Translator: SJade, Editor: Dj22031
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Just by looking at their expressions, it was clear that everyone was very satisfied with the meal, but several people asked the aunt not to serve meat dishes next time. They all knew that Qingshan’s family only had three children, and they had no parents, so they could just eat whatever they wanted.
After finishing the meal, the cigarettes and wine on the table were not touched. The aunt opened a pack of cigarettes and passed them over, “You are here to help out of love, and we can’t be careless at all.”
Ye Qingmei said a few polite words to them, and Ye An and Ye Lan’s room was packed up for them to live in, and Ye Ning’s room was packed up to wait for her uncle’s arrival. They all slept in Ye Qingshan’s room.
After everything was tidied up in the evening, the aunt cried again while holding Ye Qingshan’s memorial tablet. Her eyes were so swollen that she couldn’t open them. Ye Ning was afraid that her eyes would break down from crying, so she kept trying to persuade her.
“Auntie, stop crying. My dad won’t feel at ease if you act like this.” Ye Lan also advised her.
“I won’t cry, I won’t cry.” Even after she said this, she couldn’t stop her tears.
At night, no one could sleep. Ye Ning opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling. Her parents must have cried like this when she died, right? She was afraid it must have been even sadder than this, and she didn’t know if her eldest brother had properly advised her parents not to cry their eyes out.
The sky was slightly bright, when Ye Qingmei got up, followed by Ye Ning and others. There was a funeral hall to be set up today, and there were a lot of miscellaneous things.
Master Wu calculated the time and came over, performed a ritual ceremony, then put the clothes into the coffin and closed the coffin while chanting sutras.
“The entry into the cemetery is complete, the funeral will be suspended for five days, and the funeral will be held at Chenshi five days later.” Master Wu wanted to visit the cemetery again to see how they were digging. Ye Ning asked Ye Lan to follow him, and Ye An wanted to follow his third uncle to call people to come eat again, which was also like a funeral ceremony. Auntie went to borrow tables, chairs, benches and bowls and chopsticks, while Ye Ning ordered meat and tofu.
You could buy tofu with money, or you could just exchange it for beans. One kilogram of beans could be exchanged for two pounds of tofu. Ye Qingshan planted a lot of beans last year. Ye Ning didn’t know how to make tofu and she couldn’t eat much from soybeans alone, so she simply exchanged them for tofu, ten kilograms of soybeans turned into one table of tofu, one table had twenty kilograms, Ye Ning was dumbfounded, the aunt said that she wanted to change three tables, sixty kilograms of tofu? The pot couldn’t even be placed.
She didn’t understand this, so she bought whatever her aunt told her to do. In addition to tofu, she also bought a fan of suet, and ordered two large pots of pig’s blood, ten pounds of pork and two pigs’ pig meat. It was just a reservation, so her aunt was worried to let Ye Ning pick the meat.
“Have you bought everything?” The aunt was carrying a basket full of bowls.
“Well, it’s all settled. I didn’t buy peanuts. I don’t know who in the village has them.”
“I bought this. How many soybeans are left at home?” Ye Qingmei asked, changing her hands.
“There is still more than five kilograms.” Ye Ning calculated and it seemed that there was still this much left after replacing the tofu.
“Pick the beans to sprout in the evening.” There were eight dishes, four cold, four hot, and she had already prepared all the cold dishes. The hot dishes included pig blood tofu, green vegetables and bean sprouts, meat and pork offal, and green beans and boiled potatoes.
Ye Ning thought of the customs that had emerged in recent years and said: “My third uncle said that in the past two years, many people will add chicken and duck to funerals, and it must be a whole roasted chicken and duck.”
Ye Qingmei also knew this, and according to her thoughts, she didn’t want make any noise.
“I am Qingshan’s sister, and I also hope that he can be buried in glory, but we can’t save face, we also have to think about our lives. Although you have a job now, Xiao Lan has to go to high school, and she has to continue to go to college if she is admitted to college. Xiao An is only in elementary school, and he will definitely go to high school and college in the future. You have to save money wherever you can, so save it if you can. There are only three of you in your family now. Even if there are no chickens and ducks, no one will say anything.”
If it was true at home. Ye Ning would not mention the difficulty, but adding a few chickens and ducks would still be no problem. She went back to ask Ye Lan and Ye An and listen to their opinions.
“Sister, I plan to add chicken and duck. Let’s not talk about giving dad more glory. At least what everyone has, dad has to have it.” Ye Lan felt that if most people had it, but their dad didn’t, it would be too unfair to dad.
If it was before, Ye Ning would feel that people would just turn into piles of ashes after death, and no matter how good they were, it would be better to be nice to them when they were alive, but now she felt that people had souls, and maybe Ye Qingshan was watching, and even if she couldn’t give the best, it was generally better to get by.
“Okay, I’ll go find someone to buy it in the afternoon.” Ye Ning went out and saw her aunt directing them to set the table in front of the door. She went over and whispered, “I told Xiao Lan and the others, and they all thought that they would not be short of those few chicken or duck, they still want to add it.”
The children had agreed, so Ye Qingmei would not be the bad person.
These days, she also knew that her eldest niece had changed a lot. She hid the news of Qingshan’s death and sold the land quietly. Some people said that there must be compensation for Qingshan’s death. Some guessed 5,000, and some guessed 10,000. Ye Qingmei didn’t want to ask, these were their siblings’ family assets. She heard that the land was sold for more than two hundred thousand, and it would not be very difficult for them to get a few more chickens and ducks.
“Then Uncle Gen raises a lot of chickens and ducks at home. I’ll ask about it later.” Auntie made a decision immediately.
The mourning hall was set up. As a filial son and daughter, Ye Ning and the others had to keep vigil. It was unrealistic to stay together all night. There were many things to do during the day, so the four of them were divided into two groups, one day for Ye Ning and Ye Lan, and one day for Ye Qingmei and Ye An.
July 15th was a special day. Ye Ning and Ye Lan couldn’t help but be afraid. The third uncle was thoughtful and asked his three sons to come and guard them. After a while, several sons from their uncle’s family also came.
A group of people gathered in the mourning hall. Ye Ning and Ye Lan were no longer afraid. One of the uncles asked Ye Ning, “How is it for you to work at Everbright Pharmaceutical Factory?”
“It’s okay. The leader treats me very well.” Ye Ning only said she worked at Everbright Pharmaceutical Factory, but she didn’t say what she did. She wasn’t going to say anything. If they knew she worked in an office, some people in the village would always ask her for help, which would be too troublesome.
“What about the salary? I heard people say that the salary of pharmaceutical factory workers is high, forty or fifty a month.” Another cousin asked.
“No, I just joined the factory. How can I get such a high salary?” She didn’t say the specific amount, and several of her cousins were too embarrassed to continue asking. They asked Ye Lan’s school instead, and learned that she went to the No. 2 Middle School with her scores, everyone regretted that she did not go to technical secondary school. She would be able to work in just two years.
Ye Ning smiled and said, “It’s okay. It’s better to go to high school and take the college entrance examination. If I hadn’t gotten into a pharmaceutical factory by chance, I would have gone to college. It’s just a hard life for the next two years. When Xiao Lan graduates from college, our family will be fine.”
Ye Lan grabbed Ye Ning’s hand, leaned close to her ear and whispered: “Sister, don’t worry, I will definitely go to college, and then I will support you in the future.”
Ye Ning poked her forehead, “I’m hungry. I’m going to get something to eat.”
“I want to eat noodles.” Ye Lan was ruder than before. Being rude meant that you treat the other person as one of your own. Ye Ning entered the kitchen and saw her aunt already cooking a large pot of vegetable noodles. Seeing Ye Ning coming, she waved her over.
“Come here quickly and help.”
Each person had a big bowl of noodles with two thick slices of tofu and a fried egg on top. Ye Ning and Ye Qingmei brought out two bowls each.
“Cousin, come over and have a bowl of noodles first.” Because her mother’s family was a guest, priority was given to her relatives, followed by the sons of the third uncle’s family. They were cousins of Ye Qingshan and belonged to her own family.
Ye Ning didn’t quite understand the detailed relationship between these relatives, so she simply didn’t say anything and just followed Ye Qingmei, giving it to whomever she asked.
When Ye Ning and the others waited, there wasn’t much noodles left in the pot. The aunt poured in the leftover rice from last night and it became soaked rice. Let’s call it soaked rice. Anyway, Ye Ning thought it looked mushy.
“You guys should eat some too.” The aunt wanted to serve them rice.
“No need, Auntie, I’m not very hungry.” Ye Ning shook her head, looked at the noodles in the big wooden basin next to her, and changed the subject, “Are these noodles ready? When are we going to make steamed buns?”
“Let me see.” Auntie while eating the steamed rice, poked it with her hand, “It’s almost done. I’ll ask the sixth wife and the third uncle to come over and help make the steamed buns later. They will be steamed before noon tomorrow.”
Not only the sixth wife and the third uncle came, but the two daughters-in-law from the third uncle’s mother-in-law’s family also came over to take a look at the cooked noodles, then each put on their sleeves and aprons and started making steamed buns.
“Third uncle is really rare this time. I knocked on the door and he got up immediately. He also asked his two daughters-in-laws to come over to help. You should remember their kindness and go to his house more often when you come back during the New Year and the holidays.” Ye Qingmei whispered to Ye Ning.
“I know, I will always keep it in my heart.” They treated her even better than her biological grandfather, of course she would treat him as a proper relative when she came back in the future.
Ye Ning and Ye Lan put on mourning clothes and draped themselves in linen. Ye An did the same and knelt outside the coffin. After a while, the invited people came one after another.
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