Chapter 2314 (1 update
Village Chief Zhou arranged for a table to be set up in the alley between the two south-facing floors of the Lejia North Building as a temporary accounting room. Many items received were first placed in the alley, filled with baskets or buckets, and then moved to store grain. storehouse.
After adding tables and chairs, Village Chief Zhou went to look around the accounting room and then went to the kitchen. Seeing that the people in charge were so busy, he couldn't bear to tell them how many guests there were.
Yang Dayantong saw Village Chief Zhou wandering around and asked with a smile: "Old Zhou, how many tables are there?"
"Fifty tables are full, and some new tables have been added. When I came here, five tables were full. There must be at least three tables in the accounting room, and people are still coming here." Village Chief Zhou is also a little worried. If there were still a steady stream of customers, he would be worried that there wouldn't be enough food.
"Oh." Yang Dayantong said calmly and said nothing. After working for a few minutes, he saw that Village Chief Zhou was still wandering around and asked again: "Old Zhou, what are you looking at?"
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"I'm looking at whether the food is enough."
"The little boy has budgeted for ninety tables, is it not enough?"
"It's hard to say." Village Chief Zhou was still worried: "Ninety tables have also budgeted for tomorrow morning."
"What does it matter? Just have enough for dinner. For tomorrow morning's food, we can kill the pig after dinner. It can be done in one night."
Yang Dayantong is not worried at all, haven't you seen these twenty or so big stoves? Pan-frying, deep-frying, stewing, stir-frying, steaming, there’s no ambiguity about it.
Village Chief Zhou wanted to say, "You won't hurt your back when you stand and talk." He also thought that Yang Dachengtong was in charge of the spoons and spent a lot of time standing, so he swallowed his words and went to inspect various seating areas with his hands behind his back.
As soon as he arrived on the ground floor of the north building, he saw representatives from the township hospital, representatives from the township administration department, and leading teachers from kindergarten, primary school, junior high school and central building forming a mighty team, carrying several large wreaths. , drove over with a huff.
At a quick glance, there must be at least six tables!
Well, Village Chief Zhou no longer knew how to describe his mood. He asked the waiting tent to add tables and chairs, and went up to greet Principal Yin and others.
Principal Yin, the representatives and Village Chief Zhou exchanged greetings, and then turned to the ground in front of the Lejia North Building. He saw Yueqing and a group of filial sons wearing white hats and red hats. First go to the funeral, and some people go to the mourning hall to worship first.
Principal Yin entered the mourning hall, burned paper money and offered incense with several colleagues. He put his hand on the shoulders of the girls from the Le family and said, "You guys, it's enough as long as the ceremony is over. Everyone rises."
Le Yun bowed to the ground and raised her head: "Thank you, old principal. My aunt is a junior and deserves your courtesy."
"Yao Zai, don't be ashamed. Originally, Leya would probably become my student just like your father, and would be beaten and scolded by me..."
Old Principal Yin was filled with emotion and said that he was also very sad. Everyone in Meicun knew that Leya was very smart when she was a child. If nothing happened, it would be easy to get into a top university. It is a pity that a good seedling failed to survive. hand.
Le Yun also felt sore in her heart. She heard from her grandfather that her aunt had been studying and literate with her grandmother when she was more than one year old. She was very interested in Chinese medicine. If you showed her each Chinese medicine once, she would remember the name and function, and she would be able to recognize it next time.
If nothing happens to my aunt, she will definitely make great achievements in the medical field and become a famous doctor.
Heaven is not jealous of talents, but others are jealous of them, and they end up dying young.
This hatred is hard to get rid of. She has already sent the main culprits to hell, and will never forgive Dongfang Shen. As for Wu Changfeng, she has other uses for keeping him temporarily.
The corners of classmate Xiao Le's eyes turned red. Principal Yin also knew that he had talked too much and made Xiao Yazai sad. He hurriedly gave some gentle words of advice, and quickly walked out of the main room with his colleagues who were offering incense to hand over gifts.
Because the visitors came in groups, Le Yun, her brothers, and the cubs from the Chen family, the Zhou family, and the Cao family kept lying on the ground for about twenty minutes.
When eating and drinking, the banquet is also on a first-come, first-served basis. Tables will be set up in the mourning hall, where the masters or the deceased’s natal family or uncles and elders will sit. There are no restrictions on other seats. Whoever comes first will sit at the host’s house, and those who come later will sit wherever there are seats. .
Principal Yin and others arrived late and were all sitting by the roadside.
Not long after they sat down, people from Hujia Village, Grandma Lejia’s natal family, also arrived in groups, followed by a wave of visitors from neighboring villages that were close to Chen Dalian’s Chen family.
When the sun was only half over the top of the mountain, Boss Wu, his wife and Mrs. Wu arrived in a hurry. The Wu family gave gifts according to local customs and also sent a hand-tied wreath.
Village Chief Zhou went around again, but his heart beat violently. There were already 78 tables!
He endured his panic and directed the electrician in charge of electricity to pull the wires and hang lighting lamps in the tent cracks on the roadside. When the sun went down, he also placed four sets on the floor of the north building of Lejia facing the garden. Tables and stools.
The people in charge of the tables and chairs were also sweating. Fortunately, they were smart. In the middle of the afternoon, they heard from villagers that many people from neighboring villages had said they wanted to come to Lejia. They were worried that there would not be enough tables and chairs, so they rented 40 spare sets.
At the time of cleaning that day, another wave of people rushed over. Village Chief Zhou took a look and was so anxious that he was sweating. That group came from several villages that were more than thirty or forty miles away from Jiudao and relatively close to Shangzhuang. There are three and a half tables of villagers.
The old man could only pray that it was the last batch.
However, God did not hear his prayers. When it got dark, another group of people came. They might be in a hurry, and they were all sweating profusely.
Village Chief Zhou took a look and saw, well, there were about three tables of guests, and among them was an acquaintance, who was the branch secretary of a village committee adjacent to the neighboring town of Liu Town.
The village chiefs and senior village officials in the township hold three or four meetings every year. Each village committee office building also has the contact number of each village party secretary in the township to facilitate contact.
Village Chief Zhou is not the village committee secretary. The reason why he recognizes some village committee members or village chiefs in other villages is because of Xiao Lele. Nowadays, he often holds meetings on construction, development and wealth or education in the township. Be a guest.
Of course, he just went to observe. He told Xiao Lele what he had heard when he had the opportunity. Then he would convey any suggestions or opinions that Xiao Lele had to the relevant departments.
In fact, Village Chief Zhou doesn't really recognize the village party secretaries or village heads of other village committees. Others recognize him and take the initiative to say hello when they see him. He also remembers some people with more outstanding characteristics.
A group of people who came running saw Village Chief Zhou and said hello first, and then said the reason for their late arrival. The car they were riding in broke down on the road and they had to repair it, which wasted a lot of time.
What else can Village Chief Zhou do? I can only politely thank everyone for coming all the way to take them to Lejia.
Le's father, his cousin, and his wife thought that all the guests had arrived, so they took the time to sit down and rest for a while. When they heard the sound of firecrackers, they knew that there were guests again, so they lined up in a row. When they saw the visitor walking from the village road to the Lejia floor, Kneel down and kowtow.
Village chief Zhou led the guests to offer gifts first, then to the mourning hall to offer incense, and then led the guests to sit in a tent on the roadside.
The next group of customers filled up two tables.
So, not counting those who helped, there were already 84 tables for hanging customers alone. Village Chief Zhou couldn't stabilize his mind, so he ran to find Little Lele and got a bowl of chicken soup from her before he could barely stabilize himself.
Fortunately, there have been no visitors since that wave of people.
Village Chief Zhou led people to add three more tables on the floor, and also set up three tables in the mourning hall. He set off thousands of firecrackers to notify the guests to prepare for the banquet, and everyone hurriedly took their seats.
As soon as thousands of firecrackers went off, the guests were ready to start their dinner, and some who had gone to gather and chat went back to their seats.
The masters held a dojo in the morning, and in the afternoon each group of guests came to play music.
The Le family invited a team from Master Lei, the Zhou family also invited a team, and Chen Kang and Chen Dalian, representing Grandma Le’s family, also invited a gong and drum team, with three bands.
The three bands can take turns playing music to welcome guests, which is also more relaxed.
When they were about to start the banquet, the masters also stopped playing music and went to sit in the middle hall of the north building of Lejia.
The women of the Zhou family are responsible for setting the dishes, delivering baskets of bowls, chopsticks and wine glasses to various places, and then distributing them to each table.
The men add fuel to the fire and bring wine and cigarettes.
Village Chief Zhou went to check the seats in each district and informed them that the dishes would be served.
Each person in the waiter carries an iron pot with the base ingredients to each area. The food is first served to the table where the masters are sitting, and then divided among them. Several people are responsible for one area.
The main banquet is served with pork rib soup as the base, and then four dishes are served. The rest of the dishes are served after a slight interval.
After the first round of dishes is served, before the banquet begins, filial sons and grandsons have to kowtow to thank the guests.
Village chief Zhou called on those who were wearing sackcloth and wearing filial piety, and kowtowed to the masters first, and then bowed all the way from far to near. The masters' team accompanied the filial sons and played mourning music behind them.
The kowtow ceremony before eating does not need to be done at each table, but once for each area. For example, the upper hall of the Zhou family is a community, and the filial sons collectively kneel down and kowtow three times to complete the etiquette. The lower hall of the Zhou family is a district, and kowtow once. .
In a house like Zhou's, if there is no separation between the upper and lower halls, it is just one area, and only one kowtow is enough.
Village Chief Zhou led the filial sons away. He first thanked the guests in the tent next to the Lejia house, then went to the Zhou family, then to Cheng Youde's house, then back to the Lejia backyard, then to the South Tower, and then back to the Lejia North Tower. Go up to the second floor and kowtow to thank the guests. The filial sons go downstairs and sit on the banquets in the nave or on the floor to eat.
The host thanked the guest, and people from each area started to have dinner.
The Le family did not worry about money, so they purchased twelve pigs, twenty sheep, one hundred chickens and one hundred ducks, and used four types of meat as the main course, paired with other dishes to create ten different dishes.
Among the ten dishes, the soy-flavored braised beef is a medicinal dish made by Lejia girls, and there is also a large lobster dish that is favorite among the children.
The person in charge of serving food and wine served the food, and then they went to sit at the table on the floor in front of the North Building of Lejia to eat.
The guests ate slowly and dispersed after about an hour. Some people went home after dinner, leaving their children behind.
The Zhou family's wives, Zhao's sister-in-law, Liu's sister-in-law, and others went to clean up the dishes and take them to the Le family's backyard for cleaning.
The masters ate slowly, and when all the guests in other places had finished eating, they played music to disperse the meal.
Brother Zhou and others rested for a while after dinner, then went around to ask people in neighboring villages who had pigs, chickens or ducks to sell. If they wanted to sell pigs, chickens and ducks, they would give them a confirmation letter. They registered and unified them. If necessary, kill pigs and buy chickens and ducks.
When Lejia was doing business, when buying livestock such as pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks, they first chose the same village. During the day, they bought all the big pigs in the village that could be put into the market. Only a few families still had pigs of about a hundred kilograms, and they were also settled.
Most of the neighboring villages and rural streets are farmers, and many people raise livestock. When I walked around, there were more than thirty pigs registered, and there were hundreds of chickens and ducks.
The women cleared the tables and benches and cleaned the house. Because the temperature was relatively high, there was no need to light a fire to keep warm. All the braziers in the main room and on the floor were removed and only the benches were placed.
The guests who had dinner at Cheng Youde's and Grandma Zhou's house moved around a bit, took benches to Le's house, and sat on the floor or on the roadside or in an alley under the eaves of the south building of the host's house.
People from the same village in Meicun went to several families who helped the Le family to work. Generally, only one person from the family went or took the children to have a feast. Others did not go. After the Le family had finished the feast, many elderly people also went to the Le family to have a meal. sit.
Therefore, there were more than 80 tables for dinner and about 900 people. There were more people after the meal than during the meal. The front and sides of the building were full of people.
After resting for a while, around nine o'clock, Cheng Wu moved the red lacquered cowhide drum that was placed in the corner of the Lejia hall, placed it, burned paper money, and played the drum with a stick and mallet.
This method of playing drums and playing music is called "beating the funeral drum" in rural areas. When the funeral drum sounds, it means that the time for mourning has arrived.
Funeral time is the domain of those who can sing funeral songs. Funeral songs are called "filial piety songs" in rural areas.
People who can sing filial piety songs can fully develop their talents as long as they are willing to sing when doing mundane things at home. Basically, those who can sing filial piety songs are old people and bachelors, so they are called "singers".
In rural areas, singers who specialize in singing filial songs during funeral ceremonies and who sing reasonably and thought-provokingly are very popular and respected.
Some singers who are bachelors or those who are disabled and unable to work and who can sing filial songs go to sing with the spirits whenever there is nothing to do, so that they can eat a few good meals with their masters to improve their own food. For such singers, the masters not only do not If you dislike it, you will give me a red envelope to thank you afterwards.
The Le family was doing some errands, and all the singers from Jiudao Township were present. After leaving the banquet, they walked around and sat in front of the floor. They didn't try to steal the limelight. They all abided by the rules. The singing was performed by the host's family. The village drum master and his companions start the drumming, unless they refuse to let the singer sing.
After the funeral drums are started, relatives still have to mourn before it is the turn to sing filial songs.
The drum sounded once, and Leyun called out "My aunt", threw herself on the coffin and cried, crying and complaining about the untimely death of her aunt, crying about the pain of her grandparents losing their daughter, and scolding the villain for being insidious and harmful. People, scolded all the people who killed my aunt.
After scolding her for being a villain, she cried about how good the neighbors had been to her aunt and how much they had helped her after her grandparents lost her. She also cried about how her aunt died young and therefore did not have the chance to see her brother, nieces and nephews. She also complained about her uncle. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins came back to talk about the close ties of flesh and blood and the pain of bereavement.
Classmate Le is a junior, so it is only natural that she should mourn.
As soon as the girl from the Le family cried, there was no noise upstairs, downstairs, inside or outside the house except for the occasional accompaniment of drums.
(End of chapter)