When Zhou Huaimin was taken away, Zhou Guilan was only eight years old, and his younger sister was only three years old.
Nine years later, the Zhou family was completely destroyed.
In order to marry Zhou Guilan's third brother Zhou Ansheng, Mrs. Jiang married her second daughter to the Xu family of a silver mine and pawned her to Xu Chenghou to fill a house.
I exchanged a lot of dowry money and turned it around to give my third son a wife.
Later, when the Japanese retreated and war broke out again in Kuandian, Mrs. Jiang took her three sons and her youngest daughter to Fusong to join her eldest daughter.
A few years later, Xu Chenghou and his wife couldn't survive in the silver mine, so they received a letter from Jiang, asking them to go to Fusong.
At this point, a whole family of brothers and sisters came here.
The team that Zhou Huaimin funded later became the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and it is said that some people became senior cadres.
So five years ago, the superiors sent down a working group to live in Zhou's house for half a year to make meritorious deeds for Zhou Huaimin.
But at that time, the Jiang family and Zhou Anping and others were going through troubled times and were already frightened. How could they still dare to believe it?
No matter how others tried to persuade me, I just refused to nod.
The working group stayed here for half a year with no results, and then left.
In the 1960s, I don't know where Zhou Anping got a newspaper. It had the names of a group of cadres in the capital, and there was a person named Zhou Huaimin.
At this time, Mrs. Jiang was obsessed with saying that he was her husband.
It is said that Zhou Huaimin became prosperous. He married another daughter-in-law in the capital and started a family. He abandoned his wife and son and did not want her anymore.
In this way, Mrs. Jiang gradually became confused, going up and down sometimes.
When he's good, he's almost like a normal person. When he's bad, forget it, he behaves in various ways.
How about burning chili peppers in the kang hole, shouting about smoking yellow skin, or running around the streets with disheveled hair, scolding her husband for being heartless and leaving her to enjoy the happiness.
Anyway, Mrs. Jiang did very well in those years. Zhou Anping and Zhou Anfu stayed by their mother's side and suffered a lot.
There is only Zhou Ansheng, who has moved out of town to be quieter.
Mr. Jiang has been doing this for many years, and has often committed suicide attempts, but no one expected that he would actually die this time.
It is also very mysterious to say that the house where Mrs. Jiang lives has a window, and there are two nails driven into the two corners of the window frame.
Mrs. Jiang took a sack string and tied it to two nails. When she put her head up, she lost her breath.
When Zhou Anping found out, he was already cold. How could he save him? He could only inform his younger brothers and sisters and arrange a funeral.
Zhou Guilan and others cried for a while, and were helped to persuade them to get up and sit down next to them.
After listening to my brother and sister-in-law talking about my mother's death, in the end, I could only sigh.
"Oh, this is fate. Who would have thought that a piece of sack string can kill you?"
Indeed, Mr. Jiang lived to be eighty-three and could hang himself all day long. How could he possibly want to end up dying on a line of sacks?
Mr. Jiang passed away in the morning. In Northeast China, this is called the Big Three Days.
The weather is hot now, and it would be quite bearable to spend three days carrying out a funeral.
Fortunately, the materials for the longevity have been prepared a long time ago, not to mention the shroud. Mrs. Jiang has been preparing for more than ten years.
She wears it every New Year's Eve.
Zhou Anping hired a carpenter to gather the longevity wood, paint it, draw patterns, and make a big show. According to local custom, before every meal, he took the children and grandchildren of the Zhou family to deliver soup.
Xu Shiyan and others kept vigil at night and helped with funeral arrangements during the day. In this way, two days passed.
On the morning of the third day, the body was laid to rest, the coffin was sealed, and the children and grandchildren cried and sent each other off.
Eight strong young men lifted the coffin and carried it to the mountain for burial at the pre-selected location.
The Zhou family prepared a banquet and thanked relatives and friends for their help.
After the meal, the helping friends dispersed, leaving only the bookkeeper, Da Zhangluo, and the Zhou family who stayed to calculate the accounts clearly.
The brothers have settled their accounts, my mother is no longer here, and the things behind her must be sorted out.
For weddings and weddings these days, little money is given, but gifts are given.
When doing simple things, those with ordinary friendships only need a few pieces of paper. For those with better friendships, most of them also have a tent in addition to paper, which is black cloth and white cloth.
The bookkeeper collected all the gifts and various expenses received in the past few days and reported the accounts to the three brothers Zhou Anping.
The money for the funeral was all taken from Zhou Anping. Now that the accounts are out, the three brothers will definitely share it equally.
According to local custom, the daughter does not share the family property, and the funeral of the elderly does not require the daughter to pay for it.
The only thing is that the money for turning over the coffin has to be paid by the daughter.
Of course, this is not much money. Zhou Guilan, her sister Zhou Guizhi, and her sister Zhou Guiyun each contribute ten yuan.
The three brothers of the Zhou family were okay and settled the accounts calmly and calmly.
The second oldest, Zhou Anfu, and the third oldest, Ansheng, both took out money and gave it to the eldest.
At this point, the old man's funeral has come to an end. Next, there will be three days of round grave making and Wuqi burning.
"You brothers and sisters, just go back. You don't have to stay with us here. Your mother and I are fine, everything is fine."
After everything was settled here, Xu Chenghou called his five sons over and asked them to go home.
The eldest, fourth, fifth and sixth are all working, so it’s not easy to take too long of leave.
The second and third sons have to keep an eye on the breeding farm, and the third brother has a lot of things to do, so it’s hard to delay them any longer.
"We will wait until the grave is rounded before going back. Just now your uncle and others also said that they will not burn the first seven, but only the fifth and seventh.
Let’s come over again when the burning period reaches 57 and 100 days.”
According to local rules, when someone dies, the funeral, burial, five-seventh, one-hundredth day, anniversary, and third anniversary are more important.
In some places, more emphasis is placed on the first seven, but most people here do not burn the first seven.
As the old saying goes, if you have to do the first seven, then you have to do all the other seven. No one can afford it, so most people just burn five or seven.
If there are five sons in the family, then you can’t burn Wuqi, you have to burn Sanqi.
At this time, every household is busy, and no one can stay here for seven or eight days and leave as soon as it's time to leave.
Xu Shiyan and the others were all grandsons, so it was good for them to do this, and no one cared about them.
"Father, Mom, let's go back first. You two will stay here for a few more days. It just so happens that my third uncle and aunt rarely come back to get together.
Dad, please watch my mother and don't let her cry all the time. Crying too much is not good."
The six brothers and sisters of the Xu family looked at it and realized that it was already getting late. If it was later, they might not have a car to go back.
Everyone didn't hesitate, gave their parents a few words, and left together.
The six brothers and sisters separated at the bridge. Xu Shide crossed the river and headed north, while the remaining five brothers and sisters walked to Xianren Bridge.
At Xianrenqiao Railway Station, Xu Shiyan, Xu Shian, and Xu Shiqin went to buy train tickets. The three of them took the train back to Songjianghe.
Xu Shixian and Xu Shixiang took the bus from Xianrenqiao to Fusong, and they arrived at the county first.
If there is a car going to Xinglong, Xu Shixiang will go back directly. If not, Xu Shixiang will stay in the county for one night and return to Xinglong tomorrow.
"Brother, Lao Wu, you two should be careful on the road. It's not peaceful right now, so be careful."
The past few years are not the same as before. There is a lot of chaos outside, especially buses, and there are really people blocking the road and robberies.
Fortunately, these guys don't have much money with them, so there should be no problem.
The four brothers separated. Xu Shiyan, his second brother and his sixth sister took the local train and took a stroll all the way back to Songjiang River.
Xu Shian Sentie, Xu Shiqin went to the store, and Xu Shiyan went home.
"Second brother-in-law, you are finally back. There is always someone coming to see you at home these days."
As soon as Xu Shiyan entered the door, Su Anhua said quickly.