There is Room for Rebirth in the 1950’s

The water town in the south of the Yangtze River is full of paddy fields. It rained just two days ago, and the dirt road leading to the village is full of potholes, and a piece of sewage was accidentally thrown up.

Zhang Guoqing honked the horn, controlled the speed of the car, and drove for less than 1,000 meters for about ten minutes. It didn't stop until the bridgehead at the entrance of the village.

After crossing this stone bridge is Mr. Jiang's hometown.

At this time, the sun was setting, and many people on the ground were busy with farm work, and there were many children swimming and fishing in the river on both sides of the bridge.

Seeing a military vehicle stop, they all stopped and looked at them.

Zhang Guoqing got out of the car and waved to the children on the bank. After a long while, a naked and barefoot boy of seven or eight years old finally stepped forward.

Little friend, do you know where Mr. Jiang Tongsuo from the city lives?

The little guy nodded after listening, and shouted to his friends not far away: It's a relative of the old man at the east entrance of the village.

All of a sudden, a group of children rushed to the car, asking various questions in Mandarin and local dialects.

Under the twittering, Zhang Guoqing could only roughly understand, these children asked if they were from the capital? Or wait until they arrive to hold the ceremony.

At this time, a thin and short old man in his sixties came over the bridge, and before he could ask him, he shouted loudly in dialect: Are you the grandsons of Lao Jiang's family? Hurry up, I'll be waiting for you.

Now that Zhang Guoqing understands, let them go quickly, let Aunt Chen hold Ping An, and he and Yi Jiefang walk to the bridge with their luggage.

With his hands behind his back, the old man quickly led the way, followed by Zhang Guoqing and the others, asking questions as they walked. It soon became apparent that they didn't understand much of the local language at all.

He had no choice but to ask again in Mandarin with an accent: That damn old man is very stubborn. My brothers and sisters are getting worse every day, so I asked him to write to his granddaughter. He insisted that the children are too busy and didn't want you to go back and forth. By the way, Jiang Where is the girl at home?

Zhang Guoqing explained: My daughter-in-law was sent by the leader to work, and she couldn't be contacted for a while. I had to bring the child here first. This is my son.

No wonder the old man praises his granddaughter every day. Well, it's good to be promising. Our village has finally produced capable people. Have you seen the locust tree in front? That's the place. I think your family is doing well. Let him build a better house , he refused, he insisted on the whole thatched house. Sigh...

Looking at the three thatched-roof earth embryo houses not far away, Zhang Guoqing was really angry and anxious. This old man is really good at tossing! As far as he knows, the two elders don't talk about their salary these years, even his father-in-law has been sending money over.

I don't know what to keep the money for?

Old man, is there any empty yard in the village for sale?

It's nothing. There were a few years ago. After joining the team, several villages lived on one piece of land. Don't waste the money, find a few people to entertain a few meals, and it won't take long. It will be built soon.

After finishing speaking, the old man looked at Zhang Guoqing's hesitant face, and then said, Are you worried that you don't have time? Go to the captain and give him money, and he will arrange it.

Zhang Guoqing nodded. This time only the old man is left, and he has to deal with the rest of the matter. I don't know if there are any orphans around here, he really has to go to the captain to discuss it.

The three thatched-roof earth embryo houses under the Dasha tree surrounded a small yard with a bamboo fence. At this time, several middle-aged and elderly people were coming in and out to help.

Zhang Guoqing took Ping An from Aunt Chen, put on a small white shirt for him, pinned on a green gauze, put on small white shoes, and tied a filial piety belt. When tying it up, the lengths of the two hanging ends are deliberately the same.

He allowed his son to wear mourning to thank the two old people for Zhou Jiao, and he also wanted to do what his father-in-law said, so that the childless old man would not go away so miserable.

When Zhang Guoqing himself changed into a white shirt and white shoes, tied up his filial piety belt, and pinned black gauze and small red cloth pieces on his arms, Mr. Jiang who heard the news burst into tears.

——He also has descendants!

Grandpa... Zhang Guoqing stepped forward to support him, but was at a loss for words. He couldn't say a lot of words of comfort. For the old man, the departure of his dependent wife meant that half of the sky had collapsed.

He waved to Xiao Ping'an beside him, Son, call grandpa quickly. We will burn incense sticks to grandma grandma for your mother.

Mr. Jiang squatted down, looked at the child benevolently, heard the child's loud voice, and complained to Zhang Guoqing: Why did the boss take the child so far away? Take the little boy to the house.

Pingan took his hand, Grandpa, I will accompany you in. My grandfather wants you to mourn. He said that he and my mother are unable to come because of official business. Let me represent them.

Okay... why is our grandson so talkative? Are you tired on the way here? Is it hot? Do you want to eat anything...

Seeing that the old man's energy recovered a lot, Zhang Guoqing finally breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he came here to take care of the child this time. At the critical moment, his son was still capable.

Watching them go in, Zhang Guoqing asked Aunt Chen to take care of them. He came to a table by himself, and said to a middle-aged man who looked at him curiously: Uncle, thank you for your hard work, thank you for coming to help.

The middle-aged man quickly waved his hands, It should. We are your grandfather's distant nephews.

Then I should call Uncle. Uncle, I'm not being polite to you. You can just call me Xiaowu, and you can just tell me what to do next.

The middle-aged man just smiled when he heard this, and quickly suppressed his smile, and said quickly: There are a lot of things that you need to deal with. The mourning hall has been set up, and now Taoist priests are not invited to come to chant scriptures, but paper money is still needed. You have a look, This is the favor of the village, and what the family has prepared, all recorded in this book.

Zhang Guoqing was also polite, took a look. I found that apart from favors, the amount of things prepared was very small, and the amount of brown sugar was not much.

He learned from Huang Dong that no matter how simple the ceremony is. It is necessary for a guest to drink a bowl of brown sugar water and eat tofu rice first.

After reading these things, Zhang Guoqing said softly to him, I'll go inside to see my grandma first, and I'll trouble you to write down what's missing, and I'll be ready.

There are quite a few juniors with the same surname in the village. They think of your grandmother's kindness and want to wear mourning for her. They will come over soon after work in the evening. Just ask them to help you if you have anything to do.

Zhang Guoqing raised his eyebrows when he heard this - he didn't ask for any kindness. He took the white cloth and black gauze from Yi Jiefang and put them on the table, and took out fifty catties of national food stamps and fifty yuan from his pocket.

It's okay to let me release the money ticket first, and return it to you when you don't need it. This white cloth is so good that you don't need so much. They will prepare it themselves.

Zhang Guoqing shook his head, This is what it should be. I'll go in first.

It doesn't make sense for outsiders to come to wear filial piety, and they are reluctant to part with some fabrics when they are the masters. He knows that fabrics are hard to come by these days, maybe some people will come here to put on mourning and change into homemade cloth because of these strips of white cloth, but he doesn't care.

If you are a particular person, you won't even ask for funeral cloth, for fear of bad luck. That is to say, in this year and month, who is willing to fight to be a dutiful son? It is not a big deal to allow the old man to be buried with dignity.

When Zhang Guoqing entered, Ping'an had kowtowed three times to the old lady's body under the guidance of Aunt Chen, and used long incense. He also went in immediately to follow the gourd painting.

After finishing everything, Zhang Guoqing asked Yi Jiefang to drive to meet his mother-in-law, and bring some brown sugar and some missing things along the way. He saw that the father and son would not be able to leave the village until tomorrow when they went up the mountain.

After sending Yi Jiefang away and making arrangements for Aunt Chen to take care of the old man and son, Zhang Guoqing began to arrange the funeral with the uncle who lived far away.