After the uproar, everyone found their own tasks and went back to their places, and order was restored in Xu Guoqing's home. The two aunts, tired of crying, collapsed to the side.
When there was a funeral in Hetou Village, every family in the team had to send one person to help, rather than just one team or families in the same team with close ties having to send multiple people. Qiuhua's family was close to Xu Guoqing, so everyone in the family went to help.
There were many people helping out, some arriving later, but everyone knew what to do, and there was no confusion or panic. The reason was a work assignment sheet posted on the wall. This sheet was written by the team leader, and each person's name was assigned to a specific task. Those who arrived later stood in front of the sheet, found their name and specific assignment, and then went about their business.
No one shirked their duties, either at weddings or funerals. Everyone knew their turn would come, so they put in the most effort. Furthermore, the head of the family was overwhelmed with grief and struggled to manage the funeral, so the team leader and the others took on the responsibility, and everyone worked diligently to help relieve the head of the family's worries.
Xu Guoqing's family invited a group of monks from the temple to perform a ritual to pray for his soul to be reborn. As soon as it got dark, they started beating the wooden fish and chanting sutras.
A large pot was set up in the yard, and the women helping out pulled out bundles of cabbage, peeled off the outermost rotten leaves, and then chopped the whole cabbage into small pieces, placing them in a large wooden basin. The village's Da Huang, who usually cooked for the team, naturally served as the cook for funerals. At this moment, he was slicing meat on the chopping board.
Today's plan is three dishes, cabbage and pork slices, firm tofu and sweet potatoes.
The tofu vendor on the street brought several buckets of old tofu. Da A Huang lit a pan of oil, used a large iron shovel to scratch the inside of the bucket horizontally and vertically, and then shoveled the tofu into the pan piece by piece. When the oil met the wet tofu, there was a sizzling sound. He stir-fried it twice, and before the tofu became more loose, he scooped it up and sprinkled some green onions on it.
The sweet potatoes were just dug out by the team. They were cut into small pieces and fried in a pan of oil. Then water was added and boiled until a chopstick could be easily inserted.
The sky was getting darker and darker. Although Qiuhua was sad, she was still thinking about the important events that happened to her brother today.
At this time, Dahua and several young and strong men were responsible for borrowing the eight-immortal table from other people's homes, and while borrowing it, they were also responsible for informing Xu Guoqing's family of the funeral.
Dahua carried in an octagonal table and placed it inside the house. He was about to go out to borrow a second one, but Qiuhua quickly pulled him aside.
"Brother, aren't you going to the movies today?"
Dahua was stunned. In fact, he had been thinking about it in his heart, but now this thing happened and there was a funeral in Xu Guoqing's family, so how could he go to the movies?
Unexpectedly, although Qiuhua is young, he is always concerned about his own affairs. Dahua is very touched.
"Hey, there's a funeral in this village, I can't leave."
Qiuhua understood the situation, and besides, it was Xu Haopo who was in trouble, so Dahua was supposed to be there to help. So she said nothing more and let Dahua go out to borrow the eight-immortals table. But she felt a mixture of sadness and regret. The whole family had been excited about his date, thinking that Dahua might be able to get engaged this time, but now they couldn't see the movie, and the engagement would never happen.
The night watchman stayed up until midnight. At first, everyone was chatting excitedly, but then gradually fell silent, their eyelids drooping and they were exhausted. After all, they had worked all day, and then couldn't sleep at night. No one could bear it.
Just when everyone was dozing off, Xiao Jianqing's mother woke up from her coma and stumbled in from outside. Her husband tried to pull her back several times but failed.
"Get out of here! Stop chanting! She killed my son! What? Do you think you can become a Bodhisattva by chanting? Bullshit!"
Her two brothers and sister-in-law came in with her, and it looked like they were going to have a big fight. The night watchmen suddenly became excited. In the middle of the night, it might seem like a farce to others, but this might be the mother's last struggle.
She rushed in and overturned a few tables. Everyone present was stunned and no one stepped forward to stop her for a while.
"Pa" Just when she was about to overturn the lit incense burner, Xu Xiaonan pulled her over and slapped her hard, causing the corner of her mouth to bleed and leaving a red palm mark on her face.
She covered her face in disbelief and looked at her man. The two brothers behind her rushed up, grabbed his collar and punched him. Several people started fighting and the scene was in chaos.
At this time, everyone came to their senses and rushed forward to separate them. They were so busy that they didn't care about anything else until the candlestick was knocked over. The fallen candle ignited the white cloth on Xu Guoqing's body, and the fire suddenly spread to his body. He panicked and ran and turned in place, but the fire didn't die down at all and was about to burn his face.
The fighting group of people finally stopped. Dahua reacted immediately and rushed outside to move a large wooden barrel with Da Huang. The barrel was filled with well water to be used for cooking tomorrow.
The two men lifted the buckets and poured the water all over Xu Guoqing, putting out the fire. Xu Guoqing managed to save his face, but his arms were burned to a bloody mess.
It’s already so dark, no matter how painful it is, you have to endure it and go to the hospital at dawn.
After the fire started, little Jianqing's mother calmed down. She collapsed on the ground and kept sobbing. The monk who was chanting sutras next to her finished chanting in a mumbled voice, walked over to her and said something. She suddenly stopped crying, wiped her tears, and went home alone.
After a while, she came back with little Jianqing in her arms and put the child in her mother-in-law's arms.
At this time, the monk who had just rested for a while started chanting again.
Dahua didn't return home until dawn, lying in bed, unable to sleep. Erhua had gone to learn how to carve rosewood, and now he was the only one using the house, feeling strangely lonely.
A whole day of chaos had left him no time to think about anything else. Now that he was quiet, his mind was filled with Zhao Xiaojuan. He didn't know how long she had been waiting at the outdoor cinema. She must have been angry, and even if she blamed him, that was perfectly reasonable.
If it was just blame, that would be fine, but I'm afraid I won't even be able to see her from now on.
At this moment, Dahua felt very uncomfortable and achy, as if something had gotten into him and couldn't be pulled out. He felt his eyes were sore, but he couldn't cry.
He had originally planned to accompany Zhao Xiaojuan to the movies first, and then accompany her home. He would try to walk back slowly so that they could talk more. When they parted, they would also make an appointment to meet next time.
Well, now there's nothing.
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