magic eye doctor

Chapter 3438 Midnight Meal

The villagers who were sitting at the home of Liu Wu's eldest son and the homes of two families of the same clan of the Liu family watched to see who came to pay their respects in the evening. Some of them went back, while others squeezed into the crowd under the eaves or on the ground.

Grandma Zhou Man, Aunt Pa and a few elderly people were sitting in the kitchen of Liu Wu's house. When they knew that Xiao Lele came to Liu Wu's house, they ran to the corridor to watch. Because Liu Wu's family had a funeral, they did not go to kiss Xiao Lele, and then went back to sit in the kitchen.

The girl from the Le family sat down at Master Lei's table. The villagers who were nearby came over to chat with her. Then they suddenly felt bright in their hearts and felt extremely comfortable.

After Village Chief Zhou and Xiao Lele paid tribute to Liu Wu, they went to inspect the various banquet areas and the kitchen to see how many villagers had come, so as to estimate whether the snacks bought by Liu Wu's daughter and nieces were enough to share.

When dinner at Liuwu's house was over, the villagers also set out for Liuwu's house one after another. When they heard cannon fire and music playing at Liuwu's house, they thought it was time for the funeral and they all quickened their pace.

While Little Loli Le was paying homage in the main hall of Liu Wu's house, several groups of villagers came in a hurry. After Little Loli Le sat down on the floor, groups of villagers and children also flocked into Liu Wu's house and the home of the Liu villager who had set up the banquet.

The ground and corridor in front of Liu Wu's house were soon crowded with people, many of whom were children, ranging from toddlers to elementary school students.

The junior high school students lived in the school dormitory and had not yet had their holiday, so naturally they did not come to Liu Wu's house.

If the school is on holiday, children from Meicun, neighboring villages or the streets will come, and there must be at least seven or eight tables just for the children.

Village chief Zhou walked around twice and had a rough idea of ​​the time. Seeing that it was already half past eight, he communicated with the salute team and the gong and drum team.

Soon, the salute team set off firecrackers and fired salutes.

The gong and drum team also played music.

The women of the Liu family mourned.

The Liu family, the Zhang family, the Chen family, and the Zhou family are the pillars of Meizijing Village. They have a large number of people. Liu Wu himself has two sons and two daughters, and he also has brothers and sisters.

Liu Wu's daughter and daughter-in-law were the main people crying at the funeral. In addition, nieces and nieces' wives within the third mourning period, Liu Wu's sisters, cousins, nieces, etc. were also present to cry with them.

During the funeral, Liu Wupo was accompanied by her sisters-in-law from the same clan to the main hall, where she sat and cried.

Liu Wu's two daughters cried first, each for a while, then Liu's daughters-in-law took over, and then Liu Wu's sisters and nieces took turns crying.

The mourners cried individually, and then cried together.

Liu Wu's relatives and several middle-aged and elderly women in the surrounding area waited until the mourners had cried enough, then went to persuade them to stop crying, so that the older and younger wives could have a way out.

The people who were mourning also went along with it.

The Liu family's mourning was typical, with thunder but no rain. They seemed to be going through the motions. Young Master Yan and Young Master Liu noticed something was amiss, but seeing that the villagers were all very calm, they treated it as an act and did not ask any questions.

There are two types of crying: real crying and fake crying. The villagers also know why people who cry at funerals only make dry howls without many tears. It is a tacit understanding.

The mourners were persuaded to stop, and the gong and drum team stopped playing the funeral music.

After a short rest, you can almost sing funeral songs.

Cheng Wu, who was in charge of beating the funeral drum, took some paper money and burned it next to the drum. Then he stood the drum upright and beat the big drum.

The gong and drum team also started playing music.

The filial sons and grandsons of the Liu family went into the main hall, burned paper in front of the coffin, kowtowed to the team beating funeral drums and singing funeral songs, and then kowtowed to the gong and drum team and the guests.

The filial sons and grandsons kowtowed, and after a sad song, Cheng Wu struck the long drum again, and the villagers in charge of singing started singing.

Singing began over there, and the mourners gathered around the coffin and cried again.

The villagers sang a song and a professional singer came on stage.

The first singer was quite considerate and sang the song quite well. The second singer was also considerate. However, the third singer was not considerate and sang in a curse word.

The singer first scolded Liu Wu, calling him stingy.

Liu Wu was indeed a well-known stingy person during his lifetime.

Being stingy can be stingy in character, which refers to one's tolerance, or it can be stingy in material terms, which means being stingy with money.

Liu Wu has both of the above characteristics. He has a narrow mind and will not only fuss over trivial matters, but also get angry for days or even turn against people if someone says something bad about him.

He was even more stingy when it came to money, not only to others but also to his own children and clansmen. When his children went to school, he would not give them a penny more except for the money needed to buy pens and ink.

None of his nephews, nieces, and nephews ever received a penny from him when they were young.

They are even more stingy with outsiders. For example, in the first month of the lunar year, if someone brings a child to visit relatives, the host family usually has to give a red envelope, which used to be mostly ten or twenty yuan.

As for Liu Wu, he would only give a red envelope of three or two yuan to his brothers and sisters who came to visit with their children. He would not even give a red envelope to the children brought by relatives beyond the third degree of mourning.

When entertaining guests in the first month of the lunar year, every family, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, would prepare several kinds of candies, melon seeds, peanuts, etc. However, Liu Wu's family only had one candy and one peanut in the first month of the lunar year.

Sugar is the cheapest thing to buy, and peanuts are generally those defective ones that are half-shrunken or have bad appearances that are selected from peanuts grown at home. The better ones are naturally sold.

Liu Wu was a well-known miser in Meizijing Village. The kids would go to his house once during the first month of the lunar year when they visited each household, and they would never go there again.

The singers of the funeral songs scolded Liu Wu for being stingy, and the villagers thought it was normal.

The singer only scolded Liu Wu and not his children. His children also suffered from their father's stinginess. Although they were inevitably influenced by their father and were more stingy with money, and were not as generous as other members of the Liu family, at least they were not stingy.

The singers sang in the local dialect. Yan Shao and Liu Shao could not understand the local dialect, but they were smart and asked a middle-aged woman sitting at the next table.

The middle-aged woman was fascinated by the two handsome guys calling her "big sister" and happily helped translate.

  Yan Shao and Liu Shao knew what the singer was singing, and their eyes were shining behind their sunglasses. Oh, the singer was talented, and the song he composed was both rhyming and catchy!

The singer was fearless and could curse Liu Wu whenever he wanted.

Liu Wu’s children had no choice but to kowtow.

The singer sang for more than an hour and then took a break.

Village chief Zhou brought his errand boy and carried a bag of snacks to the door of Liu Wu's main hall. He stood on the ground and announced to the visitors that the snacks were gifts from one of his daughters or sons-in-law.

Before distributing snacks, the salute team carried several boxes of fireworks to the roadside and set off fireworks.

After the fireworks were set off, the errand boys carried large and small bags of snacks into Liu Wu's main hall. They first offered one to Liu Wu, and then began distributing the snacks starting from the main hall.

The children were particularly happy and took out their food bags early and waited.

The person distributing snacks starts from the main hall of the host's house, from inside to outside, from near to far, and distributes food to each table of guests in order, without distinguishing between the main and the secondary.

The children brought their own food bags, some villagers also brought their own bags, and some did not prepare any.

The first round of snacks was for the Liu family's five eldest children, which included a pack of instant noodles, spicy noodles, round cakes, two kinds of candy, and cigarettes. The first group of runners who helped distribute the snacks were Zhang Puluo, Chen Da Lian, Cheng Youde, and several young and middle-aged people from the Liu family.

Zhang Po Luo walked in front and didn't say a word when distributing snacks to Master Lei's table. When it was Xiao Lele's turn to hand out snacks, he rubbed Xiao Lele's head.

"Uncle Zhang, if you touch my head again, I won't grow taller. Next time, I won't leave any share for you when I make pickled pepper chicken feet." Le Yun was patted on the head and cried while holding her head.

"Hey, Xiao Lele, when are you going to make pickled pepper chicken feet? Tell me and I'll be your stoker." Zhang Polo touched the little boy's head, feeling satisfied, and continued to distribute snacks.

"I'll go too. I'll be Xiao Lele's errand boy. Xiao Lele will treat me as a brick and move me wherever I'm needed." Cheng Youde and Chen Da Lian also volunteered.

"You keep touching my head, and now I'm not growing any taller. I won't tell you that my family will kill a pig the day after tomorrow to make braised meat and pickled pepper chicken feet."

"Okay, if you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me. We don't even know that you're going to kill a pig and stew chicken feet the day after tomorrow."

Cheng Youde and Chen Da Lian also rubbed little Lele's head, but little Lele was still the naughty little boy!

Following Brother Chao and his friends, the elders of the Chao family, Mrs. Wang and the medical fanatics at the Military General Hospital, even the elders of Meicun liked to pat their heads. Le Yun didn't like it and hugged their heads like an ostrich.

Zhang Po Luo and his friends also had to distribute snacks, so they had no time to stay and just carried big bags into the crowd to hand out snacks.

There were not many kinds of snacks, and the errand runners were fast. After distributing snacks to the guests in Liu Wu's main hall and outside the house, they carried the bags to other places where seats were set up to continue distributing snacks.

After the first round of snacks were all distributed, Village Chief Zhou took the second wave of errand runners carrying the snack bags to the door of Liu Wu's main hall.

The salute team moved the fireworks boxes and set off fireworks and salutes.

After the salute sounded, the second wave of errand runners also carried bags into Liu Wu's main hall. They also placed an offering in front of Liu Wu's coffin and then distributed snacks to the guests.

The second round of snacks were gifts from Liu Wuer's daughter, which also included a pack of instant noodles, a pack of spicy strips, biscuits, candies, and cigarettes.

The Liu sisters discussed it and decided to buy the same types of snacks, only different brands.

The second wave of errand runners distributed snacks, and there was also a food bag to give snacks to those who did not bring a food bag.

The host gives out snack bags, which means there are lots of snacks, and the children are the happiest.

A few minutes after the second group of errand runners who were distributing the second round of snacks left Liu Wu's old house, the third group of errand runners came on stage carrying bags of snacks.

The third round of snacks was a gift jointly purchased by the two nieces of Liu Wuyi’s brother’s family. Since it was a partnership between the two, there were more varieties of snacks.

The fourth round of snacks was a gift from Liu Wu’s younger brother’s niece.

After that, it was the turn of gifts from the nieces of Liu Wu’s cousins.

After the gifts from Liu Wu’s daughters and nieces came the gifts from Liu Wu’s nieces, and then the gifts from Liu Wu’s granddaughters.

According to custom, when Liu Wu passed away, his married daughter, nieces and nephews had to buy some snacks and give them to the guests who accompanied the old man for the last time that night at the Liu family's house.

Married granddaughters must also have a portion of snacks, but younger generations such as nieces, nephews, and granddaughters can buy them or not.

Liu Wu's married nieces and nieces also joined together to buy some snacks, and his granddaughters and nephews also joined together to buy a gift.

There were more Liu sisters and cousins, so there were a total of seventeen rounds of snacks.

The variety and quantity of snacks in each round were not many, but there were seventeen gifts, so everyone got a big bag of snacks.

After the last round of snacks, it was already past half past twelve, which was the early morning of the 29th.

After the snacks were distributed, it was time for the midnight meal.

The villagers had only a little bit of kinship with Liu Wu, so they refused to stay up all night with Liu Wu's family to keep vigil. Most of them skipped midnight meals and took snacks home. Shorty Zhu mingled with the villagers and left quietly.

The children sat and waited until the snacks were distributed. Their excitement died down and they followed their parents home.

As the crowd dispersed, a large amount of space became vacant under the eaves and on the floor of Liu Wu's house.

Le Yun hadn't left yet. She was waiting for her father and Aunt Feng to finish their work before going home together.

The errand runners rearranged the table, and the villagers who were having their midnight meal automatically found places to sit, trying to sit as close together as possible.

Village Chief Zhou took a look around to find out how many tables of people were having midnight meals, then went to the kitchen and took a look around before sitting down at Master Lei's table.

The runners delivered the pots, bowls and other tableware, and the waiters served the food.

The midnight meal is simple, with a basic soup, two stir-fried dishes, a cold dish, and also wine and drinks.

Master Lei and his companions did not drink alcohol, but milk.

Le Yun was not hungry, but Master Lei and the others were so welcoming that she filled half a bowl of rice to keep them company.

Young Master Yan and Young Master Liu were not polite at all. They accompanied their masters in eating and drinking, and they also got on well with their group of masters.

The woman who served as the translator for the two young masters also stayed for midnight dinner. Liu Shaochao knew how to handle things. He first drank two bowls of milk with Master Lei and the others, and then ran to the next table to toast the middle-aged sister and everyone at the same table.

The middle-aged woman and the villagers at the same table were flattered by the young handsome man's subtle flattery, and warmly invited the handsome men to come to their homes and sit with Miss Le when they were free.

The village chief, Liu Shao, successfully gained the friendship of the local people.

The midnight meal doesn’t take long and is done within forty minutes.

After dinner, when the masters were resting, Le Yun slipped into the kitchen to find her father and Aunt Feng.

Zhang Polo and others who were helping in the kitchen saw little Lele coming over, and they all ran over to touch her head. But there was nothing they could do, because little Lele had such a big bunch of hair that people couldn't help but want to poke her little head.

The buddy grabbed the little cotton-padded jacket and patted her head crazily. Le's father quickly ran over to rescue his little cotton-padded jacket, holding her in his arms, and glared at his buddy: "Stop it! If you keep bullying Lele's head like this, she will ignore you and you will be so anxious that you will jump up and down again."

“Yueqing is stingy.”

"That's right, Xiao Lele didn't say anything, but you are the one who is stingy!"

The few people who successfully rubbed Xiao Lele's head winked at Yue Qing, and did not touch Xiao Lele's head again, and went back to work quickly.

Father Le rubbed his child's head and coaxed his sweet baby: "Your uncle Zhang and uncle Da Lian always touch your head. When Lele made pickled pepper chicken feet, he didn't tell them and made them drool."

"Yeah." Le Yun nodded, then stuck her head out to look around. Seeing that no one was coming, she dared to leave her father's wings and told her father and Aunt Feng to call her at Liu Wu's door when they returned home.

"Okay, Dad, remember, we have to clean up the leftovers and wash all the pots and bowls before going home." Dad Le agreed and told the obedient little cotton-padded jacket to leave quickly because the kitchen area smelled too much of cooking smoke.

Le Yun didn't want to cause trouble in the kitchen, but she was afraid of being caught and patted on the head, so she finished her business and quickly left.