"Are you calling to invite people over for the banquet?" Ziyi didn't understand the funeral process. The number of times she had been to such banquets in her two lifetimes combined could be counted on one hand, but from what Qin Yuhuan said, it seemed to be this.
"The feast is one thing, the other is the gift money." Qin Yuhuan pinched the bottle of mineral water, making a crackling sound. "My parents are a bit of a show-off. They want to save face. No matter whether it's a wedding or funeral, or even whether they're close or distant, as long as someone invites them, they will give a gift money. They just want to tell everyone that they're doing well and have plenty of money."
Her mother was even worse. If someone she didn't know asked her to pay, she would spend four or five hours and take three buses to go to the countryside to deliver the money.
"My mother's accident was caused by my uncle's youngest daughter not inviting her to her wedding. She called me crying, accusing them of disregarding family affection. Later, she mentioned Nianzhi, saying she had won another award for her painting and ranked third in her class. On the one hand, she was happy, but on the other hand, she was unwilling to accept that Nianzhi's biological parents refused to pay for her interest classes and private school tuition. I comforted her for a long time, and after hanging up, she even sent me a picture of Nianzhi's drawing. I thought she was fine."
Unexpectedly, my mother couldn't get over this hurdle at all. She was emotionally unstable and was admitted to the hospital that night.
When her mother's funeral took place across provinces, only two or three of the families she had sent gifts to returned with a few hundred yuan. They were from the same village as Qin Changping, and they hadn't seen each other for more than ten or twenty years. When they came, each of them brought a gift of one hundred yuan.
"Because of this, every time my dad said someone in the village was having a banquet and wanted to send a gift, I would transfer money to him. Without the people in the village, my mother's funeral would have been very sad. I remember this favor."
When it comes to money, Qin Yuhuan has never been a stingy or calculative person. She can buy clothes for herself that cost a few dollars or dozens of dollars, and calculate the discounted price when buying, but she has a clear conscience towards her family.
"No wonder, I see you are quite patient with your uncle and the others."
Ziyi's patience usually depends on how smoothly she handles the matter. If she didn't have to consider Qin Yuhuan's feelings all the time in Changping's matter, she would probably have just spent money on it on the first day she came. She could even pay wages to those who came to help, just as if she were hiring people.
In comparison, communication with several elders is not smooth, so Qin Yuhuan still has to explain frequently.
"These aunts are all very nice, especially my eldest aunt. She can't help crying when she mentions my father. She is very soft-hearted. The one who came to cook today is my eldest sister. She is over 50 years old. Her children are older than you and me. If you count, I have seven brothers, eight sisters, and more than 20 nephews and nieces here."
Ziyi: ...
"As for my uncle...don't be fooled by his loud voice and how aggressive he sounds. I also said he might be a bit greedy, but look at him, he's been giving us places to stay these past few days, finding people, buying things, and cleaning up the old house. He's been busy all the time, which is already very good."
No one is perfect. After seeing the relatives on my mother's side who are so cruel that they would risk their lives for a little child support, and would rather go to jail and become a deadbeat than pay back the money, the relatives here are really "normal people."
"What I'm thinking about now is, what should I do with the relevant departments to explain the situation and get the money back for the minimum living allowance my father received these past few months? I still have some savings, so I'll donate some of it to the village primary school to repay my uncle for using the minimum living allowance to reduce the amount of red envelopes the villagers receive."
Changping County is not poor, and Qinjia Village is not poor either. It is not Qin Yuhuan's turn to pay for road construction. After thinking for a long time, she decided to give the money to the school.
As for the gifts and money that will be brought by the people who will come to the banquet tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, for some of them, Qin Changping paid first, and this is a return gift. For some of them, I can only ask my uncle to keep an eye on them, and then give gifts in return if there is anything happening at home in the future.
"How could you...consider this aspect?" Ziyi was stunned for a moment.
The minimum living allowance is not much, only about 500 yuan a month.
"I want to do my job well and not leave any stains. I think insurance fraud is very unethical." Qin Yuhuan said frankly, "I know there are many people who commit insurance fraud, and the money is not much, but if I return it, there is a chance that it will be sent to those who really need it."
"Before, there were many children of deadbeats in the circle. Sometimes I would pretend to be someone else and look down on them. But after receiving these few thousand yuan, I no longer have the confidence to do so."
Qin Yuhuan was quite worried. She was a person with a clear conscience, but suddenly she felt as if she was forced to bend down. She felt a little uncomfortable. If Qin Changping had asked her any questions at the beginning, she would have tried her best to object. However, by the time she knew it, the matter had already been done.
"Let me take care of this. My assistant will be here today and I'll ask him to do some errands. You have a lot of things to do and can't finish them all." Ziyi had just finished speaking when someone came over and asked Qin Yuhuan to kowtow.
Before Qin Yuhuan could say anything, she was dragged away. She smiled at the spot and felt that Qin Yuhuan was like one of the seven fairies dragged away by heavenly soldiers. His eyes seemed to be able to speak, and when he looked at her, he was so charming and lovely.
In the afternoon, we went up the mountain to choose a place and encountered another unexpected scene.
Normally, when the site for Qin Yuhuan's mother's grave was chosen, a space would have been reserved next to it. This led to no one paying too much attention to this matter. When they really walked up the muddy mountain, they found that there was an inconspicuous and somewhat old tombstone not far from the old grave. Because it was only the size of a palm and the mountain was overgrown with vegetation, it had not been discovered before.
So...
Qin Changping's grave was moved half a meter to the upper right. The others were still lamenting that they couldn't be together, but Qin Yuhuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and tugged at Ziyi's hand, "I wonder if this counts as my mother's spirit appearing in heaven."
What Shi Lilan wanted to do most in her life was to divorce Qin Changping, but she never did until her death. Now, their graves are not in the same place, and suddenly there is another small grave in the middle.
My mother has been in the mountains for three years, and no one has discovered this small tombstone in these three years.
The master killed a chicken on the spot, and drops of chicken blood spilled all over the ground. He muttered something quickly that was difficult to understand. After a while, he asked Qin Yuhuan to go over and kowtow to the dug pit. He quickly spread a piece of newspaper prepared in advance on the ground.
After knocking their heads nine times in a row, some people took Qin Yuhuan and Ziyi down the mountain, while the rest of the people wanted to dig the pit bigger and deeper.
After nightfall, the weather turned cold and the icy wind made people shiver. The assistant was still on the way, and Ziyi, who was afraid of the cold, could only rely on burning paper money to keep warm.
According to the rules, Qin Yuhuan needed to kneel in front of the coffin until the ashes were sent up the mountain tomorrow, but her aunt couldn't bear it and would often come over and pull Qin Yuhuan and Ziyi to sit beside them.
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