a nephew.

Because of this, the relationship between the son-in-law and the mother-in-law's family here is very separate.

This situation improved in later generations, not for any special reason, but simply because there were very few children in the family.

Any feudal or non-feudal relationship can never be broken by human consciousness.

Because the formation of a relationship is actually about the distribution of interests.

Only when this distribution relationship can no longer adapt to the interests of more people, people will naturally choose a new model even if no one says so.

Yu Qiutang came to the mourning hall. It was not yet time to carry the coffin out, so it was still placed in the west wing for the time being.

Yu Qiutang wanted to go in and light some paper.

But Yu Qiyuan grabbed him and signaled him to be careful.

He didn't understand what was going on, and when he went in, he found a woman in her fifties kneeling next to his aunt with a stiff look on her face.

This is my aunt.

The eldest aunt is actually the prettiest of all the aunts. Yu Qiutang has seen photos of her taken when she was in her sixties. She was as beautiful as a Hong Kong or Taiwan star.

But at this moment, when this beautiful woman saw Yu Qiutang coming in, her eyes did not fluctuate at all, as if she was stuck in this frame, as if she had been pulled out of it.

The young aunt said nothing, lowered her head, and watched Yu Qiutang come in. She just glanced at him and lowered her head again.

Yu Qiutang knelt down and lit some paper for his uncle. Using the flame of the burning paper, he lit three incense sticks and was about to put them in the incense burner.

Then I heard my aunt sobbing softly beside me.

He gritted his teeth and inserted the incense. Just as he was about to kowtow, the aunt next to him suddenly fell on the wheat straw in front of him.

"Auntie!"

He hurriedly helped the eldest aunt up, and the younger aunt pinched her philtrum, and the eldest aunt slowly woke up.

Then he slowly knelt back down.

Still no words.

After Yu Qiutang went out, he saw Yu Qiyuan hiding outside, and then he understood what he meant by "be careful".

As Yu Qiyuan said, my aunt fainted more than a dozen times that morning.

Even if I asked her to take a temporary rest, she would not leave.

It would be fine if someone outside brought some paper, but as long as it was someone from her family, she would be so sad that she would faint.

Yu Qiutang felt sad again when he heard this.

This is how his aunt is, and he knows that this woman is not weak in character, but is simply kind.

Yu Qiutang walked around again, helping out wherever there was a need. Sometimes he helped to place the chopsticks at the soup counter, and sometimes he helped to press the bed for pressing noodles.

He did not have any fixed tasks assigned to him, but he did not dare to relax at all.

I just walked through some places and saw that most people were actually very happy whether they were eating or drinking soup, especially when they were crossing a bridge, they were playing finger-guessing games and shouting loudly.

However, those ignorant children, who were all wearing mourning hats on their heads, fought at the dinner table just for a chance to eat sweet glutinous rice.

The moment the dishes were served, the women, whether they knew the other party or not, put the fried meatballs into the handkerchiefs spread out on the table with amazing speed. Those who did not bring handkerchiefs would first scoop a large spoonful of food with a spoon and fill the bowls in front of them.

Everyone is busy.

Apart from the real relatives, who are still immersed in sadness, in fact, people at funerals all regard this occasion as an opportunity to improve their lives. It is really a lucky thing to be able to eat meals that they cannot eat on ordinary days.

Yu Qiutang was tired from walking around, so he just happened to walk next to the band and sat down. He stared at the suona player's cheeks, which were bulging into balls, in a trance.

Playing the suona in winter is actually quite tiring.

This is a plateau, the air is already thin, and it gets even worse in winter.

Playing the suona requires a lot of lung capacity.

The suona players' faces were all red, and it was unclear whether it was because of tiredness or the warmth from the fire in front of them.

At about eleven o'clock, the troupe finally arrived. Yu Qiutang stood outside the gate, watching the Qinqiang actors performing "The Case of the Chopping of the Beauty" on the temporary stage. He was so dazed that he could not hear clearly what they were singing.

The middle-aged people watching the performance below the stage burst into applause.

They have completely forgotten what they came here for and are instead immersed in the treasures of Qinqiang art.

Extremely happy.

Yu Qiutang turned around and went back to the yard, stood under the eaves, and looked down at the people coming and going in the yard, as if they were just ants.

He couldn't help but start to wonder if this was also the case when he died in his previous life.

Probably not. The kids are definitely sad, but it will probably only last for a few days.

They will not go back to their hometown to do these tedious things, but will bury themselves in a strange city, living next to a group of strange dead people.

There won't be any funeral, at most we'll just have a meal in the hotel.

Perhaps at the dinner table, people you know are still discussing population decline, divorce rates, and the difficulty in finding jobs for college students.

Funerals are more like a platform for everyone to communicate.

He became the medium.

It is said that funerals are held for the living.

But perhaps, the funeral is not the most important thing, but that the living cannot find a better way to resolve their sudden sadness.

A banquet at a hotel in later generations obviously couldn't dilute it much.

So people always suddenly think of their deceased relatives at some point, and feel so sad that they can't even cry.

It could be seeing a cup that your loved ones used, eating a dish that they were good at cooking, or reading a book that you and your loved ones discussed together...

Even, it is a sentence said to a loved one.

Even that sentence couldn't be simpler.

For example: "If you are tired, take a rest."

Yu Qiutang leaned against the wall, watching a group of young men in charge of serving dishes moving quickly through the crowd.

There were people he was familiar with, as well as some familiar-looking neighborhood kids.

He discovered Yu Qiushi.

He was also wearing half-mourning clothes, making him the only half-white person among the group of people serving dishes.

This surprised Yu Qiutang a little.

When encountering such a situation, Yu Qiushi usually just comes to eat and never takes the initiative to work.

It is not easy to do these things today.

Noticing that Yu Qiutang was looking at him, Yu Qiushi also glanced at his brother and pointed to the empty bowl on the plate in front of him with his chin.

Yu Qiutang gave his brother an encouraging look.

It was a busy day and soon it was afternoon. Half of the people crossing the bridge had already left, and the rest were still going to cross the bridge.

The steward directed everyone to move Yu Dehuo's mourning hall from the west wing to the yard.

The yard faces west and east, and a new mourning hall was built with tents.

The area of ​​the mourning hall is at least five or six square meters. In the innermost part is a huge sacred mountain with a diameter of about three meters. Various gods and immortals on the sacred mountain are painted vividly.

In front of Lingshan, coffins are placed in an east-west direction. On both sides of the coffins are paper horses and paper sheep, and in front are paper maids and book boys.

There were also some strange paper-made items, and Yu Qiutang couldn't recognize them all.

In front of the coffin, there was an altar made of two eight-immortal tables.

The altar was covered with rose-red velvet, and on it were placed various tributes, fruits, vegetables, and various fried foods, making it look particularly rich.

These tributes are often the apple of children's eye.

From the moment the offerings are put out, the children wait for the family sacrifice to be over and for the burial to begin. Only a small portion of the offerings will be taken away, and most of them will be distributed to the children.

Whether it is the fried sanzi ta or the fragrant roujiamo, they are delicacies that they can never eat in normal times.

On both sides of the Eight Immortals Table, there will be two Yin and Yang standing respectively.

One read the sacrificial text, one rang the bell, one rubbed the stones, and another beat the clappers.

In front of the altar is a tribute platform.

There will be an incense burner, a stack of burning paper, a stack of yellow paper, and some incense placed on it, which is convenient for lighting fire and burning incense during family sacrifices.

In front of the tribute platform, there is a row of snakeskin bags filled with wheat straw, which serve as futons. Every time a group of people offer sacrifices, they will come from the back to the front and kneel on the futons.

This kind of work of moving things and setting up the mourning hall usually does not require the filial sons to do it themselves, but is done by substitutes.

Yu Qiutang was watching when his uncle suddenly came over and asked in a low voice, "Tangtang, how is your father's coffin?"

Yu Qiutang was stunned, then he remembered that the coffin had not arrived yet.

After coming out of the mourning hall, the body must be placed in a coffin. It will not work without a coffin.

"I'll go back and take a look."

"Then you should hurry up. We are about to enter the funeral hall. It is unlucky when the sun sets."

Uncle San urged.

Yu Qiutang agreed and was about to leave when Yu Deshui called Yu Qiyuan again, asking them to go together so that they could lend a hand if they needed help.

As soon as the two of them went out, they saw Yu Dejin pulling a cart with a golden coffin on the village road in the distance.

The two of them ran over quickly.

Helping Yu Dejin push the cart from behind.

Yu Qiyuan muttered quietly, "Cousin, why did our uncle get a yellow coffin for our fourth uncle?"

Yu Qiutang didn’t understand either.

There are customs regarding the color of coffins here. For example, the colors for children, young people, middle-aged people, and the elderly are different.

Among them, only the elderly over 70 years old will use golden coffins, while middle-aged people like my fourth uncle who are under 50 years old most commonly use wooden coffins.

They were all curious, but didn't dare to say anything.

Besides, now that everything has been done, it’s too late to do anything else.

Sure enough, when the coffins of the three people arrived in the yard, people were all very surprised.

But it’s hard to say what’s going on.

Only the Yin-Yang general Yu Dejin was called to the side and asked him a few questions. After confirming that this was what he wanted, he didn't say much in the end. He recited scriptures and arranged for people to move the body into the coffin.

The coffin was then placed into the mourning hall.

Then arrange the other things.

By the time everything was arranged, it was dark and the buffet across the bridge had been cleared. The people enjoying the banquet just had to leave across the Naihe Bridge. The only people left were those who needed to attend the family sacrifice.

Crossing the Naihe Bridge was also very cumbersome. The son should have been in front carrying the soul-guiding banner, with his daughter following behind, crying as they walked. But now Wang Ruixiang didn't come, so after discussion, they let Yu Qiushan carry the soul-guiding banner, while Yu Chunxing called out to the sky on behalf of his daughter.

They were followed in order by brothers, nephews, various relatives, and some cousins.

Because the shafts of the carts were tied together with ropes, they were not particularly stable. They were a bit like wooden boards on a cable bridge, which would sway when you walked on them.

Everyone walked quite slowly.

It took me nearly half an hour to walk all the way.

Fortunately, I was only scheduled to walk through three lives and three worlds, but I had to walk seven lives. It was already midnight when I finished walking across the Naihe Bridge.

Even so, after we finished walking here, it was already past 8 o'clock in the evening, almost 9 o'clock.

Some of the people who had done the work on behalf of others and the neighbors went home and would come back the next morning, leaving only a small number to take care of the remaining work.

Yu Qiutang got the news, and the family memorial service started on time at 10:20. (End of this chapter)