Chapter 30 Funeral of the People of Dashan
While he was waiting for Zhou Tianlan to send him the study materials, something big happened in Zhujia Village.
Someone died.
The deceased was an old man in his seventies. He suffered a cerebral infarction while working in the morning and was taken to the town clinic for emergency treatment. The doctor found that he was already dead, so he had to be taken back intact.
The custom here is that the body of a person who dies outside the home cannot be kept at home or in the ancestral hall. A tent can only be set up outside the ancestral hall.
That day, after school, Xu Sirui and Zhu Yingning walked to the village entrance and saw a bamboo shed that had not been there that morning. The roof of the shed was covered with white cloth, and several people in mourning were kneeling in the shed and crying.
"Another crew is coming to film?"
Xu Sirui was born in the city, and his grandparents were still alive. He had never seen such a scene. He asked this question without thinking and walked leisurely with his hands in his pockets. It was not until he caught a glimpse of the corpse on the wooden board at the bottom of the shed that his pupils suddenly shrank. He screamed "Oh shit" and was so scared that he immediately dodged behind Zhu Yingning.
Zhu Yingning was also surprised by the sudden death of someone in the village, so she didn't bother to be shocked by his cowardice.
Just as she was about to step forward to get a closer look, Xu Sirui grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. He placed both his hands on her shoulders, trying to use her thin body to block his view. He turned his head away from the body and begged incoherently, "No, no, no! No... no! That... don't go over there yet. If you have to, take me home first. Damn it."
“…”
Zhu Yingning was afraid that Xu Sirui would arouse the anger of the deceased's relatives if he continued to say "fuck", so she had to send him home as he said, and then went out alone to inquire about the situation.
The deceased had no blood relationship with their family and they had little contact with each other, but they were from the same village after all, so there was some clan affection between them. Although she did not cry bitterly, she was not in a good mood. She went to the underside of the shed with Liu Guifang to mourn for a while and comforted their family members before returning home.
Life and death were matters of the utmost importance to them. Soon, word of the death in Zhujia Village spread to several neighboring villages, and people began to arrive to pay their respects. Not only relatives but also strangers who had little contact with the deceased came. Everyone who came, regardless of family, would kneel on a mat and cry for a while, huddling with the like-minded relatives to comfort each other.
This kind of clan sentiment or neighborly love was far beyond Xu Sirui's understanding. After recovering from the shock of suddenly seeing the corpse, his curiosity as a child got the better of him, and he couldn't help but stand at the door and watch.
Funerals in the village weren't like those in the city. Cities were densely populated, and to avoid disrupting public order, ordinary families kept funerals simple. The largest he'd ever witnessed was a long line of people in mourning clothes, marching down the sidewalk, accompanied by the pounding of gongs and drums. Mountain villages, on the other hand, retained many more ancient customs; the use of paper money alone was a stark difference from those in the city.
The paper money in the city is bought ready-made, but here people fold it themselves. Villagers believe that the paper money folded by their descendants is more pious and has more "spiritual power".
After dinner, someone brought in a few baskets of straw paper, and the deceased's family members sat under the shed, chatting and folding paper ingots.
The lights in the village, which usually turned off the lights early, were kept on all night for the first time. People kept coming in and out of the sheds, taking turns keeping watch. Even when lying on the kang to sleep, you could hear the rustling sounds outside.
However, this curiosity, sparked by novelty, quickly faded, because the next morning, the deceased's family invited a group of folk artists to perform under the tent. These mourners were incredibly dedicated, not only playing their instruments resoundingly, but one person was also responsible for crying out loud. Kneeling on a cushion, they channeled their Qi into their Dantian, their voice resonating hundreds of miles away. Their tears were so intense, so loud, and so persistent that even when their voices were hoarse, they persisted, making one feel they deserved the money.
Xu Sirui observed for a moment and realized this was likely a customary practice in his village. No one complained about the noise, and everyone was quite tolerant. The dead were the greatest, so even though the noise gave him a headache, he couldn't say anything and could only endure it patiently.
This lasted for two full days.
It wasn't until Sunday afternoon that Zhu Yingning came to tell him, "They're going to hold the funeral in the evening."
She had been missing for the past few days, busy running around. Xu Sirui didn't understand why she was so busy when someone in someone else's family had passed away, but when he thought about her nature of wanting to take care of everything, he felt that her busyness was just as it should be.
Not only did she come back, she also had several sets of mourning clothes tucked under her arms. He was bored and counted them in his mind: one, two, three, a total of three sets. After counting, he couldn't help but blurt out a complaint: "Your grandmother has to go to the funeral even though she is paralyzed? Your customs are quite strange."
She looked at him as if he were a fool and said, "One of them is yours."
Xu Sirui choked on his own saliva. "Why are you doing this to me? I don't even know the deceased..."
"The deceased," Zhu Yingning corrected him with a frown. "The term 'deceased' is impolite. It sounds like a homicide."
"...Okay, the deceased." Actually, he originally wanted to say the dead person, but he thought it was a good thing that he didn't say it out loud, otherwise she would probably nag him to death. "I don't even know the deceased person, why would I join in the fun at the funeral?"
He still feels a lingering fear when he thinks of the corpse.
Zhu Yingning didn't preach, but simply said slowly, "After the funeral, they will treat all the people who attended the funeral to a meal. They slaughtered a pig this morning, and someone went to the mountains to hunt a few rabbits."
"Although I don't know the deceased, life and death are things that all human beings have to face. It is a big deal. Out of the common feelings of all mankind, I think I should indeed attend this funeral." Xu Sirui was flexible and changed his words immediately, speaking so fast as if he had a second personality.
His sudden change of attitude made her feel both angry and amused, but in the end, the amusement prevailed. However, considering that the topic they were discussing was very serious, it would be disrespectful to the deceased to laugh like that. She tried hard to hold back her laughter, pursing her lips into a straight line, clenching her teeth, and digging her nails into her palms. It took a lot of effort to suppress the laughter, but when she looked up, Xu Sirui standing opposite her also had an expression on his face that was trying hard to hold back his laughter.
The most dreaded thing when trying to hold back laughter is meeting the eyes of someone else who's also trying to hold back. Even if you don't feel like laughing, your smile will tragically multiply by two, from one person wanting to laugh to two people wanting to laugh. As soon as they look at each other, well, their laughter breaks instantly, and with a puff, they both burst into laughter.
It's so sinful.
Zhu Yingning laughed and felt like crying, but that's just how people are sometimes. The more serious the situation, the harder it is to stop laughing. She laughed so hard her body lurched backwards, her stomach twisting, as if someone had hit her funny bone. Xu Sirui was no less enraged, clutching his stomach, cursing, his brows knitted together. It was obvious he wanted to stop immediately, but he just kept laughing like he'd taken the wrong medicine.
Afraid of being seen by passersby, she laughed while dragging Xu Sirui behind the door. The two of them laughed like crazy behind the door. At the end of the laughter, Zhu Yingning was furious and slapped herself and Xu Sirui on the arm. Two crisp slaps finally stopped the laughter.
He covered his arm, which was instantly red from her slap. The tears in the corners of his eyes were not sure whether they were from laughter or pain: "Damn... Zhu Yingning, you are too mean. You want to slap me to death?"
"Be serious."
As she spoke, she raised her hands and patted her cheeks, not knowing whether she was talking to herself or to him.
In the chaos, she laughed and dropped the mourning clothes on the ground. She picked them up and picked out a cleaner one to hand to him. As a result, Master Xu started to have another attack: "How long have you not washed these clothes? I don't want to wear them."
Zhu Yingning knew that he had mysophobia, so she didn't force him. She pulled out a white belt and said, "Then tie it anywhere you want."
He held out two fingers and took it with disgust.
**
The road to the funeral procession is both far and near, just on the mountain behind Zhujia Village.
The line was long. Xu Sirui had initially assumed the area was suffering from a severe loss of young and middle-aged labor and a sparse population, but he hadn't expected several neighboring villages to come together to form such a large group. A large group of people lined up, like ants moving house, heading towards the mountains in a long line. Except the ants were black, and they were white.
Some people in the team were beating drums and gongs, and some were singing. They were singing in a very strange dialect or classical Chinese, and he didn't understand a word.
Firecrackers lined the road, setting off wherever they went. The crackling sound and the smoke billowed like ancient generals heading out to battle. As the smoke filled the forest, Xu Sirui couldn't help but worry about the safety of the mountain. Fortunately, it was summer, with high humidity. Otherwise, with this amount of firecrackers, it was hard to say whether a wildfire would start.
Neither he nor Zhu Yingning's family were relatives of the deceased. Relatives lined up at the front, while outsiders like them lined up at the end of the line, a huge distance away from the people carrying the coffin in front.
This was his first time going up the mountain since the day of his failed escape.
The mountain roads here were carved out by those who had come before them. There were no steps, only winding, sandy paths that could easily lead to slipping. Xu Sirui walked cautiously, fearing another ankle injury. In contrast, the coffin bearers ahead, despite carrying a heavy load, continued to walk briskly. The long procession quickly developed uneven spacing, with the gaps widening as they moved further back.
He could see that Zhu Yingning was also a brisk walker, but out of concern for him, she didn't step forward alone. Liu Guifang had no such concerns, and with a few close friends, they walked and chatted, leaving them more than ten meters behind.
"You can go to the front if you want."
He felt it was a bit embarrassing to have others slow down and wait for him while walking on a mountain road.
Zhu Yingning looked at him puzzledly: "Why should I go to the front?"
"……fine."
Xu Sirui discovered that Zhu Yingning's straightforward personality also had its advantages. For example, now, she couldn't tell that he felt embarrassed. Doesn't that mean that he actually wasn't embarrassed?
He was amused by his own weak logic.
After walking for a while, he gradually developed an indescribable sense of familiarity, but he didn't react at first until he came to the trap where he had fallen and saw a wooden board around the trap with the words "Beware of Trap" written on it in red marker. Only then did he realize that this was the place he had been to on the day he escaped.
The sign was obviously put in place later. Xu Sirui was full of resentment towards the person who dug the trap, thinking that it would be useless if he didn't put it in earlier or later, but waited until he fell into it.
The pit at the burial site had been dug a day in advance. When the coffin bearers arrived at the destination, they shouted together - Hey ya hey ya, one two one two - and worked together to carry the coffin in.
Those who were standing far away could not help. They did not need to help hold the coffin, nor did they need to gather around the pit and cry like the deceased's relatives to say their final goodbyes to the deceased.
They just need to stand.
Standing and watching the death of a mortal in silence.
The soil swallowed the coffin bit by bit and ate it into the mountain's stomach. The life that grew in the mountain finally rested in the mountain.
The soul returns to its hometown, life and death share the same origin.
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