"Pretending!" Sister-in-law Wang Jinfeng spat softly, standing at the doorway to the mourning hall. She wore a brand new blue cotton shirt with black veils pinned to her cuffs, but her face showed no trace of sadness; she looked more like someone who had come to see a play.
She held a handful of melon seeds in her hand, and while eating them, she spat the shells at Chen Chunhua's feet.
On the altar before the coffin, the last meal had already gone cold. The rice was piled into a steeple, with three chopsticks stuck into it, the tips of the chopsticks wrapped in red paper, like three crooked incense sticks.
A hard crust formed on the surface of the rice grains, and a few green-headed flies were hovering above them. The sound of their flapping wings mixed with the sound of the suona, and unexpectedly became part of the funeral music.
The Taoist priest began to walk around the coffin, ringing the copper bell. The sound of the bell was intermittent, like the cough of an asthma patient.
He was wearing a faded Taoist robe, the collar of which was still stained with last night's wine. His steps were unsteady, and he almost tripped over his own clothes several times. He was mumbling something, but was interrupted by his own yawns from time to time.
"Open the coffin————" the village chief shouted in a long tone, his voice as hoarse as sandpaper.
The eight men carrying the coffin slowly stood up, their shoulders resting against the bar, but they were all exerting their strength, unwilling to exert any more force. As the coffin left the ground, it made a long, creaking sound, as if the person inside was reluctant to leave.
Chen Chunhua was pushed to her feet and stumbled behind the coffin. She lowered her head, staring at the heels of the person in front of her—Wang Daniu's cousin. The soles of his Liberation shoes were stained with mud, and with every step, a small piece of mud fell off, leaving a crooked mark on the ground.
The funeral procession passed through the village sparsely. The suona music suddenly stopped, leaving only the chaotic sound of footsteps and the occasional cough.
The wind blew up the ashes of the paper money on the ground, and a few pieces of it clung to Chen Chunhua's mourning clothes, black and scorched, like burnt butterflies. Chen Chunhua unconsciously rubbed the edges of the mourning clothes, which had been worn down by her.
The grave was dug at the very edge of the Wang family's ancestral tomb, the soil still damp from the night. When the coffin was lowered into the ground, the sun was just overhead, glaring and blinding.
Chen Chunhua stood in front of the new grave, her shadow shrunken under her feet, a small ball that looked like it would be crushed at any time.
"Kowtow!" her mother-in-law shouted behind her, her voice as sharp as a needle.
Chen Chunhua knelt down, resting her forehead on the cold earth. A faint sound came from the earth, as if something was turning over underneath.
The people filling the soil began to move, scooping up the soil with a shovel and throwing it on the coffin, making a dull "bang bang" sound.
Chen Chunhua looked up and saw a crow perched on the newly erected tombstone, tilting its head to look at her. Its eyes were black and shiny, as if they could see through the deepest secrets of people's hearts.
The ceremony ended, and the crowd dispersed in twos and threes. Chen Chunhua was the last to arrive, looking back at the new grave. The wreath on the grave had been blown askew by the wind, and the paper flowers drooped, gleaming palely in the sunlight.
She let out a breath that had been held in her heart for a long time.
On the way back to the village, she heard her mother-in-law talking to someone: "...We must find a husband for Chunhua as soon as possible. We can't let her live off the fat of the land..." The voice drifted over with the wind, like a cold snake, and penetrated into her collar.
Chen Chunhua touched the straw rope tied around her waist and suddenly found that the knot had loosened at some point.
(Seven days later………………)
It was still raining, and the rain was getting heavier. The big raindrops hit the bluestone slabs, splashing turbid water.
Chen Chunhua stood in the center of the courtyard, her thin clothes already soaked through, clinging to her body and outlining her thin figure. Her hair lay dishevelled against her cheeks, and the rain trickled down her hair like countless cold snakes crawling across her skin.
The mother-in-law stood under the eaves, her gaunt body wrapped in a dusty jacket. Her triangular eyes fixed on her, cursing non-stop: "You unlucky star! You killed my son, and you still have the nerve to linger here? Get out! Get out now!"
Chen Chunhua said nothing, simply lowering her head to pick up the scattered clothing. Her indigo cotton jacket, her only decent winter coat, was now soaked in mud, the cuff patches stained brown by the mud.
She reached out to fish it out, and her nails were immediately filled with black mud.
"Bang!!!"
A bamboo pole suddenly hit her back, and the burning pain instantly exploded. She looked up and saw her sister-in-law Wang Xinghua holding a clothesline with a malicious smile on her face: "Mom told you to get out, didn't you hear?"
Chen Chunhua pursed her lips and continued to clean up. Her movements were slow, as if she was deliberately trying to irritate them. Sure enough, her mother-in-law rushed over and grabbed her hair: "Bitch! Why are you pretending to be pitiful?"
Chen Chunhua felt a tearing pain in her scalp, forcing her to look up. Rain poured directly into her eyes, stinging them painfully. Through her blurred vision, she saw the courtyard gate was crowded with villagers watching the excitement.
The Li family's daughter-in-law was cracking melon seeds, with the shells still stuck to the corners of her mouth; Aunt Zhang crossed her arms, her eyes shining with excitement.
"What are you looking at?" Grandma yelled at the crowd, then turned and kicked Chen Chunhua again. "Hurry up and get out of here with your junk!"
A coarse cloth bundle was thrown at her feet, its ties untied, and the contents scattered on the ground - a few patched old clothes, a pair of cloth shoes with worn soles, and the cracked small round mirror. The mirror reflected the gloomy sky like a broken moon.
Chen Chunhua knelt in the mud, picking up the items one by one. Her hands trembled, her knuckles white from the cold. When she touched the mirror, the sharp edge cut her fingertip, and blood oozed out, which was immediately washed away by the rain.
"What an unlucky thing!" the mother-in-law suddenly snatched the mirror and slammed it to the ground. With a snap, the already cracked mirror shattered completely, sending shards flying everywhere. One piece of it grazed Chen Chunhua's cheek, leaving a thin streak of blood.
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