peaceful

Even though the explanation was so thorough, since he left, uncle and aunt seemed to have grown old all of a sudden.In the past, my aunt always dyed her hair black carefully, so that no white hairs could be seen. After Ann's accident, I saw that all the gray hairs of my aunt appeared. My aunt used to walk with a gust of wind, but now she has no energy and walks weakly.Uncle was working, but he lost his strength, the machine couldn't move, the grain couldn't be moved by himself, and his back was bent.

After the uncles and aunts passed away one after another, Ning was left alone.Whenever I go home, Ning is very kind when she sees me, not as unfamiliar as when I was a child.I often tell stories about An's childhood, and Ning loves to listen to them very much.

16.

I said: "You are still young now, and you will have a long time to come. If you find a suitable one, then find another wife!"

Ning said: "I don't want to, I'm too tired. Living alone is a little lonely, but it's free. When I'm lonely, I think about my brother, as if he's still there. I don't know what it is to be a brother in someone else's family." Look. When we were not married, we slept in the same room. He always made the quilt and made the bed for me. When I got up in the middle of the night, he would turn on the light for me. In the morning, I sat up lazily with my eyes half-closed Then, my brother will dress me. It’s cold in winter. After cooking, he will take my clothes to the stove to warm them up, and then put them on for me. When I go to school, he will send them to the village... …Unexpectedly, now he is lying on the ground..."

"I dreamed about my brother a few days ago. He said he would wait for me for ten years and pick me up in ten years."

I laughed when I heard it, laughed a few times, and then said, "I'll forget it if you don't tell me. One day I forget, I also dreamed about your brother."

"Really?"

"Really—"

"What happened to my brother in the dream?"

"I dreamed that your brother was still holding you in his arms. When you were a child, you were still standing in the corner of our yard. When you saw me, you called my sister, and I stopped to talk to him. I don't know if he died. I just feel that he is still alive. He said, "Sister, help me hold Xiao Ning, and I will come back with that thing when I get home." Before I wanted to hug you, he was never willing to let go, but this time it made me a little Surprised. I hugged you and waited for him. I didn’t know where he went. I waited and waited until he couldn’t come out, so I went to look for him. As soon as I got to the door, he came out with a small bag on his back, saying he was going out. I didn't ask him where he was going, I just asked him: "You want to go, who shall I give Xiao Ning?" He said, "Sister, you hold me first, and I will come back to find him later." I said" When will you come back?' He said, 'When Xiao Ning grows up, I will come to him when he is a hundred years old.' Then he disappeared, and I ran, ran, and ran with you in my arms Woke up, it was just a dream!"

Ning said: "This is just a dream, my brother will not leave me alone!"

In fact, I miss Ann very much, so every time I see Ning, we will talk about Ann.In the conversation with each other, we also let each other know more about An's past, comforted each other's nostalgia for An, and Ning and I became closer than before.

One day, my mother called me and said that Ning was not in good health and might be dying soon.

17.

I asked for leave and came back.

It was evening when I saw Ning lying on the kang.The crowd was busy washing and changing Ning's clothes, and after all the tossing, they still put Ning to lie down on the kang.

Everyone said: "Ning, open your eyes to see who is coming? Your sister is back—"

Ning was still asleep.

In the evening, people gradually dispersed, and I asked my mother to go back, leaving only one person to watch, and he also went to sleep in another room, saying that I should call him if something happened.

I stayed with Ning and sat on the edge of the Kang. Later, I felt a little hungry. Seeing that there were some fruit and snacks on the table, I sat on the chair and ate something casually.

At this time, Ning woke up.

"Sister, I'm thirsty—"

I washed a cup carefully and wanted to pour some boiled water, but found that the kettle was covered with dust, and it was empty when I lifted it.I asked the man in the cubicle to come to my house with a pot of boiling water, and he went.

"Sister, peel an orange for me to eat—"

I didn't know if there were any oranges, so I turned over the things on the table and pulled out a few small oranges from the bottom.I sat on the edge of the bed again, peeled off the orange peel, broke off an orange segment, and brought it to Ning's mouth. He opened his mouth and sent it in.I saw him frowning tightly.

"What's the matter, sour?" I asked him.

I also broke off one and tasted it, "Ah, it's really sour!"

I saw a box of eight-treasure porridge under the table, so I opened it to feed him.After taking a few mouthfuls, he stopped eating: "Sister—make a pot of tea, put more tea leaves."

"Okay." I took out the tea tray and washed the teapot and cups, just as the man came back with a kettle of boiling water.

"You go to sleep, I'll pour him some water to drink." The man went back to the cubicle to sleep.

I brewed the tea and poured a cup for Ning first.Ning struggled to get up, I carried a stack of quilts on the back of the kang and let him lean on.He holds the tea by himself, sipping it in small sips, and I will fill him up again when it cools down.

"Sister, let's talk—"

Hearing that he suddenly had something to say, my heart tightened, I was afraid it was the last words, and I couldn't help feeling a little sad.

"It's almost ten o'clock now. If you're sleepy, you can talk about it tomorrow. My sister will always be by your side and won't go anywhere." I comforted him carefully.

"Sister, where do you say people go after they die?"

When a person dies, there is nothing left, just like the death of a mosquito, nothing special.But I think, I can't repeat the mistakes of Sister Xianglin and Mr. Lu Xun.

"This world cannot carry too many living people, so people must die. But the human soul is different. When alive, it uses our skin to do what it wants to do. When dead, It has nothing to rely on, it can’t do anything, even if it wants to cry, there are no tears to shed, and it can’t even laugh when it’s happy, let alone change the world. So people say, it’s better to live than to die. .”

"Then where do these souls go? What if they are reincarnated?"

"No, reincarnation is superstition. The soul will still be in this world, but we can't see it, we can't touch it, and we will see them when our soul leaves the body. They can be free in their own world, and no one can Can't interfere with anyone; they can't interfere with our world."

"Then after I die, will I see my brother?"

"Of course I will. At that time, you can see anyone you want to see. If you want to see Qin Shihuang, Qin Shihuang will appear in front of you. Throughout the ages, the souls of all people are there, because they are invisible, so he does not need to be like The living snatch the chassis like that." After I finished speaking, I laughed to myself, and I looked at Ning, who seemed to be very happy too.

As long as Ning is happy, it doesn't matter whether he makes it up to be true or false, besides, there are no true or false theories about things in the world, but a group of people are just laughing at themselves.

"Sister, after I die, tell them to bury me and brother together."

"Okay, don't worry. You will always be together. There is nothing serious about your body. Because no one takes care of it, you have delayed your body. Now take good care of it and you will be fine soon. I will help you lie down and sleep , it's getting late..." Seeing that he is in good spirits, I want him to rest early and recuperate, maybe it will be really good. At this time, I am also a little sleepy, and I want to take a nap.

"Sister, I'm not sleepy, you can pour me another cup of tea—"

After pouring the tea, I sat on a chair with my elbows on the table and my chin in my hands to rest.

"When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, I was young and ignorant. One night, I made a fuss about my brother on the kang, and he lay on his side and pretended to be asleep. I suddenly had a whim, so I kissed him lightly on the mouth, and he opened his eyes all of a sudden. When I opened my eyes, I was startled... He got up and pulled the light cord on the top of the kang, turned around and threw me down, he was on top of me, unable to move at all, I was a little scared, my brother never hit me ...I looked up at his face directly above, and just as I was about to call mom, his lips pressed against him tightly..."

"elder sister?--"

"——, huh?" I was taking a nap when he woke me up suddenly, "Ah! What's the matter——"

"Actually, when I relaxed my body, I felt quite comfortable. Thinking about it, it was the most wonderful feeling for the first time..."

"Yeah, it's good to be comfortable, I think you'll be fine soon..."

"When people are in front of me every day, I don't think what will happen. When he leaves one day, I realize that I feel so uncomfortable... I don't know if my brother felt very uncomfortable when he died sadly; when I think of I used to be so strong and strong, but now I'm like a dead dog, curled up in a broken coffin, I'm very sad..."

"elder sister?--"

"what!--"

""

I don't know how long he talked, I fell asleep lying on the table.

18.

Mother came over early the next morning.

It's still early to be naive, a faint white moon is still standing on the jujube tree branches outside the window.

Ning was still leaning on the quilt behind him like that, his face was like the pale Xiaoyue outside the window, the tea was spilled on the quilt, and the teacup was poured on Kang Yan'er.The mother yelled a few times, but Ning remained motionless, knowing that she was dead after all, and after crying for a while, she hurriedly sent people to report the funeral.

Regarding Ning's death, I was mentally prepared on the way back. People always die, it's nothing more than normal, it's not a big deal.But when he really left, the tears could not be stopped.As long as I think of An Hening bit by bit, tears will fall bit by bit.

Ning's body was placed in the hall, and we were busy cutting filial piety clothes in the back room.I heard people say: I heard that one year Ning dreamed of Ann, and Ann said that he would come to pick him up after waiting for ten years. You see, this is exactly ten years; At home, he neither burns the fire nor boils the water. When he is thirsty, he sneaks into other people's house; Swallowing down with a bone-thumping bone-thumping, not afraid of being hot, and taking care of others after drinking, seeing others eating, so greedy that they can't help it; it makes people dislike him, and when they see him coming, they quickly close the door, He ran to the grave to cry again, that is to say, his dumb brother, he really loved him when he was alive;

Ann's grave used to be buried next to other people's land. Now that my uncle and aunt have also left, I think it should be put together.I led people to open Ann's grave first. After so many years, the wardrobe bucket had collapsed and rotted long ago, so people had to dig out Ann's bones with mud and land, and put them one by one in the grave. in the basket.When I got home, I carefully cleaned up the soil. The bones were already crisp and would break with a little force.

I found a shirt that Ning used to wear from Ning's closet, put all of Ann's remains in it, and packed a bag.Then put it on Ning's chest, and gently held it with his arms.I think, when you were young, your brother always held you in his arms, now you should give your brother a hug.

We sent An Hening's body to the crematorium, and I asked the reception staff to say: "Young man, please clean the cremation table before cremation, we don't want it if it is not ours; when cremation, burn it clean, don't leave it alone." What's left; let us sweep out the last ashes, don't leave..."

I secretly handed him a red envelope, the young man was taken aback, then smiled shyly, "You don't need this, don't worry, I'll clean it up for you!" After speaking, he pushed the body and hurried away.Looking at his appearance and expression, Fangfo saw the shadow of Ann again, what a lovely young man.

Sure enough, the cremation was very good, and there were many.Go back and start preparing for the funeral.

A theater stage was set up in the yard, and the drummer played and sang for a whole day. All the idle men, women, old and children from all villages came to watch the fun, and the stage was completely surrounded.At dusk, the drummer blew all the way, and the white paper money was thrown into the sky in handfuls, scattered into snowflakes all over the sky, and the ashes were sent to the graves of uncles and aunts.When I sprinkled the first soil on the urn, people used shovels to pile up the grave with loess one shovel after another.Since then, An Ning has been buried underground.Offerings were placed, and the paper horses, paper carts, paper houses, TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines made by people were burned, and finally the wreaths and paper money were also burned.

It was getting dark, and the people watching the excitement had already dispersed.I took my elderly mother by the arm and walked back slowly.Along the way, there are paper money just sprinkled, scattered in the loess and weeds.There is nothing to be sad when people die and the lights go out, and people leave the tea to cool down. The sorrow or joy in their life is just used as a spiritual pastime for people after dinner.