The water town in the south of the Yangtze River is full of paddy fields. It rained two days ago, and the dirt road leading to the village is full of potholes, which can easily stir up a lot of sewage.

Zhang Guoqing honked the horn and controlled the speed of the car. It took him more than ten minutes to drive a distance of less than a kilometer. He only stopped at the bridgehead at the village entrance.

After crossing this stone bridge is Mr. Jiang’s hometown.

At this time, the sun was setting, and many people were busy with farm work in the fields. There were also many children swimming and fishing in the river on both sides of the bridge.

Seeing a military vehicle stopped, everyone stopped and looked at them.

Zhang Guoqing got out of the car and waved to the children on the shore. After a while, a naked, barefoot boy of seven or eight years old finally came forward.

"Little friend, do you know where Mr. Jiang Tongsuo, who came from the city, lives?"

The little guy nodded after hearing this and shouted to his friends not far away: "It's a relative of the old man at the east entrance of the village."

A bunch of children came running to the front of the car, asking various questions in Mandarin and local dialects.

Amidst the chatter, Zhang Guoqing could only roughly understand that the children were asking if they were from Beijing, or if they were waiting for their arrival to hold a ceremony.

At this time, a thin and short old man in his sixties came over from the bridge. Before he could even ask anyone, he shouted in dialect, "Are you the grandchildren of the Jiang family? Hurry up and come over. We're waiting for you."

Now Zhang Guoqing understood and told them to go over quickly. He asked Aunt Chen to hold Ping An, while he and Yi Jiefang carried the luggage and walked towards the bridge head.

The old man led the way with his hands behind his back, walking briskly in front, followed by Zhang Guoqing and his companions, asking questions as they walked. He soon discovered that they simply could not understand much of the local dialect.

He had no choice but to ask again in his accented Mandarin, "That old man is very stubborn. My sister-in-law is getting worse day by day. I asked him to write to his granddaughter, but he insisted that the children were too busy and didn't want you to go back and forth. By the way, where is the Jiang family's daughter?"

Zhang Guoqing explained: "My wife was sent out on work by her boss, and I couldn't contact her for the time being. I had no choice but to bring the child here first. This is my son."

"No wonder that old man praises his granddaughter every day. Good, she's promising. Our village has finally produced a capable person. See that locust tree in front? That's the place. I see your family is doing well, so I asked him to build a better house, but he refused and insisted on a whole thatched house. Sigh..."

Zhang Guoqing looked at the three thatched-roof adobe houses not far away, feeling both angry and anxious. This old man was really a troublemaker! As far as he knew, not only had the two elders received their salaries over the years, but even his father-in-law had been sending money over.

I don't know what to do with this money?

"Old man, is there any empty yard for sale in the village?"

"No. There were some a few years ago. After joining the team, several villages all lived on the same plot of land. Don't waste your money. Find a few people to treat you to a few meals. It won't take long and it will be built soon."

After saying that, the old man saw Zhang Guoqing's hesitant expression and continued, "Are you worried that you don't have time? Go find the captain, give him some money, and he'll make the arrangements."

Zhang Guoqing nodded. This time, only the old man was left. He still had to take care of the rest of the matter. He didn't know if there were any orphans nearby. He really had to consult with the captain.

Under the big kui tree, three thatched-roof adobe houses formed a small courtyard surrounded by a bamboo fence. At this time, several middle-aged and elderly people were coming in and out to help.

Zhang Guoqing took Ping An from Aunt Chen and put on his little white shirt, pinned on the green gauze, put on his little white shoes, and tied the mourning belt. When tying it, he made sure the two ends were the same length.

He let his son wear mourning clothes to thank the two old people on Zhou Jiao's behalf, and also wanted to do as his father-in-law said, so that the old man without children would not die too miserably.

When Zhang Guoqing changed into a white shirt and white shoes, tied a mourning band, and pinned a black veil and a small red cloth piece on his arm, Mr. Jiang, who heard the news, burst into tears.

——He can be considered to have descendants!

"Grandpa..." Zhang Guoqing stepped forward to support him, lost for words. He couldn't find the words to comfort him. The passing of his wife, with whom he had relied on for everything, was like the end of the world for the old man.

He waved to Xiao Ping'an beside him and said, "Son, hurry up and call great grandfather. We will burn incense for your mother to great grandmother."

Old Master Jiang squatted down, looked at the child kindly, listened to the child's loud voice, and complained to Zhang Guoqing: "Why did you bring the child from so far away? Hurry up and take the little cutie back home."

Ping An took his hand and said, "Grandpa, I'll go in with you. My grandfather asked you to express his condolences. He said that he and my mother have official business and can't come now, so he asked me to represent them."

"Okay... How come our dear grandson is so talkative? Are you tired from the journey here? Are you hot? Is there anything you want to eat..."

Zhang Guoqing finally breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the old man's spirits suddenly recover. Fortunately, he had come with the child this time. At the critical moment, his son was still capable.

Watching them go in, Zhang Guoqing asked Aunt Chen to take care of them. He walked to a table and said to a middle-aged man who was looking at him curiously, "Uncle, thank you for your hard work and for coming to help."

The middle-aged man quickly waved his hand, "As it should be. We are considered your grandfather's distant nephews."

"Then I should call you uncle. Uncle, I won't be polite with you. You can just call me Xiaowu. Just tell me what to do next."

The middle-aged man smiled when he heard this, but quickly suppressed his smile and said, "There are many things I need you to take care of next. The mourning hall has been set up. Taoist priests are not allowed to come and chant sutras nowadays, but paper money and other things are still needed. Take a look at these things. These are the favors of the villagers, and what other families have prepared. Write them all down in this book."

Zhang Guoqing took it and looked at it without hesitation. He found that apart from the favors, the prepared items were in very small quantities, and the amount of brown sugar on the side was not much either.

He learned from Huang Dong that no matter how simple the ceremony was, it was essential for every guest to drink a bowl of brown sugar water and eat tofu rice.

After reading all this, Zhang Guoqing had a clear idea in his mind. He said softly to him, "I'm going to go inside to see my grandmother first. I'll trouble you to write down anything you need. I'll prepare it."

"There are quite a few younger people with the same surname in the village. They remember your grandmother's kindness and want to wear mourning for her. They will be here soon after work tonight. Just ask them for help if you need anything."

Zhang Guoqing raised an eyebrow at this—he didn't ask for any favors. He took the white cloth and black gauze from Yi Jiefang's hands and placed them on the table. He then pulled out 50 kilograms of national food coupons and 50 yuan from his pocket.

"It's okay to leave the money with me first. I'll return it to you when I'm done. This white cloth is great, you won't need so much. They'll prepare it themselves."

Zhang Guoqing shook his head. "That's as it should be. I'll go in first."

It made no sense for the host family to be so reluctant to give away some cloth for an outsider to wear mourning. He knew cloth was hard to come by these days, and perhaps someone would be attracted by these few white strips of cloth and come to wear mourning, even replacing them with their own homespun cloth, but he didn't care.

Some families who are particular about their work wouldn't even accept mourning cloth, fearing it would ruin their luck. But in those days, who would want to be a filial son? Perhaps giving the elderly a proper burial wasn't a big deal.

When Zhang Guoqing entered, Ping'an, under Aunt Chen's instructions, had already kowtowed three times to the old lady's body and lit long incense sticks. He then went in and followed suit.

After finishing everything, Zhang Guoqing asked Yi Jiefang to drive to see his mother-in-law and bring back some brown sugar and other things she needed. He saw that the situation would mean that he and his son would not be able to leave the village until tomorrow's trip up the mountain.

After seeing Yi Jiefang off and arranging for Aunt Chen to take care of the old man and his son, Zhang Guoqing began to arrange the funeral with his distant uncle.