Chapter 2307 (1 update

Village Chief Zhou arranged to set up a table in the alley between the two south-facing floors of the Lejia North Building as a temporary accounting room. Many of the items received were placed in the alley first. , filled baskets or buckets and basins, and then moved them to the warehouse for storing grain.

After adding tables and chairs, Village Chief Zhou went to the accounting room and looked around, then went to the kitchen and saw several people holding spoons. He was so busy that he didn't even have the heart to tell them how many customers there were.

When Yang Dayantong saw Village Chief Zhou wandering around, he asked with a smile: "Old Zhou, how many tables are there?"
/>
"Fifty tables were full, and some new tables were added. When I came over, five more tables were full. There must be at least three tables in the accounting room, and people are still coming here." Zhou The village chief was also a little worried. If there were still a steady stream of visitors, he would be worried that there would not be enough food.

"Oh." Yang Dayantong said calmly and then stopped. After a few minutes of busy work, Seeing that Village Chief Zhou was still wandering around, he asked again: "Old Zhou, what are you looking at?"

"I'm looking at whether the food is enough."

"Little Ya Zai has budgeted for ninety tables, is it possible that it is not enough?"

"It's hard to say." Village Chief Zhou was still worried: "The ninety tables have been budgeted for tomorrow morning as well."< br />
"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 Dashitong Don’t worry at all, haven’t you seen this group of more than 20 big stoves? Frying, frying, stewing, stir-frying, steaming, no one is vague.

Village Chief Zhou wanted to say, "You can't stand and talk." "My back hurts." He then thought that Yang Dayantong was in charge of the spoons and spent a lot of time standing, so he swallowed his words and went to visit various seating areas with his hands behind his back.

He had just arrived on the floor of the North Building , I saw representatives from the township hospital, representatives from the township administration department, and leading teachers from kindergartens, primary schools, junior high schools, and central buildings formed a mighty team, carrying several large wreaths, and opened them with a roar. Come here.

Just a cursory look, at least six tables must be seated!

Well, Village Chief Zhou no longer knew how to describe his mood, while calling the waiter to pay the bill After adding tables and chairs, he went up to greet Principal Yin and others.

Principal Yin and other representatives greeted each other and Village Chief Zhou, and then moved into the North Building of Lejia On the floor in front of the school, I saw Yueqing and a group of filial sons wearing white and red robes. They gave me some support and then divided the groups. Some people went to offer their gifts first, and some went to the mourning hall to pay their respects.

Mr. Principal Yin He entered the mourning hall first, burned paper money and offered incense with several colleagues, and put his hand on the shoulders of the girls from the Le family: "You guys, it's enough as long as the ceremony is over. Get up."

Le Yun fell to the ground. After bowing, he raised his head and said, "Thank you, old school teacher."Sir, my aunt is a junior and is unworthy of your courtesy. "

"Young Zai, don't be ashamed. Originally, Leya would probably become my student like your father and would be beaten and scolded by me..."
< br /> Old Principal Yin was filled with emotion and said that he was extremely 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 was lost. It was broken into the hands of a villain.

Le Yun felt sour in her heart. She heard from her grandfather that her aunt studied and literate with her grandmother when she was more than one year old. She was very interested in Chinese medicine. She read each Chinese medicine once and she became interested in it. I will remember the name and function, and I will be able to recognize it next time.

If nothing happens to my aunt, she will definitely make achievements in the medical field and become a famous doctor.

Instead of being jealous of talents, she was envied by others and ended up dying young.

This hatred was hard to get rid of. She sent the most important culprits to hell and would never forgive her. Mr. Dongfang Shen has a good nose. As for Wu Changfeng, keeping him for the time being has another use.

The corners of Xiao Le’s eyes are red, and Mr. Principal Yin also knows that he has talked too much and has aroused the sadness of Xiao Zai. , hurriedly gave some words of advice, and went out of the main room with the colleagues who served Wanxiang to pay the gifts.

Because the visitors came in groups, Le Yun took her younger brothers and the Chen family, Zhou family, and Cao family. The bastards kept lying on the ground for about twenty minutes.

When eating and drinking, the banquet was also on a first-come, first-served basis. Tables were set up in the mourning hall, which was where the masters or the natal family of the deceased were. Seniors or uncles can sit there, and 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 available.

Principal Yin and others came late, so they all sat by the roadside.

Not long after they sat down, people from Hujia Village, the home of Mrs. Lejia’s mother-in-law, also arrived in groups, and then came the neighboring villages that were close to Chen Dalian’s Chen family. A wave of visitors arrived.

When only half of the sun was hanging on the top of the mountain, Boss Wu, his wife and Mrs. Wu came in a hurry. The Wu family gave gifts according to local customs and also gave a hand-tied gift. Wreaths.

Village Chief Zhou went around again, and the result made his heart beat violently. There were already 78 tables!

He endured the fright and directed the electricity management The electricians pulled the wires and hung electric lights for lighting in the tent cracks on the roadside. When the sun went down, four sets of tables and stools were placed on the floor of the North Building of Lejia facing the garden.

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 the villagers that many people from neighboring villages had said they wanted to come to Lejia. They were afraid that there were not enough tables and chairs, so they rented 40 sets as spares.< br />
When it was time to clean up the day, another wave of people rushed over. When Village Chief Zhou took a look, he was sweating., that group of people were villagers from several villages more than thirty or forty miles away from Jiudao and relatively close to Shangzhuang, with a total of three and a half tables.

The old man could only pray that those were the last batch.

However, God did not hear his prayers. When it got dark, another group of people came. They may be in a hurry, and they were all sweating profusely.

Village Chief Zhou took a look and realized, well, there were about three tables of guests, including an acquaintance who was the party 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’s blessing. What kind of construction, development and wealth are there in the township now? He is often a guest at educational conferences.

Of course, he just went to observe. He would tell Xiao Lele what he had heard when he had the chance. Then, if Xiao Lele had any suggestions or opinions, he would convey them 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.

When a group of people came to see Village Chief Zhou, they said hello first, and then explained 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. Walking along the village road to the Lejia floor, he knelt down and kowtowed.

Village chief Zhou led the visitors 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 occupied 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, since that wave of people, no more guests have come.

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 the thousands of firecrackers went off, the mourners were ready to start their banquets, 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 middle of the afternoon a group of guests came to join in the fun.

The Le family invited a team from Master Lei, and the Zhou family also invited a team. Chen Kang and Chen Dalian, representing Grandma Le’s family, also invited a gong and drum team, with three bands. .

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 the 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 added fuel to the fire and gave them wine and cigarettes.

Village Chief Zhou went to check the seats in each district and informed them of the dishes.

Each of the waiters carries an iron pot with the base ingredients to each district. The food is served first to the table where the masters are sitting, and then divided among several people to take charge of one district.

The main banquet is served with pork rib soup as the base, and then four dishes are served. The remaining dishes are served after a while.

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. He first kowtowed to the teachers and thanked them, and then bowed all the way from far to near. The teachers' team accompanied the filial sons and played mourning music behind them.

The kowtow ceremony before eating does not need to be done once for 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 house, hall, and house are a district, and they kowtow once.

In a house like the Zhou family, if there is no separation between the upper and lower halls, it is just one area, and you only need to kowtow once.

Village chief Zhou led the filial sons away. He first thanked all the guests in the tent next to the Le family's house, then went to the Zhou family, then to Cheng Youde's house, then back to the backyard of the Le family, and then to the south building. Afterwards, he went back to the second floor of the north building of Lejia to kowtow. The filial sons went downstairs and sat on the banquets in the nave or on the floor to eat.

The host thanked the guest, and people from each area started to open the banquet on their own.

Lejia didn’t worry about money when doing things. He bought twelve pigs, twenty sheep, one hundred chickens and one hundred ducks. He used four kinds of meat as the main course, paired with other dishes to create a variety of dishes. Ten different dishes.

Among the ten dishes, the soy-flavored braised beef is a herbal dish made by the girl from Lejia, and there is also a lobster dish that is favorite among the children.

The people responsible for 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 wives of the Zhou family, Sister-in-law Zhao, Sister-in-law Liu and others went to clean up the dishes and take them to the backyard of Lejia 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 eating, and then went around to ask people in neighboring villages who had pigs, chickens or ducks for sale. If they wanted to sell pigs, chickens and ducks, please give them accurate information. , they registered, and after they were unified, they killed pigs and bought chickens and ducks when necessary.

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 to slaughter. Only a few families still had pigs of about 100 kilograms. , was also determined.

Most of the neighboring villages and rural streets are farmers, and many people raise livestock. After walking around, I registered more than 30 pigs, 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, leaving only benches.

The guests who ate at Cheng Youde’s house and Grandma Zhou’s house moved around a bit and brought benches to Le’s house, where they sat on the floor or on the roadside or in an alley under the eaves of the south building of the host’s house.

In addition to the people from the same village in Meicun, who helped the Le family work, they went to several families. Generally, only one person from the family went or took the children to have a banquet. Others did not go. When the Le family dispersed, there were many Elderly people also go to Lejia.

Therefore, there were more than 80 tables for dinner, about 900 people, and 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.

The way 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 "world" for 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 errands 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-provoking songs are very popular and respected.

Some singers who are single or disabled and unable to work but can sing filial piety songs go to sing with the spirits wherever there is free time, so that they can improve their own food by having a few good meals with their masters. Not only will the owner not dislike such a singer, but he will also give him a red envelope to thank him afterwards.

When the Le family was doing some errands, all the singers from Jiudao Township were present. After leaving the banquet, they walked around and sat down in front of the floor. They didn’t try to steal the limelight. They all stayed there. According to the rules, the drumming master of the host's village and his companions start the singing, 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 Le Yun called out "My aunt", threw herself on the coffin and cried, crying and complaining about the untimely death of her aunt, and about the loss of her daughter by her grandparents. It hurt, and he scolded the villain for being insidious and harmful to others, and scolded all the people who killed my aunt.

She scolded the villain, then cried about how kind the neighbors were to her aunt, and how helpful they were to her aunt after her grandparents lost her. She also cried out that her aunt died young and therefore did not have the chance to see her younger brother. The nieces and nephews also told their uncles, grandparents, and cousins ​​that they were back.

Classmate Le is a junior, so it is only natural that she should mourn.

When the girl from the Le family cried, there was no noise upstairs, downstairs, inside and outside the house except for the occasional drum accompaniment.