On that night at the end of November 2019, a large independent courtyard in Chongfeng City was decorated with lights and streamers, making it particularly lively.
However, this color is not red paper. There are white mourning papers on the surrounding stone pillars.
There was a dispute outside the door, and the owner of the compound sent someone to drive the troublemaker out.
The young man spat towards the door and muttered: "You ignorant people, you will have a good time tonight." After saying this, he sat on the curb and stared at the courtyard.
The master of the courtyard was in a mixed mood today. Looking at the chattering and laughing crowd in the courtyard, he couldn't help but shook his head, and then rushed to the hall, where the mourning hall was set up.
Yes, in the mourning hall, the owner of the front yard of this courtyard has passed away for nearly a month, but his body is still lying in the ice coffin, and the surrounding cold air is permeating.
The so-called sadness is naturally due to this reason, and the joy is that the person lying in the ice coffin happens to be 90 years old today.
When the old man left, he said that he hoped that future generations could fulfill his last wish and celebrate his last birthday.
Ever since, such a strange scene appeared. No one knew whether the smiling people in the courtyard were really happy. The only thing they knew was that a person who had been dead for a month was still lying in the hall.
It would be a lie to say that it is impervious to others. Therefore, the more scared he is, the louder he laughs. Anyone can see that the expression on one of the young men's faces is uglier when he laughs than when he cries.
The new owner of this compound is a strange person. Regardless of the objections of his family, he insisted on keeping the body for a month. In the first day or two of this month, he didn't notice anything.
Living or dead, they are still relatives, so there is no reason to be afraid.
But for the next ten days and a half, the whole family couldn't stand it anymore. They thought it was too unlucky and they didn't even dare to close their eyes at night for fear of making some noise in the living room.
Coincidentally, this family is all materialistic intellectuals, ranging from college professors to primary school teachers. Fifteen members of the family are engaged in the education industry. Therefore, there are not so many taboos, which leads to this
For a while, I lived a restless life every night.
And it just so happened that it happened on such a day. After the old man’s birthday, the fallen leaves would return to their roots, and the whole family was arguing about the issue of burial and cremation.
Get into a fight.
The old man's favorite third daughter suggested burial, but the second son and the eldest son suggested cremation, thinking that this was the current rule and burial was illegal.
Logically speaking, the third daughter should not be able to compete with the two eldest brothers. However, the third daughter has the old man's will in her hand, which is related to the distribution of the inheritance.
I don’t know what the old man was thinking. The so-called will was just a blank piece of paper with his name signed on it. As for how to distribute the inheritance, it all depends on the third daughter’s idea.
It is precisely because of this that the third daughter insists on burial, while the eldest brother and the second brother dare not forcefully seize power because of their inheritance distribution rights, so they are deadlocked on these two methods.
The third daughter may have known that even if the old man left, these people in front of her would still be her brothers and family members, and she would not use the issue of inheritance distribution to squeeze them, so she calmly reasoned and tried to persuade.
This matter was postponed until eleven o'clock in the night. According to the old man's hobby of going to the theater during his lifetime, a theater troupe was specially invited to start in half an hour. Because the matter was deadlocked and he had no interest in going to the theater anymore, any
Written by relatives.
At half past eleven in the middle of the night, the surroundings were getting colder and colder. In the audience, relatives and friends who had come from afar were wrapped in big cotton-padded jackets, with their faces red from the cold, sitting there bravely, waiting for the actors to come on stage.
The sky was unpredictably stormy, and just a few minutes later, the sky was filled with dark clouds, making it alarmingly gloomy.
After everyone whispered to each other, they left the compound as if they were escaping. Some people took the opportunity to drive home with their wives and children. Is there anything warmer than going home and heating the kang?
There were only three or four young people left at the scene, sitting there with cigarettes between their fingers and legs crossed, staring at the stage without saying a word.
"Dong dong dong dong..." As the sound of gongs and drums sounded, the actor slowly came on stage. Perhaps he saw the previous scene off the stage, so it was not so strange now, and he went on stage to perform on his own.
.
The approximate duration of a play is about two hours. Apparently, after singing for an hour, several young people in the audience whispered to each other and left.
Not long after, a heavy downpour fell from the sky, and the surrounding air became even colder.
However, the various big painted faces on the stage
, didn’t seem to care that the audience was empty, and continued to perform and sing.
It was getting colder and colder all around, so cold that the actors on the stage couldn't help but shiver.
"Sister, can I sit here?" I don't know when, a little girl came from the courtyard holding an umbrella and raised her head.
"Thank you, sister!" The little girl thanked her, wiped it, sat on the stool, and stared at the stage.
The actor on the stage obviously didn't hear clearly what the girl said, but judging from her actions, there was no doubt who she was talking to.
After this scene ended, the two actors hurriedly ran to the backstage, patted their chests with big faces, opened their eyes wide, and asked the other man with a painted face if he had seen something just now.
The man with the painted face nodded, rubbed his eyes, and said that something was a little weird.
The two of them stayed backstage for a while. The gongs and drums outside the venue rang for a while, but they did not come on stage. The class leader dared to rush over from not far away and scolded the two.
The flower-faced woman's eyes widened and she told the strange scene exactly, saying that it was too scary and she didn't dare to go out.
"That's what scared you to this point." The class leader shook his head and comforted the two of them, saying that when you act, you have to behave like an actor. No matter whether there is anyone in the audience or not, you must remember to treat everyone with great spirit.
field.
Full of fear and trembling, the two of them had no choice but to change their clothes and walk to the front desk again. It was obvious that they were frightened and even their steps were unsteady.
Seeing this, the class leader shook his head helplessly, and recited something he had not finished saying before: No matter whether there is anyone in the audience, whether it is human beings or...
Finally, we stayed up until about one o'clock in the morning. For the actors on the stage, it was a torment, an unprecedented torment. Especially when they saw the little girl sticking her head from side to side, not knowing who she was talking to, it made the actors on the stage even more timid.
Trembling.
Fortunately, the two of them did not make any mistakes because of their fear, and the drama finally came to an end.
"Sister, I'm going over there, can you please let me have a moment?"