Hearing this, Zhang Zhiyong raised his head in disbelief: "No way, Grandma Chun just died. She's not at home?"
As if to fulfill his words, as soon as he finished speaking, the sound of firecrackers crackled at the intersection.
It was accompanied by heart-wrenching cries, which were obviously the children and grandchildren crying filial piety.
According to the local custom in Shangwan Village, when a person is depressed, a firecracker is immediately set off in front of the deceased's house.
Then you have to go to Ma Huang Temple to set off a cannon, burn a stack of paper, and insert three sticks of incense.
The old man said that this was a signal to the underworld to open the temple door and send the souls of the deceased down, otherwise the souls would easily become lonely ghosts in the human world.
As for children crying for mourning, in addition to mourning, it is also a ritual that must be performed, otherwise it will be taboo and the villagers will not dare to help.
Almost no one in the village knew that the relationship between the Chen and Li families had broken down. On this point, the two families had a surprisingly tacit understanding and did not publicize it outside.
In other words, the heads of the two families, Li Jianguo and Chen Gaoyuan, are both knowledgeable and well-educated people. Their structure is different from that of women's families. They will still say hello when they meet.
That's why Zhang Zhiyong is so enthusiastic about making dramas for his brothers.
Old Li's house is located at a crossroads, separated from the river dam by seven or eight hills of paddy fields. When Li Heng ran all the way home, he was soaked to the skin.
The door of the hall was wide open, and as soon as you entered, you could smell a strong smell of medicinal herbs. Li Jianguo was squatting in front of an earthen earthen pot, boiling Chinese medicine. Looking at him puffing out his cheeks and blowing the bamboo fire tube hard, he must have just lit the fire.
Li Heng looked at his father who was wearing a gray tunic suit with a patch on the collar and pot dust on his face and forehead, and he suddenly felt a little distressed:
"Dad, I'm making some medicine."
Li Jianguo wiped his forehead with his sleeve, half-turned around, with a look of expectation on his kind face: "I'm back, how was the harvest today?"
"Then you still need to ask, I need to wear at least 5 pounds of foundation when I go out."
Li Heng proudly handed over the bamboo basket, which was filled with small fish, shrimps, loaches and rock crawlers.
There were also dozens of river crabs with their pincers removed in the middle.
With a rough sweep, I could see no less than five and a half kilograms.
Although he didn't know how to tend crops, and he often cheated and cheated while working as a coolie, when it came to catching loaches and fish, going up the mountain to fish for rabbits and hunt pheasants, these side things, Li Heng was full of talent and was self-taught.
There were more than 20 houses at the intersection, and he considered himself second, but no one dared to compete for first place.
Li Heng looked around and asked, "Where is my mother?"
Li Jianguo was not afraid of meat and fish, so he reached out and dug into the bamboo basket, "Feed the pigs in the back."
He listened carefully and noticed the muffled sound of pigs squealing from the backyard. Li Heng immediately handed over the camellia in his hand.
Looking at the bright red romantic camellia, Li Jianguo looked surprised, and later said humorously:
"What day is it today? This doesn't make sense."
Li Heng winked: "Don't worry, this is not for you, you can give it to my mother.
Didn't you often send flowers to her in the past? I haven't seen you send them for several years."
Li Jianguo stared at the camellia. After a moment, he took the camellia with a smile and turned around to go to the backyard.
Today's wind brings romance back to the day when they met twenty years ago.
Not long after, Tian Run'e came out. She found an empty bottle, filled it with water, and inserted the camellias one by one.
Seeing this, Li Heng leaned on the table and joked in a literary style: "Mom, you can't trap all your love in a vase."
Tian Xiao'e subconsciously asked: "What should we do?"
Li Heng gestured and said, "When the petals wither, you can dry them and make them into sachets to send back to dad. This is called following your sweetheart like a shadow."
Tian Xiao'e's expression was a bit unbearable, and she laughed and cursed in a low voice: "Slick tongue!"
Then she sighed secretly, no wonder Chen Zijin, who had been well-behaved and sensible since childhood, was harmed by Manzai. This mouth is really...
Zhang Zhiyong on the side was stunned! A thought floated through his mind, "Holy shit, holy shit, how can this be done?"
The wet clothes clung to his body and felt uncomfortable, so Li Heng hurriedly took a shower.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he had to sigh: Mom's genes are really strong!
If he were left to make movies, Takakura Ken would have nothing to gain or anything to do.
He has also seen the movie "Pursuit" and watched it several times. It seems so ordinary and ordinary. He wonders why it is so popular in China these days.
Is this the so-called tough guy's tenderness, where rare things are valuable?
His appearance is satisfactory, and when he grows up to 178 in the south, he is not too short at the age of 17. However, he is undernourished and has a few sloppy ribs that make him panic.
Small fish and shrimps do not need to be processed and can be put into the pot directly; loaches need to rest for a few days to spit out the mud and sand.
For larger rock crawlers, crucian carp and carp, the internal organs must be picked out with bamboo skewers.
As for the river crabs that can be sold at a good price in the future, hey! There are too many of them these days, and they are all used as fertilizer. Unless you are particularly greedy, you will only eat a few.
Five and a half kilograms of fish and shrimp may seem like a lot, but under the quick hands and feet of Li Heng, Li Jianguo, Tian Run'e and Zhang Zhiyong, the bottom is still visible to the naked eye.
While the four of them were chatting and dealing with trash, a middle-aged man, Chen Gaoyuan, came straight across the road.
Chen Gaoyuan, who was dressed in sackcloth and mourning, knelt down to Li Jianguo and Tian Run'e as he walked in. He said that his mother had passed away and asked the couple for help.
Kneeling is a local custom. Whenever someone in a family dies, the filial son will wear a white cloth on his head and go from house to house asking for help.
There are about 3,000 people in Shangwan Village. Leaving aside the cheating family of the Chen family, Li Jianguo is the only college student in the village. He has seen the world and handles things in an orderly manner.
For this reason, every time there is a wedding or wedding in the village over the years, everyone has been accustomed to be the first to call him and ask him to be the "manager".
As the name suggests, everything must be managed.
How much money is spent on weddings and weddings, which neighbors are called to help, which neighbor is arranged to do what, how many bowls of running water banquets, which dishes are served, including various purchases and calling the chef to come in, are all handled by the host family.
Most people can't do this kind of work.
However, Li Jianguo has outstanding eloquence, strong ability, wide network of contacts, and fair dealings. Men, young and old, are more convinced by him, and he is the best candidate for "all management".
Many people even joked that Li Jianguo was fired so well. Since the death of the old village chief, there has been one less person in the village who can take on important tasks.
Li Jianguo quickly threw away the stone crawler in his hand, helped Chen Gaoyuan up with both hands, and comforted him: "Gaoyuan, please forgive me! I'll change my clothes and come over."
Chen Gaoyuan stood up and said to Tian Run'e: "Sister-in-law, you are good at cooking. I will ask you to help prepare the dinner later."
An elderly person has passed away in the host family, and the filial sons and grandsons have a lot of things to do. Serving tea and cooking are usually done by neighbors.
Ever since Chen Gaoyuan's wife refused to marry the two families, she has not been to the Chen family for half a year, although the two families are only separated by a road.
In a sense, the wives of the Chen and Li families are now in trouble.
Thinking about setting foot in the Chen family, Tian Run'e felt very divided and had ten thousand reluctances in her heart.
But the dead person is the most important, not to mention that Chen Gaoyuan, who has status and reputation, came to the door in person to speak, and it was difficult to refuse, otherwise if word spread, she would get a reputation as a "small belly chicken intestine".
After weighing it up, Tian Run'e finally agreed and said gently: "Okay, I'll go get the firecrackers."
The old thinking is that if you go to the deceased's house, you must set off a firecracker. This is called watching. It is an unwritten rule.
However, the firecrackers can be big or small, or more than ten or twenty people can come in together, no one cares about it. If you don't pay attention to it, it won't cost you much anyway.
When Li Jianguo and Tian Run'e left the main room, Chen Gaoyuan's eyes naturally fell on Li Heng.
To this boy who coaxed his eldest daughter into bed, he did not react as violently as the women at home, but his mood was quite complicated.
After the Dongchuang incident happened, he once found an opportunity to secretly ask his eldest daughter: "Zijin, what is going on between you and Li Heng?"
At that time, Chen Zijin blushed and lowered his head, pleading for Li Heng: "Dad, I volunteered, don't blame him."
With a word of volition, Chen Gaoyuan forcibly suppressed all the objections at home, without making the matter a big deal or making it public.
Even every time he went back to his hometown, he would take the initiative to give Li Jianguo a cigarette and chat a few words.
This is also the reason why the neighbors don't know that the wives of Chen and Li are secretly quarreling.
The past events emerged in his mind, and Chen Gaoyuan asked Li Heng: "When will you go to school?"
Li Heng replied: "School starts on the 12th."
Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and there is still a week left before school starts.
Hearing this, Chen Gaoyuan silently patted Li Heng on the shoulder, said, "Study hard and get into a good university" and left.
Perhaps it was because he had just met Li Heng that he was inspired by it. When he returned home, Chen Gaoyuan found his wife and said again in a consultative tone:
"Alan, why don't you let Zijin come back? Give her milk for the last time."
When Zhong Lan heard this, his hair suddenly exploded, and his peaceful face was filled with anger:
"Chen Gaoyuan, what do you want to do? If you let your daughter come back like this, I will bump her head into death and show you!"
Chen Gaoyuan, who has experienced many hardships, has a stable mentality and did not vent his anger on his wife. He just sighed and said, "I'm afraid Zijin will blame us in the future."
Zhong Lan made a face and faced him coldly.
Seeing this, Chen Gaoyuan completely gave up the idea of ​​letting his eldest daughter back.
Chapter completed!