Chapter 655 It’s Tomb-Sweeping Day again
On the next day, Ding Yi sent someone very early to take away the garlic moss prepared yesterday.
Because he knew that Zhang An’s family was going to the mountains to hang paper for their ancestors, he was too embarrassed to ask Zhang An for help.
And the goods that needed to be transported in the past two days have been turned over, and his employees have returned.
After sending the garlic moss away, Zhang An discovered that the light rain that was still falling in the sky when he got up had stopped.
“It seems that God is very kind to me today. It doesn’t rain anymore.”
When I went to the mountains during the Qingming Festival last year and the year before last, it rained. Although it wasn’t heavy, it still rained. It was muddy enough to make the mountain road wet, and after walking around in the mountains, your whole body would be wet and very uncomfortable.
Zhang An did not expect that there would be an exception this year.
Although after yesterday's day and night, the mud on the mountain road must have been soaked through.
But Zhang An didn't care. Children in the mountains were already accustomed to walking on mud roads, and there were many slippery roads on rainy days.
And as long as it doesn't rain and he doesn't get wet, Zhang An will be very satisfied.
Because walking in the mountains wearing a plastic raincoat and a bamboo hat is really not comfortable at all.
"Don't be too happy too early. It's only what time it is. It's still early. Maybe God will lose his temper on you after a while."
It's grinding. Zhang Jianguo, who is a sickle, is not optimistic about today's weather, because for half his life, he has been accustomed to the uncertainty of this world.
As the saying goes, the ground is never three feet flat and the sky is never clear for three days. Don’t say it’s cloudy right now. Even if the sun is still in the sky and the sun is scorching, it may turn cloudy later. Let me give you a try. There was a violent storm.
There are even times when there are not even clouds, and there are many times where there is a burst of sunshine and rain despite the strong sun.
As a mountain person, I may not know much about other things, but I have seen a lot about this area.
“Dad, you won’t expect anything good.”
After hearing what dad said, Zhang An complained a little. Sometimes it’s really hard to tell, because as long as Just put it in your mouth and it will change your face immediately.
And Zhang An’s favorite thing is to eat on the mountain when hanging paper for his ancestors during the Qingming Festival.
But in recent years, whenever I hang paper, it rains all day long.
They could only divide up a few people to go to the mountain to hang the paper, and then come back home for dinner.
The days of having fun in the mountains are gone forever.
"Xiao An, are you ready? If you are ready, let's go."
After half a payment, Zhang Jianguo finished sharpening the sickle, and Zhang Jianzhong came to find him.
"Let's go then, we have packed up."
Actually, there is really nothing to prepare, just bring a sickle, a knife, and a shovel.
The sickle was brought to cut down wild trees and weeds, while the hoe and shovel were brought to add new soil to the ancestral graves.
Of course, you have to bring white paper flags and scented paper candles.
Even if you have to eat in the mountains today, you still need to bring these.
Because there are many ancestral tombs at home, but we can only choose one place to eat.
So those who go out into the mountains in the morning and are responsible for repairing ancestral tombs will hang the paper on the ancestral tombs that are far away first.
Then leave a place to hang up at the end when everyone is carrying food up the mountain.
Of course, if it keeps raining and you have to eat at home, then you have to hang out and come back together.
This year, the hanging paper is not concentrated in the homes of the younger generation like in previous years, but in the second grandfather’s home.
This is what the old man insisted on when everyone came over to discuss it yesterday.
Because the old man said that he is getting older now, and he is not sure how many days he will have left in the future, so in previous years it was held at their children's home, but this year it will be handled by him.
Although others wanted to persuade, Mr. Zhang was the backbone of their group. Since he wanted to persist, he could not change, so in the end everyone had no choice but to listen to his advice.
So, early this morning, all the nephews, children and grandchildren in the family came here.
For a small courtyard that usually only had two elderly people, there were suddenly so many people today. Even though it was still early in the morning, it was already very busy.
The smile on the second grandma's face never stopped when she followed the daughter-in-law and niece-in-law to clean things up.
When people are young, they may prefer peace and quiet, but as they get older, they will prefer a lively atmosphere more and more, especially the kind of family relationship with children and grandchildren around their knees.
When Zhang An and his son came over, all the uncles in their branch had already been waiting here, but they were the last to arrive.
"Okay, everyone is here, let's go."
Zhang Erye carried out a bamboo-backed basket, which contained white paper flags and incense that he had prepared long ago. Paper candles and firecrackers.
"Second Grandpa, let me carry it."
Seeing this, Zhang An quickly walked up and took the initiative to carry the full bamboo basket on his back.
Because among the people present now, he is the only one with the youngest generation, and the others are all uncles and uncles.
After all, Tomb-Sweeping Day is not yet a national statutory holiday, and the time today is not coincidental. It falls on Tuesday, and all the children in the family are closed at school.
Even if the weather is nice today and the whole family wants to go to the mountains for dinner, they have to wait until after school is over.
But fortunately, whether it is middle school or elementary school, the end of school is never too late.
“Dad, I’m going.”
Seeing everyone going out, although Xiao Siqi didn’t know what they were going for, she just wanted to follow them and immediately pestered Zhang An to come with them.
"It's a good idea to have this intention, but the road outside is slippery and it's very wet in the mountains, so just stay at home."
Seeing this, Mr. Zhang immediately said with a smile.
If the little guy is older and looks like five, six, seven or eight years old, then he must be taken with him.
But he is still too young now, it rained all day yesterday, and the road conditions in the mountains are not very good, so it is better not to take him with us.
The little guy who couldn't follow him immediately pouted in anger. When Wang Fang saw this, he quickly came over and pulled his grandson away.
On the way into the mountain, there was a large and powerful group of people.
This is because the children at home are at school and the women are getting ready at home. The people who come are all men, otherwise there would be more.
I also met a lot of people on the road, because most families in the village will hang paper for their ancestors today, and only a few people may have something to do and stay a little late.
Along the way, several groups of people walked and gathered together. It looked a bit like the formations where groups of people went to work in the fields a long time ago.
After entering the mountains, everyone separated again.
When they came to their ancestors' graves, the young people all took the initiative to pick up their tools without the need for Grandpa Second and Grandpa Four to open their mouths. Those who cut down trees and those who cut grass started to work on their own.
As a young man, Zhang An did not compete with the elders. Instead, he consciously carried the sickle, went out to find a place with bamboo, and cut some grave markers back.
In the past, there were basically trees in the mountains, and there was no bamboo.
But later, after an old man was buried here, everyone would slowly plant some bamboos nearby.
This will not only facilitate yourself, but also facilitate others.
As the saying goes, things get easier when there are more people. When Zhang An came back after cutting down a bunch of grave markers, the area around his ancestral grave had been neatly trimmed, and a circle of new soil was added to the grave. Seeing Zhang An come back, Mr. Zhang and Mr. Zhang took the grave marker that Zhang An had cut and hung the white paper flag on it.
Even though Zhang An chopped down a lot of bamboos, he only had enough in the end.
Because when hanging paper, even if everyone hangs it together, according to the rules, as long as there are separate houses, everyone has to hang one by themselves.
So every time during the Qingming Festival, as long as you see a tomb with a lot of paper flags on it, it means that their family is prosperous.
If there are only a few floating buildings, it means that the family is sparse.
Zhang An's family, large and small, totals more than a dozen, which is not the largest number in the entire village, but it is not too few either.
Soon, Zhang An took the grave markers with paper flags hung by the two old men and inserted them on the graves.
As the mountain wind blew, the green bamboo leaves were soon covered up by the white snow.
Finally, after the incense is burned, everyone takes turns kowtowing to their ancestors.
This is also based on seniority, with the two oldest men taking the lead.
Zhang An is the youngest and can only wait for all the uncles to finish kowtow before he can get to him.
Every time someone kneels down and kowtows, the two old men will say some auspicious words.
If you are married and have children, then you will say that you will wish the whole family good health, safety and security, and earn a lot of money.
If you are married and have no children, you will ask your ancestors to bless you to have more children and continue the family tradition.
As for the younger generation who are not yet married, they pray that they will bring back a good wife for their family.
Zhang Ping An has experienced all of this in the past few years.
After finishing here, it’s time to go to the next place.
When Zhang An went to cut down the grave mark again, he unexpectedly found an old mulberry tree.
At this moment, the old mulberry tree is full of mulberries, and some of the mulberries have even turned black.
Zhang An picked a few and put them in his mouth. It must have been a long time since he had eaten them, but they tasted surprisingly good.
So Zhang An took out a bag from the space, picked some, packed them and took them home.
"You're back, we thought you were lost."
When Zhang An returned, the uncles started joking. It was true that Zhang An had been gone for a long time.
"Hey, I just saw an old mulberry tree. Some of the mulberries on it are edible, so I picked some and brought them back to Qiqi, so I wasted a little time."
Zhang An put down the grave marker, raised the bag of mulberries in his hand and explained.
“Hey, this stuff is actually edible. Let me try it. I haven’t had it in a long time.”
Zhang An has a cousin who is also famous for being greedy. I wanted to eat it, but when I saw Zhang An's bag of mulberries, I couldn't let it go.
Seeing this, several others also wanted to come over and get a share of the pie.
"Eat, eat, eat, whatever you want to eat, don't take any of it. I didn't hear that this was brought to Qiqi."
Although Zhang An was willing to give it to them, Zhang An was willing to give it to them. The second master disagreed.
Because Zhang An said that he picked it for the little guy, he didn't want to be troubled by these people.
Although it is just a little mulberry, it is not a treasure.
But now Xiao Siqi has a great-grandson, and in his heart, that is the first priority.
When everyone saw the old man taking the mulberries, they did not dare to reach out for them anymore and could only smile.
After half the payment, God’s eyes were really opened just as Zhang An thought.
After the rain stopped in the morning, the clouds that shrouded the sky dispersed a bit as it approached noon, revealing a little sunshine shining on the earth.
"I didn't expect that the weather would get better today. Let's take it to the mountain to eat in the afternoon."
As soon as Mr. Zhang saw the sun above his head, he also laughed.
It has been gloomy for many days in a row. No one dislikes sunny days.
After the old man opened his mouth, no one would object. Anyway, everyone has dedicated their time today.
After all the ancestral graves were hung in a circle, only Zhang An’s grandparents were left, and they were placed at the end, waiting for everyone to hang them together after they went up the mountain.
Mainly because I spent the past few years in other places, and this year it’s my turn to go there.
When the group came back from the mountain, the mud on the road had been dried by the sun, and it was no longer as muddy as when they came.
As long as it doesn’t rain in the afternoon and it continues like this, then by the afternoon, the mountain road will definitely no longer be slippery.
Back home, Wang Fang and the sisters-in-law were preparing to eat.
Little Siqi also kept wandering around the house, enjoying the feeding from the grandmothers from time to time.
Although this little guy is the youngest in age and seniority in the family, his status is the highest.
While the bacon was being cooked and being cut, I would hand him a piece from time to time. The chicken on the other end would just be fried and he would also get a piece for him. That little mouth just couldn’t stop.
"Qiqi, come to daddy."
Zhang An returned home and called the little guy.
But the little guy didn't pounce on him like usual.
Seeing this, Zhang An shook his head helplessly, seemingly still angry about what happened in the morning.
“Here, look what I have here, um, it’s delicious...”
But Zhang An is not worried either. His son knows it well and he will find it soon. The little guy's weakness.
As expected, when Xiao Siqi heard this, she turned to look at him.
"Dad!!"
As soon as he saw the mulberry in Zhang An's hand, he immediately rushed over, not even the slightest bit angry.
So, in the world of foodies, as long as there is delicious food, there is no saying that one does not hold grudges. If there is still more, then have another one.
After everyone came back from the mountain for a while, the family prepared lunch.
On the one hand, there are many hands-on people in the family, and on the other hand, the hard dishes are all prepared for the afternoon, so there is no need to worry too much at noon, so it doesn’t take much time.
While taking a break at noon, Zhang An prepared some white paper flags and scented paper candles, and went to the purple bamboo forest.
After Zhang Laodao became immortal, he was buried not far from Sanqing Temple.
Nowadays, Zhang An is considered his old man’s disciple.
In addition, he is the elder of the clan, so he should go there to pay homage due to both emotion and reason.
(End of this chapter)