Is everything you've said true?
Lu Xingjia knelt down on the ground. “My son saw it with his own eyes. Lu Amian set up a noodle stall outside the mourning hall and put a big box there, saying it was a money box for the mourning… But what’s the difference between that and collecting money for noodles? I counted quietly from the side. In just one hour, she sold at least a hundred bowls of noodles, and many people put in two or three coins.”
"A rough calculation shows that he could make two or three hundred coins in an hour. In one day, Lu Amian used his father's funeral to amass a fortune..."
The clan chief's face had turned ashen: "This is outrageous! They've really fallen for money!"
Lu Amian's family is now in dire straits; to teach her a lesson would be easier than crushing an ant.
The clan chief didn't take the matter seriously, stroking his beard and saying, "I will go and see what's going on tomorrow. You can go back now."
The vegetarian noodles were sold until evening. A-Mian quickly cooked noodles for everyone. With everything going smoothly and nothing else to do, Wangwang's family finished eating and took their leave. Second Sister-in-law was pregnant and it was not appropriate for her to stay overnight at the mourning tent. Meng Er took his wife, Xiao Jing, his mother, and a group of Second Sister-in-law's family members back to Qingshan Village, leaving A-Mian, A-Dou, and Meng Chijian to keep vigil at the mourning tent.
The moon is very big tonight.
Many villagers saw the two people, one older and one younger, keeping vigil for their father, kneeling and praying for a very long time.
But what they didn't know was the quiet conversation between the two inside the mourning hall:
"Luckily, you sewed some soft cloth into your pants before you left."
"Are you hungry?" Meng Chijian and the others had all eaten noodles, but because of her filial piety, A-Mian continued to abstain from food and water all day. (Before setting off, A-Mian ate a bowl of pork liver noodles at home, and hasn't eaten anything since arriving in Qingshan Village.)
A-Mian nodded.
"Later, after everyone is asleep."
Ah Mian chuckled to herself and continued whispering to someone, "You know, if we keep going like this, people will start spreading rumors that I'm keeping vigil for seven days and seven nights without eating or drinking. Wouldn't that be incredibly impressive?"
Meng Chijian said, "No, if I only eat a little something at night, I'll become as thin as a bamboo pole."
"All right."
Ah Mian did a rough calculation in her mind. She had been selling vegetarian noodles for two and a half hours today and had probably earned about six or seven hundred coins (the villagers who came later put more copper coins into the box).
Tomorrow I can set up the stall from morning till night, and I should be able to earn a tael of silver.
Ah, this business is really easy to do, because when someone dies, people suddenly realize that "money is just an external thing," and therefore they are not as calculating about money as they usually are.
As A-Mian watched over the spirit, she gradually became drowsy. With her eyes closed, her head slowly drooped down, and then suddenly she was about to fall forward when she was jolted awake. Before long, she repeated the process, like a chick pecking at rice, which was quite pitiful to watch.
Meng Chijian went to the donkey cart to get a shawl and let A-Mian lean against it, and then she was finally able to take a nap.
As night deepened, Ah Mian's eyelashes trembled as she tried desperately to open her eyes, but her eyelids wouldn't obey her commands, as if they were glued shut.
"Open your mouth."
Ah Mian smelled it delicious and couldn't help but take a bite. "Toasted mantou slices."
It was crispy, with a little bit of burnt edges, but it was delicious.
"It smells so good," she finally opened her eyes. "Won't other people smell it?"
"No." In the middle of the night, who else would dare to come to the mourning hall besides them?
Amian was starving and wolfed down two large steamed buns.
After she finished eating, she wasn't very sleepy anymore, so she told Meng Chijian to rest his head on her lap and sleep for a while while she scouted around and woke him up if anyone was around.
Feeling that it was almost 3 AM, she quickly woke the person up. The two of them stretched their limbs and joints and knelt down again.
The process for this day was quite complicated.
After making arrangements yesterday, Lu Xingjia ultimately refrained from throwing a tantrum during the ceremony today. Otherwise, it would have made the funeral very undignified and drawn criticism, turning a reasonable argument into an unreasonable one.
He got up before dawn, broke the coffin, and then everyone carried the coffin together.
Lu Xingjia walked at the front, carrying a bamboo pole with a white paper strip tied to it. The mourners shouted and cried, making the scene lively.
Lu Amian, who was at the back of the group, was all bark and no bite; she didn't shed a single tear and just kept shouting from behind.
"Father! Don't drink so much alcohol in your next life!"
Many of those at the front exchanged strange glances.
Why is Uncle Lu drinking like this? Isn't it because he only has one daughter? He has no hope, so he's become so despondent. You can't blame him...
With everyone harboring their own ulterior motives, the burial took place in this manner.
Without even a paper offering, this cicada, which should have left long ago, finally let out its last mournful cry and fell into eternal slumber underground.
At 9:00 AM, everything settled down.
Ah Mian returned to the mourning shrine to continue cooking noodles, intending to do good deeds for another day.
While everyone was busy, the clan chief led a group of about twenty strong young men from the clan to stand before A-Mian.
One of the clever ones stepped forward and shook the money box. It didn't feel very heavy in his hands, and it seemed that there were only a few dozen copper coins inside.
Hearing the sound of copper coins, the clan chief's expression softened a bit. "Lu Amian, someone told me you were not following funeral rites. I came to see for myself, and you really have set up a noodle stall here?"
Amian had seen the clan chief when she was very young, but hadn't seen him since. She was secretly amazed at how long this man could live; she wondered how he maintained his health. However, she quickly pointed to the "Letter to Neighbors" that had been posted. Before she could explain, Lu Jiaxing interrupted her loudly: "You're just using the mourning period to make money. To come up with such a heinous idea is truly rare in this world!"
Seeing their menacing approach, Meng Chijian realized that things were unlikely to end well today, so he said indifferently, "This was Father Lu's wish before his death. A-Mian did good deeds on behalf of her father, but you treat her like an orphan and rush to question her right after her father's funeral?"
"Don't think you're the only ones with mouths who can spout nonsense! Uncle Lu just had a few drinks, yet you've made it known to the whole world. A-Mian doesn't even cover up her father's faults; instead, she uses his bad reputation to sell noodles. This is extremely unfilial! My Lu family simply cannot stand by and watch!"
"Enough!" the clan chief roared at the opportune moment. "Now that Lu Amian is married, she is no longer a member of the Lu family. However, she is still the deceased's only daughter, and you..."
The villagers dared not utter a sound, all awaiting the clan chief's final verdict.
The clan chief said she was filial, so she was filial.
To say she's unfilial is an understatement; even if she were, she would still be unfilial.
“Lu Amian, you must close this noodle shop and repent properly in the ancestral hall! I heard you can read now, so write a ‘letter of repentance,’ and that will be the end of it…”
The punishment wasn't severe, but it treated Ah Mian's plain face as a sign of filial impiety. Once the letter of repentance was written, Ah Mian truly became an "unfilial son."
As A-Mian racked her brains for an explanation, someone suddenly shouted, "The village head is here! The monks from the temple are here too! Even... even the magistrate from the city is here—"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
