Chapter 2422: Die with eyes closed
Lele's father, Zhou Qiufeng, took Leshan to Zhou's house after noon. Because Lele was visiting the doctor, Brother Zhou originally said to wait for Lele, but Village Chief Zhou said there was no need to wait, and lunch was served as scheduled.
The Zhou family's lunch started after twelve o'clock and lasted until three o'clock in the afternoon.
Lele's father, Zhou Qiufeng, is not drunk. It's not that they don't drink, but Lele's little boy limits their alcohol consumption. It is stipulated that they can't drink more than two taels at home on weekdays, and they can't drink more than half a catty when eating banquets or happy events.
Dad Le's drinking capacity is not very good, but he will never get drunk after drinking seven or eight liang, not to mention Zhou Qiufeng, Village Chief Zhou Bapi and others. They will not even look good after a pound of liquor with a temperature of more than 30 degrees. It will turn red.
Village Chief Zhou Papi and others always remembered Xiao Yazai’s instructions. They were afraid that if they got alcoholic liver disease from drinking, Xiao Lele would find out and give them an ideological education class. Just thinking about that scene made them feel ashamed. Dare you go against the grain of Yin and Yang?
Xiao Lele is usually very easy-going and won't fall out with you no matter what you say. Once she gets angry, her face will be stern and she will stare at you without emotion, which will make people's scalp numb.
Even though Village Chief Zhou would catch Yue Qing and lecture him from time to time, he didn't dare to ask him to lecture the little boy. Even if he tried to persuade him sincerely, he would have to muster the courage to do it.
The old man was also afraid that Xiao Lele would stare at him with a stern face and an expressionless expression, so in order to save his dignity, he was very conscious and did not drink too much.
After the dinner was over, Village Chief Zhou and his wife, Zhou Papi and his wife, sat at their nephew's house for more than half an hour before going home.
The uncles and aunts were not drunk, but Brother Zhou was still worried and sent his elders back.
Grandma Zhou Man and Aunt Pa went home and lit a fire. After sitting for a while, they made an appointment to go to Yang Sanpao's house. They each sent a dozen eggs to Yang Sanpao's wife.
Yang Dayantong and his mother-in-law killed chickens, cooked soup, and sent them to the hospital at noon. The fat girl slept until about one o'clock in the afternoon and then woke up. When she woke up, she could eat and drink.
They had been to the hospital and returned home to help their third son take care of the house. When the sister-in-law of the Zhou family came to visit the third daughter-in-law, Yang Dayantong and her mother-in-law were very moved and warmly greeted her and asked her to sit down and eat ginger tea and red eggs.
The third wife gave birth to a baby. Although she went to the hospital temporarily, Yang Dayantong and her mother-in-law didn't do anything in the morning. They boiled black tea eggs in the afternoon after returning from the hospital and gave four red eggs to each neighbor who went to Sanpao's house to help.
There are many customs in rural areas, including in Meicun Village. On the day a child is born, neighbors will not visit the mother for fear of a miscarriage. They have to wait three days after the woman gives birth before visiting the mother.
Yang Sanpao's wife fell, and the neighbors went to help. Yang Sanpao was taking care of his wife in the hospital. As a grandmother, Grandma Yang naturally wanted to express her love by sending boiled red eggs to the neighbors' houses.
According to rural custom, ginger tea and red eggs can resolve fetal evil and remove bad luck.
Grandma Zhou Man and Aunt Zhouman heard that Yang Sanpao's wife and son were safe, and she congratulated her. She knew that the Yang family and his wife would look after Yang Sanpao's house and cook confinement meals, so they sat down for a while and then returned home.
To send off Zhou's sister-in-law, Yang put nine black tea eggs in a big smoke tube, picked up a chicken, and sent it to Lejia in person.
When Le's father Zhou Qiufeng came back from her parents' home, she chopped up the pig's trotters and stewed them with soybeans.
The two of them were stewing pig's feet and discussing how many dishes they would like in the evening. When Yang Dayantong brought red eggs, please come and entertain them at home.
Zhou Qiufeng only accepted the red eggs from the Yang family and wanted Yang Da Yantong to take the chicken back to Mother Yue to eat.
Yang Dayantong looked anxiously: "No, your baby delivered the baby to Sanpao's wife. She was supposed to have dinner at Sanpao's house. I was so busy at the time that I didn't even bother to take care of it. This chicken is considered a lunch dish, no matter what. Gotta take it.
This rule cannot be broken, otherwise there will be chaos in the future.
Besides, thanks to your little boy, Sanpao worked with Liu Lu and the others and made some money in the past two years. Money is not so tight, so he won’t have to pay for the local chicken for Mrs. Yue. come out. ”
When he said that, Zhou Qiufeng couldn't refuse anymore. She accepted the gift and packed a dumpling for Yang Dayantong to take home. If there was no time to make breakfast in the morning, he could heat the dumplings for Yue Pozi to improve the taste.
Yang Dayantong brought a large bag of dumplings and thanked him profusely before going home.
After seeing off his fellow villagers, Le's father, Zhou Qiufeng, prepared the dishes for dinner. In the evening, they heated the dishes in a steamer. After they had fed the livestock, they were tidied up and ready for dinner.
During the Lunar New Year, Lejia’s dinner menu is very rich, including six medicinal dishes, three ordinary dishes, plus a Cordyceps, Truffle and Mushroom Soup, a combination of meat and vegetables, rich in nutrients.
In the past few years, every household in Plum Village has made some money, and they are relatively loose, so they are willing to spend time during the holidays, so they naturally celebrate the New Year lively.
Granny Li felt that Mrs. Meng was probably having a comeback. She was afraid that Mrs. Meng would be resentful after her death, and because her granddaughter came back, she caught a chicken and killed it, and stewed a pig's knuckle to prepare some decent dishes for the Chinese New Year.
Mrs. Meng seemed to have recovered from her illness all of a sudden. Apart from having difficulty walking, she was able to eat and drink. The three of them had a reunion dinner together in the evening, and nothing unpleasant happened.
While sitting and talking, Mrs. Meng talked a lot. When it was time to go to bed at night, when her daughter sent her to the bedroom, before going to bed, she took the child and gently said: "Xiaoyan, you must learn well in the future. Never take other people’s things again.”
Her mother suddenly said not to take other people's things. Li Xiaoyan felt that her mother also believed that she was a thief. She felt aggrieved and angrily broke away from her mother's hand. She ignored her and went back to her room to sleep angrily.
Mrs. Meng stared blankly in the direction the child was leaving. After a long time, there was a click. She took out a piece of paper and covered her mouth, and soon a large mouthful of blood came out.
Still as before, she silently wiped the blood from her mouth and threw away the ball of paper.
After sitting for a few more minutes, she slowly lay down and turned off the lamp. In the darkness, two strings of tears silently fell from the corners of her eyes.
When people rest, there is only the sound of night wind between heaven and earth.
The snowy night was cold and silent, and time passed slowly. In an instant, time passed through December 31, 2023, and entered the early morning of January 1, 2024.
Le Xiao's classmate and everyone in the family work and rest on time, while Le's father and Zhou Qiufeng put a large stove under the eaves before going to bed, put a pot on it to boil water, and smokeless charcoal burned in the belly of the stove.
At three o'clock in the morning, the couple got up. Le's father added firewood to the stove to boil water, and Zhou Qiufeng quietly went into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Le Yun and Lan San got up before 3:30, washed themselves briefly, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. My little cotton-padded jacket and the handsome man Lan San were having breakfast. Leba mixed the boiling water with some cold water and salt, then put the water pipe in the water pot, dragged the other end to the helicopter, then started a small electric water pump to pump water, and used hot water to flush the helicopter's De-ice the blades.
The ice on the helicopter's blades soon fell off as it was constantly washed away by warm water.
Dad Le was in a great mood after finally doing something to help the girl.
He and Lan San, who had finished their breakfast, removed the cloth covering the helicopter's fuselage and the straw that had been laid to prevent ice from falling off the blades and damaging the fuselage. The protected helicopter had ice and ice on it except for the raised tail. There is a small amount of ice on the wing tips, but the rest is clean.
Ice had condensed on the cloth covering the helicopter. Lan San left it to the Le family and his wife to clean up. He climbed into the cab to warm up the engine and propeller.
The little girl was carrying her backpack and sitting in the first officer's cabin.
The young lady is leaving home again, and Heilong reluctantly bids her farewell.
Dad Le and Zhou Qiufeng retreated to a safe area with Heilong, waited for the helicopter to take off, moved the small motor and water pipe back under the eaves, closed the stove door, and went to catch up on their sleep.
Yi Laoyan and Lao Lizhao knew when the little girl was leaving. It wasn't the first time anyway, so they didn't get up to see her off.
Leshan fell asleep, but she didn't know. When she woke up in the morning, she found out that her sister had gone to the capital again. He pursed his lips and ignored his parents all morning.
The first day of 2024 is still very cold because the snow has not melted, which is suitable for cat winter.
Li Xiaoyan was unhappy because her mother didn't listen to what she said last night. She didn't call her mother as soon as she got up on New Year's Day morning.
Grandma Li didn't hear Sister Meng cough last night, and she didn't feel at ease. When she got up in the morning, her heart was beating wildly. She asked her granddaughter to call her mother while making breakfast.
Li Xiaoyan reluctantly went to her mother's bedroom. Seeing that the door was still open, she called twice at the door. Her mother didn't answer, so she turned on the light and went in to call.
She called several times, but her mother didn't respond. She walked to the bed and stretched her head to see that her mother only had her head exposed outside the quilt, her face was dark, and her eyes were staring.
Li Xiaoyan was startled and screamed twice. Finally, as if she felt something, she touched her mother's face with trembling hands, which was cold.
Mom is dead!
The thought flashed across her mind, and she yelled "Mom" and cried loudly.
When Granny Li heard her granddaughter's cry, she almost guessed the reason. Her hands and feet were shaking, and she dropped the pot and shovel in a panic and ran to see.
She ran to Mrs. Meng's bedroom, reached out to the bedside and touched Mrs. Meng's nose. She was out of breath!
Seeing Mrs. Meng's dead expression, she felt weak and stretched out her hand to touch her eyelids, but no matter how she touched her, Mrs. Meng's eyes could not close.
"Xiaoyan, help your mother...help your mother close her eyes." Granny Li's heart was trembling. Xiaomeng refused to open her eyes to death. Was she blaming her...for not treating her well in the final period?
Li Xiaoyan stood by the bed and cried. When she heard her grandma's words, she followed her instructions blankly. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her mother to close her eyes.
Grandma Li was even more panicked, so she had to get a towel to cover Mrs. Meng's face, pulled her granddaughter outside, and ordered in a trembling voice: "Xiaoyan, your mother is gone, I will rub some grass roots and tie them around your waist, you... …You go and kowtow to the Li family. If you kowtow, the Li family will come to the house and we will tell you what to do.”
Li Xiaoyan didn't understand anything and just cried.
Granny Li went to rub a straw rope, get some flax and tie the end of the rope, tied it to her granddaughter, and urged her to kowtow to the person named Li.
Li Xiaoyan cried while going to the Li family's house. She stopped by the first family on the way. When she went in and saw the Li family elders, she fell to her knees in tears.
It was early in the morning, and all the villagers were at home. Some people heard the crying and went out to see. When they saw Li Xiaoyan tied with a straw rope, they knew that Meng's wife was gone.
When the Li family heard the cry, they almost guessed that Meng's wife was dead. When they saw Li Xiaoyan coming to report the funeral, they helped her up and asked her to report the funeral and then go back. They would go there after breakfast.
The Li family waited for Li Xiaoyan to finish her funeral report. While the family was cooking, the men discussed it and went to Grandma Li's house together after dinner.
The granddaughter went to the family of the same clan to report the funeral, and Granny Li also prepared delicious food. When the granddaughter came back, she coaxed her to eat. Sister Meng was already dead. The living are always more important than the dead, right?
There are only three families with the same surname in the Li family. They met at Granny Li's house and asked her if she was going to host a banquet. Only when Granny Li made the decision, they could formulate corresponding regulations.
It costs a lot of money to host a banquet, so Granny Li is naturally unwilling to do so.
It was New Year's Day, and no one could help with all the funeral arrangements. If we had to hire someone to dig a grave, the work would have to start tomorrow. And even if we didn't hold a banquet, we still had to ask our master to see which day would be suitable for burial.
Granny Li listened to the arrangements of the men with the same surname in the Li family.
The Li family asked Li Xiaoyan to kowtow at the homes of people in the same village. They would kowtow in every house. When she came back after kowtowing, they would take her to see her master to see how she would fare.
A middle-aged man from the Li family drove Li Xiaoyan on a motorcycle to the home of a master. The master helped check the date. It was not suitable to bury her on the 2nd or 3rd, and the funeral would have to wait until the 4th at the earliest.
The members of the Li family brought Li Xiaoyan back to the village and told Granny Li that she would not be buried until the 4th and he would also go back to his home.
Granny Li can only pretend that Sister Meng is still alive until New Year's Day is over.
(End of chapter)