Chapter 20: Trick Singing in the Middle of the Night
The next day, the neighbors on the street walked out and were startled when they saw the white sails hung in front of the courtyard door opposite and the white couplets pasted on them.
It seems that I still don't understand what happened.
It wasn't until I inquired that I found out that Old Man Song was suddenly gone.
When they heard the news, the mood of the neighbors was very different. The elderly people sighed, and there were many people who still wanted to call Mr. Song uncle based on their seniority.
They are witnesses of the times, watching the Song family's glory days as cars and horses passed by in front of the house, and the house was full of guests and friends.
Later, his family was broken up, his wife and children were separated, and he was lonely in his later years.
Just like the lyrics in "The Peach Blossom Fan", I watched him build a Zhulou, watched him entertain guests, and watched his tower collapse.
But what I didn’t expect was that Old Man Song, who was lonely in his later years, did not end sadly like the TV series Dream of Red Mansions. Instead, he passed away particularly peacefully. It is said that when people were carrying the body, they saw Old Man Song sitting on the chair with a red face and a smile.
, as if falling asleep listening to a ditty.
The most peculiar thing is that other people's bodies are cold when they die, but Old Man Song's body is actually slightly warm.
Reminiscent of the fact that Old Man Song usually helped other people's funerals and never took any money from him, people couldn't help but wonder whether this was because he had accumulated evil virtue and passed away in bliss.
As a result, more and more people came to pay their respects. Most of them were neighbors, and some were people who had been favored by Mr. Song and helped host the funeral. After learning the news, they also came over to pay their respects briefly.
As a disciple and a distant nephew, Xu Tong naturally assumed the role of a filial son and knelt on the ground to return the favor to the many worshipers.
Sad? A little bit.
More of a reluctance, this old man was the first person willing to accept him after he came out of the mental hospital, even though he only came here with the purpose of honing his paper-making skills.
But I never expected to receive such unprecedented love and devotion.
Before he had time to enjoy this love and repay it in the best way he could, he suddenly left.
More importantly, this love did not disappear when Mr. Song left. Instead, it stayed with him in another way in the "Qingyun Yishu Lu".
You can understand this book as the anecdotes that Mr. Song encountered in his life, or you can understand it as the secret that Mr. Song passed down to himself.
Mr. Song's funeral was not particularly extravagant. Xu Tong gave each person who came to pay homage to him a white envelope with two green fifty yuan bills in it.
The amount of money was not large, but twenty to thirty thousand were dispersed in one day. Some people even came over and knocked in front of Mr. Song's photo in a serious way when they heard that they had money.
Xu Tong was watching from the side with half-squinted eyes. If he met someone who was particularly good at knocking, he would specially give two extra white envelopes.
Now the people behind them kowtowed and became even more energetic.
For those who came for red envelopes, Xu Tong didn't even bother to return the gifts and sent them away with a white envelope.
Of course, it is inevitable that some people will gossip.
Just like the old ladies standing in the corner, taking the white envelopes given by Xu Tong from their grandsons, they were muttering: "Humph, you are pretending to be generous. He got a real estate out of thin air, so he is pretending to be generous."
To show it to outsiders, this is the reason why the emperor came to the throne to grant amnesty to the world and declare himself to be the orthodox successor. In the final analysis, he is spending money to silence us. That's it... so stingy."
The old lady had a familiar look on her face, which really made everyone think it made sense.
After the ceremony, the local funeral home sent a car to take the old man to the crematorium for cremation.
The few people who were busy kowtowing just now suddenly disappeared.
Xu Tong did not hold any farewell ceremony and simply bought a luxurious cemetery for the old man.
In fact, according to local custom, guests still have to entertain guests, but he omitted this step, which made the old ladies who wanted to have a big meal and even put plastic bags in them were disappointed.
Now there was even more gossip.
What's even more bizarre is that a neighbor actually stopped him. This neighbor lives next door, his surname is Liu, and his name is Liu Lan.
Of course this is not his real name, but if the neighbors call him that, we know what kind of character this person is.
Liu Lan grabbed Xu Tong and said to him sincerely with a "I care for you" expression: "We have to hold a banquet, otherwise it will be difficult for the neighbors to get along with each other in the future."
Xu Tong smiled mysteriously at this, patted the old neighbor on the arm and said, "I'll do it, we'll do it tonight."
As he said this, without waiting for another question, he turned around and walked into the courtyard door, closing the door with his backhand, causing Liu Lan to have a gray nose on his face.
Until night, the door was never opened again, causing Liu Lan, who was still watching, to stand at the door and curse for a while.
"Zi~~"
In the dim room, Xu Tong tried to sit on Mr. Song's usual Taishi chair, and gently stroked the smooth armrests of the chair. The long-lasting patina on them felt particularly comfortable to the touch.
He happily smoked two water pipes, glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, pinched his fingers, and sang in the Henan opera: "Come on~ah~ah~~~"
"Dong dong dong dong...boom~boom~boom..."
The rapid sound of the gong made the lights of the neighbors on the left and right turn on again after they had just extinguished them.
The first person to be woken up was naturally the old Liu family next door. Liu Lan poked his head out of the house and cursed: "Who is so wicked in the middle of the night!" After saying this, he walked out of the house with his clothes on.
.
As a result, as soon as I went out, I saw the Song family's courtyard was brightly lit, and I could only hear the faint sound of gongs and drums inside.
Listening carefully, there seemed to be people cheering inside.
So I frowned and walked to the door and took a look. I saw these large wooden tables in the yard, with snacks, wine and dishes on them.
There were already three or four people sitting at the table eating and drinking.
Seeing this, Liu Lan slapped his thigh: "Eh~~~You are really a scumbag, waiting for a banquet in the middle of the night?"
As he spoke, he walked inside and saw only five or six tables inside, with people sitting scattered around. In front of it was a temporary shed. Inside, you could vaguely see someone beating gongs and drums behind the shed.
Seeing this, he was not polite. He sat down, picked up a handful of peanuts from the table and stuffed them into his mouth. At the same time, he took the wine on the table and filled himself up.
After a while, more and more people came in. Some of them he recognized and said hello to each other, but some he didn't recognize and just felt that they looked unfamiliar and did not seem like people here.
Just as he was wondering, drums were beating rapidly in front of him, and a big-faced man in costume walked in to the drum beats, speaking in a melodious and euphemistic Beijing accent.
"I think my late grandfather would have died long ago..."
This is the main theme of the funeral songs in the Peking Opera "Banquet", "Zhuge Liang's Funeral", "Qin Xuemei's Cry", "Flying Snow in June", etc.
But the performance of banquet is even more important. When you open your accent, your words should be precise and round, and your voice should be powerful, but you should not lose the softness of Beijing accent. Instead, you should give people a rounded and polished feeling.
Therefore, this opening made everyone below applaud.
Hearing the drum beat getting faster and faster, Liu Lan, who was sitting on the chair, raised his head and took a closer look: "Hey, isn't this that brat? He can also sing."
Immediately his face became happy. He drank a glass of wine with peanuts, and picked up a snack from time to time and ate it deliciously. There was no trace of sleepiness on his face.
As he was eating and watching, Liu Lan suddenly felt someone sitting next to him. He glanced sideways, but he didn't care at all.
However, just as he was about to take a sip of wine, Liu Lan suddenly seemed to remember something and suddenly turned his head to take a closer look. He saw the man sitting at his table, who looked more and more familiar the more he looked at him.
"Hiss... you... you are... Brother Wang?? You... are not dead..." Before he finished speaking, he covered his mouth violently, and cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
He didn't know this brother from the Wang family very well. He only knew that he worked in a motorcycle factory. Last winter, his wife sewed a cotton hat for him because he was afraid it would be cold at work.
As a result, it happened to be the day when the new machine was being debugged. His cotton hat accidentally got rolled in, and half of the Tianling Cap flew up on the spot. He died miserably. He remembered this clearly.
After hearing this, the other party turned to look at him and immediately smiled: "Liu Lan, you have become stupid after drinking. Can a dead person sit here and watch a show with you?"
"Yes Yes Yes……"
Liu Lan also drank two glasses of wine, and his brain was clouded. Hearing this, he nodded subconsciously: "Yes, yes, I am confused, my brain is confused."
"I think you are also a scumbag. You are only in your early fifties and you are already confused?"
Brother Wang curled his lips, glanced at Liu Lan with contempt and said, "Look at me, I'm not confused because I have no brains."
As he said this, he saw Brother Wang lift his scalp with his expert hand. There were no bones under the scalp, and the inside of his head was empty and bloody.
"puff!!"
Seeing this, Liu Lan's eyes widened and he swallowed a mouthful of wine in his throat before spitting it out again.
His face turned red and white for a while, and his mouth twisted, "Ah~~" Just when he was about to shout out, Liu Lan suddenly felt something was wrong. He looked to the side and saw that the play on the stage had already finished.
Everyone was turning around and looking towards him. They saw rotten faces, and some even had their intestines dislodged.
Suddenly a cool breeze blew over, and Liu Lan's scalp suddenly felt numb, and the blood all over his body went cold. He looked at a few familiar faces among them.
His heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly remembered. No wonder he looked so familiar. He remembered that the man among them was the one who was hit and killed by a large truck at the intersection the year before last.
There is also that guy whose head looks like he has melted away. He was originally the owner of a hot pot restaurant in Jiekou. In order to attract business, he set up a big oil pot at the door. He wanted to imitate Ciqikou in Chongqing and cook the hot pot base in front of everyone.
As a result, the oil started to burn. When I stepped on the stool to put the seasonings, my soles slipped and I fell into it, performing a scene of frying a living person for everyone.
"These are all evil spirits!"
Liu Lan trembled in his heart, shouted and turned around to run. As soon as he ran out, he saw a sudden burst of fire behind him.
The fire shone in the air and burned bigger and bigger. Liu Lan stood at the door of his house and watched. He saw that after the fire rushed into the sky, the sky became pitch black.
At this time, he vaguely heard the sound of camel bells on the street. He squinted and saw a group of figures in black and white clothes, holding a mourning stick in one hand and a chain in the other, heading towards him.
Come over.
Seeing this, Liu Lan suddenly had a bad thought in his heart. He couldn't explain exactly what he felt, but he just instinctively wanted to run home.
But someone had locked the door, and Liu Lan was so anxious that he banged on the door.
"Open the door. Who is at home? Hurry up and open the door for me! Open the door! Boom boom boom..."
Liu Lan was so anxious that he screamed and looked back from time to time, only to see the group of figures walking faster and faster, as if they would reach him in the blink of an eye.
This made him feel cold all over, as if a mouse had seen a cat, and there was an aura of fear in his bones.
Perhaps Liu Lan's wailing and banging on the door were so harsh that the pair of figures in black and white clothes at the head of the team gradually slowed down and looked towards him.
Just the glance made Liu Lan's body seem to freeze, and a strong premonition rushed directly to his forehead, as if he would never be able to go back if he was targeted by these people.
"Buzz!"
Fortunately, at this time, the door of the room suddenly opened, and Liu Lan felt that his vision went dark, and then he didn't know anything else.
I don't know how long it took, but when Liu Lan opened his eyes again, it was already bright outside.
"Huh???"
Looking at the bright sky outside, Liu Lan sat in front of the bed for more than ten seconds, still thinking about what happened last night: "Dreaming??"
Just as he was wondering, he saw the door of the room being pushed open and it was Liu Lan's wife.
As soon as he saw him getting up, his wife put a bowl of noodles heavily on the table and said angrily: "Oh, I was really blind back then. How could I marry a lazy guy like you? The sun is shining on my butt. How can you still do it?"
Are you sleeping??"
"Er..."
Liu Lan smashed his mouth, got up from the bed, and held the noodles in his hands.
My wife remade the mattress and said as he made the bed, "You are too big-hearted. Even though there was such a big fire last night, you could still sleep!"
"Squirt...cough cough cough..."
This sentence almost choked Liu Lan to death. He choked for a few times and quickly drank a sip of water before he recovered. He turned around and said, "What's the fire??"
"What kind of fire could it be? The old Song family next door had a huge fire at four o'clock this morning. Two old houses and one tile-roofed house were completely burned to the ground. I was almost frightened.
Even if I call you dead, you won't get up."
As soon as this matter was mentioned, Liu Lan's wife was so angry that she gritted her teeth, but she didn't notice that Liu Lan's face had become a little unnatural.
He ate the noodles blankly and began to think about what happened last night.
"Is it a coincidence? Or is it something I think about every day and dream about every night??"
Just when Liu Lan was thinking wildly, his wife began to mutter about other things:
"The same goes for the fire department. Even though it's next door, there's a two-meter-wide road between them. His house's fire couldn't get through it. In the end, I didn't know that that bastard tried his best to smash the door of our house, but it scared me.
I didn’t want to open it at first, but I didn’t know what to think so I opened it, but when I opened the door, I didn’t even see anyone…”
"Boom!"
As soon as Liu Lan's wife finished speaking, the bowl in Liu Lan's hand fell to the ground. He rolled his eyes and fainted from the shock.