Winter nights are especially cold.
Especially the wind was blowing from the river.
In grandma's room, Xia Meng, her two aunts, and Man Niang were busy cutting the white cloth with scissors. Some of them were put aside, and some were sewn into a pointed hat with a needle.
Two women came out of the house and looked around.
She saw Chen Man waving at her.
Chen Man was sure that they were calling her, so she stood up and walked towards them.
Without saying a word, the two men pulled her into the house, put a white mourning cloth with a pointed hat sewn on it on her head, and then deftly tied a hemp rope around her waist to hold the mourning cloth in place.
Xia Meng folded her huge hat brim several times, and Chen Man was finally able to see the light of day again.
She then dipped a small green round paper, slightly larger than a coin, in some glue and stuck it on the forehead of Chen Man's hat.
Chen Man knew that this was mourning.
The people in the room continued to discuss the remaining mourning cloth.
"Who else needs to wear it? I only know the relatives near us, her uncle's family, who need to wear it. Who else?"
"Never mind him. Let's send the ones we know up first and deal with the rest later." Let's send the mourning for the ones we know first and then deal with the rest later.
"That's right. I'll go out and call for help. You put it on them here. Put one on each one who comes in."
Chen Man put on the mourning cloth and stood in the house with nothing to do, so she just rolled up the mourning cloth that was covering her eyes and went out. When she walked to the fire, the seat was already taken, so she stood aside.
Xu Junyang was now wearing a different ritual robe and standing in front of the mourning hall, rubbing the gong and bowing to the mourning hall and the heaven and earth from time to time.
There was no sense of incongruity in him doing this, but rather a sense of compassion and piety.
He is good-looking, tall and handsome.
When people see him, they will say, this gentleman is very handsome.
There were more and more people wearing mourning clothes in the yard, and white figures were walking around here and there.
If it weren't for the crowds, it would still be a bit creepy.
After standing for a while, they finally took a break in the mourning hall.
Xu Junyang walked directly towards Chen Man and took her aside to talk.
"Your grandmother has no filial sons. We don't have a precedent of a woman being a filial son here. Even if there is a precedent, it has to be your mother. So, we plan to find someone from the same clan as your grandmother to be a filial son."
Chen Man understood and nodded.
"But no one wants to be a filial son for no reason. If you are a filial son, you must inherit some of the old man's things. For someone like that, who has no one to rely on, whoever is willing to be a filial son must be responsible for the funeral and inherit all the old man's things. But since you are here, I want to discuss this with you. What do you think is the best way to handle this matter?"
Chen Man understood that not everyone was willing to do this, and there had to be a lot of benefits involved.
"What do you think?"
She was unsure and asked Xu Junyang.
Xu Junyang looked into her eyes, thought silently for two seconds, and then said, "Give me the money."
Chen Man’s own identity is quite embarrassing, and she has no say in this village.
"Okay, then how much money do you think is appropriate?" Chen Man felt a little helpless, like an ignorant little girl asking an adult a question.
Xu Junyang gave a number and Chen Man accepted it.
Not a lot, but not a small amount either, nine thousand.
Nine thousand is not a small amount of money for rural residents. If you don’t go out to work, it will be difficult to make money.
There is no need for Chen Man to step in on this matter; Xu Junyang can just go and talk to him.
Chen Man only needs to pay the money. The 20,000 yuan red envelope she gave to her grandmother last night is back in her hands today.
Let's use these 20,000 yuan to hold grandma's funeral.
If it wasn't enough, she would add more.
After a while, a middle-aged man who looked honest and loyal stood next to Xu Junyang, holding a banner in his hand and bowing to him.
He is Zhang Xiaona’s father-in-law.
"The filial son and grandson are coming to bow!"
Someone shouted, and all the people wearing mourning cloth walked forward and stood in the yard behind Xu Junyang. Someone held a bunch of incense and handed one to each person.
Chen Man followed everyone else and was pulled to the front by Zhang Xiaona, "Stand here."
Chen Man bowed with everyone in a daze.
Everyone was looking at Xu Junyang and Zhang Xiaona's father-in-law, and they bowed when they bowed, and knelt when they knelt.
It was winter, and it was very cold and uncomfortable to kneel on the ground.
They were all half-squatting until someone brought a large bundle of straw, which they used as a cushion under their knees before kneeling down.
Each session lasted nearly half an hour, with two breaks in between. It was not until half past ten that Chen Man heard someone say that there was no need to bow tonight and that they could go home.
After that, there were fewer and fewer people.
At eleven or twelve o'clock, the yard was quite deserted.
Leng Leng finished the day's live broadcast tiredly, four hours and not a minute more.
He turned off his phone and leaned back in his chair lifelessly.
The moment Xu Xingzhi was pushed away by her, the surprise in his eyes made her very annoyed.
He smoothed his hair and sat in front of the lamp in confusion.
She thought back to how she had gotten into that debt.
At the beginning, my roommate said that her mother was short of 100,000 yuan and we could never get it together. 100,000 yuan could save her mother's life.
The despair and helplessness on her face were so vividly displayed.
"Leng Leng, can you please help me? You are my best friend. Our family has done everything we can and should ask for. We are only one hundred thousand yuan short. Just a little bit, really just a little bit. Please help me."
Leng Leng has refused many times.
She knew that her roommate's mother was always ill; she had heard her talk about it often during her freshman year.
"Help me once. This is a serious illness, and it will be reimbursed when the time comes. It won't take long. I'll return the money to you after the reimbursement. Really!"
"Reimbursement is very quick. After the surgery, you can be discharged from the hospital in about a week. Then you can take the bill to get reimbursed. It takes at most half a month."
"Please help me once. I don't want anything to happen to my mother. Now you are the only one who can save her. We really have no other options."
Leng Leng was shaken by her constant pleading.
"I can't help you that much. The most I can lend you is 30,000 yuan."
The roommate was very disappointed when he heard this, and kept muttering, "It's just a little bit, just a few tens of thousands of dollars, and I can buy my mother's life. Please, Leng Leng, please help me again."
Leng Leng had seen a post online before. It was about a man whose wife was sick and he was also short of 100,000 yuan.
I posted a lot of messages online asking for help.
No one believed it, and when someone finally reached out, the poster replied that it was no longer needed because the person was gone.
Everyone was very sad.
It turns out that human life is only worth 100,000 yuan.
Leng Leng thought, if he didn't help her, he would regret it when he looked back on it later, and this incident would become a permanent thorn in his heart.
In the end, I still borrowed 80,000 yuan.
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