Today is Qingming Festival, and everyone is up early. Yu Ge'er is feeding the chickens and pigs. He recently bought two piglets, and Yu Ge'er is very fond of them. He promised that he would feed them until they are fat and plump. There are also a few more chicks. Whenever Yu Ge'er has free time, he goes to the river to dig for earthworms, for fear that the chickens at home will not have enough to eat.
After washing up, Zhao Shiyun helped to kill the chicken. He didn't make tofu today because everyone was out visiting graves on Qingming Festival. Not many people wanted to buy it, so he decided not to bother making it.
Lin Yan took the chicken Zhao Shiyun had killed to the kitchen, put the whole chicken in the pot, added ginger slices, scallions, a little salt and a little white wine, and began to cook. Halfway through, he added a cleaned pork leg and five eggs.
I put two bowls of sticky rice, the kind that sticks out, and put the rest in a large bowl to take to my uncle's house. I also put the wine, cups, chopsticks, incense sticks, and gold ingots in the basket.
The chicken was almost done. Lin Yan pricked it with chopsticks and saw that there was no more blood. He cooked it for a while longer, then took it out and put it on a plate to cool.
We were supposed to prepare a few generous side dishes. It's customary there to have a simple meal at the tomb after sweeping, and another meal after returning. And it wasn't just our family going; there were also people from our cousin's side (Zhao Shiyun's grandfather's younger brother's side). But this year, it wasn't their turn to prepare; it was his cousin's side.
Zhao Shiyun had been helping to watch the fire in the kitchen. Lin Yan asked him, "Is your uncle coming too?" Zhao Shiyun shook his head and said, "He doesn't want to see us. He usually goes in the afternoon, so we can avoid each other."
"Is that so..." Lin Yan whispered, "Go ask Ah Mo if she's ready to leave?"
Zhao Shiyun went out to see that Yuanyuan, his uncle's son, had just arrived to inform them to leave. Yuanyuan was the youngest son of his uncle's second son, Zhao Shiwu. His full name was Zhao Xianyuan, and everyone called him Yuanyuan. Zhao Shiyun went back to the kitchen to tell Lin Yan about this, then went to get his sickle and hoe and put them in his backpack. The mountain path was difficult to navigate, overgrown with weeds. A sickle was not only convenient for climbing the mountain, but also for clearing the weeds at the cemetery.
They usually gathered under a big tree at the entrance of the village. Lin Yan quickly put the prepared food into one basket and the rest into another basket.
"Brother Yu, here you go." Lin Yan handed the lighter basket to Yu. Just as he was about to pick up the heavier one, Zhao Shiyun took it away and said, "I'll do it." Lin Yan had no choice but to follow empty-handed.
Although it is Qingming Festival, it did not rain today. The air was humid and hot when the sun shone. Everyone wore straw hats and changed into thinner clothes. After all, it is still quite hot to climb the mountain.
By the time they reached the village entrance, almost everyone was there. After a while, everyone was there. My uncle called out to them, and they all headed up the mountain together. Along the way, Lin Yan looked around curiously, even reaching out to pick a wildflower blooming by the roadside. This wasn't a mountain he usually went to for mountain goods, so he hadn't been there much.
When they reached a steep slope, Zhao Shiwen, the eldest son of their uncle, pulled ahead, and the others behind helped each other, finally making it across. After reaching the cemetery, everyone dispersed, with the women, husbands, and children waiting on one side while the men cleared the weeds around the graves.
Zhao Shiyun and his cousins used sickles to cut the weeds around the grave. When they were almost done, they found a shovel from someone's house, shoveled two large pieces of mud to cover the grave, inserted branches, and tied a white cloth to the branches.
Lin Yan and several other relatives and aunts placed the offerings in front of the tomb one by one, lit incense and candles, and each person took turns to burn incense and bow, and the children followed suit.
After the worship, they started setting off firecrackers and fireworks. Zhao Shiyun took a stick of incense, took the firecrackers Yuanyuan handed him, and prepared to light them. Before lighting them, he glanced at Lin Yan and signaled him to cover his ears.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The roar of huge firecrackers echoed through the sky, and the mountains and plains were covered with fragments of the exploding firecrackers. Lin Yan covered his ears and hid away from Yu Ge'er. At the foot of the mountain were farmlands. In the seedling fields, the early rice had already begun to grow taller. Soon, it would be ready for transplanting.
After setting off the fireworks, we headed to sweep the graves on another hill. It was farther away, and the rains were common during Qingming Festival, so the path was difficult and muddy. Everyone collected their offerings and made sure not to get left behind. Children were told to stay close to their parents and not run around. There were more wild flowers and fruits here, which the children particularly enjoyed. We worried they might get lost if they ran around picking them.
The other tomb was at the top of a mountain. After a lot of effort, everyone was exhausted and panting. Lin Yan placed his hands before his eyes and gazed into the distance. He saw mountains all around him. The trees were dense, but not very green, giving him a sense of the vicissitudes of winter transitioning into spring. There was even a lake in the middle. The top of the mountain was covered with small shrubs, but Lin Yan also spotted a large clump of honeysuckle.
He felt itchy and took Yu Ge'er to pick them while no one else was paying attention.
"Brother Yu, this is honeysuckle, a medicinal herb. After drying it, you can sell it in a pharmacy." Lin Yan explained.
When Yu Ge'er heard this, he worked harder and picked half a basket in a short while.
The others rested briefly before beginning the tomb sweeping ceremony. The process was the same as before: weeding, adding soil, burning incense, offering sacrifices, and setting off firecrackers. Afterward, my aunt called on a few of her sisters-in-law to help set the table. The chicken and meat she had brought would be cooked later, but for now, they ate the side dishes they had brought that morning.
After the dishes were laid out, everyone sat down on the ground and began to eat. My cousin's family had brought a few dishes: mixed ash greens, scrambled eggs with black fungus, and wild vegetable pancakes. Everyone ate a few simple bites, and after returning to the mountain, they would go to my cousin's house for dinner.
After eating, you can go down the mountain.
On the way down the mountain, Lin Yan ran to pick wild fruits, and Yu Ge'er came to help. Some of the wild fruits were tall, so Zhao Shiyun used a sickle to hook them down. Some of the wild fruits grew on the cliff. Lin Yan jumped up, touched one, and tasted it. It was sweet.
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