"From now on, all our children will have books to read!"
Pei Qingshan thought that even if the school was built in the commune, it was not far away. They could go out early and come back late and bring their own lunch. Children were fast walkers, so it would only take them more than half an hour to walk there, and it would also allow them to exercise.
This is a great thing for the entire village, no, the entire commune, and even the two nearby communes!
Finally, a big shot has taken the education problem here seriously.
Seeing that none of them understood the point, Ruan Niannian quickly said, "Brother Qingshan, this letter is not that simple. The letter was sent a few days ago, and the reporter had already set out when the letter was sent. When he came to investigate, his first choice would be the commune, and the second would definitely be our brigade. Maybe he has already quietly arrived at our brigade."
"Oh no, it's bad. I went to the commune for a meeting the past two days. I didn't have time to take care of too many things when I came back. My aunt passed away these two days. The image of our village..." Pei Qingshan slapped his thigh repeatedly.
He is a reporter from the New Era Newspaper, who came here specially for an investigation. When he read the letter just now, he was still thinking about showing his best spirit to everyone.
After Ruan Niannian's reminder, he felt like something bad was going to happen.
However, their brigade awards prizes every year, so it's unlikely that his bad behavior would be captured by reporters after being evacuated for a few days, right?
I hope that reporter hasn't gone back yet.
Pei Qingshan didn't have time to discuss more with them. He didn't even have time to eat. He hurried back to the team to discuss the matter with the cadres.
It is definitely not okay to shout through a loudspeaker. What if a reporter happens to be here during his inspection and he shouts through the loudspeaker, wouldn’t he be exposed?
People will definitely think they are pretending.
The best way is for them to go door to door and notify the villagers to pay attention to their personal image during this period. Whether they can get a school for the village depends on themselves.
Seeing Pei Qingshan leaving in a hurry, Ruan Niannian and Pei Yuanzheng smiled at each other, and their hands were briefly clasped together. In their eyes, only ambitions and desires that the other could understand were growing vigorously.
The second day's banquet was still a vegetarian one.
After finishing his meal, the second uncle found Pei Qingsong and asked him to call all his brothers over.
"Green pines, green cypresses, green poplars, and expeditions. Although your parents are gone now, you all have the same blood. Even if you separate, you are still brothers. Only when brothers support each other can their lives get better and better. Do you understand?"
No matter what the four brothers thought in their hearts, they all showed their agreement on their faces and said it clearly.
Of course, this sentence was just incidental. The other thing was the purpose of the second uncle looking for them.
He cleared his throat and coughed out a mouthful of thick phlegm, then said, "It's been too hot these past few days. If we keep the body here any longer, it will stink. Some elders in the tribe can't stand it anymore, so I'm here to ask you. Keeping the body here is just a token of our appreciation. How about we go buy some water today and bury it tomorrow?"
It is a local custom to buy water the day before burial. The day before burial, relatives of the family have to go to the port that runs through the entire village to throw coins to buy water.
It can be one or two points, or three or four points, and it is everyone's token of thought for the deceased.
According to the original custom, the body should be kept for three days, one day for buying water, and one day for burial, a total of five days of funeral ceremonies.
The rituals have been cancelled now, but they used to last much longer.
According to Second Uncle's suggestion, we will buy water this afternoon and bury the body tomorrow, which means the five-day ceremony will be shortened to three days.
"I'm just asking for them. The weather is too hot. I'm strong, so it's okay. But if the old guys in the tribe get too hot because of a ceremony, I'm afraid you brothers will need some advice."
The Second Uncle is worthy of being the clan leader for so many years.
He could tell at a glance that among the four brothers, only the eldest brother Pei Qingsong wanted to raise objections to his proposal.
These words were directed at Pei Qingsong.
After he finished speaking, he saw Pei Qingsong clench his fist, which represented the brothers' agreement. "We certainly don't want to harm the elders, so let's follow your suggestion just now."
"Okay, then I'll arrange for the tribe members to go buy water."
Pei Qingsong's compromise also made the second uncle feel relieved.
He was afraid that Pei Qingsong would be too filial and refuse his proposal. If the elders didn't go to buy water, there would be a second time. The relationship in the tribe would begin to split, and it would be very difficult for the next tribe leader to manage the tribe.
Second Uncle is already this old, half of his body is buried in the ground, he doesn't expect to lead his people to live a good life, he just hopes that the tribe will be peaceful when he passes on the throne to the next tribe leader.
After he left, Pei Qingsong sighed and said to his brothers, "Pack up. I'll have to trouble you to buy water later."
"Whatever Big Brother says, it's just as hard."
The ceremony of buying water is also very complicated. They will bring a futon, and the male descendants will kneel on the white sail holding a white ribbon. If someone throws a coin, they will kowtow.
The girls had to hold the wives' hands and let them cry on the way to buy water. No matter they could cry or not, they had to see the tears. While crying, they had to tell the elders to go well and peacefully, and not to worry about the family. Everything was fine at home and they didn't have to come back to visit often.
My bones are about to fall apart after a day's work.
Now they are facing a problem. Pei Qingbai's legs are so bad that he can't kneel down at all. Although the whole process of buying water is not long, he can't endure it.
"How about this, second brother, don't go over there. Jianhui should kneel a little in front so that the clan members can see him." Pei Yuanzheng suggested.
Pei Qingbai didn't want to go at all, so he agreed without hesitation. However, thinking of the lesson given to him and his wife by his second uncle last night, Pei Qingbai paused and said, "Xiangyun has to go. It's okay if I don't go because my legs are not good, but it will be bad if Xiangyun doesn't go."
It’s decided.
After lunch, buying water was put on the agenda.
Ruan Niannian, wearing a linen dress and a mourning hat, went out with the support of her three sisters-in-law.
He kept crying and reciting along the way and finally stopped halfway.
The four sisters-in-law cried so hard that when they wiped their faces with their hands, they were covered with blood.
The tribesmen who passed by them were deeply moved, and many of them came over to comfort them.
At the harbor, members of the Pei clan lined up to buy water.
Pei Jianhui knelt in the front and kowtowed twice for every kowtow from the person behind him.
The second uncle saw him and quickly called him, "Jianhui, one is enough. You are still a child, you can't bear this."
"It's okay with me, ancestor. My father can't come, so I have to kowtow for him as well." He pursed his lips after he said that, and kowtowed twice when someone came over.
What they didn't know was that this entire conversation was recorded by a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses who happened to pass by.
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