The years I was a birdman

Chapter 156 The Funeral
Don't know where the morning bell rang. Zhang Shifei rubbed his dry eyes, then stood up and left the window. At this time, the sky was gradually turning blue. It was past four o'clock, and there were still more than two hours before the funeral.

The room is still full of the pungent smell of burning yellow paper. After a night of burning the two white candles on the simple altar table, there are only short stubs left, surrounded by a large pool of candles. Wax oil, the breeze blowing through the window, the candle flame flickered accordingly, Zhang Shifei sighed, it was dawn.

It seems that it will be dawn every day, and it seems that this is nonsense. Zhang Shifei turned his head and looked at the room. Li Lanying rested her chin on her hands and was already asleep. Men and women don't seem to look the same as before. Zhang Shifei remembered that last night, not long after he and Mr. Cui went upstairs, Dong Sizhe recovered from the "dream period" and saw everything in front of him. He understands, he knows he is dead, there is nothing to say about it, but when he sees the branch in front of him who beat him, he is so angry that he clamors to go forward and tell him to kill him.

Mr. Cui was a little speechless at the time, he looked at the yellow-clothed female ghost, the yellow-clothed female ghost understood, and hugged Dong Sizhe gently from behind Dong Sizhe, only then did Dong Sizhe realize that there seemed to be "people" beside him, only Seeing it looking back, its expression was extremely terrified, and it let out an 'ah'. Its voice was so loud that the three people in the room frowned. Fortunately, it is a ghost now, and it doesn't know how to call the neighbors. Listen, otherwise it would be really difficult.

Zhang Shifei naturally knew why the thief shouted. This seemed to be nonsense. Thinking about the woman who was indirectly killed by him back then standing behind him with the same appearance, who would not be afraid?Dong Sizhe stared at the female ghost in yellow with trembling eyes, and said in disbelief, "You...you..."

"Isn't it just me?" The yellow-clothed female ghost smiled, and was not in a bad mood because of Dong Sizhe's fear.

"How is it possible!" Dong Sizhe seemed to suddenly remember something, and he shouted, "Could it be that you have been..."

"Huh~~~~." Before Dong Sizhe could finish speaking, the female ghost in yellow opened her mouth and blew on it. The breath was tangible, like smoke, and sprayed on Dong Sizhe's face. She was stunned for a moment, her eyes became dull again, her hands were drooping and motionless, the yellow-clothed female ghost turned her head to look at Mr. Cui, and said with a smile: "It's better not to let it talk, or it will give you more trouble." trouble."

Mr. Cui smiled wryly, and thought to himself, big sister, how little trouble you have caused me, but this ghost bitch really helped Mr. Cui a lot, if you let Dong Sizhe make a fuss, It would probably wake up the old couple next door, so Mr. Cui said helplessly to the yellow-clothed female ghost: "Then I will thank you very much, big sister. It has been so many years, I never thought you would really have the heart to do it."

The female ghost in yellow tilted her head, then smiled and said, "If I don't strike, it will be even worse if you beat it up."

Mr. Cui stretched out his thumb. Indeed, what it said was correct. Zhang Shifei thought that Mr. Cui seemed to be in a bad mood after seeing Bai Wuchang just now. If Dong Sizhe had just bared his teeth with him , I guess it was at least a fat beating.

The female ghost in yellow smiled and hugged Dong Sizhe back to the sofa, and then snuggled into its stiff arms. After that, everyone was busy with their own business, and each was in a daze. Fatty Li had already Unable to bear it any longer, he fell into a deep sleep, while Mr. Cui sat by the altar, thinking about something wistfully. Zhang Shifei left because he had just been startled by the old hanged ghost just now, and now he had no sleepiness at all. When I got to the window, I didn't shy away from it, I sat down on the coffin board and looked out the window.

There is actually nothing outside the window, only endless darkness, Zhang Shifei just watched the darkness slowly dissipate, and the dawn of a new day finally came.

Mr. Cui was still the same as before, frowning and wondering what he was thinking. At this moment, the door opened, and the old man Dong came in with bloodshot eyes. It seemed that he hadn't slept much. Mr. Cui saw the old man enter the room He got up and went to meet him. Old man Dong said with some embarrassment: "Xiao Cui, I'm really bothering you. Didn't you close your eyes all night?"

Mr. Cui nodded, and then said: "It's okay, Uncle Dong, this is my job. Well, it's almost five o'clock now, and the hired car will be here soon, right? There is still help."

The old man Dong nodded, took out a box of Yuxi from his pocket, and handed it to Mr. Cui. There is a rule here, that is, to deal with trivial matters. The following rules are generally known by the older generation, so the old man Dong realized that he was ready, and while passing the cigarette, he nodded repeatedly and said: "It's all done neatly. The crematorium will deliver the car, including this coffin. People will leave in a while." I see, they are all Sizhe's friends or classmates here, there are about ten of them, Xiao Cui, do you see enough?"

Seeing that the old man also understood the rules, Mr. Cui didn't say anything else. He took the cigarette, then nodded to the old man Dong, and said, "That's enough. After the cremation is over, please trouble Uncle Dong to set up a table." Banquets, after all, 'white things are not empty', ah, by the way, does Brother Dong have any relatives in Harbin, when will they come?"

The so-called "white things are not empty" is a custom in burial studies. It is said that it is very difficult for people to be born in this world. If you don't bring anything, you don't take anything away, but it is also something worth celebrating. All relatives and friends who come to the scene must pay back the gift money, so there is a saying that "red and white are not empty", that is, no matter whether it is a wedding or a wedding, it must be presented. A few tables, one is to celebrate the subject, there is nothing wrong with it, it is a celebration. In ancient times, people would laugh when they died, because ancient people thought that after death, it was a good thing to escape from the sea of ​​suffering and go to bliss, so they had to hold a banquet to celebrate , but with the change of time, this custom gradually disappeared. It is said that only a few areas still have this tradition, and the rest have disappeared into countless unofficial histories.Secondly, it is also an explanation to the people who come to join us, you can’t let people spend money for nothing, you say no, this is still very popular in modern society, I believe everyone who reads has attended weddings and funerals, and after the ceremony, you have to rub it A meal is enough, but in this day and age, it seems that everything has changed, even weddings and funerals are covered with a stinky coat, and the people who come to celebrate or mourn may not be the same as those who celebrate or mourn Relationships are just coming with a purpose, and the well-established life rituals become more and more deformed. These are all digressions, so I won't list them in detail for the time being.

When the old man heard Mr. Cui's question, he said: "It's natural, it's natural, you can't let people work in vain. I have already said hello to my niece. She has booked a hotel for me. After the booking, she will go directly to the cremation." See us in the field, Sizhe... Well, she is the only relative in Harbin."

Mr. Cui secretly heaved a sigh of relief, this is the best, at least it won't be too embarrassing during the funeral, so he turned to Zhang Shifei and said, "Xiao Zhang, you are ready to go, tidy up the table, we are about to go to the funeral."

Zhang Shifei nodded, woke up Fatty Li and roared, and came to the altar, and blew out the candles. At this time, the sky was already bright, and the three of them washed their faces and refreshed themselves. At this time, they came to offer condolences and The helpers have arrived one after another, Mrs. Dong has already woken up, and she will not follow her to the crematorium later, after all, it is too sad for a white-haired person to send a black-haired person. My son let the fire burn the excitement, so he stayed in the house and cried alone. All the big and small things were taken care of by Mr. Dong and Mr. Cui.

While Zhang Zhengfei and Li Lanying were clearing up the altar, the old man Dong asked Mr. Cui: "Xiao Cui, do you think you need to prepare something?"

Mr. Cui shook his head, and then replied: "No, just pay attention to preparing four red bricks for the coffin later, and I will bring the rest. Oh, yes, Uncle Dong, I don't think it's early, I don't know." Is everyone here?"

The old Dong nodded and went out to count the number of people. Taking advantage of the emptiness, Mr. Cui took out an empty wine bottle from Zhang Shifei's backpack. Mr. Cui unscrewed the wine bottle, and said to the two ghosts on the sofa, "Hurry up, we're on our way."

Dong Sizhe is still in an idiot state and naturally can't talk to him. The female ghost in yellow blinked her eyes and said to Mr. Cui: "Why bother, when Sizhe's body is burnt out, we will go directly to Yinshi , you don’t need to send it.”

Mr. Cui smiled wryly, and then said to it: "It's still Yinshi, let's talk about it first."

The female ghost in yellow was full of doubts, so Mr. Cui had no choice but to tell them in a few words that the road was being built in Yinshi, and he had to stay in the house for a few more days. , and nothing else is a big deal, so after Mr. Cui finished speaking, it murmured: "So that's what happened, okay then."

After finishing speaking, it held Dong Sizhe in a circle, and then the two ghosts turned into two puffs of green smoke, entangled and got into the wine bottle in Mr. Cui's hand. Seeing that they had all gone in, Mr. Cui twisted it. After putting on the bottle cap, he took out another talisman from his pocket, pasted it on the wine bottle, and handed it to Zhang Shifei for safekeeping.

Zhang Shifei took the bottle and found that it was terribly heavy, probably because it was pretending to be a ghost. I used to watch this wine jar pretend to be a ghost in a movie, but I didn’t expect to watch the live version today. After the wine bottle was put away, old man Dong walked in and said to Mr. Cui, "Everyone is here."

Mr. Cui nodded, and then followed Old Man Dong to the hall, and after leading a few coffin-carrying young men into the house, Mr. Cui said to Zhang Shifei, "You two, go downstairs first. Fatty, take the paper money and see If there is a 'Water Gate' downstairs...it's a horse pot reel, just sprinkle some paper money on it, Xiao Zhang, you have three kickers in your backpack, take them out and put them away later, understand?"

Zhang Shifei and Li Lanying nodded, and walked out. After the female ghost in yellow was put into the bottle, the "evil spirit" in the corridor gradually disappeared, and they walked out of the building. Today's weather is good, and the two Everyone stretched their waists, and then started to work on their own.

The fat man grabbed a handful of paper money from his bag, found a few manhole covers in the community, and sprinkled some on them, while Zhang Shifei took out the three second-legs from his bag, unwrapped them, and finished The lead wire was inserted not far from the entrance of the corridor. At this time, there were already five cars parked beside it. One was pulling the coffin with a wreath on it. It looked like it was from the crematorium, and there were four cars left. It was a car, and then the two stood aside, lit a cigarette and waited for Mr. Cui and his group to come down.

Not long after, I heard Mr. Cui's voice, and Zhang Shifei hurriedly stepped forward to help them open the door, and saw six young men carrying the coffin and came down. When the old man went downstairs, he burst into tears again, and the coffin came out. When we opened the door, the sun had not yet come out, so Mr. Cui asked the old man Dong to set up a four-way round. There is a saying here that the coffin contains the dead, and it cannot be grounded before the burial, otherwise it will be bad for the family of the deceased.

Everyone put the coffin on the red bricks, and then stood each other, knowing that at this time, the "master of affairs" was about to speak. At the funeral, most of them refer to Mr. Yin Yang.

I saw that Mr. Cui coughed, then sorted out his emotions, and said to everyone in a serious manner: "Your lords, please listen carefully, today is the second day of the seventh month of the Gengyin Year, and Mr. Dong, who is the backer, is extremely happy." Days, as the saying goes, life and death are destined to go with the clouds, and in the past, the Tathagata lived in bliss. This is the number of days and cannot be changed. Now the time has come, let's fire three times!"

After finishing speaking, Mr. Cui signaled Zhang Shifei to fire the cannon. Zhang Shifei didn't dare to delay, so he lit a cigarette with the fat man and kicked his feet. The second ring is for the return of the soul, and the third ring is for the thunder of the world. The flowers bloom side by side, there is no taboo, the third shot is let go, and those who belong to the dragon, dog, and rat in the courtyard, please turn around!"

As a result, among the dozen or so people present, two of them turned around after hearing Mr. Cui's words. Mr. Cui lowered his head again, as if he was thinking about something. After thinking for a while, he raised his head and said loudly: " Lift the coffin! Send Mr. Dong to the Yin Mansion!!"

With a shout, everyone started to get busy. Several men carefully carried the coffin containing Dong Sizhe to the car. Several people followed the car, and the rest each found a car. Since everything was kept simple, there were still some ceremonies left. Do it, but it doesn't matter whether you do it or not, it's for living people to see anyway.

Five cars set off from the community and drove directly to the No. [-] Crematorium in Harbin. At first, they thought that it was just dawn and the city should be easy to walk, but even so, there was still a traffic jam when they passed by the subway building. Fortunately, unlike usual, there are not many people who don't have eyes and dare to stop. After all, who would like to snatch the road of a dead car?
In this way, it was already past seven o'clock when we arrived at the crematorium, and the sun had already risen. However, this was not an important customer, and Mr. Cui didn't pay much attention to it. The two of Ying, together with those who helped, lifted the coffin down like a log, and everything after that was simple. The crematorium operates in an assembly line, as long as the coffin goes in, the urn is guaranteed to come out.

The make-up artists are all experienced, and within 10 minutes, they painted Na Youxi rosy, and the next step was to pay their respects to the remains. A dozen people followed the rules and walked around the coffin. , the old man Dong was at the end, followed with red eyes, the doctor was not fooled.

When the staff pulled Dong Sizhe in the coffin onto the iron bed to be cremated, the old man Dong couldn't bear it any longer, and rushed on him crying, saying that he would not let them burn his son, what was that? The sound made Zhang Shifei feel unspeakably uncomfortable, as if something was stuck in his chest. You must know how tragic it is for a father to cry for his son's death.

The few people present were a little moved when they heard the old man Dong crying, but the staff in the crematorium seemed to have gotten used to this scene. They took away Dong Sizhe's body very professionally and arrogantly. Pulling open an iron door, swiping it, it's like riding a slide, and the person just disappeared.

Things got easier after that, basically everything was fine, everyone was waiting in the lounge, seeing that old man Dong was sad, everyone took turns to come forward to comfort him, after all, Mr Cui had not been in this business for a day or two, he knew this I needed to do something during the break, so I led the old man Dong to pick out the urn.

The urn seller in this crematorium also knew Mr. Cui, and he seemed to be very familiar with him. Zhang Shifei was a little surprised, wondering what he was doing all the time at the crematorium. Could it be that he had funerals every so often?

After thinking about it later, I figured it out. After all, Mr. Cui was doing the job of Mr. Bai Pai, and weddings and funerals should be commonplace. Zhang Shifei watched the urn-selling aunt wink at Mr. Cui, Then I knew that there must be some tricks in it. Maybe Mr. Cui would get kickbacks if he leads people here. Mr. Cui recommended to the old man Dong an urn worth 880. It is said to be made of pine wood, insect-proof and ant-proof. Nine dragons and nine phoenixes are engraved on it, and a tablet made of marble is also attached. The old man Dong is heartbroken now, so he has no words, that's all.

Looking at the sad face of the old man Dong, but the smiling face of the elder sister of the urn, Zhang Shifei sighed. It seems that some people are happy and some are sad in this crematorium.

Half an hour later, someone notified that the ashes could be picked up.

This should be the last step, Zhang Shifei and Li Lanying saw what the ashes looked like for the first time, a big iron plate, yes, it was contained by a big iron plate, a big square iron plate, scattered inside Scattered piles of broken bones, everyone took the shelf, first picked up the broken bones into the box, then the leg bones, sternum, and finally the skull. Qian'er covered Dong Sizhe's skull.

Everything was done, just when the lid was about to be put on, I heard a low cry of a woman behind me. Mr. Cui didn't know what happened when he heard the cry, his whole body trembled inexplicably, and then he froze there , Zhang Shifei turned his head and saw two women appeared behind them. They looked about the same age as Mr. Zhang Shifei and Mr. Cui. The other showed no expression, just holding the weeping woman's hand and comforting her in a low voice.

Seeing Mr. Cui's virtue, Zhang Shifei knew it in his heart. It seems that this is the trouble with the split. Now the two women don't know which one is Mr. Cui's former girlfriend?
(It’s late, everyone forgive me, two updates and one update today, please vote for recommendation, thank you friends who gave rewards today are just Orochimaru, s-su, ┾Forbidden City Feng, c-rui, Yang Guozi Du, Baobao Zhuba Lou, I was shocked, thanks to the 588 of the Chinese pastoral cat and the green root and white root)

(End of this chapter)