Tomorrow is both "May 7th" and the day of the funeral. The day before the funeral is the day of hanging, and no mourners are accepted. The whole family "stays with you", not only to send the deceased on his last journey, but also to prepare for tomorrow's funeral. Final preparations.
However, guests are not accepted here, which refers to foreign guests and does not include close relatives of the clan. In addition to the filial relatives of the fourth room, the heads of each room in the Shen family send their nephews to come over to "stay with them."
The movements of the female relatives were restricted, and few people came to "stay with them". Only at dusk did a few people come to the door. In addition to the Guo family, there were also the Xie family and Shen Pingniang. Speaking of which, these three people and the Sun family were not the same. There are people who wear clothes for relatives, but they are all "free clothes" that are made of silk and silk.
Mrs. Guo is a mother and son, Mrs. Xie is a husband and wife, and only Shen Pingniang is alone. Mrs. Guo cherishes her character and can't help but advise: "As long as your filial piety is enough, you can go home later, don't have to do it." Staying here, even though you are a clan relative, you are still a young woman and it is not easy for you to stay out."
Ping Niang said with red eyes: "If I didn't have my uncle's help, and my niece wouldn't be there today, I would just stay for this night, just to reassure my niece. Auntie, don't worry about your niece. My husband is also coming tonight, but he has a tender face. When I sent my niece here just now, I saw that there were many people in the car outside, so I felt embarrassed to come over and said I wanted to wait until it gets darker before coming in."
Songjiang Prefecture has a bad habit of marrying a daughter-in-law with a heavy dowry. If you give birth to a daughter and don’t prepare a good dowry, you can’t be called a good family at all. For this reason, many baby girls have been drowned.
The children of the third family of the Shen clan, where Pingniang lives, are not good at studying, but are engaged in economic affairs, so they are the most wealthy. Even if Pingniang's father is a concubine, it is not a family that will lack the dowry of the eldest daughter. It is just that there is After the stepmother and stepfather, after Pingniang's biological mother passed away, Mrs. Tang, who filled the house, was young and beautiful, and gave birth to a son. Not only did she covet the dowry left by Pingniang's biological mother, but she also saved Pingniang's share. Not afraid of losing face, he kept Ping Niang until eighteen or nine, and finally used a concubine to marry Ping Niang, the eldest daughter of the Yuan Dynasty, to the family of a poor scholar.
Because the concubine's daughter-in-law was poor and had no dowry, Mrs. Tang did not give Ping Niang a dowry. However, Sun couldn't stand it and had some affection for Ping Niang's biological mother, so she helped buy half of the dowry, so she did not let Ping Niang go. My mother went out naked.
Similar to this kind of thing of helping the poor and relieving the crisis, Sun has done a lot since she married into the Shen family. Maybe those who care about Sun's kindness are only the few people in front of her.
The world is in a hot and cold state, but it is just like that.
"Bansu" is also called "sitting at night", but it is not just about keeping filial piety and understanding the spirit. It has a fixed form and content, usually with sutras and treasuries. Sutra refers to the "Water and Land Dojo", and treasury refers to the ceremony of sending the treasury to the treasury.
This "Water and Land Dojo" is different from usual. It has the specifications of "Water and Land Dharma Assembly". The number of monks is three Dharma masters and one hundred and forty-seven monks, which shows how grand it is. The husband of Shen Pingniang just mentioned that there are many people outside the door. It was because of the big Dharma conference. But the people watching were not the mourners, but the old and young people from the neighborhood who came to see the excitement.
When the dojo is complete, it is the ceremony of sending the saints off - sending them to the library.
At this time, half of the yard in front of the mourning hall was filled with various paper works, including pavilions, pavilions and other large buildings. Four horses, red, white, black and yellow, each rode a red-robed "Cao Guan". "He was carrying a document bag on his back, which contained yellow money, tin ingots and other items put in by the bereaved family.
Shen Rui had already been reminded by Shen Li, Shen Jin and others, and knew that as a filial son, he had to preside over this ceremony. Therefore, when the water and land dojo was completed, he, Shen Jin, and Shen Quan followed the guidance of the housekeeper. Kneel in a fixed position. Shen Rui is in the front, Shen Jin is on the left and back, and Shen Quan is on the right. Not wanting to wait until Shen Quan had just knelt, Shen Li also came out of the crowd and knelt on Shen Quan's right hand side.
Shen Rui was kneeling in the front row, unable to see what was going on behind his head, but Shen Quan and Shen Jin were startled. Shen Jin remained calm, while Shen Quan was so startled that he almost jumped up.
Shen Quan originally wanted to ask, "Brother from the Six Clans, why is this happening?", but then he thought that Sun was Shen Li's close relative, so it wasn't too much. It was just that he could kneel down on Shen Li's head, and whispered: "Why?" Can I replace my brother with my brother from the six tribes?"
Shen Li shook his head and said, "No, it's just right now."
When Shen Rui heard the movement behind him, he looked back and said nothing. This position is not for casual kneeling. If Shen Quan occupied the position of the unmarried daughter on behalf of Fu Niang, then the people below would be his nephews. Shen Li said It's just right now, precisely for this reason.
When the onlookers saw this, they couldn't help but whisper, Shen Rui and Shen Jin were both filial sons. If Shen Li and Shen Quan could reach this point, would they have to use the "mourning stick" tomorrow?
Shen Li is the number one scholar, and the clan members are fearful and dare not criticize. The young Shen Quan is unavoidable. This person whispered: "Quan Guan'er has been with me until now, Aunt Hong is a real person." The other person whispered: "Everyone keeps watch at the funeral. Yes, there is nothing wrong with being in mourning. Not to mention a daughter-in-law, even a daughter-in-law is like this. Good people will be rewarded."
"You're not here for Aunt Yuan's dowry, are you?" Another person said sarcastic words.
"Mo Huyi! No one knows the character of the fifth-room old man. He has never taken advantage of others." A mature man scolded.
The person who spoke in front of me still muttered, seeming to be dissatisfied. The mature man said: "This is just to protect Brother Rui. If the blessed young lady observes filial piety for Aunt Hong, the bond between the two families will never be broken. If Brother Rui has any grievances, it would be more legitimate for everyone in the fifth house to speak out, with Mrs. Fu in front of her. After all, he is Mrs. Fu's brother-in-law."
Although many members of the clan are talking about Shen Quan, most of their eyes are on Shen Li. Many people also secretly accuse the old man of the fifth house as an old fox, and arrange for his grandson to follow the funeral vigil, which seems to be a kind act for Shen Rui. , but also through Shen Rui and the number one scholar.
Shen Rui knelt in front of the three archmages, unable to hear the whispers behind them. He focused on the verses recited by the archmage. He was no stranger to the funeral process in ancient times, but mostly talked about it on paper. Now he has experienced it in person , only to discover the complexity.
The Great Master recited the stems and branches of the deceased's birth year, followed by how much debt should be repaid, how many sutras should be recited, and finally, the debt had been paid off, the sutra had been read, and all the sins and karma were eliminated. Then the Great Master put the text into "Cao Guan" "With the bag on my back, this ceremony took an hour and a half.
Shen Rui's knees were already numb. He took the torch from the Archmage's hand, stood up and ignited the stacked paper objects. These were wooden frames made of paper. When they caught fire, the fire would "hula la" and "crack". The sound of crackling was endless, and tongues of fire were everywhere. Everyone took a few steps back and saw the pavilions, pavilions, horses and figures turned to ashes in the flames. This "treasury delivery ceremony" was finally over.
Next, Ci Ling.
Shen Rui was still the leader, kneeling down to pay homage in front of the soul, followed by Shen Jin, and relatives waiting to pay homage in order according to their relationship.
Zhang Lao'an still didn't show up, but no one paid attention to her at this time. After everyone paid their respects, it was time to put the jars in. Shen Rui held the jars in both hands and knelt on the right side of the altar in front of the soul. All the filial piety relatives and The filial relatives used new chopsticks to put the sacrificial dishes into the jar. The order this time was reversed from the order of offering sacrifices just now, from the nearest to the nearest.
Shen Jin was the second to last, and Shen Rui was the first to last. They took the last three chopsticks, sealed it with an apple, and put a sesame seed cake on top. This sesame seed cake is specially used for funerals. It is surrounded by clouds, swastikas, and Shen. Rui listened to the instructions and bit into the sesame cake according to the pattern. He couldn't eat the bitten part, so he could only spit it out. This was called "leaving food for future generations".
The bitten sesame cake is placed in the mouth of the jar, covered with red silk, and wrapped with red thread to make a buckle.
After filling the jars, the offering table was removed, and all the prayer flags, sacrificial curtains, etc. in the mourning hall were taken off. Shen Rui then "swept the materials and lifted the coffin." The loose soil swept off the coffin was mixed with Shen Rui just now. The "food for future generations" that I just gnawed has just been eaten together. This is called "leaving material for future generations".
After doing this, the wooden nails on the coffin were about to be completely sealed, and everyone immediately burst into tears. Shen Rui didn't have to pretend at all, he just wanted to say goodbye to his family in his previous life, and the tears fell down his face without seeing each other again.
Shen Juren stood aside, his eye circles a little red.
If outsiders saw this scene, they would find it strange, because among the filial relatives and relatives mourning, the movement closer to the front becomes smaller, and the wailing sounds louder towards the back.
Shen Quan howled twice at first, but later he saw Shen Rui crying silently, and Shen Jin and Shen Li also crying silently. His two voices seemed fake, so he stopped talking. Thanks to the lively wailing of the people at the back, the scene would have been too lonely.
After all the memorial services were completed, the mourning hall was empty except for the coffin in the middle. There were many stools and tables placed on the left and right, men on the left and women on the right. Everyone sat and waited for dawn.
The sound of banging was heard in the distance. It was already the third watch and everyone was feeling tired.
Shen Juren seemed to be too sad, so he ordered the butler to serve hot tea and vegetarian snacks for everyone, and then stood up and left. Shen Li watched Shen Juren's back leave the mourning hall, got up and followed him out.
It's late at night, but since we are "staying together" tonight, white lanterns are hung everywhere, so there is no need to carry a lantern to light the way.
The two of them met in tandem about ten steps away. Shen Juren was in a daze and did not notice anyone behind him. Shen Li had no intention of catching up and just stayed behind.
Shen Rui just came out of the toilet at this time. When he saw the two people walking one behind the other, he hesitated for a moment and followed them. If Shen Juren was alone, Shen Rui would not be too troublesome, but Shen Li was following behind. Out of intuition, Shen Rui felt that Shen Li must be talking about his own affairs when he went to Shen Juren in private.
Tomorrow is the day of the funeral. No matter how Shen Li plans to arrange himself, he should have made a decision. It is unlikely that he will marry him alone to observe mourning. After all, he is only a nine-year-old child, but it is unreasonable to take him with him. .If you live in front of Shen Li's mother's tomb, is it to keep filial piety to Shen Li's mother, or to keep filial piety to Sun?
The Shen family ancestral hall is in the county town, some distance away from the Shen family cemetery. The Shen family's family temple seems to be outside the city, but the so-called family temple mostly refers to women who have made mistakes or are childless and widowed.
Shen Juren did not go to the backyard, but went to the east cross courtyard. This is the Shen family's study room. He lived here from the time when Sun was seriously ill and took care of his funeral affairs. The main house is a two-story building, with upper and lower floors. There are three rooms in each room, which are where the books are stored in the fourth room. There are three wing rooms on the left and right, where Shen Juren studies.
After Shen Juren entered the study, Shen Li did not follow him in, but paused at the entrance of the courtyard. Behind him, Mr. Shen Rui had to stop not far away.
Unexpectedly, Shen Li turned around and waved to Shen Rui. It turned out that he had noticed someone behind him.
Shen Rui couldn't dodge and was caught by Shen Li, so he had no choice but to step forward. Shen Li made a gesture of silence and listened to the movement in the yard...