MTL - Dashan Makes a Living 1984-Chapter 150 147: Red Tape

  Generally speaking, Qingcheng's various red and funeral customs are probably like this.

  The most solemn thing is usually a funeral.

  In the early years, if the old man passed away, and it happened to be winter, the body would have to be stored for seven days and seven nights before the funeral, so the children of the sponsor had to entertain guests for a seven-day and seven-night feast.

  Not to mention the red tape and customs in the process, but the cost alone is not something ordinary people can afford.

  If it weren’t for the fact that there are generally more children at this time, and everyone can share the burden, then this custom can’t be persisted at all, not to mention other things, even eating banquets can make people poor.

  It may be because of this reason that in the later stage, unless the family is very rich, or the old man in the family dies, it will continue to last for seven days, and the average family will reduce it to three days.

   On the first day, entertain relatives from afar.

   The next day, the official event will be held, and the family sacrifice will be held at night.

  In the early morning of the third day, before the sun rises, people will be buried, and then relatives and friends will have a feast, and leave in the afternoon.

   Red things should be divided into men and women.

  If it is a marriage, it is equivalent to a day in the middle of funeral affairs.

  If it is to marry a daughter, it basically takes half a day, and many people even take care of a meal.

   Then there is the full moon.

  In general, the full moon is about the same level as marrying a daughter-in-law, but the rules are different and the sense of ceremony is also different.

  For example, Qingcheng has a custom of giving steamed buns at funerals.

   That is to say, when someone’s family has weddings and funerals, when you go to the ceremony, you not only need to bring money or gifts, but also steamed buns.

  Taking funeral affairs as an example, usually thirty-two steamed buns or twenty-four steamed buns are brought as a gift.

  The people who handle the business will give you a certain gift in return according to the number of steamed buns you bring.

  If you bring thirty-two, return twelve, and put a piece of meat in four of the steamed buns.

  If you brought twenty-four, return eight, and put meat in two of the steamed buns.

  Why are steamed buns given away? The main reason is that the staple food of people in Qingcheng is steamed buns.

  If someone in the family died suddenly, nearly a thousand steamed buns would be needed to entertain the guests. If steamed, it would be too late, so the guests would bring their own steamed buns.

  Whether it’s a white thing or a red thing, steamed buns are the main thing.

   But the full moon is not.

   During the full moon, people will bring pot helmets to the ceremony.

  Guokui is actually a baked flatbread, dry food, and one of the staple foods that people in Qingcheng often eat.

  Guokui is relatively dry, not easy to break, easier to store, and very popular among people.

  Whoever’s child is over the full moon, just bring a pot helmet, and there is no need for a pot helmet.

  Just like weddings and funerals, the size of the ceremony of eating full moon wine mainly depends on whether the family has money. If the financial ability is satisfied, then it should be more grand. If eating is a problem, then it is a small matter, and there is no need to swell your face and pretend to be fat.

  When Wang Fang was full moon, Wang Tianxiao didn't rush home, so he didn't give it to her, which was also one of Wang Tianxiao's regrets.

  This time I met Wang Peng’s full moon. His financial ability is already satisfied, and he doesn’t need to be stretched anymore. He can let go of his hands and feet and give his child a good full moon.

  But in fact, what Wang Peng struggles most during the full moon is not money, but what to do and where to do it.

  According to Wang Tianxiao's idea, just set up one here on the mountain, and only invite some people from his father-in-law's family to come over. He doesn't want to make a big fanfare at his own home.

  But Li Yali felt that if this happened, Zhang Yufeng would be completely unable to step down, and would be very sad. The relationship between Wang Tianxiao and his mother would continue to be deadlocked.

  If the relationship between the brothers becomes bad, at worst, they will not communicate with each other for a lifetime, but it is not completely appropriate to not communicate with their mother for the rest of their lives.

  Mother's eccentricity is naturally eccentric, but after all, she raised him.

  I remembered that when Wang Tianxin came over yesterday, he mentioned that his mother wanted to see his grandson Wang Peng, but because he was not feeling well and it was not convenient, he could not do so.

  Wang Tianxiao didn't care either.

  In the hospital half a month ago, he confronted his mother again, and their relationship dropped to freezing point for a while.

   Now both mother and he are holding their breath, and each other needs time to calm down.

   This is the thing that makes him most helpless.

   "Then what do you think?" Wang Tianxiao wanted to ask his wife more about the child's full moon.

   After all, she worked so hard to conceive in October, so she should have more say.

   "I thought about it, let's do it in the village."

Under the light, Li Yali's eyes were full of tender affection, "I know you don't like the environment at home, but after all, you were born in the village, and there are relationships and emotions that you can't let go of. My idea is that you can Don’t have too many close ties with those people, but you must also maintain a certain relationship, or you will cut off your foundation, which is not a very sensible behavior.”

Seeing Wang Tianxiao's silence, Li Yali said softly again: "Think about it, if you want to achieve something here, do you need a lot of people to help? Didn't you say before that harvesting herbs requires a lot of manpower. Now you If you don’t maintain a certain interpersonal relationship, where will you find people, even if you have money, you may not be able to find someone who is willing to do things.”

  Wang Tianxiao was taken aback. He really hadn't thought about the point of view his wife said before.

  The main reason is that he can't open the pattern suddenly.

   It doesn’t mean that after he was reborn, he suddenly became capable of everything, and his thinking realm suddenly rose to a height as high as the sky.

   Not really.

  A beggar is reborn. If he is not given special abilities, he will probably still be a beggar.

  Wang Tianxiao was an ordinary person in his previous life. Even though he understands a lot of general trends after his rebirth, his personal thinking pattern still needs to gradually become bigger.

  So, he often has a sense of tearing.

  Anything he has handled, and what needs to be done by himself, he can do it very well.

   But when multiple people are involved, he will lose sight of others when dealing with it, and there will always be something missing.

   Just like what Li Yali said.

  He originally thought about looking for someone at that time, but he didn't expect that people can't be found just by looking for them. The employment system in this era is not yet mature, and the social relationship between people is more important.

  If you don't have accumulated relationships on weekdays, it may not be feasible to find someone to come to you at critical times.

   "Well, what you said makes sense. If it doesn't work, we should do it at home? It's just that time is a little tight, and the pit yard is relatively small, and it can't accommodate many people."

"The place is small, we can go to the alfalfa field on the cliff," Li Yali said with a smile, "Anyway, there is nothing in the alfalfa field in winter now, so it can be used as a place to sit. It's not the kind of colored striped cloth that is specially rented out in the town. Well, when the time comes, let them come over and build the shed, and lay two layers of dust on the ground, it will be fine."

  Wang Tianxiao's eyes lit up, he couldn't help looking at his wife, and smiled pleasantly: "It's Lili who has more ideas, I didn't think of these."

   "At that time, you were busy thinking about things in the mountains. I was lying on the kang and thinking wildly all day long, but that's all I could think of. How, do you think it will work?"

   "No problem, I think it is very reasonable. I will go to discuss this matter tomorrow, and I will go directly to the captain to be the manager. He will help us arrange all matters, and we can prepare the money."

  The manager is the general coordinator of every red and white event and the full moon.

  Here, every time something happens, the manager will be found first, and then all arrangements will be made, guest arrangements, work assignments for substitute personnel, various affairs promotion procedures, emergency situation resolution and coordination, etc.

   are the responsibility of the general manager.

  Therefore, there are not many people in the village who can be the general manager, so they must be highly respected, or have a certain reputation and influence.

  If you find a manager and everyone doesn't buy it, then he won't be able to arrange work.

  Wang Tianxiao's natural team is the third team. The captain is Wang Dabao, who is in the same generation as Wang Tianxiao, but he is already in his fifties this year.

  He was very prestigious before, and later he had a production team, and became the production captain as everyone expected. He can be regarded as a relatively influential person in the Wang family.

  Wang Dabao and his father and Wang Tianxiao's father are cousins. When they get together, they are a little far away, but they are actually very close.

   Not too far, not too close, very suitable to be a manager.

   "Well, that's fine, it's the best way. We don't understand some things. Brother Dabao has been helping others as a manager, and he has experience. You can buy some good cigarettes and wine at that time, thank you."

"I know."

   "That's good..." Li Yali stopped suddenly, and didn't continue talking. Seeing Wang Tianxiao staring at her incomprehensibly, she shook her head helplessly, "I'm just worried that there will be conflicts with my natal family."

  Wang Tianxiao smiled, "It's okay, I'll say something ugly in front of you, and whoever is the first to make trouble at the banquet will be invited out by me, and no one will be allowed."

   "Everyone else is fine, I'm just worried about mother..."

  "My mother can't do it either. I will tell her in advance that if she wants to participate, don't get into disputes with my uncle and aunt, otherwise she won't be allowed to participate."

  Wang Tianxiao's tone was very firm: "In short, we have the final say on everything about my son's full moon wine, and no one can disturb our arrangement."

"Oh well."

   Li Yali responded.

  She blew out the lamp on the window sill, and said in the dark, "Go to bed early, you have a lot of work tomorrow, it's too hard."

   "It's nothing, I'm still exhausted."

Looking at the dark roof, Wang Tianxiao remembered what Zhang Wenyuan had said to him, and couldn't help thinking, Wang Tianxiao, you have been reborn, why can't you go with the flow, live a leisurely life, hunt every day, drink small wine, wife and children? The hot kang head is uncomfortable.

  What are you rolling!

.

   Early the next morning, Wang Tianxiao got up and went to the city.

   Sending the wild things to Wenyuan Hotel, he didn't bother to go up to find Zhang Wenyuan, and went directly to the small department store in the east of the city to buy six bundles of nets.

  Because there is no bird-catching net specially sold, he only needs to use a chicken-blocking net instead.

   But this kind of net is often blue or green, it is really not easy to find colorless ones, and it took a lot of effort to find them.

   When he returned to the station, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon, and he still didn't eat a bite.

  After I came back, I didn’t have time to eat, so I brought the net to the field with the big guys in the open space in front of the station, and started to arrange it.

  A bundle of nets is 50 meters long and less than two meters wide. A single net is too narrow, so two nets are laid together, and three traps fifty meters long and four meters wide are quickly laid.

  After laying, double the seeds in the net, and then wait for the birds to take the bait.

  The mountainous land covers a total of more than 2,000 mu. Of course, it is impossible for them to cover all the land with nets. These traps are just to scare others.

  Birds are very smart. Once you find that many birds will die on the ground, they will stop coming.

  After finishing his work, Wang Tianxiao asked the others to continue working. He went back to the village to discuss with Wang Dabao about holding the full moon wine.

  Together with today, there are still three days left, and many things have to be finalized quickly.

  Originally, he thought that it would be simple to do it at the station, just invite relatives to dinner, but after his wife instructed him, he felt that it made sense.

  At any time, if a person wants to accomplish something, he or she cannot do without the help and support of others. No one can do a good job alone.

  Necessary human relationships must be maintained.

  Wang Tianxiao first went down the mountain to buy a pair of peony cigarettes and two bottles of Qingcheng Baijiu from the supply and marketing cooperative in the town.

  Strictly speaking, this kind of thing cannot be called a gift, and people in Qingcheng call it a labor fee.

   That is to say, someone else took over the whole ceremony on their own behalf, so a certain fee is required.

  In addition to a cigarette and two bottles of wine, some money is generally required.

  The market price is about five or ten yuan, depending on the scale and the economic conditions of the family.

  There are relatively more white affairs, and less red affairs. The scale of the full moon wine and the red affairs are similar, and the price is also similar.

   As for tobacco and alcohol, it must also comply with the rules.

  In the future, what kind of cigarettes and wine will be used in the banquet, and what will be given to the manager who takes care of it. It can't be higher, let alone lowered. This will make the manager lose face.

   As for what price level of tobacco and alcohol to use, it depends on their respective economic conditions.

   For wine, most of them use Qingcheng Baijiu.

   This is a local brand of liquor in Qingcheng. It is not very delicate, but has a strong taste and a very high alcohol content.

   There are bottles and barrels for loose sale. Basically, ordinary people in Qingcheng drink this wine.

   To smoke, you usually use Peony brand cigarettes, which cost 20 cents a pack. If you don’t want peony, it’s a kind of cigarette called "Grey Rabbit", which has no taste and is just a ritual.

  If you are a very rich person, you can continue to go up, such as "Ocean", "Lanzhou", or even "Hongta Mountain", "Hademen" and so on.

  When Wang Tianxiao came to Wang Dabao's house with his things, it happened to be time for lunch in the afternoon.

  Wang Dabao's family is eating on the hot kang.

Ordinary people don’t want to rush to other people’s home to order food. People’s food is basically cooked according to the person. If you go there suddenly and give you food, then others will not be full. Can't let you watch.

  So, Wang Tianxiao originally staggered three or four o'clock in the afternoon, and it was getting dark, so he arrived at Wang Dabao's house after five o'clock.

   But Wang Dabao's family happened to leave relatives today, and he came back late, so he had dinner late, so we happened to meet.

  Because the two are cousins, and Wang Dabao is the production team leader, they have a pretty good relationship, so Wang Tianxiao's kindness cannot be denied, so he had to eat a bowl of rice at Wang Dabao's house.

  During the meal, Wang Tianxiao explained to Wang Dabao the purpose of his visit.

  Wang Dabao was very surprised when he heard this.

   "Second brother, you said your son is full moon?"

  Wang Tianxiao is the second child in the family, so people in the clan are used to calling him the second child instead of calling him by his name directly.

   "Well, it's a full moon."

   "So fast, why haven't I heard my aunt mention it?"

  Wang Dabao's wife is She Saifen, a woman from Sichuan. At that time, she fled famine and went to Qingcheng. She met Wang Dabao who was working as a coolie, and finally married him.

  Now the two have three children, the youngest is as old as Wang Xiaozhu.

  She Saifen has the characteristics of a typical Sichuan woman, quick-tempered, with a sharp mouth and a tofu heart.

  He speaks a little unforgiving, but he is a kind person in his heart. Both Wang Dabao and Wang Dabao took good care of Wang Tianxiao in his previous life, and they also helped them in the matter of land distribution.

  So Wang Tianxiao is grateful to Wang Dabao and his wife, and there is also a sense of intimacy after rebirth.

  The aunt She Saifen talks about is naturally Wang Tianxiao's mother Zhang Yufeng.