Dazed

When New China was first established, there were still many old customs among the people, including yin relatives.In ancient times, there were three types of yin relatives: boys and girls who died before they reached the marriageable age;The first kind is quite special, mostly managed by family members, find a psychic witch, ask the two if they have the willingness to go on a blind date, and then choose an auspicious day, playing and singing, together with suona, gongs and drums, and cymbals in place.In front of the tombs of the two people, there are two spirit-calling banners. If both of them agree, then both will float with the wind after a moment; if neither agrees, then one will be raised and the other will remain still .If the two agree, then continue to play and sing, ask the witch to be a matchmaker, hire everything, and bury the two together in one tomb;

If it is the second and third types, and it involves living beings, then both yin and yang must be taken into account.This kind of yin relative's marriage appointment has been made, and the only thing left is to visit the hall.In the worship ceremony, there must be two matchmakers, one is a matchmaker in the human world, and the other is a straw scarecrow, a matchmaker in the underworld. Shoes, when the husband dies, the wife has to show her face when she passes the door, so there is no need for a head covering, and it is forbidden to cry for marriage and see off relatives.During worship, funerals and celebrations are combined in front of and behind the hall, red and white flowers have to be hung, the wife holds a big rooster in her hand, and worships the parents of heaven and earth. After the ceremony, firecrackers are set off outside the door, paper money is burned, suona, sheng, cymbals, gongs, Bells, flutes, and xuns are played together, and wooden fish and snare drums are accompanied by monks' singing from time to time.

The matchmaker said, "The ceremony is complete!" The bride began to cry loudly, and then played and sang musical instruments. Generally, there is no banquet for in-laws, only close family members participate. When the bride cries, the in-laws also cry for three minutes. , Then let the husband's sister come out to persuade, everyone stopped crying, went back to rest, and the wedding was over.

Yin marriages are held at midnight, and the organizers are not happy at all. Most of the weddings are sad and silent, and even the couple have to smear their faces so that they can cry.

In the dark night, in the gloomy wilderness, a family is having a shady marriage. Here, a couple in their early 30s is holding an innocent child in their hands. Holding her mother's hand, she was dressed in black, with a white cloth on her head, and her exposed palms were red and shivering slightly. The winter night was indeed very cold.The mother's eyes were red and swollen from crying, and her face was covered with tears, but she softly comforted the child beside her from time to time, making a slight sound.

There was also a couple standing next to them. They looked like they were in their 40s. They were both dressed in decent mourning clothes. Their faces were melancholy but they were staring nervously at the cemetery not far ahead.The cemetery covers an area of ​​100 square meters, and the tombstone is 30 meters high. It is carved with the best stone and looks very luxurious.

Not far away, a godly Taoist priest raised his hand, and the candles in front of the grave suddenly lit up. The young man next to the Taoist priest held a red bucket in his hand and sprinkled salt, black beans and rice around the cemetery. Until a range is circled to prevent other lonely ghosts from entering by mistake.

The Taoist standing in the middle stretched out his hand and threw out some smashed turtle shells and a little figure cut out of red paper, then he collected the dust, closed his eyes, and muttered the Taoism. After a while, the paper figure swayed Standing up unsteadily, it floated and stuck to the head of the child standing beside him.

People around were taken aback by the movement of the paper figurine, and the child's mother even blushed again, and stretched out her hand, trying to brush the paper figurine away.

"Xijuan." Suddenly an old voice rang out, and an old lady with gray hair and wrinkled face stood beside her, reminding her softly, the mother had no choice but to take her hand back again, and couldn't help looking at her. A few more tears welled up.

The couple standing on the other side was also very sad. Seeing this scene, the couple looked at each other, and the woman walked up to the family and said apologetically, "Mrs. It is our responsibility, when the matter has developed to this point, we can only say that we will try our best to compensate Xiao Qi, and you can tell us what your family needs in the future."

"No need." The mother here endured her sorrow and said slowly: "You are also a white-haired person sending a black-haired person, and if it wasn't for saving my son's life, I wouldn't have agreed to this matter even if I was killed. , so you can accept your kindness, my family doesn’t need it.”

The man next to him was smoking a cigarette without saying a word, with a sullen face, and he didn't even look up at the elegantly dressed woman.

"Mrs. Cao," the old lady who had been standing by the side suddenly said, her vicissitudes of life sounded a bit like loess in the middle of the night, and said: "After this incident, I hope that our two families will not disturb each other. , as if they did not know each other."

"But Jing Xing..." The woman couldn't help opening her mouth, she wanted to say something, but was stopped by the man over there, who said humanely, "Jin Zhi, you should come back."

Everything is ready, the paper figurine stands up to prove that the ghost has arrived, and the spirit-calling flag keeps rising, indicating that the party concerned has a strong will. The big cymbals, bells, gongs and drums all beat together, and there was a burst of rattling, which was really noisy.

The Taoist apprentice handed over a broiler chicken, on the ground were the birthday characters of the two people who were about to be married, cut the neck of the chicken, a stream of blood flowed out, fell on the red paper on the ground, gradually soaked, and then Putting the chicken down, holding the talisman paper in his hand, with a sound of "Explosion!", the paper fell on the copybook on the ground and exploded together.

After finishing all this, he got up and stood aside, the flames on the ground were burning fiercely, as if a soul was trapped in it.

A family of three here, someone handed over a big rooster, the mother took it slowly, and carefully handed it to the child next to her, saying: "Come on, hold this big rooster and walk straight over there side."

The child obediently stretched out his mother's hand, ignorantly and with difficulty hugged the big cock that was estimated to be bigger than him, and stood beside him, a little at a loss.

"Let's go, just walk over there." My mother encouraged me.

The child looked up at her, hugged the big rooster and walked to the place where the memorial tablet was standing in front of the grave.

Suddenly a Taoist priest came out and continued to recite the magic spell. The sky seemed to gradually light up, but the child with a confused face didn't understand anything. All he remembered in his mind was the loud suona sound, Blowing a festive tune, but it sounds inexplicably sad...

"The wedding of the dead and the living, let alone a child here, can only be done by a Taoist priest who knows how to do it." A middle-aged man's voice whispered.

"My son, why are you so miserable!" A female voice cried miserably...

"His son has been very negative since he was a child. What can he do if he is possessed by ghosts? It would be good if he can save his life. We will talk about the things after death..."

"In short, let's get through it first." Another old woman's voice.

What are these things?Inexplicably filled Qi Zheng's mind, his brows frowned slightly, his tightly closed eyes moved, but he couldn't open them, and suddenly, he heard that leisurely sigh again, "Qi Zheng, we were born couple."

"Fuck your mother." Qi Zheng in the dream calmly refused.

After a while, those messy dreams and voices all disappeared, and a rush of bird calls could be heard in his ears, Qi Zheng slowly opened his eyes, the morning light was faint, and the surroundings were gray.

Last night, he hugged the quilt and reluctantly nestled on the sofa in the living room. The sofa was a bit small, and he could only bend his legs and curl up on it awkwardly. When he woke up, he found that he fell asleep and fell asleep. Rolling off the sofa, the quilt was wrapped under her body. Although the room was heated, it was cold all night, and it didn't necessarily feel good.

However, Qi Zheng hugged the quilt and sat on the sofa with a serious expression on his face. What exactly did his dream mean?Why do all the people in the dream look familiar, but I really can't remember who they are?

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was raining lightly, and the raindrops fell on the smooth glass wall, leaving water marks one after another, and the floor-to-ceiling windows were covered with messy drops of water.It was still very early, around [-] o'clock in the morning, and there was dim light around. The tall building where it was located was a little hard to distinguish in the bleak drizzle. The room was silent, only the sound of rain beating on the window. The sound of a trace is fleeting, but it always goes on and on.

Why are there birds chirping when it rains?

In the dim space, Qi Zheng sat on the sofa with his back on his back, frowning and looking at the drizzle outside the window, holding a lit cigarette in his right hand, the red cigarette butt flickered non-stop, and the rising smoke Dangling around the entire living room, looming.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and it was from Qi's mother, who hadn't seen her son for a long time, who asked leisurely, "A Zheng, when are you going home?"

"Three days later, the train ticket has already been bought." Hearing the unconcealable exhaustion in his mother's words, Qi Zheng couldn't help his throat tightening a little, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to deliver food to your dad. Your dad also said that he hasn't seen you for a long time and misses you." Mother Qi said with a smile, "I'll see you in a few days."

"How's Dad's illness?" Qi Zheng asked.

Qi's mother stayed there for a while without answering. The awkward silence on the phone always made people feel a little inexplicably dangerous. After a while, Qi's mother said: "The doctor didn't say it explicitly, but hinted. Your father Over the past month, he has eaten less, stretched less, and spent less time opening his eyes. Since last week, he has been calling you, saying that he wants to see you, maybe he has the feeling himself."

Qi Zheng frowned when he heard that, and said, "Dad, I want to talk to him."

"He's probably still asleep now, let's chat with him later, Mom just wants to ask you when you'll be home, and spend more time with him when you come back this time." Qi's mother sighed.

Qi Zheng responded, and worries surfaced in his heart. He was away all the time, and the family affairs put so much pressure on his mother. I really don't know how she spent these years. What is even more incomprehensible is , Qi Zheng once thought about going directly to work to support his family without studying, but was beaten up by his mother with a broom, and finally kicked out with his luggage.

Poor parents all over the world, that's what Dadi said.

"I'll be back tomorrow, Mom, wait for me." Qi Zheng suddenly made a decision, and said to his mother.

Qi's mother didn't know about buying tickets for the Spring Festival travel. When she heard her son say that he would be back tomorrow, she was very happy and said, "Really? That's just right. Call me when you arrive. I'll make some delicious rewards tomorrow." you."

"Well, but, I might bring a friend there, okay?" Qi Zheng couldn't help asking a little nervously.

Qi's mother was very forthright, and said: "There is nothing wrong with it, as long as your friends don't dislike our family."

"He won't." Qi Zheng suddenly felt disgusted.

The mother and son hung up the phone after saying a few more words, and Qi's mother was still rushing to work in the sewing factory, and no matter how much she said, she would have to wait until the next day.

When Qi Zheng was still worrying about his father's illness, there was some noise from Cao Jingxing's door. Qi Zheng looked at the clock, and it was only [-]:[-]. Looking at the figure of that man, he asked curiously: "Why is this so?" Get up early?"

"I woke up from the pain, come out and find some water to drink." Although Cao Jingxing had just woken up, he still looked very neat and tidy, he didn't look like he was awake at all.

Qi Zheng stood up automatically when he heard the words, went to the kettle and shook it, and when it was empty, he took the kettle to the kitchen to fill it with water, and said, "There's no hot water, just wait."

Cao Jingxing looked at him in surprise, and said with a smile, "I can finally enjoy the treatment of a patient?"

"I thought you wouldn't give me a good face until your doubts were resolved." Cao Jingxing added another sentence, and it could be seen that he was indeed in a very happy mood.

Qi Zheng, who poured water out of the kitchen, glanced at him and said casually, "That's two different things."

"Which two sizes?" Cao Jingxing asked.

"You saved me. It's two yards from what kind of person you are." Qi Zheng looked at him and said expressionlessly.

Cao Jingxing blinked his eyes, his eyes were full of deep meaning, and he said leisurely: "This is very good, there are clear rewards and punishments."

Qi Zheng looked at him curiously and probingly, not knowing what he meant.