Rural funerals require the funeral procession to lead the hearse through the entire village and arrive at the cemetery before the scheduled time. The more ostentatious and lively the scene, the better.

The ancestral tomb of Li Qian's family is at the foot of Fuyang Mountain. It can be said that it is very close. It can be reached after crossing Tianshui Creek, but there are still many steps to take. There are two main streets in Banshantun, and the funeral manager suggested that the procession start from Li Qian's home.

After coming out, first walk along East Street from south to north to the end of the village, then return along West Street from north to south, and then cross Tianshui Creek and enter Fuyang Mountain.

So the mighty procession filed into the East Street, led by two tricycles, a paper truck, and a cannon truck; followed closely by the "Gong and Drum Team", folk artists who played suona and drums;

Behind was an army of dutiful sons, with Li Yan walking at the front carrying a soul-calling flag, followed by more than two hundred dutiful sons in white pulling a hearse; behind the hearse were more than a dozen cars of different types, two of which were loaded with wreaths and paper works.

The remaining cars carried old friends and relatives who came to see him off.

There are many forks in the street, which are actually small alleys. According to local custom, people who have a good relationship with the deceased will place a small table at the fork in the road and place some tributes to pay tribute again to see the deceased off. Li Qianjin’s funeral procession walked to the third

I was stopped at a fork in the road.

"Stop..." the steward shouted loudly and loudly. The funeral procession stopped when they heard the sound, and the "gong and drum team" also stopped. Li Kai tilted his head and saw that two families were paying homage, and one was Baifu.

Ye, I don’t know the other family.

"Kneel down..." the steward shouted again, and the filial sons quickly knelt down.

"Sacrifice..." The people on the paper scattering truck raised their hands and threw a bunch of paper money, flying all over the sky; the person in charge of setting off the firecrackers had already jumped off the cannon truck and spread a "ten ring and one gong" firecracker on the ground. When he heard the shout, he immediately

Lit, "Crackling, crackling, crackling."

"Thank you as a filial son..."

Li Yan and the others kowtowed to the sacrificial table.

"Get up..." The filial sons stood up and continued to move forward. Master Baifu and the others also put away the sacrificial table and stepped out of the way.

The team marched intermittently, because at each fork in the road there would be two or three families setting up tables to pay homage. Li Kai knew some, some he had seen, some he had never seen before, and even Dali and Dabao also came, and finally gave me a gift.

Procedure.

It took more than an hour for the team to cross the "Tianshui Bridge" and enter Fuyang Mountain.

The burial place is Grandma Yu's tomb. This is what Li Qianjin told Li Yan a long time ago. After his death, he will be buried with Grandma Yu. The grave has been dug carefully and a little space has been opened on the left side of the tomb. Li Yan

Yan carefully placed the urn in the newly opened space, along with a food altar, which was a small clay pot. It contained the tributes on the dining table, a little bit of each, filling the altar.

Buried with ashes, it is said that the deceased can eat them for three years.

Grandma Cui knelt beside the tomb, with tears in her eyes, and murmured in her mouth: "Sister, my brother-in-law has gone down to accompany you. He has never been married in his whole life, so he has just stayed with you. He will be buried with you when he gets old. You

You deserve to have waited for him for more than 40 years. You can live a good life down there, my sister..."

"Fill in the soil..." The steward saw that the time was up, and roared again, and the loess poured down. Suddenly, there was a cry in the team, and the filial sons and grandsons were grief-stricken; outside the crowd, wreaths, paper work, paper money, and ingots were lit, and the fire rose into the sky.

It rises and soars into the sky; outside the grave circle, firecrackers blast in unison, the two kicks are like continuous machine cannons, and the sky is filled with smoke; the sound of the suona sounds, gentle and desolate, filling the wilderness with sadness.

Twenty minutes later, the tomb was filled, and the tomb bag was bulging. The steward muttered words, carried a water bottle, sprinkled water around the tomb bag three times on the left and three on the right, and then asked everyone to form a team to worship, and the ceremony was completed.

The filial sons threw the "mourning stick" into the fire, took off their filial piety clothes, balled up into a ball, tucked it under their armpits, and went down the mountain together in threes and threes.

Returning to Li Qianjin's old house, there was a basin of water outside the gate with a kitchen knife lying across the water. People who had returned from the mountains lined up in the basin to symbolically wash their hands, then turned over the kitchen knife before going home.

.

The program is complete, but there are still many things to be finished.

Li Yan gave gifts to relatives and friends who were traveling far away, while Li Kai rewarded friends who helped and arranged for people to settle the accounts.

The "big" boss Wang Qifa is the big boss. He helps with the urns, paper work, stoves, drummers, etc. He even brought two of the five chefs. All according to the agreed fee.

The project totaled 2,120 yuan, so Wang Qifa asked for a round number, 2,000 yuan. Li Kai happily gave the money and loaded his car with a box of 12 bottles of "Fen Liquor" and a bottle of "Fen Liquor".

"Stone Forest" means good or bad, and there will inevitably be intersections in the future. We can't let people underestimate it, not to mention Zhang Qingchang's face. Li Kai also packed a box of "Fen Liquor" in Zhang Qingchang's car.

and a "stone forest".

Li Huai led people to send the tables and chairs back to the original owner, settled the expenses clearly, and brought a large pot of "folding baskets" along with them. This was the rule.

Li Tai also went to settle other items such as steamed buns, tobacco, alcohol, and firecrackers. These items were purchased on credit at the village store. He put down half of the cost first, and then returned the remaining buns to make up for the rest. The remaining steamed buns were shared among everyone.

The "Yuan San", "San Qi", "Wu Qi", "Qi Qi" and "Hundred Days" of tobacco, alcohol and firecrackers were still needed, so they were not refunded and the full amount was settled.

There are also the villagers who help in the village, regardless of gender, old or young, all have a bottle of "Jizhou Daqu" and two boxes of "Chima". At first, they were afraid that they would not have enough, so they bought all the vegetables and meat from Fuyu, but in the end, except for a hundred

All the carps were wiped out, and more or less the rest were left. Li Kai reserved the quantity that could be used by the "round grave" in three days, and the rest was divided among everyone.

After everything was settled and the outsiders were sent away, Li Yan and Li Kai began to take stock. After adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, they found that the funeral cost a total of more than 14,900.

"Songbei, Zeqi, here is the account book. Take a look at it. According to the agreement, your family must be refunded more than 5,000 yuan. I will take a small advantage and refund you 5,000 yuan as a family." Li Yan said two words.

A stack of "Smurfs" is placed on the table.

Lin Songbei and Han Zeqi looked at each other, clasped their hands on their chests, and asked: "The matter is not finished yet, why are you so anxious to settle the bill?"

"Huh?" Li Yan thought for a moment and said in confusion, "It's over."

"Where are the round graves? What about the three-seven-seven-five-seven ones? Can't do it anymore?"

"Oh, you said that, we have to do it, we must do it. Those things don't cost a lot of money, and there will only be twenty or thirty people at that time. You can just cook a few dishes to entertain yourself. The tobacco and alcohol are ready.

At most, it’s just a little money to buy meat.”

"Then let's agree to build an ancestral tomb cemetery for Uncle Wu's family. That can't be solved with a few hundred dollars."

"Ancestral Tomb Cemetery? Say...has it been agreed?" Li Yan was stunned for a moment, and after recalling it for a moment, it seemed that Han Zeqi had mentioned it on the day they arrived, so that would count as an agreement?

"If you didn't say yes, it would be easier." Lin Songbei pushed the money back, "Fourth brother, please do us brothers a favor."

"Ah? What are you doing?" Li Yan looked at the two people blankly. He knew that they would be a monster when it came to refunding the money. Let's see what they said.

"Fourth brother, we two brothers want to invest in repairing the entire circle of the fifth uncle's ancestral grave, building a gate, erecting a wall, hardening the road surface, and planting some pine and cypress trees. But we are planning to go back today.

Beijing, Zeqi will fly back to the capital tomorrow, and there is no telling when he will come back, so I can only trouble you about this matter. We owe our fourth uncle, and our fourth uncle feels we owe our family, so we helped him build his ancestral grave.

Forgetting his wishes during his lifetime, we paid off some debts for him. This can be regarded as our filial piety. The remaining 10,000 yuan may not be enough, you use it first, and I will remit some to you in two days. Thank you for your hard work.

." Lin Songbei said.

"...Okay." Li Yan thought, since they insisted on doing this, they had no choice but to do this. They didn't need him to pay, so they asked him to help keep an eye on it. He couldn't refuse.

"Let's go together, count me in." Li Yan thought over and over again, "Keep it simple if you can, don't be extravagant." Uncle Wu worked hard all his life and was kind to himself. Even after he left, he shouldn't enjoy it after death.

Ai Rong? Xiao Kai is right, isn’t it just money? Things that money can solve are not problems.

"Fourth brother, we have no intention of fighting for wealth. I don't get the money. Zeqi will provide it if it's not enough. He is now a 'big dog'. If he has money, he won't give it to anyone."

Han Zeqi said "hehe" happily, and Li Anruo, who was watching, punched Lin Songbei and said, "Speak well."

Lin Zeqi pretended to be in pain and said "haha" twice.

"I have no money, but I have something."

"What do you have? Don't think about that apartment. Uncle Wu said that the apartment belongs to Xiao Kai and you can't make the decision. Besides, you two are an ordinary worker and an ordinary cadre, and I am a capitalist and earn a living."

Why don't you let me show my face?" Han Zeqi said.

Li Yan smiled evilly and called his wife, "Fengzhi, come here."

Liu Fengzhi was packing things in the east room. When she heard Li Yan calling, she quickly put down her work and walked out. She looked at several people and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Take out your 'little baby' and let Zeqi take care of it."

Liu Fengzhi was stunned for a moment, then smiled and took out a small brocade bag from his inner pocket and handed it to Li Yan, "There has been a lot of chaos in the past two days, but I haven't taken it out yet."

Li Yan handed the brocade bag to Han Zeqi, "Let's see if this is enough to build the fifth uncle's grave?"

Han Zeqi took the brocade bag and touched the thing inside. He felt it was a ring, so he took it out. A green shadow flashed under the light. He was startled and quickly looked at the light to carefully examine the gems on the ring. The Han family

He is an old capitalist, and his family has many good things collected before liberation. Han Zeqi was raised by his grandfather since he was a child, so he is very knowledgeable about these gems.

That's right, this is it, cat's eye emerald.

"You...how do you have such a thing?" Han Zeqi asked Li Kai in surprise. He didn't mean to look down on it, but he didn't expect that Li Yan would have such a high-end emerald.
Chapter completed!