Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

"On the day of Ziwei in Jiachen, my uncle passed away. I am heartbroken and my tears are streaming down my face. He was respectful, upright, filial and friendly to his brother. He managed the household diligently and was praised by the people in the neighborhood. He was loved when I was young and I relied on him to grow up. Impermanence came so suddenly that his soul returned to the earth. I cry out to the heavens and the earth, but it is difficult to save my loving parents. I will remember his kindness and will not forget him. I will forge ahead and make the family prosperous. I hope you will honor me and may your spirit bless future generations..."

Nephews and nieces were kneeling in front of the mourning hall.

The one in front is the nephew and the one in the back is the niece.

Yu Qiujiang, Yu Qiushan, Yu Qiutang, Yu Qiuyuan, Yu Qiushi.

There are more at the end, namely Yu Chunxing, Yu Chuntao, Yu Chunmei, Yu Chunzhu, Yu Chunju, and Yu Chunping.

Yu Chunping is Yu Qiushan’s younger sister. She was also brought home by her second aunt this time. Originally, she should have been named Yu Chunlan, but because the names of her elders had too many “Lan” in them, her name was changed.

Chunping is the same age as Chunju, but she dresses very fashionably and has fair complexion. At first glance, you can tell that she grew up in the city.

This was probably her first time to attend such a family memorial service and she had no idea what her Fourth Uncle was. Although she was kneeling on the straw mat with her head lowered, her eyes were still rolling around.

He looked around from time to time and was very curious about Yu Chunju who was wrapped tightly beside him.

Except for her, everyone else was immersed in sadness.

Among the previous generation of the Yu family, none of them had very bad character, and Chen Meidi was the hardest one to describe.

But even though Chen Meidi had some problems with her mind, she was able to distinguish between good and bad. She knew that what she did was wrong, so she tried to prevent Yu Qiushi from learning bad things.

only……

Parents are often their children's first teachers.

Children’s initial values ​​come from learning from their parents.

If you have problems yourself and want your children to behave themselves, then you are just thinking too much.

"kneel!"

After Yin and Yang finished reciting the sacrificial text for a few minutes, they called out in a melodious and high voice.

Under the leadership of Yu Qiujiang, everyone kowtowed together.

The custom here is that women do not kowtow on a daily basis, and they only kowtow to the deceased during family sacrifices.

"Kneel down again!"

Another kowtow.

"Kowtow three times!"

Again one.

Nephews, sons, and daughters are all direct relatives, so the etiquette is the most important and they need to kowtow three times. As for the cousins ​​at the end, they only need to kowtow once.

"The ceremony is over."

As Yin Yang said this, everyone slowly stood up and walked to the side, dragging their numb legs.

"My brother~"

Then, it was the brothers and sisters’ scene.

Before I even entered the venue, I heard my aunt's shrill cries.

The eldest aunt fainted directly on the second aunt and almost knocked her down.

Second Aunt is a taciturn woman.

He died very early, around the age of 40. It was said that he was killed when a tree fell down while he was cutting it down at home.

My second aunt experienced an incident when she was a child, and she has resentment towards her brothers and sisters here, so she doesn’t have a very good relationship with everyone.

When my grandmother gave birth to my second aunt, the family was really struggling to make ends meet. There happened to be a family in the next town who were infertile, so after an introduction, she gave my second aunt to that family.

As a result, the next time someone gave birth to twins, they sent the second aunt back.

When she came back, she was six years old and sensible.

This caused her to have many complaints against her adoptive parents and her biological parents.

Besides, my grandma is not a gentle person. She thinks that if you still have this kind of temper even though I gave birth to you and raised you, I won’t bother to pay attention to you.

I didn't pay much attention to my second aunt.

When my second aunt grew up, she met an honest young man while planting trees in the next village. He had a problem with his legs and walked with a limp, but he was a very nice person, so she married him without asking for any dowry.

I don’t know how life is going after marriage.

She seldom came back, so Yu Qiutang was not familiar with her. Perhaps if they walked on the street, Second Aunt would not recognize her nephews.

Including this time when Fourth Uncle got into trouble, it was Third Uncle who went to inform Second Aunt in person because he was worried that she would not come back.

After coming back, he just knelt in the mourning hall of his fourth uncle and did not have much presence.

She is not like the younger aunt, who always cries loudly, nor is she like the older aunt, who has fainted dozens of times.

Yu Qiutang asked Chunju to take her elder sister and the children to Yu Qiujiang's place to rest first.

The rules of the family sacrifice are as follows:

Before the family sacrifice, everyone has to kneel at the back. Whoever is sacrificed first can leave.

Of course you can continue kneeling.

In this case, the closer people are to the deceased, the first they will be left, while those who are distant will have to kneel for a longer time.

The longest time can be several hours.

So family sacrifice is a very hard job.

If it rains heavily in the summer, they have to kneel in the rain, and even if it is very cold in the winter, they have to kneel until the end.

If it is a relative, it is actually not that bad. After all, this kind of harsh environment can often dilute some of the suppressed sadness in the heart.

But for relatives who are a little more distant, it is quite painful.

Especially many children.

In fact, they don't have much affection for such distant relatives, they are just somewhat connected to the dead person because of their parents.

Kneeling here, I really have no emotions. All my feelings turn into the torture of numb legs.

When Yu Qiutang saw his second sister, he stood under the eaves and chatted with her.

"My brother-in-law hasn't come back yet?"

"The children haven't had their holiday yet. It's a critical time before the exams. He can't leave."

My second sister’s hair was messy and there were tear marks on her face.

People with Fourth Uncle's personality are the ones who can most easily arouse everyone's sympathy.

When my fifth uncle passed away, the children were still young and did not have any obvious feelings about death.

But now, we are all adults. After seeing the joys and sorrows of the world, we understand the weight of life and feel particularly sad.

"That's true. It's also very hard."

"I can't help it. Being a teacher is like this. Parents send their children to school, so I can't harm them."

As the second sister spoke, she kept staring at the mourning hall. "I never thought that the first person to leave would be Fourth Uncle!"

Yu Qiutang originally wanted to say, then who do you think it is?

He also felt that it was inappropriate to say such things in this kind of occasion, so he sighed and said, "Who could have thought of that?"

“Life is full of suffering.”

The second sister suddenly burst out with words.

Yu Qiutang was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, it's just finding joy in hardship. By the way, last time I remember you asked me about your wild boars, have you driven them away?"

"What are you chasing away?"

When talking about their affairs, the second sister became visibly more energetic.

"We found a hunter from the next village. He was said to be very powerful, but he ran to our place. We chased him for several days but never caught up with him. He even had his tail bone nearly broken by a wild boar.

Now, the number of wild boars has not decreased, but increased.

I was worried that eating was just a small matter, but if the children were hurt, it would be troublesome.

In order to go to school, many children have to walk long mountain roads every day. What should they do if they encounter wild boars on the road and those animals go crazy?
Some parents have already responded that if this problem is not solved, they may not dare to let their children go to school for the time being.

At least he is still alive if he doesn't study. But if he gets attacked by a wild boar on the road, that's the end of him. It's not easy to raise a child. Not to mention the effort, how much food does he have to eat? "

"That's true."

Yu Qiutang nodded and said, "If it doesn't work, I'll go check it out for you then."

"You?"

Yu Chuntao glanced at him. Although she didn't say the second half of the sentence, Yu Qiutang could still hear the distrust in her words, so he said, "I'm still okay now. I can even bring back a bear, let alone a wild boar." "Forget it, it's too dangerous. I'll ask your brother-in-law to ask other villages to see if there are any stronger ones."

"Then... let's take a look."

Yu Qiutang didn't insist on it either.

My sister is worried about him, so there is no point in trying to be stubborn.

The two stood under the eaves, watching the waves of people coming up and down for the family sacrifice.

Gradually, we stopped talking.

There was a long silence.

"Life is so unpredictable."

Yu Chuntao sighed faintly, "I'm going to talk to my elder sister and Chunmei, are you coming?"

Yu Qiutang shook his head. "I won't go. Let's talk about it after this is over. I'll need your help if anything happens here."

"Okay, then you work hard."

Yu Chuntao is gone.

Yu Qiutang stood and watched for a while, when he suddenly heard the sound of quarreling outside the gate.

He was unhappy, thinking that it was the middle of the night and the time for family worship. Whatever happened, he had to figure it out at this time.

Just as he was about to take it out, he saw Yu Qiyuan running in, "Cousin, cousin, where is Brother Shan?"

"What's wrong?"

Yu Qiushan was the organizer of the funeral among the younger generation.

He inherited his father's strengths and has a better overall view, which Yu Qiutang cannot match.

A person's birth environment and life experiences will have an impact on his or her consciousness and pattern.

People who have not seen the world and those who have seen the world will react completely differently to the same thing.

So the cousins ​​had no objections and handed this important task to Yu Qiushan without hesitation.

Everyone does their own work separately.

Yu Qiutang was the most relaxed because he was the investor.

"Wang Ruixiang and Brother Jiang are about to fight!"

"what?!"

Yu Qiutang was also startled and didn't react for a moment, "You said Wang Ruixiang is here, at this time?!"

"correct."

"Why is he here?"

"How would I know? Ruirui is with me."

Wang Ruirui is Wang Ruixiang’s younger sister and the daughter of his fourth uncle.

Yu Qiutang realized that there was no point in asking Yu Qiyuan at this moment.

He heard the noise outside getting louder, affecting the yin and yang here, and everyone looked towards the door.

The host Yu Demu frowned.

Yu Qiutang ran outside quickly and saw his father standing silently at the side of the mourning hall with a very dark face.

Worried that he might suddenly explode and cause trouble.

He ran out of the gate and saw a little girl of seven or eight years old standing next to the bright motorcycle lights. She was holding a schoolbag in her hands and looking nervously at the two people in front of her who were on the verge of a confrontation.

It was Wang Ruixiang and Yu Qiujiang.

There were already people around who tried to persuade them, but after all, there were few people around at the time and they didn’t know the reason, so they didn’t know how to persuade them for a moment.

"Let me in so I can burn incense for my father. Why are you stopping me?"

"You are not qualified to enter this door."

"Why am I not qualified? Is it against the law of heaven or the king for a son to burn incense for his father?"

"Wang Ruixiang, how dare you say such things? Don't you know what you have done? Why are you pretending to be so shameless now? Aren't you ashamed?"

"What did I do? Why am I embarrassed? Let me tell you, Brother Jiang, it would be fine if you move aside. But if you don't, don't blame me for not giving you face."

"Then I'll see why you don't give me face..."

The two of them are really competing against each other.

Neither side will give in.

Judging from the physical conditions of the two men, Yu Qiujiang has the upper hand without a doubt. Moreover, he has a very sturdy build and the strength to forge iron. Ordinary people are no match for him.

If you have a strong body, you will have enough confidence and courage.

"No, I'd better go find Brother Shan. I don't think they can stop."

Yu Qiyuan had just followed Yu Qiutang out and ran in again.

Yu Qiutang listened for a few minutes, looked at the nervous little girl behind Wang Ruixiang, and his heart softened a little.

Silent sigh.

He stepped forward, grabbed Wang Ruixiang's outstretched arm, threw him back a few meters, and used his body to block Yu Qiujiang.

"Brother Jiang, Fourth Uncle hasn't passed away yet, don't be so loud. He was afraid of people talking loudly when he was alive."

Yu Qiujiang was stunned, remembering that at the Hongmen Banquet, every time someone spoke loudly, his fourth uncle seemed to suddenly shudder.

He regretted it a bit.

"Go ahead and do your work. I'll talk to him."

Yu Qiutang pointed inside.

Yu Qiujiang glared at Wang Ruixiang fiercely, then turned and went in.

Yu Qiutang then turned around and looked at Wang Ruixiang, staring at him straight, until Wang Ruixiang became weak and asked with his neck stiff, "Why, cousin, you don't want me to go in either?"

"What are you here for?"

Yu Qiutang asked calmly.

"Of course I'm here to pay my respects to my father."

"In what capacity?"

"Son!"

Yu Qiutang smiled sarcastically, "I thought Fourth Uncle didn't have a son. If he did, why would Fourth Uncle's mourning hall be set up in our house?"

Wang Ruixiang blushed.

Shut up in embarrassment.

But then he added: "Cousin, I have no other intention in coming here today, I just want to burn some paper and light some incense for my father."

"I know you think so," Yu Qiutang said with indifference, "but why do you think you can do whatever you want?

The day before yesterday in the hospital, whether it was you or your mother, you didn't care about your fourth uncle at all, right? Now you're doing the same thing again, doesn't it seem hypocritical?"

Wang Ruixiang said: "Every family has its own problems, and we have our own difficulties."

"Okay, I believe you have your reasons, but we also have our reasons for not letting you in tonight.

You are standing at our door now, so I have the final say.

At the hospital, you clearly didn't want to be responsible for Fourth Uncle's funeral, but now, a few days later, you suddenly pretend to be the opposite. Don't you think it's funny?"

"Then what do you want me to do in order to let you in? We are all here, and he is my father after all. Since you love him, you don't want to see him leave without his son seeing him off for the last time, right?

Besides, even if I am not here, we still have Ruirui. She is still a child and doesn’t understand things. If we adults have problems, she should be fine, right? "

Yu Qiutang's eyes fell on Wang Ruirui's face.

The child was born a little thin and not very tall considering his age.

She stared at herself with blinking eyes, with a little fear.

Yu Qiutang's heart softened slightly.

He is always extra tolerant towards children.

Perhaps it was because he had never been treated kindly by others when he was a child. (End of this chapter)